Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 134

Chapter 134

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After the brief yet lengthy moment of the kiss ended, it was Turan who pulled away first.

The reason was, amusingly enough, that he couldn’t breathe.

His nose, broken from being hit earlier, was still completely clogged with blood, and now his mouth was blocked as well.

“Hhhff…”

After taking several breaths in and out, Turan first realigned his nose with his hand and extracted the blood filling it using fluid manipulation magic.

The blood that had been gushing out finally stopped after he drank the recovery potion from his magical device several times.

Meisa, who was standing behind him, wiped her blood-stained lips and asked:

“…You don’t think you can just gloss over things this way, do you?”

“Of course not.”

Bursting into a casual laugh as he stood up, Turan met her still-swollen eyes.

Her blue irises glistened with retained tears.

He had known for quite some time that Meisa’s fondness for him had transformed into something romantic.

After all, such emotions were among the most easily detected by Zahar’s sense of smell.

Yet there were several reasons why he hadn’t clarified their relationship.

Concerns that if their relationship deepened too much, Solif, as the third member of their trio, might feel excluded, or that he himself couldn’t be certain of his feelings.

But continuing to use such excuses and stepping back now, in this situation, would be cowardly and even foolish.

“You’re the only one I consider my partner, Meisa. No matter who comes from Zahar, I absolutely won’t fall for them.”

Partner—this first word defining their relationship was incredibly weighty yet sweet.

Turan’s voice as he spoke these words contained no trace of hesitation.

Having finally spoken it aloud, he could confirm with certainty that his thoughts were aligned with hers.

If anything, he regretted not saying it sooner.

Upon hearing this, Meisa made a soft “mmmh” sound before burying her face in Turan’s chest and saying:

“…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For hitting you.”

Saying simply “for hitting you” was rather understated considering the extent of Turan’s injuries.

His cheekbone appeared to be shattered as his face was swollen, and even his nasal bone had broken.

Fortunately, he had developed some tolerance for such injuries, having experienced them quite frequently in the dueling arena.

In fact, when Turan had beaten Meisa into submission there, he had inflicted even greater wounds.

“Well, I deserved it.”

Conversely, if Meisa had declared she would court someone from among the Arabion nobles for strategic reasons, Turan too would have gone half-mad with jealousy.

Instead of beating her, he probably would have stormed the Arabion main house to assassinate the man.

Of course, there were reasons for making such a unilateral decision without prior consultation.

If he had said he would consult with others before deciding, Talis would have recognized how important Meisa was to Turan, that she could be a vulnerability—that had been his calculation.

“Hearing that now, I feel like I’m the only one acting childish.”

“Everyone grows through such experiences.”

“Says the one younger than me…”

Meisa burst into laughter at Turan’s quip.

Had Solif, who was about thirty years older than both of them, seen this, he might have remarked that they were just children playing together.

After sharing warmth for quite some time as they bantered, Meisa spoke softly:

“Don’t be too harsh to her.”

“You mean the granddaughter of the Zahar family head?”

“Yes. She’s also being sold off, isn’t she? At least treat her well as a guest.”

“Well, that’s…”

Turan recalled his conversation with Talis.

Hadn’t he said, like the cruel and merciless Zahar noble that he was, that he knew what to prioritize and what to cut away if necessary?

That wasn’t just a random lie that had escaped his lips.

If the Zahar young lady quietly played her part in this peace charade and then left, that would be fine.

But if she crossed that line, Turan could certainly become a monster.

* * *

Several hours later, when Turan and Meisa returned to Kalamaf, they looked much the same as when they had left, except for the soil and dust covering their bodies.

Of course, there were faint bruise marks on his face, and his broken nose was still somewhat red and swollen.

Even this was the result of drinking the recovery potion magical device until his stomach nearly burst.

Upon their return, the two resumed their relationship as if nothing had happened before the Zahar nobles’ visit.

More precisely, they seemed subtly closer and more uninhibited than before.

The influential figures of Kalamaf were uncertain how to interpret this fact.

Eventually, Solif, who was on equal footing with them and thus felt comfortable broaching the subject, casually asked Turan on behalf of everyone:

“…Hey, so is everything resolved?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Oh, you know, somehow.”

Since similar vague answers came even when asking Meisa, the truth remained buried in darkness.

However, everyone could clearly see that their relationship had definitely changed from before, becoming more tightly and tenaciously intertwined.

After the unsettled atmosphere calmed somewhat, Turan gathered the city’s nobles to announce a new development.

He would be leaving Kalamaf for a short while.

“How long…?”

“Probably no more than a week at most.”

During the recent battle in the forest against the two vessels, Turan had been struck in the chest by Ymir’s ice axe.

Some of the ice flowers that bloomed from the wound at that time had pierced his lungs, leaving injuries that caused him to cough up blood occasionally, even after considerable time had passed since the battle.

To treat this, he had consistently taken recovery potions and received help from their only healer, but whether due to Turan’s excessively powerful magical energy or because it was an injury caused by “god’s magic,” the lung wound showed no signs of healing.

What was needed to recover was a high-ranking healer from Ravitas.

