Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Feeling preemptively guilty at Meisa’s words, Turan rolled his eyes and scanned his surroundings.
Of course, no one here was paying attention to him.
Before the topic of a great family’s heir almost being assassinated, the status of their young master’s benefactor naturally took a back seat.
“An assassination at the main house? With how solid their defense system is…”
“There must be an informant. And there’s no shortage of people who dislike me.”
Heavy fatigue was evident in her voice answering Asiz’s words.
It seemed life wasn’t necessarily easy just because one was born with exceptional talent and superior status.
Brushing back her hair with bony fingers, Meisa spoke softly.
“Well then, I’m tired so I’ll go to bed first. Good night everyone.”
Having wrapped up the situation so quickly, the Arabion princess flew straight toward the castle without even waiting for a response.
Literally, she slightly levitated with floating magic then created wind for propulsion to fly away.
Watching this, Asiz’s mother Midela gave instructions to an elderly maid standing nearby.
“Ena? Prepare our second-best guest room for Turan.”
Apparently, regardless of second cousin or whatever, they couldn’t refuse the heir’s orders.
* * *
Early morning, Turan opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.
As his sleep-addled mind cleared, he remembered this was the Berk family mansion, where he had come as a guest last night.
His first action was to go to the ‘washbasin’ placed in one corner of the spacious room.
As the maid had explained last night, pulling a long rod produced a trickling stream of water.
After blankly observing this, Turan used the soap placed beside it to wash his face clean then dried it with a towel.
Perhaps imbued with dehydration magic, just one light rub immediately removed all moisture.
‘Is this because they’re an enchanter family?’
The Berk family’s stronghold was nothing less than a treasure house of magical devices accumulated over hundreds of years.
In terms of convenience, it wasn’t necessarily better than other families where servants visited every morning to wash faces directly, but wasn’t it novel and interesting?
Originally, the privileged class derived pleasure from monopolizing things others couldn’t use.
Stepping into the corridor after donning a provided guest robe, he saw white radiance hanging from the ceiling.
White light completely different from torches or lanterns.
That pale light was embedded seamlessly above the long corridor, not allowing even a single shadow to form.
Though Turan, now with quite strong magic power and high stealth proficiency, could maintain complete concealment for hours in dark places, here he would be limited to about two minutes at most.
If a Zahar assassin tried to infiltrate here, they would either have to find and kill their target quickly or meet a miserable death being discovered while wandering the corridors after depleting all their magic power.
And this was without even considering the intruder detection and interception magical devices surely hidden somewhere in the mansion.
“Turan! Still an early riser! But what are you doing alone in the corridor?”
While blankly observing the corridor’s magical devices, he heard someone calling him.
It was Asiz, looking refreshed perhaps from returning home after a long time.
“This is fascinating.”
“This? Ah, the magic lights? It’s something we make for practice when learning enchantment magic as children… Want one? We have extras in storage.”
“No, not to that extent.”
Turan could create such light himself anyway.
One of the first magics he learned from Keorn was shaping light into simple weapons.
He just hadn’t used it since physical attacks were handled by his sling and he didn’t need illumination thanks to night vision.
“Are you hungry? Mother will probably invite us for breakfast soon.”
“I can wait plenty. But there’s something I wanted to ask.”
“Hm?”
“That Arabion lady from yesterday, is she perhaps ill? If it’s difficult to say, you don’t have to tell me.”
Since a great family heir’s health condition could be considered military information, Turan approached carefully.
Fortunately, Asiz just gave a bitter smile without suspecting him of being a spy or something.
Indeed, it would have been more suspicious not to be curious about such an appearance.
“Pretty severely thin, right? She wasn’t like that when young, but at some point she started eating only water and salt. Saying being thin is better for flying… I heard several people tried to copy her but all gave up. Saying they’d really die at this rate.”
“It certainly looked unhealthy.”
Though magic power evolves the body to exhibit superhuman abilities, nobles were still living humans in the end.
