Chapter 141
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 141
“Turan! Father... Mother... it’s all because of me...”
Turan followed the sound of the agonizing screams and found Asiz, his face a mess of tears and grime. Beneath him lay the mangled corpses of the Berk couple.
Turan gritted his teeth at the sight. These were the people who had once welcomed him into their home as their son’s savior and an honored guest.
“I’m such an idiot. Damn it, if only I hadn’t pushed myself so hard.”
“Father and Mother fought like true nobles until the very end. Stop crying! You’re disgracing their memory by acting like this.”
The one sharply rebuking the rambling, self-deprecating Asiz was his older brother, Melo. Judging by his blood-soaked and tattered clothes, he too had been severely injured before receiving treatment.
Turan glanced around, piecing together the scene. The knights were injured, but a significant number of them remained. In contrast, many of the Berk family nobles were either heavily wounded or dead.
They fought at the front to protect their knights.
Nobles typically maintained knights for two primary reasons: first, to serve as their hands and feet in subjugating magical beasts and maintaining order; and second, to serve as shields against enemy attacks during times of war.
Yet, the Berk nobles had lost their lives fighting at the vanguard to protect those very shields. They had done so despite possessing the Enchanter bloodline, which was ill-suited for direct combat.
Turan suddenly recalled the nobles of the Baltas family from Orem City to the west, whom he had once joined for a subjugation mission. What if the Berks had fought like them, naturally using their knights as fodder? The casualties among the knights would have been higher, but the nobles would likely have survived.
Considering the immense intangible value Enchanters held, doing so would have been the 'correct' choice in terms of maintaining the family's power. Paradoxically, however, the reason Turan had grown fond of the Berk family in the first place was that they were not the kind of people who would ever do such a thing.
It was this couple who had taught Asiz that the retainers who followed him were also precious people.
“What happened?”
Meisa flew down, her face pale—perhaps a side effect of her soul magic. Before long, her expression froze as she saw the bodies of the Berk couple.
“Auntie... Uncle...”
“I’m sorry.”
Turan offered a low apology to her and to the still-weeping Asiz. An indescribable emotion seethed within him. For Turan, this was the first time he had experienced losing 'someone he was meant to protect.'
It felt entirely different from when he had lost his mother. This wasn't the grief of losing a protector; it was the crushing weight of failing those he was responsible for. He felt a sudden surge of shame, remembering how he had felt a sense of pride just moments ago for holding his own against the Arabion Family Head.
What a fool.
How could he be so full of himself when he couldn't even protect his own people?
Perhaps Turan’s expression looked too dark as he blamed himself, for Asiz, who had been sobbing, forced a smile to comfort him.
“Don’t... don’t say you’re sorry. You... you did your best too.”
After offering a few more words of comfort to Asiz, Turan instructed the nearby knights to recover the bodies of the House Head and his wife, then went to look for other wounded. It didn't take long to find someone else who needed his help.
“Master.”
“I look a mess. I have no excuse.”
Haram Berk.
The guest of the Berk family and Asiz’s uncle-in-law was in a horrific state. Burn marks covered the left side of his body, his right arm was a mangled mess of regenerating tissue, and his skin was webbed with burst capillaries from lightning strikes. No one looking at him could ever claim he hadn't fought with everything he had.
“Please, don't say that. I can see how hard you fought.”
Haram was a Guardian with power that ranked among the top even for a noble. Anyone capable of putting him in this state had to be a noble of at least equal strength. Since there were clearly traces of more than three types of attacks, it meant Haram had held off three or more high-ranking nobles by himself. If not for his efforts, the Kalamaf forces would likely have been annihilated long ago.
Glancing around, Turan saw the Lavitas healers busy tending to others. Since Haram was a high-ranking noble and a sturdy Guardian, healing him would require a vast amount of mana. Because his condition wasn't immediately life-threatening, his priority had been pushed back.
Turan immediately placed his hand on Haram’s body and cast recovery magic. A moment later, Haram, his wounds completely healed, stood up and spoke.
“I saw many unfamiliar faces in this battle.”
“Unfamiliar faces?”
“I know almost all the faces of those from my generation among Arabion and its vassal families, but most of them this time were strangers. Among them, the Arabion nobles were mostly either too old or too young.”
Turan pondered Haram’s words and soon realized their significance.
