Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Discord
After concluding their meeting with Osel, Turan’s group chose to stay at Rida’s mansion rather than departing immediately, allowing themselves time to recover from the prolonged labor that had taxed both body and spirit.
Or more accurately, it was time for Solif to lift his spirits after being stuck in the wilderness for so long.
Early morning.
Sitting in one corner of the guest house’s living room reading a book, Turan encountered Meisa as she opened her door.
Her reddish-brown hair was still damp, suggesting she had just finished bathing.
“Gambling hall again today?”
“Yes.”
“He never seems to get tired of it.”
Solif had been making almost daily excursions from the mansion, touring the various gambling establishments scattered throughout Merem.
Initially, he had enjoyed common entertainments like dog or rooster fights, but lately, he seemed captivated by a southern gambling game involving matching animal bone tiles.
“Well, he hasn’t complained about being short on money, so I guess he’s not losing too much. Here’s a new book I bought—would you like to read it?”
“Yes.”
Meisa took the book Turan offered and sat down across from him.
Having no particular interest in gambling, Turan typically enjoyed sitting across from Meisa in a sunlit spot like this, both of them immersed in reading.
Turan usually sought out travelogues or history books, while Meisa preferred romance novels and fairy tales.
Sometimes they would spend hours without exchanging a single word, yet they found comfort in hearing the occasional sound of pages turning, reminding them of each other’s presence.
Of course, sometimes this tranquility grew a bit tedious, and when that happened, they would leave the mansion together and head into town.
While wandering through bustling markets or browsing shops was pleasant enough, what they enjoyed most was the theater.
“That was a good play.”
“Yes…! The song Elere sang at the end was truly heartbreaking. And the dancing was so vibrant.”
Meisa, whose noble status as the heir to Arabion had prevented her from freely visiting theaters like ordinary people, appeared utterly delighted after watching a play.
Her excitement reminded Turan of his own early theater visits with Asiz.
He felt a twinge of regret that he hadn’t created more such moments when they had the chance, as seeing her so happy was truly gratifying.
On days when they saw plays with particularly impressive dance sequences, they would often try to recreate them in the guest house garden.
“Was it like this?”
“I think you need to raise your hands a bit higher.”
In the moonlit night, with only the sound of insects chirping around them, the two joined hands and twirled around the grass, attempting various poses.
They moved under each other’s arms, jumped lightly, and supported each other’s weight in complex movements.
As the dance concluded, Meisa tilted backward as if about to fall, supported by Turan’s arm wrapped around her waist.
Standing still, sharing their body heat, they silently gazed into each other’s eyes—
“Ah!”
Whoosh! A strong wind blew, causing their hair to intertwine and flutter.
Bije, who had been watching from the side, stomped his feet angrily as he swept them with wind magic.
“Hahaha! Stop it, Bije!”
“You want to dance too, is that it? Come here.”
In the end, their midnight ball concluded with Bije jumping all over them, flapping his wings to create an avant-garde dance, and all of them bursting into laughter.
* * *
After enjoying themselves in various ways for about three weeks, the three went to bid farewell to Rida.
“Will you be returning soon this time as well?”
“I think it might be difficult. We’ve accepted quite a significant task this time.”
“Don’t feel too pressured about that. The family head merely asked you to seize the opportunity if it arises, nothing more.”
The mission directly received from Ravitas family head Osel—to eliminate a family traitor and recover a Holy Relic.
According to Rida, very few within the Ravitas family were even aware of this matter.
If it became widely known, the family’s reputation would suffer considerably.
She mentioned that three or four upper-rank nobles had each taken a team of subordinates to pursue in different directions, but without exceptional tracking abilities like Zahar possessed, the likelihood of finding the target was virtually nonexistent.
“I can’t promise we’ll find them, but if we do, we’ll certainly recover it.”
In truth, the unlimited healing rights promised by the family head weren’t particularly valuable to Turan’s group.
After all, if they eliminated the traitor and absorbed their magical power into the Holy Relic, Turan himself could become a healer of tremendous skill.
Even considering this, returning the Holy Relic was still more beneficial than keeping it for their own use.
‘Using a Holy Relic freely would shatter even our thin veneer of friendly relations if we were caught… but returning it would secure a great family as a definite ally.’
Nagin, Arabion, Zahar, and Baraha.
