The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard-Chapter 67: Stay Together From Now (1)

Lifespan and vessel.

No matter how many times he read it, what the contents implied was clear.

The Prea god-folk had lifespans, and rather than ascending, they died of old age.

Moreover, that some of them might still be alive after transferring bodies—every single detail was too terrifying to speak of outside.

"Do you know who wrote this?"

"No idea. That existed before I came into being. If it had been added later, I would at least remember who brought it."

Though his appearance and behavior were human-like, the Librarian was ultimately a spirit created along with the library’s construction.

What he knew was limited to events around the library and the contents of books stored inside.

Unfortunately, there were no more books left by the owner of this handwriting.

"Still, thanks to this I learned something interesting. Lifespan, hmm. Now I can understand. Why my creator seemed so rushed..."

The Librarian stroked his chin beard while nodding as if understanding something.

Come to think of it, hadn’t he said the Lame Goddess was extremely hurried when creating the library?

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Presumably, she came to create this knowing her lifespan was running out.

Why she invested her final time in making a library was completely incomprehensible though.

After that, Turan continued various conversations with the Librarian.

Topics included analyzing the principles of magic he had newly grasped during his travels through natural laws, and what history the lands he had passed through held in the past.

They also discussed what surviving members of the Prea god-folk might be doing now if they had overcome their lifespan limits, but reached no proper conclusions.

They could only know that at least none had openly appeared to rule at the forefront of the world yet.

Then, the Librarian suddenly asked as if something occurred to him.

"Come to think of it, you snuck in this time—are you perhaps participating in the forces attacking this city?"

"Attack?"

"Yes."

Turan shook his head at this first mention.

"As I said earlier, I flew straight here from far away so I don’t know much about the situation here. Though I did feel things were somewhat unsettled..."

"This city is at war right now. Strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to say it got dragged into a war."

Even thinking back to what he saw looking down from the sky on his way, there wasn’t particularly such an impression.

At most, there just seemed to be slightly fewer people walking around.

"Is it a war between wizard houses?"

"Yes. Apparently all the wizard houses in this area have split into two factions fighting with Houses Hardit and Corel as the main axes."

Hardit and Corel—these were familiar names.

Hadn’t they come up as examples of feuding houses when he was pretending about his identity before the lord of Orem in the past?

For a war between wizard houses, it wasn’t strange that traces of battle weren’t very noticeable.

Unlike other races, to them enemy cities and villages were merely prey to be captured.

Of course, it would be different if it were on the scale of the Arabion-Zahar war, but this apparently wasn’t at that level.

"Other races are sweeping away several cities right next door, yet people are fighting among themselves..."

"Actually, that seems to be why the war started."

"Could you explain in detail?"

"I only know what I’ve overheard people around here talking about, so I’m not certain."

According to the Librarian’s explanation, Hardit and Corel were houses ruling two nearby cities in this area.

About ten years ago, they had fought a war over some issue, during which each lost two or three nobles and thirteen or fourteen knights.

They eventually managed a ceasefire somehow, but naturally deep resentment remained between them.

Then a few months ago, when the dark elves launched a major invasion of the forest region to the east but were repelled by Arabion’s army, that area emerged as an attractive frontier.

Just establishing new colonies where cities used to be and transporting lots of timber could bring enormous profits.

Houses in this area all rushed to form pioneer groups to develop the ownerless land.

These mainly consisted of one or two nobles from the house, about ten knights, and refugees displaced from the forest region.

"But in the midst of this, they apparently fought again while competing over which house would claim which areas. Since it was over economic interests this time, the scale grew larger than before, and now various houses in this area have split into two sides."

In this situation, House Baltas ruling Orem took Hardit’s side because the lord’s wife was from that house.

The problem was that House Hardit was now on the verge of defeat.

House Corel’s army, having gained the upper hand, was reportedly sweeping through territories of houses belonging to the opposing faction demanding surrender.

Now it was gradually becoming Orem City’s turn to face such treatment.

Having heard the full explanation, Turan let out a low groan.

"Hmm..."

Hearing the story, he could understand why the city’s atmosphere had become so unsettled.

It was rather amazing that they still posted a knight as guard in front of the library in such circumstances.

They probably wanted to put up a front, since removing the knight would reveal just how desperate the situation was.

"Well, that’s just how people are. As I recall, the current lot have been at it for about four hundred years, so it’s about time for change."

The Librarian showed an attitude suggesting such wars were nothing special, having always existed.

Certainly, that made sense from the perspective of one who had lived thousands of years and seen this city’s ownership change multiple times.

"I should probably not stay around here too long. Might get caught up in unnecessary trouble."

Though wizards rarely looked up at the sky so riding Bize probably wouldn’t particularly stand out, it still seemed necessary to be careful.

So where should he go?

Turan fell into thought while seated in the chair.

The Enril Desert would be better visited after another year or two, so maybe travel south...

"Ugh."

At that moment, Turan unconsciously groaned at the sharp emotional signal piercing from within.

Dizzying pain and fear, and desperately searching for someone...

’Bize?’

These were the emotions of Bize, his soul-bonded partner.

Turan quickly stood up and called out to the Librarian.

"Something urgent came up so I need to go!"

"Alright, come again."

Before the Librarian’s slow words finished, Turan had already dashed out of the library while using concealment magic.

Activating search magic, he caught Bize’s scent and a faint smell of blood from the east.

Given that emotions were still being transmitted, it seemed it wasn’t dead yet.

Turan immediately used flight magic to soar eastward.

Behind him, the knight guarding the library frowned at the sudden gust of wind.

==

’It was just an hour or two...’

Turan clicked his tongue while flying through the sky.

Bize was a magical beast that even most nobles would have trouble capturing, so he had left it to play on its own, but to think this would happen in such a short time.

Considering nothing had happened even when left alone for days in the Enril Desert before, this could only be called bad luck.

He could guess who had captured Bize.

The nobles of House Corel currently sweeping through this area.

Given the circumstances, they were the only candidates.

Advancing straight in the direction of the scent, before long he saw an encampment where about a hundred people were gathered.