Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 156.2
Translator: Pai_
Even if they could somehow match two-thirds of the numbers, the actual fighting strength would be less than half.
Moreover, unlike Ruvan's half-elves, there were no vessels here who could wield gods power.
“Lavitas’s forces are still making their way back through the South Sea, so we’re the only ones who can help.”
“How much help can you provide?”
At Solif’s question, Turan tapped the desk with his finger as he considered.
“Not much. We've also been seeing suspicious movements here recently.”
“Suspicious movements?”
“There are rumors of multiple wizards from the western forest appearing around the boundary of the Gray Zone.”
A few years ago, during the great upheaval caused by the Dark Elves, all of the wizard families that ruled the western forest region suffered devastating damage, but they had since more or less recovered their former prosperity.
Some of them had returned after fleeing at the time, while others were nobles from nearby regions who had declared independence and formed pioneering groups to become rulers of new cities.
If their numbers were gathered together, it would amount to quite a considerable force, and the fact that they were now appearing in the border regions was not a particularly positive sign for the House Parsha.
“According to the people we sent to investigate, they claim it’s because several powerful magical beasts have been discovered nearby... but unless I go there myself and kidnap someone, it’s hard to know the full story.”
“Let’s not go that far. It’s dangerous. Hmm... So in short, it’s difficult for you to send out troops carelessly on your side too.”
Another troubling point was not only that House Ruvan was provoking them, but that they were actually launching an attack.
Unless they were fools, they wouldn’t have invaded so rashly after seeing House Varaha fall so suddenly, right?
Even if Lavitas didn’t count, it was reasonable to assume that they had something to match the two great noble houses, Varaha led by Solif and Parsha led by Turan.
“For now, I could leave the main house to Meisa and provide support alone myself... Oh, come to think of it, there’s one more thing I should mention.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Berit.”
At Turan’s words, Solif’s face stiffened slightly.
“What about her?”
“I’m thinking of dispatching her to Varaha. What do you think? Even if it’s not me, having a high-ranking Zahar noble would be a great help with reconnaissance and tracking.”
“All of a sudden?”
“She asked for it.”
A few days ago, Berit had suddenly asked Turan to send her back to her main house.
Her reason was that the bond between Turan and Meisa was so close that she could no longer find a place to insert herself, and she didn’t want to waste any more time here.
Over time, she had also become quite close to Meisa.
Of course, Turan rejected her proposal.
Sending Berit away was not only a decision entangled in countless political calculations, but simply sending her back could be interpreted as a hostile signal.
However, after a few conversations on the subject, Turan came to understand the real reason why Berit wanted to leave Parsha.
Ever since Solif became the family head, he rarely stayed in Kalamaf, which made it difficult for her to meet him often, and that was why she wanted to leave.
“...So, instead of sending her back to Zahar, you’re planning to send her here?”
“Anyway, concealment abilities are almost useless inside the Temple of the Sun. I have enough excuses to give to Zahar. She originally came under the pretext of free romance, so I can just say the target changed a bit. It’s still a family head of a great noble house, right?”
Hearing this, Solif groaned as if something had struck a nerve.
To him, Turan chuckled heartily and shook his head.
“I have a rough idea how far you and Berit have gone. From our side, tying the two of you together isn’t such a bad story, so it’s fine as long as you’re okay with it.”
From what Turan had gathered through conversations, Berit was an ambitious woman.
As the daughter of a successor, she had quite a bit of talent and had even aimed for the next successor position, but after reaching her limits among the upper ranks in terms of magical power, she was frustrated and sought to gain power at least by becoming the partner of a family head.
Such a woman had taken the opportunity and come to Parsha hoping to court Turan, but had been thwarted by an impenetrable wall and found her heart turning toward Solif instead.
His appearance suited her taste quite well, he was powerful, and even though he had recently declined, he was still the head of the time-honored great noble house, Varaha.
Unless she was a fool, instead of clinging to Turan with no chance of success, she would return to the main house and look for a way to get herself dispatched to Varaha somehow. Turan had simply proposed a more attractive alternative to her.
“I asked her to funnel information from Zahar to our side in exchange for being dispatched to Varaha. Since we’ll have to ask a favor from Zahar, it’s only right we receive proper compensation.”
“Using a friend’s love as a political tool... you really sound like a corrupt bigwig now.”
"I wouldn't have used this method if you didn't like Berit, but fortunately it seems you do."
At Turan’s words, Solif awkwardly cleared his throat and forcibly turned his gaze away with an embarrassed look.
As stated, Solif, originally analyzed to have a preference for older, married women, had, at some point, become strongly drawn to Berit.
In the first place, reducing human romantic or sexual preferences into a neat formula might have been an impossible task.
To say, ‘I like this type of person and dislike anyone else,’- could one even call that love?
It’s something that one day just appears and brands your heart like a seal, that’s what such emotion is.
“Do you think Berit is sincere about me?”
"From what I sense."
In the past, just as Turan had done in front of Talis while disguised as Onil, nobles of Zahar blood could, when conscious of it, suppress the emotions that leaked through their scent to some extent.
But Berit lacked the ability to control herself to that degree, and from a certain point on, she hadn’t even bothered to hide her feelings for Solif in front of Turan.
The difference between simple lust and love was so subtle that it was often difficult to detect, but Turan judged that the emotion Berit felt leaned more toward the latter.
"Damn it, fine. Let's do that. I don't know why we suddenly switched from talking about war to talking about women..."
“I told you just a moment ago. Use Berit, a Zahar noble, for reconnaissance.”
“You want me to throw the woman I like into danger?”
“Unless she runs into someone with abilities like mine, there's nothing all that dangerous about simple reconnaissance. And if she hands over the intel she gathers, it’ll be better for me to take care of the rest.”
Turan silently pointed to a part of the world map hung beside the lounge where they were talking, the portion that depicted Ruvan's territory. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
At the average marching speed of a conventional wizard army, it would take about two weeks to descend from the border to Helio, the capital of Varaha.
If one Zahar noble were to scout ahead and confirm the army's composition and arrangement, that alone would give ample time for a family-head-class assassin to charge in, shake the army, and force a retreat.
*****
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