Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Discord
Lifespan and Vessel.
No matter how many times I reread it, the implications of the content were clear.
The Frea divine race had a lifespan, and they did not ascend but rather aged and died.
Moreover, there was even a suggestion that some of them might still be alive, having transferred their bodies. Every piece of information was too terrifying to bring up casually.
“Do you happen to know who wrote this?”
“No, I don’t. It’s been here since before I came into existence. If it had been added later, I might remember who brought it.”
Although his appearance and behavior were human-like, the librarian was, after all, a spirit that came into being alongside the library’s creation.
All he knew were the events happening around the library and the contents of the books stored within.
Unfortunately, there were no other books left by the owner of this handwriting.
“Well, thanks to this, I’ve learned something interesting. Lifespan, huh. Now I can understand why my creator seemed so rushed…”
The librarian nodded as if he had understood something, stroking his beard.
Come to think of it, when the Lame Goddess created the library, she was in an extreme hurry.
Presumably, she knew her lifespan was running out and came to create this.
Why she invested her final moments in creating a library is beyond comprehension.
After that, Turan continued to converse with the librarian about various topics.
They discussed analyzing the principles of magic he had recently grasped during his travels as natural laws, the history of the lands he had passed through, and more.
They also speculated on what the surviving members of the Frea divine race, who had overcome their lifespan limitations, might be doing now, but no definitive conclusions were reached.
At least it was clear that they hadn’t openly appeared to dominate the world yet.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, the librarian asked a question.
“By the way, you sneaked in this time. Are you perhaps involved with the forces attacking this city?”
“Attack?”
“Yes.”
Turan shook his head at the unfamiliar story.
“As I mentioned earlier, I flew here directly from a distant place, so I’m not well-informed about the local situation. It did feel a bit chaotic, though…”
“This city is currently at war. To be precise, it’s more accurate to say it’s been dragged into a war.”
Recalling the scene he had seen from the sky on his way here, there was no particular sense of war.
If anything, there seemed to be fewer people around.
“Is it a war between mage families?”
“Yes. The Hadit and Corel families are leading, and all the mage families in this area have split into two factions to fight.”
Hadit and Corel—names he had heard before.
Weren’t they mentioned as examples of feuding families when he had to fabricate his identity in front of the lord of Orem?
If it was a war between mage families, it wasn’t strange that there were no obvious signs of battle.
Unlike other races, for them, enemy cities or villages were merely prey to be conquered.
Of course, if it were a large-scale war like the one between Arabion and Zahar, it would be different, but it didn’t seem to be at that level.
“While other races are sweeping away several cities nearby, humans are fighting among themselves…”
“Apparently, that’s why the war broke out.”
“Could you tell me more about it?”
“I’ve only heard bits and pieces from the chatter around here, so I’m not entirely sure.”
According to the librarian, Hadit and Corel were families ruling two nearby cities.
They had been at war over some issue a decade ago, during which they had each lost a few nobles and about a dozen knights.
Eventually, they managed to reach a truce, but naturally, deep resentment remained.
Then, a few months ago, dark elves launched a large-scale invasion into the eastern forest region but were repelled by Arabion’s army, making the area an attractive frontier.
Establishing a new colony where the city once stood and transporting a large amount of lumber could yield enormous profits.
The families in the area, without exception, formed pioneering groups to claim the unowned land.
Each group consisted of one or two nobles and about a dozen knights, along with displaced people from the forest region.
“But in the midst of this, they started bickering over which family would claim which area, leading to another fight between the two families. This time, it escalated due to the stakes involved, and now several families in the area have split into two factions.”
In this situation, the ruling family of Orem, the Baltas family, sided with the Hadit family because the family head’s wife was from that family.
The problem was that the Hadit family was now on the verge of defeat.
The Corel family’s army, seizing the momentum, was sweeping through the territories of the opposing faction’s families, demanding surrender.
Now, it was Orem’s turn to face such treatment.
After hearing all this, Turan let out a low groan.
“Hmm…”
The story explained why the city’s atmosphere had become so tense.
It was almost surprising that they had even stationed a knight as a guard in front of the library amidst all this.
Perhaps they wanted to maintain some semblance of strength, as pulling back the knight would reveal their desperation.
“Well, people are like that. The current rulers have been around for about four hundred years, so it’s about time for a change.”
The librarian seemed to regard this war as nothing extraordinary, as if such conflicts were always happening.
From the perspective of someone who had lived for thousands of years and seen the city’s rulers change multiple times, it made sense.
“I guess I shouldn’t stay in this area for too long. I might get caught up in unnecessary trouble.”
As a mage, looking up at the sky wasn’t common, so flying around on Bije wouldn’t attract much attention, but it was still better to be cautious.
So, where should I go?
Turan sat in the chair, lost in thought.
The Enril Desert would be better to visit in about a year or so. Maybe I should travel to the south…
“Ugh.”
At that moment, Turan let out an involuntary groan as a sharp surge of emotion pierced through him.
A dizzying mix of pain, fear, and an intense longing for someone…
‘Bije?’
It was the emotions of his soul-bound companion, Bije.
Turan quickly stood up and called out to the librarian.
“Something urgent has come up, so I’ll be leaving now!”
“Alright, come back again.”
Before the slow-speaking librarian could finish, Turan had already used an invisibility spell and rushed out of the library.
Activating a tracking spell, he detected Bije’s scent and a faint smell of blood from the east.
The continued flow of emotions suggested that Bije was still alive.
Turan immediately used a flight spell to head east.
Behind him, the knight guarding the library frowned at the sudden gust of wind.
* * *
‘It was only an hour or two…’
Turan clicked his tongue as he flew through the sky.