Considering they were potentially at odds with at least four great families and the fallen gods behind them, having a friendly great family not under divine control was essential.
Currently, the relationship between Turan’s group and Ravitas was merely that of friends who had helped each other with a few necessary tasks.
If they bestowed the great favor of recovering the Holy Relic, they might establish a more strategic alliance.
Perhaps they could even form a long-term coalition against the gods.
Compared to that, a Holy Relic that merely prevented aging without guaranteeing immortality wasn’t particularly valuable.
Besides, he could gain the same anti-aging ability simply by capturing the Ravitas bloodline in his Mimic Holy Relic.
“Well, this old woman trusts you. You’re such rare, reliable, and kind young people in today’s world. Whenever you’re in the area, don’t hesitate to visit.”
“Thanks for the hospitality, Lady Rida!”
Solif, his face regaining its vitality after weeks of gambling halls and taverns, called out cheerfully.
Pleased by his spirited demeanor, Rida chuckled and then looked at Turan and Meisa.
“I saw your dancing the other day—you’re quite skilled. I’d love to see it again next time.”
At the mention of their dancing in the garden, Meisa blushed, while Solif tilted his head in confusion, not understanding the reference.
Only Turan, who had known through his Holy Relic’s perception that Rida occasionally watched them, smiled awkwardly.
* * *
After leaving Rida’s mansion, rather than flying directly toward the southern sea on Bije’s swing, Turan’s group headed to a nearby dormant volcanic area.
It was the hot spring region where Aikul, the monkey king, lived—the place where Turan had first met Rida.
“It’s been a while, Aikul.”
“This guy’s expression always looks unpleasant whenever I see him. Do you dislike me that much?”
As Solif grumbled, Aikul indeed wrinkled his nose and frowned at him… But when Meisa waved in greeting right after, he grinned and waved back.
While Bije, who had grown almost as powerful as Aikul, teased him with wind magic and received a forehead flick in return, the three collected sulfur from the secret area inside the hot springs that Rida had told them about.
Afterward, they bid farewell to Aikul and flew eastward to the sea. Moving at a moderate pace with appropriate rest breaks, it took them just two days to reach the southern sea.
Looking down at the coastline spread below, Turan opened a notebook where he had recorded the hometowns of the people rescued from Parayan Island.
“Osti Village, north of Lunan City… should be around here.”
“Isn’t that the village visible right there?”
Having obtained a map of Ravitas-controlled territories from Rida, they could easily locate cities and villages in the western part of the southern sea.
Shortly after, upon entering a fishing village, Turan met three of the survivors he had rescued—two men and one woman.
“Ah, aah…”
“Mage, sir!”
“Our savior. It is truly an honor to see you again—”
The survivors who recognized his face reacted in different ways.
Some were so overcome with emotion they could only sob, some prostrated themselves with exclamations, while others tried to express their gratitude using formal language they weren’t accustomed to using.
Invited into one of their homes, Turan briefly heard about how they had been faring.
“You saw people disembarking at Gorong Village and Tospa City?”
“Yes. We were the next group, so I remember clearly…”
“Then we don’t necessarily need to visit those places.”
“No, we should still go. I want to confirm they’re doing well.”
It seemed the Red Whale pirates had kept their promise, returning survivors to various port cities and villages throughout the southern sea.
Of course, some survivors had nowhere to return to, as their villages had been completely destroyed by pirate attacks. In such cases, they had settled alongside other survivors.
“My wife was just such a case. When I heard her hometown had burned down, I told her I would take responsibility and support her, so we’re living together now.”
The man’s words caused the woman beside him to blush, her expression turning shy.
When they had been abused by pirates, all had appeared sickly and close to death, but now they seemed to be living quite well, which was reassuring.
After chatting a bit longer, Turan’s group left the village, leaving behind survivors who vowed eternal gratitude.
They continued visiting port cities and villages throughout Ravitas territories.
Most appeared to have resettled and were living well, but occasionally they encountered unpleasant situations.
“Is there someone named Sorow in this village? He would have arrived about half a year ago.”
“Ah, I remember him. He was a fellow who had suffered greatly after being captured by pirates. But his illness worsened shortly after returning, and he…”
“Is there a grave perhaps?”
“A grave, you ask? Well, that’s—”
“There is. Show me.”
The village headman’s expression showed obvious panic.
