Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 109

Chapter 109

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For Turan, Kalamaf was a special city.

It was the first territory he had personally acquired and governed since his birth.

The citizens were sheep he had fed and raised with his own hands, and the city walls were fences he had carefully built.

And now, to encounter someone trying to exploit the people by impersonating his name in such a land?

How could he not be angry?

But instead of barging into the central mansion in a rage, Turan calmed himself and re-examined the tax notice.

‘Income tax amendment. So they’re collecting additional taxes during certain luxury goods transactions.’

Though he didn’t know much about tax laws as they were commoners’ matters, he had accumulated at least surface-level knowledge during his time as Kalamaf’s leader.

Based on that, the new regulations outlined here didn’t seem to be squeezing the poor, at least.

The established tax rates didn’t feel excessive either.

In other words, except for his name being attached to it, the content was quite reasonable.

Having confirmed that his name wasn’t being used for harsh exploitation, Turan cooled his head, entered a nearby tavern, and ordered a drink.

The aged owner brought him a cup and gruffly said:

“A young fellow drinking in broad daylight?”

“Coming from far away, my legs are aching terribly. How else could I endure the pain without a drink like this?”

“A traveler, I see.”

“Something like that. I’m visiting Kalamaf after about a year, and it seems much has changed.”

At Turan’s words, the tavern owner snorted dismissively.

“What’s changed so much?”

“Many things. Around when I left, there were statues of Lord Turan around the city gates, but they’re all gone now… I heard a new lord had arrived, did he remove them?”

“Lord Turan himself had them removed when he returned. Said they were embarrassing. What could we do when he insisted?”

“I see. Come to think of it, I heard Lord Turan was planning to leave, so why did he return?”

Although referring to himself in the third person with honorifics was quite embarrassing, his face had grown thick enough to endure it naturally by now.

After all, having lived disguised as a completely different person, was this really such a big deal?

Indeed, Turan’s acting must have been quite excellent, as the tavern owner continued talking without showing any signs of suspicion.

“I wouldn’t know what happened among the high nobles, being an ignorant fellow, but he returned about two months ago and decided to govern the city again. A joyous occasion! The city has welcomed back its true master.”

Judging by his overwhelmingly positive tone and age, this owner was likely one of the original inhabitants who had been in Kalamaf when Turan first arrived.

One of those who had watched him save the city from beginning to end and had become his most fervent devotees.

Considering this, Turan carefully chose his words.

“Two months… Has he changed in any way from before?”

“Unlike before, he wears a mask now. I heard he was severely injured in the face while fighting some magical beast in a remote area.”

“Oh dear.”

“Truly sad. If my old face skin could be offered to heal him, I would give it without hesitation. Have you seen his face? Even the celestial Freya gods couldn’t have been as handsome.”

Hearing such extreme praise for his own face made even Turan blush, so he drank another cup, made the excuse that he felt a bit drunk, and left the tavern.

Next, Turan hid in a nearby alley and entered the city hall while invisible.

Having gathered information from ordinary citizens, he now wanted to see how things were running internally.

“Hey, where’s the person in charge?”

“He went for lunch…”

“Tell him to come quickly! There’s a mountain of documents piling up, where’s his mind-”

The city hall officials seemed as busy as ever.

Passing through this familiar scene, Turan could spot one or two familiar faces among the people walking around.

And then, a knight he encountered inside the city hall building.

A woman of about thirty, yawning with an utterly bored expression, within whom Turan could see the symbol of Zahar.

Thanks to Talis recently mentioning that he was aware of Turan’s existence, the situation was roughly predictable.

No doubt Zahar had done this to provoke and bait him.

The Maburn family, who had originally received Kalamaf, was already a pro-Zahar faction, so they would have handed over the city at the first growl.

Afterward, Turan stood quietly invisible in one corner of the city hall for dozens of minutes, observing the officials performing their duties.

The processes of handling complaints, reports, and all sorts of complex documents.

As a result, he concluded that there wasn’t any particular laxity in discipline or special problems within the city.

‘I’m surprised by how well things are running.’

The dispatched Zahar knights even went out to hunt when they received news of magical beasts appearing around the city.

Just as Turan had demanded of Alros, the head of the Maburn family, when he had received the city in the past.

After confirming the internal situation, Turan finally made his way to the central mansion where the impostor was likely staying.

Upon reaching the entrance of the mansion, he burst into laughter at what he saw inside.

‘This looks extremely familiar, doesn’t it?’

Basic magical devices he had seen before in the Berk family mansion or the Arabion main house—light-emitting orbs.

They were densely packed around the mansion, shining brightly.

As if warning that no Zahar assassin would dare to enter.

How ironic that they used almost the same method as their enemy faction, Arabion!

