The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard-Chapter 157: The Wetland Reclamation Project (1)

"Does anything hurt? This isn’t a treatment you can receive often, so we should make sure everything is completely fixed."

"Not at all! I actually feel lighter than I ever have in my life!"

Having experienced such great discomfort after injuring her waist, Meisa exclaimed with childlike excitement.

As she touched her now smooth waist without a single scar, she suddenly realized she wasn’t alone and made an embarrassed expression.

"...Pretend you didn’t see that."

"The freshness of young love is always pleasant to see. First, change your clothes. The ones you’re wearing now are soaked in blood and look terrible."

Rida smiled warmly as she took Meisa to a small adjacent room to help her change into new clothes.

When they left the treatment room, Solif and Bize, who had been waiting outside, quickly turned their heads.

"How did it go? Were you healed properly, ma’am?"

Pretending to be a servant, Solif addressed Turan and Meisa with honorifics.

When they nodded in response, he clenched his fist in a show of joy.

Of course, Bize beside him also expressed relief by repeatedly spreading and folding his two wings.

"Well then, let’s go. If we stay too long, the Family Head will get tired. He’s already kept all the family members away for your sake."

It did seem like there were too few people for the Family Head’s residence.

As they left the Family Head’s quarters with Rida, Turan quietly expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you for your help, Lady Rida."

"Did I really help with anything?"

"You supported us by telling the Family Head to trust us."

"I did that because I thought you seemed trustworthy. So don’t disappoint me. I’ve been betrayed many times in my life, but being stabbed repeatedly doesn’t make it hurt any less."

"That will absolutely never happen."

Rida responded to Turan’s assurance with a generous smile.

As they walked through the main house having this conversation, all the Labitas nobles they met showed extreme respect to Rida.

It was something Turan had observed when they arrived, but after the conversation with the Family Head, it felt more significant.

While it was true that top-tier nobles were revered even within great houses, they treated her with even more deference.

"You mentioned that the Family Head is your younger cousin, right?"

"That’s right. Though in terms of age difference, he’s not much different from my grandchildren. Because of family issues in his childhood, he couldn’t be raised by his parents, so I directly nursed him. I had a son of the same age at the time. They became milk brothers and are close."

It made sense why the Family Head deferred to Rida and why others treated her with such respect.

She was essentially his mother in all but name.

She was probably revealing this information that she hadn’t mentioned before to emphasize her position and to warn them not to break their promises and cause embarrassment.

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At that moment, Meisa, who was walking beside them, asked a question.

"I heard that the Koloa region that the Family Head assigned us is very difficult to develop."

"Hmm, actually I haven’t been there myself. It’s on the southernmost border of the Siraf Wetlands. However, I’ve heard that it was abandoned because the harsh environment made development inefficient compared to the effort required." Continue your journey on novelbuddy

It meant that while it was difficult for the family to directly develop it using their people, it was the perfect place to utilize free labor that had suddenly become available.

’He said it was about a hundred kilometers in each direction, didn’t he?’

While it would only take an hour or two to travel the distance by running or flying, the situation was a bit different considering they had to develop the entire wetland area.

Above all, Turan’s group had no prior knowledge of land reclamation.

"But is there a reason to develop such a remote area? There seem to be plenty of wetlands to develop around the capital..."

As Meisa pointed out, if they simply wanted farmland, there was no reason to develop that southern frontier.

Rida laughed amusingly at her question and answered,

"I hear there are several rich mines near that area."

Indeed, more money was always better.

After discussing various aspects of development, they returned to Rida’s mansion, where Solif let out a deep sigh.

"With that much area, we’ll be stuck here for a few years at least. Maybe even over ten years."

"Will it really take that long?"

In response to Meisa’s question, Solif created several diagrams in the air with light and said,

"A hundred kilometers in each direction, right? It might seem trivial since it would take less than thirty minutes flying on Bize, but in terms of area, it’s enormous. Well, we can’t really complain about this when we’re borrowing power from the head of a great family."

Moreover, the value was even greater since they were borrowing Osel’s healing ability, which was unique to him and not a combat capability that other great family heads possessed.

"But does anyone know how to actually do land reclamation? This is my first time in a wetland, so I have no idea."

At Meisa’s question, Solif also shook his head, and then both looked at Turan.

"I don’t know much about it either. I was planning to seek some advice on that matter."

Saying this, Turan took out a jewel box from his chest.

"From Elder Librarian?"

"He’s knowledgeable, so he might be able to help us with land reclamation methods."

"That makes sense."

"Once we know the proper techniques, it shouldn’t take too long. I can use the abilities of both the Stream bloodline and the Earth Guardian bloodline."

"Oh, that’s right. I had forgotten."

While they hadn’t decided how to proceed with the reclamation yet, at the very least, bloodline abilities that controlled water and earth would certainly be helpful.

Additionally, both Meisa and Solif were quite skilled with those types of magic due to their exceptional magical talents compared to other nobles.

When Turan opened the jewel box, the Librarian opened his drowsy eyes as usual and said,

"I haven’t finished analyzing the fragment you gave me. The traces left are too faint, so the information itself is damaged."

"I’m always grateful, Elder. Today I came to ask about something else."

"Something else?"

"Elder! Do you happen to know any special techniques for wetland reclamation?"

At Solif’s question, the Librarian snorted.

"I don’t know."

"Gah."

"There were no books that documented such methods, so it can’t be helped. However, I think I can come up with some ideas on how to proceed based on my knowledge."

The Librarian’s knowledge of natural laws was so deep and broad that it was still beyond Turan’s group’s comprehension.

That evening, the three of them had to return to being students and attend a lecture, even skipping their meal.

Bize, who had been sitting quietly listening, soon closed his eyes and fell asleep as if bored.

==

Three days later, Turan’s group left Rida’s mansion and headed south from Merem City.

Rida escorted them to the city gate.

"If it gets too difficult, feel free to return and rest occasionally. The Family Head didn’t set a strict deadline."

"Thank you for your kind words, Elder. We’ll visit again when we have the chance."

Staying at Rida’s mansion had been a reasonably pleasant time.

It would have been almost as comfortable as staying at Berk’s mansion if Solif hadn’t had to pretend to be a servant.

After saying their final farewells to Rida, they walked toward a person and a magical beast waiting nearby.

A middle-aged knight who appeared to be around forty bowed respectfully.

"Greetings to the great ones, my name is Yoz."

"Are you our guide?"

"Yes."

Yoz was a guide sent by the Family Head to lead Turan’s group to their destination and also to monitor whether they were working diligently without fleeing.