Chapter 88

After executing Visen, Turan and his party decided to stay in the slash-and-burn farmers' village for a night to help with reconstruction.

With nearly half of the village’s residents dead, there was a shortage of manpower to repair the collapsed and burned houses and warehouses. The villagers, overwhelmed with gratitude for the help, once again shed tears.

“Meisa, you placed the roof wrong.”

“Isn't this how you do it?”

“If you do it that way, it won’t fit properly, and the rain will leak through. You need to rotate it about halfway.”

Turan adjusted the roof panel that Meisa had lifted with Telekinesis Magic and explained in detail how the roof should be constructed.

Meisa, encountering new architectural knowledge, looked at him curiously and asked,

“Where did you learn all this?”

“I just picked it up while living.”

“Wow...”

He did not have any deep expertise in construction, but he had experience repairing the cabin he had lived in since childhood and had even built a few structures himself in Kalamaf.

Besides, the warehouse they were building now was not a particularly complex structure.

“So, it should be done like this?”

“Yes, just like that.”

As Meisa lifted the roof again and rotated it about 90 degrees, an intrigued expression spread across her face.

Turan had wondered if she would find this work tedious, but she actually seemed to enjoy helping others.

After confirming that Meisa was following his instructions, Turan walked over to Solif, who was building a chicken coop, and scolded him.

“If the fence is full of holes like this, wildcats or foxes will come and take all the chickens.”

“What? How could they get through these tiny holes?”

“Animals like cats have incredibly flexible bodies, almost as if they have no bones. If their heads fit, their whole bodies can squeeze through.”

“That’s fascinating... Isn't that real magic?”

Turan was not surprised that Meisa did not know such things, but even Solif, who was over forty years older and had extensive travel experience, was unaware.

Since the villagers did not dare correct the noble lords, it was up to Turan to teach them.

After spending a long time struggling with the work, Bije suddenly swooped in and wrote on the ground.

[Finished cleaning!]

“Already?”

[Yeah!]

Turan had tasked Bije with cleaning the square, which had been ruined by the erected pillars and burned bodies. Sure enough, it was now completely spotless, as if the entire area had been overturned and reorganized.

Since it would have taken too long for her small body to dig up the ground manually, she had likely just swept everything away using Wind Magic.

“There’s no one like you.”

Turan gently patted her head, and Bije shrugged her shoulders proudly.

Lastly, after using Earth Manipulation Magic to create graves for the deceased, the villagers gathered in the relatively intact meeting hall to have dinner together and pay respects to the dead.

Naturally, Turan and his party were given the highest seats of honor.

“As poor and destitute as we are, we can only offer such meager food. Please, have mercy...”

Indeed, the food they provided was not particularly impressive.

A stew made with smoked wild game meat and coarse black bread, it was hard to say it was any better than the meals Turan used to eat at Hisaril Hill.

Meanwhile, in front of the villagers themselves, there was only thin grain porridge and wild vegetables.

This was probably the best hospitality they could offer their saviors.

Turan immediately picked up his spoon, took a bite of the stew, and then brought some unidentified spiced vegetables to his mouth.

“This is good enough to be called a feast.”

“Come on, calling it a feast is a bit- ugh!”

Solif, who was about to voice his honest complaint, was promptly kicked in the shin by Turan.

Glancing at the villagers' faces, Turan saw that they looked slightly relieved to see him eating so readily.

Solif, though grumbling, also started eating, leaving Meisa as the last one yet to start.

“Hmm.”

At House Baltas’s banquets, Meisa had coldly ignored the judgmental stares that questioned why she had not taken a single bite of food.

But now, under the villagers' desperate gazes, she seemed to feel pressured.

Seeing her hesitantly pick up a spoon, Turan gently stopped her.

“You don’t have to force yourself. We’re already eating, so it’s fine if one person appears a little picky.”

“If you force yourself to eat and end up throwing up, they’ll probably feel even worse.”

