The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

Chapter 74 The Soul Ages, Not the Body (2)

When Turan didn't come out even after waiting a while, she clicked her tongue and rose from the hot spring.

"Ugh, I suppose I'll have to call it a day here. Won't be able to visit here often anymore. How can I bathe comfortably with some unknown person peeping..."

Hearing the woman's words, the monkey magical beast snorted and stamped its feet.

Was it pleading her not to say that?

He knew monkeys were quite intelligent, but this magical beast seemed able to understand human speech like Bize.

Watching their interaction from afar with his holy relic's senses, Turan hesitated briefly before dropping his concealment at some distance away and approached them.

"I apologize for my rudeness. I had no ill intent—I approached to check if there was any danger when I sensed human presence in a place where magical beasts appear."

Since the woman was still unclothed, Turan kept his gaze lowered.

Of course, since he could read mana with the Mimicker holy relic, he could respond immediately if they tried to ambush him.

Seeing Turan, rather than getting angry, the woman burst into hearty laughter.

"My, what a handsome young man! No need for apologies, rather this side lucked out. Ho ho, Aikul. Relax your expression. So you were trying to help this old woman?"

"Yes."

"What a kind-hearted person. Such people are rare these days."

Surprisingly, the woman walked right up to him wearing nothing and stroked his head.

When Turan flinched at her defenseless attitude, she looked down at her body and burst out laughing.

"This fellow isn't just looking young but really is young? No need to avert your eyes. I'm over three hundred years old and have had twelve husbands—what's showing my body to a child younger than my great-grandchildren?"

At those words, Turan raised his head to look directly at her.

Unlike her words, her face and body appeared to be only in her late twenties or early thirties at most.

"This old woman's name is Rida. Rida Labitas. And you?"

As expected, she was a Labitas noble.

Well, what other reason would such a powerful person have to be here?

"I'm Turan. I came from Kalamaf."

"Kalamaf? Isn't that in the far Grey Zone? You've come from quite far!"

Though Turan had stated his origin rather than house, instead of asking about this Rida just laughed heartily and reached back.

The Monkey King tossed her clothes, looking like old friends.

"Elder Rida... are you soul-bonded with that magical beast?"

"Hmm? No, nothing like that. Just old friends. I've always liked bathing in hot springs here. This fellow has probably lived here for a thousand years. Even my grandfather's grandfather said it was here in his childhood."

"I'll have to make one now, it seems."

Originally he had planned to use the large capacity pouch, but it felt somewhat awkward to reveal a holy relic in front of a high noble of Labitas.

Turan knocked down the largest nearby tree and hollowed out one side to make a basket-like shape like a small boat.

"Oh, can you carry that?"

"This much is quite possible."

Turan moved sulfur lumps scattered around with psychokinetic magic.

As hundreds of kilograms of sulfur moved neatly to fill inside, seeing this, Rida clapped her hands and spoke.

"Your magic skill is very good. Unlike your age."

"You flatter me."

"What flattery? At your age I couldn't do anything but heal people!"

Rida rambled on like a true elderly person, saying she wished her house's children were polite and modest like Turan.

Turan listened quietly before casually asking her a question.

"Do all Labitas nobles look like Elder Rida?"

"Hmm?"

"Looking much younger than your actual age, I mean. Unlike how you speak, to me you don't even look a hundred..."

Before Turan could finish speaking, Rida burst out laughing and slapped his shoulder.

The sulfur loaded in the basket spilled out at the impact.

"Oh my, sorry. But you shouldn't say such things with that face! How many young ladies have you enchanted talking like that until now!"

"I just said what I saw."

"Now you're trying to enchant this old woman too."

Rida stroked her face while saying words that might be jokes or not.

"Nobles with healer and purifier bloodlines stop aging completely once their power reaches a certain level. Using healing and purification power together can fix the body's time."

"Then..."

Turan was about to ask if that meant they could live forever, but recalled the memorial pillar seen during the day.

Hadn't he just seen today that even the head of House Labitas, not just an ordinary member, had died?

Perhaps knowing what question he was trying to ask, Rida grinned and answered.

"Why we can't live forever is because nobles dying of old age is actually due to the soul aging, not the body."

Saying this, Rida smiled mischievously like a grandmother telling a secret story to her grandson.