Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54 Lifespan and the vessel.
No matter how many times he reread the passage, the implication remained chillingly clear.
The Frea Divine Clan possessed a finite lifespan. They hadn't ascended to a higher plane; they had simply grown old and died.
The text even suggested that some might still be alive today by transferring their souls into new bodies—every word was a terrifying secret that felt dangerous to even utter aloud.
"Do you happen to know who wrote this?"
"I do not. It has been here since before I was even brought into existence. Had it been a later addition, I might have remembered which fellow brought it in."
Though his appearance and behavior were human-like, the Librarian was, in the end, a spirit created alongside the library itself. He only knew what happened within these walls and the contents of the books stored within.
Regrettably, there were no other books written in this particular handwriting.
"Still, thanks to you, I've learned something interesting. A lifespan, hmm. Now I understand why my creator seemed in such a hurry..."
The Librarian nodded as if a mystery had finally been solved, slowly stroking his beard.
Come to think of it, he had mentioned that the Lame Goddess was incredibly frantic when she created the library. Presumably, she had built this place knowing her life was nearing its end.
Why she chose to invest her final moments in building a library, however, remained a complete mystery.
Afterward, Turan continued to converse with the Librarian on various topics. They analyzed the principles of the new magic he had acquired during his travels through the lens of natural laws and discussed the history of the lands he had traversed.
They even debated what those among the Frea Divine Clan who might have overcome their lifespans would be doing now, though they reached no definitive conclusion. The only certainty was that they weren't openly ruling the world—at least not yet.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, the Librarian posed a question.
"By the way, I noticed you snuck in this time. Have you joined the forces attacking this city?"
"Attacking?"
"Indeed."
Turan shook his head, surprised by the news.
"As I mentioned, I flew here directly from a distant place, so I'm not well-versed in the local situation. I did feel things were a bit restless, though..."
"This city is currently at war. To be precise, it would be more accurate to say it has been dragged into one."
Recalling the view from the sky on his way in, Turan hadn't noticed anything particularly indicative of a siege. If anything, there just seemed to be fewer people out and about.
"Is it a war between mage families?"
"Yes. With two families named Hadit and Corel at the center, all the mage families in this vicinity have split into two factions and are fighting."
Hadit and Corel—he had heard those names before. Hadn't they been mentioned as examples of feuding families back when he was fabricating an identity for the Lord of Orem?
If it was a war between mage families, it wasn't strange that there were few visible scars of battle. Unlike other races, to mages, an enemy's city or village was ultimately a prize to be seized, not destroyed. Of course, it would be different if it were a large-scale conflict like the war between Arabion and Zahar, but this didn't seem to be on that level.
"While other races are busy razing entire cities to the ground right next door, humans are still preoccupied with killing one another..."
"It seems the war broke out precisely because of that."
"Could you tell me more?"
"I've only picked up bits and pieces from the chatter around here, so I can't be certain."
According to the Librarian, Hadit and Corel were families that ruled two nearby cities. About ten years ago, they had gone to war over a territorial dispute, losing several nobles and over a dozen knights. They eventually reached a truce, but deep resentment remained.
Then, a few months ago, the Dark Elves launched a massive invasion of the eastern forest zone. They were eventually repelled by the Arabion army, turning that area into an attractive site for reclamation. Building new colonies where cities once stood and transporting timber would yield enormous profits.
Every family in the vicinity, without exception, organized pioneer groups to claim the ownerless land. These groups were primarily composed of one or two nobles, a dozen knights, and displaced people who had fled the forest zone.
"However, while bickering over which family would take which territory, the two families clashed again. Perhaps because there is so much profit on the line this time, the scale has grown larger than before. Now, several families in the area have split into two sides."
In this situation, the Baltas family—the rulers of Orem—had sided with the Hadit family because the House Head's wife was from that clan.
The problem was that the Hadit family was now on the verge of defeat. The victorious Corel army was reportedly roaming through the territories of the opposing camp, demanding their surrender.
