WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 107

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A Genius, a Genius, and Yet Another Genius (2)

A carriage was parked a short distance off the well maintained road, and beside it three young men and women gathered close, talking. An orc and a cat watched over them from a little further away.

Take away the odd makeup of the group, and there was nothing especially remarkable about the scene.

It looked like the usual chat session that followed lunch. In truth, it wasn't far off from that.

But the words coming out of Brett Lloyd and Judith's mouths, specifically, were vicious to the point of alarm.

"You mean that time? The seventh spar at the Murray villa, right at the start?"

"Yeah. When I went for the thrust. You panicked and got all flustered."

"Flustered, my ass. Don't you remember I didn't even extend my sword, just dodged straight to the right?"

"That's exactly my point. I broke from my usual pattern and led with an attack, so it caught you off guard, and once you were caught off guard, you reflexively fell back on whatever felt easiest. Dodge to the side, then charge in for the counter. You do that so often it's basically a habit. That's why I read it in advance and got the better of you."

"...Fine, I'll admit it. I need to work on breaking my patterns."

An in-depth discussion on who could stab and slash the other better.

The two of them were putting on a full demonstration of what it meant to "fight with your mouth," and Airen realized, a beat late, that this was what people called a postmortem, the kind chess players and other board game enthusiasts did.

And he was stunned.

The fact that they remembered every single move they'd made, down to the smallest detail, spoke to an almost mad obsession with the sword.

It wasn't just the actions themselves they remembered.

Why they'd chosen a certain move, what advantage it had been meant to secure, what they would have done next if it had been blocked, what the opponent's possible responses might have been.

Watching the two of them weave dozens of considerations out of a single exchange, Airen couldn't help but let out a breath of admiration.

"What's the best way to handle an attack more smoothly in a situation like this?"

Their discussion of swordsmanship didn't end with the postmortem.

They moved straight into hypothetical scenarios, working through a kind of "puzzle solving" exercise, each proposing a tricky situation and reasoning out the smartest way through it.

Judith would start, Brett would pick it up, and the two of them took turns, three prompts each, working out answers together. Watching them, Airen realized how much he'd been missing.

The psychological battle between swordsman and swordsman. Textbook responses versus creative breakthroughs. Split-second judgment shaped by circumstance.

Countless big and small pieces like these made up the swordsmanship of Brett Lloyd and Judith.

"So, get a rough sense of how this works?"

"...Yeah. But I don't think I can jump in right now."

Airen answered Judith's question honestly.

To be frank, just listening was already a lot to take in.

And he felt it.

I've been so focused on my attitude toward the sword that I've neglected the swordsmanship itself.

Ever since climbing out of the Otherworldly Realm, he hadn't put much effort into "swordsmanship itself."

"Sorry, but would it be okay if I just listened this time?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Brett nodded and turned back to Judith. Their debate on the blade resumed.

Of course, it didn't go on all day. If it had, they'd have ended up sleeping on the road instead of in a town.

They could have kept the discussion going inside the carriage too, but they didn't.

Brett climbed up beside Kubharu, who was driving, and Judith went up to sit on the carriage roof, each taking their own time.

Lulu curled up beside her and dozed off.

That left only Airen Farreira inside the carriage.

Alone in the roomy space, he smiled to himself.

He was grateful. Grateful that they'd shown him their sword debate after so long apart, grateful that they'd given him this much time to think.

Come to think of it, it had always been like this at the fencing hall too. The two of them were always the ones helping, and he was always the one receiving.

Warmth spread through his chest, but so did a bit of guilt, and a spark of competitive fire.

I need to work hard so I can join them there too, and soon.

He didn't want to only ever be on the receiving end.

He didn't want to keep falling behind, either.

To close that gap, he needed to catch up to their level as fast as he could.

Airen Farreira closed his eyes, resolve settling firmly in his chest.

It wasn't preparation for mental imagery training.

