Shepherd Wizard

Translator: Pai_ 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

At first, he thought he was hearing things, but the voice was too loud and clear to be dismissed as such.

More than anything, along with the sound, his body’s ability to absorb magic power suddenly began to weaken drastically.

It was a feeling similar to knowing that eating just one more bite after gorging yourself would make you throw up.

At this moment, he instinctively realized that he had reached his limit as a wizard.

As he felt a dizzying despair from that fact, his ability to absorb magic power returned to normal, as if mocking him.

Instead, the growth limit he had experienced seemed to have found its way to a noble standing nearby.

“Ah.”

A short gasp escaped the noble’s lips as pale green light scattered into the air.

It was the same phenomenon he had witnessed in the past while hunting alongside the wizards of the House Baltas.

Seeing this, Cadrum clicked his tongue lightly and asked.

“A limit, huh. Is this the first time you’ve reached it?”

“Yes……”

The noble’s face twisted as he responded.

Any wizard who reached their growth limit would inevitably feel such emotions.

He could empathize with the noble’s feelings.

After all, even though Turan was far stronger than that noble, he had just experienced an overwhelming sense of frustration moments ago.

“It’s fine, Viken.”

"Cheer up, man. At least you're better than me!"

As his companions noisily tried to comfort the disheartened noble, Turan realized that something had changed within his own body.

Should he say that every sense in his body had become several times more sensitive?

No, it wasn’t quite that. It felt slightly different.

The touch of fabric brushing against his body and the rubbing of his hands were the same as usual, but he could now feel the flow of wind brushing past his skin far more keenly.

He could even sense the subtle disturbances caused by people walking nearby and the violent turbulence sweeping across the top of the canyon.

Everything that he couldn’t perceive moments ago now entered his awareness.

‘Could it be…….’

He wanted to confirm the nature of this sensation right away, but there were too many people in this canyon at the moment.

Especially the nobles from House Arabion.

If what he suspected was correct, testing it here would be far too dangerous.

Postponing his confirmation for a later time, Turan retrieved the sacred relic he had buried with Earth Transformation Magic and went to find Meisa.

She was busy examining some kind of stone tablet.

“Ah, Turan. There weren’t any issues with magic power absorption, right?”

“Thanks to you, it was a big help. But… could I ask why?”

Speaking in a slightly vague tone so no one else could overhear, Turan asked why she had gone out of her way to share her magic power with him, even at great risk to herself.

Of course, he knew that Meisa wasn’t particularly fond of her own family, but this seemed excessive.

Especially since Turan had already been given the high-capacity pouch in advance, he had no complaints even if she didn’t leave any of her share for him.

“That’s a bit hard to explain right now. For now, just think of it as a personal favor from me, not from House Arabion.”

Meisa avoided his gaze slightly as she answered Turan's question.

Her slightly peculiar tone made him wonder if perhaps she felt some romantic interest in him, but even when he focused his senses, he couldn’t pick up any scent of that kind.

“Understood. If it’s a friend’s favor, I’ll accept it.”

Hearing his words, Meisa gave a faint smile.

Turan then pointed at the stone tablet she was holding, changing the subject.

“By the way, what is that?”

“This? It’s a detection magic artifact that can locate nearby sentient beings. I’m checking to see if there are any remaining survivors… Hmm, it seems there aren’t any now.”

As she said, about a hundred blue dots were moving back and forth on the stone tablet.

In the center, two dots were close together, which appeared to be Turan and Meisa.

“That’s quite the impressive item.”

Judging by a quick estimate, the detection range seemed to extend several hundred meters, making it comparable to the functionality of the Mimic Sacred Relic he possessed.

Of course, there were several differences between showing things indirectly like this and granting direct detection ability, as well as in terms of portability and ease of use.

Hearing Turan’s compliment, Meisa smiled and replied.

"I heard it was made using a captured House Zahar noble during the last war."

Knowing how difficult it was to capture a noble, Turan could imagine that the process of creating this item was far more complicated and horrific than her words implied.

Suddenly, he remembered what Keorn had told him.

