WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈

Episode 29

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“L-Lady, what on earth did you do...?”

Lola whispered quickly in a tiny voice, but no one heard.

‘I-I messed up.’

I had never imagined it would fly that far.

How could something thrown by a spectator reach the very middle of the arena? It was only a bouquet, not a ball.

I could hardly believe it even after seeing it with my own eyes, but I had to fix this somehow.

The gladiator in the black helmet lifted his head.

Ah, he recognized me.

Then again, everyone in the nearby seats was staring directly at me.

“I-I’m sorry!”

The moment our eyes seemed to meet, I sprang to my feet.

Only my voice rang through the arena, which had gone silent as a grave.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Still seated, the woman beside me grabbed my sleeve.

“What are you doing? How can a noble apologize to a gladiator who is practically one of the lowborn?”

The woman glanced sideways at the gladiator and whispered in my ear.

“You don’t need to apologize to someone like that. Sit down already.”

She almost sounded kind at first.

‘No, I should still apologize. I hit him in the head, of all places.’

As I hesitated over how to respond, the gladiator lightly bowed his head.

“Ah... he accepted my apology.”

“Honestly, you’re hopeless.”

The woman beside me did not seem pleased with me.

“...”

Perhaps because the momentum had been broken, the gladiator did not continue with any remarks.

He simply picked up the bouquet that had fallen to the ground and been covered in dust.

Then he stared at it for a long while.

As though it were some kind of championship trophy.

* * *

It was late afternoon, and we had stopped by a restaurant for a rare meal out.

“Lady, are you still thinking about that person?”

Lola’s voice brought me back to myself. More than half of the fruit dessert had disappeared.

Oh, the figs were gone.

Disappointed, I picked up another piece of fruit instead. A European plum I had never eaten in my previous life.

Mm, this was good too. As expected of an expensive restaurant, the quality was excellent.

“I feel bad.”

“I shouldn’t have egged you on. Who could have known you were so strong, Lady?”

“Right. I didn’t know either.”

How could I have expected it?

I had once been too frail even to hold my mother’s hand, yet after switching bodies, I had thrown a bouquet like a fastball.

“Don’t worry about it too much. He probably just laughed it off.”

Lola said this as she quietly slipped some walnuts into her pocket.

Madam Fadde finally added a word as well.

“Do not take it so much to heart. You look terribly worried.”

“I’m not worried. I just have something to think about.”

“Think about? What is it?”

“It’s not something I should discuss here...”

The other tables around us were full, as expected on the final day of the holiday.

At the table beside us, people were tearing into an entire roasted pork leg.

“Should we move somewhere else?”

“I want to join Grand Duke Isherwolf’s household.”

Silence fell at once.

Madam Fadde and Lola stayed quiet while the tea we had ordered slowly cooled.

“W-where did you say you wanted to join?”

When Madam Fadde finally answered, she sounded unmistakably flustered.

She seemed to consider my determined expression for a moment.

“...I-Is this because of that man? The champion?”

“Yes.”

“!”

Madam Fadde and Lola looked horrified, while my expression remained serious.

I could still picture it clearly.

Every breathtaking detail I had seen as the cold air entered my lungs.

The black helmet gleaming beneath the fierce noon sunlight.

He had been unrivaled.

Enough to catch the eye of someone who had lived a completely opposite life.

For the first time since coming back to life, I felt a desire as intense as his presence.

His body.

I wanted it.

The strength to subdue an opponent carrying a blade with nothing but unarmed combat.

A sturdy body capable of carrying out every movement exactly as intended.

The spirit to bring out a strange weapon and be certain of victory.

I wanted all of it.

I would have it. That strength.

‘I want to be strong. So that no one can ever take away my freedom again.’

“V-Vivette.”

Madam Fadde stroked her teacup as if soothing it.

“It seems that person made quite an impression on you.”

“Yes.”

For some reason, both their faces darkened.

“R-Right. Well... it happens easily at your age.”

Madam Fadde took a small sip of tea as though nothing were wrong, but she did not look calm at all.

Her cup was trembling slightly.

“But how do you plan to join Isherwolf?”

“They’re recruiting candidates for the Grand Duke’s knight order.”

That was what the man had been promoting earlier.

“I want to apply, Madam.”

“A knight order? You mean you want to become a knight? One belonging to the Grand Duke’s household?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Then?”

“I’ve always wanted to learn swordsmanship.”

There was no need to be satisfied with merely watching anymore.

I was free. From illness, from my family, and from the limits of time and money.

“You plan to apply to a knight order just to learn swordsmanship?”

“Yes. If I pass as a candidate, I’ll train for twenty weeks. Then I can decide whether to join the order or not.”

Of course, no matter how strong Vivette’s body was, I would probably fail before I completed all twenty weeks.

But even if I somehow lasted until the end, I simply would not join the order.

“You know quite a bit about it. Where did you hear this?”

“From that gladiator.”

After the martial arts tournament ended and the spectators poured out in a crowd.

