Shepherd Wizard Chapter 64

Translator: Pai_

From what he learned through further conversation, the "hyung" that Tasan referred to was not some grand concept like sworn brotherhood.

It simply meant that, as a person, he placed the other above himself out of respect.

In other words, this did not establish any kind of lord-vassal relationship that would create obligations of obedience or protection.

Regardless, since it signified a gesture of deference, there was no issue with it. However, being called "hyung" by a man nearly a hundred years older was indeed an odd feeling.

Tasan, too, seemed to have regained some composure compared to his earlier, emotionally charged exclamation. His voice now carried a mix of embarrassment and self-reproach.

"Anyway, hyung… I fully understand what you mean, so I will take responsibility and return those people to their homeland. Of course, there’s no need for any fare. Isn’t that right, men?"

"Yes, Captain-!"

At Tasan’s cry, the officers standing behind him shouted in unison.

Among them, there seemed to be a few sighing over the costs involved in operating the ship, but at the very least, they tried not to show it outwardly.

However, Turan shook his head and objected to Tasan’s words.

"No, I’d feel more at ease if I gave you something."

If it was impossible to eradicate piracy from these southern seas, then it was at least preferable for the more decent pirates to hold power.

Yet, if Tasan returned the kidnapped people to their homeland without any compensation, the financial state of the Red Whale Pirates would worsen, and naturally, their influence would shrink as well.

More importantly, if he had to return later to punish them for not properly handling the matter, they could use their livelihood as an excuse.

Turan wanted to eliminate even the possibility of such an excuse.

"I think the ship we came on should be sufficient."

At first, he had considered using the minerals obtained from the island, but upon reflection, offering the ship they had arrived on seemed like a better option.

Though it was smaller and more worn out compared to the ships he had sold off in the North Sea in the past, a sailing ship was still a sailing ship.

Tasan firmly refused, insisting it was unnecessary, but when one of his officers, who seemed fairly intelligent, brought up financial concerns and earnestly persuaded him, he eventually accepted with a sulky expression.

"Mm, accepting a reward for doing the right thing feels awkward, but if I refuse, I’d be disrespecting my young hyung’s dignity. I’ll make sure to do a lot of good deeds in the future so the ship won’t go to waste!"

"That’s good enough."

And so, a peculiar negotiation concluded, where the giver insisted on giving more and the receiver tried to take less.

After finishing the discussion, Turan had the people on the pirate ship disembark and rest on the island.

Some of them had a long voyage ahead before they could return home, so they needed to regain their strength.

Among them, a few, mostly women, expressed that they lacked the confidence to live properly even after returning home and instead wished to follow Turan. However, to someone like him who traveled alone, ordinary people were nothing more than a cumbersome burden.

When he gave them a reasonable sum of money to help them settle down somewhere, they tearfully accepted and ultimately relented.

During the break, Turan did not simply idle away.

First, he extracted information about the Corvinus Pirates from the pirates he had brought from Parayan Island.

By cross-referencing it with the intelligence obtained from the Red Whale Pirates, he was able to gather a significant amount of data, including the organizational structure, defense system, capabilities of the leader and officers, and their armaments.

At the same time, whenever he had the chance, Turan used Concealment and roamed around inside the Red Whale Pirates’ stronghold, spying on their internal affairs.

His reasoning was that they would likely reveal aspects of themselves in private that they wouldn't show in front of guests.

As a result, he fortunately concluded that they were not entirely two-faced.

Of course, some of the lower and mid-ranking pirates were dissatisfied with Tasan’s policies and secretly wished to indulge in murder and plunder, but at least such sentiments were not the mainstream.

In fact, if there had been not a single such individual, he might have suspected that magic had been used to brainwash them.

Even amid his busy schedule, Turan occasionally joined the drinking gatherings that Tasan invited him to for camaraderie. Thanks to this, he discovered something surprising.

"Solif was here?"

"That’s right! He was truly a man among men."

Tasan nodded with a nostalgic expression.

It was actually the Red Whale Pirates who had informed Solif about the saltpeter on Parayan Island.

At the time, they had not known that it was being mined by kidnapped laborers.

"He came because he was curious about my bloodline ability. He said he was looking for people who were strong and good at swimming."

Apparently, Solif had been disappointed when he realized that Tasan had nothing more than a standard Fighter Bloodline. However, that did not stop them from becoming friends and drinking together for several days.

Turan had a good idea of what Solif had been searching for.

