Chapter 87

When he first came into the world, Turan met a beast hunter named Midan in a small city.

The superstition that ordinary people could become wizards by hunting magical beasts was widespread everywhere, but what left a strong impression on him was the unique look in Midan's eyes.

It was a gaze that seemed to focus solely on one unwavering goal, as if claiming that everything else was worthless.

Although his connection with Midan had ended in a somewhat absurd manner, it was not long before Turan encountered another person with a similar gaze.

That person was Ovil, a pyro executioner who believed that by burning people with the wisdom granted by the gods and covering himself in their ashes, he could awaken a new bloodline.

And now, after a long time, Visen, a noble of House Carmine, displayed the same look in her eyes as the previous two.

Even though she had not been like that when they first met.

However, it was not the right time to ask about it.

Because right beside him, people were screaming as they burned.

Turan immediately used telekinesis magic to begin unbinding the villagers who were tied up.

"Wait!"

Startled, Visen quickly gathered moisture, forming a bow and arrow made of ice, seemingly in an attempt to stop him.

However, as soon as she shot it toward Turan, Solif, who was standing next to him, created a hammer of light to intercept it.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Although Visen's magic had grown considerably stronger than before, she was still only fluctuating between the mid-tier and upper mid-tier ranks.

Naturally, Solif, a top-ranking noble, easily shattered the ice arrow and sent his hammer crashing into Visen's abdomen.

"Ugh...!"

Visen collapsed on the spot, vomiting everything she had consumed, and passed out with her face buried in her own vomit.

Of course, Solif had held back. If he had struck her seriously, her stomach would have been torn open in a single blow, killing her instantly.

Meanwhile, Turan had freed all the villagers and immediately handed Solif the chain-type magic artifact.

"Restrain and keep an eye on her. She might try something strange, so stay alert."

"Don't worry about it."

Leaving the confident Solif behind, Turan turned and walked toward the burning people.

Meisa had created a vacuum around their bodies to extinguish the flames, but they were already on the verge of death due to severe burns and suffocation.

"This is..."

Meisa looked at him with a helpless expression, and Turan immediately took out a healing potion magic artifact and handed it to her.

"Make this. I'll administer it."

"Can they be saved?"

"It's enough."

Healing potion magic artifacts were considered somewhat unreliable because the stronger the magical creature, the less effective the treatment.

However, if the potion worked even on top-ranking nobles, then for ordinary people, it was nothing short of an elixir of life.

Turan quickly sorted through the burn victims.

He categorized them based on how brightly the magic flames within their bodies were perceived through the sacred relic's senses.

He placed those who were already dead slightly away and arranged the severely injured in order. Meanwhile, Meisa handed him a bottle filled with shimmering liquid.

"I've finished making it!"

"Give it to me. You'll probably need to make more."

Turan supported the neck of the person in the worst condition, then took out a dagger and cut open the burned and fused lips.

He then pulled out the metal tube he usually used for feeding Meisa and shoved it into the opening, pouring the healing potion inside.

Moments later, those watching gasped in astonishment.

"Oh...!"

"He... he's alive! A dead person is coming back to life!"

The body of the person who had seemed moments away from death cracked open, revealing fresh, white skin growing underneath.

The fused fingers, the lungs scorched from inhaling smoke, and even the heat-damaged eyes all recovered in a process that seemed more like resurrection than mere healing.

Pulling the tube from the person’s throat, Turan immediately threw the empty bottle at Meisa and shouted,

"Next!"

As Turan continued administering the healing potion to multiple patients, he noticed Meisa’s magic power visibly depleting.

Realizing this, they switched roles, Turan began charging the magic potion while Meisa administered it.

And so, three people, five people, ten people, twenty people...

Unfortunately, a few of them had already lost their lives before they could be saved, but most of those in critical condition managed to survive.

"Phew..."

Turan let out a sigh of relief and patted Meisa on the shoulder.

She still seemed somewhat dazed, as if she had not yet fully processed the abrupt end of the crisis.

"You did well, Meisa. It looks like there's no one in immediate danger now."

"Oh, uh... we saved them. We really did."

Meisa looked down at her hands in disbelief.

She had likely experienced saving people from danger before, such as during the dark elf subjugation, but treating severely injured individuals was something she was not accustomed to.

"Yeah, we saved them. I'll take care of the rest, so go change your clothes first."

Since they had to come into direct contact with burn victims, insert tubes, and administer the medicine, both of their clothes were a mess, covered in pus and soot.

After sending Meisa off, Turan turned to the villagers who were still able to move and gave them instructions.

