Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 154

Chapter 154

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“Hmm…”

In the early evening, Turan returned from training and let out a soft groan as he immersed himself in the hot bath prepared within his quarters.

Originally hailing from the western wastelands where water was scarce, he had been unaccustomed to soaking in baths. However, since experiencing the hot springs of the Siraf wetlands, he had taken to enjoying such baths whenever he had the chance.

In truth, this level of indulgence was hardly considered extravagant for the head of a mage family. Especially since he even went so far as to heat the water himself using ignition magic to save on firewood.

‘I’m exhausted.’

Managing the internal affairs of the family, coordinating relations with surrounding factions, and on top of that, personal training-the position of head of the great family Parsha came with a heavy burden of responsibilities.

Even with the superior physique of a family-head-level mage and the exceptional recovery abilities granted by his Holy Relic set to the Ravitas bloodline, Turan’s current schedule was so grueling that even he felt fatigued.

Of course, not all heads of great families led such busy lives. It was only because he was the head of a newly established family with an overwhelming number of systems to set up and powerful enemies surrounding them.

Even this moment of rest in the hot spring wasn’t purely for relaxation. Turan closed his eyes, awakened his spiritual perception, and began to combine the symbols within his inner self one by one.

‘Great Technician, Thunder Caller, Hunter, Tracker.’

Having learned how to combine two of the four symbols, the next step was to figure out how to combine the remaining two. Ultimately, he would need to find a way to combine all four symbols.

That would be the path to approach the power wielded by the true gods, the ancient Freya deities.

‘Though I’m not sure if such a method even exists.’

Turan recalled what he had learned from the half-elves about combining symbols. According to them, the bloodline abilities of nobles originated from the ‘classes’ in the game they used to play. Or, as the librarian had once mentioned, they could also be called ‘archetypes.’

Initially, one class was given as a default, and additional classes could be unlocked by completing specific tasks. These tasks included rituals like burning a creature and wearing its ashes or riding waves, as Turan had witnessed in the past.

In this way, a total of four archetypes or classes could be acquired.

The issue was that there was a predetermined formula for combining them. According to the half-elves, the four bloodline abilities Turan currently possessed did not fit into any existing formula. In other words, he was a flawed character without a ‘final class’ like the completed gods.

[Has there ever been a case where a combination not existing in that game succeeded?]

[Not to my knowledge. Besides, after merging with the white elves, we lost the ability to handle souls at a higher dimension.]

Dismissing Lesion’s voice to the back of his mind, Turan refocused his consciousness inward.

Wind and lightning intertwined, a black mist settled around them, and snow-

“Ah…”

Once again, the black mist dissipated as if chased away by the lightning’s light.

Could it truly be impossible to combine these? Or did he need to fundamentally learn how to combine the Hunter and Tracker, the two Zahar bloodlines, first?

Soaking in the hot bath, Turan practiced a few more times before stopping as dizziness set in. Continuing to train while his spiritual energy was depleted could lead to all sorts of side effects warned about in the soul magic book.

At that moment, a soft, gentle female voice tickled his ear from right behind him.

“You should focus on resting when you’re resting.”

Meisa, who had joined him in the bath, spoke in a calm tone as if soothing a child.

Already sensing her presence, Turan wasn’t startled.

“You’re back early? You said it might take a few days.”

“I got lucky. One of the dwarves leaving their hideout got caught by the tracking magical device.”

A few days ago, Meisa had set out to eradicate dwarves after hearing reports of their appearances in several small towns northeast of Kalamaf. She explained that the hideout she tracked them to was swarming with hundreds of dwarves, just like before. However, unlike that time, they didn’t possess any special magical devices, so burning them all to ashes posed no particular difficulty.

Turan now knew that those devices were called steam rifles and steam cannons, relics of the ancient dwarven scientific civilization before the Biologist’s manipulations.

‘Should I weaponize those items, or…’

While they might not affect some powerful nobles, lower-tier nobles and knights would inevitably be vulnerable to mass-produced firearms and cannons. This was evident from how the steam rifles and cannons had harmed them before. Moreover, considering that the gods had deemed such developments taboo, if Zahar and Carmine, who desired conflict between Parsha and Arabion, got seriously involved…

“Hm?”

Lost in complex thoughts for a moment, Turan felt wet hands cover his eyes.

“I told you, focus on resting when you’re resting.”

Her voice was like a gentle reprimand to a child, yet soft and warm. Tickled by the voice in his ear and enveloped in a tender embrace, Turan smiled and closed his eyes.

* * *

In the early dawn, Turan, who had been sound asleep, was awakened by a sudden call.

