Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 216

Translator: Pai_

The number of Dark Elves fighting against Meisa’s army was not small.

Just by rough estimate, there were at least over three thousand, and the number of necromancers also reached dozens.

Considering that even a few commoner-class Dark Elves could hunt down a single knight, it was a massive army that even several wizard families combined could not confidently subdue.

However, to Meisa, who stood at the forefront of the formation, such numbers seemed utterly meaningless.

Just as Badal once had, she swept across the battlefield scattering violet lightning, looking just like the god of thunder.

Unlike the aged Badal, the strength of her young and well-trained body in its prime was truly tremendous.

Whenever her long hammer, Heaven’s Punishment, was swung, the Dark Elves were crushed by the wind pressure, and the ground quaked.

Turan, who was watching her from a distance in silence, soon decided to do what he could.

The necromancers who had been struggling to suppress Meisa were suddenly startled by beams of light flying from behind, opening their eyes wide in shock.

“Wha-”

Even that reaction was only granted to those who happened to be looking that way; many didn't even realize they were being attacked and were crushed to death in an instant.

The powerful undead spirits surrounding their bodies were meaningless in the face of the magic power contained in the steel balls and the force that distorted logic.

It was only natural that the main force of the Dark Elves would collapse when ambushed so suddenly.

The mixed army of wizards from Aravion and Parsha, along with the Birdmen, completely shattered and began a one-sided slaughter of the retreating Dark Elves.

Meanwhile, Turan slowly revealed himself to Meisa, who was calmly standing and looking around.

The two gazed at each other silently, then lightly embraced and kissed.

“......We should really show a bit more restraint in front of others.”

A moment later, Meisa wiped her lips with the back of her hand and spoke in an embarrassed tone.

Considering the subtle relationship between Aravion and Parsha, excessive displays of affection could potentially have negative effects, but wasn't it unnecessary to always calculate such things when sharing emotions with someone you love?

Fortunately, most of Meisa’s troops were too busy chasing the enemy to pay attention, and the few aides around her had the decency to avert their eyes from their master’s romantic act.

“So, how did you end up coming down here? And what are all those new humans?”

“The Birdmen? Well......I’m just dragging them around and putting them to work. I came down because things inside the Takein Plains have settled somewhat.”

Knowing that such a simple explanation wouldn't suffice, Meisa ordered a few aides to take command of the pursuit and began explaining calmly.

Right after the return of the New Era, she had focused all her efforts on hunting down the Birdmen roaming around the Takein Plains.

That process, to put it bluntly, was close to a tedious cycle of repetition.

Just as when Turan hunted hostile Dwarves, the Birdmen were no match for Meisa’s strength.

The only problem was that she had only one body, and the number of Birdmen groups that had emerged was in the dozens.

In the midst of her passionate hunt, Meisa came to a realization.

The Birdmen revered beings that flew swiftly.

“No way, because of that?”

“When I showed them I could fly fast using magnetism in front of them, they seemed to regard me as a kind of chief bird. Their heads aren’t that great, but with continuous training, I managed to stop them from eating humans.”

Meisa continued to dominate the Birdmen with overwhelming speed and force, training them through the wizards so that they would not attack humans, at least not wizards.

“How smart are the Birdmen?”

“About the level of the dumbest among humans and the smartest among animals?”

Their intelligence seemed roughly equivalent to the fallen Dwarves of the modern era.

Unfortunately, unlike them, the Birdmen had no ancestors who could provide them with a hiding place from gods or wizards.

In other words, unlike Turan, who formed an alliance with the Dwarves as one intelligent being to another, she had subdued the Birdmen as one would tame a beast.

“Their wild instincts are too strong, so in the long term, I think they’ll have to be made extinct. There’s a limit to how much even a powerful wizard can control them.......”

In the middle of their conversation, Bije suddenly popped out from Turan’s body and jumped into Meisa’s arms.

-It’s Meisa!

“It’s been a while, Bije!”

As always, Bije seemed to like Meisa second only to Turan.

Turan hadn’t understood why in the past, but now he did.

Because he and Meisa were the only two beings in this land who carried four bloodlines, in other words, were qualified like gods.

To Bije, the descendant of a "pet" once controlled by the ancient gods, the two of them could become her missing half.

Even though Turan had taken that place first, that didn’t make Meisa any less qualified, which was why Bije liked her as well.

Watching Meisa playfully wiggle her fingers and tickle Bije’s paws, Turan voiced a question that had come to mind.

“By the way, did you ever find out about what I passed on to Bije?”

“Yeah. First of all, that person named Keorn isn’t in Aravion anymore. Seems like he’s been missing for a while.”

The one who had come to Turan, who had once lived as a shepherd on Hisaril Hill, and opened his eyes to the world.

Even after parting ways, Turan had exchanged a few letters with Keorn, the knight of Aravion.

Keorn had originally retired after the Dark Elf subjugation and was spending his later years in a small manor near Morgen, but after Turan had practically abducted Meisa, they had lost contact.