Will, conviction, belief in himself, all of that mattered, no question. But right now was a time to focus purely on swordsmanship.

The thinking that began there carried him through the full three hours the carriage traveled.

It didn't let up even after they reached town and checked into the inn.

Airen stayed locked in thought about swordsmanship straight through to dinner, and the moment the food arrived, he shot up from his seat.

"Sorry. I'll skip dinner."

"Where are you going?"

"To train."

"At this hour? Where would you even..."

"I'll find somewhere. Worst case, I'll go outside the city walls and train there, come back in the morning."

With that, Airen Farreira strode out of the inn without a backward glance.

Kubharu watched him go with a baffled expression, and a beat later Judith got up and followed him out too.

"..........."

The mood at the table went hollow in an instant.

As the abandoned food sat cooling on the table, Brett Lloyd shook his head.

"There he goes again."

"What do you mean?"

"Airen. Every time that guy gets that look on his face, he ends up making some ridiculous leap in skill. Judith's had a taste of what that means, so I bet the shock sent her running out too. Honestly, when a monster like that says he's going to train, it kind of kills your appetite."

"..........."

"Did that ever happen when you were traveling with him, Kubharu?"

"...It did."

"Figured."

Brett nodded gravely, then went back to his fork, eating quickly but never losing his elegance.

He finished his meal at twice the speed of anyone else and stood up.

"I'll go get some training in too. Seeing something that scary, I feel like I ought to do something about it."

"..........."

In the end, only Kubharu and Lulu were left at the dinner table.

The whole commotion had erupted on the third day since Brett Lloyd and Judith joined the group.

* * *

A week passed with the brutal training regimen Airen Farreira had sparked still going strong.

Through it all, he went back to basics, spending his days thinking of nothing but swordsmanship, doing nothing but swordsmanship.

Fortunately, he came to a realization. More accurately, he remembered something he'd forgotten.

It concerned the root of his own swordsmanship, what it actually was.

The core of my swordsmanship is...

Thanks to his training in the Otherworldly Realm, Airen Farreira had come to carry a whole range of swordsmanship styles within himself.

Brett Lloyd's water-like swordsmanship, Judith's fire-like swordsmanship, Illia Lindsay's swordsmanship that held the sky within it, and the man's swordsmanship.

And the Greatsword Technique he'd learned at Krono Fencing Hall.

None of it was unimportant, but the center of it all, without question, was the man's swordsmanship, driving down with crushing weight, and Krono's Greatsword Technique, steeped in the principle of heaviness.

The problem was I'd forgotten that and just kept trying to copy Brett and Judith's swordsmanship without thinking.

He'd sensed it vaguely through their sparring, and now he understood it clearly through their debate.

He could never become Brett, and he could never become Judith.

Flowing around an opponent's attack like a river running proud and smooth, mimicking Judith's explosive yet light-footed movements, neither was a good idea.

If he tried, he'd spend his whole life chasing after their heels and nothing more.

So what should he do, then?

Throw away everything he'd learned in the Otherworldly Realm and start over from scratch?

No, that wasn't it either.

Anchor myself in weight. Then add in only what I can take from Brett and Judith's swordsmanship.

Instead of losing his center and getting dragged around, he would hold his center steady and let supporting qualities blend into it.

Satisfied with the conclusion he'd reached, Airen's swordsmanship began taking shape.

Fwoosh!

Fwooosh!

He couldn't copy Judith's free, light-footed movement.

He wasn't Judith, after all.

Compared to her, who moved as if fire itself had been given form, he was heavy, sluggish.

But he could carry her explosive power. He could melt it down into his own weight.

The attacks Airen finished shaping came down with an overwhelming force, as if a blade glowing red hot were falling from above.

Thud!

Thuuud!

He couldn't flow around an attack smoothly and gracefully the way Brett could.

He wasn't Brett Lloyd, after all.

Movement like a proud, flowing river was still something he didn't dare imitate.

