Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 244

Chapter 244

The runaway incident of the Crown Prince brought a minor change to the palace security system, but in any case, it passed over without much trouble relative to the scale of the incident.

Whatever might have come of a certain sixteen-year-old boy’s first love.

Afterward, Turan and Meisa reduced their formerly relentless schedules a little and, as in the early days of the empire’s founding, made some breathing room for themselves.

As a bonus, they also began spending more time with Ruska than before.

“I really am fine, you don’t have to do this……”

“We enjoy it. Give us a little time if it’s not a bother.”

At Meisa’s playful plea, Ruska nodded shyly.

Naturally, with people powerful enough to change the world taking leisure time, the empire’s growth slowed a little.

Sentencing for criminals, new frontier expansion, administrative work — all were pushed back by one step.

But that wasn’t enough to suddenly cause a rapidly growing nation to falter or create major problems.

Since the leaders weren’t completely abandoning their duties, and a system that collapsed from a little rest would have had a flawed system to begin with, that was only natural.

Turan worked to forcibly calm the anxiety he had felt from not knowing when the enemies would come.

‘Right — if an enemy is one I couldn’t defeat even by not resting, there’s no way I’d defeat them by resting either.’

Of course, if the power fell just one measure short when the enemy actually arrived, it would be endlessly regrettable.

But that was a matter for the future.

In the process of taking care of the people around him a little, Turan also checked in on old connections he had been somewhat neglecting recently.

He also confirmed the situation of the white fairies running a small autonomous district in the Frostwind Forest, and met face to face for the first time in a long while with Rida, who was working as Chancellor of the Ravitas region.

Upon hearing the news of Ruska’s runaway, she burst into laughter as if the world were ending.

“Running away — already, that young one? Truly…… at times like this I feel the years flowing by too cruelly. It would have been nice to see it with my own eyes.”

“Shall I bring Ruska to see you sometime? He might want to see you after so long, my lady.”

“I’ll accept only the sentiment, Your Majesty. In my experience, children who’ve grown a bit of a head don’t like mingling with old folks. And if it really comes to it, I can always go to visit him myself.”

Rida advised not to take it too seriously, since about half the grandchildren she had raised had run away at some point.

She said that mages, and especially rank noble-class powerhouses, were bred to believe they could do anything if they went out into the world on their own.

Well, Turan too had left Hisaril Hill with something like a similar thought.

Though in his case there had been Keorun’s encouragement.

After that, he went to visit his old martial arts master, Haram Berk, who had recently qualified as a lord and come to govern the Luban region.

He had long since commissioned Asiz’s uncle-in-law and master of martial arts to analyze the technique used by the lion-headed being, but unfortunately it seemed there was no news on that front.

“More than that, as I mentioned before, I feel that this position simply does not suit me, no matter how I think about it. Your Majesty.”

Haram always maintained a stiff manner of speech even after Turan had told him to be comfortable since ascending to the throne.

It was familiar enough by now that Turan didn’t say anything more about it.

“What makes you think that?”

“I am a fighter, not a ruler. Even attending meetings as a lord, I have no ears to understand them, so putting a figurehead in this seat would make little difference.”

Haram’s career itself was unproblematic for occupying a lord’s position.

He had originally been the head of the Parsha main house’s escort unit and Turan’s aide, participating in several important wars alongside him, and as befitting a master of martial arts, he had quickly cultivated two ability types — the Historian and the Berserker — after the law change.

But as he himself said, while he was well-versed in fighting, he was thoroughly inexperienced in governing others, and he felt burdened by the fact that he of all people occupied such a high position.

To such a Haram, Turan spoke quietly, as if persuading him.

“A figurehead would have no power to punish those who do wrong.”

That the residents, still accustomed to the rule of mage families, needed a powerful lord — Turan spent quite some time persuading Haram of this.

Whether it worked better than before when Haram had kept submitting documents requesting resignation, he finally expressed his intention to keep doing what he could, for now.

In truth, for Turan’s part, having people like this in lord positions was far preferable.

They wouldn’t harbor strange ambitions and cook up perverse plans, or embezzle taxes to fill their own pockets like the former Carmine lord.

‘Come to think of it, I went out to rest instead of working, but I ended up resolving an extra piece of work……’

Turan pondered what to do with the free time that would come after handling the next batch of work.

Taking a trip to Earth with Ruska might not be a bad idea.

Thinking about such future plans while handling a few pieces of work, Turan frowned at an unexpected sensation.

The life of Keorun, the old knight of Arabion who had determined the path of his first life, had just this moment been extinguished.

* * *

The place where Keorun had lived until the very end was a village in a small town in the southeastern part of the city of Morgen.

Since he had secretly visited and spoken with Keorun there two or three times in the past, it was not difficult to reach by spatial movement.

Turan first changed his face and presented himself to the village head and other figures as an old acquaintance of Keorun’s.