One of the bloodlines contained within the Mimic Relic was called Wave Rider.

And according to their conversation back then, Solif had somehow learned that one of the drowned god’s bloodline abilities granted exceptional physical capabilities and swimming skills. He had been searching for the descendants of that lineage.

In reality, if such descendants had truly existed, they would have been widely known by now, so it seemed that his search was misdirected.

Thus, after three busy days of various tasks, Turan finally announced his departure.

"Are you really going alone, young hyung?"

"Yeah. Having someone with me would just be more of a hassle."

Though Tasan groaned as if he couldn't quite believe it, for Turan, being alone was truly more convenient.

That way, he could freely use abilities like Concealment and Spirit of Fire.

Before leaving, Turan left Tasan with a piece of advice, which was also a warning.

"Some of your subordinates might have different ideas, so make sure they know. I’ll be checking whether the people I protected have made it back home safely. If there’s any trouble, you’ll be making an enemy out of a wizard capable of taking down the Corvinus Pirates alone."

"I’ll keep that in mind."

Tasan responded with a serious demeanor.

As expected, the Corvinus Pirates' territory lay in the direction of Parayan Island, so Turan needed to travel northwest again.

By ship, the journey had taken a full three days, but by flying on Bije, he returned in just a few hours.

No matter how much he enhanced a ship’s speed with wind, the fundamental speed difference between sailing and flying was enormous.

Since news of the Parayan Island pirates’ annihilation had not yet spread, their corpses still lay untouched. After confirming this, Turan made several stops on islands along his northward journey, comparing his memorized maps with his current location.

There were a few miscalculations, but by late evening, he finally found his first target.

'This is Mikan Island, and that one further out is Binatu Island… Good, I’m almost there.'

The Corvinus Pirates' base consisted of three major locations. On a map, they formed a perfect triangle, which was why the area was also called the Three Brothers Islands.

Corvinus and his officers frequently traveled between these three islands by ship, so their exact location had to be determined on-site.

Flying over Binatu Island, Turan activated his relic’s sensory abilities.

There were about two hundred pirates, ten knights, and one noble…

At first, he wondered if the noble might be Corvinus, but their magic power was far too weak for that.

It barely exceeded the minimum threshold for nobility.

It was likely one of the top-ranking officers.

After spending a considerable amount of time analyzing with his eyes closed, Turan concluded that there were no civilians in their base.

'Alright, let’s get this over with quickly.'

Simply storming in and slaughtering them was not a difficult task, but since his goal was to wipe out the unprepared enemies before the night ended, he needed to conserve both his magic power and stamina.

And the best way to conserve both was to expend other resources instead.

Turan commanded Bije to circle around the enemy base while he began scattering the Spirit of Fire.

Now that he had secured several hundred kilograms of it, there was no need to hold back.

The pitch-black powder fell from the sky, blending into the dark night, and was carried by Wind Magic, spreading across the entire area where the pirates resided.

Then came the explosions.

A terrifyingly loud roar, blinding flashes of light, and raging flames engulfed the buildings, causing them to collapse while pirates' bodies were torn apart.

Through his relic’s senses, Turan tracked those attempting to escape and continued triggering explosions.

Two hundred men, one hundred fifty, one hundred, fifty…

The last survivors were a handful of knights and a noble hiding within the stone fortress at the heart of the base.

In the end, he had used just a few handfuls of the Spirit of Fire to avoid the hassle of hunting down each of the scattered hundreds.

'Enemies indoors are harder to kill, after all. If the stone buildings are thick enough, they don't get completely destroyed either...'

The explosions caused by the Spirit of Fire were easy to extend over a large area, but increasing their intensity seemed difficult.

Come to think of it, even when he had detonated an entire bundle of it at once during his first encounter with it, it had not been enough to guarantee instant death.

Registering this new information in his mind, Turan, alongside Bije, stepped into the ruins of the pirate base.

The bodies inside the central fortress remained relatively intact, likely because of the stone walls and ceiling.

Judging by the blood leaking from their eyes and ears, they had probably died from the sheer pressure of the explosions.

Deeper inside, he found the remaining knights and the lone noble.

"Y-You…?"

Turan studied the man, whose mustache was half-burnt and who held a trident-like magic weapon. He recalled the information he had obtained from the pirates on Parayan Island.

His name was Vagos, a noble with a bloodline that controlled water.

One of Corvinus’s most trusted subordinates.

