Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 22 It wasn't hard to guess the nature of the misunderstanding.
The scene was damning: bodies tied up and charred to death, and a suspicious man carrying away a young girl—the intended final victim.
Turan quickly sized up his opponents.
There were four of them. Since they were mages, it was difficult to determine their exact ages by appearance alone, but they looked to be in their late teens or early twenties.
One distinct feature stood out: all four emanated a pungent aura of excitement and nervous tension. It reminded him of the first time he had gone wolf hunting with his mother as a child.
By the look of it, they were greenhorns with little to no actual combat experience.
"Wait—"
"Gah!"
The moment Turan opened his mouth to explain, the mage holding a fire spear let out a sharp gasp and reflexively unleashed his spell. Judging by his panicked expression, the youth had been so tense that he'd simply lost control of the magic.
Turan extended his free arm—the one not cradling the child—to intercept the spear. Simultaneously, he channeled mana into his bracelet at full capacity.
As the power of the Guardian bloodline shielded his body, the fire spear exploded, and a roar of flames engulfed him.
"What are you doing?! There was a child!"
"No, I... it was an accident..."
The woman holding an ice bow cried out in horror as she watched Turan and the girl disappear into the blaze.
However, a moment later, the group stood frozen, eyes wide with shock.
Turan, who had taken the magic head-on, was perfectly fine. Not a single burn marked his skin; not even a trace of soot stained his clothes. Even the young girl in his arms remained unscathed.
"What in the world..."
"How?"
He hadn't even used magic to cancel the spell; he had simply withstood the impact with his bare body. To those unaware of the existence of a Guardian magic tool, the only explanation was that their opponent possessed a bloodline specialized in defense or an overwhelming pool of mana.
Noticing their fear, Turan lowered his voice to a threatening growl.
"I am not the one who attacked this village. If you strike again, I will consider it an act of aggression and defend myself."
Terrified by Turan's piercing gaze, the fire spearman quickly lowered his hands, signaling his surrender. A moment later, the woman with the bow followed suit.
"Visen."
"Turan."
All conflicts tend to stem from a lack of mutual understanding. The simple exchange of names caused the tension to plummet.
The archer, Visen, stared intently at Turan. "How am I supposed to trust you?"
"Ask the girl when she wakes up. It seems she saw the real culprit."
"She saw the Fire-burner?"
"The Fire-burner?" Turan repeated.
"Don't tell me you don't know who that is?" Visen asked, her eyebrows twitching at his confusion.
"I don't."
At Turan's blunt reply, she gave him a skeptical look before explaining.
For the past few months, a mad mage had been periodically raiding remote villages in the area, tying people up and burning them alive. The culprit had earned the nickname 'Fire-burner,' and the lords of nearby cities had issued subjugation orders. However, because there were never any survivors, not even the culprit's gender was known.
Until Turan rescued this girl today.
"Then she should be able to tell us. She's unconscious now, but when I first found her, she said a mage did this."
With that, Turan laid the surviving girl down by the attic door and covered her with his cloak.
The strange standoff ended about thirty minutes later when the girl finally opened her eyes.
"Are you awake?"
"Where...?"
"This is your home."
Turan spoke in a gentle voice so as not to startle the child, offering her water from his leather canteen.
As the reality of her situation set in, the girl's young face twisted with grief. However, she soon followed Turan's request and described the culprit's appearance in detail.
"A red cloak... and his face... he had a beard... he looked scary, like a woodcutter."
The girl explained that when the villagers were being dragged away, she had hidden behind the attic door, peeking out to watch. When she saw the man looking around to see if anyone else was left, she had hurriedly closed the door and bolted it.
As Turan stroked the head of the girl, who was doing her best to explain with her limited vocabulary, her round eyes filled with tears. But she bit her lip hard and refused to cry.
Pain and hardship had a way of forcing a child to grow up far too quickly.
After bringing the girl over and questioning her once more—just to ensure she wasn't being coerced—Visen bowed her head politely to Turan in apology.
"I am sorry. Even if the situation was misleading, we were too hasty."