This revealed that they too had no clear method to block the invisibility of their own kind.

Well, unless it was a secret technique that only those with Zahar bloodlines could use, it would quickly spread to others and become a weapon against them, so it made sense to hide it if such a thing existed.

After circling around once, Turan confirmed that they had thoroughly fortified the place, making it difficult to secretly enter while invisible.

Of course, if he knew the internal structure thoroughly, he could quickly enter as he had done with the Berk mansion, but the central mansion of Kalamaf that Turan remembered had been merely a homeless shelter.

However, Turan had another means of checking the interior without directly entering—the unique detection ability of the Mimic Holy Relic.

Using this to check inside, he could detect the presence of one upper-rank noble and two mid-rank nobles… ‘Judging by their numbers and strength, they’ve deployed enough to capture a single upper-rank noble.’

All armed with several powerful magical devices and with various unknown barriers and magic spread around, it was clear that if an upper-rank noble Turan had come seeking revenge for the impersonation, he would have been easily hunted down.

While gathering information, Turan sensed the nobles inside beginning to move.

‘What’s this? Could they have detected me scouting from this distance?’

Making Turan’s surprise seem foolish, the nobles had merely emerged for a routine patrol.

The fake Turan rode a single horse, parading through Kalamaf with attendants who appeared to be knights.

“Ohhh, Lord Turan…”

“Look over here!”

“No, look at me!”

Judging by the chattering voices, such patrols were not particularly rare.

The fake Turan was a man with a build quite similar to the original, even with the same gray ponytail, but his face was covered with a mask intricately carved from metal to resemble an eagle.

On one side of the saddle sat an eagle hawk similar to Bije, though not a magical beast but just a well-trained bird.

Turan approached, disguised as a commoner, and checked the symbols within the fake entourage.

The upper-rank noble impersonating him was Zahar, while the two mid-rankers following behind disguised as knights were from the Barrier and Illusion bloodlines respectively.

‘Barrier and Illusion were both vassal families of Zahar…’

Turan watched from behind as the impostor waved to the cheering citizens.

* * *

That night, on a hill near Kalamaf, Turan greeted Bije after a long time.

Unlike the one he had seen during the day, this eagle hawk with intelligent, sharp eyes rushed toward Turan as soon as he saw him, pressing his head against Turan’s chest.

After stroking his back for a while, Bije quickly wrote on the ground:

[I was sad we couldn’t meet! Solif is a fool! Meisa is nice but I like Turan more!]

“Yes, yes, I wanted to see you too. Here, have some food.”

[Don’t try to change the subject with food!]

Despite grumbling, Bije eagerly accepted the special lamb jerky that Turan had prepared in advance.

After indulging the bird who was throwing all sorts of tantrums, perhaps because it had been so long, Turan and Bije soared high into the sky.

His destination was Bigen, a city southeast of Kalamaf.

His next goal was to meet Alros Maburn, the lord of that city and the one who had originally received the governance rights of Kalamaf.

Arriving in Bigen in less than an hour, Turan heightened his Holy Relic’s senses to confirm there was no proper defense system around the central mansion and jumped down.

No one noticed him landing in the garden while using invisibility magic, nor his entry into the building.

Compared to the headquarters of a great family, this level of security was practically nonexistent…

But ordinary mage families had no choice but to be like this.

Only enchanters had the privilege of creating magical devices, and most nobles with enchanter bloodlines belonged exclusively to great families.

The next safest place would perhaps be the headquarters of a family with the Barrier bloodline.

While rummaging through the mansion invisibly, Turan found Alros alone, having just finished dinner and drinking tea. He deactivated his invisibility behind Alros and spoke:

“It’s been a while, Alros.”

With a loud crash, Alros overturned the table as he stood up, staring at Turan as if he were seeing a ghost.

Naturally, a maid’s voice was heard from outside after this noise.

[My, my lord? Has something happened-]

“Nothing’s wrong! Don’t come in!”

After Alros’s shout, there was a bit more commotion outside before quietness returned.

Sighing deeply, he quietly responded.

“Yes, yes… It’s been a year, Lord Turan Zahar.”

Turan Zahar.

It was a resonance that felt somewhat unpleasant even to think about.

Inwardly feeling this, Turan skillfully used telekinetic magic to raise the fallen table, lift the spilled tea from the floor and dispel it, then sat down opposite Alros.

Seeing this, Alros gulped.

“Please, sit down.”

“I…”

“I’m not here to fight. I apologize for rudely visiting in the middle of the night, but given the situation, I hope you’ll understand.”

Despite Turan’s polite tone, the fear on Alros’s face did not easily fade.

It was understandable.

After all, someone who breaks into your bedroom with a knife wouldn’t become less frightening just because they speak politely.

