"Everyone, gather here."
At the middle of the hill as twilight fell, the sheep that had been leisurely grazing flocked together at Turan's single command.
They moved in perfect unison without any sheepdogs barking to guide them or shepherd's staff prodding their sides.
This was the result of magical power.
Based on what he had learned over the past eight years, magic had three main characteristics.
First, when you strongly desire something, it is accomplished using mana as payment.
Second, directly speaking what you want makes it easier to achieve while consuming less mana.
And third, the more difficult the desired wish, the more power it consumes—or becomes impossible altogether.
The condition of 'difficulty' here wasn't very clear.
Sometimes it was surprisingly generous, granting wishes so easily it seemed unbelievable, and other times it was frustratingly stingy, refusing even simple requests.
It was the same just a few days ago when fighting the leopard masu.
Even a command as simple as "stop"—far simpler than instant death—barely worked on the beast.
Yet he could easily control over a hundred ordinary sheep simultaneously.
In contrast, it was almost laughably simple to imbue his sling with the power and speed to crush the beast's skull, along with the blessing to ensure it would hit.
Calculating the amount of power consumed then, Turan could have made hundreds of such attacks...
Lost in thought as he herded all the sheep into the pen, he caught a faint scent of blood from far away.
Like when he had sensed Labus's death a few days ago.
But according to his keen sense of smell, this wasn't human blood. Not sheep or leopard either...
'Wolf?'
The blood scent seemed just like that of the wolf he had killed and butchered about a year ago.
As expected, not long after, he saw Keorn walking towards him with a dead wolf slung over his shoulder, silhouetted against the setting sun.
"Good evening, Turan. Mind if I stay at your place tonight? I was thinking this wolf could cover the lodging fee."
The wolf was quite a good catch.
The hide could be sold to the villagers, and while the meat wasn't as good as livestock raised for food, it wasn't bad either.
In fact, it was more than enough for one night's lodging fee.
Turan nodded.
"There shouldn't be many wolves around here, how far did you go?"
Thanks to Turan attacking wolf packs whenever he spotted them during his patrols over the past few years, predators had all but vanished from the area.
Besides, Hisaril Hill itself was such a barren place that not many animals lived here to begin with.
"Found it while looking around near the Sky Mountains."
The Sky Mountains referred to the mountain range that stretched up to the sky, even further west than Hisaril Hill, which was already at the western edge of the world.
Some called it the Great Wall, as its shape literally resembled an impassable barrier that no human could cross.
"It must have taken days just to reach the foothills..."
"Half a day was enough with my pace."
Turan wasn't particularly surprised since he too could accomplish such a feat if he wanted to.
He just noted internally that this wizard wasn't merely a braggart, and heightened his vigilance accordingly.
Soon after, the two sat around a bonfire lit in front of the house, enjoying wolf meat stew for dinner.
Keorn whistled while looking up at the sky.
"The stars are truly bright here."
"My mother told me this hill is one of the highest places in the world. Except for the Sky Mountains in the west, that is."
"What place could be high compared to those? Visiting there today made me marvel anew. Even nobles would probably find it difficult to cross them."
"I heard nobles possess godlike powers, couldn't they easily cross mountain ranges?"
"Not all of them. While the heads of great houses are truly like gods..."
Keorn boasted that he had seen the head of House Arabion crush a small hill with just a gesture.
"Oh..."
Turan felt embarrassed hearing this.
Sometimes he would fantasize that his power might be stronger than expected, perhaps even on par with nobles.
Now hearing this, he realized his abilities were truly insignificant compared to real nobles.
"Don't you get lonely living alone in a place like this?"
"Well, yes. But I'm used to it now."
"Why not bring a wife from the village?"
"What woman would want to spend her life tending sheep in a place like this?"
"I think quite a few young ladies would be happy to live with a handsome young man like you?"
Turan smiled awkwardly at Keorn's banter.
When he was younger, there were some girls in the village who would follow him around saying they liked him, but after his mother died and he fought with the village, all contact was cut off.
They must have realized the reality too.
That marrying Turan meant living like an exile in this desolate hill for life.
"Well, don't think too much about it. Who knows? You might find a connection with some passing lady."
Of course, considering that Keorn was the only traveler who had visited in the past 18 years, it was a pointless idea.
After exchanging a few more idle conversations like this, the two silently stared at the bonfire.
Turan was the one who broke the silence first.
"Why do you go this far?"
"Hmm?"
"I don't know what the village chief promised you, but with your skills, I think you could earn more money much more comfortably."
Who would dare refuse if you settled in any village, declared you would protect the place, and demanded wealth and women in return?
It would be hundreds of times easier and simpler than staying at a shepherd's house, eating dust all day just to catch one masu.
Someone who could catch a wolf from the Sky Mountains in half a day surely wouldn't lack for ability...
Moreover, it wasn't like the villagers deserved such kindness.
They had charged excessive lodging fees at Turan's house to begin with.
