Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 105

Chapter 105

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[TL Note- I’ll be use Carmine instead of Carmine family.]

Typically, powerful nobles in this world rarely left their family’s territory.

First, the moment those who held positions as family heads or important roles left their domains, it became difficult to care for their kin and subordinates. Second, powerful mages were, in some sense, easier prey than even the most formidable magical beasts.

Although magical power theft was considered a crime more serious than cannibalism, wasn’t it true that actions were only defined as wrong because there were people who committed them?

In this sense, the appearance of Talis Zahar—brother of the Zahar family head, second-in-command of a great family, and a high noble with top-tier magical power—in the capital of Carmine was truly an extraordinary event.

Turan bit his lip and dug his nails into his knee, trying not to show the turmoil he felt on his face.

‘Talis Zahar…’

The noble who was presumably his grandfather.

The moment he recognized him, Turan understood the source of that strange sense of familiarity he had felt earlier.

The somewhat deep-set eyes that appeared fierce when expressionless, the prominent nose, and those iron-gray eyes.

All the features that had made him feel different from his mother when he occasionally glimpsed his reflection in water resembled this man.

There had been good reason why the lord of Komard and Leto had thought Turan was of Talis’s bloodline.

If the two of them had been commoners, anyone would have taken them for father and son with about twenty years between them.

“…Zahar?”

“You mean that Zahar from the Enril Desert?”

“I heard he’s the family head’s brother.”

“Why would such an important figure come all this way?”

Talis’s appearance seemed sudden even to the Carmine nobles, as the meeting room quickly erupted into commotion.

At that moment, Turan realized that Talis was staring intently at him.

Surely to Talis, Oneil, whom Turan was impersonating, should have been just one of a dozen Carmine nobles, yet…

While Turan was wondering why Talis was looking at him, he noticed the man’s nose bridge twitching slightly.

As if he were trying to catch a scent.

‘…Could he be detecting the emotions I’m feeling?’

It was clear that for a brief moment, Talis had noticed that Turan’s emotions differed from others.

Though Turan himself naturally used this ability on others, being on the receiving end made his skin crawl.

It truly felt like having his mind read.

Turan tried to calm himself and quietly lowered his gaze.

When he looked up again a moment later, fortunately, Talis’s attention had moved elsewhere.

“As the Carmine family head mentioned earlier, I’ve come to mediate this war. In such a chaotic world, what good would come from great families fighting each other?”

“So how exactly do you plan to mediate? We would be most grateful if you promised to join the fight on our side.”

The one who spoke was Jemel, the father of Oneil whom Turan was currently impersonating.

His words seemed to resonate with the other Carmine nobles, who nodded in agreement.

“That’s right.”

“If Zahar supports us from behind, we might even be able to reduce Arabion’s power in this opportunity.”

From what was publicly known, the situation wasn’t difficult to understand.

Zahar and Arabion had fought a war twenty years ago.

Naturally, it would make sense for Zahar to interfere if Arabion tried to crush Carmine, a neighboring great family.

After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, isn’t that right?

However, while most Carmine nobles expressed hopeful views with delight, there were a few who didn’t seem pleased.

As if they believed Zahar would never cooperate with them.

‘Those who are happy know nothing of the backstory… and those who aren’t happy know everything?’

Considering that the gods of Arabion and Zahar weren’t on particularly bad terms, and were even hostile toward Carmine’s god, this alliance couldn’t possibly work.

This meant that those who weren’t pleased were likely the ones who knew all the secrets behind the scenes.

‘The Carmine family head and three middle-aged nobles, plus two young nobles… Is Jemel one of them?’

As he had sensed at Arabion before, the gods seemed paranoid about concealing the fact that they possessed human bodies and controlled families.

Turan could roughly guess why.

If he had been an ordinary high noble, and above him were gods who achieved immortality by switching bodies…

‘Of course I’d want a piece of that. Who would want to die when the secret to eternal life was right before them?’

Moreover, according to Ymir, such reincarnation couldn’t be done easily without paying a price.

In other words, the number of available seats was limited.

In this situation, the more widely known the secret became, the more competitors there would be.

Perhaps the majority who couldn’t enjoy the right to reincarnate might even rebel against the minority who could, trying to steal that right.

While Turan was deeply absorbed in these thoughts, Talis continued:

“Of course, it would be difficult to openly support you, but we plan to actively help by utilizing Zahar’s specialties. We can tell you how Arabion’s forces are composed, where they’re moving… everything.”

“Invisibility and tracking. Important elements in war.”

“If Zahar nobles help secretly, this seems doable.”

“But is this really what we call mediation?”

