Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 179

Chapter 179

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Since officially becoming involved with Solif, Berit had been fulfilling truly many roles.

From serving as a scout in the last war to governing Baraha in place of the family head who had departed, in her capacity as the prospective mistress of the house.

However, the most important task that Turan had originally expected from Berit was precisely what she was doing now—gathering information about the internal affairs of Zahar.

Since they were so adept at espionage that there was absolutely no way to infiltrate new spies, it was difficult to extract meaningful information without persuading insiders.

In that regard, quickly bringing news this time could be said to have fulfilled that role beyond expectations.

“Specifically, how?”

“There’s nothing specific to say. It’s a situation where several people I was supposed to regularly exchange contact with have all simultaneously cut off communication.”

Since being designated as the prospective mistress of Baraha, Berit had been building even more eyes and ears within the Zahar family than before she was dispatched to Parsha.

This was thanks to the overwhelming authority that came from her status as the daughter of Rahman, who would become the family head, and simultaneously as the companion of the Baraha family head right next door and the adopted daughter of the Parsha family head.

Moreover, Zahar’s capital Aksum was located slightly to the east within the Enril Desert, making it relatively close to Baraha.

Of course, it wasn’t so much closer than Kalamaf as to make a significant difference.

In any case, the fact that all of this had been cut off in an instant meant—

“So now Zahar has become an enemy too.”

“There’s no need to be so definitive about it…”

Though Berit trailed off like that, Turan thought there was a high probability that his assumption was correct.

If Arabion had worked behind the scenes to persuade Carmine and Ruban to attack Turan and tried to persuade Baraha and Ravitas to create division, wouldn’t there be no reason not to do the same with Zahar?

Moreover, according to Zahar family head Harun’s words, most of the gods ruling Zahar already found Turan disagreeable and wanted to deal with him.

If Monarch had promised them something tremendous in return, there was a possibility they had stabbed their own leader in the back.

‘The problem is what exactly he promised them.’

There must have been something that allowed Harun to lead the Zahar forces against Monarch until now, but what kind of compensation could surpass that?

That was something difficult for the current Turan to know.

After organizing his thoughts briefly, Turan spoke coldly to Berit standing before him.

“From now on, don’t trust your father either. When you meet him next, think that he might not be the person you knew.”

“That means, surely not?”

“It’s still just a guess, but with high probability, Rahman Zahar has become some god’s vessel.”

If Harun had somehow fallen from power and lost his body, then someone would have taken over his successor Rahman, and if he instructed them to cut connections with Berit, naturally his followers would comply.

After all, Berit’s control over her subordinates on the Zahar side had originated from her being Rahman’s daughter.

“Anyway, thank you for letting me know. Thanks to you, I avoided getting stabbed in the back without knowing anything.”

“…Surely you’re not going to attack Zahar?”

“Well. It’s not exactly a good time for it.”

Originally, he had planned to settle Arabion first, then combine the additional forces extracted from there to drive all the way to Nagin, but if Zahar had turned hostile, it would be dangerous.

The Enril Desert was like the center of the world, a place that could strike at all three regions—Parsha, Baraha, and even Ravitas.

However, conversely, this also meant that three forces could simultaneously invade.

After sending Berit away, saying he wanted to see Meisa’s face and rest for once, Turan fell into solitary contemplation.

‘Attacking Arabion while ignoring the hostile Zahar… no, that’s still too dangerous.’

Since Turan’s ascension, other cities belonging to the Parsha family had also gained some resistance to infiltration through stealth magic, but it wasn’t enough to prevent several powerful nobles from infiltrating.

There would be no meaning in winning if those he had to protect died in droves.

Then attack Zahar first?

This too was difficult to readily consider the right answer.

What Turan currently knew was only the fact that Berit’s eyes and ears within the Zahar family had all been severed.

Harun’s downfall and Rahman’s ascension were all still in the realm of speculation.

If he charged in recklessly and it turned out to be a misunderstanding, it wouldn’t be something that could be brushed off with “sorry for the misunderstanding.”

But sitting still and hoping for communication to open would only be giving the initiative to the other side…

The more he thought about it, the more his conclusion converged on one thing.

* * *

Turan immediately had a knight guarding outside summon Asiz and asked him.

“Asiz, can we say that our spies currently have Arabion completely in their sights?”

“That’s right. Of course, we haven’t managed to get people into the family head’s residence, but we did succeed in winning over two people living inside the Walls of Light.”

“That should be enough to read signs of war unless they suddenly deploy without warning.”

“Right.”

“Then what about Carmine?”

“We’ve infiltrated more people there too, taking advantage of this attack. Just a moment.”

Asiz skillfully rummaged through some documents in one corner of Turan’s office and pulled them out to show him.

After the last attack, the Carmine family had made a riverside city about halfway their base instead of their lost capital Avaccha, and they had won over several citizens who had been living there from before.

“When did you do this?”

