WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 106

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A Genius, a Genius, and Yet Another Genius (1)

It had been three days since Airen Farreira's group crossed paths with Brett Lloyd and Judith.

They'd folded into the party as naturally as if they'd been traveling together from the start.

Airen had expected the two to hit it off easily enough, given how easygoing Kubharu was and how much Lulu already liked Judith, but even he hadn't expected them to grow this close this fast.

What surprised him most, though, was the relationship between Kubharu and Brett Lloyd.

"Bourbon? I've heard of it, but I've never actually had any. Mind if I try a sip?"

"Of course. Here you go."

"Hm... better than I expected. Sweeter and richer than regular whiskey, but..."

"Heh heh. That's the charm of bourbon for you. The corn base and the different oak barrels make for a completely different flavor. And you know what? What you just drank was only aged three years."

"What... only three years, and it tastes like this?"

"Heh heh. The regions where bourbon's made run hot, so it can't age long to begin with. Still good, though, isn't it?"

"Definitely... not bad."

Airen had no idea when Brett Lloyd had picked up the hobby, but the man clearly knew his liquor.

Still, even someone like him couldn't hold a candle to Kubharu, a drinker's drinker if there ever was one.

Brett peppered the fortune-teller orc with question after question, eager to learn more about the deep, wide world of alcohol.

Kubharu, for his part, couldn't have been happier about it.

Surrounded by the wholesome company of Airen and Lulu, he'd been drinking alone all this time. Now he finally had a drinking buddy. Of course he was thrilled.

Thanks to that, the two of them grew close at a startling pace without Airen needing to step in at all.

On paper, the image of a high-ranking noble listening intently to a wandering orc coachman ramble about liquor sounded like an odd match. But watching them, Airen could have sworn they'd known each other for ten years.

Of course, Kubharu didn't limit his bonding to Brett alone.

If anything, he'd grown just as close with Judith, maybe closer, and the thing that had bridged the two of them was, of all things, fortune-telling.

"You had a persimmon tree in your old neighborhood growing up, didn't you?"

"...How did you know that?"

"Lots of cats wandering around too, I'd bet."

"...!"

"And there was a shop sign with a marlin painted on it, wasn't there?"

"H, how do you even know that!"

The start of it had been ordinary enough.

Like any half-decent fortune-teller, Kubharu had opened with the kind of vague, broadly applicable guesses that were bound to land somewhere.

How many neighborhoods didn't have at least one persimmon tree?

How many didn't have cats?

Judith, drunk at the time, had even mentioned a black cat wandering around where she used to live, though she didn't remember saying it clearly.

The one detail that seemed like a genuine stretch was the marlin sign, but even that made sense once you considered where Judith had grown up.

The eastern Pavar coast was famous for its marlin catches, so a sign like that showing up somewhere nearby wasn't strange at all.

Whatever the reason, that string of hits had left Judith an absolute believer in Kubharu's fortune-telling skill.

Not only that, she'd grown genuinely grateful to him for reading her fortune free of charge.

"Pathetic. I told you before, you believe in superstitions way too easily. That's how you ended up drunk and making a mess in front of Lulu that one time..."

"Bring that up one more time and you're dead. I mean it."

"...Whatever. Just don't get so caught up in that stuff. You never listen no matter how many times I say it, but still..."

"Are you badmouthing Kubharu right now?"

"No, I'm close with Kubharu too, that's not even what I'm saying..."

"Astrology is a serious branch of scholarship, analyzing what happens in the sky to predict what happens on the ground. It's a rational discipline built on careful observation of the sun, the moon, the constellations, comets, all of it studied closely to approach the truth of human fate..."

"..."

Brett had nothing left to say to a Judith already this far gone, and that was how she and Kubharu grew close at record speed, through astrology of all things.

The one who ended up talking with him the least was actually Lulu, though that wasn't anything to worry about.

It wasn't that the two of them had any friction. Lulu had simply been throwing herself into Sorcery training.

Meditating in a seated position the whole ride in the carriage, then diving right back into training even after meals, left little room in her schedule for conversation.

