Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 171.1

Translator: Pai_

Thanks to Turan, who relayed information from Reshion and the other half-elves, Solif had a rough idea of what kind of person the head of the House Ruvan was.

Someone obsessed with excessive muscles and masculinity, was it?

The overly developed body of Calais must have reflected his own will.

The more similar they were physically and mentally, the smoother the assimilation would be.

When the raft touched the riverbank on the Varaha side, Calais gestured to his subordinates behind him to stay still, then approached Solif.

As the head of a great noble house, and especially being specialized in close combat, the person approaching was considered one of the strongest in the world in hand-to-hand combat, and everyone visibly tensed up.

"What’s with the expression?"

"Even if we weren’t that close, hearing that someone I used to know has died... there's no way that would feel good."

In response to Solif’s answer, Calais smirked and said,

"Died? That's rather rude, when I'm here, alive and breathing like this."

"Only people like your kind would consider that to be living."

How could it be considered living, when the spirit was being consumed from within, and when the body could do nothing unless it occasionally ceded control because the other one didn’t feel like being active?

It would be meaningless to get into such a moral debate with ancient body snatchers who were already thousands of years old, so Solif shook his head and changed the subject.

"Anyway, I hadn't heard that the head of House Ruvan was old enough to die."

"This body’s in far better condition than the last one. Look at this, isn’t this body... beautiful? I did make efforts with the previous one, but the basic skeletal structure was bad. It's nice that we don’t lose muscle mass if we have magic power, but in the end, talent matters here too."

Calais grinned as he showed off his biceps. His face definitely didn’t carry the worn-out look of other long-term body snatchers, like the heads of the Aravian and Zahar houses, who had possessed their bodies for ages.

It hadn’t been long since he bonded body and soul, a time when the chain connecting the two was still most vibrant...

Considering that their spirit form was likely half White Elf, it wouldn’t be as much capable as Solif, but he was probably still able to use his skills quite freely.

In short, as a fight was anticipated, it meant he had swapped out the body he was just using to prolong life for one more suitable for combat.

"But are you alone? I thought your friend would come with you."

"You mean Turan? He’s probably somewhere. If that guy decides to hide, even I wouldn’t have a way to find him, so I don’t know."

"As expected. I figured, but so he's not here. The others are going to have a tough time dealing with him."

Calais asserted, as if not allowing any objection.

Solif wasn’t as skilled an actor as his friend, but he thought he’d managed to cover well enough, maybe it just wasn’t sufficient to deceive such an ancient monster who had lived for thousands of years.

Well, thinking about it, the very fact that he came here alone probably led Calais to guess that Turan wasn’t present.

If he had been, and the Varaha forces were fully stationed, with Turan also supporting them, they could have simply captured and killed Calais right then and there...

Still, perhaps needing more certainty than his words suggested, Calais suddenly pulled out a magic artifact in the form of a small staff and activated it.

Solif tensed up, wondering what it was, but it turned out to be just a light-type magic artifact that brightened the surroundings.

"Since it’s just the two of us talking like this, there’s something I’d like to propose."

"What kind of proposal?"

"I understand why you and your friends are causing all this fuss. You’re not the first to learn our secret and try to bring us down. Probably won’t be the last either."

That was exactly why those fallen gods kept their immortality a secret.

Given that they held little advantage over human wizards aside from the privileges of soul magic and skills, if they went around hijacking the bodies of talented wizards among the many, rebellion would be inevitable.

"But even so, you don’t want to just grow old and die like this, do you? Three to four hundred years might seem long at a glance, but once you live it, it’s not that much. This damn world might seem boring on the surface, but once you live through it, there’s actually quite a lot to enjoy."

Calais, who had been speaking with a smirk, brought up the real issue when Solif remained silent instead of responding.

“Join our side. Then I’ll teach you the secret to refining your soul and becoming immortal. Just like the Mechanic and his group once did, you can choose a few close people and rule over Varaha together. Once you try it, you’ll see it’s not as hard as you thought.”

The “Mechanic” was a nickname the fallen gods used to refer to Reshion.

Calais was proposing that Solif take his place and, like the fallen ancient gods, reign from behind the scenes of Varaha.

“You want me to betray Turan?”

“Think about it. How long do you think this god-slaying game you and your friend enjoy will last? After you’ve killed us all, do you think he’ll let you have immortality too? Comrades of equal rank are just rivals after the enemies are gone.”

Looking at how the gods who had once built a world-dominating nation together as comrades were now in opposition, it did sound like he was speaking from experience.

And in the midst of it, he even tried to provoke the kind of inferiority complex one might feel toward a companion more talented than oneself, something Solif might have felt toward Turan.

Listening quietly, Solif nodded and stepped closer.

“I’d like to hear a bit more. What exactly is the method you're talking about?”

“Well, first you- ugh!”

Calais barely began to speak, grinning at Solif’s apparent interest, when he let out a small groan as a flash of light silently extended from Solif’s hand, prompting him to quickly raise his arm to block it.

The metallic gloves covering both of Calais’s hands deflected the sharply pointed mass of light, which then transformed into the shape of a cloak and attached itself to Solif’s back.

“Tch.”

Having attempted a surprise attack, Solif clicked his tongue, realizing his opponent had already anticipated it.

There was no way such a quick response could have been made unless he had already merged a symbol with soul magic in advance.

“Not very tempted, huh? I thought it was a pretty good offer.”

“How do you propose to share a method even you don’t understand, you half-human bastard?”

“Oh dear, one of the survivors from the Mechanic group, is it? I didn’t think they’d spill everything, not that far.”

Apparently not expecting Solif to have extracted information through interrogation in a soul prison, Calais clicked his tongue with disappointment and slammed his two fists together.

The resulting shockwave pushed away the river behind him and swept through the Ruvan camp located hundreds of meters away.

“Ugh-”

“Fall back!”

Panicked voices could be faintly heard from the distance.

In contrast, there was little reaction from the Varaha side, as Solif, anticipating such an event just before arriving here, had already ordered the troops to retreat.

If ordinary people had been watching from a closer distance, they would have been seriously injured or killed by the shockwave alone.

“And... even if that weren’t the case, I just don’t like you. I only work with people I like.”

Though they had only met twice, Solif had clearly received goodwill from Calais.

And that Calais had ended up being sacrificed to the monster before him.

Even if, as Turan had said, the man had felt more than just friendship for him, Solif couldn’t return those feelings. But at the very least, he could give him revenge.

As Solif’s consciousness turned inward, the three symbols he possessed intertwined.

The sun formed by Illusionist and Pyromaniac, and the Guardian Shield.

Though it didn’t reach the level of the “Silver Sun” formed with the addition of the Healer, the fusion called “Punisher” created by those three was far stronger than the usual combination of just two bloodlines.

As Solif's entire body ignited with pure white flames, Calais licked his lips and said,

“Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.”

***