The story about there being several high-end magic artifacts that could see through House Zahar's concealment ability.

Perhaps this was one of those artifacts.

While they were conversing, a knight approached Meisa and reported.

“My lady, the prisoners are ready.”

“Lead the way. Would you like to come with me?”

“Sure.”

When Meisa turned her head slightly to ask, Turan immediately agreed.

He, too, had a fair amount of interest in the relics of the dwarves.

***

At the location they were led to, several disheveled dwarves and a few Dark Elves were crouched in a corner, surrounded.

Judging by the blood running down their bodies, it seemed they had been tortured for quite some time.

“Devils……please......pain……stop……”

The sight of the dwarves begging in broken speech gave Turan an odd sense of discomfort.

At the end of the day, they were nothing more than cannibalistic savages…

Perhaps it was because he recalled Armania, the merfolk prince he had met in the North Sea, who, like them, was also a different race.

"Listen well, I'm going to ask questions again, and if you answer obediently like before, we won't hurt you. But if you lie or keep your mouth shut, you'll suffer even more horribly than before. Understood?"

“Under……stand, under……stand!”

At the noble’s stern voice, the dwarves responded in broken speech, nodding their heads.

“Good. Then, first, what is this object?”

"Ancestors'... black one found... taught us how use..."

"By 'black one', you mean the Necromancer King, right? The Dark Elves' leader... chief?"

Perhaps the term “leader” was too difficult for them to understand, as the dwarf tilted his head in confusion before finally nodding.

They had clearly been instructed earlier to pick the smartest one among the dwarves, yet this seemed to be the most intelligent one they had.

After securing the same answer by slapping the Dark Elf next to him, the noble held up one of the dwarves’ magic artifacts.

“Alright, so when you pull this, metal comes out. But when we pull it, nothing happens. Why is that?”

"That ours... black one can't use... devils can't use... use everyone, can't use again..."

As he listened to the dwarf’s testimony, Turan picked up one of the dwarves’ relics, a magic artifact, that was lying nearby.

When he gave it a light shake, he could feel liquid sloshing around in the round tube attached to the side.

Come to think of it, didn’t a similar, larger object burst and release a massive amount of steam before?

Out of curiosity, he held the metal-shooting section upward and pulled the lever attached to the side, but nothing happened.

“Does it only fire when a dwarf pulls the handle?”

“Let’s test it out. You there.”

At Turan’s murmuring, Meisa responded, and a knight immediately dragged over a dwarf and instructed it to pull only the lever on the magic artifact he was holding.

When the dwarf pulled the lever, there was a psshhhk sound as steam erupted, and a metal fragment shot out.

“Oh.”

“So it really only works when a dwarf pulls it.”

“What kind of magic is this?”

“Would it work if we used a severed dwarf’s hand to pull it?”

Contrary to the creative suggestion of one of the nobles, it seemed the artifact could detect whether the hand was severed, as it could not be activated in such a way.

Even after conducting various other experiments, the results were far from satisfying.

The metal fragments fired from the dwarves' magic artifacts were not just simple pieces of iron but seemed to be crafted through some special process. However, the internal structure was impossible to examine, any attempt to dismantle it caused steam to explode and ruin the components.

Moreover, after firing several shots, the liquid inside would run out, rendering the artifact unusable. Even the dwarves didn’t know how to refill it.

In other words, it was essentially a disposable tool.

“You said the Necromancer King gave you this, right? Where did he get it from?”

They tortured the few surviving Dark Elves to question them, but they didn't know the details either.

All they could share was that the Necromancer King, who had originally been nothing more than a member of the royal family of the Underground Kingdom, had one day acquired a silver crown and gained incredible necromancy skills. While on the run, he obtained these magic artifacts and provided them to the dwarves, forming an alliance with them.

Upon hearing this, a noble clicked his tongue in regret.

“If we could replicate this, it would’ve been incredibly useful.”

As Turan observed the artifact in use a few times, he recalled the natural laws he had learned from the librarian in the past.

Wasn't it that water increases in volume when it becomes steam...

‘Could it be that the liquid inside turns into steam and pushes the metal fragment out?’

