Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 162.1

Translator: Pai_

Turan was momentarily speechless at the revelation that the old man before him had attempted the resurrection of the Night Hunter.

While preparing for this meeting, he had imagined a variety of scenarios, but the truth that unfolded before him was something he hadn’t dared to even consider.

To think that the head of House Zahar had attempted to resurrect the Night Hunter.

Then, could it mean that Turan himself was a being born out of some elaborate plan orchestrated by this old man?

Even the encounter of his father and mother, and every other circumstance as well?

He felt a dizzying sensation as if the ground beneath him had collapsed, but only for a moment, Turan quickly tried to regain his composure.

However, Haroon seemed to have sensed Turan’s reaction and gave a faint smile.

"You seem quite shocked. Here, have a glass of water."

"......Thank you."

Turan pretended to drink the water offered by Haroon and then set it down as it was.

Since the Alchemist, one of the Night Hunter's four bloodlines, possessed the power to handle poisons, drinking any liquid the old man had touched even briefly would be too risky.

Despite being aware of this, Haroon didn’t show any displeasure.

"Hmm, cautious indeed. Well then, since we’ve each answered one thing, I suppose it’s my turn to ask again. Where did you acquire the Mimic God’s Sacred Relic?"

"......I found it on an island in the South Sea. It was a place where ancient legends of serving that deity remained."

"That’s a lie. I can tell that much."

His voice carried certainty, not mere conjecture.

Why?

The Mimic God had been active in the South Sea, and hardly anyone knew he had died in the North Sea.

No matter how fast Turan ran the calculations in his head, he could not find a reason why the old man before him would instantly detect that as a lie.

Then, was it not a known fact he’d acted on, but something he had deduced from Turan’s physiological reaction?

Turan thought he had suppressed all the typical reactions of someone lying.

Only for a moment did he worry, then a sudden thought flashed through Turan’s mind.

The symbol composition of the Night Hunter shown to him earlier so abruptly.......

Just as the hypersensitive sense of smell of the Zahar bloodline could detect emotions, it was clear that Haroon was reading Turan’s emotions using the Night Hunter’s ability.

It must be a power similar to lie detection.

Instead of apologizing for the lie he told, Turan complained toward the other man.

"This is unfair. Great-uncle can detect my lies, but I can’t detect yours."

"Haven't you been enjoying such unfairness all this time? Even within House Zahar, only a few are born with a sense of smell keen enough to detect hormones, so most wouldn't be prepared for it."

Haroon’s gentle reply left Turan without a rebuttal.

That statement was true, after all.

So he decided to change his approach.

If it was impossible to prevent the other from discerning the truth, then perhaps it would be better to be able to discern it himself as well.

With that thought, the symbol dwelling within him began to stir.

Having studied Soul Magic for about a year, he had attempted countless combinations using the Hunter and the Chaser.

Now that he knew the answer, the fusion of the two seemed laughably simple.

He felt the eyes, which had seeped deep into the pitch-black mist, divide into thousands and extend outward, and dozens of handles emerged within.

Just like when he had previously combined the two symbols of the Storm Bloodline.

‘Now then-’

When he first attempted symbol fusion, Turan had been so inexperienced that he had to try pulling any handle at random, but with his now much more advanced Spiritual Perception, he could employ a slightly more refined method.

As he extended his Spiritual Perception and placed it on the handle, he could roughly gauge what function each one might grant.

‘This one seems to release something, and this... might be for self-enhancement? Or maybe not this one either.’

About thirty seconds passed.

It might seem brief, but it was quite a long time to suddenly fall silent during a conversation.

Haroon only watched Turan, who seemed deep in thought, without interrupting or meddling.

Thanks to that, Turan was able to swiftly check over a dozen abilities and finally found the one he had been looking for.

As the ability activated, Turan felt the surrounding colors distort for a moment, as if they were twisting.

"May I ask a question first? It's a simple question, and you can answer any way you like."

“Go ahead.”

"Did it rain yesterday while you were coming here?"

Considering that the army of House Zahar had come from the eastern Enril Desert, it was a question not even worth pondering to answer.

However, as if he understood the intent behind the question, Haroon smiled and replied.

“It did. I was soaked to the bone.”

With that response, a red light flickered from Haroon’s eyes and mouth.

Turan realized that this ability could detect truth and falsehood in a person’s words.

“I see.”

“So, what’s your impression of using the Eye of Truth? More convenient than sensing it through smell, isn’t it?”

“Yes, definitely.”

What was hard to understand, however, was Haroon’s attitude, demonstrating and cooperating as if he were guiding Turan through the use of the ability.

Compared to the sinister and obsessive Talis, this old man felt more like a real grandfather, to the point that Turan almost felt fondness toward him.

Of course, even so, he did sneak in some underhanded tactics from time to time.

“But don’t trust it too completely either. Let’s see... try asking me if I’m a woman.”

“Are you a woman?”

“That’s right.”

With his answer, a green light flickered from Haroon’s eyes and mouth.

Sensing the different reaction compared to before, Turan instinctively knew it was the truth.

