The Shepherd Alone on the Hill is a Genius Wizard

After the enormous flames rose up, the gloomy atmosphere of Kalamaf City changed dramatically.

Whenever citizens gathered, they rejoiced in talking about the flames that had decorated the city's sky, that magnificent sight.

The belief that a powerful being stood firmly in the center of the city, and thus they wouldn't be one-sidedly slaughtered by foreign invaders who might suddenly attack.

That alone was enough to make people feel they were within a protective fence and feel relieved.

However, the great wizard Turan, who had received such worship from all of Kalamaf's citizens, wasn't in a particularly good mood.

This was because he had to listen to discussions led by several civil servants including Daruk, and merchants and guild leaders who couldn't leave due to having too many established foundations in the city.

"First, we need to resolve the firewood and building repair materials. Already more than dozens have frozen to death this winter."

"Food is more important than that! In a situation where citizens might start eating each other soon, is firewood really the problem?"

Though it seemed questionable why a nineteen-year-old youth should participate in such matters, in this city right now, any policy without Turan's involvement was worth no more than a beggar's orders.

Only when he participated and listened and approved could the civil servants carry the authority to push forward with any policy.

The reason civil servants had been listlessly shuffling papers wasn't because they had nothing to do, but because they had lost the authority of noble backing and couldn't do anything.

"But even if we try to import from villages or other cities, we don't have money."

"Well..."

Just listening to a bit of the meeting made it easy to guess how terrible the city's situation was.

Not only was there a shortage of all sorts of supplies needed to maintain the city, but they also lacked the resources and labor to resolve these issues.

This was because most of those who had possessed these two things had left for other cities.

Now it was understandable why nearby noble houses hadn't bothered to take over Kalamaf.

It seemed it might be better to wait for the city to completely collapse and then send new settlers to pioneer it.

While quietly listening to their discussion, Turan suddenly voiced a thought that occurred to him.

"I'll solve the food problem."

At those words, the noisy meeting hall instantly fell silent.

A relatively elderly merchant carefully asked.

"Protector of the city, might I ask how you plan to resolve the food situation?"

"I'll drive all the visible animals in this area to Kalamaf. Initially, we can increase portions with meat soup, and what's left can be salt-preserved or smoke-dried, which should be enough to get through winter."

This wasn't particularly difficult for the current Turan.

He could simply ride his black eagle, flying around and commanding all animals within the holy relic's sense range to move to Kalamaf.

No matter how he thought about it, there was no other way to secure enough food for thousands to survive the winter.

Any void created by the animals' migration would eventually be filled by animals moving in from more distant areas.

Everyone was shocked when they heard this.

"C-could such a thing really be possible... No, I absolutely don't doubt you, Protector!"

"But to use power granted by the gods for sustaining such lowly ones, dare we do such a thing?"

To commoners, wizards were beings who defeated beasts with tremendous power, not convenient workers who did things commoners could do.

It felt almost sacrilegious to ask such a transcendent being to drive animals.

Turan simply dismissed such anxieties.

"In the Dakein Plains to the north, nobles strike the ground with lightning after harvest. It's because it makes the soil more fertile for the next year. What I'm doing is no different."

Dozens of minutes later, as soon as the meeting ended, Turan flew a large circle around Kalamaf City just as he had said.

When he extended the holy relic's senses to their maximum, he could feel the presence of animals hidden throughout the gray rocky mountains.

"All of you, move toward that place. And when you arrive at the wall, stay still without moving."

At his quiet command, the animals began to move one by one.

Herds of mountain goats, rabbits, even wolves and leopards.

Even those hidden in the underbrush, invisible from the sky, became targets of magic the moment they fell within the holy relic's sense.

This kind of work didn't require such an enormous amount of magical power.

For Turan, who had been controlling sheep herds as naturally as breathing since childhood, animal control magic was one of his most practiced skills, almost as familiar as throwing stones.

Thanks to this, citizens soon saw animals that had been driven to the city standing in rows in front of the city walls, waiting to be slaughtered.

"Quickly catch them all... No, first kill the predators, and don't catch all the rabbits, pen them up. It would be better to feed them grass and raise them."

"I can't believe my eyes. Could noble lords do such things? But then why didn't the previous high ones..."

"It must be because our new protector is a much more powerful wizard, grandfather! Didn't you see that fire earlier?"

"Indeed. I spoke foolishly."

The process of slaughtering hundreds of animals, cooking their meat, and distributing it wasn't easy, but with all civil servants and police mobilized, and even citizens who had regained their vigor helping, the work somehow progressed.

Everyone's faces brightened after finally filling their stomachs with rich food.

After solving the food problem this way, they also easily resolved the issue of insufficient buildings for winter.

The solution was to open up the residence of the house that had ruled this place, located in the city center, to accommodate those who had no homes or whose homes were damaged.

As it was a space where over a hundred people could comfortably live originally, it could accommodate about a thousand people if they packed in a bit more densely.

"Then, where will the city's protector stay..."

"I can just stay in the city hall lodgings. There's a bed there, so it's not bad at all."

Turan calmly answered the astonished civil servants.

Having lived his whole life as a shepherd and later becoming accustomed to wandering and sleeping outdoors, Turan wasn't attached to mansions.

Besides, the valuable items had all been taken away by the few remaining family members when they fled, leaving it half in ruins anyway.

In any case, this too was immediately implemented with authority no different from a divine command.

"Now, now! Everyone move slowly! The city's protector doesn't want citizens getting hurt!"

"Children, line up over here!"

"Can we really live here?"

"That's what they said. Be grateful to the protector."

"My word, instead of the shepherd tending and slaughtering sheep, he's feeding them his own flesh - how can we ever repay this?"

Thus, Turan became even more deified through the words of citizens who got to stay in the lord's mansion they never thought they'd even see in their lives, but he didn't particularly care about such reputation.

What he wanted now was one thing.

For this city to return to normal as quickly as possible, so he could find clues about his mother.

==

A few days later, the cities surrounding Kalamaf noticed the changes in this dying city.

Not only had the stream of refugees roaming around suddenly stopped, but merchant groups were even traveling around nearby villages selling furs to buy grain and cloth.

Moreover, since Turan hadn't particularly asked to keep his existence secret, the merchants revealed this freely.

"Turan of Kalamaf?"

"Yes. One who calls himself that has become the master of Kalamaf City. More precisely, he calls himself the city's protector rather than its lord."

The master of Bigen, a city three days' journey from Kalamaf, exclaimed at this interesting news.

"City's protector - quite an interesting title. His age?"

"I heard he appears to be around twenty."

"That's too young."

"Yes. But they say he showed magic that filled the sky with flames visible from anywhere in the city. Even considering it's commoners' words, he must certainly be skilled."

The master of Bigen stroked his beard thoughtfully at his knight-advisor's words.