“Well now, it’s been barely a few hours since that person left us…… you’re unlucky, young man. If you’d come just a little sooner you would have at least seen his face.”

At the village head’s words, Turan replied with nothing but a quiet nod.

The village head seemed quite displeased with this young man’s blunt manner, but appeared to have decided on his own that it was because he and Keorun had been that close.

After that, he was able to meet with the doctor who had been closest to Keorun and hear the cause of death.

“A disease.”

“For a mage?”

The doctor nodded at Turan’s question, as if he had expected it.

Though Keorun had not disclosed here that he was a knight, a rank four mage, the doctor seemed to be an exception.

“Mages don’t normally fall ill from most diseases, but there are still a few that can weaken or kill them. In Keorun’s case…… it was a disease where tumors grew in the body. Seems they’re calling it cancer these days.”

Cancer.

With Keorun’s age having nearly reached ninety — which by ordinary people’s standards was like forty to fifty — it was a disease that could well have arisen.

Even as the empire’s sanitation and public health conditions rapidly improved and the average lifespan was increasing, the number of commoners dying at that age was not small.

“Isn’t that a disease that should be easily curred with healing magic?”

“Even if the number of mages has increased compared to before, the number of rank three mages who chose the abilities of the healer type is not large. I tried to persuade him to go to the city and receive treatment, but the man wouldn’t listen. Said this too was a signal that it was time to bring his life to an end.”

“I see.”

He felt that was just like Keorun.

Because he had refused Turan’s offer to restore his body to its prime and extend his lifespan as well, if only he wished it.

For him, his current life was nothing more than something left over after losing his family to war.

The reason he hadn’t taken his own life was because it would have been shameful to those who had kept him going until now — not because he himself had wanted to live long.

“Did he perhaps leave a will?”

“There were three. One for me, one for the village head regarding the distribution of his assets, and one for an unknown person. Perhaps that last one is yours.”

“What did it say that made you think so?”

“It said it was written for the shepherd boy of Hisaril Hill. He said to burn it if no one came within a year. Is that perhaps you?”

“It is.”

Turan received the letter from the doctor and sat on a hill near the village to read it.

The doctor, had he secretly peeked at the first page, would surely have been appalled.

[To the great Emperor Turan, Your Majesty.

If you are reading this letter, it likely means my life has run out and you chose not to attempt to bring me back.

Should you be inclined to do so, I ask that you please let me go in peace — I truly am ready to rest.

In the hundred or so years I lived as a knight of Arabion, I experienced truly far too many things.

Losing my family, and then committing myself to hatred while cutting down the knights of the Zahar family and their collaborators……

Nobles who live for centuries might find it laughable, but over the past ninety years I feel as though all my emotions have been burned away, leaving nothing behind.

Now that I confess it, I must say that when I first saw you, I thought of my lost family — specifically, of the grandchild who had been but an infant.

I wondered if that child had grown without dying, he might have been about your age.

It is the ugly confession of an old knight who had, in truth, come to feel the Emperor of the empire as his own family.

You once asked me something, didn’t you?

Whether I had ever regretted teaching you magic and nudging you to descend from the hill.

To be honest, there was a very brief moment when I did — but not now.

Even shut away in this small village, the changing of the world has been too plainly evident to me.

People no longer go hungry as in the old days, nor do they tremble at demonic beast attacks.

They receive news from all corners of the world every day through newspapers and enjoy things they could never have encountered otherwise, passing their time with new pastimes.

I rode a train once, and it was truly remarkable.

I always feel a great sense of pride in having had a small hand in the birth of the god who so thoroughly turned this world upside down, and brought greater happiness to all people.

All of this is thanks to you.

There is only one thing I fear now.

What judgment I will receive in the afterlife you created.

I take pride in having never lost my dignity as a knight of Arabion throughout my life, but I cannot say I did nothing that was, on a human level, wrong — all because of orders.

If that is my sin, I must naturally bear it.

As a final request — if you are able to manipulate my posthumous judgment as you please, I ask that you not do so.

If I am someone who deserves stones thrown at him in others’ eyes, may I be able to stand tall to the very end by accepting that rightfully.

I am not sure whether to call this a request or a plea, but it is the final wish of an old knight.

To the shepherd boy of Hisaril Hill, from Keorun.]

Turan folded the letter and exhaled slowly and at length.

Fortunately, right now he was not Emperor Turan of the empire but the shepherd boy of Hisaril Hill — so he didn’t need to worry about losing his dignity by shedding tears.

Arabion’s Keorun — the first reliable adult he had met other than his mother.

The regret of wishing he had spoken with him just once before he left, and the relief of being able to at least hear his true feelings through this letter, alternated within him.

-Turan, why are you crying? Are you sad?

“No. It’s not sadness…… no, actually, I think it might be sadness.”

-Strange.

At Bije’s words, said as if he couldn’t understand, Turan burst out laughing.