Turan looked down at her for a long moment before sighing and nodding. He had been angry about being attacked, but it had been an impulsive act born of panic. More importantly, he couldn't stay angry because they had shown genuine concern for the child's safety during the encounter.
It was rare to find nobles who cared so much for commoners.
After receiving apologies from the other three as well, Turan asked the question that had been on his mind.
"Are you here to catch this Fire-burner?"
"Yes. We saw someone in a place that had just been burned, so we thought we'd finally caught him..."
Visen shook her head at the missed opportunity but spoke confidently about their chances now that they had a description.
"We have a natural-born tracker among us, after all."
"A tracker?"
When Turan looked surprised, Visen realized her slip of the tongue and sheepishly looked away. Her gaze landed on a woman who was notably smaller than the other three companions.
"Wait, are you people from the Zahar family? Why are you in a place like this?"
The Enril Desert was a vast distance from here, and further west of this location was Arabion territory. Could these people be part of the notorious Zahar assassination group that had attempted to kill Meisa?
But they all seemed far too clumsy for that...
As if guessing Turan's thoughts, Visen quickly shook her head.
"No, it's nothing like that. We—"
Visen faltered, unable to continue. Under Turan's steady gaze, she finally revealed her identity as if giving up.
"We are from Abacha."
"Abacha? You mean the Carmines?"
"I am Visen Carmine. These are my friends from our vassal families."
Considering that the port city Turan was heading to was Abacha, the stronghold of the Carmine family, it was a truly coincidental meeting. Though, considering this village fell under the Carmine sphere of influence, it wasn't entirely a coincidence.
"Asha is a descendant of a family that merged with Zahar nobles generations ago. That bloodline manifested weakly in her; she's skilled in detection magic, but has no talent for stealth."
When the bloodlines of great families merged, they sometimes degraded, usually manifesting only one of the abilities from before the merger. These were referred to as 'Primitive Bloodlines,' and the great families rarely bothered to reclaim such kin. The chances of a degraded bloodline becoming strong again through further merging were extremely slim.
"I don't know why nobles of the Carmine family are out here hunting mages, but it doesn't seem like a very prudent decision. Especially without even a single knight to accompany you."
Nobles, even those from minor families, usually traveled with a full retinue of knights—whether as attendants or, in the way Turan despised, as meat shields.
At his words, Visen's group looked at him with incredulous expressions.
"That... isn't really something someone traveling entirely alone should say..." the fire spearman muttered.
"I am more than capable of ensuring my own safety," Turan replied confidently.
Having just seen him tank a fire spear head-on, his words carried plenty of weight.
"Besides, the four of you don't look that old. Did you get permission from your family to come out here?"
Seeing them flinch, he was certain. These four were runaway nobles who had left their families without permission. What other reason would young nobles have for wandering around a place like this without a single knight?
"Stop this mage hunting and go back. It's dangerous."
The Fire-burner likely lacked real skill, given that he only preyed on helpless villagers, but these four were so green that Turan feared they might actually lose to such a mediocre mage. If Turan were to fight them, it wouldn't take him more than ten minutes to hunt them all down. Regardless of how much mana they had, they reeked of inexperience.
"We can't do that."
Visen shook her head and explained their situation. They were individuals who had been pushed aside within the family due to a lack of natural talent or low rank in the line of succession. Because of that, they weren't being supplied with the mana necessary to grow.
Since the magical beasts supplied to the family went to the most talented members first, they had to supplement their strength and build up achievements on their own. This was a common problem in many great families. Because their bloodlines were strong, there was a high probability of children being born as noble-rank mages, but there weren't enough magical beasts to go around for everyone.
Going on a 'pilgrimage' like Asiz was one solution, but considering the cost and safety issues, it was difficult for everyone to benefit from that. The number of knights was also limited.
"Lord Turan, would you be willing to help us hunt the Fire-burner? Since there are already four of us, the mana might be a bit tight, but we'll give you the entire bounty on his head. Or... I could even give up my share of the mana."
"What are you saying, sister!"
"Big sister!"
