The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

While there were magical beast hunters like Midan's group who were purely driven by the desire to become mages, there were more who used magical beast hunting itself as a means of livelihood.

More precisely, they should be called people who did both magical beast hunting and regular hunting.

The lowest grade magical beasts they hunted became food for young mages to build power, and since it was more convenient to pay money to search than look for them individually, mage families also paid bounties to those who brought magical beasts.

Most magical beast hunters Turan had seen in passing were of that type, and none had god fragments like Midan.

"Hmm, looking for mages behaving strangely... is inefficient?"

"Right. It's not exactly common either."

Considering that the only sure way to distinguish them was for Turan to see with his own eyes, it seemed there was no method other than hoping to encounter them by chance.

After chatting in the carriage for who knows how long, Solif, who had the best eyes among them, pointed ahead and said.

"We're here."

"Already?"

"Flying really is fast."

Shortly after, the horizon began to appear in Turan and Meisa's view as well.

Since Bize was flying quite high, it still took about an hour and a half from there to actually reach the coast.

After landing on the shore, Solif spoke in a voice that seemed lost in emotion while looking at the sea.

"It's been a while since coming to the North Sea."

"You've been here before?"

"Originally came over from Baraha toward the North Sea."

"Ah, that's right. This is my first time coming to the sea."

Meisa dipped her hand in the seawater with curiosity and splashed around before tasting it and making a face at the saltiness.

Seeing her act like an innocent girl made him smile automatically.

After spending some time at the beach, they immediately headed to a nearby fishing village to confirm exactly where they were.

After brief inquiries, they learned they were on the coast north of Abacha.

Hearing this, Solif clicked his tongue as if disappointed.

"Tsk, I wanted to visit Abacha too."

"From what I saw when I went, there wasn't much special about it. Wouldn't visiting where the Drowned God's remains are be more interesting?"

"Well... that's true."

According to Imir, the Prea god-folk nicknamed the 'Lawyer' would be staying in Abacha, Kamain's capital.

While they had freely entered before not knowing this, it felt burdensome to walk in knowing that fact.

Knowing this, Solif also just made one light complaint without saying more.

Afterwards, after visiting several fishing villages, they were soon able to acquire a fairly large fishing boat.

It was one with a single sail and a large cabin below deck plus a room serving as a bathroom, just the right size for navigating near the coast.

"Just in case I should mention, don't take it far out. It'll flip over if the waves get even a bit rough."

The old fisherman who received the payment for the boat gave exactly such advice.

With Turan giving the impression of a young lord, the cold lady Meisa, and Solif who looked somewhat plain but still showed nobility from growing up wealthy.

When not a single one looked like a skilled sailor yet they suddenly said they would take a boat, he couldn't help but worry.

Though he had received payment so that was that, but how can human hearts be so simple?

"Thank you for the advice."

After smoothly accepting the fisherman's concerns with a gentle smile, Turan immediately prepared to set sail.

While maintaining the boat according to his words, Solif asked.

"Are you sure this kind of boat is really okay? I was lucky not to encounter them last time, but I heard North Sea storms are terrible."

"We have two Arabion nobles, what's there to worry about? Plus if there's really no choice, we can just abandon the boat and fly away, so it's much better to take a cheap boat."

"I see."

Shortly after, having completed all preparations, they raised anchor and unfurled the sail.

While Turan and Meisa took turns blowing wind and Solif parted the waters they encountered at the bow, the boat advanced as if flying.

"This is refreshing-!"

Surprisingly, the one who shouted this was Meisa rather than Solif.

It seemed her first sailing experience being so thrilling made quite an impression.

Maybe she would writhe in boredom later when seeing normal sailboats moving slowly.

Fortunately, since none of the three got seasick, there were no particular obstacles to sailing.

Food and water were practically overflowing at sea anyway.

Aiming to use Miguel Island from his past visit as a reference point, Turan set the destination southeast using the compass he had received as a gift and began sailing.

And after about a day and a half had passed-

"This is boring..."

Meisa, who had been excited about her first sailing, didn't even need to ride a normal sailboat to feel boredom.

Aren't people naturally quick to become dulled to stimulation?

And sailing was just the continuous repetition of the same stimulation.

"Turan, found anything?"

"No, not yet."

"Turan, how about now?"

"Haven't found anything."

"Tu-"

"Nothing."

Among the three, only Turan could use the Mimicker sacred artifact to sense magical power.

Therefore, before long, only questions from the two asking if Turan had found anything and his answers that he hadn't continued.

Of course, Turan could sense quite a lot of magical beasts through the sacred artifact's senses.

Unlike on land, the sea was a battleground where magical beasts that weren't easily hunted by humans ate and were eaten by each other.

But even some of the exceptionally strong ones among such beasts were only at mid-tier or upper mid-tier noble level, and there was no presence of magical beasts powerful enough to actually help the three of them.

The only one excited was Bize, who could now deliciously devour the horse mackerel Turan caught.

Solif looked out at the sea and lamented.

"You know, even though we're spending time blankly just like when flying... sailing somehow feels more boring."

"Well, when riding Bize we usually get down to rest halfway through, and when we don't it's because we're in such a hurry we don't have time to think about being bored."

"I guess so."

"Maybe it's because the boat is small. It might have been better if we'd bought some reading material."

At Meisa's words, while considering whether they should have stopped by another Kamain port city rather than Abacha, Turan's eyes widened at the presence he felt ahead.

"Oh."

"What?"

"Finally, what you've been waiting for has come."

"A magical beast? How strong is it? Top-tier?"

While calming down Solif who was making a fuss, probably from how bored he had been, Turan lightly raised his hand to feel the flow of the wind.

Meisa, who had also felt the wind, was already slightly frowning.

"No, a storm."

At Turan's words, Solif's face crumpled.