Because he knew that while the creature was smarter than most people, it had always been somewhat slow in understanding this kind of sentiment.

Still, laughing like this made him feel the grief lift a little. He wiped his tears and, changing his coordinates, ascended to the world’s boundary.

In an instant, a world filled with white barriers welcomed him.

‘Where…… ah, here.’

Inside the boundary, the afterlife that had once existed as nothing but three gates and a courtroom had changed to be considerably more refined than before.

Now there were corridors and waiting rooms for those entering the afterlife, and angels who managed and controlled them.

In the old days there had been quite a few spirit forms that lingered in place without quickly entering the courtroom, but now such ones were immediately seized by the angels and thrown inside.

The angels who had been monitoring the movement of passing spirit forms recognized Turan’s presence and snapped to a salute.

“We pay our respects to the great Master of the Underworld!”

“Mm.”

The angels of the afterlife were volunteers selected from good spirit forms who had earned the right to enter paradise, specifically those who had been warriors or soldiers in life.

They worked as administrators and staff of the afterlife, taking turns to earn the right to enjoy paradise’s benefits.

Naturally, only those who died after the afterlife was created could be made into angels, so the veterans who had fought under the Parsha family’s banner had not been able to become angels.

Truly a pity.

“I’m looking for one of the spirit forms that entered today.”

“Speak, Master of the Underworld.”

“Where is Keorun, the former knight of Arabion?”

At Turan’s words, one who had received instructions quickly scanned down the list and nodded.

“Found, great Master. He is scheduled to receive his trial shortly. How shall we deal with him?”

“No ‘dealing’ needed. I’d like to observe the trial.”

“Understood!”

A moment later, guided by an angel, Turan headed to one of the many courtrooms.

There, spirit forms were entering one by one and receiving judgment.

[Koasi of Ravitas.]

[Born as a former noble, he developed a sadistic nature from childhood and learned the technique of feigning healing while spreading disease, and was caught doing similar things even after the empire’s founding and executed.]

[Theft as a minor: 13 counts. Voyeurism: 5 counts. Theft as an adult: 5 counts. Embezzlement: 12 counts……]

[As a member of Ravitas, healed by family orders as a minor: 57 individuals, as an adult: 1,533 individuals.]

[Combined result — those who feel gratitude: 1,295. Those who consider him an enemy: 311……]

The trial didn’t simply show numbers — it played out the entirety of the deceased’s deeds in life.

By reading the memories contained in their own spirit form.

At the sight of Koasi pleasuring himself while watching those who had joyfully received healing magic slowly wasting away and dying months later, the spirit forms erupted in fury.

[What shall be done with this one’s judgment?]

“Kill him!”

“To hell!”

“He should be thrown into the most terrible place!”

The spirit forms who had forgotten their identities within the veil of ignorance delivered a harsh judgment to the subject.

Remarkably, the subject himself was among them.

Meaning that in his current state of erased memories, he himself saw that his own self deserved to fall to hell.

Just before the verdict was given, the judge who was about to render the verdict came to an abrupt halt.

[Judgment error.]

[Many who received grace — yet condemned to hell.]

[Analyzing reason……]

[Hypocrite — performed grace only because it was family duty, and instead exploited it to satisfy sadistic desires.]

[No mitigating circumstances.]

Bang — with the sound of a gavel, Koasi of Ravitas screamed and fell to hell.

As everyone cheered, it was the next person’s turn.

[Keorun of Arabion.]

[As a former knight, served Arabion by following its orders for approximately 60 years, then spent his remaining years wandering while hunting demonic beasts before settling into seclusion and dying.]

[Assault as a minor: 42 counts. Murder as an adult: 295 counts. Theft: 42 counts……]

[As a member of Arabion, individuals protected by family orders as an adult: 216.]

[Individuals protected by personal judgment after leaving the family: 391.]

[Combined result — those who feel gratitude: 21,953. Those who consider him an enemy: 49……]

Unlike before, there wasn’t much noteworthy to point to in Keorun’s record.

Firstly, the assaults as a minor were a natural sorting of hierarchy that occurred in the process of young knight boys living together in close quarters.

He hadn’t persistently bullied the weaker children or anything of the sort.

The murders in adulthood were also all done under family orders — killing bandits and criminals, or participating in war and killing Zahar knights and their collaborators — which were generally understandable enough.

The theft was also plundering from hostile forces.

In comparison, the cases of those he had saved with his own power expressing gratitude were far more numerous.

He couldn’t be called someone completely without fault, but he was the kind of person anyone would say was ‘a good man.’

The spirit forms who had seen everything called out in unison.

“To paradise.”

“Someone like that should go to paradise.”

“May he receive his due reward.”

Before long, unlike the sinner who had fallen to hell a moment ago, Keorun’s spirit form began to slowly rise.

Watching him head toward paradise, where white clouds and a blue sky stretched out, Turan gave a light wave of his hand.

May he rest peacefully there and prepare for his next life.