"Judith, Brat Lloyd. Want some of this?"

"...Not Brat. Brett."

"Ah, right, sorry. Anyway, want some? It's raw salmon with a special sauce on it. I hear it suits human tastes pretty well too. Right, Airen?"

"Yeah. I thought it was good."

"Really? I've never eaten raw fish before... mm! Whoa, this is way better than I expected."

"...It's definitely not bad."

Still, during meals and before bed, Lulu made a point of spending time with the two of them in good spirits, and seeing that let Airen breathe a little easier.

'I was worried she'd stay on edge after everything in Derinku, but...'

The attack by Charlot and Victor, the first time Lulu had ever felt her life genuinely threatened.

And what came after, the encounter with Ignet, which had left an even deeper mark before she moved on.

Because of all that, Lulu had seemed tense and restless lately, like someone constantly looking over her shoulder. But it seemed Brett and Judith had eased a good deal of that.

"Airen, you done eating?"

While Airen was lost in thought, Judith, who'd already finished her lunch, called out to him. He answered.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why do you think? You know what comes after a meal, right? Get up and grab your sword."

Judith drew her sword from its sheath, her red hair flaring out as she flashed a bright grin.

"Time to spar."

"...Sure."

Sparring after every meal.

That, too, was something that had changed since the two of them joined.

* * *

The sparring matches between Airen Farreira, Judith, and Brett Lloyd never went at full strength.

Crossing real blades without holding something back risked serious injury.

If they'd been near a city or village, maybe it would've been fine, but out on the open road, an accident like that would have no way of being cleaned up.

That didn't mean they were swinging their swords half-heartedly, though.

They fought at roughly 80 to 90 percent of their full strength.

More than enough to settle who had the sharper skill, and through these matches with his old classmates, Airen kept coming face to face with exactly where he stood.

'I'm the weakest one here.'

He'd expected as much.

He'd felt it back at Kora Murray's villa too, but the polish on their swordsmanship simply ran deeper than his.

'It's only natural, really. I never once beat either of them back at the fencing hall...'

His runner-up finish at the Final Evaluation had rested entirely on that single decisive strike.

In an actual fight, he still fell well short of both Brett and Judith.

Honestly, just being able to hold his own one-on-one against the two greatest geniuses the fencing hall had ever produced was already enough growth to feel proud of, maybe even a little smug.

Airen didn't let himself feel that way, of course.

Instead, he meant to push himself as hard as he could to catch up to the two who still walked one step ahead of him.

'Judith's swordsmanship...'

In Judith's case, her old rough, violent style had picked up freedom and a certain lightness.

Maybe it was because her swordsmanship resembled fire, something with no fixed shape, but her footwork, surging forward fiercely one moment and vanishing like a will-o'-the-wisp the next, was on a level Airen simply couldn't imitate.

Brett Lloyd was the same. His swordsmanship, too, had grown far more refined than the last memory Airen had of him.

More precisely, it had become smoother, more fluid.

Compared to the way Brett let every attack slide off him like a river flowing past, Airen felt his own defense, which amounted to little more than deflecting blows, was clumsy by comparison.

And there was something widening that gap even further.

The 'Aura application' that Judith and Brett Lloyd both mixed into their swordwork from time to time.

Kwang!

Kwaang!

Judith's usual barrage came in with its usual force.

But that wasn't all of it.

Every time their blades met, Aura sparked out like flying embers, and it put real pressure on Airen.

It was nowhere near a Sword Master's true Aura Sword, of course.

Far from a completed Aura Sword, it wasn't even comparable to the strained Aura Charlot and Victor had wrapped around their blades.

There was barely enough energy in it to call it a real threat to an opponent.

But once that trace of Aura carried the heat of a fighting spirit behind it, everything changed completely.

The force barreling toward him, fierce as splattering lava, made him shrink back without meaning to.

"Whew, I lost."

"Yes! That makes it eight wins, one loss!"

Watching Judith claim victory after holding the advantage the whole way through, Airen managed a wry smile.

In the old days, this wouldn't have bothered him at all. Not anymore.

