The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

What Turan wanted to know was exactly who his mother was and what she had been doing here, and as stated, this lord of Bigen clearly had that information.

"Before we get into the main discussion, may I ask one thing?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you, the Guardian of Kalamaf, perhaps have deep ties with House Arabion?"

Turan narrowed his eyes at the question.

He could roughly guess why such a topic was brought up.

After all, the story of him contacting the Arabion army and predicting the western calamity would disappear had spread widely.

The issue was why this topic came up at this point.

"You see... during the war, our House Mebern served as a garrison for House Zahar. That was purely due to geographical reasons—I wanted to tell you that personally, I maintain neutrality."

Turan already knew roughly about this from what the city's influential figures had told him.

Originally, the lord of Bigen City was this man's older brother who belonged to the pro-Arabion faction, but one day he was found dead, and his younger brother inherited the house?

Though there was no evidence, it was openly said that everyone believed Zahar had certainly assassinated him.

In other words, he was worried that Turan might view him with suspicion due to his friendliness with Arabion.

"I don't belong to either house, so there's no need to worry. I have no intention of questioning House Mebern's past actions, so please don't concern yourself."

Turan answered firmly and stared at Alos.

After a few seconds, he nodded while sweating slightly.

"I-I'll trust you... after all, this deal couldn't work without trust in the first place. That aside, is there something to prove the promise? The ruling rights of a city can't just be exchanged with words alone. I'm also a bit concerned about the descendants of the house that originally ruled this city."

The survivors of the house that ruled Kalamaf were just two nobles near death and five young knights.

Even if they reclaimed the city, they had no ability to protect it, and since they were the first to flee after completely scraping away the central mansion's wealth during the collapse, neither Turan nor others paid any attention to their claimed rights.

In other words, that last addition was just randomly thrown in to add persuasion to his words.

Instead of pointing this out, Turan called Daruk to bring a scroll.

Written on the finest parchment by a skilled scribe with great care, it contained the contents about transferring the city's ruling rights.

Naturally, the name and house of the recipient were left blank.

"From the moment I write Lord Alos's name and house here and sign below, this contract will be protected in the name of the great Prea god-folk, and anyone who breaks it will become my enemy."

Since all the nobles of the seven cities who had gathered recently had directly experienced how powerful Turan's mana was, this would clearly serve as quite a strong deterrent.

After all, a city wasn't worth claiming if it meant becoming enemies with someone who could overwhelm ordinary noble house lords and even ranked among the upper echelons of major houses.

The contents of the written contract were exactly as mentioned before.

He would transfer the city's ruling rights to whoever provided the most detailed information about what Turan wanted to know.

However, the recipient must diligently protect the city's citizens as ruler.

"That condition about diligent protection seems a bit vague..."

"It means to do your best within reason, without seriously injuring or killing yourself. At least patrolling or going hunting when there are rumors of someone being attacked by magical beasts."

"Hmm, that's not impossible. I'm already running my territory that way."

"Naturally, if you neglect this, that would also be a breach of contract."

There seemed no need to add that in that case, I would become your enemy.

Judging by his flinching expression, he seemed to understand very well.

After discussing several more things, the two reached a general agreement.

After organizing all the conditions, Alos asked to wait a moment and left the room, then brought back a woman.

"I-I am Sarina, O descendant of the great god."

She was perhaps around forty years old?

With a face that must have been quite beautiful in her youth, and judging by her refined speech and posture, she seemed to have received special education for serving nobles.

Alos placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke.

"Tell this person exactly what you told me before. If this goes well, I'll make sure to take care of not only your retirement but your children as well."

Hearing Alos's words, Sarina looked back and forth between him and Turan in surprise.

She seemed shocked to see a noble who looked much younger receiving treatment equal to or above her city's lord.

When she hesitated, Alos urged her in a somewhat irritated tone.

"Hurry!"

"Y-yes! I'll tell you. I am a servant who has served House Mebern of Bigen for generations, and during the war period, I was in charge of attending to the nobles from Zahar... if you're talking about a pregnant woman who escaped on a golden horse, it must certainly be the person I'm thinking of."

"How do you know her?"

At Turan's question, Sarina glanced at Alos before beginning her explanation.

"I-I was in charge of managing her."

"Managed?"

"Yes. Because she was one of the spoils of war brought back when Zahar was raiding Arabion mainland..."

Sarina stopped speaking because Turan's face had hardened frighteningly upon hearing this.

His aura was so fierce that even Alos, who had been quietly listening from behind, flinched.

"Continue explaining."

"A-ah, yes."

Twenty some years ago during the war period, she worked under Zahar nobles who had made Bigen City their base.

Among her most important duties was managing ordinary women among those captured from raids on Arabion's mainland.

"Were there many such people?"

"Not too many. Perhaps twenty at most..."

Usually the most valuable were enemy wizards who had been crippled and captured in battle, but there were valuable spoils among ordinary humans too.

Flowers cultivated purely for their beauty and refinement to become nobles' concubines, like those previously presented to Turan.

Sarina said that Turan's mother was one of them.