The breeze always blew on Hisaril Hill.

Starting from the endlessly high mountains in the west, the wind swept through short, stiff weeds as it descended.

Shepherd Turan loved watching over his flock while lying in the sunlit field, feeling that gentle breeze.

No, it would be more accurate to say it was the least disliked of his tasks.

It was merely easier than shearing wool or cleaning the barn, but he had never truly enjoyed it.

In fact, his greatest enemy wasn't hard labor, but boredom.

Every time he opened his eyes, it was the same scenery, the same building, doing the same work, and falling asleep at the same time every day.

Sometimes he would talk to himself and answer back as a game, worried he might forget how to speak.

Unable to overcome this solitude, or to exchange a few necessities, he would sometimes go down to the small village below the hill, but this wasn't particularly enjoyable either.

Because all the villagers hated Turan.

Of course, Turan hated them just as much.

"The sun hasn't even set, and you're already slacking off, young man?"

Late in the afternoon, as Turan was watching over his flock while lying in the sunlit field as usual, a shadow fell over his head.

His name was Labus.

He was one of the elders of the village below the hill.

Instead of getting up to greet him, Turan frowned and spoke curtly.

"Move aside, old man. You're blocking the sun."

While Turan disliked all the villagers, he particularly despised this old man.

Five years ago, when Turan's mother died, the old man had tried to sneakily turn all the hill's sheep into communal village property under the pretense of managing the assets.

Because of that, Turan had to fight an almost war-like battle with the villagers to get his sheep back.

Labus's face hardened at the rude attitude, but he soon gritted his teeth and calmed himself down.

Well, what good would getting angry do?

If it came to fisticuffs here, it was obvious who would end up going down the hill with a broken nose.

"Last night, Rob spotted a Masu at the village entrance. Said it was a leopard covered in pitch-black shadows, big as a house."

Masu referred to beasts that had awakened to magical power, larger than normal animals, smarter, and wielding all sorts of mysterious powers.

While there were individual differences within species, usually the stronger the beast that mutated, the more dangerous Masu it became, and a leopard Masu would be difficult for ordinary people to handle.

"Oh my."

"Aren't you scared? You're likely to be its prime target in these parts."

"I am scared. Terrified, actually."

Contrary to his words, Turan's face showed no sign of disturbance.

To Labus, it was truly incomprehensible behavior.

Just what kind of guts did he have to react this way to the appearance of a dangerous Masu?

Especially when he didn't even live inside walls like they did.

"Anyway, the village chief went to the city to request a wizard to hunt the Masu, so be careful. Try not to take the sheep too far if possible."

Of course, he hadn't come to tell Turan this out of concern.

As much as he'd like to see this shepherd get mauled, Turan's sheep were an important source of nutrition, insulation material, and export goods for the village.

Turan's death would mean losing all of that.

Surely the Masu wouldn't be considerate enough to just kill the shepherd and leave the flock alone.

Guessing these underlying thoughts, Turan felt no gratitude and mocked him thoroughly.

"I'm so touched by your concern. Now get lost quickly. Your breath is about to rot my nose off."

As Labus grumbled his way down the hill, Turan pondered over what he had just said.

'A wizard...'

Just as beasts wielding mysterious powers were called Masu, humans wielding mysterious powers were called wizards.

They were also known as nobles or knights, and just as Masu became leaders among their kind, wizards ruled at the top of human society.

'I wonder how strong they are.'

If they would come at the request of a rural village chief, they were probably an unremarkable figure even among wizards.

But he still wanted to meet one, even someone like that.

Though it might be dangerous to get too close, maybe he could secretly observe from afar.

While deep in thought, a subtle smell caught Turan's nose.

'Blood?'

It seemed fresh too, as if spilled not long ago.

Gripping the staff beside him and following his sense of smell, it didn't take long to reach the source.

Turan clicked his tongue lightly.

'He told me to be careful, but he went first.'

Labus's corpse was torn to shreds, scattered like blooming red flowers.

Judging by the clear claw marks all over his body, whatever attacked him was clearly not human.

"Was it you?"

[Grrrr-]

When Turan turned and asked, shadows gathered from beneath the trees, taking the form of a beast.

A huge leopard, at least two meters tall at the shoulder, big enough to easily eat a bear...

Turan faced it directly and declared.

"Die."

At that moment, lightning sparked above the leopard's head.

It jumped back startled, but then seemed angered by the stimulus and roared, leaping toward Turan.

"No good... Stop."

At the second command, the leopard's body seemed to hesitate for a moment, but again, not even a full second passed before lightning sparked and its body was freed.

Perhaps realizing that the weak prey before it was trying something strange, the leopard wasted no more time and swung its front paw.

With strength and speed that could instantly kill a normal person without them even having time to react.

But contrary to expectations of instantly shredding its prey, the sharp claws helplessly cut through empty air.

Because in that brief moment of hesitation, Turan had also moved unnaturally fast to back away.

"I knew killing wouldn't work, but I guess even stopping isn't possible..."

Turan nodded as if having learned something new, then took out a sling and a round stone from his pocket.

Then spinning it a few times, he chanted a spell.

"Become hard, become fast, pierce through - target the head."

A truly intuitive and simple spell that might even seem somewhat ridiculous.

As he released one string, the freed stone flew toward the Masu with a sound that split the wind.

The Masu's instincts screamed.

That its tough hide would be useless against this attack.

[Kyaak!]

Screaming in shock, it twisted its body, and the stone that should have hit dead-on barely grazed its ear.

But before it could feel relief, the stone that should have flown far away curved back around as if someone was directly controlling it, embedding itself in the back of the Masu's head and emerging through its forehead.

With its skull and brain crushed, the leopard Masu died instantly without even a scream.

"Tch."

Clicking his tongue at the thought of doing the villagers a favor, Turan grabbed the dead Masu's tail and dragged it.

While it would take several normal men working together to lift such a large body, he pulled it as easily as if dragging a dead dog.

'Where should I throw it in the valley?'

The insects and beasts would take care of the remains appropriately.

It wasn't exactly the cleanest disposal, but that didn't matter.

The cowardly villagers wouldn't have the courage to follow the Masu's trail anyway, and by the time the wizard hired by the village chief arrived in a few days, nothing would remain.

No one would discover that the shepherd living on Hisaril Hill, at the western edge of the world, was a wizard.