Logically, if there’s only consumption with nothing going in, problems are bound to arise.
“Still, she seems more or less fine. Besides, what can we do if she insists? Even as close relatives, they’re still the boss family after all.”
Though they seemed to treat each other casually like cousin siblings at a glance yesterday, apparently there was still some barrier.
After such chat, Turan joined the Berk family’s morning formal breakfast together with Asiz as expected.
The family head couple, Asiz’s brother, and about three relatives attended, but the Arabion lady wasn’t present.
It would have been awkward to eat just water and salt while others enjoyed their meal.
She would probably be quite conscious of others’ gazes too.
“Though we haven’t prepared much, please eat plenty.”
Looking at the food laid out on the table, Family Head Midela’s words were pure deception.
Not to mention common soup and bread, various dishes he had never seen before were spread out like the Dakein Plains’ wheat fields.
This was crab meat wrapped in flour dough and steamed, that was boiled potato dough topped with truffles…
Asiz, kindly explaining beside him, spoke incredulously.
“Why such an elaborate spread? There are things I haven’t seen even on my birthday, someone might think the Arabion family head was visiting.”
“Be quiet.”
Apparently this wasn’t a normal meal even in this household, but rather special treatment due to him being Asiz’s benefactor.
After indulging in such luxurious fare – honestly some were too unfamiliar to suit his taste – and finishing with sweet bread and bitter tea, Midela brought up business.
“Then continuing our conversation from last night, my son promised a powerful magical device as payment for his life.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Do you have anything specific in mind?”
“I want something that helps with defense. It’s easy to harm others with magic but difficult to protect oneself. Preferably something that can deal with surprise attacks.”
This was the conclusion he had reached after much consideration.
Even if his other half bloodline turned out to be defensive, wouldn’t more defense added to defense make better defense anyway?
Especially after seeing how helpless the dark elf necromancers were against surprise attacks.
Imagining himself receiving such attacks, he didn’t really have any countermeasures.
Relying solely on superior reflexes and movement was too unstable a defensive measure.
“It’s not difficult since we’ve made such things often. But we don’t have any ready-made ones right now.”
“Then may I make it?”
“Unless you’re trying to drag the Berk family name through the mud, don’t.”
At Asiz’s suggestion, his brother Melo, who hadn’t spoken a word yesterday, said sarcastically.
He turned to his parents and slightly bowed his head as if seeking permission.
“I’ll make it. My hands are free since I just finished the item commissioned by the main house recently.”
“How do you plan to make it?”
“For dealing with surprise attacks, it should be something always carried. I’ll inject magic into a ring, earring, or necklace form to add the function of drawing out guardian bloodline’s defensive power.”
“Not bad. How long?”
“One month.”
He had read about guardian bloodline in books.
Unlike other bloodlines that preferred ranged magical attacks, this bloodline specialized in close combat based on superior physical abilities.
Particularly strong in terms of body durability, wasn’t it?
If he could temporarily borrow that power, it would certainly be unmatched as a defensive ability.
“Though nothing is more unsightly than parents bragging about their children, Melo’s skill isn’t far behind even me, the family head. It means essentially a family head-class enchanter magician personally dedicating a month to create a magical device.”
“I’m grateful, but… isn’t this too much?”
The Berk family’s offer left even Turan somewhat dumbfounded.
Combining knowledge from books and information from Asiz, the quality of magical devices made by enchanter bloodline magicians varied according to time invested in infusing power.
Of course, investing unlimited time wouldn’t create something tremendous, and the efficient production time varied according to magic power and talent, but a month was nearly the limit for ordinary enchanters.
Considering the backlash from creation, they couldn’t make powerful magical devices for about half a year after.
It essentially meant monopolizing a family head-class magician’s half year.
“If this is too much, wouldn’t that mean my son’s life is worth that little? No, absolutely not. Well then, you’ll need to stay as our guest for the next month.”
“I’m worried about imposing for too long.”
“Please don’t think of it as a burden and stay.”
* * *
“I think Mother has taken a liking to you.”