At Solif’s remark, Meisa shot him a slightly sharp glare, then shook her head and scooped up a spoonful of stew.

“I think I can manage at least one bite right now.”

Staring at the piece of meat and broth on her spoon, Meisa shut her eyes tightly and pushed it into her mouth.

After chewing for a few seconds, she swallowed.

Turan wondered if he should ask Solif to use Illusionist Magic in anticipation of the grand explosion about to follow, but to his surprise, Meisa did not spit the food out.

She took a few deep breaths, then slowly opened her eyes.

“Hm?”

“What? Did it work?”

Both Turan and Solif, as well as Meisa herself, looked astonished, as if none of them could believe she had successfully eaten.

She sat in stunned silence for a moment before breaking into a bright smile, then scooped up another spoonful of stew and even bit into the coarse bread.

Only then did the villagers let out sighs of relief.

“Oh, she’s eating…”

“She seems to like it!”

“Thank goodness, what a relief.”

To say that the food suited her taste was quite the understatement, as Meisa was devouring the meal with the hunger of a starving beggar.

Of course, considering she had practically been starving for over ten years, it would have been cruel to blame her.

“Does it taste good?”

“The taste… I’m not really sure, it’s been too long. But just being able to chew and swallow it myself makes me feel-ugh!”

Her enthusiastic eating only lasted a short while before she suddenly covered her mouth, slightly delayed nausea setting in.

Seeing her cheeks puff up, Turan quickly pulled her away from the table and led her outside the hall.

“Ugh-”

As Meisa threw up everything she had just eaten, Turan patted her back.

“Are you okay?”

Struggling to catch her breath, Meisa only nodded before finally looking up.

To Turan’s surprise, she had tears in her eyes but was smiling.

“I ate… even if it was just a little.”

“It’s been ten years, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

After conjuring some water on the spot to rinse her mouth, Meisa took a deep breath and exhaled.

“It feels like… my mother and sister were saying this. That since I’ve helped this much, it’s okay to eat at least this much.”

Of course, it was not truly her family that had given her permission to eat, it was Meisa herself.

Perhaps her self-loathing for abandoning her family had finally been counterbalanced by her growing self-worth in helping others.

This gave Turan an idea of how she might overcome her eating disorder.

If she continued helping people and came to see herself as a valuable person, perhaps one day she would be able to eat like everyone else.

After fully composing themselves, they returned to the hall, only to be greeted by Solif, who wore an exasperated expression.

“Hey…”

“What?”

“Those villagers over there are trying to figure out which one of us is the father. Do something about it.”

When Turan shifted his gaze, he saw the villagers watching them with keen interest, only to hurriedly lower their heads when their eyes met his.

At least they did not assume Meisa had thrown up because the food was bad. That was a small relief.

*

The next morning, Turan and his party left the village, giving up on searching for magical beasts in the area and flying straight east.

While swinging lazily on his harness, Solif struck up a conversation with Turan.

“By the way, do you think this will be okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, whatever the reason, we killed a noble from House Carmine. Wouldn’t it have been better to take the body back and formally report what happened? If distorted rumors spread through the villagers later, it could be a problem.”

Meisa, sitting across from them, did not say anything, but her expression showed she agreed with Solif’s concern.

After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Turan responded.

“If we take the body, we’ll have to formally deal with the consequences with the great noble houses. But House Carmine won’t want to admit that one of their nobles committed a massacre. Besides, we’re just wanderers, so it’d be easy for them to pin the blame on us. If we reveal our true strength, that’s another problem, we’d attract attention in a different way.”

“Hmm…”

“Besides, that village spreading rumors is unlikely. It’s not even a proper town, just a slash-and-burn farming settlement. I also made sure to tell them that if rumors spread, it wouldn’t be good for them either.”

“Isn’t that a threat?”

“It’s advice. If they start talking about how Visen was trying to become the second Pyro Executioner, House Carmine might decide to wipe them out.”

