The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

At his question, Meisa and Solif looked at Turan and asked.

"The island's owner?"

"Do you know who it is?"

"No."

From what he had heard from the Blue Marlin's captain, Pires, before, the owner of Miguel Island was a fairly skilled mage.

He seemed to have heard the name once, but couldn't remember it well.

But even when he expanded the sacred artifact's senses, he couldn't feel the presence of a powerful mage.

Only the presence of a few knights, who were probably hired as ship escorts, could be felt.

Of course, given that the island's width exceeded several kilometers, it was more likely that they were simply outside his detection range...

"I'd prefer if they came to us."

At Turan's words, the manager's eyebrows twitched slightly, but then he bowed slightly.

"Understood."

As he disappeared, Solif, who had been waiting, immediately asked a question.

"Did something happen when you were here before?"

"Nothing particularly comes to mind. Just sold a pirate ship here, that's about it?"

"You sold a pirate ship?"

"Didn't I tell you about that?"

While drinking and using the story of beating pirates and capturing their ship as a snack, Turan stopped talking as he sensed someone approaching nearby.

Then he immediately stood up.

"Let's go out."

Instead of asking why, the two immediately got up from their seats.

They knew from experience that when Turan acted like this, there was always a reason.

They roughly placed payment for the alcohol and food on the table before immediately leaving the tavern and moving to an outskirt a little distance away.

By the time they reached an empty alley, two people wearing deeply pulled hoods blocked their way.

"What is this?"

Solif asked with an expression that seemed to say 'you've got to be kidding me'.

And understandably so, as such hooded attire in early summer was suspiciously odd just to look at.

Especially when half the sailors were walking around shirtless.

Turan stared at the two for a moment and then pointed at the smaller one and said.

"Arma?"

"...How did you recognize me?"

The merman prince, Arma, shouted with a surprised expression as he threw off his hood.

Turan simply answered.

"A feeling."

Of course, the reason he immediately recognized the other was due to the sacred artifact's senses.

The fin-shaped ears and the blue light spreading through the gills on the neck were the distinctive presence of merfolk that he had seen before.

He was surprised when he suddenly felt the presence of merfolk in the middle of the island, but he could roughly guess it was him since the height and build were very similar to Arma whom he had seen before.

The difference was that the flame inside the body, probably similar to the power that they used like magical power, was considerably stronger than before.

It seemed that they too grew stronger as they aged.

"Oh, it's been a while. Good devil."

"That good devil again... Yes, good to see you."

But the reason Turan had hurriedly taken his companions out was because of the other person beside the merman boy.

More precisely, it would be correct to call them a mermaid.

"So is that your brother next to you? Or sister?"

"So you are the benefactor of my brother and the one who took the devil's treasure?"

Removing her hood while countering a question with a question, the appearance of a mermaid woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties was revealed.

Inside her body, a much more intense light was burning than Arma's.

Presumably, she was a mermaid royal, and among them, certainly a being of considerable rank.

Turan likewise answered that question with another question.

"Are you answering my question by taking off your hood?"

"Let's say so."

"Then my answer seems to have been completed by what I just said to that fellow too."

It was an extremely sharp exchange for dealing with the benefactor of a younger brother, but this level of distance was appropriate between different races and humans.

After all, weren't merfolk notorious different race known for eating humans along the coast for quite a long time?

Knowing this fact, the mermaid princess didn't rebuke him either.

"Rowena."

"Turan. By the way, just now the manager was talking about the island's owner. Was the ruler of this place a minion of the merfolk?"

"Similar. Could a place like this exist without our permission in the first place? It would quickly become a feeding ground for the lower classes."

The lower classes she mentioned clearly referred to ordinary merfolk who attacked and ate humans.

Turan nodded and quietly asked.

"Thank you for the enlightening information. So, what business do you have with us?"

"The object you took."

Unexpectedly, Rowena accurately pointed at the Mimicker sacred artifact hanging around Turan's neck.

Despite it clearly being hidden under his clothes.

"I need to retrieve it."

With her words, a chilling silence fell over the back alley.

Naturally, as the Mimicker sacred artifact was Turan's greatest asset, the demand to return it was a non-negotiable request.

Especially if she mentioned 'retrieval' in a high-handed manner without even mentioning compensation.

As if reading the fighting spirit rising in their eyes, Rowena too seemed to be taking a stance in preparation for battle, when Arma hurriedly spread both arms to block between them.

"Wait a moment! Sister! Aren't you just stating the purpose too bluntly! Let me explain properly!"

"There doesn't seem to be a need for any more words than this."

"Turan is a good devil! That object was the reward for my life! If you say you'll retrieve it, you should properly explain the reason!"

Though Rowena didn't seem very willing, she eventually snorted and nodded.

Arma quickly bowed his head toward Turan's group.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's not for you to be sorry about. That is, not yet. So, what's going on?"

The mermaid named Rowena seemed to think she could take it by force, but in reality, Turan's group held the overwhelming advantage in terms of power.

The magical power felt from that mermaid's body was at best in the upper tier of high nobles, one level below Turan.

In that sense, it could be said that providing room for dialogue was rather an act of mercy from their side.

The only variable might be if merfolk were significantly stronger than mages of the same power level.

Unaware of this fact even in his dreams, Arma wore a proud expression as if he had pacified a major conflict, and then dropped a shocking statement.

"The thing is, after you took that object, the Great Sea Serpent came back to life."

"What? You don't mean the one that was there?"

"That's right."

Turan still remembered the presence of that mythically enormous creature that had been sleeping in the sea.

A giant snake with a body length of about a hundred meters...

If that monster, which had stood equally against the Prea god-folk in the distant ancient past, came back to life, there would be no being in the modern era who could face it.

Didn't Imir say that even the gods existing in modern times would be no match if a complete ancient god returned?

When he looked at Meisa and Solif, they too were wearing expressions of shock, as if they had similar thoughts.

Seeing this, Arma hastily added.

"No, not completely, really! So, things that died and came back to life... in your terms, it's become something between an undead and a spirit."

"Undead and spirit?"

"That's right."

Arma went on to explain that shortly after Turan took the sacred artifact, the Great Sea Serpent, which had only been a corpse, began to move again.

It had become something similar to what is commonly called undead and ravaged the sea, and in the process, it combined with a storm spirit and even gained the ability to disrupt the weather in the North Sea.

"A storm spirit?"

"That's right. Anyway, we merfolk have a mission to defeat those who disturb the sea, and Aba-mama said that to subdue it, we need that object you took."

But since only Arma knew Turan's appearance and they didn't know where he had gone, mermaid royals had been infiltrating various islands in the North Sea for months, waiting for someone with a similar appearance to Turan to arrive.

And the news was transmitted through the disturbance caused by Turan's group, so they came right away.

"So that's what it was."

"That's right! So please return that object. It's essential for the stability of the sea! I'll ask Aba-mama to make sure you receive a similar object in return for any loss you suffer!"

After Arma's exclamation, Turan exchanged glances with his companions to share opinions and then declared.

"I'm afraid that won't do."