The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

Chapter 14 Of Different Worlds

Keorn, the knight of House Arabion who had given several goals to Turan while he spent his days herding sheep on the hill.

Whenever he spoke of his house, he would wear an expression full of pride.

Saying it was a proud house where everyone from nobles above to knights below considered the protection of humanity their mission.

Turan's acceptance of the proposal after long deliberation wasn't simply because he wanted to receive a good magical device, but rather resulted from the admiration born from such stories.

Even though it wasn't the main house, being their vassal house, he should be able to feel something of their spirit, right?

Of course, considering he had the Zahar bloodline, enemy of Arabion, he would have to take some risk... but as long as he didn't reveal his concealment magic specifically, there shouldn't be major problems.

After all, the ability to discern bloodlines, like what the library's librarian had shown, was extremely rare.

The next morning, the party consisting of two people and one horse first headed to where the fight had taken place.

It was to recover the bodies of House Berk's people killed by the dark elves.

Since Asiz had been unconscious all yesterday, Turan took on the role of guide.

"This way."@@@@

"How do you find your way in a place like this? To me, it all looks the same..."

"You'll learn quickly if you wander around alone. Ah, there are those dark elf bastards."

Asiz briefly bit his lips while looking at the two headless dark elves, then quickly turned away.

Presumably, he had thought about desecrating the corpses out of unresolved anger but gave up.

Meanwhile, Turan properly examined the bodies of those he hadn't been able to check yesterday.

The first thing that caught his eye was their black leather coats made in a similar style.

Judging by the craftsmanship, they seemed like items that could only be made in a proper workshop, and they weren't very worn.

Second were their ears.

He had to guess from the female dark elf whose head was only missing above the forehead since one was completely crushed, but judging by how both split ears were long, they seemed to be quite high-ranking.

From this, he could deduce one fact.

"There might be a path to a dark elf city nearby."

"A dark elf city? I haven't heard of such a thing in this area..."

"Since they build their cities underground, it might not be known. They probably just dig a few connecting tunnels to the surface, and occasionally necromancers like these come out to hunt humans before hiding underground without a trace. If there are any missing people in this area, many of them are probably their doing."

"Where did you learn such things?"

"I read it in books."

Turan turned his gaze away from the look that regarded him like some great sage, which he had seen several times in Orem city.

He thought they should inform the lord of the nearby city that a dark elf city wasn't far away.

Afterward, the two walked following Tilly's footprints while recovering the remains of the servants one by one.

They weren't pleasant to look at, with many parts damaged by wild animals overnight, but Asiz's face contorted and his eyes welled up with tears like yesterday, though he didn't cry.

While recovering belongings from and burying sixteen bodies, Turan periodically used detection magic to check if dark elves were approaching.

Fortunately, no one approached until they finished making the graves.

"Seems we're about done. I'd like to send them all back to their homeland, but..."

"That would be difficult."

Despite how large it was, it would be hard to transport sixteen corpses with just one horse.

Moreover, Tilly's back was already fully loaded with the luggage that the servants had originally shared among themselves.

Finally, Asiz transformed a large stone into a square shape, engraved the words 'My Beloved Family' on it, and placed it in front of the graves as a tombstone.

Soon after, the tombstone, which had been just an ordinary stone, began to emit a soft light.

'Artificer...'

Originally, when magical power is imbued somewhere, it doesn't maintain permanently.

Even when Turan cast reinforcement and acceleration magic on his sling and stones, the effect would gradually dissipate as the invested magical power scattered.

However, there were objects where such magic was permanently cast – these were magical devices, and creating them required the ability of the artificer bloodline.

After the light faded from the tombstone, Asiz spoke with a somewhat tired face.

"I didn't have much time so I couldn't cast anything impressive, just a simple concealment magic to prevent animals from picking up the scent. I'd be sad if we came back later and found them dug up..."

On the road heading north from the graves, both Turan and Asiz remained silent without either opening their mouth.

Turan was originally someone accustomed to silence, and Asiz wasn't in the mood for conversation either.