At Turan’s words, Meisa let out a small “Ah” and nodded.

“Just because those people are uneducated doesn’t mean they’re fools. They can at least judge matters concerning their own survival. Besides, we helped rebuild their village.”

“You think they won’t spread rumors out of gratitude?”

From Solif’s words, Turan sensed a hint of condescension, as if he still saw him as a naive kid.

But that was not why Turan had brought it up in the first place.

“No, if the village collapses, the people will scatter to other settlements to survive, and that could spread the story. But if the isolated slash-and-burn village remains intact, the chances of the story getting out decrease. They’re generally self-sufficient people who live without much outside interaction.”

“…So you thought that far ahead when you decided to help them?”

“Not entirely. I just considered it a bonus advantage.”

After explaining that much, Turan added one last thought.

“More than anything, if House Carmine somehow learns the truth, they’ll probably want to bury the incident. Going to war with three wandering nobles over a member who died doing something insane isn’t worth it for them. If the matter were made public, they’d have to cover it up for the sake of pride. But as long as it stays in the shadows, there’s no need for them to push the issue.”

After finishing their discussion about Visen’s fate, the conversation shifted to the fragment of the god that was inside her.

More specifically, how they could gather more fragments.

“Wouldn’t we find some clues if we track down magical beast hunters?”

“I check whenever I come across them, but there hasn’t been much success. Besides, there aren’t that many of those kinds of people to begin with.”

Some magical beast hunters, like Midan’s group, were driven purely by the desire to become wizards. However, more often than not, they were people who hunted magical beasts simply as a means of making a living.

To be precise, they were both magical beast hunters and general hunters.

The lowest-grade magical beasts they hunted became nourishment for young wizards seeking to grow stronger. Since searching for these beasts one by one was inefficient, wizard houses instead put out bounties and rewarded those who brought them in.

Most of the magical beast hunters Turan had encountered so far fell into that category. None of them, like Midan, had possessed fragments of a god.

“Hmm, so searching for wizards behaving strangely… wouldn’t be very efficient.”

“Exactly. It’s not a particularly common occurrence, after all.”

Given that the only reliable way to identify them was through Turan’s own eyes, their best bet was simply to hope they encountered one by chance.

As they continued their conversation while swaying in their harnesses, Solif, who had the sharpest eyes among them, pointed ahead.

“We’re here.”

“Already?”

“Flying really is fast.”

Moments later, Turan and Meisa also caught sight of the horizon.

Since Bije was flying at a considerable altitude, it still took them another hour and a half to actually reach the coastline.

After landing on the shore, Solif gazed at the sea with a nostalgic expression.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to the North Sea.”

“You’ve been here before?”

“I originally crossed over from Varaha to the northern sea regions.”

“Ah, right. This is actually my first time seeing the ocean.”

Meisa, fascinated, dipped her hand into the seawater and splashed it around before tasting it, only to scrunch up her face at the saltiness.

Seeing such a childish display from her made Turan chuckle involuntarily.

After spending a brief moment at the shore, they headed straight to a nearby fishing village to determine their exact location.

A few simple inquiries revealed that they had arrived at the northern coast of Avacha.

Upon hearing this, Solif clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Tch, I wanted to visit Avacha at least once.”

“From what I’ve seen, there’s not much there. Wouldn’t it be more interesting to visit the site where the remains of the drowned god lie?”

“Well… yeah, I guess.”

According to Ymir, a member of the Preah God Tribe, known by the alias “Lawyer”, was residing in Avacha’s capital.

Back when they were unaware of this, they had come and gone freely, but now that they knew, the thought of walking in knowingly felt burdensome.

Since Solif was aware of this, he only voiced a light complaint and did not press the matter further.

After visiting a few more fishing villages, they finally managed to acquire a fairly large fishing boat.

