Shepherd Wizard

Chapter 91

Translator: Pai_

Three days later, Turan and his party steered the ship toward the island where their operation was planned.

Perhaps due to the storm brought by the Great Sea Serpent, the sky was always covered in dark clouds, making it dark, with strong winds blowing and high waves crashing.

Naturally, theirs was the only ship sailing in the area, so there were not many spectators who could witness the small fishing boat gliding over the sea.

“So, this is how humans with the power of devils steer their ships. It’s as fast as some merfolk swimming.”

The mermaid princess, Rowena, who was aboard with them, murmured her impression.

Armania, who was next to her, nodded and said,

“It’s much faster than when I was with him before. It wasn’t like this back then.”

“Well, this time, three people are steering it. The mackerel is all grilled. Do you want some?”

“Thanks!”

After grilling and eating the mackerel they had caught using fluid manipulation magic, Armania transformed into a baby shark and leapt into the sea, saying he would inform his family of Turan’s arrival in advance.

When Turan focused the Sacred Relic's senses toward the ocean, he could feel a small presence rapidly moving away underwater.

"Despite what you said earlier, he swims much faster."

“Well, he is a shark, after all. That’s something to be envious of, being able to swim fast.”

Rowena sighed as she watched Armania disappear.

According to the conversation that came up during their chatter, she could take the form of a crab, which allowed her to move freely on land but made her slower in the water compared to her kin.

Because of that, in the upcoming battle, she planned to fight alongside Turan’s party on land.

Meisa looked at Rowena and asked,

“By the way, how do you guys determine which creatures you can transform into? Are you just born with it?”

“It’s similar. We can influence it to some extent, but there’s a natural predisposition. If I really wanted to, I could have transformed into a slightly different type of crab, but… it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.”

In ancient times, there were royal family members who could take the form of a Great Sea Serpent, but that was just an old legend. Nowadays, royal merfolk who could transform into large creatures like sharks or whales, like Armania, were considered to have high potential.

Although he was still young, Armania was seen as someone with promising potential among the merfolk.

“If someone like him went missing, it must have caused quite a commotion.”

“Hmm? Ah, well… It wasn’t that much of a fuss. We just figured he’d come back on his own.”

When Turan subtly brought up the topic to emphasize his achievement in rescuing Armania, Rowena downplayed it as if it was no big deal.

Even though they had agreed to cooperate, her attitude showed she wasn’t willing to concede an inch, making Turan chuckle. He then turned his gaze toward the northern horizon, where the island was slowly coming into view.

“The promise you made earlier was kept, right?”

“Of course. Other than the royal family members participating in the fight and a few noble-class attendants to serve them, no one else will be there. Honestly, managing the lower-class merfolk is exhausting for us too.”

This was one of the conditions Turan had demanded from the merfolk.

The lower-class merfolk would be of no help in the hunt for the Great Sea Serpent and would likely become a burden, so he had insisted that they be left behind.

This was to maintain balance between their forces and the merfolk.

No matter how powerful the wizards in Turan’s group were, if thousands of merfolk swarmed them while they were fighting the royal family, they would inevitably suffer losses in both magic power and stamina.

“But what about you? Are you planning to bring that bird into battle? It looks like it could be in danger.”

“This one is tougher than she looks, so it’ll be fine.”

As Turan stroked her head, Bije closed her eyes and enjoyed it, then glanced at Rowena with a mocking expression.

It was as if she were saying, "How dare someone like you try to judge my worth?"

In the first place, the reason Turan even considered attempting the hunt for the Great Sea Serpent was because of Bije.

No matter how formidable the enemy was, having wings that allowed them to detect danger early and escape made a huge difference.

Before landing on the island, Turan, as he had done before, activated Tracking Magic and scooped up a handful of seawater to sniff it.

‘…Good. At the very least, it doesn’t seem like there are a large number of merfolk.’

At most, he estimated there were only a dozen or so.

The destination island was not particularly large, so by the time they landed, activating the sense of the sacred relic allowed him to encompass the entire island within his detection range.

There were two merfolk comparable to upper and mid-tier human nobles, one slightly weaker than them, and six merfolk of upper to mid-tier strength.

Lastly, there were lower-ranked merfolk in between them, likely including Armania, making a total of nine royal merfolk.

