Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 160.1

Translator: Pai_

"Yes, just like that, breathe in and out..."

A room with thick curtains drawn tight, blocking even the sunlight.

The midwife, her face veiled, gently pressed her ear against the noblewoman's belly and gave careful instructions.

Right behind her stood a man in his thirties, arms crossed, watching the scene. He appeared to be the husband.

“Whoo.......”

"Breathe in, breathe out—yes, that's done."

Though there were plenty of people in Kalamaf who worked as midwives on the side, she was particularly well-known for knowing several secret techniques to determine pregnancy.

She used methods like placing her ear to the belly to listen for sounds, feeling the wrist veins to check the pulse, or making the woman urinate on barley sprouts to see if they sprouted.

Of course, some of these methods lacked accuracy, but when she used multiple techniques together like this, the results were rarely wrong.

With over forty years of experience, she could say with certainty that the woman before her was pregnant.

“It seems she’s about a month and a half to two months along.”

“I see.”

Both the man and woman responded to the midwife’s words with expressions tinged by complicated emotions.

Their demeanor, which seemed unable to express pure joy, along with the fact that they had summoned a midwife to such a small and secluded house with the woman’s face covered, made it clear that this was not a normal married couple.

What was their relationship, perhaps a nobleman’s concubine and a servant involved in an affair?

The midwife wondered briefly but soon lowered her head and let go of the thought.

She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she had no intention of getting herself killed by taking interest in matters she shouldn't.

“Then, the service fee......?”

“Here.”

After receiving her payment, the midwife left the mansion and turned back to offer a small prayer with a bow of her head.

Whatever the relationship between the two might be, she at least hoped the child to be born could grow up blessed.

*

In the center of Kalamaf, at the stronghold of House Parsha.

After confirming the pregnancy with the midwife, Meisa and Turan returned and sat on a sofa in the lounge, holding each other in silence.

It wasn’t that they were upset or anything; rather, their heads were simply filled with too many thoughts.

It was far too complicated a situation to feel simply joyful over the creation of new life.

Turan stared blankly at Meisa’s still-flat belly.

Even with the perception granted by the Sacred Relic, he couldn’t sense the small life sleeping within.

That was because her entire body looked like a mass of light, overflowing with an immense amount of magic power.

‘I was the one who suggested we check, but I still can’t quite believe it.......’

He was now twenty-one.

If he had been an ordinary man, he would likely already be married and have a child or two by now.

Of course, as could be seen from Ashiz and Solif, who were still unmarried, long-lived nobles often remained childless well into their forties or even sixties.

After all, even at that age, their physical age was only around the mid to late twenties compared to commoners.

‘I never thought she’d get pregnant this quickly.’

Since that day a few months ago when they shared their bodies and hearts after that fistfight in the rocky mountains, Turan and Meisa had used multiple well-known contraceptive methods every time they were intimate.

They avoided intercourse during her fertile period and used auxiliary tools.

This was to prevent weakening their house’s combat strength by Meisa becoming pregnant.

Even taking a few weeks off to craft a powerful Magic Artifact as an Enchanter was risky, being pregnant meant she would be unable to function as a combatant for nearly a year.

Of course, the best approach would have been to maintain appropriate boundaries like during their traveling days, but...

But how could a young man and woman in their prime, fully aware of each other’s feelings, exercise such self-control?

Especially when they were constantly fighting formidable enemies and managing a large organization under extreme stress.

At any rate, even though they had used their own methods, neither of them had expected a child to come so soon.

Perhaps it was because she had lost her parents as a child, or had grown up in a similar situation, that she never received a proper education.

Sss, Turan lightly inhaled as he held Meisa in his arms.

Thanks to her consideration for his usually sensitive sense of smell, she refrained from using strongly scented cosmetics, so her emotions came through clearly.

Anxiety, and nervousness.......

To comfort her, Turan opened his mouth.

“Meisa.”

“......What?”

“Thank you.”

Instead of asking what he was thankful for, Meisa just tightly held the hand that was wrapped around her.

Then, she muttered in a trembling voice.

“Why... why did it have to happen in such a dangerous time?”

"Don't say 'happen' like that. This is our child. A blessing that came to us.”

Our child.

Saying it aloud made it suddenly feel real.

A being conceived by the woman he loved, one that was like an extension of himself.......

More precious and fragile than any of the sheep protected within his fence, a being that he must protect at all costs was now here.

“We’ll have to keep it secret for now, right?”

“Yes. For the time being.”

Under normal circumstances, it would be something to celebrate, but not when enemies were swarming around them.

If Meisa’s pregnancy were to become widely known, she would become a prime target if a battle broke out.

While her magical power or skills wouldn’t significantly drop just because she was pregnant, the real problem was that an attack Meisa could normally withstand might be too much for the child in her womb.

Even minor attacks that she could usually brush off would now have to be avoided one by one, how could that allow for a proper fight?

Actually, even after birth, problems would remain.

A child born between two people who were essentially the heads of great noble houses.

With terribly bad luck, the child might be born with weak powers due to the influence of his commoner grandmother, but otherwise, there was a high possibility that the child would be born with top-tier talent.

That alone made the child someone their enemies would be desperate to kill or steal.

Especially since those enemies were fallen gods who enjoyed stealing the bodies of talented individuals.

Meisa stroked her belly and spoke.

“I just... I feel so sorry for the baby. I wish it could have been born into a world where everyone welcomes it.”

Turan and Meisa were in a relationship as good as bound partners, but they had not formally performed the partner ceremony.

This was because they intended to attack and conquer Aravion later and smoothly place her in the position of ruler.

If, for instance, Turan had been a woman and Solif her partner, the backlash from the nobles of Varaha would have been several times stronger.

Everyone would have seen their house as having become a puppet of House Parsha.

Now that things had turned out like this, their first child had essentially ended up in the position of an illegitimate child.

“I’ll make sure it happens.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll make sure this child is born under everyone’s blessings. As my rightful heir.”

At Turan’s determined murmur, Meisa widened her eyes in surprise.

How could that be as easy as it sounded?

Setting aside social issues like the legitimacy of their partnership, their child might be born with family head-level talent....

"Ah, you don't mean...?"

"That's right. Not now, but when the child grows a bit more."

Turan nodded in response to Meisa’s unfinished question.

Just as those gods did, with Soul Magic, it was possible to manipulate a fetus or newborn’s talent to some degree.

By using a massive amount of souls as material.

Although not in the same way as those beings, Turan had learned some techniques from the half-elves and could now do something similar if he chose to.

“But we won’t have to sacrifice innocent people like those bastards did. We already have plenty of material.”

The fallen gods lurking in distant noble houses.

If he ground their souls and used them as materials, it would be like killing two birds with one stone.

Not only could he gift his child with outstanding talent, but he could also create a clean world free of the fallen gods who sought to take that body.

***