Translator: Pai_

It wasn’t hard to guess what kind of misunderstanding the opponent had.

People tightly bound and burned to death, and even the young girl who was about to become the final victim being carried out by the villain…

Turan quickly observed the opponents.

There were four of them.

Judging by their appearances, it was hard to be certain since they were wizards, but most of them seemed to be in their late teens to early twenties.

A notable feature was that all four of them emanated a strong scent of excitement and tension from their bodies.

Just like how Turan himself had felt during his first wolf hunt with his mother in his childhood.

Presumably, they seemed to be rookies with little experience in real combat.

“Wait-”

“Ah!”

Just as Turan opened his mouth to explain, the wizard holding a flaming spear let out a gasp and suddenly threw it.

Judging by the startled expression, it seemed the wizard had lost control due to excessive tension.

Turan stretched one of the arms holding the child forward to catch the spear while pouring magic power into his bracelet at full force.

The power of the Guardian Bloodline protected his entire body, and at the same time, the flaming spear exploded, engulfing him in flames.

“What the hell are you doing!? There was a child!”

“I-I didn’t mean to… it was a mistake…”

The woman holding an ice bow shouted sharply, watching as both Turan and the girl in his arms were engulfed in flames.

However, moments later, their expressions turned to utter shock, their eyes widening in disbelief.

Turan, who had taken the magic directly, didn’t even have a burn or any trace of being scorched.

Not even the little girl in his arms was harmed.

“What in the world…?”

“How is that possible?”

It wasn’t as if he had neutralized the magic with another spell, he had simply taken it head-on with his body.

For those unaware of the existence of the Guardian Magic Artifact, the only explanation was that Turan was either someone with a bloodline specialized in defense or someone with overwhelming magic power.

Noticing the opponents’ fear, Turan lowered his voice, using it to intimidate them.

“I’m not the one who attacked this village. But if you attack again, I’ll start defending myself.”

At his sharp glare, the flame spear-wielding wizard quickly lowered both hands, signaling he had no intention of resisting further.

Moments later, even the woman with the bow lowered the weapon she had been aiming.

“Visen.”

“Turan.”

Every conflict begins with a failure to understand one another.

Even exchanging names eased the tension significantly.

The bow-wielding woman, Visen, stared intently at Turan and asked.

“How can I trust you?”

“When this girl wakes up, ask her. She seems to have seen the real culprit.”

"She saw the Pyro Executioner?"

"Pyro Executioner?"

"Don't tell me you don't know?"

At Turan’s questioning response, Visen raised an eyebrow and asked again.

“I don’t.”

At Turan’s reply, she looked skeptical but began explaining.

For the past few months, a deranged wizard had been periodically attacking remote villages in the area, tying people up, and burning them to death.

The wizard had even earned the nickname “Pyro Executioner”, and a lord from a nearby city had issued an extermination order. However, since there had been no survivors, not even the culprit’s gender was known.

That is, until today, when Turan had saved one person.

“Then this girl might be able to tell us something. She’s unconscious now, but when I first found her, she said it was a wizard who did this.”

After saying this, Turan laid the surviving girl beside the attic door and covered her with his cloak.

The strange standoff among the group ended thirty minutes later when the girl opened her eyes.

“Are you awake?”

“Where… is this?”

"Your home."

Turan spoke gently, so as not to alarm her, and gave her some water from a leather flask.

The girl, seemingly coming to grips with her situation, showed anguish on her youthful face. Soon, however, she began to recount in detail the appearance of the culprit she had seen, as Turan requested.

“A red cloak, a bearded face… he looked rough, like a lumberjack.”

She explained that as people were being dragged away by the wizard, she had hidden in the attic, peeking through a small gap to watch the situation unfold.

When she saw the culprit searching around to see if anyone was left, she had hastily shut the door and locked it.

As he gently stroked the girl’s head while she explained as best as she could with her limited vocabulary, tears welled up in her round eyes.

But the girl bit her lips tightly and did not cry.

Pain and hardship, after all, were the things that turned children into adults far too quickly.

Just to rule out the possibility that the girl might have been coerced or threatened, Visen brought her aside and asked her again. Once satisfied, she bowed her head politely and apologized to Turan.

“I’m sorry. No matter how misleading the situation may have been…”

Turan looked down at her for a long moment before letting out a deep sigh and nodding.

He was angry about being attacked first, but since it was impulsive and, more importantly, because they had been concerned about the child’s safety at the time, he didn’t want to lash out too harshly.

It was rare to see nobles who cared so deeply about ordinary people like that.