Including Rowena, who was with them, that made ten.

Additionally, there were about ten other merfolk present, far weaker than the royals.

These were likely noble-class merfolk who, like Armania when they first met, only possessed a level of power similar to ordinary humans and had probably come to serve as attendants.

Using Wind Magic, Turan discreetly relayed this information to Solif and Meisa.

Meisa, with a meaningful expression, asked,

[Ten royal merfolk… That kid can’t really be counted as a combatant, so nine. If we end up fighting, do you think we can handle it?]

[Easily. Merfolk are generally stronger than nobles of the same rank, but the same applies to us. However, what’s important to remember is that we must never appear weaker than them during or after the battle.]

The most crucial aspect of this fight was to never forget that the merfolk were unreliable allies.

If they expended too much power hunting the Great Sea Serpent and their combat strength dropped significantly, they had to be prepared for the possibility of an ambush from the merfolk.

"We've arrived, let's disembark."

*

While they had been whispering among themselves, their ship had reached the island, and Turan’s group disembarked with Rowena, heading inland.

Since the island was not very large, it only took a few minutes to reach where the royal merfolk were gathered.

“Oh, are those the humans?”

“They all look pretty young. Are they really that strong?”

“Well, sister Rowena must have judged them properly.”

Contrary to expectations, the royal merfolk they encountered all spoke in a casual and somewhat rough manner.

Turan had expected them to speak more formally, like Armania or Rowena, who used somewhat rigid speech, but perhaps those two had simply learned an unusual way of speaking.

Among the group dressed in clothes seemingly made from seaweed, Armania, notably smaller in stature, stepped forward to greet Turan.

“That gray-haired one is Turan, the kind devil who saved me! He’s really strong! He beat sister Rowena so easily she couldn’t even fight back!”

Rowena’s lips twisted into a forced smile, her pride clearly wounded, but she did not argue.

After all, it was true that she had been thoroughly beaten.

The royal merfolk, hearing Armania’s words, looked at Turan’s group with even greater interest.

“Oh…”

"She lost that badly?"

“If he’s that strong, he must be one of the most powerful devils on land. Kid, you got lucky.”

As they chatted among themselves, Turan’s gaze shifted to a merfolk noble standing politely behind the royals.

The merfolk was staring at Turan’s group while drooling.

“Huh.”

“Hey, Yacon. I told you to control yourself. You’re being disgraceful.”

“My apologies, Your Highness…”

Scolded by a royal, the merfolk noble quickly wiped away the drool and bowed respectfully.

Turan had heard that noble-class merfolk, while not as disciplined as the royals, still had a considerable degree of self-control. Yet, seeing this, he had his doubts.

If even a noble-class merfolk was this undisciplined, he could only imagine how little restraint the lower-class merfolk, whom they openly despised, must have.

Narrowing his eyes, Turan watched the merfolk chattering excitedly among themselves.

‘If only I could read these creatures’ emotions too.’

Though he did not fully understand the mechanism behind it, Turan had the ability to perceive human emotions to some extent through scent.

This ability even extended to most ordinary animals.

However, merfolk were an exception.

Whether it was due to the fishy smell they exuded or some other reason, he was unsure.

At that moment, Rowena took off the human clothing she had been wearing and donned the seaweed garments typical of merfolk, speaking in a low voice.

“Then, let’s start by introducing ourselves.”

“I am Turan. These two are Sol and Misha. Pleased to meet you.”

After stating only that much and falling silent, one of the merfolk looked puzzled and asked,

“Hm? That’s it? Don’t you humans have house names or something?”

“There are some among us who wander without such things.”

The merfolk made expressions of curiosity, but since none of them seemed particularly knowledgeable on the subject, they merely shrugged it off as if accepting it.

Following that, the merfolk introduced themselves, and to Turan’s surprise, they were all children of the current Merfolk King.

One older brother of Rowena, four younger brothers, and three younger sisters.

Including Armania, that made a total of nine.

As he listened, Turan immediately raised a question.

“What about other relatives?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, your father, the Merfolk King, must have siblings as well. Do they not have children?”

Judging by the numbers, it did not seem that the royal merfolk had low reproductive capability. If the offspring of other royal lineages were included, their overall strength would rival that of a major noble house.