"Where is Corvinus? Tell me, and I'll grant you a painless death."

"Why… Why would someone as powerful as you launch an attack like this?"

"Because I don’t like what you lot are doing."

Turan did not bother explaining that their deaths were merely because they had kidnapped and enslaved a few people.

It would be far more frustrating for them to die over a reason that was utterly absurd in their eyes.

Vagos’s eyes widened in fury as he bellowed.

"Don’t give me that bullshit! Even if I die, I will never betray Big Brother! Everyone, att-"

Before he could even finish his command, an explosion erupted, sending the knights around him flying in all directions.

It was a technique that involved using Wind Magic to carry a small amount of the Spirit of Fire and detonate it precisely in front of their bodies.

Thanks to recent experiments, Turan had determined the exact amount needed to kill a knight.

None survived.

Meanwhile, Vagos was also sprawled on the ground.

Unlike the others, however, he had not been hit by the explosion. Instead, he had lost one of his legs to a pre-prepared slingshot attack.

He had not even had a chance to use his prized trident magic weapon or his water-controlling magic.

Turan grabbed the now-helpless Vagos by the head and spoke.

"You're the only one left now."

"U-Ugh…!"

Even as fear twisted his face, Vagos did not dare to resist.

How could someone still have so much strength after unleashing such devastating magic one after another?

At this level, he was on par with the strongest warriors of the great noble houses, or perhaps even equivalent to a head of a noble house.

Since Vagos had no idea that the explosions were not purely caused by magic power, such a conclusion was inevitable.

Yet even as he faced such an overwhelming force, he gritted his teeth and remained steadfast.

"I… will never betray Big Brother…"

"Is that so."

Turan looked down at him with indifferent eyes before snapping his neck.

Even if they were corrupt shepherds, he chose to respect their sense of loyalty among themselves.

Inside the ruins of Binatu Island, there was far less treasure stored than Turan had expected.

Most of it was likely kept aboard Corvinus’s flagship or stored in a warehouse on the island where he was currently staying.

After dispersing the magic power from the noble and knights and collecting what little wealth remained, Turan sank the ships he had no way of taking with him and immediately flew to the second island.

Unfortunately, Corvinus was not there either.

'I don't know if this is good luck or bad luck.'

Although the attacks had the benefit of weakening the enemy before they could prepare, Turan had hoped to kill Corvinus first, cutting off the head of the organization before dealing with the remnants.

Even though he possessed a large quantity of the Spirit of Fire, it was still a finite resource, making it preferable to rely on magic instead.

By the time he finished bombing the two islands and had rested enough to replenish his magic power, dawn was already deep.

If Corvinus was not at the next location either, then he was likely traveling somewhere by ship, which would make things much more troublesome.

‘Let’s hope he’s here this time.’

With that thought, Turan arrived at his final destination, the third island, Deben.

As soon as he approached, his brows furrowed at the presences he sensed.

One noble whose strength rivaled Solif, three others weaker than that but still stronger than Turan, and seven more who were weaker than Turan but at least on par with the head of an ordinary noble family.

'What is this?'

No matter how he looked at it, this was an absurd level of power for a mere pirate gang.

At this level, they could have inflicted significant damage on the Dark Elf extermination force that Meisa had led.

If a single pirate faction had this much strength, they would have long since unified the southern seas and risen to the status of a great noble house.

After landing on the island’s shore, Turan dug a small burrow and hid Bije inside.

He was concerned that, like last time, a noble might try to capture her.

"I’ll be back soon, but if I don’t return, don’t come out until you’re truly starving. If you do come out, escape this island immediately. Got it?"

[Be careful!]

After preparing a sufficient supply of jerky and water, Turan used Concealment and infiltrated the island’s interior.

Naturally, mere pirates had not prepared any countermeasures against the Concealment abilities of House Zahar, so he had no difficulty sneaking into the fortress.

After checking for presences, he found that most of the nobles were gathered upstairs, likely sleeping, while only two remained below.

The strongest noble’s presence came from underground.

‘Let’s check that area first…’

Recalling how he had been discovered by Rida last time, he moved cautiously, taking several minutes to advance.

When he finally arrived at the underground prison within the fortress, his eyes widened in shock at the unexpected sight.

'That is?'

The first thing he noticed was a young noble slumped against the cell bars, swaying slightly.

And deeper inside, to his astonishment, Solif was bound tightly, completely battered and in a wretched state.