As if he already knew what Turan had seen, the old man gave a faint smile and said,

“I may look like an old man now, but there was a time I lived as a woman. More than once, in fact. In such circumstances, when the body I currently inhabit, Haroon Zahar, is male, can I really define myself as a man? Surely, the version of me that was once a woman is still me too.”

Haroon muttered softly that while some people might think that way, others might not.

Hearing that, Turan understood why the Eye of Truth wasn’t all-powerful.

Truth was ultimately defined by what the person themselves believed, it was not truth simply because someone believed it to be.

It was easy for him to grasp, since the skill of sensing emotions through smell also required caution in a similar way.

“Well, this is good enough to charge tuition for, don’t you think? Now then, where did you get the Mimic God’s Sacred Relic?”

“In an undersea cave on an uninhabited island in the North Sea. I retrieved it from a corpse that had died fighting a Great Sea Serpent.”

At Turan’s honest answer, a peculiar light appeared in Haroon’s eyes.

In truth, upon hearing the shocking information earlier, Turan had even begun to suspect that the Mimic God’s Sacred Relic might have been arranged by Haroon as part of his plan.

But judging by Haroon’s reaction, it didn’t seem that way. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Well, if he had such a treasure, wouldn’t he use it himself? Why would he give it to Turan?

Especially when it was an object practically made to counter every noble of House Zahar.

“Great Sea Serpent... they’ve been quite the nuisance lately. Yes, I see. Honestly, that weak friend had way too much pride. None of that would’ve happened if we’d traveled together.”

His tone might have sounded mocking, but the emotions beneath it were closer to regret and sorrow.

“Was he a weak god?”

“He was decent in combat against people, since he could copy others’ abilities, but he was vulnerable in fights against monsters. In that field, it was people like Otas or myself, Night Hunters, who excelled... Oh, Otas is the name of a Night Hunter. You probably already knew.”

“So you were a Night Hunter too, Great-Uncle.”

“Didn’t you already know? Well, it’s silly to think two people are the same just because they have the same job.”

Haroon burst out laughing, then suddenly threw out a question.

“Do you happen to know the legend of the Enril Desert?”

“Yes. In ancient times, the land of Enril was once a grassland. But when the giants ravaged it, it became no different from a desert. I heard that the Night Hunter shot and killed the giants.”

“That story about the grassland turning into a desert because of the giants is nonsense, but they were monsters worthy of such tales. There were hundreds of them, like Great Sea Serpents walking on land. Even among us, except for a few skilled ones, it was difficult to face more than one or two.”

At Haroon's words, Turan recalled the undead Great Sea Serpent he had faced.

Even now, facing such a foe one-on-one would be troublesome, he wasn’t even confident he could win.

And yet, even that one had weakened compared to when it was alive, which meant a fully healthy Great Sea Serpent was truly a monster worthy of being called a god-like being.

By today’s standards, it would probably take the combined strength of three or four family heads from Great Noble Houses to stand a chance against one.

But now Haroon was saying that there had been hundreds of such monsters?

Just imagining it made his breath catch, but what Haroon said next made even that seem trivial.

“Otas single-handedly shot and killed hundreds of giants. All we did in that battle was escort him in case of any surprise attacks. In the end, even the queen of the giants was killed instantly by a single arrow that flew from over a hundred kilometers away.”

A being who harvested the lives of monstrous, godlike creatures with arrows shot from unimaginably far distances...

It made Turan realize just how monstrous the ancient Preah God Tribe truly was, and just how unparalleled the Night Hunter had been, even among them.

He now understood why Ymir had once said that if Otas were to return, the gods of House Zahar, including the old man before him, would fall prostrate in submission.

“The bodies of those giants were then taken by a friend who lives in the northwest and used for some interesting prank. He recreated a Night Hunter Dungeon in the basement of an old museum we built. I believe you've seen it, haven’t you?”

At the sudden question, Turan instinctively opened his mouth to fabricate a lie, then quickly shut it.

Since they were both using the Eye of Truth, there was no point in lying, it would be seen through immediately.

After a brief pause, he let out a small sigh and nodded.

Given that even silence would be read as an answer, he decided it was better to just admit it.

“Yes, I’ve seen it. It was a horrid sight.”

“So it was you who killed Ferga. I suspected as much.”

“I didn’t kill him.”

He had merely died fighting what was probably a recycled version of the ancient giant queen, the queen of monsters, in a weakened state.

Though, it had been Turan who caused that weakening in the first place.

Haroon, reading the truth in those words, responded with an amused look.

“Is that so? Huh, this is a bit different from what I expected. Well, either way is fine. Personally, I had some hopes for Ferga... but now that you're around, it doesn’t really matter what happens to him.”

Ferga too, strictly speaking, could be considered one of their descendants, and yet Haroon’s cold, almost unfeeling, attitude wasn’t so different from other gods.

Witnessing that, Turan managed to collect his gradually loosening state of mind once more.

No matter how much the being in front of him might sometimes seem like a kindly old grandfather, his essence was that of a heartless god.

“I heard in passing that people in Aravion thought House Zahar didn’t know about the Night Hunter recreation experiment. So you did know?”

“I was the only one who knew. That friend of mine in the northwest probably didn’t even know I was aware of it. I found out through sheer luck.”