One of the merfolk responded as if the answer was obvious.

“Of course, they’re all dead.”

“…How did that happen?”

“We sent them off ourselves. A kingdom has only one king, and only his bloodline may thrive.”

When a king was replaced, all royal descendants who were not of the new king’s direct lineage were purged. The young royal merfolk recounted this shocking tale with complete indifference, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Turan glanced at Solif and Meisa just in case, and their expressions showed they were equally appalled.

“Is this normal?”

“Yes. The merfolk of other kingdoms do the same-”

“Don’t say unnecessary things, Kolova.”

Rowena cut off the chatty royal merfolk, as if warning him.

So, there was more than one merfolk kingdom. That was news to Turan.

‘Well, I suppose it makes sense. Other races aren’t all united under a single rule either.’

Aside from the Necromancer King that Meisa had once hunted down, there were likely still Dark Elf clans thriving somewhere underground, and some Dwarven groups surviving in the Gray Zone.

It would have been a mistake to assume that the merfolk were a singular, unified faction.

But learning this fact reminded him of something.

Perhaps this was not even the merfolk kingdom that Ymir had mentioned in the past, the one supposedly working with the lawyer.

If that were the case, then they had been off-track from the beginning…

Suppressing his doubts, Turan turned to the relatively careless royal merfolk who had just spoken and asked another question.

“Did you consider asking for help from other kingdoms?”

“Hm? Then we wouldn’t get to keep all the corpse to ourselves. That’s the whole reason we’re doing this.”

“Kolova!”

Rowena’s older brother, the eldest son of the Merfolk King, sharply reprimanded him, but by then, Turan had already heard everything he needed.

Just then, the tenth and final merfolk presence Turan had sensed earlier stepped out from behind the thicket. The sudden tension in the air made Armania, who had momentarily shrunk back, suddenly beam and shout,

“Oh, Abamama! You look like you had a good shit!” (TL Note: Abamama is a historical term used by princes to address their father.)

"Quiet, you little brat."

The speaker, growling in irritation, was a middle-aged merfolk with white hair and a beard that reached his navel.

Unlike the depictions in countless storybooks, he wore no golden crown or pearl necklace, but the sharp glint in his eyes and the deep wrinkles etched into his face exuded an air of authority, making it clear he stood a step above the other merfolk.

Most striking of all was the trident he held like a staff. Judging by the immense flow of magic within it, it was certainly no ordinary magic artifact.

‘A sacred relic… and a top-tier one at that…’

The Merfolk King, wielding a treasure that Turan judged to be equal to or greater than his own Mimic Relic, calmly observed Turan’s group before finally speaking with a displeased expression.

"Young wizards. Barely sixty years old, even if I'm being generous."

"Skill doesn't necessarily follow age."

Turan deliberately spoke in an informal tone, asserting himself as an equal to the Merfolk King.

He instinctively knew that the moment he showed deference, the king would completely regard him as an inferior.

As expected, the Merfolk King only twitched his brow at Turan’s casual speech but did not openly express anger.

“Arrogant brats.”

He scoffed, then sat down on a large stone chair, looking down on them with an air of arrogance.

Facing him directly, Turan immediately spoke.

“More importantly, I think the deal needs to be adjusted a bit.”

“What deal are you talking about?”

“The corpse of the Great Sea Serpent, Rowena clearly said it was worthless, but from what I see now, that’s not the case.”

“Who said something like that?”

As the Merfolk King turned his head, all of his children looked toward Kolova, the talkative royal merfolk.

“Uh, I just…”

“If you’re not even seeking help from other merfolk kingdoms and trying to keep the whole thing for yourselves, then it must be quite valuable, right?”

Turan locked eyes with the Merfolk King’s deep black-red gaze.

After about ten seconds of silent staring, the king shook his head in exasperation.

“Humans… always so greedy! So, what do you want? Do you want me to split the Great Sea Serpent’s corpse in half with you? Or would a chest of pearls do?”

"You mean the stuff that comes from clams?"

"I don't know why, but I hear humans really like them."

“Stay quiet when Father is speaking, you fools!”

At the eldest son’s shout, the royal merfolk who had been murmuring in the background flinched and lowered their heads.

Seeing this, Turan could somewhat understand why the Merfolk King favored Rowena.