“It seems they’re starting to run out of options.”
“That’s likely the case.”
From the time Meisa escaped to the recent battle in the forest, the number of Arabion nobles Turan and his companions had killed was nearing twenty. Had there been that many casualties even during the war with Zahar? Combined with the losses during the recent Dark Elf subjugation, even a prestigious Great Family like Arabion was beginning to feel the strain. They were now forced to mobilize retired or underage nobles, or even reinforcements from the Nagin family.
“So, take heart, Family Head. The enemy is exhausted too. This isn't an unwinnable war.”
Unlike his previous informal tone, Haram encouraged him with respectful language. Turan repeated the title Haram had used in his mind.
Family Head...
It was still a title far too heavy to accept, but it was a burden he had to bear as the leader of a group.
“Thank you for the advice, Master.”
Haram gestured for him to go and turned his head away.
*
As darkness began to fall, they set up camp near the battlefield. In the meantime, Turan sent out Bije, who had recovered her strength after resting for a few hours, to confirm if the Arabion army was truly retreating.
About an hour later, Bije returned, happily gulping down the water prepared for her, and reported what she had seen.
—I found them! People riding in wagons pulled by giant snakes! They’re moving west!
Fortunately, it seemed the Arabion army wasn't feigning a retreat but was actually returning to their stronghold. After spending a night in relief, the Kalamaf forces began their journey back to their base.
Everyone was utterly exhausted from the two days of flight and combat, so their pace was incredibly slow. During the march, Turan stayed in the middle of the group, using tracking magic to guard the perimeter while talking with his companions.
“How is Asiz doing?”
“He seems to have calmed down a bit. But I think it’ll take more time for him to truly process it...” Meisa’s face was dark as she answered.
Turan suddenly noticed a faint trace of guilt on Solif’s face as he listened.
Is it because of his parents?
Around the time they had decided on Kalamaf as their base, there had been a suggestion to bring Solif’s parents, who were hiding in a shelter near Hisaril Hill. Originally, the plan had been to move without a fixed base, but since the situation had changed, the reasoning was that it would be better for them to stay together.
Unexpectedly, it was Solif who had opposed it. He argued that his parents would enjoy living quietly together in a remote place more than the bustling life of a city. As a result, the Baraha couple was safe because they hadn't stayed in Kalamaf, but the main force of Kalamaf had suffered greater damage because their strength was spread thin. It was only natural for Solif to feel conflicted.
“Anyway, why did that damn old man let us live? I heard you fought pretty well, but... honestly, if the fight had continued, I think we would’ve lost.”
Solif changed the uncomfortable subject, rubbing his chest which had once been caved in from a blow. Turan shared the hypothesis he had come up with.
“I’m not certain, but I suspect he couldn't maintain that level of combat power for long.”
“Couldn't maintain it?”
“Yeah. He looked quite exhausted at the end. To a degree that was strange to attribute simply to his age.”
From his spiritual perspective, the way the spirit body seemed to be wringing itself out suggested Badal was overexerting himself. Just as Ymir had in the past, if a possessed vessel exerted excessive power, the physical body could collapse entirely. Therefore, Turan believed that Badal, rather than risking his own destruction by continuing to fight with a time limit, had chosen to withdraw to keep his army intact.
“I see.”
“I wonder if that’s also why they didn't use the divine magic... what they call 'Skills.'”
As Turan spoke, he recalled the bizarre flight magic Badal had used. Was that also a 'Skill,' or was it a type of magic he simply didn't understand? It didn't make sense for it to be metal manipulation via telekinesis. Typical telekinesis couldn't produce that much output and dynamism; if it could, it would be easier to just move one's own body.
“Well, if that’s the case, next time we fight, we should try to stall for time. Though it won't be easy.”
“You’re right. It was truly difficult. We only held out for about two hours, I think...” Meisa murmured with a sigh.
Last night, while resting, Turan had heard a rough account of how the battle had unfolded. It all started when Meisa, who had been regularly scouting the west and north, discovered the main Arabion force first. After eliminating the scouts pursuing her, she contacted Turan and began the full-scale evacuation of the city.
What followed was a two-day chase between the fleeing Kalamaf forces and the pursuing Arabion army. They were finally caught, and a chaotic battle ensued for several hours, which was exactly when Turan arrived with the Lavitas mages.