“He disappeared?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected answer, Turan let out a low groan.

Though a strong desire to learn more about the truth rose in him, Turan consciously changed the subject.

Keorn’s whereabouts were a personal matter, and as the head of House Parsha, it was time to focus on more official concerns.

“What about House Nagin, then?”

“They’re completely destroyed.”

A look of relief crossed Meisa’s face as she answered.

“Turns out that woman had already fled to House Nagin when Badal went off to war, so I looked into it, but apparently the Snowcloud Zone is no longer habitable. Naturally, that woman and her son must have been eaten.”

Turan didn’t need to ask who she meant by “that woman”.

It had to be Badal’s legal wife from House Nagin and her son.

Meisa’s face, as she spoke of the deaths of her stepmother and half-brother, carried quite a complex expression.

A mixture of the relief unique to someone who had resolved an old grudge, and a lingering discomfort from something unpleasant.

“Being eaten by a Yeti is a gruesome end, but......I’m still disappointed I didn’t get to do it with my own hands. The revenge for my mother and brother ended up resolving itself without me doing anything.”

“If you want to get technical, you did get revenge on Reto.”

In truth, considering where the poison in Reto’s cup had come from when Meisa had gone on that picnic with her family, House Zahar couldn’t be entirely innocent.

Meisa’s mother had noble-class magic power, though on the lower end, and it had been enough to harm Meisa, so the poison must have been made by an alchemist.

Realizing that, Turan consciously shifted the subject again.

“More importantly, did you say they were eaten by Yetis?”

“Yeah. Apparently, the Snowcloud Zone is completely ruled by Yetis now. All the wizards from House Nagin were eaten, and the residents who used to live there are all fleeing to the Takein Plains.”

He at least knew that Yetis were a different race, covered in white fur all over their bodies, with the ability to control snow and cold.

And like most other non-human races, these creatures also enjoyed eating humans.

“Fortunately, the Takein Plains aren't a favorable environment for them to operate in, so they haven’t invaded. Plus, with all the grain stockpiled from the trade blockade, there's no problem feeding the migrants.”

“You’ve somehow become a master at managing a territory.”

“What else was I supposed to do, stuck in a room with nothing better to do?”

At Meisa’s grumble, Turan laughed heartily and said, “Right.”

During her pregnancy with Luska, she couldn’t engage in outside activities and spent most of her time locked away, handling the duties of House Parsha’s head in his stead.

Fortunately, that experience seemed to be of great help in rebuilding the wrecked Aravion.

“Well, that’s enough about me...... How about you? I heard a bit here and there. Is Luska doing well?”

At Meisa’s words, Turan felt a bit of guilt.

Now that he thought about it, he should have brought that up before talking about his own business.

How could she not worry, when a mother still nursing her baby had left her child behind to work?

Luckily, he had seen Luska just before he came out, so Turan used the Soul Imprint technique on the spot to draw a portrait of Luska.

Seeing it, Meisa let out a sigh of relief mixed with joy.

“He’s adorable...... Doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but he’s grown a lot.”

“Babies grow by the day.”

“I want to show him her mom’s face a lot before he grows even more.”

Of course, that was just wishful thinking for now.

Let alone Aravion, even the Gray Zone led by House Parsha couldn’t exactly be called secure.

Their talk about Luska’s current state was brief, and Turan soon began to calmly update Meisa on the situation in the Gray Zone.

Since he had sent Bije to deliver messages, she already knew the general results of the war with House Zahar and the changes brought by the return of the New Era.

However, due to how busy things had been, he hadn’t been able to send Bije back and forth regularly, so he hadn’t kept her updated consistently.

Thanks to that, Meisa got to hear all sorts of major stories, from the fall of House Carmine and the Great Sea Serpent mermaid clan, to the treaties with some of the Dwarf republics.

“No way...... We’re cooperating with the Dwarves?”

Of all the news, that was the one that shocked Meisa the most.

In the Preah faith, non-human races were seen as humanity’s irreconcilable great enemies, so openly collaborating with them was practically sacrilege.

There was a reason why they had worked so hard to conceal Armania’s true identity all this time.

Had it not been for the chaos of the current era, Turan might have lost a significant portion of his solid support base simply for cooperating with the Dwarves.

“For now. If we can supplement what we lack with their creativity, then it's not a bad deal.”

There was a risk that, just as Monarch once feared, the developed Dwarves could one day turn on humanity and carry out a massacre, but that was something that could be managed long-term with proper balancing.

Even if humans couldn’t invent new things, they could at least copy existing technologies.

As they continued their conversation, the mixed army of Aravion-Parsha wizards and Birdmen, who had finished annihilating the Dark Elves, returned and lined up before Meisa.

The Birdmen, whose arms were wings and bodies covered with feathers, looked at Turan with curious and puzzled expressions. Meisa addressed them in a sharp tone.

“This is Turan. The one who flies faster than me. Respect him. Understand?”

“Turan!”

“Fast?”

“Faster than Meisa.”

“Fast!”

