Shepherd Wizard

Chapter 102

Translator: Pai_

For the people living on this land, war was not an unfamiliar occurrence.

The various wizard families enjoyed all kinds of prosperity, yet they always wanted more, and the easiest and simplest way to achieve this was through war.

However, a war directly led by a great house was a different matter.

The more one possessed, the more they feared losing rather than gaining.

Even the recent war between House Aravion and House Zahar had been the first war between great houses in three hundred years.

And now, just twenty years later, before the aftereffects had even subsided, another war?

"Don't tell me it's with Zahar again?"

"It's obvious. They're probably staging another fake war this time too."

Naturally, the first thing that came to the minds of the two was that House Aravion was once again planning a fake war with House Zahar.

However, Turan pointed to the lower part of the letter, denying their speculation.

"No, the target is House Carmine."

"...Suddenly?"

To the east of Aravion, ruling over the North Sea, which controlled both water and frost.

The family of Visen, whom Turan’s group had encountered during their passage to the North Sea, was now the target of this war.

"It’s not that sudden. Others may not know, but we do, don't we? That their relationship isn't actually good."

"They said the god ruling House Carmine has bad relations with both House Aravion and House Zahar. That side was using the power of the merfolks to oppose them, and..."

"Ah, the merfolks!"

Meisa exclaimed as if she had realized something.

"Right! We gave the merfolks the Great Sea Serpent as a gift. I thought it would take at least a generation for the results to show, but it's happening sooner than expected."

It was clear that over the past few months, the merfolks had used the corpse of the Great Sea Serpent in some way to break free from the control of House Carmine.

Realizing that the balance of power had shifted, House Aravion was now taking direct action against Carmine.

And the fact that they had discovered this so quickly likely meant that they had already planted spies within House Carmine.

Solif and Meisa’s faces stiffened as they considered the possibility that their actions might have triggered a war between the two great houses.

"According to Ashiz’s letter, the conflict started after suspicions arose regarding the death of an Aravion noble who had recently married into House Carmine."

"As a justification for war, that's a bit weak."

"Well, in the end, things will go as they want. Of course, right now, House Aravion’s control over its own family has weakened considerably..."

Logically, with House Zahar, whom they had fought in a bloody battle not long ago, still standing strong, picking another enemy was sheer madness. However, if they had struck a deal with the enemy behind the scenes, it might not be as risky.

No, they might even be secretly receiving help from some Zahar nobles.

"Are they planning to erase House Carmine completely this time?"

"That could be the case. If the gods are truly hostile toward each other, then it’s unlikely to be another fake war like before."

Perhaps they would witness a real clash between gods this time.

Not against a minor figure like Ymir, whom they had encountered before, but an actual fight between the heads of House Aravion and House Carmine.

"In any case, we can't just ignore this."

"You're planning to get involved?"

"I at least want to find out exactly what's going on."

Turan spoke as he looked at Meisa and Solif.

Although the situation had changed drastically compared to the past, he was still reluctant to reveal Meisa to the main family of House Aravion.

Likewise, Solif's face was already well known among the people of House Aravion.

And if they used the Transformation Mask, then Turan wouldn’t be able to hide his own face.

"This time, I'll go investigate alone. You two should stay here and continue the reclamation project."

"But that's dangerous!"

"Yeah. No matter how strong you've gotten, if you get caught by a real god, you'll die."

As the two protested, Turan shook his head calmly and presented a reasonable explanation.

"I have no choice. There's only one disguise tool, and we can't just neglect things here either."

The reclamation of the southern region was a price paid in exchange for the House Lavitas Family Head’s healing magic.

Abandoning it due to an urgent matter would be equivalent to throwing away their trust.

Considering that there were almost no healers capable of quickly and completely treating powerful nobles like Turan and his group, halting the work was simply not an option.

After several rounds of arguments and persuasion, the two finally agreed to let Turan go alone to scout the conflict between the two houses.

"I'm saying this again, but you really have to be careful. If it seems dangerous, just run away. Got it?"

"Got it. I treasure my life too, so don’t worry."

As Solif expressed his concern, Turan waved his hand dismissively and glanced at Meisa.

Unexpectedly, unlike Solif, who wore a worried expression, she remained rather composed.

"It's fine. If you want, you can do something reckless. If you die, I'll hunt down whoever killed you and take revenge."

"Ah, so that’s how it is..."

A warning disguised as a threat, don’t get yourself killed by attracting the attention of someone too powerful, or else she’d end up dead avenging him.

Her expression was too sincere for him to just laugh it off as a joke, so Turan had to repeatedly assure them that he wouldn’t do anything reckless.

After that, he went to find Yoz, the knight from House Lavitas who was overseeing the reclamation efforts, to inform him that he would be away for a few months.

Right now, Turan was technically working as compensation for the healing he received, and Yoz was the one supervising him.

"Understood. That means the reclamation will be slightly delayed."

Yoz responded indifferently to the news that Turan would be gone for a few months.

Well, if no progress had been made at all, that would be one thing, but with more than half of the work already completed, it would be ridiculous to suspect that he was running away.