And now, it was Orem's turn to face that fate.
After hearing the full explanation, Turan let out a low groan.
"Mmm..."
He finally understood why the city's atmosphere was so tense. In fact, it was almost surprising they had kept even a single knight stationed as a guard in front of the library. They likely wanted to maintain a facade of strength; removing the guard would have signaled just how desperate their situation truly was.
"Well, that is the way of humans. I recall the current lot have been in power for about four hundred years; it's about time for a change."
The Librarian acted as if such wars were commonplace and of little consequence. From the perspective of one who had lived for thousands of years and seen the masters of this city change time and again, his indifference was understandable.
"I suppose I shouldn't stay in this area for too long. I might get caught up in something unnecessary."
Since mages rarely looked up at the sky, traveling on Bije likely wouldn't have drawn much attention, but it still seemed wise to be cautious.
Where should I go then?
Turan fell into thought. He felt it would be better to wait another year or two before heading to the Enril Desert, so perhaps a trip to the south...
"Ugh."
Suddenly, Turan groaned involuntarily as a sharp spike of emotion surged from within.
Dizzying pain, raw terror, and a heart desperately searching for someone...
Bije?
It was the emotion of his soul-bound partner, Bije.
Turan stood up abruptly and shouted to the Librarian.
"Something urgent has come up, I must go!"
"Very well, come again."
Before the Librarian's slow words could even finish, Turan had already cast a stealth spell and sprinted out of the library. Activating his tracking magic, he caught Bije's scent and a faint smell of blood coming from the east.
However, since her emotions were still reaching him, it meant she was still alive.
Turan immediately used flight magic and soared into the eastern sky. Behind him, the knight guarding the library grimaced as a sudden, violent gust of wind nearly knocked him over.
*
It's only been an hour or two...
Turan clicked his tongue as he flew.
Since Bije was a magical beast that even an average noble would find difficult to catch, he had left her to play on her own, never imagining this would happen in such a short time. Considering nothing had happened even when he left her alone for days in the Enril Desert, he could only call this wretched luck.
He had a good guess as to who had captured her: the nobles of the Corel family who were currently scouring the area. Given the circumstances, there were no other candidates.
Continuing in the direction of the scent, he soon spotted a camp where about a hundred people were gathered. Unlike the Arabion army, their camp consisted of several simple cloth tents.
Eight nobles and thirty-five knights...
Turan used the senses of his holy relic to accurately grasp the situation inside the camp. The unusually high ratio of nobles was likely because their goal was to force submission rather than engage in a war of conquest.
Entering the camp while remaining invisible, he saw a large woman clutching Bije in one hand and handing her over to a black-haired male noble. Her mana was a little over half of what Turan currently possessed, making her quite a formidable power among the heads of ordinary mage families. She appeared to be the leader of this camp.
"Wait, what is this, sister?"
"A magical beast. I caught it because it caught my eye while I was passing by. Keep it locked up tight."
"It's much stronger and more vicious than it looks. Look, it scratched me right here!" A noble standing next to the large woman bragged while showing off a shallow wound on his forearm.
The black-haired noble ignored him and asked the leader, "Why didn't you just kill it and eat it?"
"I'm going to give it to my son. If I kill it now, it'll turn into a spirit before I get home."
"Aha... Oh, wait, sister. It looks like this thing has an owner." The black-haired noble said, pointing to Bije's ankle.
There, the string Turan had tied to prevent her from being mistaken for a wild golden eagle was still dangling.
However, the leader gave a smirk and shook her head. "Oh, that? If it bothers you, just untie it and throw it away."
"Is that okay? What if it belongs to some great family..."
"Why would such a creature be in a backwater place like this? Don't worry about it. At best, it's something someone from the Hadit side bought for a high price. Besides, no one on our side raises magical beasts, right?"
"Well, that's true."
The black-haired noble nodded, convinced, and burned away the string tied to Bije's ankle.