"The wounded have been healed, but it will take time for them to regain consciousness. Move them to their homes so they can rest, and make sure no one approaches this area for the time being."

"Understood!"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

It was only natural that they revered Turan like a god, for he had appeared out of nowhere, subdued the devil, and saved their houses and friends.

Just like the citizens of Kalamaf had done in the past.

Turan felt a sense of satisfaction at that thought.

*

"There weren't any problems, right?"

"None at all."

While Turan and Meisa were busy saving people, Solif had been keeping watch over Visen, who was bound in chains.

He nudged the still-unconscious Visen with the tip of his foot and asked,

"So, how do you know this woman? She looks like a noble from House Carmine. If you're dating her, you might want to reconsider, her hobbies are way too twisted."

"She was with me when I hunted down the noble who was burning people alive in this region. I told you about it before."

Since Turan had briefly explained the incident in the past, Solif quickly understood.

"But now she's doing the exact same thing here? Why?"

"That's what we need to find out."

As they spoke, Visen, who had been semi-conscious, finally came to her senses.

She glanced at the chains binding her body, then at Turan, and murmured in a low voice,

"Why are you interfering with my work?"

"I'd ask if you seriously don't know, but first, let me ask you, why are you doing this?"

There was no need to examine the circumstances.

Visen had undoubtedly attempted the ritual described in Ovil’s old notebook to acquire the Pyromaniac Bloodline.

She had copied the contents of the notebook back then, so it was not surprising that she knew the method.

However, at that time, Visen had neither trusted the idea of obtaining bloodline abilities nor approved of burning ordinary people alive.

People's minds could change with time and circumstances, but six months, or just a little longer, felt too short for such a drastic transformation.

Visen furrowed her brows slightly at the question but then answered nonchalantly,

"Well... because I need to obtain a third bloodline. Haven't you already tried it yourself, Turan-nim?"

"Not a chance."

At Turan’s response, Visen smirked as if she did not believe him.

She was nothing like the strong-willed warrior woman he had met before.

It was clear that she had undergone some significant change during the time they were apart.

Most likely, it was related to that altered gaze of hers.

"What happened to you after we parted? Where did the companions you were with go?"

"Back then... oh, you mean Kebak, Aisha, and Gill? They all died. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a disagreement."

Even as she casually admitted to killing her own comrades, there was not a trace of guilt on her face.

Turan turned to Solif, who had been watching from the side.

"Solif."

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of her eyes?"

"Her eyes? Hmm... I'm not sure. She just seems... too calm for this situation, I guess?"

Unlike Turan, Solif did not seem to sense anything particularly unusual about Visen's eyes.

When Meisa returned after changing her clothes, Turan asked her as well, but he received a similar response.

Finally, he even summoned the librarian to inquire, only to get another negative answer. Clicking his tongue softly, Turan thought to himself.

‘Is this something only I can see?’

"So, you didn't just suddenly decide you wanted a new bloodline out of nowhere. What made you start believing in this method? Did a god guarantee it for you, like with Ovil?"

"A god? Yes, I suppose it must be a god. That voice… It kept telling me. To become something greater. Why would I give up the right that was given to me…?"

Turan frowned at her incoherent rambling, it was the same kind of nonsense Ovil had spouted when he was interrogated.

Midan had seemed no different from a normal person aside from his innate kindness, but both Ovil and Visen shared not only a half-deranged state of mind but also the fact that they had inflicted massive harm on others.

What was the difference between them?

Was it the presence of magic power?

Or was it simply that Midan's target had been magical beasts rather than humans?

Turan continued interrogating Visen, gradually piecing together what had happened to her.

A few weeks after parting ways with Turan, she and her companions had wandered the western border of Carmine, hunting magical beasts.

At some point, she began hearing a voice from within, a temptation so strong that she suggested performing the burning ritual to her comrades. When they recoiled in horror, she brushed it off as a joke.

But by then, Visen had already lost half of her sanity. Eventually, she saw her companions as obstacles and, one by one, murdered them in their sleep and buried their bodies.

After that, she imitated Ovil, carrying out burning rituals just as he had, which led to her current state.

"Then, you never returned to your house?"

"No. But I will go back once I acquire my third bloodline... Then my parents and everyone else will be proud of me. So please, help me. You want a second bloodline too, don't you? You all do."

Ignoring Visen’s absurd attempt at persuasion, Turan organized the information and shared it with his companions, seeking their thoughts.

Meisa, who had been stroking her lips in contemplation, was the first to speak.

"Well, since the Spirit of Fire actually worked, the method itself might not be entirely nonsense."

"You seriously think all this madness could really grant the Pyromaniac Bloodline?"

Solif asked incredulously.