He couldn’t understand how pulling a lever triggered this process, but it seemed likely that was the principle at work.

A few educated nobles from House Arabion reached similar conclusions, but none of them could figure out how to replicate it.

After organizing all the information they had coerced from the prisoners, Meisa asked the team that had returned from exploring the inner canyon.

“Did you find any books or similar materials inside?”

"No."

“There were quite a few human bones. Most of them seemed old, though.”

“Then we can wrap things up.”

As if they understood the implications of her words, the dwarves and Dark Elves flinched and trembled.

***

Fortunately, the rocks at the canyon entrance would open automatically if someone inside tried to leave, so there was no need to wait an entire day.

As they stepped out into the open, Turan felt his heightened sense of the wind activating once more with the fresh air.

“Phew……”

“Finally, I can breathe again. It felt so stifling in there.”

“Who wouldn’t agree?”

It seemed a few House Arabion nobles shared the same sentiment, grumbling as they stretched.

Turan spoke to Meisa who was walking beside him.

"Then I'll stop by the tent to get Bije and go ahead."

"That would be good."

Meisa immediately agreed, seemingly not happy about Turan building relationships with other Arabion nobles.

She then added a small parting remark, leaving some room for future interaction.

"We'll see each other again, right?"

“When that time comes, I’ll make sure to repay the debt I owe you. And…”

Turan hesitated for a moment, wondering if he was overstepping. But since they were friends who had exchanged favors, he felt it wouldn’t be inappropriate to voice his concern.

"It's good to keep your body light for flying, but I think you should eat something. I'm worried about you."

Hearing his words, Meisa gave a faint, bitter smile.

“I’ll think about it.”

Turan was certain she wouldn't listen to his advice, but he couldn't force her if she didn't want to.

After parting with Meisa, Turan arrived at the tent quickly and saw Bije and Keorn engaged in some strange game involving wing flapping and hand gestures.

“You seem to be having fun, elder.”

“Oh, you’re back! Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. More importantly…”

[Turan! Keorn fun!]

Despite having been unimpressed with Keorn before his departure, Bije now seemed completely engrossed in playing with the old knight.

“The subjugation ended well, with few casualties. I think I should leave now."

“So soon? At least have a meal…”

"I'm not in that situation."

When Turan briefly mentioned what had occurred in the canyon, Keorn let out a small groan.

It was clear that staying here would only worsen the atmosphere.

There were undoubtedly more than a few people here who harbored resentment toward Turan.

“If that’s the case, there’s no helping it…”

“What will you do now, elder?”

"For now, I'll have to go back and think about it. I'll probably retire and spend my time doing odd jobs. My joints are starting to ache, and I've traveled enough."

Hearing those words, Turan realized that Keorn did indeed look noticeably older than when they had first met.

Perhaps it was the toll of the travels and the time spent participating in the subjugation.

Turan remained silent for a moment before offering words of blessing whose meaning even he didn't fully understand.

"Live long."

"I will."

Fortunately, Keorn’s face, as he replied with a smile, looked a little less aged than it had moments before.

***

On the way back, Turan activated his sacred relic’s sensory ability to check if anyone was nearby.

Bije tilted her head, as if to ask why he wasn’t riding with her.

“Hold on, I just need to check something.”

After calming her down, Turan made a light gesture to create wind.

Just like he had done in the past when he had swept away some vagrants.

But this time, the wind he summoned was completely different from before.

Back then, he could only strengthen the wind’s power and slightly adjust its direction. Now, however, he could freely control the wind, manipulating it as easily as if it were an extension of his own fingers, wrapping it around his body.

On top of that, the amount of magic power consumed was barely a tenth of what it had been before.

Turan was certain now.

He had awakened the Wind Bloodline Ability.

“I had a feeling this might happen…”

With a troubled expression, he waved his hand, and the wind rose, flattening all the grass in the surrounding field.

In the current era, the ability to control wind was a privilege held solely by the Storm Bloodline of House Arabion.

In other words, this meant Turan's parents were descendants of House Zahar and House Arabion - two enemy houses.