Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Discord
In the meeting hall of the Parsha family.
Jemel, after presenting a rather plausible proposal to Turan and the assembled vassals, temporarily excused himself from the room.
The vassals, who had been listening quietly, finally began to discuss among themselves.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think it sounds too bad. After all, it is a disaster we need to address.”
“Moreover, I appreciate that they’re taking a submissive stance.”
Thanks to Turan’s reputation for repelling the Arabion family head and his negotiations with Zahar, the Parsha family had quickly solidified its position as a newly established great family. However, compared to the long-standing great families with deep histories and traditions, their status inevitably fell short. So, for a family like Carmine, which, while not among the oldest great families, was still considered quite powerful, to treat Parsha as superior?
It was a situation that naturally boosted their pride.
Seated at the head of the table, Turan read the atmosphere among his vassals and spoke in a low voice.
“It seems everyone is inclined to accept.”
“Yes, indeed… especially since the compensation offered by Carmine is not insignificant.”
For this collaboration, Carmine had proposed an extraordinarily generous deal: two Holy Relics, a magical warship, and two hundred tons of gold. For a request for aid from a great family, these were exceptionally favorable terms.
“Do others share this opinion?”
“I have a slightly different view.”
The one who spoke up was Haram, a guest of the Berk family and Turan’s mentor, as well as one of Parsha’s key strengths. Maintaining a solemn expression, he continued.
“With a war against Ruban expected soon and the threat from Arabion still not fully stabilized, this would essentially mean opening three fronts. We cannot handle that.”
“But don’t we have to deal with the Giant Sea Serpents eventually?”
“Since we’ve already issued a maritime ban, there’s no urgency on our side. It would be better to let Carmine, who bases their operations in the Northern Sea, handle it themselves.”
Responding coolly to a noble’s question, Haram closed his eyes and nodded, as if indicating that his input on the matter was complete.
Observing this quietly, Turan addressed everyone.
“As he said, we are not in a position to feel secure. We will decline Carmine’s proposal.”
“If we refuse, nearby families might look down on us…”
The noble who began to protest quickly trailed off under the weight of the room’s atmosphere.
Turan chose not to reprimand him, deciding it wasn’t worth diminishing his own authority over such a minor objection.
‘Thanks to my mentor speaking up against it, it’s easier to bring up the topic.’
Turan had also decided to reject the proposal the moment he heard it, but not for the reason just mentioned-concern over opening three fronts. Considering that the threat of the Giant Sea Serpents wasn’t a temporary issue, it would be better to eliminate them when the opportunity arose through cooperation.
The problem was that he couldn’t trust Carmine.
‘Forced to abandon their capital due to being overpowered? What a laughable excuse.’
Based on Turan’s recent encounter with them, the individual strength of the Giant Sea Serpent clan was roughly on par with or slightly below that of an average family head. Their numbers were around a dozen, with the king and queen likely a bit stronger. At that level, if Carmine’s leader, the Lawyer, along with other vessels, unleashed their divine powers, they could easily repel or kill them.
‘Unless, of course, Carmine’s vessels are half-elves like those of Baraha or Ruban.’
Half-elves suffered significant disadvantages when drawing upon divine powers due to the mingling of divine and white elf souls. Unlike Turan, Meisa, and Solif, who could freely combine symbols with their spirit and flesh in harmony, experiencing no particular side effects beyond spiritual energy depletion, half-elves were different. Their white elf souls and the divine symbols were fundamentally incompatible forces, or so it was said.
If Carmine’s gods were of a similar nature, it might be understandable, but if not, there was a high likelihood they had ulterior motives.
For instance, they might join forces for battle only to stab Parsha in the back at the end…
In truth, there was an even bigger reason for his refusal beyond these concerns.
It was the scent-or rather, the lack thereof.
Throughout the entire conversation, Jemel’s body emitted no scent whatsoever.
‘He’s probably using some specific magical device or Holy Relic to mask it. He must know I’m of Zahar bloodline.’
Logically, if there were no ulterior motives, there would be no reason to hide one’s scent when coming to request aid. It must be because he had something to conceal, emotions he didn’t want Turan to detect.
That alone was enough for Turan to lose any inclination to accept whatever proposal was offered.