Ever since he'd woken up to real competitive fire meeting Ignet, losing had started to sting.

Of course, that didn't mean he could let fear make him sit down and quit, or run away.

Brett Lloyd, who'd been waiting his turn, walked over and spoke.

"You good on stamina? Want to go right now?"

"Anytime."

"Guess worrying about your stamina would be pretty stupid at this point. Here I come."

The second match began.

Unlike the lopsided result against Judith, Airen's record against Brett Lloyd stood at four draws and two losses.

Looking at the numbers alone, it seemed like a fairly even matchup.

The reality was different.

Airen had barely any confidence he could beat Brett, while Brett had no doubt at all that he wouldn't lose to Airen.

The reason for all those draws wasn't that Airen had somehow closed the gap. It was that Brett's swordsmanship excelled far more at defense than offense.

And there was Brett Lloyd's own particular way of using Aura, widening that gap even further.

It leaked out little by little as their match dragged on.

Sssh...

The faint presence you'd feel strolling along a riverbank at dawn.

But somehow, before long, it turned into something damp and heavy weighing down his whole body.

Brett's Aura was like humidity.

Every swing of his sword released the faintest trace of energy, even less than Judith's, and at first it didn't feel threatening in the slightest.

But the longer the match dragged on, the thicker that Aura settled around him, and Airen could feel his own movements gradually slowing down.

'It's only because my stamina's decent that I can hold out this long. Anyone average would've been finished off ages ago.'

Even as that thought crossed his mind, Brett's Aura kept seeping out, quietly boxing in everything Airen tried to do.

About twenty minutes into the match, Airen's face had twisted into a permanent scowl.

But there was no decisive finish. Judith, bored out of her mind waiting, finally shouted.

"Ugh, this is so boring! Cut it out!"

"I'm having fun, though."

"How long are you two gonna hog the fun for yourselves?"

"What are you talking about. You went with Airen once, I went with Airen once. This is only the second round."

"My matches take five minutes and you two have been swinging swords at each other for an hour straight, and you're calling that the same as one round? Move. I'm going again with Airen."

Brett shook his head and looked at his opponent.

Airen gave a faint smile and nodded.

In the end, Brett stepped back after finishing yet another draw, and Judith took his place.

Kwang!

Kwaang!

Kwaaang!

Watching the two of them collide with even more intensity than before, Brett Lloyd found himself thinking.

'Guess Judith's feeling pretty fired up too.'

Brett nodded to himself.

Airen probably had no idea.

That Brett and Judith were just as aware of him, maybe even more aware of him, as he was of the two of them.

Which, honestly, only made sense.

Brett tore his eyes away from the fight in front of him and looked up at the sky.

His gaze pointed skyward, but his mind was fixed on the strike Airen had unleashed back at the Murray family villa.

The manifestation of Aura, and Concentration.

The two most crucial talents needed to climb toward the rank of Master, and Airen Farreira possessed both.

Which meant that out of the three of them here, he was the one most likely to become a Sword Master.

Having thought that far, Brett let out a hollow laugh.

Six years, no, only one year of serious sword training, and the guy had already cracked open a path toward Master.

No swordsman alive could afford to underestimate a genius like that.

'Even with help from that man in his dreams, being able to actually follow through on it is impressive in its own right.'

Kwaaang!

Shwiik!

"Guh..."

"Oh yeah! That's nine wins, one loss! Ninety percent win rate achieved!"

Watching Judith gloat again after pounding Airen into the ground, Brett clicked his tongue.

There'd been a time when he used to wonder why she needed to provoke people like that after already winning.

These days, he just let it go. That was the kind of person she'd always be, for life.

He let out a sigh and trudged over toward the two of them.

Judith spoke up.

"What? Why's your face all sour? Guess I should fight you next instead of Airen."

"From where I'm standing, with two wins and no losses recently, that's pretty rich coming from you. I'll wreck you right now. But first..."

Brett Lloyd turned his gaze toward Airen Farreira, who was still catching his breath, and spoke.

"Let's take a break from fighting with our bodies. This time, let's fight with our mouths."

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