Chapter 159

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“I greet the Master of Parsha. I am the one leading these individuals-”

Turan silently observed the disarmed Carmine mages lined up before him, focusing on the middle-aged woman at their forefront who was offering her salutations.

He recognized her from a memory of when he had disguised himself as Oneil. She was one of Carmine’s upper-tier nobles, and since she hadn’t attended the secret meeting with Talis at that time, he surmised she wasn’t a vessel of a god.

Her face, along with those of the other Carmine mages, was visibly filled with anxiety.

And understandably so.

They were already surrounded by Parsha’s mages, and standing right before them was none other than their family head.

“I’m not interested in who you are. Answer the question I just asked. What is Carmine’s army doing in a place like this?”

“I apologize, but it’s difficult for me to speak on that matter. It is, after all, an internal affair of Carmine… Urgh!”

The woman, in the midst of offering her excuses, let out a groan under the crushing pressure that seemed to weigh down her entire body.

It wasn’t the result of any particular trickery-just a light exertion of magical power to apply pressure. Yet, even this was enough for Turan’s strength to inflict near-suffocating mental anguish on someone of a knight’s caliber.

It was akin to an ant suddenly realizing the sheer enormity of a whale standing beside it. The moment one perceives a presence on an entirely different level, fear instinctively takes hold.

“If, as you say, this is merely an internal matter of Carmine, then I have no need to concern myself with it. However, sending an army into my family’s territory is a different story. This is your last warning. Speak. What is your purpose here?”

Even under pressure that would have made a less resolute person crumble, the leader of Carmine’s forces surprisingly held her ground.

“You won’t speak?”

“Over twelve hundred years ago, according to the Ebel Agreement that defined Carmine’s borders… as long as we do not descend the mountain, this place cannot be interpreted as Parsha’s territory. We are merely here to carry out a mission under orders from our main house…”

Turan quietly regarded the woman as she struggled to respond, then ceased the projection of his magical power.

Due to the silence that followed, the only sound echoing through the quiet mountain foothills was her labored breathing.

In that moment, Turan subtly accessed the jewel box and posed a question to the librarian within.

[Sir, I have a question. What is the Ebel Agreement?]

[Calling me out of the blue for nonsense? It’s a boundary agreement made 1,231 years ago between Carmine, Arabion, and the family alliance of the gray zone.]

According to the explanation that followed, the agreement had set the boundaries of their respective territories up to the mid-slope of the northern mountain range in the gray zone. Strictly speaking, the area near the summit was closer to a neutral zone.

Having obtained this information, Turan lightly clicked his tongue and nodded.

“Indeed, you’re not wrong.”

Only then did Turan realize that the other party had deliberately chosen this location with this situation in mind.

How could they know that this land was a boundary between Carmine and the gray zone, a place where responsibility was traditionally hard to enforce, without prior study? It was an agreement so old that even Turan, an avid reader, had to consult the librarian about it.

The fact that they hadn’t attacked the Parsha nobles who came to investigate and had only erected a barrier for defense was likely also for the sake of maintaining a pretext.

They could argue, “We were merely conducting our business in a neutral zone, and they attacked us,” to shift the narrative.

‘So, why go to such lengths?’

Could there really be some hidden treasure at the mountain’s summit that they came to retrieve?

No, if that were the case, Turan himself would have discovered it long ago.

He had traversed these mountains countless times, and anything significant would have been detected by the senses of his Mimic Holy Relic.

‘Their goal is to draw me here… Could it be?’

What came to Turan’s mind was the ongoing war between Baraha and Ruban in the east.

Had he not preemptively attacked and forced Ruban’s army to retreat, they would have reached Helio around this very time.

If Carmine’s army had been loitering in the northern gray zone at that point, it would naturally have been difficult for the Parsha family to provide adequate support to Baraha.

‘Come to think of it, their recent request to join forces against the Giant Sea Serpents might have a similar context.’

He had declined out of suspicion of a potential betrayal, but upon reflection, their true aim might have been to draw him out.

If Turan and Parsha’s elite were away hunting Giant Sea Serpents, supporting Baraha would naturally become challenging.

Turan, maintaining an expressionless face, glanced at the leader of Carmine’s army, who had her head bowed, and the mages behind her, before casually tossing out a question.

“By any chance, was this operation coordinated with Ruban in advance?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Neither the woman who appeared to be the army’s leader nor the other Carmine nobles showed any sign of guilt in response to Turan’s question.

Even their scents revealed no trace of the dizzying despair characteristic of someone caught in a lie.

‘Well, even if it were true, they wouldn’t inform mere pawns who aren’t even vessels.’

Though his probing yielded no results, Turan felt his hypothesis was quite plausible.

The fact that they carried out the operation even after Ruban’s army had retreated was likely due to a lack of real-time communication.