Meisa shook her head.

"I'm just considering the possibility. What I don’t understand is… if this method actually worked, wouldn’t it have already spread long ago? I mean, we stopped it this time, but it's not like the process is particularly difficult."

"There’s also the fact that I've never seen anyone actually become a wizard just by hunting magical beasts."

Turan added lightly.

If this method had truly been effective, it would have spread widely by now. Nobles would be accumulating four or more bloodlines, and they'd be commanding entire armies of commoner-born knights.

From this, they formed two hypotheses.

First, the knowledge possessed by those with that strange gaze was partially correct and partially false.

Second, the knowledge itself was accurate, but a separate innate qualification was required to make it work.

And most importantly, this knowledge seemed to infect the minds of certain individuals, those whom only Turan could perceive with that peculiar gaze.

"The source of this corruption is probably a god’s soul or something similar."

"That’s the most logical assumption. Otherwise, where would this knowledge suddenly come from?"

"Maybe it’s not even a complete soul, just fragments. Only certain pieces of information from its past are being projected."

"Oh..."

Impressed by how plausible the theory sounded, Solif briefly marveled before turning back to Visen, raising the question they had been putting off.

"So, what do we do with her?"

"We kill her."

"Won’t that thing, this so-called soul, just cling to us then?"

"We can’t exactly let her go, can we? I’ll handle the execution, so stay far away. I've seen Ymir’s soul before, if it tries to latch onto me, I’ll be able to tell."

"But even if you see it, that doesn’t mean you can do anything about it."

"I'll try using the Jewel Box first. Even if things go wrong, we should have a few months before anything happens, which should give us enough time to figure out a solution."

In the worst-case scenario, there was also the option of negotiating with the god in Carmine and borrowing the power of a necromancer.

After all, if this entity was continuously moving from one body to another, that likely meant it was utilizing a necromancer as well.

Once the discussion concluded and Visen’s execution was decided, Turan had the others step back before approaching her, still bound in chains.

Seeing her sitting helplessly on the ground, Turan felt a sense of pity.

She had burned hundreds of ordinary people alive, but given the circumstances, it was highly likely that this had not been entirely of her own will.

If a god had possessed Meisa or Solif and driven them to commit massacres, would it be fair to blame them for it?

However, releasing her now would only mean she would attempt the same thing again, and the spread of this knowledge was something that had to be prevented.

Turan twisted Visen’s neck, ending her life instantly and without pain.

Moments later, just as it had with Ymir, a tiny cluster of magic power seeped out from Visen's body.

Unlike before, when the soul had sought out a new host, this time, it drifted upward as if trying to escape somewhere.

‘Let’s see if it works this time…’

Turan retrieved the Jewel Box, the one that had previously contained the librarian, and infused it with magic power.

The drifting soul was immediately pulled in, absorbed into the artifact as if it had been swallowed whole.

*

"A very small fragment of a soul."

The first words the librarian spoke after emerging from the Jewel Box were those.

"A fragment of a soul?"

"Yes. You can think of it as a mere shard, containing only the knowledge you mentioned and the desperate desire to fulfill it. All other memories from its past life have completely disappeared."

Though the librarian did not seem to have any detailed knowledge about souls, as a spirit-like entity, it appeared to have an innate sense of such things.

"Then, will this cause any problems for you, Elder?"

"It’s too weak to be a threat, so there’s nothing to worry about. However… if too many of these fragments are gathered, I suspect it might eventually regain its sense of self."

"A fragment, huh…"

"On the other hand, if you collect a few more, I should be able to read the information stored within them."

The knowledge contained within these soul fragments could certainly prove useful.

Even the Spirit of Fire alone could more than double Turan’s firepower, provided he was not in a situation where he needed to keep his identity hidden.

And if they could discover a way to acquire bloodline abilities in a more moderate manner, one that did not involve something as extreme as the pyro executioners' method, its value would be immeasurable.

Of course, it was still uncertain whether Turan, who already possessed four bloodline abilities, could gain any further strength from this.

When he relayed what the librarian had told him, Solif, intrigued, asked curiously,

"Could you possibly identify which god’s soul this belongs to?"

"How would I know? In fact, I'm not even certain that this truly is a god’s soul."

The librarian snorted dismissively but then hesitated, as if struggling with something.

"Hmm… I don’t know if I should say this. It might just be my imagination, leading to an incorrect conclusion…"

"It’s fine. Go ahead."

With an uncharacteristically uncertain expression, the librarian gazed at the Jewel Box and spoke.

"Just a little… but I felt a sense of longing. I have no homeland, but if I did, I imagine it might feel something like this."