Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 76

Chapter 76

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The elderly butler of Kadram’s mansion recalled his master’s behavior while checking the cleaning status of the residence.

Somehow, today’s demeanor felt completely unfamiliar.

There was supposed to be a family meeting this morning, yet he had hurriedly returned home, and his attitude seemed guilty about something.

Moreover, he had just brought in a maid he had seen a few times before who served directly under the family head, ordering that no one enter the basement.

This was unprecedented in his decades of serving his master.

‘Could it be…?’

As his thoughts drifted in a strange direction, the maid who had gone down to the basement with Kadram came up carrying a large sack.

Though bulky, judging by how easily she carried it, it didn’t seem to contain anything particularly heavy.

“Oh.”

Seeing her, the butler realized his suspicions were correct.

Unlike her perfectly neat appearance earlier, her clothes were hastily and sloppily put on…

Some parts were even torn as if forcibly removed!

Noticing the butler’s gaze, the maid took one hand off the sack to discreetly adjust her clothes.

“He said not to come down to the basement for a while.”

“Ah, understood.”

Though Kadram and his wife were known for having an exceptionally good marriage for nobles, proudly never taking concubines, it seemed that was ending today.

Lamenting the end of domestic peace, the butler quickly averted his gaze from the maid.

Because of this, he failed to notice that the sack was about the size of a crouched person, and that the maid had grown slightly taller than before.

* * *

“Thank you for your hard work! Here’s your pass.”

“Ugh, the smell… just hurry up and go through!”

The cart reeked of food waste.

The checkpoint guard waved his hand in disgust at the stench that wouldn’t become bearable no matter how many times he smelled it.

Turan, disguised as a cleaner, bowed his head and pulled the cart through the checkpoint.

“Phew…”

How many days had he spent in this fortress surrounded by walls and barriers?

Breathing a sigh of relief as the pressure unique to enclosed spaces disappeared, Turan entered a nearby alley and opened the front lid of the cart to remove Leto from the sack.

Bound tightly in chains, thoroughly beaten and unconscious, she was now no different from an ordinary person.

‘That was easier than expected.’

The plan had worked smoothly – disguising as Kadram to lure and capture Leto, then disguising as Leto to leave the mansion before placing her in the prepared food waste cart to pass the checkpoint.

It felt almost anticlimactic considering the past few days spent practicing disguises and secretly stealing the cart, clothes, and entry passes.

He had even absorbed some Illusion bloodline power in case an overzealous checkpoint guard decided to inspect the cart.

Anyway, since everything went smoothly, Turan changed into the white clothes Arabion nobles often wore, slung Leto over his shoulder, and flew into the sky.

No one paid attention to him since mages flying around this area was nothing unusual.

After flying west for about twenty minutes.

Reaching the outskirts of Morgen City, Turan took out a strand of red hair and cast tracking magic to get his bearings.

Soon he spotted Meisa and three Arabion nobles leisurely flying around a sparsely populated hill.

Turan immediately used wind magic to send his voice.

[Everything went according to plan, Meisa.]

Of course, the Arabion nobles who could read wind flows couldn’t miss this.

“What’s that?”

“Seems like that person sent wind, do you recognize him?”

“Never seen him before. Looks a bit like Dex though…”

Though Arabion was a great house with many nobles, they numbered only about a hundred or so.

Moreover, living longer than ordinary people, they could usually recognize all their peers.

The only ones whose faces might not be familiar were the elders who rarely engaged in external activities.

Yet they didn’t immediately grow suspicious because he wore a face that was just an aged version of the young knight he had previously disguised as.

Since it was a mix of several Arabion noble faces, it felt vaguely familiar enough to seem like an unfamiliar relative.

Just as that uncertainty was about to turn to suspicion, a massive amount of lightning poured down from behind.

Caught off guard by Meisa’s sudden attack, the three Arabion nobles died without even screaming, their bodies charred black.

Looking down at the dead, Meisa muttered as if making excuses.

“They were all their lackeys.”

“Well done. Now let’s move.”