Despite being regarded as lacking intelligence, the Birdmen’s pronunciation wasn’t bad.

Well, the poor pronunciation of modern Dwarves was probably more a matter of oral structure than intelligence.

The Birdmen chattered among themselves, then began flying around Turan, repeatedly shouting “Really?”

In response, Turan casually took flight once to demonstrate his skill, then summoned Bije and had her fly as well.

The creatures who had been moderately impressed by Turan’s flight nearly screamed in awe when they saw Bije’s speed.

“Fast! Fast!”

“The fastest!”

“Faster than Meisa!”

Bije, seemingly pleased by their praise, gave a small snort and calmly perched on Turan’s shoulder.

Perhaps because they gave great credit to the fact that he was the master of a magical beast capable of flying at near sound speed, the Birdmen remained quiet and well-behaved during the distribution of spoils and the return trip to Morgen, causing no disturbances.

Seeing this, Meisa let out a sigh of relief and said,

“That’s a relief. With Bije around, it seems it’ll be much easier to control them. The way here was nothing but trouble.”

She explained that while some left formation to go hunting or drink water from streams, things not exactly punishable, there had been three cases where they’d stubbornly attacked and eaten people despite strict orders.

Each time, she had captured the offender and torn them apart in front of everyone, and only then did they start to listen.

***

Because the army was selected only from those with flight capabilities or able to keep pace with the Birdmen by riding magical beasts, it only took a few days to return to Morgen from the forest region near the Takein Plains.

During the journey, Turan and Meisa secretly relieved their pent-up feelings whenever they had a moment of free time, just as would be expected of a youthful couple with much built up after her pregnancy with Luska and the long periods apart due to work and distance.

Aside from Bije occasionally intruding to ask them to play, no one interrupted the two of them.

On the third day,

As he looked around the city of Morgen after returning for the first time in a while, Turan could clearly feel that the city's vibrancy had significantly diminished.

It wasn’t just that people were going through hard times, it felt like the population itself had decreased.

“It’s definitely not like it used to be.”

“We’ll have to make it like it used to be. I will.”

From Meisa’s soft-spoken response, Turan sensed a firm sense of responsibility he had never seen in her before.

He suddenly understood what she meant back in Kalamaf when she said she felt as though she had aged.

In the past, whether when she managed people in the Reclaimed Land or took on the role of House Parsha’s mistress in Kalamaf, it was always under Turan’s shadow.

There was a clear difference between someone who had taken full responsibility for a group as its leader and someone who hadn’t.

Now, she seemed like someone who had matured further, someone who stood above no one else, made all the judgments herself, and bore the consequences alone.

“You’ll be able to do it.”

Encouraging Meisa, Turan then quietly observed her as she led her house as its head.

Praising the achievements of the expedition force, preparing enough meat so the Birdmen wouldn't need to feed on humans, he saw in her the growth of a genuine leader in her own right.

After about half a day of wrap-up work, Turan stepped into the residence of the Aravion family head, a place he had never visited before.

In the basement, just like those he had seen in House Varaha or House Ruvan, there was a soul base once used by the gods of Aravion.

Turan placed his hand on it and peered inside, letting out a quiet sigh.

“It’s empty.”

“Yeah. It looks like some of the surviving ones took it away around the time Badal died.”

Meisa replied softly to Turan, who sounded let down.

In truth, spirit vessels that had lost their house base were not particularly threatening.

Unless it was a suicidal-level technique like the one Haroon had shown in the past, it was hard to manifest powerful strength with a commoner or knight’s body, and it wasn’t easy to take over a skilled noble’s body either, especially since soul possession required many sacrifices and time.

After a short sigh of regret, Turan brought up what he had been meaning to say.

“Would it be okay if I stepped away from Morgen for a bit?”

“For how long?”

“Not sure exactly, but probably not that long. Three or four days, maybe.”

At Turan’s words, Meisa paused in thought, then replied.

“You’re thinking of going to Nagin’s capital?”

“That’s right. Right now, it’s the only place that might have clues about where Monarch went.”

Of course, if Monarch had the leisure, he might have hidden his tracks. But hadn’t House Nagin been destroyed after the return of the New Era due to a Yeti assault?

Unless he could also control Yetis like puppets, it meant even he couldn't approach that demonic zone.

There might not be people left, but there could still be books, tools, something that could serve as a clue.

“Bringing an army to occupy the place would take too long, so the two of us are planning to sweep through just the main estate quickly.”

Even if weakened, a non-human army that had destroyed a great noble house was not to be underestimated.

Yet, Turan’s voice carried no fear as he declared his intent to destroy their stronghold.

After listening quietly, Meisa grinned and gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

“This brings back memories. Feels like it’s been forever since we last fought together.”

“Don’t hit me. It hurts.”

“It doesn’t hurt!”

At Turan’s joke, Meisa laughed and smacked him on the back with her palm.

Contrary to what she thought, it actually did hurt.

*****

For more chapters, you can check out my Patreon here –>https://patreon.com/Pai_

If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