Besides, it wasn’t as if everyone was leaving, his two companions were staying behind to continue the work.

What caught Yoz’s attention more was the unfamiliar man standing next to Turan, grinning from ear to ear.

"Uh… the person beside you, don’t tell me..."

"Ah, this is a friend of mine, Sol. He’ll be taking over Phil’s duties for a while. Say hello."

"Hello."

Solif removed his mask and greeted him with an utterly shameless expression.

"Wait, no matter how I look at it, aren't you the successor of House Varaha-"

Seeing their expressions, Yoz quickly swallowed the words that were about to escape his mouth.

As one of House Lavitas' key administrators, he had apparently seen Solif’s portrait before.

"Just pretend we ran into each other by chance. You understand what I mean, right?"

"Ah, I understand."

Even if Solif took off his mask here, there was little chance that word of it would spread far.

This was the southernmost region of House Lavitas’ territory, the remote outskirts of Koloa.

Still, he had worn the mask just in case. But ultimately, it was more useful for Turan to be the one wearing it.

After spending about a week wrapping up affairs, Turan went to see Meisa before his departure.

Ever since receiving the letter, she had put the reclamation project on hold and had been completely immersed in crafting a magic artifact.

"I think it’s about time for me to go. How’s your work coming along?"

"Just finished, actually. Here."

As she handed him the object, Turan let out a small exclamation.

A small hand mirror, with the handle and edges plated in silver.

The craftsmanship itself was nothing extraordinary, but it contained an astonishingly powerful magical energy.

It was even comparable to the Guardian Magic Artifact that Turan possessed.

"It’s a paired item with the hand mirror I have. You can only communicate if both are infused with magic at the same time."

"What’s the range?"

"The farther apart they are, the more magic it will consume. If you’re in House Aravion or House Carmine’s territory, maintaining a connection for a long time with our power alone will be impossible."

"I see. Communication-type magic artifacts do tend to be inefficient."

Considering that no grand noble of the Enchanter Bloodline had ever existed before, Meisa was likely the most powerful enchanter in history.

Although it was an item created in just a relatively short span of a week, the efficiency of such an enchanter’s artifact being at this level was a problem.

At this rate, for ordinary nobles, communication would become impossible the moment they were more than a few hundred kilometers apart.

It was clear now why the various wizard houses rarely crafted this type of magic artifact.

"It’s probably also because I’m still not fully accustomed to enchantment magic. Once I make a better version, I’ll send it to you through Bije."

"Don’t push yourself too hard."

With Turan gone, the reclamation project would slow down, but it still had to continue. If Meisa got too caught up in this, it would only cause problems.

As they continued their conversation and the time for departure approached, Meisa suddenly pulled Turan into an embrace.

Unlike before, when she had felt like nothing but skin and bones, this time, it was a warm embrace, one that reminded him of when he had been held by his mother long ago.

"Meisa."

"Don’t die."

Instead of replying, Turan simply patted her back.

*

After finishing all preparations, Turan grasped Bije’s leg with his own hands and soared into the sky.

While tying himself to a harness was more convenient, it didn’t allow him to fully utilize the golden eagle’s speed.

Delighted to be flying alone with Turan again after a long time, Bije propelled herself northward with powerful gusts of wind at her back.

Looking down at the ground below, Turan marveled at the rapidly passing landscape.

"I knew you were fast, but… you’ve really gotten even faster."

Even when he had first ridden Bije, he had been impressed by her speed, but compared to then, she was now on an entirely different level.

Back then, she had only been around the mid-to-lower ranks among nobles in terms of magical beasts.

Turan’s weight of just over seventy kilograms had been enough to slow her down and tire her out easily.

Now, with magic power comparable to that of the highest-ranking nobles, each flap of Bije’s wings split the clouds apart, and the shockwaves even reached the distant ground below.

Had they been flying at a lower altitude, the winds alone might have been strong enough to send people flying.

Bije, pleased by Turan’s praise, flapped her wings even more vigorously.

Flying in this manner and resting in uninhabited areas for two days, Turan covered nearly seven thousand kilometers and arrived at the Takein Plains.

"You really did an amazing job, Bije."

[This was nothing! I could’ve been even faster alone! Not that it’s because Turan is heavy or anything…]

Bije, proud of her abilities, hastily scratched at the dirt with her talons, realizing too late that her words made it sound like she was treating her friend as mere baggage.

Turan chuckled at her reaction and stroked the feathers on her head.

"If I had come here on my own, it would have taken at least ten days without rest. Thanks to you, I saved a lot of time. Thank you."

[I want to keep traveling with Turan!]

"I appreciate it, but for now, I need you to help Meisa and Solif. This is something I have to do alone."

Bringing Bije along would make it difficult to move around properly in disguise.

After all, anyone traveling with a golden eagle would inevitably stand out.

If a situation arose where he absolutely needed Bije, he would contact Meisa and have her bring Bije here.

"Alright, then. Be careful on your way back. You know where to go, right?"

[I know better than Turan!]