I happened to see that man outside the waiting room.

He had taken off his helmet and changed into a neat white shirt.

Before I knew it, I was drawn to speak to him.

“Ah, excuse me!”

The man, wearing a black gentleman’s hat pulled low over his face, flinched.

Before the gladiator could turn around, two men with swords at their waists stepped in front of me.

‘Gladiatorial arena staff?’

I forced a smile to prove I meant no harm.

“You’re the champion, right? I wanted to apologize again for what happened earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

One of the men blocking my way asked in a deep voice, as if telling me to leave.

“I hit him in the head with something I threw.”

“What? No!”

The man strode toward me.

“You struck him?”

Then the gladiator spoke, pulling his hat even lower.

“Step back.”

It was his voice after all.

Calm, like a breeze.

“But she said she hit you!”

“She merely threw a bouquet to congratulate me. A gladiator whose work is to be cut and stabbed cannot make an issue of being hit by flowers thrown by a young lady, can he?”

“Ah... a bouquet...?”

The staff member who had misunderstood me awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

The gladiator approached me.

He was so large that, viewed from behind him, my entire body would have been hidden by his.

As I faltered at his overwhelming build, he suddenly grew shorter.

The champion had bent at the waist before me.

Somehow, his hat stayed firmly stuck to his head without falling off.

“I am greatly pleased that someone so noble would apologize even for such a small matter.”

There was absolutely no need for this.

Only then did the woman beside me at the arena come to mind.

‘She said gladiators were no better than the lowborn.’

I could feel it firsthand.

Plaford was terribly strict about social status.

“I should properly thank you for supporting a mere gladiator like myself, but I apologize that this lowly man is busy and cannot give you much of his time.”

His manner was excessively polite and formal.

As though a great noble were addressing the Emperor...

“There’s no need for that! I was simply glad to see you and spoke without thinking. I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time. Goodbye.”

I felt embarrassed, and he had said he was busy, so I was about to leave.

“Wait, my lady.”

If he had not stopped me.

“Yes?”

“How did you know it was me?”

The gladiator looked over his clothes from head to toe.

“My attire is completely different from when I was fighting.”

“I could just tell it was you.”

“Why?”

“You were the only gladiator who walked with such dignity.”

“...You noticed my gait?”

He seemed surprised.

Even that expression was gentlemanly, making him seem like a great noble.

A brief silence passed between us.

“You belong to House Isherwolf.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Does that knight order truly accept anyone?”

“Every few years, we conduct a large-scale recruitment of candidates.”

His neat, quiet voice echoed through the corridor, now empty of people.

“Isherwolf needs many talented people, so we would be grateful for anyone who applies.”

More than the information about the knight order’s recruitment, which I had been curious about, his voice was sweeter.

The gladiator kindly explained it all to me without changing his posture for quite some time.

“Hey, young lady. Why are you asking our gladiator about that when you have no interest in it?”

The arena staff member standing beside us demanded.

“I do have an interest.”

“What...?”

“I’m going to apply to the Isherwolf Knights.”

“!”

The gladiator’s head lifted slightly.

The staff member cried out in disbelief.

“Just because they said anyone can apply, do you think they meant literally anyone?”

“That is what he said.”

“You should at least know how to hold a sword before they’ll even look at your application!”

The staff member made a great fuss.

I did not know why he took it so personally when the Isherwolf Knights would handle it themselves.

Perhaps he had suffered through something similar before. He seemed deeply invested.

“Because of hopeless applicants like you, every time we have to...!”

“Enough.”

The gladiator raised a hand to stop him.

‘Hm? Can a gladiator treat a staff member like that?’

As I wondered, the gladiator gave another shallow bow.

Then he said exactly this.

“House Isherwolf recruits female knights as long as they have ability, so we would be grateful if you applied. However, the Mage Corps is also recruiting at present, so mages would be better suited to apply there.”

The hat that had seemed too refined for a gladiator lingered in my thoughts.

‘He mistook me for a mage.’

Probably because of my hair color.

In many cases, having white hair at a young age meant that someone was a mage.

There were usually two possibilities.

They were a member of House Ashwilt, or they were extremely skilled.

Mana placed a kind of stress on the human body.

That was why prolonged exposure caused one’s hair to turn white.

Ordinary mages rarely reached that point, so they would usually grow white hair from age first.

‘Powerful mages like the Mage Tower Master have white hair even while young.’

So there was a good chance that man had taken me for a very powerful mage. That was more likely than a member of House Ashwilt coming to watch a martial arts tournament in the capital.

But still.

Someone would only know that if they were a mage or knew that world well.

How could a mere lowborn gladiator know it?

‘Even people in the capital do not get many chances to meet mages.’

And mages were always fewer than they appeared to be.

Frauds pretending to be mages were everywhere.

I was one example. My hair was silver, but I was not a mage.

I only twirled the ends of my innocent hair around my fingers.

‘Apply to the Mage Corps? Not a chance.’

I would apply to the Isherwolf Knights.

As a candidate.

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