After receiving apologies from the other three as well, Turan asked the question that had been on his mind the most.

“Were you perhaps here to catch this so-called Pyro Executioner?”

“Yes. When we saw someone at a recently burned site, we thought we’d finally caught them this time, but…”

Shaking her head in frustration at the wasted effort, Visen added confidently that now that they had a detailed description of the culprit, they’d be able to catch him.

“We have a born tracker among us.”

“A tracker?”

When Turan showed a surprised expression, Visen hesitated, then turned her head slightly, as if regretting her words.

Her gaze landed on a particularly small-framed woman among the three companions.

“Wait a minute, are you all from House Zahar? Then why are you here?”

The Enril Desert was an unimaginably far distance from here, and going further west from here would take them into House Arabion’s territory, wouldn’t it?

Could these people really be part of the infamous assassination group from Zahar, the ones who had once attempted to assassinate Meisa?

But for such a group, they all seemed rather unpolished and amateurish…

As if guessing Turan’s thoughts, Visen quickly shook her head.

“No, it’s not like that. We’re not-”

But Visen faltered and couldn’t continue her sentence.

As Turan stared at her intently, she finally gave up and revealed her identity with an air of resignation.

“We’re from Abacha.”

"Abacha, you mean House Carmine's?"

“Visen Carmine. And these are friends from vassal houses.”

Turan found it an extraordinary coincidence that these people hailed from Abacha, the port city he was headed to, which was also the stronghold of House Carmine.

Then again, considering that this village was largely under Carmine’s sphere of influence, it wasn’t entirely random.

“Aisha is a descendant of a family that intermarried with Zahar nobles several generations ago. Her bloodline manifested weakly, so while she’s skilled in detection magic, she’s not particularly adept at concealment.”

The bloodlines of great houses, formed through the fusion of various lineages, sometimes degraded over time, often resulting in the manifestation of only one ability from the original lineages.

Such cases were called “primitive bloodlines”, and great houses usually didn’t bother retrieving individuals with such diluted blood.

After all, the likelihood of a degraded bloodline becoming powerful again through another fusion was extremely low.

“I don’t know why the nobles of House Carmine would be hunting wizards here, but it doesn’t seem like a very prudent decision. Especially if you haven’t even brought knights with you.”

If you’re a noble, no matter how minor your house, wouldn’t you normally travel with a group of knights?

Whether as escorts or, as Turan despised, even as meat shields.

At his words, Visen’s group made expressions of disbelief.

“Well, coming from someone who travels entirely alone…”

“I can fully take responsibility for my own safety.”

Turan responded confidently to the timid remark of the man who had thrown the flaming spear earlier.

Given how he had just taken the flaming spear head-on earlier, his words carried plenty of weight.

“Besides, the four of you, judging by your looks, you’re not that old. Did you even get permission from your house to leave?”

Their flinching at his question confirmed his suspicions.

It was now certain, these four were runaway nobles who had left their house without authorization.

What other reason would young nobles have for wandering around dangerous areas without even a single knight in tow?

“Give up on this wizard hunt and go back home. It’s dangerous.”

The Pyro Executioner, from the looks of it, seemed to have mediocre skills, considering he only targeted defenseless rural villagers. However, this group was so unpolished that Turan couldn’t help but worry if they might even lose to such a subpar wizard.

If Turan were to fight these four, it wouldn’t take him more than ten minutes to take them all down.

It wasn’t just a matter of their magic power being weak or strong; their lack of experience in combat was evident from every angle.

“That’s not an option.”

Shaking her head, Visen explained their circumstances.

They were individuals who had been pushed aside within their house due to their lack of innate talent or low standing in the succession hierarchy. As a result, they were unable to receive a steady supply of magic power from the family, which was necessary for their growth.

The magical beasts supplied to the family were prioritized for members with exceptional potential, so these four had no choice but to supplement their strength and build their achievements in this way.

This was a common issue for many great houses.

The stronger the bloodline, the higher the likelihood of giving birth to noble-level wizards. However, there simply weren’t enough magical beasts to go around for all members.

Pilgrimages like the ones Ashiz undertook were one solution, but considering the costs and safety issues, it wasn’t feasible to provide such opportunities for everyone.

The number of knights available for protection was also limited.

“Turan, would you consider helping us hunt the Pyro Executioner? While the four of us may struggle with magic power, we’d be happy to give you the entire bounty on the criminal. Or… I could even transfer my share of magic power to you.”

“What are you saying, noona!”

“Unnie!”

"Don't say stupid things. I'd rather give up my share instead."

At Visen’s suggestion, the other three immediately protested, making it clear she was something of a respected leader among them.