As soon as they left the feast, Asiz spoke with a serious expression.
“To me?”
“Yeah. Actually, I talked more about you with Mother before bed yesterday. From how your magic talent isn’t inferior to Meisa’s to how you never neglect training despite that. Originally it was to prevent Mother from looking down on you as a wandering noble without proper backing, but…”
“Hearing all that made her want to recruit me into the family, right?”
Turan first recalled Izela of the Baltas family.
Though he was put off by how casually she used knights as shields, even excluding that she was far from his ideal type.
Broadly speaking, it wasn’t different from Family Head Rug trying to sell off his daughter.
The only difference was between a rural frontier family and a great family’s direct vassal family.
“Right. Give lavishly to create obligation, then try to entice with introduction to a pretty lady. Actually, there are several adults who joined the family that way.”
The guardian bloodline noble who would help make the magical device was apparently one of them.
He hadn’t known, but to imbue a bloodline magic ability into a magical device, a noble of that bloodline had to assist in creation.
Learning this, Turan’s mental burden doubled.
“This is troublesome.”
Asiz waved his hand with a smile as if saying not to worry.
“Well, don’t worry too much. They’re just giving you something good to curry favor, not forcing marriage in exchange for accepting it. My mother isn’t that unreasonable.”
“Is that so.”
For Turan, that was even more uncomfortable.
If they demanded joining their family to receive this, he could steal the item and run away without guilt.
Some people find unreturnable kindness more burdensome than hostility, and Turan was one of them.
Of course, actually staying and marrying into the Berk family was absolutely impossible.
How would he explain if any children born later awakened the Zahar bloodline?
“That’s what I’m saying. Ah, do you have anything planned now?”
“Why?”
“Let’s go out and have fun. Though Zabilin isn’t the capital, there’s still quite a lot to enjoy. Surely you’re not planning to stay cooped up practicing magic like in other cities?”
“Actually I was.”
“Oh please. Let’s try enjoying life a bit, friend!”
At the word ‘friend’, Turan finally let himself be led out of the Berk family mansion by Asiz.
He could see the daytime city scenery he hadn’t properly observed last night due to curfew.
Some passersby reacted slightly seeing Turan and Asiz’s attire, but unlike in other cities, they didn’t deeply bow or prostrate themselves.
They just lightly bowed their heads to show respect while passing.
After walking about ten minutes, they saw a bustling street lined with various shops.
“So, what are we going to do for fun now?”
“Well, that depends on what you like. Drinking, gambling, women. Which do you prefer?”
“Library.”
“I’m realizing anew just how old-fashioned your tastes are.”
“I haven’t had many chances to properly enjoy myself. But none of those three options appeal to me.”
He had tried alcohol several times when invited to various families but found it just okay, and gambling was something his mother had repeatedly warned against in childhood.
And as for women, even without his mother’s or Keorn’s restraints, there were several concerns.
Especially coming to a region where his inherited bloodline was despised.
“Hmm, all no good… Then how about theater?”
“Theater?”
He had glimpsed explanations in books.
Something about acting out certain events or folk tales on stage.
Though he had never actually seen one.
Hearing this, Asiz’s eyes went round.
“What, you’ve never seen a play?”
“No.”
“Then I must guide you again. There happens to be an amazing theater not far from here in Zabilin. They even have knight actors, I tell you.”
Though he didn’t know much, Turan, who knew actors were similar to jesters, found it astounding.
Those considered almost mythical beings near Hisaril Hill were here performing antics before the public…
Indeed, the realm of great families was like a completely different world from other regions.
“Welcome, guests!”
Upon arriving at the theater shortly after, a small boy deeply bowed to the two.
Asiz grinned and pointed to performance advertisements placed to one side.
“Look over there for what you want. It should show titles and brief content.”
After briefly looking at the advertisements without much thought, Turan froze upon seeing one particular performance advertisement.
Asiz approached from beside and said, looking at it.
“‘Hero Keorn’? Want to see this?”