Since the family head’s bedroom was thoroughly sealed during sleep, this signal came from a magical device used by servants to summon him from outside-something they wouldn’t dare activate unless it was a truly urgent matter.

As expected, when he opened the door, a knight with a pale face saluted and delivered the urgent news.

“Ofen City is under attack?”

“Yes! According to the signal fires, it’s an attack by large creatures and mages!”

“Large creatures…”

The first thing that came to mind was Armani’s relatives, the Giant Sea Serpent clan.

It was common knowledge among those in the know that the Parsha family possessed a magical device capable of spatial travel. Connecting that to the existence of the Jade Mirror wasn’t particularly surprising.

However,

‘Even if other families might figure it out, it’s unexpected that they would catch on so quickly.’

That common knowledge was mostly limited to the upper echelons, the mage class. The methods the Giant Sea Serpents had for gathering information from human society were limited to a few pirate underlings in ports or islands. There was no way they could access such high-level intelligence.

Moreover, hadn’t they been busy waging war against the Carmine family until recently?

‘Someone who knew about the Jade Mirror must have informed the merfolk. Who could it be? Carmine, Arabion, Zahar, Ruban…’

In reality, almost every great family except his two allies could be considered suspects, rendering such speculation meaningless.

What mattered was that Ofen, the only port city of the Parsha family, was under attack. Considering the distance between the two cities and the speed of signal fire transmission, the attack likely began one to two days ago.

Turan immediately reached out, grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from nearby, wrote a command, and handed it to the knight.

“Deliver this to Meisa.”

“Yes!”

The content he wrote was simple: he would go ahead to handle the situation, so she should assemble a proper army and provide support. Since weaker mages would be of little use against Giant Sea Serpents, he instructed her to gather only mid-tier or higher nobles, specifically those who could ride the family’s mounted magical beasts, and to come quickly.

After confirming that the knight had departed for Meisa’s quarters, Turan headed straight to Armani’s residence and woke the sleeping merman.

“Yawn, what’s, what’s going on… the sun isn’t even up yet…”

“It seems your relatives are destroying my city, so we need to go together.”

At Turan’s words, Armani’s face stiffened.

“They know I’m here?”

“Probably. If you’re scared, I won’t force you to come.”

If they fought near the sea, Armani’s presence would be a significant asset, but since he had sought refuge with Turan to be protected from them in the first place, forcing him to fight wasn’t an option. Moreover, hadn’t he already provided immense help with the Jade Mirror?

At Turan’s words, Armani hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

“No, no. I’ll go with you! If you die, I won’t have anywhere else to run to anyway.”

For this merman boy, giving up the protection of the Parsha family wasn’t an easy choice. If he left here and moved inland, he would have to avoid human society to keep his identity hidden, living in hiding near lakes or rivers. Naturally, the luxurious treatment he currently enjoyed would end.

Having grown up receiving the finest care in the merman kingdom, Armani couldn’t bear the thought of such a life.

“Then let’s depart immediately. Bije!”

At his call, Bije emerged from his body and, after giving Armani a displeased look, enlarged herself.

Climbing onto her back, Turan heard a grumbling voice only he could hear: ‘I don’t want to carry this fishy-smelling fish.’

After a few hours of flight, piercing through the damp dawn fog as faint sunlight heralded the morning, Turan arrived at a completely devastated Ofen.

“It’s already over.”

He had anticipated this, but seeing the scene in person didn’t feel good.

The port and buildings reduced to complete ruins, with scattered corpses visible here and there…

To begin with, Ofen only had a few dozen mages, of which merely three or four were nobles. It was only natural that even a single Giant Sea Serpent could devastate the place, let alone a group of them.

“Armani, give me your hand.”

“Why? Ouch!”

Armani, who had obediently extended his hand while asking, yelped as Turan cut his finger with a knife.

Rubbing a handful of the blood that emerged between his hands, Turan immediately activated tracking magic.

‘The target is a merman, of the same species as the owner of this blood with transformation abilities. Or a close blood relative.’

Setting conditions like this was an extremely inefficient method compared to using a part of the target’s body as a medium, but with Turan’s immense magical power, even this was manageable.

As all his senses dulled and the range of the tracking magic expanded, he felt his magical power depleting rapidly.

A moment later, Turan opened his eyes and pointed northeast.

“Found them.”

* * *

“Is it really true that the lord of that land possesses the Jade Mirror?”

“It’s a well-known story among us. Why would I lie about something that could cost me my life?”

On a warship in the Northern Sea, about two hundred kilometers from Ofen.