“I, I had no choice. I couldn’t dare oppose your… relatives.”

“I understand that too. When I actually went there, I saw they weren’t governing too badly. Fortunately.”

Perhaps due to his consistently calm voice, Alros finally seemed to calm down somewhat and sighed deeply.

Toward him, Turan asked another question that tightened the noose.

“How much did you tell them about me?”

“Pardon?”

“You must have passed on information about me to Zahar.”

“That’s…”

“That’s…”

Faced with this unfavorable question, Alros’s face turned pale.

Based on past experience, this lord was quite intelligent, so it was easier to converse by not giving him leeway and maintaining control of the conversation.

“It’s alright to tell me. After all, it’s a family matter, and I wouldn’t harm you over it, Alros. By the way, did Lord Talis visit as well?”

Alros’s face showed confusion at Turan’s casual mention of Talis, a powerful figure in Zahar.

After a moment, he spoke in a tone that seemed like he was giving up.

“Yes…”

Alros confessed that he had succumbed to pressure from the Zahar family and disclosed everything he knew.

From investigating Turan’s parents to his participation in the dark elf subjugation with Arabion nobles, and his demand during their transaction that the city be governed stably.

‘I see, so that’s why they’re governing properly.’

If Turan had an attachment to Kalamaf city, Zahar turning it into a mess would only create hostility.

Therefore, they were likely planning to run it adequately, subdue Turan when he angrily stormed in after realizing his reputation had been stolen, and then try to persuade him… “Do other families know that Zahar is controlling Kalamaf?”

“No. Even Zahar instructed me to maintain secrecy. They said it would be troublesome if Arabion found out…”

“Who is the noble impersonating me?”

“I don’t know that either. I only heard that someone was impersonating Lord Turan.”

Well, their lack of concern for Alros was evident just from the security state of his mansion.

Even knowing that Turan might come seeking revenge against him, they left him in this state.

After hearing all his testimony, Turan quietly said to Alros:

“That’s enough. For now, please convey this to Zahar. If they continue to govern well as they have been, I’ll forgive their impersonation of me.”

“…Pardon?”

Alros couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise at Turan’s words.

In a situation where he had learned he was essentially being hunted, it was already unusual to ask Alros to inform Zahar of his visit, but the content being “I’ll forgive them” was beyond comprehension.

This was clearly provocative by anyone’s standards.

Turan continued:

“Additionally, please tell them this as well. Judging by these antics, it seems they want to recruit me into the family, but if they neglect the governance of Kalamaf or intentionally cause harm after hearing this, I will do the same to Zahar’s vassal families in the Enril Desert.”

“But that’s virtually-”

“Yes. It’s a threat.”

Faced with Turan’s extraordinarily confident declaration, Alros had no idea how to respond.

The great family Zahar—the most sinister, cruel, and persistent among all the great families in the world—was being threatened?

No one except hostile Arabion nobles who had nothing to lose would dare treat them this way.

No, even Arabion nobles would avoid such words if only to avoid provoking the other side unnecessarily.

“Zahar of all people should know best. What terrible things would happen if a hostile Zahar noble roamed the desert causing trouble while avoiding direct confrontation.”

“Well… that’s true.”

The current situation of Turan meeting Alros alone made it easy to imagine how terrifying such influence could be.

Though nobles belonging to Arabion were traveling around relatively freely these days now that the war had ended, during the war they couldn’t even leave their family mansions freely, let alone go on pilgrimages.

“In exchange, if they continue governing Kalamaf obediently, I’ll visit them in person sometime soon. Within about ten to fifty years. Please convey that.”

“Will they accept that?”

“If they don’t accept it, sad things will happen to both sides.”

Looking at Turan responding in a calm tone, Alros instinctively knew.

If they truly didn’t govern Kalamaf well, Turan would indeed attack Zahar’s territories as he had said.

Based on his experience, that was certainly not the expression or tone of someone who was bluffing.

After making this declaration, Turan finally took out an earring from his chest and placed it on the table.

“What is this?”

“I heard it gives its wearer a weak flame resistance effect. Something I happened to obtain during my travels.”

“Why are you…”

“Because Alros tried to honor the contract, but things went wrong due to pressure from my family.”

At Turan’s explanation that it was compensation for the lost city, Alros looked at him with an expression that suggested he didn’t know how to respond, but eventually accepted the earring and wore it.

After all, for the head of an ordinary family like him, even one magical device was valuable.

“I accept with gratitude.”

“Not at all, I should apologize that this is all I can offer. I’ll see you again sometime.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Turan’s seated figure disappeared without a trace, as if erased.

Seeing this, Alros stared blankly before breaking into a chuckle.

Though he was the head of a family, he couldn’t help but realize how small he truly was before a great family.