Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 0

Prologue

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The Hisaril hills always had a gentle breeze.

Starting from the endlessly high mountains in the west, the wind swept through short, stiff weeds as it descended.

Shepherd Turan most enjoyed watching over his sheep while lying in the sunlit field, feeling that breeze.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it was the least disliked task.

It was just easier than shearing wool or cleaning the barn, but he never actually enjoyed it.

In fact, his greatest enemy wasn’t hard labor, but boredom.

Every day waking up to the same scenery, doing the same work in the same building, and falling asleep at the same time.

Sometimes he would talk to himself and answer back as a game, worried he might forget how to speak.

Unable to bear this solitude, or to exchange some essential items, he would sometimes go down to the small village below the hill, but this wasn’t particularly enjoyable either.

Because all the villagers hated Turan.

Of course, Turan equally disliked them too.

“The sun hasn’t even set yet, and you’re already slacking off, young man?”

On a late afternoon, as Turan was watching his sheep while lying in the sunlit field as usual, a shadow fell over his head.

His name was Labus.

He was one of the elders of the village below the hill.

Instead of getting up to greet him, Turan frowned and spoke curtly.

“Move aside, old man. You’re blocking the sun.”

Turan disliked all the villagers, but he especially disliked this old man.

Five years ago, when Turan’s mother died, he had tried to sneakily turn all the hill’s sheep into communal village property under the pretense of managing the assets.

Because of that, Turan had to fight an almost war-like battle with the villagers to get his sheep back.

Labus’s face hardened at the rude attitude, but he soon gritted his teeth and calmed himself.

After all, what good would getting angry do?

If it came to a fistfight here, it was obvious who would end up going down with a broken nose.

“Last night, Rob spotted a masu at the village entrance. He said it was a leopard covered in pitch-black shadows and as big as a house.”

Masu referred to beasts that had awakened magical powers, and they were larger, smarter, and wielded various mysterious powers compared to normal animals.

Though there were individual differences within species, generally the stronger the beast that mutated, the more dangerous masu it became, and a leopard masu was difficult for ordinary people to handle.

“Oh my.”

“Aren’t you scared? You’re likely to be the prime target in this area.”

“I am scared. Terrified, actually.”

Contrary to his words, Turan’s face showed no sign of disturbance.

To Labus, this attitude was truly difficult to understand.

Just what kind of guts did he have to react this way to the appearance of a dangerous masu?

Especially when he didn’t even live behind walls like they did.

“Anyway, the village chief has gone to the city to request a magician to eliminate the masu, so be careful. Try not to take the sheep too far if possible.”

Of course, he hadn’t come to tell Turan this out of concern.

As much as he’d like to see this shepherd get mauled, Turan’s sheep were an important source of nutrition, insulation material, and export goods for the village.

Turan’s death would mean losing all of that.

Surely the masu wouldn’t be considerate enough to only kill the shepherd and leave the flock alone.

Guessing these underlying thoughts, Turan felt no gratitude and mocked him thoroughly.

“I’m so touched by your concern. Now get lost quickly. Your breath is making my nose rot.”

As Labus grumbled while descending the hill, Turan pondered over what he had just said.

‘A magician…’

Just as beasts wielding mysterious powers were called masu, humans wielding mysterious powers were called magicians.

They were also known as nobles or knights, and just as masu became leaders of their kind, magicians ruled at the top of human society.

‘I wonder how strong they are.’

If they would come at the call of a rural village chief, they must be quite insignificant among magicians.

But still, he wanted to meet one, even if just once.

Since it might be dangerous to get too close, even if just to peek from afar.

While deep in thought, a subtle smell caught Turan’s nose.

‘The smell of blood?’

And it seemed fresh too, as if not much time had passed.

Grabbing the staff beside him and following his sense of smell, it didn’t take long to reach the source of the scent.

Turan clicked his tongue lightly.

‘He told me to be careful, but he went first.’

Labus’s corpse was torn to shreds, scattered like blooming red flowers.

Judging by the clear claw marks all over his body, whatever attacked him was clearly not human.

“Was it you?”

[Growl-]

When Turan turned around and asked, shadows gathered from under the trees, taking the form of a beast.

A huge leopard, easily two meters tall at the shoulder, big enough to easily catch and eat a bear…

Turan faced it directly and declared:

“Die.”

At that moment, sparks flew above the leopard’s head.

It jumped back startled, but then seemed to become angry from the stimulation and leaped toward Turan with a roar.

“No good… Stop.”

At the second command, the leopard’s body seemed to hesitate for a moment, but again, sparks flew within less than a second and its body was freed.

Perhaps realizing that the weak prey before it was trying something strange, the leopard wasted no more time and swung its front paw.

With strength and speed that would have killed a normal person instantly without time to react.

But contrary to expectations of instantly tearing apart its prey, the sharp claws helplessly cut through empty air.

Because in that brief moment of hesitation, Turan had also moved unnaturally fast to retreat backward.

“I knew killing wouldn’t work, but I didn’t think even stopping would be impossible…”

Turan nodded as if learning something new, then took out a sling and a rounded stone from his pocket.

Then while spinning it a few times, he chanted:

“Become hard, become fast, pierce through – target the head.”

A truly intuitive and simple, almost ridiculous-sounding spell.

When he released one string, the freed stone flew toward the masu with a sound that split the wind.

The masu’s instincts screamed.

That its tough hide would be useless against this attack.

[Kyaak!]

Screaming in shock and twisting its body, the stone that should have hit dead-on barely grazed its ear.

But before it could feel relief, the stone that should have flown far away curved around as if controlled by someone and embedded itself in the back of the masu’s head, piercing through to its forehead.

With its skull and brain crushed, the leopard masu died instantly without even a scream.

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue at the thought of doing the villagers a favor, Turan grabbed the dead masu’s tail and dragged it.

While several normal men would need to combine their strength to lift such a large body, he pulled it as easily as if dragging a dead dog.

‘Where should I throw it in the valley?’

The remaining carcass would be properly disposed of by insects and animals.

While not exactly a clean disposal, it didn’t matter.

The cowardly villagers wouldn’t have the courage to follow the masu’s trail anyway, and by the time the magician hired by the village chief arrived in a few days, nothing would remain.

The fact that a mere shepherd living in the Hisaril hills at the western edge of the world was a magician would not be discovered.