If they had been Youth faction nobles, they could have just knocked them unconscious or persuaded them to give false testimony about their escape direction, but for Middle-aged faction members, killing them was cleaner.

Having removed all traces for tracking, the two immediately flew south at full speed.

* * *

With the flying speed of an heir-level noble going all out being several times faster than ordinary nobles running, they were able to reach Zabilin City, House Berk’s territory, in just a couple of hours.

Instead of entering the city immediately, Turan and Meisa landed in a nearby uninhabited valley.

Focusing consciousness on the soul thread in that state, soon a black eagle descended.

“Bije!”

Perhaps too happy to see its soul partner after so long, Bije chirped before untying the ropes between the swing and its legs and flying into Turan’s arms.

After rubbing against him, it landed and wrote an epic-length message about how much it had missed him and why he hadn’t come sooner.

As Turan, guilty of leaving it alone for so long, responded with “I see, I see,” Meisa burst out laughing behind them.

Meanwhile, a man dismounted from the swing Bije had put down and approached Turan.

“You took way too long, man.”

The grumbling man had gray hair tied back and wore typical traveler’s clothes.

From a distance, he could have been mistaken for Turan.

Of course, up close he was shorter with a stockier build and completely different face, clearly not the same person.

Solif removed his gray wig and tossed it aside as he spoke.

“Do you know how many days I’ve been flying around here on this thing?”

“I thought you’d enjoy it since you always wanted to ride it.”

“That’s only fun for a day or two.”

During the past ten-plus days while Turan infiltrated Arabion’s main house, Solif had flown around Zabilin City wearing a wig and similar clothes like now.

This was to prepare for them suspecting Turan of helping Meisa escape.

Thanks to Asiz’s consideration, he avoided contact with others in the house while openly appearing outside, hiding that Turan had left House Berk.

“Well, never mind that! This must be the Arabion lady. I’m Solif. Nice to meet you.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Meisa… Ah!”

When Meisa tried to accept Solif’s offered handshake, she screamed in shock as his wrist came off in her hand.

Solif burst out laughing at his successful prosthetic hand prank.

“Got you!”

“Don’t tell me you left it unhealed just to do this?”

“Who do you take me for? I started treatment recently but it’s not healing easily. Still, it’s grown from elbow to wrist now.”

True to his words, Solif’s right arm that had once been severed above the elbow had now grown to the wrist.

The healing lady Asiz had finally called seemed to be working quite diligently.

Ignoring Meisa’s bewildered stare at the two of them, Turan set Leto down from his shoulder.

“Well then, shall we unwrap our gift?”

Soon Meisa would need to fly far away beyond Arabion’s reach riding Bije.

Before that, they needed to interrogate Leto for information and dispose of her.

Leto who emerged from the sack was barely recognizable from her once neat appearance – her nose and cheekbones were broken from repeated punches during capture, both eyes and lips were swollen, and several teeth were missing.

When splashed with water, she regained consciousness and quickly rolled her eyes around to survey her surroundings before desperately bowing her head toward Meisa, the only familiar face.

“Ah, young miss, please spare me! I don’t know what I did wrong, but please forgive me…”

Her nasally pleading was pitiful enough to make even other races reconsider before eating her, but Meisa’s eyes looking down at Leto were only blazing blue with hatred.

“Was it fun?”

“What?”

“I asked if it was fun killing my family.”

At that question, Leto’s trembling body suddenly froze.

As if her previous attitude had been an act, she raised her head, clicked her tongue and sighed deeply.

“Ah… so you found out? I knew this day would come someday but- AAAAAH!”

Meisa immediately shot a bolt of lightning at Leto who had been casually muttering.

Though the force was barely enough to kill even an ordinary person, Leto who had been bound in chains for a while was now no different from that ‘ordinary person’.

“Keep talking.”

“I-I’m not sure what you want me to say… like how much blood your mother and brother coughed up back then?”

It was admirable that she could still taunt like this even after being electrocuted once.

Seeing the enraged Meisa about to shoot lightning again, Turan quickly stopped her.

“Why…”

“You’re too excited. Take some deep breaths for now. I’ll handle the interrogation first.”