"Don't talk nonsense. I'd rather give up my share."
The way the other three protested Visen's words suggested she was a fairly decent leader. The sight reminded Turan of Midan, the leader of the monster hunters he had met in the city of Murei.
"Is it not even known how skilled this Fire-burner is?"
"He's definitely a noble-rank mage. Some of the villages he attacked were specifically guarded by several knights, and they were all killed."
This was also why the lords of the nearby cities hadn't been able to suppress the Fire-burner yet. It seemed knights weren't enough, and a noble—perhaps even a family head—would need to intervene personally. But since they didn't know where he lived or who he was, he was hard to track. His attacks were also random in both timing and location, making it impossible to lie in wait.
If he were a ferocious beast that attacked everyone passing by, like the monkey king north of Baltas, they could just go find him. Human villains were more troublesome than magical beasts for this very reason.
"Fine."
Turan recalled how unpleasant he had felt when he saw the monster hunters torn apart by the killer rabbit. If they were complete strangers, it might be different, but having talked this much, he felt he would experience a similar feeling if they were to die.
It also rubbed him the wrong way that someone who was supposed to be a shepherd was slaughtering sheep indiscriminately. Above all, if the Fire-burner was a stronger mage than expected, it was an opportunity to accumulate more mana. Now that Turan had reached the level of a mid-tier noble in terms of mana, his power didn't increase easily from the low-level magical beasts found along the road.
"Since we'll be working together now, may I ask which family you belong to, Lord Turan?"
"I can use the power of the Guardian bloodline."
In truth, there was no longer a desperate need to hide his bloodline, but Turan chose to keep it a secret. He didn't want word of his identity to reach the people of Arabion he had befriended, even as a rumor. Besides, the Zahar's stealth ability was most useful when it remained unknown.
"I see."
Most families born with bloodlines specialized in physical combat, starting with the Guardians, did not possess their own territories. They had been phased out long ago because they were at a disadvantage in battles between nobles, especially in large-scale wars. The few survivors either remained as vassals to other families, like Haram, or lived as wanderers. Visen's group assumed Turan was one such wandering noble. In any case, it was clear he was highly skilled, and that was enough.
*
Turan and Visen's group first took the girl, the village's sole survivor, to another nearby village. The village elder there looked half-dazed when high-ranking nobles suddenly appeared and entrusted him with a child from the neighboring village.
"Here. I'll give you enough money, so make sure you take good care of her until she's an adult."
"Of course, of course! Without a doubt!"
"I will come back to check on her in a few years."
Of course, it was unlikely he would actually return, but he had to say it so they wouldn't mistreat her. Turan was someone who had personally experienced how cruel small-town residents could be to outsiders, especially children.
"You're very kind. She's just a commoner girl with no relation to you."
"Yeah, well."
The one who spoke to Turan was the oldest youth of the four, Kebek. He was of a healer bloodline. Normally, non-combat bloodlines were high priority and didn't need to run away, but he said he had come along out of loyalty to Visen. He was also the one who had offered to give up his share of the mana to Turan.
"I'm not interested in Lady Visen, so you don't have to worry."
"W-what...?"
"It's very obvious from your attitude."
At Turan's words, Kebek blushed in embarrassment. To be honest, it wasn't so much his attitude as it was the scent of infatuation he exuded whenever he looked at Visen. If that girl Asha, the half-Zahar, had a keen sense of smell like Turan, she probably knew as well.
"What are you two talking about?"
"Nothing!"
When Visen returned after a few more words with the village elder, Kebek hurriedly covered it up.
Nodding as if she understood, she looked at Turan and said, "I'm quite bothered by what that girl said."
"Do you think it's true?"
"I don't know. I've never heard anything like it... I suspect it's just the ramblings of a madman."
On the way to the next village, the girl Turan had rescued recalled hearing a few words the Fire-burner had said in the cellar. The content was truly bizarre.
[I offer these sacrifices, O Gods! Your descendant advances toward you, burning soul and flesh!]
The mage had shouted that he was becoming a being close to the gods as he killed the villagers. That was what the girl had testified.
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