That was fine. Water melted into weight no longer flowed the way it once had, it pooled instead, but that was enough.

A defense that struck like driving a sword into a deep puddle, one that sapped the strength and drained the momentum right out of an attacker.

Feeling it firsthand, Brett Lloyd said, sounding stunned.

"This crazy bastard actually did it..."

He wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Judith too kept muttering complaints as she watched Airen change beyond recognition over the course of a single week.

She had good reason to.

Her win rate against Airen, which had been sitting at ninety percent, had dropped down into the seventies.

"Ah, damn it. How is the world this unfair."

"That's just how the world is. I learned that from Illia five years ago. Still learning it now."

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it..."

Lulu shivered at the burst of cursing from Judith, the kind they hadn't heard in a while.

Her competitive drive ran so hot that the air inside the carriage seemed to heat up along with it.

But instead of finding her unsettling, Kubharu felt something closer to sympathy.

Having a genius nearby really does make life hard on everyone else.

As a spirit mage, he could sense it.

A fierce fire energy, on a level that couldn't even be compared to an ordinary person.

Someone with that kind of temperament simply couldn't stand to lose.

Rock paper scissors, a speed eating contest, any competition at all, no matter how trivial. She had to win or she wouldn't feel right.

And when unfair talent showed up right in front of someone like that, it could only be agonizing.

Right now, Judith's heart was probably churning like an erupting volcano.

Learning to manage that will be her real challenge. Though right now... it's probably a lost cause.

Kubharu worried over Judith from an adult's perspective, a reasonable, grounded point of view.

He hoped this talented young woman wouldn't burn herself out or hurt herself in the process.

...He would realize, exactly one week later, just how badly he'd underestimated her.

Clang!

"Yaaah! I won!"

"Judith picked up something from Airen too. There's a mix of lightness and heaviness in her footwork now. She's gotten pretty tricky to deal with..."

"..........."

Kubharu didn't need Brett Lloyd's commentary to see it.

His body might not keep up anymore, but he still liked to think his eye for these things hadn't dulled.

Just as Airen had absorbed Judith's strengths.

Judith had absorbed Airen's strengths in turn.

And she'd done it in just as short a span of time.

What made that possible was...

Talent, and sheer stubborn drive... that was a pretty rude thought to have. Judith was a genius too, it turns out.

And it wasn't only her.

Brett Lloyd had accomplished something of his own during the same stretch of time that Airen and Judith had grown.

His demeanor alone made that clear. Facing the two of them, there wasn't a trace of impatience in him.

Kubharu finally understood.

Airen Farreira.

Judith.

Brett Lloyd.

These three had never been his to measure in the first place.

Genius, and genius, and yet another genius...

He was still turning that thought over when Brett walked up beside him and asked a question.

"How much farther to Partisan?"

"Hm? Oh! Let's see... you'll get there tomorrow."

"Finally, huh! They won't be like those cowards in Latiohn, will they?"

"No need to worry about that. The whole city was founded by people who couldn't stand that kind of attitude in the first place."

"...Good."

"Oh, would you look at that. Take a look at Airen. He's got the face of a man about to smash every fencing hall signboard in Partisan to splinters."

"What are you even..."

"I like that look. I like it a lot. Whether the signboards get smashed or we do, one way or another something's getting smashed, so let's go in with that mindset!"

"Don't talk nonsense."

Judith, Airen, and Brett Lloyd, all fired up at the thought of challenging the swordsmen of Partisan.

Watching them, Kubharu smiled faintly.

Seeing this much talent charge in with this much bravado stirred something in him too.

In the middle of it all, Lulu alone was thinking something different.

They've been stuck together as just the three of them for so long, they don't seem to have any idea where they actually stand...

Well, they'd find out soon enough once they reached Partisan.

The black cat let out a wide yawn and sank back into meditation.

* * *

A little past two weeks after Judith and Brett Lloyd joined the group.

The party finally set foot in Partisan.

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