He ran toward it, and found the body of one of Medan's men.
Following the trail, he realized that they were all dead. Medan himself among them.
One of the men was still barely alive, and managed to say that the one responsible was a monster rabbit.
The creature was still there, devouring one of the bodies. It was far larger than any monster Turan had hunted in that city. It had attacked Medan too.
In an instant the thing lunged and tore an entire tree out of the ground with its bite, and Turan barely managed to dodge. It was too fast. So he pulled out his sling and used wind magic to spin it faster, firing stones like a barrage of missiles.
Even so, the rabbit was already used to ranged attacks and destroyed everything before any of it could reach him.
Soon after, the creature charged again like a bull — but when it looked ahead, Turan was no longer there. He vanished, and reappeared behind the monster, driving a dagger into its neck. The rabbit tried to react, but he repeated the same strategy again and again, disappearing and striking, until the monster grew exhausted and too weak to keep up. In the end it died from blood loss.
When the body finally went still, Turan absorbed the monster's mana, and realized that it was far greater than that of the other creatures he had hunted. Greater even than the leopard he had faced before.
The surviving man, impressed, asked whether he was a mage, and why he was hiding his identity.
Without answering directly, Turan asked whether those four men had any family he could deliver their belongings to.
The survivor said no. Their only family had been their leader.
That made Turan remember a conversation with Medan, who had told him about a large city nearby called Oren, where there was a gigantic library holding thousands of books. The detail was that only mages were allowed to enter.
At that moment Turan decided that he would go to Oren.
Later he buried all of the bodies, and said quietly that he hoped Medan was at peace, wherever he might be.
After that he joined a line of travelers waiting to enter the city, and began to think it was almost embarrassing how impressed he had been by the small town of Mure.
When he finally reached Oren, he was stunned. There were far too many people. He had never imagined such a long line, with guards inspecting everyone and searching for criminals.
When it was his turn, a guard denied him entry because of his appearance, saying he had never seen such filthy clothes, and ordering him to clean himself up before trying again.
Some time later, now clean, Turan stood before an enormous tower — the library Medan had mentioned. The place had an oppressive and imposing presence, as if it had been built with magic.
When he tried to enter, he said that he wanted access to the library, and the guard replied that only mages were allowed inside. Turan stated that he was a mage, and the guard did not take him seriously, and called him a lunatic. Then he decided to test him by trying to sense his mana — something Keoran had explained, that mages can recognize one another through mana.
When Turan revealed his true energy, the guard was shocked. He even fell to the ground. He realized that this boy's level was comparable to that of a noble.
He introduced himself then as Meza of the house of Valtus, and asked which house Turan belonged to.
Turan questioned whether he needed to answer that in order to enter, and Meza explained that he did not — but that to use the library he would need the master's permission, so he would go and inform him immediately.
Later, Turan felt slightly disappointed, having thought the process would be simpler. Instead he found himself being treated as a guest, being washed by maids in a bath.
Feeling awkward, he asked them to stop, and wondered whether he could not just wash himself, but the maids said they would be punished if they failed to properly attend a guest. With little choice, he let them continue.
After that he received formal clothes from the Valtus family, and even the maids were impressed by how he looked.
Someone else was surprised as well, and commented that he had looked like a beggar before, but now looked like a prince.