And if refusing made them enemies?
Then they must have already harbored hostile intentions for quite some time.
Shortly after, when Jemel returned to the meeting hall and heard Turan’s refusal, a look of bewilderment crossed his face.
“Wh-Why… Family Head of Parsha, please reconsider. This isn’t just a problem for our family but for all of humanity.”
“My decision won’t change. Perhaps after Arabion is destroyed or a proper family head is installed, we might cooperate, but not now. You may leave.”
The proper family head he referred to was, of course, Meisa.
Even after this, Jemel tried various flattery and persuasive tactics to change Turan’s mind, but he was forced to close his mouth at the words, “I don’t wish to hear more.”
A mere subordinate of a family head couldn’t dare to argue further before the head of another great family.
Ultimately, having gained nothing, Jemel looked up at Turan with eyes filled with anger and muttered through gritted teeth.
Even without sensing the other’s scent, Turan could feel the raw emotion emanating from him.
“I… will take my leave. May you live long.”
Was the emotion displayed in that moment Jemel’s own, or that of the god residing within him?
Either way, it didn’t particularly matter.
* * *
Not long after, news of the incident between Parsha and Carmine spread widely to the surrounding areas.
The story of how Carmine, having lost their capital, requested aid and was refused.
Some criticized Parsha for lacking human compassion in rejecting the plea for help, while others deemed it a natural decision given the powerful enemies nearby.
Many of the upper-tier mages of the Parsha family, who had gone with Meisa to rescue Ofen not long ago, tentatively concluded that Turan’s decision was the right one.
Though a few were initially swayed by Jemel’s subservient attitude and the substantial rewards offered, upon calm reflection, they realized that succumbing to such temptations was unwise given the overwhelming strength of the Giant Sea Serpents as adversaries.
Shortly after the envoy’s visit, another event occurred that further validated Turan’s decision.
News arrived from the distant east that the great family Ruban had begun marching toward Baraha’s territory.
“War, you say?”
“That’s right. My head’s about to explode. Just when we were starting to stabilize the territory…”
Due to several successive wars, the Land of Five Lakes, Baraha’s territory, suffered from a chronic shortage of mages. As a result, even the family head, Solif, occasionally had to personally hunt magical beasts.
Though mages from Parsha and Ravitas were stationed there for both support and surveillance, their numbers were not significant, leaving little choice.
“How many troops?”
“I haven’t seen them myself, so I can’t say for sure, but the number is around twelve hundred.”
“Twelve hundred… And Baraha?”
“If we squeeze everything, maybe eight hundred. But most of them can’t be considered combat-ready.”
Even if they matched two-thirds of the enemy’s numbers, their actual combat strength was likely less than half. Moreover, unlike Ruban, which had half-elf vessels capable of wielding power, Baraha had no such entities.
“Ravitas’s forces are still returning via the Southern Sea, so the only ones who can help are us.”
“How much support can you provide?”
At Solif’s question, Turan pondered for a moment, tapping his desk with his fingers.
“It’ll be difficult to send many. We’ve been receiving reports of suspicious movements on our side as well recently.”
“Suspicious movements?”
“There are reports of mages from the western forest being spotted near the gray zone’s border.”
A few years ago, the mage families ruling the western forest region suffered near-total annihilation due to the dark elf uprising. However, they had since somewhat recovered their strength. Some who had fled returned, and nobles from nearby regions seeking to become rulers of new cities formed pioneering groups.
If their numbers were combined, they would form a considerable force. Their appearance near the border was not a positive sign for the Parsha family.
“I’ve sent people to investigate, and they claim it’s due to the discovery of several powerful magical beasts nearby… but without abducting someone for interrogation, it’s hard to know the full story.”
“Let’s not do that. It’s too dangerous. Anyway, does this mean you can’t easily spare troops either?”
Another concern was the background behind Ruban’s provocation and their decision to launch an actual attack. Unless they were fools, they wouldn’t recklessly invade after witnessing Baraha’s swift collapse. Even if they disregarded Ravitas, they must have something to rely on to face both Solif’s Baraha and Turan’s Parsha, two great families.
“For now, I can leave the main house to Meisa and provide solo support… Oh, by the way, there’s one more thing I wanted to mention.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Berit.”