In response to a merman with a sinister face asking the question, a young human man answered in a somewhat frightened tone.

Just from this exchange, it was easy to discern which side held the upper hand in their relationship.

“Good. If, as you say, he is harboring the traitor of our kind… as promised, I’ll spare your life. Your family too.”

A few weeks ago, the Carmine family had been defeated by the Giant Sea Serpent merfolk, abandoning their capital, Avaccha, and retreating inland.

The man was one of the few Carmine nobles captured alive by the merfolk during that battle.

The demand of the merfolk who captured him was simple: if he knew anything about the traitor of their kind, Armani, who had disappeared with the Jade Mirror, they would spare his life.

Naturally, the Carmine noble, unaware of such information, had anticipated death, but unexpectedly, a solid clue emerged.

Namely, that the traitor had fled with an ancient merman treasure capable of connecting spaces.

Coincidentally, it was widely rumored that the Parsha family possessed a spatial travel Holy Relic.

The timing was too perfect to be mere coincidence, and the merfolk seemed to agree upon hearing the story.

Above all, upon hearing the name of the Parsha family head, they became convinced that he was harboring the traitor.

“Turan, that was definitely the name, right?”

“Even if he is one of those undying ones, won’t this just create another enemy for us?”

“Having already destroyed one of their cities, he’ll come looking for us. We can negotiate properly at that point.”

The merman royals sat on the deck of the warship they had seized from Carmine, chatting casually.

From their demeanor alone, it was hard to imagine that they were the kind who kept hundreds of humans below deck as snacks.

With his head bowed low, the Carmine noble simply prayed for this horrific time to end, whether these merfolk negotiated with the Parsha family head to retrieve the traitor or fought him.

“As you said, they were quite strong, but with our current power, they’ll have no choice but to listen if we threaten them. We’ve already brought down one of the great families they boasted about.”

As one of the merman royals boasted, the power of their clan, awakened as priests of the Giant Sea Serpents, was on an entirely different level from before.

Even one of the demon leaders, a fallen god who controlled them with the Turquoise Crown, couldn’t withstand their relentless assaults on Avaccha and had to retreat.

Of course, venturing inland would surely lead to their extermination, so they too were stuck in a stalemate, unable to advance further.

According to this human, the only port city in the land ruled by Turan Parsha, the demon who was Armani’s friend, was the one they had recently razed.

Considering the significant role ports and water transport played in human cities, Turan would have no choice but to negotiate with them.

While they were deep in conversation, the merman royals suddenly frowned and looked around.

“What’s this?”

“Something feels off-”

“Transform!”

At someone’s urgent cry, the three merfolk immediately transformed into their Giant Sea Serpent forms.

Naturally, the warship they were on shattered in an instant, and the humans aboard were crushed between the three massive serpentine bodies, staining the sea red with blood.

This included the Carmine noble who had been their lackey moments ago, the hostages of his family, and the humans they had brought as food.

Of course, the merfolk had no time to care about such things.

As soon as they transformed, a flash of light and heat erupted from the empty air, hurtling toward them.

The beam of light that emerged from nowhere pierced through the waist of one of the three serpents and half-collapsed the face of another, producing a shocking result.

[Graaah-!]

[Who-is it-!]

The cries of these enormous creatures, which to human eyes appeared not as living beings but as natural disasters, despite being slightly smaller than the Giant Sea Serpent commander who had once descended upon this sea.

Their roars sent waves crashing and storms brewing around them, yet no one answered.

[What in the world…]

The merman whose waist had been pierced moments ago muttered in a somewhat thinner voice before flinching and looking up.

He had felt a subtle sensation similar to before.

Without waiting to see who acted first, the three simultaneously dove underwater. At that moment, a flash of light like the one before sliced through the surface, evaporating the seawater and sending up a massive plume of steam.

Had they remained above, they would have been struck by the attack just as before.

[The attack… if it’s completely invisible, could it be them?]

[Zahar.]

They were well aware of the existence of demons with invisibility abilities.

They had also heard that Turan, whom they had provoked this time, possessed such a skill.

What shocked them was the power of the attack just now.

To think it could so easily shatter their scales even in their Giant Sea Serpent forms?

Even the massive rock attacks they had used during their earlier battles hadn’t produced this level of firepower.

Had he grown stronger in that short time? Or was this a hidden technique?

[Ah.]

Such thoughts were fleeting as the merfolk widened their massive eyes at a familiar presence approaching from afar.

Armani.

The one they had once held the highest hopes for, but who had now betrayed their kind and fled, was coming toward them.