Given the difficulty of movement in the current situation, he had recently sent a letter to Rida requesting a visit, but for some reason, she had replied that it was difficult for her to leave at present.

This meant that to fully recover, Turan needed to go there himself.

“But our security and contingency escape plans are all focused on Arabion—don’t we need to be wary of Zahar too? I’m quite suspicious about whether they’ll keep their promise.”

In response to Solif’s question, Turan nodded.

“I can’t absolutely guarantee it, but they’ll likely keep their word. We’ve already demonstrated our abilities. We’ve also publicly spread the non-aggression treaty, so breaking it would damage their honor.”

While they had essentially crossed the river halfway with Arabion by capturing Kadram’s soul, there wasn’t yet such a deep grievance between Turan and Zahar.

More precisely, Turan harbored unilateral hostility knowing Talis was his father’s killer, but the other side was unaware of this fact.

In this situation, the combat power demonstrated by Turan’s group, both now and as proven in the forest battle, was too formidable for Zahar to risk an adventure.

Moreover, they had shown that they weren’t rampaging around threatening to kill all the gods but were willing to compromise.

In other words, Turan wasn’t trusting Zahar’s honesty and good faith, but rather the political structure he had calculated based on information collected thus far.

In fact, from this perspective, the likelihood of Arabion attacking was also not particularly high.

The damage Turan’s group had inflicted on them in the previous battle had been that devastating.

After the meeting ended, Meisa patted Turan’s back to dust it off and said:

“Be careful. We’ll protect things well here.”

Indeed, one reason he could take such a trip was because two practitioners of comparable skill would remain behind.

Turan nodded as he noticed the glimpse of golden armor visible beneath Meisa’s neck.

The Guardian of the Sky.

This powerful Holy Relic, which Kadram had originally carried, was now being worn by Meisa underneath her clothes.

Wearing that now, if she were to enter the dueling arena, she might even be more likely to defeat Turan.

At that moment, perhaps misinterpreting Turan’s gaze, Meisa planted a light kiss on his cheek with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Watching this from the side, Solif let out a shriek and twisted his body wildly.

* * *

After leaving Kalamaf, Turan immediately mounted Bije and began flying southwest.

Perhaps happy to be flying alone together after so long?

Bije continuously hummed songs in the voice only Turan could hear in his mind, flying much faster than usual.

-The silver-haired grandfather wove a net, from within the finely fragmented picture, he kept telling fairy tales!

After listening to such children’s songs from who-knows-where for some time.

A day and a half later, Turan had passed the boundary between the forest region and the Enril Desert, entering the Siraf wetlands.

Looking carefully at the surroundings, he felt that the capital of Ravitas, Merem City, would soon be visible.

Having passed through here quite frequently, he could now distinguish the once indistinguishable marshlands to some extent.

‘I’d like to see how much the southern reclaimed land has changed if I get the chance.’

Of course, considering that Kalamaf’s self-defense capability was weakened during his absence, this wasn’t really advisable.

It would take quite some time just to go down to Merem from here, and being further south meant it would take that much longer to return.

One thing he had learned recently was that some spiritual flow was coming to him from the far south.

When he activated his spiritual perception, he could feel a steady flow of power from the distant south, probably somewhere around the pioneering land.

While he wasn’t yet sure how this worked, it didn’t feel negative.

After about a day and a half.

Turan landed secretly near Merem City, absorbed Bije into his body, and headed straight for Rida’s mansion.

Having stayed here quite a while, the face of the servant guarding the entrance was familiar.

“Oh, great one…”

“Skip the formalities. Is Lady Rida inside? Please tell her I apologize for visiting without an appointment.”

At Turan’s words, the servant’s face showed signs of embarrassment.

“The mistress is not in the mansion.”

“Is that so?”

In fact, Turan already knew through his Holy Relic’s detection ability that Rida wasn’t in the mansion.

Asking was merely a matter of courtesy.

“Then I’d like to stay until she returns, if that’s alright?”

“Umm, well.”

Turan frowned at the servant’s hesitant attitude.

Rida had previously told him he was welcome anytime, so naturally, he should be admitted.

After some uncomfortable hesitation, the servant led Turan inside the mansion.

After thoroughly washing his body, which had become dirty from sleeping outdoors for a day, and enjoying a delicious meal, Turan asked the maid who had been attending him:

“Do you know when Lady Rida will return?”

“What? Well, I don’t really…”

For some reason, the maid seemed greatly flustered by Turan’s question.

Afterward, he posed similar questions to several other servants, but they all failed to answer about Rida’s whereabouts or when she would return.

Finally, when he pressed the butler, a satisfactory answer emerged.

“Lady Rida has not returned to the mansion for several months.”

“For months?”

“Yes. To be precise, the last time was when she went to the main house to attend a welcoming banquet for the Baraha family head who visited recently.”

Turan’s eyes narrowed at the butler’s words.

“That’s strange, because I exchanged letters with her about two weeks ago.”

“The letters were delivered to the main house and answers received.”

This meant that Rida was staying at the main house and could write letters but couldn’t return to her mansion.

