Translator: Pai_

It was about a day and a half later that Turan, having escaped from Axum, returned to Kalamaf.

He had used his remaining magic to heal Bije enough to make her fly again, and when she was exhausted, he either flew himself or landed to run on the ground once his magic ran low, all of it added up to this result.

Naturally, the return of the nearly exhausted head of house threw House Parsha into a frenzy.

Especially since most of them hadn’t even known that Turan had been absent.

Turan couldn’t even properly greet those welcoming him before he threw himself into bed and slept for a full day as if dead.

When he finally opened his eyes again, a familiar voice greeted him.

“You’re awake?”

“Mmh.”

Meisa, holding her rounded belly with one hand, was sitting by the bed, looking down at Turan.

As he rose from the bed, he realized that for someone who had wandered the desert and wilderness for nearly two days, his face and body were surprisingly clean.

“I washed you while you were sleeping. You must’ve been so tired, you didn’t even open your eyes once.”

“Thank you.”

“So, what happened? You said you were just going to take a quick look, and then you come back half-dead……”

She tried to speak calmly, but perhaps unable to suppress the emotions welling up inside, tears pooled in Meisa’s eyes.

Turan could tell what she was imagining.

Though his wounds were completely healed with recovery magic, the state of his ruined clothes alone would be enough to hint at the fierce battles he had endured.

In her mind, Turan had probably died and come back to life several times.

“Sorry for making you worry.”

“If you’re sorry, then don’t ever do something like this again.”

“I won’t anymore. I mean it.”

This experience made Turan reflect deeply on the recklessness of such infiltration missions.

Though a series of misfortunes had compounded, if one thing had gone worse, he really could have been buried in the middle of the Enril Desert or ended up as a breeding stallion.

Thinking back, he wasn’t like this when he was younger and weaker. At some point after gaining great power, he had become too reckless.

The fact that even heads of great noble houses acted cautiously, keeping an eye on others, was also something born from living in such a turbulent age.

Lying in bed, brushing back his hair with Meisa by his side, Turan took a moment to heal emotionally and shared everything that had happened to him.

Truthfully, although it had taken quite a while to travel, the time he actually spent infiltrating the capital city of Axum was brief, so there wasn’t all that much to tell.

When he recounted Haroon’s final moment, Meisa remained silent for a long time before finally letting out a deep sigh.

“So then, that person…… no, that god, has been annihilated.”

“Seems like it.”

“If there’s another world out there, I hope she and Otas can be together in it.”

Though she had caused a war that created countless deaths and sacrificed hundreds of thousands of souls for Turan’s birth, the pure devotion she had shown toward someone who no longer existed was deeply moving.

“Still, I’m glad you’re not the reincarnation of the Night Hunter.”

“Why?”

“Just imagining becoming rivals in love with someone like that is horrifying.”

There wasn’t a single woman who’d be pleased to know another woman was showering infinite love upon the man she loved.

Compared to that, Berit, whose marriage proposal had been blatantly political, seemed almost adorable.

Turan burst into laughter at Meisa’s jealousy, which was more cute than anything.

“Well, anyway… I learned quite a lot from this. I’ll need to discuss it with Solif soon. There are things that need to be acted on immediately.”

From the original objective of scouting the internal affairs of Zahar to discovering the relationship between the sea of spirit forms and the boundary of the world, and even learning their true purpose.

It was a shame he couldn’t save Haroon, but this much could easily be considered an overachievement of his goals.

And based on the results he had gathered, the time for House Parsha to act was none other than right now.

Turan stepped out of the bedroom and summoned Ashiz to immediately announce preparations for war.

“If it’s war… then with Zahar, I assume?”

“That’s right. If we don’t strike first, the enemies who are perfectly prepared will attack us.”

Combining it with what Badal had said in the past, their return to their original world wasn’t far off.

In other words, unless they were planning to leisurely create another body with talents like Meisa among themselves, they were definitely going to attack soon.

Especially now that Turan had discovered all of their objectives.

Rather than enduring the devastation of their homeland by war, it went without saying that attacking first was the best course of action.

“And it should be about time for Solif to return to Varaha as well, so once he arrives, let him know to participate in planning the war right away. Also tell him I’ll be away for about a day.”

“Away? Where to?”

“Here.”

Turan pointed to the northern part of the map laid out in his office.

The hilly region north of Kalamaf, the temporary capital of House Carmine.

“There’s no time, so I’m going to go there directly and negotiate with them myself.”

If things went according to plan, it would be possible to manipulate them just by selectively releasing a few pieces of the information he had recently obtained.