“I definitely submitted a report before. Your signature is here too, isn’t it?”

“Hmm. Right. Did Bije sign it for me?”

Honestly speaking, with too much to do, he sometimes skimmed through and passed things by.

Still, he read important content carefully, but status reports like this wouldn’t cause major problems if not immediately confirmed.

Ignoring Asiz’s narrowed eyes, Turan read through the content and frowned slightly.

“But Nagin still isn’t covered?”

“It’s such a closed-off place… It would be strange for someone to go settle in a land where it snows year-round, wouldn’t it? We do get some information through merchants who come and go since rare minerals are abundant there, but placing permanent spies has many difficulties.”

Moreover, Nagin’s location being excessively far from Parsha was also a problem, Asiz muttered quietly as an excuse.

Considering that Monarch, the leader of the Arabion faction, was Nagin’s family head, infiltrating spies there was actually the most important issue… But it would be ridiculous to blame them for something that couldn’t be done, so Turan sighed lightly and revealed his intention.

“I plan to be away for a while.”

“…What? Why?”

“Infiltration.”

When Turan said that something strange had happened to the Zahar family recently, so he would personally investigate the reason, Asiz naturally jumped up.

It was an extremely normal reaction for their family head to say he would personally do spy work.

“Are you crazy? The head of a great family personally infiltrating another family? If you get caught…”

The Parsha family still had very few who could be called proper members, being little more than a military group that had slightly advanced from being established purely by Turan’s individual overwhelming charisma.

If Turan infiltrated the Zahar family and died, it wouldn’t be strange for them to disintegrate into thin air at that moment.

Of course, in terms of pure military power, Meisa was also comparable to him, but she lacked Turan’s natural leadership ability.

She was even currently pregnant and hiding that fact, making it impossible for her to be active externally.

“I’ve thought about it a lot, but this is the best option. I can’t just sit with my hands folded waiting for them to do something, I can’t launch a preemptive attack without knowing anything, and I can’t act while completely exposing my back by ignoring them.”

“That’s… No, wouldn’t it be better to train more spies?”

“You were the one who said that wouldn’t work before, Asiz.”

At Turan’s words, Asiz let out a short groan.

He knew better than anyone how excellent Zahar’s counterintelligence capabilities were.

He had just blurted out anything in the unprecedented situation of the family head personally infiltrating another great family.

“Really, do you think you won’t get caught?”

“I managed fine in Arabion before. I’ll try it this time too. Of course, it’ll be harder than before.”

At that time, Arabion was in a completely defenseless state, literally unable to imagine that someone with the Mimic and Zahar bloodline powers would infiltrate, so he could rampage around freely.

In contrast, the current Zahar would not only have grasped Turan’s abilities in considerable detail but would also be in an extremely tense state.

But if there was one advantage, it was that they too, like Asiz, probably wouldn’t expect the head of a great family to personally infiltrate.

“While you’re gone, if other bastards attack, ah.”

“That’s why I asked. We can detect movements from Arabion and Carmine, and it won’t be easy for the Giant Sea Serpent merfolk to infiltrate like before… If the situation looks like it’s getting bad, I’ll receive immediate contact through the hand mirror and return. Besides, if it’s Aksum, I can get there within a day using the Baraha route, albeit barely.”

Of course, then Bije would be half-exhausted and unable to function as proper military strength, but even considering that, Turan returning to the main house would be much more helpful in terms of military power.

“I… I don’t know, damn it. Fine. The sky-like family head makes the decisions and I, as a steward, just have to work hard on the cleanup.”

In the end, all Asiz could do was make such complaints.

* * *

Since he had to keep his absence extremely secret, Turan revealed this plan to very few people.

First, he told Rida, who had come as a guest and was enthusiastically researching spirit magic, only that he would be away for a while.

“Then those needles in my head…”

“I’ll return as quickly as possible to remove them. You absolutely must not ask the white elf to remove them.”

At Turan’s stern warning that she might try some trick, Rida showed a disappointed expression.

“Hmm, understood.”

Next were Haram, the main house’s guard captain, and Armani, who managed the Jade Mirror.

Haram could be persuaded with logic and authority similar to Asiz, while Armani actually caused trouble by wanting to go along because it seemed fun.

Fortunately, he could be quieted by explaining how terrible a place the desert was for a merman.

Finally, the biggest challenge was persuading Meisa.

However, surprisingly, when Turan cautiously brought up the topic, she readily nodded in agreement.

“Understood. Should I also handle work in your absence?”

“Right. Hmm, will that be okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Meisa, who had asked back like that, looked at Turan’s face and burst into laughter.

“What kind of face are you making like a guilty puppy… I won’t scold you. After being saved by such reckless actions, it would be inconsistent for me to say it’s dangerous now so don’t do it.”

“I suppose so.”

“Besides, when I briefly met with Berit earlier and heard the story, I roughly expected you would make this kind of judgment.”