It smelled incredibly suspicious.

“Do you know exactly what’s happening?”

“No. But one thing I do know is that after the Baraha family head visited and left, many high-ranking nobles from our family have been staying at the family head’s residence. As for what’s happening inside, even I don’t…”

The Baraha family head who had traveled by ship across the southern sea toward the Siraf wetlands months ago.

At that time, Turan’s group had merely speculated that he might have been seeking treatment for some physical ailment.

Their ability to launch a surprise attack on the Baraha headquarters and extract Solif’s parents was also due to his absence.

Turan gazed at the distant residence of the Ravitas family head before saying to the butler:

“I’ll write a letter that I’d like delivered to the main house. So that Lady Rida can read it.”

The content of Turan’s letter was simple.

He had come seeking Rida’s help, and if she needed his assistance in any way, he was willing to provide it.

Whatever problem required the high nobles to gather at the Ravitas main house, if it wasn’t resolved, Turan would have to remain at Rida’s mansion.

Otherwise, he would have to return to Kalamaf without accomplishing anything.

‘It looks like my stay will be longer than expected.’

He grew anxious thinking that every minute he spent away, Kalamaf, his precious people, could be in danger… This was the trade-off of establishing a base.

The one fortunate thing was that they weren’t without means of communication.

That night, Turan comforted himself by conversing with Meisa through their hand mirror magical device at the scheduled time.

* * *

The reply to Turan’s letter, delivered through the butler, arrived around noon the next day.

Instead of writing back, Rida sent someone who appeared to be a servant from the main house to invite him to the family head’s residence.

‘I hope this isn’t… a trap.’

If something was amiss, he could detect it with his Mimic Holy Relic’s perception.

However, if it truly was a trap, it would mean the end of his relationship with Ravitas, which he desperately hoped would not be the case.

Without their help, the only way to receive high-quality treatment would be for Turan to kill a healer and feed their magical power to his Holy Relic.

Upon reaching the family head’s residence, Turan frowned at the presences he sensed inside.

He could see about a dozen high-ranking nobles surrounding a powerful mage who appeared to be the Ravitas family head, Osel.

‘It looks like they’re all treating Osel, could it be?’

The image that immediately came to mind upon seeing this arrangement was half-confirmed when he met Rida shortly after entering.

“It’s been a while, Turan. I’m sorry I couldn’t come out to greet you.”

“Not at all. It’s I who should have come to you.”

Meeting Rida after several months, she still looked young and beautiful, but whether due to the worry on her face or fatigue, she somehow appeared strangely older and more exhausted.

Turan could see that the flow of magical power in her body had become weak and unstable.

‘She’s in a state of depleted physical strength from excessive use of healing magic. So that’s what happened…’

“So, you need my help?”

“Yes. I was severely injured in a recent battle, and though I’ve recovered, there are lingering after-effects that I’d like treatment for.”

After briefly hesitating at Turan’s words, Rida sighed and said:

She seemed to find it difficult to even broach the subject.

“I’m sorry, but that seems impossible right now.”

“Is it because of the family head?”

“How did you…?”

Rida’s face contorted with shock at being hit right on the mark.

“You look fatigued from excessive magical power use. With other Ravitas nobles also gathered and not leaving, what other reason could there be?”

In reality, he had seen the result through his Mimic Holy Relic and merely deduced the rest, but Rida had no way of knowing this.

She nodded with a deep sigh.

“Yes, you’re right. The Baraha family head launched a surprise attack and inflicted severe injuries. We’re all doing our utmost to help him recover, but we can barely maintain his current state. I’m sorry, but we don’t have the magical power to spare for your recovery.”

“I’m surprised this hasn’t become public knowledge.”

If family head level mages had fought with full power, and even their followers had participated in the battle, the impact alone should have been enough to half-destroy the capital city of Merem.

At Turan’s words, she clicked her tongue.

“It’s because my Osel was too kind. He didn’t want us to die seeking revenge. So we had to let them go.”

If Osel, the world’s most skilled healer, couldn’t recover on his own, this must have been no ordinary attack.

It was probably either god’s magic using symbol combinations or the effect of a powerful Holy Relic.

“The one fortunate thing is that the Baraha family head was also severely injured. I imagine they’ll have difficulty recovering as well. Without us, there’s no one who could use healing magic powerful enough for such a powerful figure.”

“Do you know why they attacked?”

“The initial reason was that we had hidden Baraha’s heir. Beyond that, Osel had a private conversation with him, but I wasn’t privy to that.”

This meant that Solif’s existence was one of the pretexts for the attack.

Whether that was truly the reason remained uncertain, but it had certainly been a factor.

As Solif’s friend, Turan bit his lip tightly.

“What about the task I was asked to do previously?”

If she meant the task she had requested, it would be finding Ravitas’s stolen Holy Relic.

Hadn’t she said they knew nothing except that it had disappeared eastward by ship?

The moment he heard the question, Turan thought he understood what she was implying.

“That’s the answer, isn’t it?”

A Holy Relic that granted its user powerful recovery and purification magic.

That would certainly be a viable method to heal the Ravitas family head, Osel.