The sight reminded Turan of Midan, the leader of the beast hunters he had met in Murei City.

“Do you have any idea how strong this Pyro Executioner actually is?”

“We’re certain he’s at least a noble-level wizard. Some of the villages he attacked had several knights stationed there, and they were all killed.”

This was also why the lord of a nearby city had not yet managed to subjugate the Pyro Executioner.

The knights alone couldn’t deal with him, and it would require a noble, or perhaps even the head of a great house, to intervene directly. However, it was difficult to track him down since no one knew where he lived or what he did. His attacks were random, both in timing and location, making it impractical to station forces in villages to wait for him.

If he were like the savage monkey-type magical beast that had once roamed the northern region of Baltas, attacking anyone passing by, it would be a simple matter of finding and eliminating him.

But human villains, this was what made them more troublesome than magical beasts.

“Alright.”

Turan recalled the unpleasant feeling he had when he saw beast hunters torn to pieces by rabbit-type magical beasts.

If these people were complete strangers, it might be different, but after speaking with them this much, he knew he’d feel the same kind of regret if they ended up dying.

Besides, it didn’t sit well with him to stand idly by while a self-proclaimed shepherd failed to protect the sheep and instead led them to their deaths.

Above all, if the Pyro Executioner turned out to be a stronger wizard than expected, it would be a good opportunity for Turan to further increase his magic power.

By now, Turan had reached the level of a mid-ranking noble in terms of magic power, and weak, low-level magical beasts no longer provided him with much growth.

“Now that we’ll be working together, may I ask which house you belong to, Turan?”

“I can use the power of the Guardian Bloodline.”

Although there was no longer much reason for him to conceal his bloodline, Turan still chose to hide it.

He didn’t want even a rumor of his true identity to reach the people of House Arabion, with whom he had grown close.

Additionally, the concealment ability of Zahar’s bloodline was far more effective when its existence wasn’t widely known.

“I see.”

The families that inherited combat-specialized bloodlines like the Guardian Bloodline typically didn’t possess their own territories. Such bloodlines had long since been weeded out due to their disadvantage in noble conflicts, particularly large-scale wars.

The few survivors, like Haram, either served as vassals for other houses or wandered as free agents. Visen and her group assumed that Turan was one of these wandering nobles.

In any case, it was clear that he was highly skilled, and that was enough for them.

* * *

Turan and Visen's group first took the sole survivor of the village, the young girl, to a nearby village.

The Village Chief there looked half-dazed as the lofty nobles suddenly appeared and entrusted him with the care of a child from the neighboring village.

“Here, I’ll give you plenty of money, so make sure she’s well cared for until she’s grown.”

“Of course! Absolutely, sir!”

“I’ll come back in a few years to check.”

Of course, it was unlikely that he’d actually come back to check, but saying this would ensure they wouldn’t dare mistreat her.

Turan knew firsthand just how cruel the residents of small villages could be to outsiders, especially to children.

“You’re kind. She’s just a commoner girl with no connection to you.”

“Well, yeah.”

The one who spoke to Turan was Kebak, the oldest among the four companions.

Kebak was of the Healer Bloodline, which, being a non-combat-oriented bloodline, typically had higher priority within noble families. He hadn’t needed to run away but had joined Visen out of loyalty.

It was also Kebak who had offered to give up his share of magic power for Turan.

“You don’t need to worry. I’m not interested in Visen.”

“W-what…?”

“Your behavior makes it obvious.”

At Turan’s comment, Kebak flushed with embarrassment.

To be honest, Turan hadn’t deduced it from Kebak’s behavior alone. Instead, it was the scent of arousal that Kebak gave off whenever he looked at Visen.

If someone like Aisha, the half-blood Zahar descendant, had a keen sense of smell like Turan, she probably would have noticed as well.

“What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing!”

As Visen returned after exchanging a few more words with the Village Chief, Kebak hurriedly tried to cover up the conversation.

Nodding in understanding, Visen turned her attention to Turan and spoke.

“I can’t stop thinking about what that girl said.”

“Do you think it’s true?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like it… I think it’s probably just the nonsense of a madman.”

On the way to the neighboring village, the girl Turan had saved suddenly recalled hearing a few words spoken by the Pyro Executioner while she was hiding in the basement.

The contents were bizarre, to say the least.

"Here, I offer sacrifices to the gods! As their descendant, I burn the souls and flesh to move closer to them!"

The wizard had reportedly shouted this while killing the villagers, claiming that he was becoming a being closer to the gods.

That was the testimony the girl had given.