With sea routes blocked, they would also need to rely on flying magical beasts for communication. Given that Carmine and Ruban were separated by a distance that even a top-tier magical beast like Bije would take days to traverse, it was highly likely that news of Ruban’s retreat hadn’t yet reached them.

Having organized his thoughts, Turan declared to Carmine’s army.

“For now, considering that you haven’t crossed the boundary, I will refrain from punishing you.”

Hearing his words, a few of Carmine’s mages let out sighs of relief.

Of course, if Turan were to execute or capture Carmine’s army on the spot, it would come with political repercussions for him as well.

After all, they were merely stationed in a neutral zone at the boundary of the two families, maintaining a barrier without taking aggressive action.

But do people always act rationally?

Those with power, capable of doing more than others, often behave capriciously, and the head of a great family is the epitome of such power.

It wouldn’t be strange for him to act on a whim.

“However, I cannot tolerate an army of this size lingering right next to my family’s territory. As soon as you are released, vacate the mountain range.”

“I apologize, but that is a matter beyond my authority to decide.”

The resolute stance of their leader surprised not only Parsha’s mages but even some of Carmine’s own mages, their eyes widening in shock.

To think that someone would dare talk back after the head of a great family personally ordered them to leave?

Up until now, it could be excused as merely following their family’s orders, but this was a different matter.

If Turan, enraged, struck her down on the spot, it would be seen as justified.

Yet, instead of reacting with anger to her defiance, Turan spoke calmly.

“I see. So, even while your family’s capital has fallen and the humans you’re supposed to protect are suffering, you can’t stop picking fights with another family for no apparent reason.”

A crack appeared on the woman’s ironclad face at his sarcastic remark.

Anger, and shame.

‘Indeed, lingering here doesn’t hold any significant meaning. Their purpose is simply to provoke the Parsha family and prevent us from supporting Baraha.’

With that, Turan fully confirmed the opponent’s objective.

Not long after, Carmine’s army began packing up their encampment and heading north, back to where they had come from.

This was the result of her subordinates persuading their leader, who had stubbornly insisted on holding the position as per orders.

At that point, Turan sent Meisa back to Kalamaf first, then boarded Bije again to patrol eastward.

As a result, he discovered two more units stationed near the mountain summits.

Fortunately, neither of these two leaders possessed the same resolve as the first army’s commander.

Not only could he make them retreat with light intimidation, but he even managed to extract from one of them that they had been instructed to ‘stall as long as possible in this location.’

Under a sky tinged with the hues of sunset, Turan spoke to those riding behind him on Bije as they returned to Kalamaf.

“Looks like I’ve wasted a day for you busy folks. Had I known it would be this uneventful, I would have come alone.”

“Not at all, Family Head! On the contrary, we’re sorry that you had to step in for something we should have handled ourselves…”

Moson Meberun, the son of Bigen’s lord and a representative of the mages dispatched to Parsha, spoke with an apologetic expression.

As he said, such matters weren’t typically something the head of a great family would personally address.

Normally, heads of great families, with their heavy responsibilities, remained at their main houses while mid-tier nobles shuttled back and forth, exchanging messages and awaiting responses from their respective families. Resolving a single conflict could take months.

Likely, the gods ruling Carmine had hoped Turan would waste time in this manner.

It was only because he was unusually proactive that he resolved the issue so swiftly.

* * *

Upon returning to Kalamaf, Turan held a meeting with the leadership to explain the events that had transpired.

After hearing his deductions, everyone let out a collective groan almost simultaneously.

“Hmm, Carmine and Ruban…”

“We’re cooperating with Baraha, so it’s not strange that they’ve joined forces to check us, but I can’t guess the trigger. There’s no familial bond or physical proximity between the two families.”

As Asiz pointed out, it was difficult to discern why Carmine would suddenly ally with Ruban to restrain the Parsha family.

By ordinary standards, the two families weren’t particularly close, and there was no known emotional connection between them, even under the influence of gods.

Just to be sure, Turan had also asked Lesion and the other half-elves about this, but no meaningful answers emerged.

[Ruban’s half-elf leader… you mean that drug addict? If you’re asking what kind of person he is, I’d say he’s someone who stops at nothing to achieve his ends. We weren’t particularly close to them either.]

When the Parsha-Ravitas coalition attacked, Lesion had called in Ruban’s reinforcements, but that didn’t mean the two groups were emotionally close.

At the time, Ruban had demanded expenditures that even a great family would consider a significant sacrifice in exchange for their support.

No, even if the two half-elf groups were close, they would still have needed to demand compensation outwardly.

After all, the number of vessels controlling great families was a minority compared to the total members. No matter how high-ranking they were, they couldn’t completely ignore the opinions of those below them.

[But aren’t you all white elves, with so few left in this world?]

