Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Turan blinked several times, but the written content didn’t change.
Keorn, that familiar name…
Wondering if it might be someone with the same name, he looked at the content below and saw it was a play set during the Arabion-Zahar war from 20 years ago.
Specifically, it told the story of Keorn, Arabion’s most valiant knight.
Seeing him staring at the advertisement for a while, Asiz spoke.
“It’s quite a good play. Though it was made by the main house to promote that we won the war. Want to watch?”
“I’d like to… unless you’re not interested since you’ve already seen it?”
“Hm? No, watching it once more wouldn’t hurt. Hey, when can we see it?”
“It starts in fifteen minutes!”
Shortly after, Turan and Asiz occupied two of the best seats in the theater.
Of course, they originally belonged to others, but seats appear even where there were none when paying ten times the ticket price.
The play began not long after they sat down.
[The time was 2195, when Arabion’s warriors went to that devils’ desert-]
Several well-dressed actors took the stage along with a rich, resonating voice.
They showed how those who stopped for regular trade got into an argument with Zahar’s knights guarding the desert, which soon turned into a fight.
Before long, the knights’ fight escalated into a nobles’ battle, then into a war centered on the two families.
Later, when the family heads came out to duel, screams erupted from the audience as the two actors playing the heads made gestures of attacking each other with magic.
They had the skill to make weak magic that couldn’t actually harm each other look spectacular.
[With storms by day and death by night, as the war dragged on and casualties mounted – there was one knight named Keorn.]
Only then did the actor playing Keorn appear.
The man with fierce eyes and sturdy build was quite different from the gentle old knight in Turan’s memories.
But such an appearance suited the Keorn in the play better.
A warrior who charged first and retreated last on the battlefield, whose rich experience and magic skill made even nobles remember his name.
Though his significance wasn’t great amid dozens of nobles and thousands of knights clashing, Keorn was respected by all as a knight among knights.
And on the fateful day, Keorn faced a Zahar noble without any noble to protect him.
The opponent mocked Keorn who was incomparably weaker than himself.
But Keorn succeeded in defeating the enemy after a struggle, using all manner of luck described as divine help, his companions’ belongings, courage and wisdom.
When the shocking news spread that a noble born with great family bloodline was killed in a duel with a mere knight, joy and sorrow divided the two families, and finally the fierce two-year war came to an end-
As the curtain fell with the narrator’s words, thunderous applause shook the theater.
“How was it? Worth watching?”
“Hm? Ah, it was… really good.”
Turan answered Asiz’s question in a somewhat dazed state.
The first thought that came to his mind was what Keorn had said.
Hadn’t he said he wasn’t a particularly accomplished or capable knight?
Really, there was no modesty like that modesty.
Turan recalled when he had tested his strength against Keorn back on Hisaril Hill.
Keorn’s magic power then was about one-tenth of Turan’s.
Considering even this was because Turan was a young noble who had only absorbed magic power once, clearly most nobles would be dozens of times stronger than Keorn.
This was certainly an achievement worthy of being remembered in plays for posterity.
If it was true, that is.
“That play just now, did it really happen?”
“Probably? I was young so I don’t know well, but it’s a famous story.”
Turan couldn’t help but laugh at Asiz’s attitude of talking like it was his infancy, when he would have been twenty-three even twenty years ago, older than current Turan.
“A knight killing a noble would be shocking, but I wonder if that’s enough to end a war.”
“Well, I heard there was already a mood for ending the war then. With hundreds of knights dead on each side, over twenty nobles killed, and even the family heads injured in their duel.”
According to Asiz, in that situation, when Keorn killed a noble and Arabion widely promoted it, Zahar proposed peace thinking they had no chance if there were more knights with such capability, leading to the war’s end.
‘This is a bit different from what I know.’
From what Turan heard from Keorn, the war between the two families had ended with Zahar’s advantage.
Perhaps there were more hidden details.
Maybe they were adapting it favorably for themselves since this was Arabion territory.
Anyway, he wanted to ask Keorn if that story was true when they met again.
* * *
By the time they finished watching three more plays after “Hero Keorn,” the sun was already setting.
Now Turan no longer thought of actors as jesters performing antics before audiences.
They were artists.
Like painters paint with brushes and writers write with quill pens, they recreated historical figures that could no longer be seen through words and actions…
Delighted at Turan’s absorption in the plays, Asiz tried to draw him deeper into that world by sharing stories about plays he had watched over the past decades.
As they returned to the mansion chatting, they saw a lightning bolt strike inside with a boom.
Despite not even a few clouds floating in the sunset-reddened sky, let alone rain.
Asiz’s expression watching this was completely calm.
“Looks like Meisa is practicing magic. Always so diligent.”
“That was Arabion’s bloodline magic, right?”
“Right. Storm bloodline. I’ve never disliked my bloodline but… that one is a bit enviable. Makes you seem like a real god.”
Just as enchanters worshipped the Lame Goddess as their ancestor, Arabion claimed descent from the Thunder Lord among the Frea divine tribe.
Indeed, their bloodline ability to control wind and lightning was renowned for combining powerful attack power with versatility.
Moreover, it wasn’t just destructive power – this region’s prosperity was also maintained by their ability.
After harvest, Arabion nobles would fly over the empty Dakein Plains striking countless lightning bolts, and strangely, this maintained the land’s fertility without depleting soil power for the next year.
‘I’m curious.’
What would be the level of skill of this genius magician Asiz spoke of, who had talent equal to his and would become the next ruler of Arabion?
He wanted to see, but if caught peeking, he couldn’t complain about being called an assassin.
Especially since she had fled here after nearly being assassinated.
“Want to go see?”
“I’m curious but… it probably wouldn’t be good for a suspicious outsider like me to approach.”
Asiz shook his head with a smile at Turan’s words.