It was a vessel with a single sail, a spacious cabin below deck, and a small room that served as a toilet. Its size was suitable only for coastal navigation.

“Just in case, I must warn you, don’t take it too far. Even a slightly stronger wave could capsize it.”

The old fisherman who sold them the boat offered this advice as he received his payment.

Turan, with his noble-like appearance, Meisa, the cold young lady, and Solif, who at least looked a bit more easygoing but still carried the air of someone raised in luxury, all three of them looked far from experienced sailors.

It was only natural for the fisherman to worry when such people suddenly decided to board a boat.

Of course, since he had been paid, he had no obligation to care, but people’s hearts did not work so simply.

“Thank you for the advice.”

Turan responded with a soft smile, brushing off the old man’s concern as he immediately began preparing for departure.

As he followed Turan’s instructions and readied the boat, Solif asked,

“Are you really sure this kind of boat is fine? I got lucky and didn’t run into one last time, but I heard the North Sea storms are absolute hell.”

“There are two nobles from House Aravion here. Besides, if things really go south, we can just abandon the boat and fly away, so it’s much better to take a cheap boat.”

“That so?”

A short while later, once everything was ready, they raised the anchor and unfurled the sail.

While Turan and Meisa alternated in summoning wind, Solif sliced through the water along the ship’s side, making the vessel glide forward as if flying.

“So refreshing-!”

The unexpected exclamation came not from Solif, but from Meisa.

It seemed she found her first sailing experience quite exhilarating, especially at such high speeds.

Perhaps later, when she encountered an ordinary sailing ship that moved sluggishly, she would find it unbearably tedious.

Fortunately, none of the three suffered from seasickness, so the voyage proceeded without issue.

As for food and water, well, in the ocean, those were practically abundant.

Using Migel Island, which he had visited before, as a waypoint, Turan used the compass he had received as a gift to set their course southeast and began their journey.

And so, after about a day and a half,

“This is boring…”

It had not even required boarding a slow-moving sailing ship for Meisa’s initial excitement to fade into boredom.

Humans, by nature, quickly grew numb to stimulation.

And sailing was an activity that consisted of endlessly repeating the same monotonous experiences.

“Turan, have you found anything yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“Turan, what about now?”

“Still nothing.”

“Tuu-”

“Nothing at all.”

Among the three of them, only Turan could use the Mimic Relic to detect magic power.

Thus, it was not long before the conversation became nothing more than Meisa and Solif repeatedly asking if he had found anything, and Turan answering no.

Of course, through the relic’s senses, Turan could detect quite a number of magical beasts.

Unlike on land, the ocean was a battleground where magical beasts, free from human hunters, constantly fought and devoured each other.

However, even the strongest of these creatures were only at the level of mid to high-ranking nobles. None of them were powerful enough to be of any real benefit to the three.

The only one truly enjoying herself was Bije, who happily devoured the horse mackerel that Turan had caught for her.

Staring out at the ocean, Solif muttered with a sigh,

“I mean, spacing out like this feels just like flying, but… for some reason, sailing is way more boring.”

“That’s because when we fly on Bije, we can land and rest whenever we want. And when we don’t, it usually means we’re in a rush and don’t even have time to feel bored.”

“That makes sense.”

“Or maybe it’s because the boat is too small. If we had brought something to read, it might’ve been better.”

As Meisa spoke, Turan briefly considered stopping by a port city, not Avacha, but another harbor town in Carmine, to pick up some books.

However, at that moment, he suddenly widened his eyes at the presence he sensed ahead.

“Oh.”

“What is it?”

“The thing you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.”

“A magical beast? How strong? Top-tier?”

Solif, seemingly desperate for something to break the monotony, immediately made a fuss.

Calming him down, Turan casually raised his hand and felt the flow of the wind.

Meisa, having also sensed the same thing through the wind, slightly furrowed her brows.

“No. A storm.”

At Turan’s words, Solif’s face twisted in frustration.