[Half of us are. Our current state is so ambiguous that it’s hard to define… When we see others in the same state, half of us feel a kinship with our fellow kin, while the other half feels hatred. Expressing emotions in words is truly difficult. This is the only way I can put it.]

According to the somewhat rambling explanation that followed, half-elves felt displeasure when viewing the elven part through a god’s perspective and displeasure when viewing the divine part through an elf’s perspective.

It was an emotion Turan found utterly unimaginable.

“Anyway, the important thing is that Carmine has joined forces with Ruban to start meddling with us. We’ll need to expand our patrol range to cover the entire northern mountain range.”

“Until now, we’ve only been monitoring the northwest side, right?”

“Yes. We had to keep an eye on the western forest as well.”

Meisa nodded at Turan’s words.

Originally, her daily routine involved patrolling from the western forest boundary to the western part of the northern mountain range.

This was to guard against a potential Arabion army invasion.

However, this time, Carmine’s intrusion occurred slightly east of the area she surveyed, in the middle and eastern parts of the northern mountain range.

To scout up to that point, she would need to spend nearly half a day flying.

“That’s too much of a waste of time, no matter how you look at it. Why not extend the signal fires deeper into the mountain range instead…?”

“Signal fires are already difficult as they are. Due to visibility issues, we need to station at least one knight per post, and we don’t have that many mages to spare.”

The one who interjected to counter Turan’s idea was Asiz.

As he pointed out, while the Parsha family was actively expanding its forces by accepting wandering nobles and knights, their internal strength still fell short compared to other great families.

To cover the entire northern mountain range with signal fires and guard them, they would need at least a hundred and fifty knights.

Unless they intended to permanently station knights in the mountains, they would need double that number to rotate shifts.

“Hmm, this is tricky.”

“Even ordinary mage families are always plagued with all sorts of issues. It would be strange if managing a great family were easy.”

At the very least, compared to other great families riddled with structural contradictions and absurdities accumulated over long years, the Parsha family was in a much better position.

Not only did their younger members avoid outdated thinking, but Turan, as the family head, actively intervened in various matters, precisely addressing areas where strength was needed, as seen in this instance.

Afterward, Parsha’s leadership continued to discuss at length how this incident might unfold in the long term and how they should respond, before eventually concluding the meeting.

“In the end, we couldn’t come up with a clear solution.”

“We’ll have to think it over gradually. It’s possible there might not be a solution at all.”

After all, the world is full of problems one knows about but can do nothing to resolve.

The Parsha family had managed to address many such issues through various means, but even for them, some things were simply beyond their control.

Late at night, upon returning to his quarters, Turan had a simple dinner with Meisa.

A soup made with butter and flour, lightly seasoned lamb, and a few fresh vegetables sprinkled with salt.

To the poor, this might seem like unparalleled luxury, but for the head of a great family and his presumed partner, it was quite a modest menu.

Though both Turan and Meisa enjoyed fine dining, they didn’t wish to wake the already sleeping head chef to prepare food, so they made do with something simple.

“Tastes good.”

“Doesn’t it seem like my cooking skills have improved a bit compared to before?”

“Not quite at the level to brag about yet.”

Turan laughed as he teased Meisa, who spoke with a hint of pride, and cut a piece of lamb to put in his mouth.

Since overcoming her eating disorder while traveling together, Meisa had been honing her cooking skills whenever she had the chance. However, compared to Turan, who had spent years preparing diverse meals with limited ingredients on his own, she was still inexperienced.

“I’ve been practicing consistently while you haven’t, so I’ll catch up soon. And when I do… Urp.”

Their cheerful banter was cut short as Meisa suddenly dropped her utensils and covered her mouth with her hand.

Recognizing the familiar gesture, Turan narrowed his eyes and asked, “Are you okay? Should we step outside to rest?”

Since leaving Arabion, Meisa had treated her eating disorder by helping the powerless and building her self-esteem.

This hadn’t changed even after the Parsha family was established.

Though she had less free time than before, she continued her service of patrolling Kalamaf and its surroundings to aid those in suffering whenever possible.

So why would her symptoms resurface at this particular moment?

At Turan’s suggestion, Meisa took a few deep breaths and shook her head.

“No, I don’t think that’s necessary. It’s just… the lamb suddenly smelled so strong. I must have cooked it wrong.”

During the time she suffered from her eating disorder, Meisa had been tormented by hallucinations of her deceased mother and younger brother.

Hearing their accusations-how could she dare to eat when she had let them die-would overwhelm her with nausea she couldn’t suppress.

However, the revulsion she felt this time was entirely different.

The lamb roast she usually enjoyed suddenly evoked an unbearable sense of disgust.

Could it be that her palate had become too refined from eating luxurious dishes recently?

If not, then perhaps…