WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Malfoid
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈
Episode 41
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* * *
“Grrraaaah...”
A broad-chested man groaned, his face red.
He was not the only one.
Everyone holding the testing dumbbells scattered around the hall looked unwell.
Some could not even lift them.
“It only counts if you do it three times.”
In contrast, the examiner was cold. With a perfectly calm expression, he wrote down their scores.
The test began with bicep curls.
They wanted to measure bicep strength.
With proper form, the weights were absurd. Even active knights would struggle to lift them.
Still.
“Is it really all right to do it like that?”
I pointed at an applicant practically twisting their whole body.
They were lifting the dumbbell with nearly their entire body.
A grand ducal knight leaning against the wall shrugged at my question.
“They lifted it. What’s the problem?”
“Just lifting it is enough? Their form...”
“Hey, worry about that during training. This is an exam. As long as they get results, their form doesn’t matter.”
“...”
“Would you complain about proper form with an enemy drawing a sword before you?”
That wasn’t the point. The measurements wouldn’t be accurate.
But there was no arguing if that was the testing policy.
“Ducal daughter, are you upset because you’re worried that person might pass?”
“Ho ho ho. You can do it too, Ducal daughter. It’s not as if you lack skill, so what’s the problem?”
The young ladies from earlier passed by me, laughing amongst themselves.
I watched them struggle through the movement in ridiculous poses.
Their form was so terrible that it would be a relief if they didn’t get hurt, never mind get any exercise.
Still, the results themselves were excellent. Since they only had to lift the weights, every sort of compensatory movement must have come into play.
The examiner’s sheet showed towering scores that could not possibly be called an average for applicants.
‘No wonder people say the Isherwolf Knights are the strongest on the continent.’
They were completely overrated.
I nearly pressed a hand to my forehead. Still, absurd was absurd, and...
‘Can I use this?’
If everyone else was exploiting loopholes, I had to do the same to earn points. If that was the policy, I would gladly follow it.
I calmly watched the applicants exert themselves in every possible posture.
The line before me dwindled at a frightening rate, and by the time I had finished calculating in my head...
“Next. Vivette Ashwilt.”
It was already my turn.
Flipping through the pages of the document, the examiner asked in a dry voice,
“There are three weight levels: high, medium, and low. You get one chance at each. Which will you try first?”
“The lowest one.”
When I chose the safe option, the waiting applicants snickered.
It was not just those young ladies who disliked me.
Most people here, no, most knights, probably disliked me.
Not because I was a mage, but because I came from House Ashwilt.
“Do mages think swordsmanship is easy? Look at her taking this on so late in life.”
“That ducal daughter looks like she’ll fail even the basic test and go home crying.”
Well, throwing myself into their field with no preparation might make it seem as though I was taking it lightly.
I walked over and laid my hand on the cold dumbbell.
As everyone waited for me to fail, I bent my elbow and lifted it without hesitation.
In the same pose everyone else had confidently attempted.
At the same time, however, I pulled my shoulder back.
‘All the way. Use all my strength.’
Drawing on even the strength from my past life, the dumbbell obediently rose in my grasp.
It felt as though the barely lifted weight were dragging me into the underground tunnel beneath the grand ducal estate.
“You must repeat it two more times for it to count.”
Having done it once, there was no way I couldn’t do it three times.
“One, two. Success. Next.”
‘Whew.’
Lightly rubbing my still-tingling arm, I headed for the next dumbbell.
It was a little heavier, but there was nothing to fear if I used the same method.
Bend my arm to ninety degrees while drawing my shoulder back forty-five degrees.
It was the most natural and efficient curling pattern my soul remembered.
Success. Then I moved to the final, heaviest dumbbell.
There was no reason to doubt myself. Even when my muscles had only grown weaker, I had picked up cups and lifted things this way.
To use damaged muscles somehow, I had to think.
Otherwise, if I remained helpless and unable to do anything...
‘It would only become more of a burden on my family!’
“Another success. Ashwilt, full marks.”
At the examiner’s flat, stiff voice, the corner of my mouth curled upward.
Toward the hyenas who had wanted me to fail.
“T-that young lady got full marks?”
“How? Damn it, I couldn’t even lift the last one!”
My shoulders ached as though they might dislocate from lifting what I should not have been able to, but seeing their expressions made it worthwhile.
“Does that make any sense? She must have used some witch’s trick. Maybe she enhanced her body! I refuse to accept it!”
“But that woman isn’t a witch. They say she can’t use magic.”