As many seemed to gain confidence and show pleased expressions, one noble raised his hand and asked:

“Is direct participation completely out of the question?”

“Yes, absolutely no direct participation. This is our family head’s wish.”

“I see.”

Unlike earlier when he had appeared to be a complete outsider, Talis now led the meeting as if he were one of the Carmine nobles.

Watching him discuss how Zahar could help in the war and how Carmine should cooperate, they truly looked like perfect allies.

‘When in reality, they were gathering intelligence behind the scenes.’

Having personally witnessed Zahar spies extracting information from Carmine just recently, Turan could only find this exasperating.

While Talis was engrossed in the meeting with the Carmine nobles, the Carmine family head quietly observed from his seat at the head of the table.

He finally spoke when about two hours had passed and everyone was running out of things to say.

“Then let’s conclude this meeting for now. Naturally, this cooperation with Zahar must proceed in absolute secrecy. Noto, Oneil, Aris.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Understood!”

“Yes!”

Since Oneil’s name was among the three suddenly called, Turan hastily responded.

Fortunately, the other two also showed similar surprise, so his reaction didn’t stand out too much.

“I understand you’ve made several verbal slips in the past, and if something similar happens this time, I won’t let it slide. Keep that in mind.”

While Turan bowed his head at the chilling warning, he noticed Talis looking at him with an expression of interest.

A moment later, as he was leaving the meeting room, someone placed a hand on his shoulder from behind.

“Oneil.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Don’t forget the family head’s words. If family secrets leak because of you, you’ll die by my hand. Understood?”

“Yes…”

Turan answered in a submissive voice, just as Oneil would have done, and lowered his head.

His acting must have been convincing, as Jemel showed no sign of suspecting that his son had been replaced.

“Good, that’s how it should be. I think I’ll have more to discuss with the family head, so go on ahead. Tch, if only you could always be this obedient.”

More to discuss.

This sounded promising, so Turan obediently bowed his head and left.

Then, pretending to exit the family head’s residence, he discreetly vanished from sight when no one was looking.

* * *

Though Turan had previously visited the Ravitas family head’s residence, the Carmine family head’s dwelling had a defense system a level above that.

Various walls, doors, and even corridors throughout the building were covered in unidentifiable magic, making them uncomfortable to touch.

Fortunately, with the meeting having just concluded, most of these defenses were deactivated to accommodate the numerous visitors, making it easier for Turan to move around while invisible.

Tracking Jemel’s presence after they had parted, Turan soon spotted him walking down a corridor.

Beside him were a woman said to be the family head’s fifth cousin and her son.

“What’s he thinking? Has Caesar suddenly broken ties with them?”

“Impossible. They were working so well together even during the recent war.”

“Well, our Lawyer must have his reasons. It looked like they had some agreement. Let’s go hear what they have to say.”

The title “Lawyer” and the casual, friendly way mother and son conversed made it clear that they were all vessels for gods.

Shortly afterward, the three entered what appeared to be the family head’s lounge.

Inside, the Carmine family head and Talis were already waiting for them, each reclining on long sofas.

“You came quickly.”

“I don’t see why we should hear such comments from a guest in our home.”

“Your home? Not your leader’s home?”

“That’s the same thing.”

Unlike their formal manner of speaking earlier that matched their apparent ages, Talis and Jemel now bickered like hostile young men.

The dissonance of young personalities seemingly inhabiting middle-aged bodies was strangely unsettling.

Anticipating a lengthy conversation, Turan perched in a shadowy corner of the room, sitting on a pillar where the light didn’t reach.

Within the shadow, the magical power consumed by his invisibility spell noticeably decreased.

‘Whew…’

Though not as extravagant as the Berk family mansion, this place also had elaborate lighting in its corridors and rooms, making it difficult to maintain invisibility for extended periods.

Had he not been disguised as Oneil, he probably wouldn’t have had this opportunity at all.

As Turan was internally congratulating himself on his good judgment, a voice came from behind.

“So, who’s who this time?”

“You tell me first. No, I think I know. You’re Vermilion Phoenix, right?”

“…How did you know?”

“Among Caesar’s subordinates, none are as fond of sarcasm as you. I’m Glass. These are Tora-Tora and Rainbow.”

“Oh my, I thought you were Rainbow. You’ve become quite talkative since we last met.”

“Well, it’s been at least five or six hundred years since we last talked like this. It’s about time I changed a bit.”

“For me, it’s been nearly a thousand years? I didn’t have a suitable body last time, so I was resting!”

“Your speech is so energetic—must be because your body is young.”

Talis and the Carmine nobles chatted amicably like old friends reuniting.