At Turan’s words, Solif’s face stiffened slightly.
“What about her?”
“I’m thinking of dispatching her to Baraha. What do you think? Even if it’s not me, having a high-ranking Zahar noble there would be a great help for reconnaissance and tracking.”
“Suddenly?”
“She requested it herself.”
A few days ago, Berit had approached Turan, asking to be sent back to her home. Her reasoning was that since the bond between Turan and Meisa was so unbreakable that she couldn’t possibly come between them, she didn’t want to waste more time in Parsha. Additionally, she had grown quite fond of Meisa during her stay.
Of course, Turan had refused her request. Berit’s dispatch was tied to complex political calculations, making it a decision not to be taken lightly. Moreover, sending her back could be interpreted as a hostile signal.
However, after several discussions on the topic, Turan came to understand the real reason Berit wanted to leave Parsha. Since Solif, now the family head, rarely stayed in Kalamaf, she found it difficult to meet him often and thus wished to depart.
“…So, instead of sending her back to Zahar, you’re suggesting sending her to Baraha?”
“Anyway, her invisibility ability is nearly useless within the Temple of the Sun. I have plenty to say to Zahar as well. Since she was originally brought here under the pretext of a free romance, we can just say the target has changed. After all, the other party is still the head of a great family, right?”
Hearing this, Solif let out a groan as if struck by something, looking somewhat guilty.
Turan burst into a hearty laugh and shook his head at him.
“I have a rough idea of how far things have gone between you and Berit. Linking the two of you isn’t a bad story for our side either, so it’s fine as long as you’re okay with it.”
From their conversations, Turan knew Berit was an ambitious woman. As the daughter of an heir with considerable talent, she had once aimed for the position of successor herself. However, after hitting a wall with her upper-tier magical power, she sought power as the spouse of a family head instead. She came to Parsha hoping to form a relationship with Turan, only to be rebuffed by an iron wall. In the midst of this, her heart had turned toward Solif.
His appearance suited her tastes, he was powerful, and even if currently diminished, he was the head of the storied great family Baraha.
Unless she was a fool, she would stop futilely pursuing Turan and instead seek a way to be dispatched to Baraha after returning to her home. Thus, Turan had offered her a more appealing option.
“I’ve asked Berit to leak Zahar’s information to us in exchange for dispatching her to Baraha. Since we have to make a request to Zahar, it’s only right that we receive compensation.”
“Using even your friend’s love for politics, huh? You’re starting to sound like a corrupt higher-up.”
“If you didn’t like Berit at all, I wouldn’t have suggested this method. Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
At Turan’s words, Solif coughed awkwardly and forcibly averted his gaze.
As Turan had said, Solif, who was originally thought to prefer older married women, had somehow become strongly attracted to Berit over time.
Perhaps it was impossible to neatly categorize human romantic preferences. Could love truly be defined by rigid statements like, “I like this kind of person and dislike others”? Isn’t it more often something that strikes suddenly, embedding itself in the heart like a brand?
“Is Berit sincere about me?”
“From what I can sense, yes.”
As Turan had done in the past while disguised as Oneil before Talis, Zahar nobles could, to some extent, suppress the emotions emanating from their scent if they were conscious of it. However, Berit neither had the ability to control herself to that degree nor, at some point, did she bother hiding her feelings for Solif in front of Turan.
Though the difference between mere lust and love was subtle and hard to discern, Turan believed Berit’s feelings leaned more toward the latter.
“Damn it, fine. Let’s do that. I don’t know how we went from talking about war to women, but…”
“I just mentioned it. I’m suggesting using Berit as a Zahar noble for reconnaissance purposes.”
“Throwing a woman I like into danger?”
“Unless there’s someone with abilities like mine around, reconnaissance shouldn’t be dangerous. And if you compile the data and pass it to me, I can handle it better.”
Turan quietly pointed to a world map placed beside the lounge where they were discussing, specifically at the territory of Ruban.
At the marching speed of a typical mage army, it would take about two weeks to travel from the border to Baraha’s capital, Helio. If a high-ranking Zahar noble scouted ahead and confirmed the army’s composition and deployment, a family-head-level assassin could wreak havoc and force a retreat within that time frame.