Perhaps upset at the thought of being separated for a long time, Bije wrote her words in a slightly sulky tone before taking off into the sky.

Seeing his friend off, Turan immediately turned toward the nearby city of Zavilin.

Of course, he used the Transformation Mask to disguise himself as an ordinary young man.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Oh? Ah, yes. Thank you, young man."

Casually greeting the patrolling officers with an easy smile, Turan entered the city and expanded his senses to detect how many wizards were nearby.

'That one over there… is a knight of House Berk… Looks like they haven’t assigned a separate surveillance team for this area.'

He had expected that they would have planted spies after the incident where they helped Meisa escape, but surprisingly, they hadn’t gone to such lengths.

Perhaps they had planted spies immediately after the incident but decided to withdraw them after several months of receiving no news.

‘Well, even if they intercepted the letter I sent to Ashiz… I didn’t write anything meaningful in it anyway.’

When sending letters, Turan had deliberately avoided mentioning Meisa at all.

As if he had been traveling with only Solif.

Moreover, since he had also been careful to leave out any clues that could hint at their location, even if someone had read the letter, they wouldn’t have been able to extract any significant information.

After spending a good amount of time scouting the city, Turan confidently stepped into House Berk’s mansion while using Concealment Magic.

Even though it was broad daylight and several magic artifacts emitting light were active throughout the area, his concealment remained intact.

‘Though I can’t maintain this for too long.’

Feeling his magic power rapidly depleting, Turan moved swiftly through the mansion.

Before long, he reached Ashiz’s room, shut the door behind him, and finally released his concealment, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Huuh…"

This kind of infiltration was only possible because he possessed an immense amount of magic power and had spent months living in this mansion, memorizing its layout.

A regular noble from House Zahar would have exhausted their magic long ago.

Lying down on the bed, Turan heightened his senses to an extreme degree using the Sacred Relic.

He could sense the presence of various nobles, from the head couple of House Berk to Ashiz's brother Melo, and even his teacher Haram.

He had expected Ashiz to be out somewhere playing, but unexpectedly, he was in the garden practicing magic, likely undergoing training.

‘No suspicious individuals inside the mansion either… Good, I guess I can get some rest then.’

Turan lay back on the bed, letting his exhaustion from the two-day journey melt away as he waited for the room’s owner to return.

Ashiz returned about two hours later.

"You-you…!? Wait, Turan?"

"It’s been a while, Ashiz. I’m glad to see you looking well."

Ashiz was momentarily startled by the sudden presence of a brown-haired young man occupying his room. However, as soon as he saw the clothes, he immediately recognized Turan’s identity.

After all, he had made those clothes himself, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize them.

“Don’t tell me you came because of the letter I sent?”

“Yeah. Plus, I wanted to check if there was any suspicious activity going on here.”

When Turan confirmed that there didn’t seem to be any spies inside the mansion, Ashiz let out a sigh of relief.

“To be honest, I was a bit wary. I was worried that someone might secretly use a familiar face to get close to me.”

“That’s not exactly a common ability, is it?”

“It isn’t, but if you can do it, then maybe someone else can too.”

Of course, considering that the mask Turan possessed was likely a magic artifact or even a Sacred Relic created using the power of the Mimic Bloodline, the chances of someone else having the same ability were nearly nonexistent.

It was highly probable that the Mimic God had never left behind any descendants to inherit their bloodline.

Still, being cautious of potential threats wasn’t a bad mindset to have.

After all, even Turan didn’t fully know what they were capable of and what they weren’t.

“More importantly, explain things in more detail. Your letter was too vague. When exactly is the war supposed to break out?”

“That, I don’t know either. Even my mother probably doesn’t. But it doesn’t seem like it’ll take too long. The main family has been placing massive orders for magic artifacts that grant resistance to cold…”

Indeed, that alone was enough to make it obvious, they were clearly targeting House Carmine, which wielded power over water and frost.

Through his deep conversation with Ashiz, Turan was able to gather several updates on the current state of House Aravion.

He learned how the atmosphere within the main house and the vassal houses had changed, as well as how they were even spreading theatrical performances that demonized House Carmine to justify the war.

“So that’s how far they’re taking it…”

“You’re not thinking of sneaking into the main house again, are you?”

“Not this time. It’s too dangerous.”

Previously, Turan had been able to infiltrate House Aravion’s main estate only because they hadn’t expected the presence of an intruder.

But now, while they might not yet know about House Zahar’s Concealment abilities, they were certainly aware that someone with an unidentified disguise technique existed.

Attempting another infiltration under these circumstances would be nothing short of reckless.

Even if Solif and Meisa were with him, they weren’t confident they could stand against the House Aravion's Family Head, and right now, he was alone.

“Instead, I think it would be more useful to infiltrate the other side. Could you help me gather any relevant information? Since their family is close by, I feel like I might find something if I search through the library.”

“The other side? Wait, don’t tell me…”

As Ashiz’s eyes widened in shock, Turan flashed him a grin.

“That’s right. This time, I’m planning to take a look at House Carmine.”