Prologue |
There was always a gentle breeze blowing over Hisaril Hill.
Starting from the endlessly high mountains to the west, the wind swept downwards, brushing against the short, stiff weeds.
Shepherd Turan liked lying on the sunlit fields and keeping watch over his flock while feeling that breeze.
No, it would be more accurate to say that it was the task he disliked the least.
It wasn’t as if he enjoyed it, he simply found it more bearable than shearing sheep or cleaning the barn.
In truth, the thing that tormented him most wasn’t hard labor, but boredom.
The same scenery every time he opened his eyes, the same buildings, the same tasks, and falling asleep at the same time every day.
Sometimes, fearing he might forget how to speak altogether, he played a game where he’d talk to himself and then answer back.
Unable to endure the solitude, or needing to exchange a few items essential to his daily life, he occasionally went down to the small village below the hill. But even that wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
Of course, the feeling was mutual, Turan hated them too.
“Not even halfway through the day, and a young man like you is already slacking off?”
In the late afternoon, as usual, while lying on the sunlit field and keeping watch over his sheep, a shadow fell over Turan’s face.
The shadow belonged to Labus.
He was one of the elders from the village below the hill.
Rather than getting up to greet him, Turan frowned and curtly replied,
“Move along, old man. You’re blocking the sun.”
Turan disliked all the villagers, but the person he hated most of all was this old man standing in front of him.
Five years ago, when Turan’s mother died, Labus had tried to subtly declare all the sheep on the hill as communal property of the village under the guise of managing the estate.
As a result, Turan had to wage a near war-like battle with the villagers to reclaim his sheep.
Although Labus’s face hardened at Turan’s curt attitude, he clenched his teeth and calmed himself down.
After all, what good would it do to lose his temper here?
If it came to a fistfight, it was obvious he’d be the one going back down the hill with a broken nose.
“Last night, Rob spotted a Magical Beast at the village outskirts. It was a leopard, covered in pitch-black shadows, with a body as large as a house.”
A Magical Beast referred to an animal that had awakened magical powers. They were larger in size, smarter, and capable of using all kinds of mysterious abilities compared to normal animals.
Even within the same species, individual variations existed, but typically, the stronger the beast that mutated, the more dangerous Magical Beast it became. A leopard Magical Beast was something ordinary people could hardly hope to deal with.
“Oh, I see.”
“Are you not afraid? Of everyone around here, you’re the one most likely to be targeted by the Magical Beast.”
"I am scared. Terrified, even."
But contrary to his words, there was no trace of fear on Turan’s face.
To Labus, it was an incomprehensible reaction.
Just what kind of guts did he have to react this way to the appearance of a dangerous Magical Beast?
Especially when he didn’t even live inside a fenced area like they did.
“Anyway, the Village Chief has gone to the city to request a Wizard to subdue the Magical Beast, so be careful. Try not to take the sheep too far if possible."
Of course, Labus hadn’t come to deliver this news out of concern for Turan.
If it were up to him, he’d be fine if this shepherd brat got mauled to death.
But Turan’s sheep were an important source of food, warmth, and export goods for the village.
If Turan died, it meant they would lose all of that.
After all, it wasn’t as though the Magical Beast would consider human affairs and kill only the shepherd while sparing the flock.
Understanding Labus’s true intentions, Turan felt not a shred of gratitude. Instead, he sarcastically retorted,
“I’m so moved by your concern. Really. Now that you’re done talking, hurry up and get lost. Your breath stinks so much, I think my nose is going to rot.”
As Labus grumbled and descended the hill, Turan recalled the words he had just heard and fell into thought.
'A Wizard...'
Just as beasts that wield mysterious powers are called Magical Beasts, humans who wield such powers are called Wizards.
Alternatively, they were also referred to as Nobles or Knights. Just as Magical Beasts became leaders of their kind, Wizards ruled at the top of human society.
‘I wonder how strong they’ll be.’
Considering this rural Village Chief had summoned them, it was probably a Wizard of little significance.
Still, Turan found himself wanting to meet one, even if only once.
Of course, getting too close might be dangerous, so he thought about sneaking a look from a safe distance.
While deep in thought, a strange smell reached Turan’s nose.
‘Blood?’
And it was fresh, as if it had been spilled not too long ago.
Grabbing the staff beside him, Turan followed the scent. Before long, he arrived at the source of the smell.
Turan clicked his tongue.
‘Telling me to be careful, and yet he’s the one who went first.’
Labus's corpse, torn to shreds and scattered like blooming red flowers.
Judging by the clear claw marks all over his body, what attacked him was clearly not human.
“Was it you?”
[Grrrr—]
When Turan turned around and asked, shadows gathered beneath the shade of a tree, coalescing into the shape of a beast.
A massive leopard, easily over two meters tall at the shoulder, big enough to devour a bear with ease.
Looking directly into the beast’s eyes, Turan declared,
“Die.”
In that instant, a spark of lightning crackled above the leopard’s head.
The startled beast leaped back in surprise, but its reaction quickly turned to rage as it roared and pounced toward Turan.
“Not working... Stop.”
At the second command, the leopard seemed to flinch for a moment, as if its body was hesitating.
But it lasted less than a second before another spark of lightning surged, and the beast regained its freedom.
Realizing that the weak prey in front of it was up to something strange, the leopard wasted no more time. With a swift swipe of its front paw, it aimed to end things quickly.
It moved with such power and speed that an ordinary person wouldn’t have even had the chance to react before being killed on the spot.
However, contrary to the expectation that it would tear its prey apart in an instant, the sharp claws sliced through empty air.
The leopard faltered for a brief moment as Turan moved unnaturally quickly, retreating out of its reach.
“I figured killing it wouldn’t work, but I didn’t think even stopping it would fail...”
Nodding to himself as if confirming a new piece of information, Turan pulled a slingshot and a round, polished stone from his pocket.
He loaded the stone and swung the slingshot a few times while chanting a spell.
“Harden, speed up, pierce - target the head.”
The spell was simple, overly so, almost to the point of sounding silly.
The moment he released one of the slingshot strings, the freed stone shot forward, tearing through the air with a deafening roar as it flew toward the Magical Beast.
The beast’s instincts screamed a warning.
Its tough hide wouldn’t be enough to protect it from that attack.
[Kyaaak!]
Letting out a terrified cry, the leopard twisted its body, and the stone narrowly grazed past its ear instead of landing a direct hit.
But before it could even feel a moment of relief, the stone, which should have flown far away, suddenly curved sharply as if someone was controlling it.
It looped back and struck the leopard’s skull, piercing through its forehead and exiting between its eyes.
Without even a chance to scream, the Magical Beast collapsed on the spot, dead, its skull and brain crushed.
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue at the thought that he had only done something that would benefit the villagers, Turan grabbed the tail of the dead beast and began dragging it away.
For a creature that would have required several ordinary men to lift, Turan dragged it as if it were no heavier than a dead dog.
‘Should I toss it into some ravine?’
The leftover carcass would be handled by insects and wild animals.
It wasn’t exactly a clean way to deal with it, but that didn’t matter.
The village cowards wouldn’t have the guts to follow the Magical Beast’s trail, and by the time the Village Chief’s hired Wizard arrived in a few days, there would be nothing left to find.
No one would ever discover that the shepherd living at the far western end of the world, on Hisaril Hill, was a Wizard.
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