Thinking back, it had been a very close call. What if Turan had been just a little later, or if he had come alone without reinforcements? By now, everyone else might be dead, and Meisa might be being dragged to Arabion in chains to become the new vessel for a god.
Shaking off the horrific imagination that suddenly surfaced, Turan mentioned another piece of information he had heard.
“Come to think of it, there was something Badal said at the end.”
“What was it?”
“He complained about having to waste his strength on such a 'trivial matter' at such a critical time. As if someone else was making him do it.”
“Based on everything we know, there shouldn't be many things more important than taking Meisa’s body,” Solif muttered, unable to understand.
As he said, there was no need to doubt that Badal’s lifespan was nearing its end. Meisa, who was to be his replacement, was surely a desperate resource for them. What could possibly be so important that even such a task had to be pushed aside?
“For starters... I guess his father isn't the leader of that faction?”
“If Ymir wasn't lying, the leader of Arabion-Nagin is that guy we’re not supposed to mention. Probably the Nagin Family Head.”
The Life Scholar.
The existence whose traces Turan had first encountered in the Labyrinth and whose identity he had guessed through records left in the library. The possibility that the one who manipulated the dwarves and seemed to view humanity as his playthings was Badal was slim. From what he had seen so far, the bloodlines Badal displayed—Storm, Enchanter, and Strength-bearer—were far removed from the power to manipulate life.
Solif, listening to this, stroked his chin and said softly, “Now that I think about it, I’ve felt for a while that Arabion’s response has been a bit lukewarm. Maybe it’s because the big boss is preoccupied with something else.”
As he said, Arabion didn't seem nearly desperate enough for having lost Meisa, the vessel for their Family Head. At the very least, shouldn't that 'Life Scholar' have made a direct appearance this time? If he had, the worst-case scenario Turan had imagined might have become a reality.
Discussing what their schemes might be, Turan’s group continued to move steadily toward the northeast. And after three days and nights had passed, Solif whistled happily.
“We’re finally back.”
Just as he said, Kalamaf City was visible in the distance.
*
Upon returning to Kalamaf, Turan first spread the news of the battle’s outcome throughout the city via the retainers of the Berk family. The story was that they had clashed with Arabion and had repelled them, despite their Family Head personally participating in the battle.
At first glance, they had returned looking like defeated soldiers, so the story didn't spread with immediate conviction. Above all, wasn't the Arabion Family Head one of the most powerful mages in the world? No matter how high Turan of Kalamaf’s reputation was for his strength at a young age, no one believed he had reached the same level as the heads of those supreme Great Families.
However, a week later, an event suddenly gave momentum to the vague rumors.
“Is that really true?”
“I’m telling you! It really looked like gods had fought there. You guys should go see for yourselves if you ever head that way.”
A general merchant who had come from Bexel, a city located southwest of Kalamaf, talked excitedly while drinking beer. He spoke of a mountain that had sunk as if struck by a giant’s hammer, a hill with a hole big enough for a house to pass through, and a field hundreds of meters wide where the grass had been completely scorched.
As stories from people who had personally seen the traces of the clash between Kalamaf and Arabion spread, the citizens couldn't help but recall the news they had heard recently.
“Did they really... repel the Arabion Family Head?”
“Maybe a new Great Family is rising in our lands.”
Some felt dissatisfaction and fear at the fact that they were hostile to the Great Family Arabion, but even more people harbored a sense of anticipation in their hearts. Kalamaf, a small city that was just one of many trading hubs in the Gray Zone without even a proper history—the capital of a Great Family? For the residents living there, it was a thought that made their hearts swell with pride just by imagining it.
As these rumors spread to the surrounding areas, the mage family heads of the Gray Zone naturally couldn't help but be shaken. Well-versed in the world of mages, they had initially dismissed the idea of Turan being on par with the Arabion Family Head as nonsense. However, after personally confirming the battle site, they could no longer think that way.
The traces left at the site were so mythical that it was clear that experts comparable to the heads of Great Families had clashed. It went without saying that they bowed their heads before the messengers Turan sent afterward and promised to provide some of their family's nobles and knights.
And so, for several weeks, Kalamaf continued to unify the Gray Zone as the capital of a new Great Family.
Finally, guests arrived from the Enril Desert to the east.