The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard-Chapter 124: Spirit in the Jewel Box (2)

Among these, the most superior were considered to be the long-established houses founded by direct descendants of Prea god-folk whose power hadn’t completely declined right after the old empire’s fall.

Arabion and Zahar fell into this category, and their history spanned at least two to three thousand years.

Compared to them, great houses established by gaining new founding ancestors through bloodline combinations were considered a step below.

Baraha, Labitas, and Kamain fell into this category and usually had histories between one to two thousand years.

Nagin was an emerging great house even newer than them, with their history not even reaching five hundred years.

Though an unfathomable time from ordinary humans’ perspective, by noble standards who considered one hundred to two hundred years as one generation, they were literally just newly risen upstarts.

This was why they were based in the barren snow fields despite being a great house.

But still, a great house was a great house, and moreover, wasn’t there a high possibility some divine being was behind them?

Direct confrontation was not just dangerous but even reckless.

"Actually fighting would be crazy, first I need to track Renode. If we’re lucky, we might catch up before he returns to House Nagin. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try infiltrating like before."

"Didn’t you say it was a month ago? Wouldn’t he have returned home by now?"

"If a single noble was running back alone that would be true, but he brought dozens of knights, right? We don’t feel it because we travel on Bize, but the world is actually wider and harder to move through than you’d think. Even more so with many companions."

"True, come to think of it... it took me months to come from Baraha to the southern seas. Even though I was traveling alone."

Though nobles and knights were faster than ordinary people, unless they were on proper roads they had to detour according to terrain, and of course they had to rest for meals and sleep, making it impossible to move as quickly as flying.

Moreover, the northwestern snow fields where House Nagin was located and this western wasteland region weren’t even connected by the old empire’s roads, so they would have to go around.

Meisa, who had been quietly listening, asked softly.

"So are we leaving tomorrow? The lord here probably won’t like it."

"We need to leave right now. Sorry, but we’re too urgent to care about their face."

==

Since trying to honestly say they were leaving urgently would likely just waste time in arguments, Turan left just a note before departing Orem City with his companions.

The three rode the swing pulled by Bize and flew straight north, flying and flying.

Since they needed to go as quickly as possible, they even took recovery potions and literally flew without rest for a day and a half.

A distance that would take over two weeks even if Turan ran himself was crossed in an instant.

The problem was that since this was their first time here, they didn’t even know where House Nagin’s stronghold was, let alone Renode’s travel route.

This had to be solved by directly asking around.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. They passed through three days ago. Northwest."

"Good thing we found them. Let’s ride again then."

"Ugh, so tiresome."

When they saw villages or cities nearby, they would secretly land and check if Renode’s Nagin house mages had passed through, then move again in the direction they had gone.

Of course, during this process Turan didn’t forget to keep changing his face with the disguise mask.

If any conflict occurred, they would surely investigate who had pursued them.

After spending another full day investigating like this, Turan’s group finally managed to catch up to Renode.

"Found them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Three nobles and thirty-eight knights... looks like two either died or split off for other business. I see three masu too. Probably bonded with the nobles."

"From what I heard earlier, it’s about four days to Nagin’s capital, so they’d reach the main house tomorrow or the day after. We got lucky."

In the dark night, Turan examined the Nagin mages’ campsite hundreds of meters away as if looking at his palm using the relic’s senses.

Since Renode was said to be the representative of the Nagin nobles at the time, he must be the most powerful mage among them.

Indeed, one of the three had mana at the high noble level.

"Wasn’t Renode not considered an heir in House Nagin?"

"Right. They just said he was quite skilled."

"That’s exactly what I can see too."

Turan had Meisa, Solif, and Bize wait on one side while he used stealth magic and entered the Nagin house campsite.

Though there were barriers set up, probably due to a barrier caster among the nobles, he could easily break through thanks to his ability to see through them and flight ability.

"Whew, getting chilly. Really feels like we’re back home."

"The south was nice and warm since it’s summer."

"Was it warm for you, brother? I thought I would die from the heat!"

"And you call yourself a knight, complaining like that!"

Turan approached Renode while ignoring the knights’ chatter and avoiding the bright campfire.

During this, he saw a huge beast passing by with a growling sound.

’A wolf... no, a dog?’

A dog that was as tall as a person even on four legs wandered around looking in Turan’s direction.

Plus a bear and an elk even bigger than that.

Truly a composition worthy of a great house with the tamer bloodline.

Shortly after, Turan arrived at the largest tent where Renode was staying.

Before entering, when he raised the relic’s senses, he could see the symbols of the person inside.

The tamer must be the one reaching out to beast-like creatures, while the ruler would be the human figure connecting and controlling threads from above.

Fortunately, no other symbols were visible besides those two.

’At least he has two bloodline abilities. But just in case-’

Turan entered the tent entrance while tense, activating all his defensive magic devices.

If Renode revealed his power as a vessel of Prea god-folk, Meisa and Solif would rush over immediately when he detonated the fire soul.

However, making such precautions seem foolish, Renode showed no particular reaction as he sat slouched in his chair looking bored.

After waiting for nearly a minute, Turan let out a small sigh of relief.

’What, was it not Renode?’

Though he had suspected him because of his ability to harm the librarian, unexpectedly Renode only had two bloodlines and couldn’t even notice Turan’s approach.

Of course, usually even top-level nobles couldn’t detect Zahar nobles’ stealth without special methods.

Or perhaps like Badal Arabion before, the third bloodline wouldn’t appear unless mana was activated.

Turan calmly analyzed the magic devices Renode possessed and those placed inside the tent one by one.

If he had subdued a spirit, he would naturally have put it in something imbued with magical power.

’The cloak probably isn’t it... the staff is suspicious but I’ll hold off on taking it. Can’t secretly take the ring since he’s wearing it. And this-’

Turan’s gaze finally landed on a chest placed in a corner of the tent, or more precisely, the jewel box contained within it.

It was slightly larger than a palm.

Not only did it have exceptionally strong mana flowing compared to other magic devices, but something gray could be seen rippling inside.

’Could this be it?’

From its appearance to the characteristics felt through the relic’s senses, everything was saying it.

That this must be the magic device sealing the spirit.

Turan glanced at Renode before putting the jewel box in his chest and returning to where Meisa and Solif were waiting.

Of course, none of the Nagin house mages noticed during this process.

Turan let out a deep sigh as he released his stealth.

"Whew."

"Did you find it? Was it Renode?"

"Did you get caught?"

Meisa and Solif, who had been waiting with anxious expressions, urgently spoke up.

Both seemed to have felt pressured by the fact that they might have to fight a divine being while waiting nearby.

"I wasn’t caught and found this. I’m not certain, but what we’re looking for should be inside."

"A magic device? We can’t check right away since none of us are artificers, but is it safe to just open it?"

"We don’t have time to find Asiz. If this isn’t it, we’ll have to subdue those guys and interrogate them. Bize, could you keep wearing the swing since we might need to escape right away?"

[Got it!]

Smiling slightly at Bize who wrote as if saying to just trust her, Turan carefully opened the jewel box.

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He activated his defensive magic devices while a bit away from the two, considering the possibility it might be a trap.

With a hissing sound, thick smoke poured out from inside and someone’s muttering voice was heard.

"Hmm, where is this now?"

"It’s been a while, Elder."

Turan smiled and greeted at the librarian’s voice he had heard not long ago.