Since they were revealing the identities of those inhabiting their bodies, it seemed these couldn’t be determined by sight alone.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the Carmine family head, presumably the Lawyer, raised his hand, and everyone fell silent.

“It’s nice to catch up, but let’s discuss business first.”

“Yes, explain. Why is Caesar suddenly offering to help us? Honestly, we haven’t exactly been friends all this time.”

“That’s right. It’s suspicious. You must already know we’re having problems controlling the merfolk. Aren’t you two joining forces to finish us off once and for all…?”

Along with Jemel’s question, the three Carmine nobles glared at Talis, as if their earlier friendly conversation had never happened.

In response, Talis snorted lightly and answered:

“I already explained this to your leader once. Fine, I’ll be frank. Our alliance with them… with Arabion… was tentatively terminated recently.”

“Why?”

“They stabbed us in the back. And they believe we stabbed them in the back too.”

“Did you really not stab them in the back? That one doesn’t seem like the type to talk nonsense. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s the smartest among us.”

Aware that the Arabion leader, the Biologist, might sense when his name was mentioned, they referred to him indirectly as “that one” or “them.”

This was disappointing for Turan, who had been hoping to learn his name.

But the information revealed so far was significant enough to overshadow such disappointment.

The cooperation between Arabion and Zahar had broken down.

This was premium intelligence he could never have obtained without infiltrating this meeting.

“What exactly happened?”

“Well, as for what happened to us… their leader secretly created an artificial dungeon in our territory. In the form of recreating the Night Hunter advancement quest. Unfortunately, someone we were grooming got caught up in it and died.”

He was likely referring to the underground labyrinth and Ferga Zahar.

Judging by his words, they hadn’t realized that Turan was involved in that incident as well.

This alone made his efforts to thoroughly conceal his traces and avoid collecting scattered magical devices completely worthwhile.

“Well, we did confront them and received an apology at the time… but not long after, they tried to blame us when the body Gabi was supposed to inhabit escaped. They accused us of collaboration through spies we had sent.”

“Ah, that skeleton?”

“Well, it was a masterpiece worthy of such suspicion. One of the finest bodies we’ve ever created.”

“Your last war was primarily fought to create that body, wasn’t it? No wonder they’re suspicious.”

The “body” they were referring to was undoubtedly Meisa.

From their conversation, it seemed the cooperation between the two factions had broken down because Turan had taken her away.

Arabion’s god had mistakenly assumed that Zahar was behind it.

More importantly, they had started a war to create a body?

What did that mean?

As Turan wondered, hoping for a more detailed explanation, the Carmine family head spoke up.

“I’ve personally investigated what Phoenix just mentioned. It’s true that Meisa Arabion escaped. Additionally, it seems that Mario’s body also escaped recently. I don’t know much, but he’s apparently wandering somewhere in the southern sea.”

“It seems misfortunes have been piling up these past few years. We also had a crisis recently.”

“What happened?”

When Talis asked, a Carmine noble glanced at the family head, who nodded as if giving permission to speak.

“One of our children secretly spread our secrets. We were busy with internal discipline because of that.”

It seemed that one of the Carmine nobles had discovered the gods’ secret and tried to spread it internally, only to be suppressed.

They had been too busy dealing with this to intervene when the Giant Sea Serpent’s apparition was rampaging.

Just as Turan felt pleased that this mystery had been resolved, Talis made an indecipherable gesture, wiggling his index and middle fingers, and complained:

“You’ve had your share of troubles too. Being a god is certainly not easy.”

“If we just had our original bodies, we wouldn’t have these annoying problems.”

“Well, back then we could just destroy everything and be done with it.”

Judging by their conversation, they seemed less like gods who had lived for thousands of years and more like tired administrators or elderly people reminiscing about the past.

So this was the true nature of the Freya gods whom humanity worshipped…

Though Turan had guessed this to some extent through Ymir, it was still disappointing to witness.

At that moment, Talis tapped the floor with his finger to draw attention and said:

“Ah, there’s one more thing you should know.”

“What is it?”

“There’s now a Zahar noble outside our control.”

“Just catch them, then. If you’re determined to hunt someone down, who could possibly escape you?”

In response to the Carmine noble’s incredulous expression, Talis shook his head.

“Given the mechanism of tracking magic, it’s not easy to pursue someone without a medium. Besides, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve been busy dealing with the untimely death of someone we were planning to use as a vessel. We’ll start searching in earnest now.”

Just from listening, Turan could guess who Talis was referring to.

“So, who is it?”

“Turan. Since he’s probably this body’s grandson, I suppose he should be called Turan Zahar.”