While laughing at Turan’s shoulders relaxing, Meisa inwardly felt bitter emotions rising.

One reason she didn’t strongly oppose this decision was because of her sense of inadequacy.

If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, if she could function as complete military strength, he wouldn’t have needed to overexert himself.

In other words, it was the feeling of not wanting to be even more of a burden in a situation where she was already holding back the person she loved.

Of course, if Turan could have known her inner thoughts, he would have lightly flicked her forehead.

Anyone listening would think she made the child alone.

Unfortunately, even Zahar’s sense of smell couldn’t catch such subtle thoughts.

“It’s not like I’m completely powerless either. Don’t worry too much.”

“That’s true.”

While holed up in the family head’s residence, Meisa hadn’t just been playing around doing nothing.

She had maximized her other value, her ability as an Enchanter, to mass-produce magical devices.

Among these, aside from making a few magical devices needed by the family, she had invested all her time in one thing.

Disposable defensive magical devices that didn’t leave particular aftereffects in their creation, yet had quite powerful effects.

If she mobilized all of these, she could fight against even someone like Badal for a short time without worrying about the child in her belly.

“So, go ahead. Just don’t die.”

Above all, what she believed in was Turan as a person.

Because she believed he wouldn’t make reckless judgments.

Under the weight that this trust brought, Turan groaned softly and embraced Meisa.

“Mmm.”

“What?”

“Now your belly sticks out too much, so it feels strange.”

At Meisa’s grumbling that it felt like she had gained an enormous amount of weight, something she had never experienced before, Turan laughed and kissed her forehead.

* * *

After quickly organizing internal affairs, Turan immediately crossed over to Helio City through the Jade Mirror.

It was slightly faster to travel from Helio City, and he expected it would be harder to notice if he approached from the east rather than the west.

Wearing Baraha knight’s clothing with a face that roughly mixed several Baraha nobles’ features—resembling them but difficult to identify as anyone specific—he could easily leave the Temple of the Sun.

He would need to tell Berit later to tighten internal security more thoroughly.

From there it was simple.

He just had to fly west while stealthed, riding the similarly hidden Bije.

‘This should be fine without causing any rumors.’

Of course, if Turan’s activities became sparse at the Kalamaf main house, people might suspect that this guy had disappeared somewhere again to cause some disturbance, but it would be difficult to think he had charged into Zahar’s capital.

After all, Turan himself had sometimes shown the behavior of not revealing himself without much meaning, in preparation for such actions.

Eating several meals with emergency rations stored before departure, Turan passed through the Land of Lakes and entered the Enril Desert.

He saw the golden sea and sand dunes he had seen before, occasionally visible oases and grasslands, cacti, and sheep and camels grazing on them.

The nomads leading them as well.

-Come to think of it, this is the first time coming to the eastern desert. Right, Bije?

-Yes! But it’s exactly the same as the west!

-Well, that can’t be helped.

Actually, places like the Gray Zone or the Land of Lakes weren’t particularly different between east and west either.

If anything, being adjacent to the fertile Land of Lakes, it did smell more of human habitation.

Moreover, following the old empire’s roads, several fairly large cities appeared.

While passing through various cities while hidden, when the largest city in the distance came into view, Turan first descended to a small city nearby and released his stealth.

‘This would be just right.’

This Rafiq City was a typical satellite city near the capital, and because it was built around a small oasis, it didn’t have a very large population and didn’t have much to see.

It was just a common intermediary city in the desert, serving as a way station for those heading to Aksum.

Rather than charging straight into Aksum and obviously acting like a foreigner, it would be better to equip himself with local clothing here while simultaneously gathering some information before acting.

Turan changed from his existing Baraha-style traveler’s clothes to desert-style windproof clothing and casually spoke to the clothing store owner.

“The weather is hot these days.”

“Well, won’t the rainy season come if we wait a little? Actually, even calling it a rainy season, it’s just a few days of heavy downpour.”

The Enril Desert’s rainy season was more extreme than other regions’ climates, really pouring down for just a few days to fill and overflow the drying oases.

It happened several times a year like that, and the cycle wasn’t far off.

“Heh, then I’ll meet this rainy season in Aksum. Just thinking about enjoying a drink while watching raindrops splash outside the window at the most expensive tavern makes the heat disappear completely.”

At Turan’s banter, the owner burst into hearty laughter, then asked with a puzzled expression.

“Are you by any chance heading to Aksum?”

“Yes. I heard there are many interesting sights there. After all, isn’t that where people in this city would go?”

Zahar’s capital Aksum was known as the home of desert dancers, said to have many unique troupes differentiated from other regions.

Besides that, befitting a place practically at the center of the world, various regional cultures were mixed together, developing unique customs and artifacts.

Of course, that wasn’t what Turan was going to see.

“You must not have heard since you’re from far away. You picked the wrong time. Aksum is currently sealed off.”

He said that all those camels lined up in front of the inn outside the window were from merchants stopped because of that, clicking his tongue.