Only then did Meisa realize she had nearly lost control and killed Leto just now.

That wouldn’t do.

This woman needed to die suffering many times more than what she had made Meisa’s family endure.

While Meisa stepped back and closed her eyes to calm herself, Turan briefly explained the situation to the puzzled Solif.

That this woman was a Zahar bloodline noble who had assassinated Meisa’s parents and worked for Arabion.

“A Zahar assassin worked for Arabion? Why?”

“That’s what we’re about to find out. Do you know how to torture?”

“Of course. You?”

“Never done it but I think I could if needed.”

Hearing their conversation, Leto burst out laughing.

“You really are such children. Listen kids, whatever that girl promised you, you’d better release me now. Otherwise you’ll soon regret being born. Think you can run from Arabion’s grasp forever?”

Though Leto’s face was full of venom even in her completely powerless state, Turan could smell intense fear and despair from her body.

Her current attitude was essentially just desperation, a thin shell that would crack with just a little prodding.

“More importantly, let’s talk. How did you trick that b*st*rd Kadram? I never imagined getting ambushed there! If you tell me that, I’ll tell you something too, how about it?”

“I’m the one asking questions.”

“Didn’t you say you’ve never tortured before? Causing pain isn’t just about hitting, burning and cutting. Torture won’t work so getting information this way would be better-”

Perhaps trying to ignore her inner anxiety, Leto who had been enthusiastically taunting suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Looking up, Turan realized she was staring at his face with her swollen eyes wide open.

“…Karim?”

“Who’s that?”

At Turan’s question, Leto gasped “Ah!” and shut her mouth, but he could already smell the confusion and bewilderment emanating from her.

Of course, unlike him, Leto couldn’t smell anything.

Her broken nose would be filled with the smell of blood.

“Tell me, who is Karim?”

“…You, who are your parents? No, which noble bloodline are you?”

From Leto’s counter-questions, Turan realized she had glimpsed traces of someone else in his face again.

After brief consideration, Turan spoke an improvised lie.

“Talis Zahar.”

“What?”

“You should know who that is.”

In the port city of Komad in the Enril Desert, Turan had been told by the lord there that he resembled Talis, Zahar’s second-in-command.

If this Leto was a mage raised in Arabion she wouldn’t know Talis’s face, but if not…

“…Now that you mention it, the face is very similar. Even the eye color is identical. Since he hasn’t newly married, you must be an illegitimate child?”

If she had seen him put on the disguise mask she would have thought even this face was fake, but all she remembered was suddenly being beaten by Kadram before waking up here.

Who would dare imagine the existence of a holy relic that could freely change faces?

Moreover, in the process she had unconsciously revealed important information.

The fact that she was a noble born and raised in House Zahar, not born in Arabion to serve them.

Without revealing that he had noticed this, Turan asked again.

“As I said before, I’m the one asking questions. Who is Karim?”

At Turan’s words, Leto answered with an expression of incomprehension.

“He’s Lord Talis’s son, isn’t he? According to what you said, he’d be your half-brother… though I guess you might not know since he died during the war?”

The moment he heard those words, the clues Turan had gathered came together in his mind.

According to what he had learned in Kalamaf before, his presumed father was a young noble, and Talis who was both second-in-command of a great house and the family head’s brother wouldn’t be young.

If both Talis and his son resembled Turan, given the circumstances, Talis was likely Turan’s grandfather and this Karim was probably his father.

More importantly…

“He died?”

Learning that his presumed father was already dead, Turan felt both disappointment and relief.

Disappointment at being unable to meet the person who had brought him into this world, and relief that circumstances suggested he hadn’t betrayed his mother.

“Y-yes. More importantly, if you’re really Lord Talis’s son then quickly untie me! I’m only here on orders from above! You must know how terrifying your father is too, right?”

Perhaps because a glimmer of hope had appeared in her completely hopeless situation?

Leto showed an urgent and servile attitude, as if her earlier composure had been fake.

Meanwhile, Turan’s face hardened at hearing she was here “on orders from above.”

That meant the upper echelons of these two great houses that had fought wars and still growled at each other were actually colluding behind the scenes…