After walking like this with both keeping their mouths shut for several hours.

Around sunset, Asiz was the first to speak.

The guard at the entrance disappeared in shock at the sight of Tilly, who was clearly a Masu, and soon after, what looked like a group of knights came rushing out.

"We welcome the descendants of gods!"

It seemed they referred to nobles as descendants of gods here.

Immediately invited to the mansion in the city center, Turan and Asiz met with the head of the house and informed him about the likely presence of a man-eating dark elf city nearby.

"Dark elves...? Were such things really real?"

"Yes. We brought their heads just in case, would you like to see?"

"No, that's fine. Such things would only spoil my appetite. Well, alright. I suppose I should order some patrols. More importantly, that Masu you brought, any chance you'd sell it?"

"No, Tilly is like family to me..."

Unfortunately, the ruler of this place didn't seem to pay much attention to the two nobles' words.

Since there was no particular way to convince him, the two received hospitality for about two days before leaving the city and heading north again.

On the fifth day after leaving Maderi and heading north.

When Turan fried a normal black bear that attacked them with a lightning spell for practice, Asiz spoke in disbelief.

"Hey, Turan. Just how many spells can you use?"

"Hmm?"

"No, I've already lost count of how many types I've seen while traveling together! Starting from animal control, then freezing, levitation, liquid control, reinforcement, light emission, binding, instant death, earth transformation, and now lightning... Did you spend your whole life practicing magic? Or do you perhaps have a bloodline ability that lets you learn any magic at will?"

Among the magic Asiz mentioned, some were self-taught, but the rest were all taught by Keorn.

For Turan, such a reaction was rather unfamiliar.

Wasn't it normal to be able to activate magic just by imagining it as long as it wasn't bloodline magic, with the only issue being how proficient you were?

Of course, he had struggled somewhat when first hearing from Keorn that such techniques existed, but.

However, thinking that simply answering "it just worked" would seem too arrogant, Turan slightly changed the subject.

"We agreed not to dig into my house, right?"

"No, that was just a joke. There's no way such a ridiculous bloodline ability could exist. More importantly, how old are you really? Your face looks under thirty, surely you're not like eighty or something?"

"Hmm?"

"Huh?"

When Turan showed confusion at Asiz's words, Asiz also seemed to sense something odd and stopped speaking.

"How old are you?"

"I turned forty-three this year, probably."

"I'm about a month away from my nineteenth birthday..."

Asiz's expression upon learning his new friend was less than half his age was truly something to behold.

And Turan was also shocked to learn that Asiz, who looked only a few years older than him, was similar in age to the wrinkled village elders.

Come to think of it, even Keorn had appeared to be in his mid-to-late forties while his actual age was over seventy.

For nobles who lived several times longer than that, it was natural for appearance and actual age not to match.

It was a fact he had forgotten, having not deeply associated with nobles until now.

"Well, a mere twenty-one or twenty-two years difference isn't important for us... No, more importantly, explain that magic skill. How is it possible? Learning your age makes it even more incomprehensible? There wouldn't have been enough time even if you practiced from your mother's womb!"

Due to his persistent questioning, Turan simply answered that he had consistently practiced magic since childhood, and that's how he could achieve this level of accomplishment at a young age.

It wasn't exactly a lie.

After all, his way of killing time on Hisaril Hill had been playing with magic in all sorts of ways.

Hearing this explanation, Asiz kicked a roadside stone with a deflated expression.

"Jeez, I should have realized when you said you finished off two necromancers with that level of magical power. Who'd have thought there'd be two such geniuses in the world."

"Two?"

Asiz nodded at Turan's question.

"Yeah, though maybe not quite your level. No, perhaps similar? Well, that bloodline is what it is. Anyway, I know another genius around your age. She's my second cousin."

"Could I perhaps ask that person to make my magical device?"

A device made by a genius artificer would probably be better somehow, right?

Asiz shook his head with a smile at Turan's words.

"No, she's not from our house but from the main house."

"The main house, you don't mean...?"

"That's right. The princess of House Arabion. Someone who might become the head of the great house someday."