“...That is true.”
Watching their baffled faces, I naturally moved into the next section.
‘Good. I just need to keep this up.’
* * *
‘Hmm. My score is cutting it close.’
After calculating the scores from the following tests, the outcome was not entirely hopeful.
My average score in strength and endurance needed to exceed sixty to pass.
To feel safe, I needed at least sixty points in the strength tests as well. Yet my score so far was, sadly, under forty.
No matter how hard I tried, I lacked absolute strength.
A score below forty meant automatic failure. The reasons to fail were everywhere.
‘If I want to avoid failing with less than forty percent, I need more points in strength.’
Only one strength test remained.
But what could that last test possibly be? It had not yet been revealed.
“It’ll probably be more dumbbell lifting or bodyweight exercises like before.”
“No. If it were, we would’ve figured it out already. They’ve gathered everyone who passed the previous tests and made us wait. It must be something different.”
Whether they were curious about the next test or simply tired of mocking me, people no longer paid me any attention.
Except for those young ladies from earlier, who kept giggling beside me without any sign of giving up.
“So, Ducal daughter, have you finished proving your skills?”
“You seem to have worked quite hard, but our turn came first, so we couldn’t see the ducal daughter perform. What a shame.”
“...”
My eyes smoothly turned toward them.
I would have ignored them before, but the grand ducal house had gathered everyone together and made us wait, so there was nowhere to go.
I had silently endured their insolence for a while, but I was reaching my limit.
“Ducal daughter, you seem very interested in swords. It pains me to think you’ll be discouraged here. So I would like to give you an opportunity.”
“How does a young lady intend to give me an opportunity?”
“My house has a knight order too.”
The sword-bearing ladies burst into laughter together.
“If you apply, Ducal daughter, we’ll admit you immediately after a simple test. I’ll personally cross swords with you, so don’t worry.”
“You’re too cruel.”
Did they think I wouldn’t realize that they wanted an excuse to beat me up under the pretense of testing my swordsmanship?
My gaze settled directly on her.
“W-what is it?”
There was no way toxic mana could rise from me like it did from Duke Ashwilt, yet they flinched excessively.
“Which house are you from?”
“W-why do you ask?”
“Why should we tell you?”
They bristled at being asked their names.
I tilted my head.
“You told me to apply to your house earlier.”
“!”
“So tell me. Which house is it?”
“I-I’ve changed my mind! Even if you come, Ducal daughter, we won’t accept you.”
Their shallow, transparent thoughts were so obvious that I almost laughed.
“Really? Tell me anyway.”
“Why? You have no reason to ask anymore!”
“Since your house has rejected me, shouldn’t House Ashwilt refuse anything that comes from yours as well?”
The mouths of those who had been chattering noisily shut at once.
“Y-you mean...”
“Yes, we should cut off all dealings with your house.”
House Ashwilt was not called the king of mages for nothing.
More than half of the goods and services produced across Erenston came from House Ashwilt.
And the other half would be impossible to obtain if House Ashwilt interfered.
In other words, anyone who incurred House Ashwilt’s displeasure could not avoid utter ruin.
Unable to receive healing magic even when gravely ill, they would lose access to various medicinal ingredients and every high-quality product regarded as a luxury by the capital’s nobility.
Or so the young ladies thought. Their faces darkened so quickly that I almost felt sorry for them.
‘Was I too harsh on children?’
Just as that thought crossed my mind, one of the ringleaders slightly bowed at the waist.
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry.”
She did not look sorry at all, but she moved swiftly, as befitted a knight aspirant.
Leading her friends, she fled into the crowd like an arrow.
“Hah.”
They should have done that from the start. Unfortunately for them, I had memorized their faces.
Since it was such an unpleasant memory, it would probably stay with me for a long time.
Well, even if I saw them somewhere and learned which houses they belonged to, I could not actually harm them.
I had almost cut ties with House Ashwilt, after all.
More importantly, the next test mattered. This test would practically determine whether I passed or failed.
The examiner finally appeared and stepped onto the platform.
“Attention!”
His wildcat-like voice tore through the air of the hall, silencing the noisy crowd.
“I will announce the test method. This is confidential information within the Isherwolf Knights. Anyone who speaks of it outside should be prepared for the consequences.”
The bloodshot threat made the applicants tense.
What kind of test could be important enough to keep secret from outsiders?
The curtains in the great hall behind the examiner were drawn aside, revealing a curious object.
“That is...?”
My eyes widened slightly as well.
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