Bije was a magical beast that even most nobles would find difficult to capture, so I thought it would be fine to leave him alone for a while. Who would have thought something like this would happen?
Considering that Bije had been left alone for days in the Enril Desert without any issues, this was just bad luck.
It was easy to guess who had captured Bije.
The nobles of the Corel family, who were currently rampaging through the area.
Given the circumstances, they were the only suspects.
Following the scent, it didn’t take long before Turan spotted a camp with about a hundred people.
Unlike Arabion’s army, their barracks were made up of several tents.
‘Eight nobles, thirty-five knights…’
Using the senses of his sacred artifact, Turan accurately assessed the situation within the camp.
The unusually high ratio of nobles was likely because their goal was not conquest but submission.
Sneaking into the camp while invisible, Turan saw a large woman handing Bije over to a black-haired male noble.
Her magical power was slightly more than half of Turan’s current level, making her a formidable figure among the heads of ordinary mage families.
She seemed to be the leader of this camp.
“What’s that, sister?”
“A magical beast. I caught it while passing by. Lock it up.”
“It’s much stronger and fiercer than it looks. Look, I got scratched here.”
The large woman’s companion, a noble, showed off his arm boastfully.
The black-haired noble ignored him and asked the leader.
“Why not just kill and eat it?”
“I’m saving it for my son. If we kill it now, it’ll turn into a spirit before we get home.”
“Ah… Oh, sister. It seems this thing has an owner.”
The black-haired noble pointed to Bije’s ankle, where Turan had tied a string to avoid being mistaken for a wild hawk.
But the leader, seemingly aware, chuckled and shook her head.
“Ah, that? If it bothers you, just cut it off.”
“Is that okay? What if it belongs to some powerful family…”
“Why would such a thing be in this backwater? Don’t worry about it. At most, someone from the Hadit family bought it for a high price. It’s not like we have anyone who raises magical beasts.”
“That’s true.”
The black-haired noble nodded in agreement and burned the string tied to Bije’s ankle.
Bije let out a sharp cry, but with one wing bent at an odd angle, he couldn’t resist actively.
Seeing this, Turan felt not anger but an eerily calm sensation.
It was as if excessive rage had burned away all emotions, leaving only reason.
Shortly after, still invisible, Turan followed the noble carrying Bije to a tent at the corner of the camp.
The black-haired noble was bending a thick metal rod with heat to create a makeshift cage.
“Hmm, with its wing broken, this should do… I’ll assign a knight to guard it… Huh?”
The black-haired noble was puzzled by the shadow cast behind him.
Turning his head, he saw a young man with gray hair and eyes.
Was there someone like this in our army?
No, more importantly, how did he get into the tent without making a sound-
“Excuse me. That hawk is my friend. May I take him back?”
“Huh? Uh… That’s a bit difficult since my sister caught him.”
The black-haired noble, caught off guard by the sudden request, responded awkwardly.
An outsider appearing in the middle of the camp’s tent and politely asking for the return of a bird the leader had caught…
The unexpected turn of events left his brain momentarily unable to keep up.
Instinctively, he projected his magical power towards the other, but strangely, there was no reaction.
In mage society, projecting magical power towards someone was a way to gauge their strength.
Not responding typically meant one of two things: either the person was an ordinary human with no magical power, or they were a mage too weak to display their power.
Feeling a bit more composed, the black-haired noble considered the possibility that the other was just a weakling trying to bluff his way into retrieving his pet.
Still, given the slight risk, he decided to proceed cautiously and asked a question.
“Uh, first of all, who are you? Your name, I mean.”
“Who I am isn’t important. He’s precious to me, so please return him. I won’t hold you responsible for breaking his wing.”
Hearing this, the black-haired noble became convinced.
This guy must be a knight or a low-ranking noble, even weaker than me.
Otherwise, wouldn’t he show his power and demand to know who I am, or threaten me to hand him over immediately?
“If you refuse-”
Just as he was about to say, “What will you do?”, the black-haired noble realized the other had disappeared.
What? Did I hallucinate? Or-
Before he could finish the thought, the world spun around him.
The last thing he saw was his own headless body.
* * *
Turan coldly looked down at the decapitated noble lying on the ground.
Regardless of whether the other was strong or weak, if he had shown even a hint of remorse or apology, Turan might have spared him.
Without even that, the man was nothing but a bandit, a wolf to be hunted.
Leaving the headless body behind, Turan sheathed his dagger and sat beside Bije, stroking his head.
A wave of joyous emotions flowed through their soul bond.
[Turan, it hurts! These people are bad!]
“I’m sorry for leaving you alone. Did they attack you first?”
[Yes!]
Reading the words written on the ground, Turan couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.
He had expected as much…
To attack and kidnap a marked magical beast, intending to use it as food—these were nothing but perfect bandits.
Turan took out the mimic sacred artifact and drank about a quarter of the healer’s bloodline magic.
He felt the healer’s magic filling his body.
‘This should be enough.’
For ordinary creatures, a much smaller amount would suffice, but healing a magical beast required more magic.
Placing his hand on the twisted wing, Turan exerted his power, and soon the wing began to realign with a cracking sound.
Shortly after, Bije, fully healed, wrote joyfully.
[It doesn’t hurt anymore!]
“That’s good. Bije, were you in a lot of pain?”
[Yes! But it’s okay now! Turan saved me!]
After writing that, Bije suddenly erased the words with his other foot and wrote in a weak voice.
[Stay with me from now on! Don’t leave me alone!]
“I will.”
Having nearly been hunted down after being left alone must have been quite a shock, as Bije rubbed his head against Turan’s body even while perched on the rod.
After comforting Bije for a while, Turan stepped out of the tent with a cold expression.
Now, it was time to make the kidnappers pay.