If he were in Keorn's position, he would have destroyed all the village buildings, taken the money, and left.
"They are pitiful people."
"In what way?"
"Living day by day in fear at the frontier without even the protection of a wizard."
The old knight sat across from Turan and explained in a fatherly tone.
While the area around Hisaril Hill was relatively peaceful due to its barrenness, countless masu roamed the mountains and fields in the fertile lands beyond, preying on people.
As one who inherited divine power, a wizard should take pride in protecting powerless commoners from masu, and though he no longer served a house, he couldn't just ignore it.
This was quite different from what Turan had heard from his mother.
Hadn't she said nobles were oppressors and exploiters, and knights were merely their servants...
Perhaps sensing his puzzlement, the old knight smiled and offered him a cup of sheep's milk.
"Well, not everyone thinks like me. There are as many thoughts as there are people in the world."
==
The next morning, Turan was lost in thought as he cleaned the sheep pen with a simple gesture.
What occupied his mind was last night's conversation.
'Pride...'
That conversation had quite an impact on Turan.
To think that knights weren't just slaves subjugated by noble power, but beings who could find fulfillment in protecting commoners?
Learning this fact alone wasn't enough to make him want to go beg some noble to employ him, but it at least opened his mind a little.
Just enough to think that if there were people like that, maybe living under nobles wouldn't be all bad...
'That aside, how should I tell him the masu is already dead.'
Originally, he had planned to let him wander around and leave eventually, but he didn't want to make a good person like Keorn waste time in this desolate place.
The problem was that several days had passed since he had thrown the masu's corpse down a deep valley.
Not only would it be a chore to find and retrieve that rotting thing, but it would also clearly show traces of Turan's magic.
Needless to say, if anyone were looking for a wizard in this area, Turan would be the most suspicious person.
With a sigh, he waved his hand, and all the sheep's droppings in the pen flew to the back yard.
Once those dried in the hill's arid climate, they would make good fuel for the fireplace.
After finishing the cleaning, he had some time left.
'Maybe I should look for the elder...'
If he had gone far like yesterday, it would be impossible to find him, but he had said he would patrol more closely around the hill today, so it should be possible to check.
Turan lightly focused his mind, floating up onto the roof, and chanted a spell.
"Human search."
With the spell, Turan's perception rapidly expanded.
His vision, which could only see about a hundred meters at most, instantly grew able to distinguish even grass growing kilometers away, and his sense of smell and hearing amplified even further, detecting the rustling of nearby insect legs and faint formic acid scents.
But these amplified senses blocked out all unnecessary information, focusing solely on finding 'humans'.
'Where... huh?'
After briefly looking around while listening, Turan suddenly turned his head at a voice.
His enhanced vision showed Keorn.
Bleeding from his forehead and shoulder, panting...
Opposite him, the leopard masu that Turan had killed days ago was roaring with its half-rotted body.
==
'Who would do such a thing...'
Keorn gritted his teeth as he looked at the undead masu.
Most living beings instinctively crave life at the moment of death, and mana, the key to omnipotence, forcibly revives the broken body to fulfill its master's will—this is called an undead.
For this reason, after killing wizards and masu, it was standard practice to either absorb or disperse the mana contained in their corpses.
But whoever killed this leopard masu either didn't know these rules or deliberately ignored them.
If it had been a masu, it would have instinctively eaten its kill to absorb the mana, so it must have been a wizard.
Judging by the hole in its head, likely someone skilled in projectile spells.
[RAAAWR--!!]
The roar from its rotting vocal cords echoed countless times in the air like the cry of the dead.
Not entirely wrong, considering what it was.
"Take this!"
With a shout, an arrow of light shot from Keorn's hand.
Though powerful enough to easily pierce steel armor, the arrow harmlessly dispersed upon contact with the shadows covering the leopard's body.
It meant the mana enveloping its body was far superior to Keorn's arrow spell.
After neutralizing one attack this way, the leopard, as if to counter magic with magic, melted into the ground and instantly materialized from Keorn's shadow behind him.
Though he hurriedly raised both arms to defend, hot blood spurted from his forearm caught by sharp claws.
This was already with a body tempered by mana—a normal person would have lost their arm and torso to such an attack.
'This... isn't something a knight can handle. At least a lower noble would be needed-'
While undead become much stronger through resentment during resurrection, if even Keorn, a skilled knight, could hardly face it, it must have been powerful even in life.
Who on earth killed such a beast and abandoned it?
What was their intention?
[Grrrr-]
The undead, seemingly considering its prey already caught, approached Keorn while leisurely growling.
The old knight, sensing death, gritted his teeth and prepared for a final counterattack.
If he could channel all his mana into his hand and stab directly when it pounced, there might be a slim hope...
But rendering such desperate planning pointless, a flash of light flew in from far away.
So fast it broke the sound barrier, making it impossible to detect with hearing—
A round stone shattered the undead's rotting head to pieces.