Detecting the scent of fear emanating from him, Turan practically bullied him into leading them to the grave of the survivor he had rescued.
Shortly after, Turan used earth manipulation magic to open the crudely constructed grave and examined the rotting corpse, noting the large wound on the back of the head.
Based on the marks, it appeared to have been inflicted with a shovel or an axe.
“This doesn’t look like a death from illness, by anyone’s standards.”
“I, I don’t…”
“Tell me honestly, and I’ll give you a painless death.”
Already suspecting the headman’s involvement, Turan freely employed torture techniques, extracting confessions that the headman and several influential villagers had conspired to kill the survivor.
The motive was, predictably, the generous settlement funds Turan had provided to each survivor.
Those who had remaining relatives in the village generally avoided such problems, but those who had lost all family and settled alone often fell victim to this kind of scheme.
In each such case, Turan inflicted horrific torture to identify the perpetrators, tearing them to pieces and hanging their remains at the village entrance.
“Re-report this to the city…”
“Shh, be quiet.”
Naturally, the villagers were terrified of this mage who suddenly appeared and tortured and killed their leaders, but Turan paid no mind.
Ravitas would likely overlook such minor crimes committed by him anyway.
“Wow.”
“Let’s go now.”
Solif and Meisa appeared disgusted by such brutal scenes but didn’t attempt to stop Turan.
They had heard about his past experience when he almost lost his sheep farm to the elders of Hisaril Hill Village.
Anyone could easily guess that Turan was equating those who had oppressed him in the past with these villagers.
After passing through about ten such places, they traveled by boat throughout the southern sea and eventually revisited Parayan Island.
Jumping down from the boat, Solif whistled as he peered at the shore.
“So this is the land of gold?”
“Didn’t you tell me about this place?”
“I mentioned it, but I never visited personally. I just passed along information I’d heard.”
Indeed, Solif had informed Turan about the island where saltpeter could be found, but he had merely relayed what he’d heard from pirates he had traveled with at the time.
They repaired the half-ruined pirate dwellings that had been abandoned for quite some time and spent the night there, then entered the mine in the interior of the island as day broke.
“Well, time to work again after so long.”
“Damn. I can’t believe we’re doing this again.”
“Stop complaining and let’s get to it.”
The three picked up pickaxes and began digging vigorously, just as Turan had done in the past.
Using earth manipulation and telekinesis magic—which they had mastered during the reclamation project—to maintain and repair the ceiling was an added benefit.
Of course, all three were far more powerful than Turan had been back then, so their work efficiency was considerably higher.
The mine, which had already experienced one invasion by a mage miner, now had more holes than an ant colony.
After spending a full day in the mine, the three emerged with hundreds of kilograms of unrefined gold and silver, and more than a ton of saltpeter.
“This should be enough to put our minds at ease for quite some time.”
“Indeed. We’ve secured much more than we used before.”
Their supply of Fire Soul had been dangerously depleted, not only from the massive consumption during the battle with the Giant Sea Serpent but also from consistent use during practice afterward.
The purpose of this visit to Parayan Island was to secure large quantities of saltpeter to replenish it.
While Turan combined sulfur and charcoal to create Fire Soul, Meisa and Solif shaped the gold and silver they had acquired into ingots.
Thanks to the molds they had requested from Rida beforehand, it was simply a matter of melting and cooling repeatedly—not a particularly difficult task.
Before long, large quantities of black powder, gold ingots, and silver ingots were piled in front of the mine.
“All done.”
“Whew, we’re practically rich. Though by great family standards, it’s probably not that impressive.”
“This is more than enough wealth for wandering nobles to carry around.”
They each took a share of the Fire Soul but buried most of the gold and silver ingots deep in the mine.
Although each possessed a large-capacity pouch—Solif had a backpack—storing such quantities of gold and silver might prevent them from carrying other necessary items.
“I wonder if someone might dig it up.”
“This island doesn’t seem to attract much interest anyway, so it should be fine. Even if someone finds the mine, they’d have difficulty reaching where we’ve buried everything.”
Indeed, the mine they had thoroughly ransacked was practically an ant colony now.
It was in such a state that even the slightest disturbance could cause a chain collapse.
Unless someone already knew that gold and silver ingots were buried in the deepest part, they wouldn’t be inclined to enter such a place.