“What’s the problem? It’s not like you’re an assassin. I can vouch for you! Honestly, I’m curious too. Which of you is more talented, you or Meisa.”
“That seems to be your real reason for wanting to take me.”
“To be honest, I have some built-up feelings from training with Meisa a few years ago. I’d like to see her frustrated for once.”
Turan almost burst out laughing involuntarily at such a childish motivation.
“But my magic power level won’t be a match.”
His current magic power level was at best average among great family magicians, equal to or slightly below the head of a remote frontier family like Baltas.
In contrast, hadn’t they said Meisa possessed power that didn’t fall short even compared to Arabion’s core members?
“Wow, so you’re saying you could win if not for magic power level? That’s some confidence.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
By the time the two arrived at the garden inside the Berk mansion, the originally well-maintained garden had already become ruins from the lightning storm.
In the desolate scenery made more bleak by magic lights illuminating everywhere, the skeletal lady they saw yesterday turned her gaze toward them.
“Hey, Meisa!”
“Asiz? And beside you…”
“I’m Turan, my lady.”
“Ah, right. Turan. That was the name. So, what brings you two suddenly?”
Surprisingly unlike someone who nearly got assassinated, Meisa didn’t seem to care much about Turan’s highly suspicious presence.
At her question, Asiz scratched his head while avoiding her gaze like someone with something to feel guilty about.
“Well, just saw you practicing magic and wanted to join in. Like we used to before.”
“Ah… I remember. You ran away crying when I mastered in two tries what you struggled with for a week.”
“Hey.”
Their bickering looked more like ordinary cousin siblings than a great family heir and vassal family member.
Like Baltas’s Izela and Marvin, but giving a much brighter, less gloomy impression.
When he couldn’t help but smile, Asiz glared at him.
“Excuse me.”
“You’re mocking me too? Anyway, this Turan here has magic talent second to none I’ve seen. How about you two have a match?”
“A match?”
At Asiz’s suggestion, Meisa tilted her head then released her aura.
‘Ugh.’
Turan exhaled sharply at the pressure he felt.
Three times, five times, perhaps even more…
A violent torrent of power that he could never match with his current strength slept within that skinny lady’s body.
So this was the potential of a great family heir.
When Meisa withdrew her aura shortly after, interest had already faded from her face.
“Sorry to say, but you seem a bit inadequate for a match with me.”
“No, of course they couldn’t match your magic power. What’s really amazing about this friend is their magic learning ability.”
Asiz boasted that Turan was a magic genius he had never seen before in his life, that even Meisa couldn’t match that level.
Hearing this, faint interest appeared on Meisa’s face.
“To that extent?”
Turan was about to be modest saying his friend was exaggerating, but kept his mouth shut.
If he acted humble here, wouldn’t it just end with “as expected”?
He too wanted to directly experience this noble lady’s skill.
“How about we each show a magic we don’t know, and whoever succeeds faster wins?”
“That’s a good method. Meisa, what do you think?”
“Alright. Come to think of it, Turan doesn’t even know his bloodline magic, right? It would be unfair for me to use wind or lightning magic too. Let’s exclude those.”
Saying this, Meisa briefly tilted her head then lightly rolled her foot on the ground.
Turan thought she might use magic to make thorns rise from the earth, which he had used before-
“Whoa.”
Asiz let out a strange exclamation seeing vines emerge from the ground with a rustle.
The vines didn’t just emerge but moved on their own to wrap around the arms, body, and legs of Asiz who was standing blankly beside them, then lifted and swung him around.
“Aaaah-!”
“Plant creation and control magic. Can you do it?”
“Let-me-down-!”
“Stay like that a bit. It’s fun.”
While Asiz was being swung through the air by vines, Turan quietly reviewed what had just happened.
Creating vines from the ground – that couldn’t be true.
According to the natural laws he learned, even magic power couldn’t create matter.
Fire magic only manifests the ‘phenomenon’ of burning, and water magic only draws invisible moisture from the air.
Therefore, those vines must be making seeds planted in the ground grow rapidly.
Understanding it was ‘growth’ not ‘creation’.
Whether one knew this principle or not was a very important factor in using magic.
“Grow.”
Being unfamiliar with this magic, Turan placed his hand on the ground while softly chanting.
Shortly after, several much weaker vines than Meisa’s grew from the ground.
Turan made the grown vines wrap around his right hand.
“Oh…”
Though incomparably lacking compared to the power Meisa showed, both of them exclaimed in amazement.
They knew how difficult it was to even clumsily copy an entirely unknown magic after seeing it once.
Of course, Turan had relatively less power loss since he used it guessing there would be vine seeds remaining in the ground.
“Seeing you say ‘grow’, you seem to have immediately understood this magic’s nature. Have you seen it somewhere before?”
“First time.”
“So Asiz can be right sometimes.”
Meisa’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him.
Though it was grotesque with eyeballs protruding from sunken sockets, it was enough to feel her expectation.
“Then now it’s your turn to pose a problem. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
At Meisa’s challenging expression, Turan pondered what magic to choose.
While he wanted to use a difficult magic that would be hard for her to even attempt, nothing particular came to mind.
Using Zahar bloodline magic would be suicide before even being rule violation…
Then, Turan’s eyes suddenly caught a rat scurrying quickly through a corner of the ruined garden.
As he called the rat over with a light gesture, Meisa asked in a somewhat disappointed tone.
“Animal control?”
“Of course not, this one is just material.”
Turan cast magic while lightly gripping the rat’s neck.
Magic that gives power to the countless microorganisms inside this living being’s body, those that originally exist but cannot be perceived…
Shortly after, the rat began to rot while still alive in his hand.
“It’s ready.”
His challenge was ‘decay’, magic gained through natural laws learned from the library’s librarian.