“It’s nothing too grand. I’d just like to hear a few stories about the surface world.”

From what he had seen so far, none of the royal merfolk possessed any noteworthy Magic Artifacts.

That was likely because, in their transformed aquatic forms, handling objects was difficult.

The only real treasure among them was that Trident, but if he asked for that, the hunt for the Great Sea Serpent would undoubtedly fall apart.

In other words, the most reasonable compensation Turan could demand was information.

“…That’s all you want?”

“Of course.”

“What kind of stories?”

“The lawyer.”

The Merfolk King narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing him. But before long, he gave a slight nod.

“Fine. We’ll talk alone. You lot! Go find something else to do away from here!”

"But I'm curious about the human stories."

“Me too.”

“Get lost, now!”

At the king’s roar, the grumbling royal merfolk scattered one by one. Seeing this, Turan signaled Solif and Meisa to step aside as well.

Once they were alone, the Merfolk King quietly asked,

“Where did you hear that name?”

“From Ymir.”

Since they were already on opposing sides, Turan freely used the name.

The Merfolk King tilted his head slightly.

"I don't know that name."

If he didn’t know Ymir, that meant he wasn’t an active participant in the gods’ power struggles.

At best, he was merely aware of some of their dealings.

In fact, the very fact that the lawyer’s alias was used even among allies suggested that he wasn’t fully committed to the relationship.

“Are you working with the lawyer?”

“I don’t know if you’d call it cooperation, but we’ve maintained ties for generations. That side holds our leash, after all.”

From his tone and expression, it was evident that he had no personal goodwill toward the lawyer, if anything, there was a hint of hostility.

Even so, the reason they continued to follow the lawyer was that he had a way to exert pressure on the Merfolk Kingdom.

Of course, he had no intention of explaining exactly how.

‘Is he ruling over multiple merfolk kingdoms?’

If that were the case, it would explain why the lawyer, as a single entity, could stand against multiple powerful foes.

Just having four or five merfolk forces of this scale would be enough to utterly crush a major noble house.

And if his domain spanned across the entirety of both seas, then his influence would be even greater than that.

At that moment, the Merfolk King gazed at Turan sharply and asked,

“Are you one of those monstrous beings as well? One who lives an eternal life?”

“Even if I don’t answer, you seem to already know the answer.”

“Hah. I should have realized it when I saw how absurdly strong such young humans were. What kind of tricks are you planning this time?”

“I genuinely intend to hunt the Great Sea Serpent, so there’s nothing to worry about, unless you try something suspicious on your end.”

At Turan’s words, the Merfolk King shook his head with an exasperated expression.

“Killing you here would be pointless. You’d just come back to life someday and seek revenge. I have no intention of gifting my people an eternal enemy.”

“A fortunate thing for both of us.”

If the Merfolk King mistook Turan and, by extension, the other two, for members of the Preah God Tribe, then there could be no better deterrent against betrayal.

After all, only a fool would make an enemy out of someone who would come back to life even if killed.

Suppressing his amusement, Turan maintained a relaxed demeanor.

“So, is that all you wanted to ask?”

“Why didn’t you seek the lawyer’s cooperation for this? It seems like something that would interest him as well.”

Turan did not know whether god's vessels had unlimited magic power, but there was no reason to pass up an opportunity to absorb a massive amount of magic.

At the very least, the lawyer could have used the Great Sea Serpent’s power to strengthen his future vessels.

Hearing this, the Merfolk King responded with a perplexed expression.

“Isn’t that something you would know better than me? Why are you asking me?”

“Because I’m not the lawyer’s friend.”

By subtly emphasizing that he belonged to a different faction, Turan prompted the Merfolk King to snort softly.

"The sealing method using that Sacred Relic you took was suggested by him. We never mentioned hunting. If he knew, there’s no way he’d let us keep the corpse.”

“Why not?”

Instead of answering, the Merfolk King widened his deep reddish-brown eyes and stared at Turan intently.

It seemed he was trying to determine whether Turan was genuinely curious or merely probing him.

After a brief silence, he slowly opened his mouth and spoke.

“Because it would allow us to return to being true royal merfolk once more. As priests of the Great Sea Serpent, we could reclaim the forms we once had.”