Bije let out a sharp shriek, but because one of her wings was bent at an odd angle, she couldn't resist.
Seeing this, Turan felt his heart grow remarkably calm. It was as if all his emotions had been incinerated by excessive rage, leaving only cold, sharp reason behind.
A moment later, still invisible, he followed the noble carrying Bije to a tent in the corner of the camp. The black-haired noble was heating a thick metal rod and bending it to create a makeshift cage.
"Hmm, well, its wing is broken anyway, so this should do... I'll just have a knight guard it... Huh?"
The black-haired noble paused, noticing a shadow falling behind him. Turning his head, he saw a young man with gray hair and eyes.
Was there someone like this in our army? No, more importantly, how did he get inside the tent without a sound—
"Excuse me. That golden eagle is my friend. May I take her back?"
"Wh-what? Sister caught that, so that's a bit difficult," the black-haired noble responded awkwardly, caught off guard by the stranger's sudden appearance.
An outsider appearing out of nowhere inside a tent in the middle of a military camp, politely asking for the return of a bird the leader had captured... His brain momentarily failed to process a situation so far beyond his imagination.
At the same time, he instinctively projected mana toward the stranger, but there was no reaction.
In mage society, projecting mana toward someone was a demand to show their strength—a way of saying, "This is my power, now show me yours."
There were two reasons why someone wouldn't respond. Either they were an ordinary human who couldn't feel mana at all, or they were a mage so pathetic they couldn't even muster a response.
Cooling his head, the black-haired noble considered the possibility that the man was actually a nobody putting on a front to try and take his animal back. Still, since there was a sliver of risk, he asked a question to handle it cautiously.
"F-first of all, who are you? Give me your name."
"I don't believe who I am is important. She is precious to me, so please return her. If you do, I won't hold you responsible for breaking her wing."
The black-haired noble became certain after hearing those words. This guy was a knight at best, or a bottom-tier noble even lower than himself. Otherwise, wouldn't he have revealed his power and threatened him immediately?
"And if I refuse—"
The moment he was about to say, "What are you going to do about it?", the black-haired noble realized the man had vanished.
What? Was I hallucinating? Or—
Before his thoughts could continue, the world spun. The last thing he saw was his own headless body.
*
Turan looked down at the slumped, decapitated noble with cold eyes.
Regardless of whether the opponent was strong or weak, he would have spared him if he had shown even a shred of remorse. Since even that was absent, the man was nothing more than a bandit—a wolf to be hunted.
Leaving the corpse behind, Turan sheathed his dagger, sat down beside Bije, and stroked her head. A wave of jubilant emotion reached him through their soul tether.
[Turan, it hurts! These people are bad!]
"I'm sorry for leaving you alone. Did these people attack you first?"
[Yes!]
A hollow laugh escaped him as he saw the words Bije scratched into the ground. He had expected as much, but... to attack and kidnap a magical beast that was clearly marked as having an owner, only to use it as a pet? They were nothing but common thieves.
Turan took out the Mimic Relic and drew about a quarter of the mana from the Healer bloodline. He felt the restorative energy filling his body.
This should be enough.
While a much smaller amount would suffice for an ordinary creature, healing a magical beast required more mana. He placed his hand on the twisted wing and exerted his power. Before long, with a wet crunching sound, the wing snapped back into place.
A moment later, fully recovered, Bije radiated joy.
[It doesn't hurt anymore!]
"That's a relief. Did it hurt a lot, Bije?"
[Yes! But it's okay! Turan saved me!]
After writing that, she suddenly erased the words with her other foot and acted vulnerable.
[From now on, together! Don't go alone!]
"I will."
Perhaps the shock of being hunted was significant, as Bije kept rubbing her head against Turan's body even after she hopped onto the perch at his side.
After comforting her for a moment, Turan stepped out of the tent, his face frozen in a mask of ice.
Now, it was time to make the kidnappers pay the price.
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