At this point, Solif muttered as if struck by a thought:
“Maybe this is how ancient treasure maps were created. If we die here, it’s exactly like the legend of vast treasures sleeping on an island.”
“You’re right.”
The three looked at each other and burst into laughter.
* * *
After completing their business on Parayan Island, Turan’s group visited the Red Whale pirates and sought out their leader, Tasan.
Seeing not only Turan, whom he had sworn to call “big brother,” but also Solif, his former drinking buddy, Tasan greeted them joyfully, bumping shoulders before letting out a yelp of pain.
“What have you done to become so solid?”
“Hehe, that’s a secret.”
Of course, Solif had been much stronger than Tasan even before, but as one with the Sun bloodline, his physical abilities were considerably inferior to Tasan’s History bloodline.
In contrast, having now awakened the Guardian bloodline, his physical abilities were at least equal, with his durability far superior.
Eventually, shaking hands with Turan and realizing he too had grown stronger—Turan had preemptively activated his Warrior bloodline for this—Tasan adopted a somewhat dejected expression.
“You all seem to have had magnificent adventures. By the way, is that beautiful lady over there your partner, big brother?”
“Not yet.”
When Turan answered quietly enough that Meisa wouldn’t hear, Solif, who was close enough to catch it, snickered.
Shortly afterward, the three lightly toasted with drinks at Tasan’s quarters while chatting.
When Turan mentioned returning the Parayan Island survivors to their homes, Tasan laughed heartily.
“Of course it went well! I, Tasan, have never failed at anything I’ve staked my name on!”
“Impressive!”
“Of course!”
Seeing Solif perfectly match Tasan’s rhythm as they bumped fists, looking truly like brothers, Turan burst into laughter and poured a heap of gold ingots onto the table.
Only now realizing the existence of the large-capacity pouch, Tasan’s eyes widened as he alternated glances between the pile of gold ingots and Turan.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
“To help with household management. It’s good to have plentiful resources.”
“No, I—”
Turan extended his hand to cover Tasan’s mouth as he tried to say he hadn’t asked for payment.
“Don’t think of it as payment, but as an investment or gesture of goodwill. Toward the Red Whale family that controls a portion of the southern sea.”
“The Red Whale family?”
“A mage family that protects humanity—that makes it a family, doesn’t it?”
At Turan’s words, Tasan wore an expression suggesting he didn’t know how to respond, chewing his lip before turning his head swiftly.
Though not clearly visible, he seemed to be fighting back tears.
After this wave of emotion passed, Tasan, his face flushed as if slightly drunk, brought up an unexpected topic.
“Speaking of which, I saw something frightening recently.”
“Something frightening?”
“A warship bearing the crest of a family I’ve never seen before passed near this island, and when it encountered a pirate ship, golden flashes of light poured down, cutting the ship in half. I tried to help, but seeing that, I fled with my tail between my legs. If they had pursued us, we might have died.”
The moment they heard about golden flashes of light, all three faces hardened simultaneously.
Just from the description, it was clearly Baraha’s secret technique, the Light of Judgment.
Moreover, if it could cut a ship in half with a single strike, the user must have been at least an upper-rank practitioner.
“If you encounter them, it could be dangerous, so remember this. Their sail has a yellow circle covered by white triangles in the center, with four symbols like this underneath.”
Thinking it might be difficult to understand from words alone, Tasan spilled some liquor on the table and drew the pattern with his finger.
There was a sun-like symbol in the center, with four star-like symbols arranged beneath it.
Seeing this, Solif’s face hardened, and he stood up immediately.
“Excuse me. Tasan, may I speak with Turan privately?”
“Hmm?”
Tasan showed disappointment at being excluded from a secret conversation, but quickly decided that being upset over such matters was unmanly and nodded.
After pulling Turan aside, Solif sighed deeply and said:
“That crest he just described is Baraha’s.”
“I figured as much.”
Placing a yellow circle with triangular shapes around it typically symbolized the sun.
Combined with the mention of the Light of Judgment, it was easy to deduce that a Baraha warship had passed through.
But judging by Solif’s expression, he hadn’t pulled Turan aside merely for that reason.
“The stars at the bottom indicate the user’s status. One star represents family attendants or vassal families, two stars are for regular members and heads of vassal families, three stars for elders or those with special positions, and… four stars can only be used by the family head.”
This meant that the ship Tasan had just described carried none other than the head of the Baraha family.