WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 109

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How Strong Do You Think You Are (2)

Airen Farreira's overwhelming victory. Nobody had seen it coming.

Brett and Judith went speechless once they saw the result, and Instructor Kent stood there dazed for a moment before snapping back to his senses with a gasp.

Then he bolted forward to help the Hall Master up.

But before he got there, the man sprawled on the floor sprang up on his own.

Looking around with surprising steadiness, Hyram's eyes stopped on Instructor Kent.

"Well, this is quite embarrassing."

"A, are you all right, Hall Master!"

"Fine, fine. That young man eased off at the last moment, so the impact wasn't much."

"But you went down on the floor."

"That was out of embarrassment. Here I was, talking big about a fierce match, working up the whole mood, and then I lose that fast? Too mortifying to lift my head. So I lay there sorting out my thoughts."

"........."

"Then I realized lying there was even more embarrassing, so I just got up."

Once he finished, Hyram burst out laughing, ha ha ha ha.

He talked about being embarrassed, mortified, but he hardly looked troubled by any of it.

If anything, Instructor Kent's face looked far worse.

The Hall Master, an Expert in his own right, beaten that fast?

And by a swordsman who couldn't have been more than twenty?

He couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it, either.

"Ha, you look pale. Instructor Kent, you'd best go inside and rest."

"But..."

"Don't make me say it twice. You need to settle your mind right now. We'll talk once you've calmed down."

"...Understood."

Instructor Kent bowed and withdrew.

That left only Hall Master Hyram and Airen's group standing in the training hall meant for receiving challengers.

"........."

"........."

Silence hung over them for a while.

Kent and Hyram had been thrown off, but Airen, Judith, and Brett were, if anything, even more thrown off.

It made sense. None of them had expected to walk away with such a lopsided win against the Hall Master of a fencing hall as renowned as Partisan's.

Hyram studied their expressions closely.

Once the smile faded from his face, the mood shifted considerably.

The three of them waited for his words in a strange, taut silence, and at last the Hall Master spoke.

"You three, you trained somewhere else first?"

"Yes."

"Which fencing hall?"

"Krono Fencing Hall."

"Ha, thought as much. You wouldn't happen to be that famous Golden 27th Cohort?"

"...We've been called that, yes."

"I see... makes sense. That's about the only place that could produce geniuses on this level. Still, I didn't expect it to be quite this much..."

"........."

Silence settled over them again.

It was a strange situation. All three clearly had sword skill superior to Hyram's, yet they still felt overwhelmed by the presence coming off him.

Even Judith, tomboyish as she was, watched him quietly.

The Hall Master spoke again once his expression had softened back to how it was at the start.

"At first, I thought you three had come here to deceive me."

"Deceive you! That's absolutely not it!"

"Ha, I don't think that now either. But during the match, that was the only way I could make sense of it. Carrying that much skill and revealing nothing about yourselves? And before that, what reason would you even have to come to a fencing hall of this size, I wondered."

"We're sorry for not disclosing where we trained. If I can explain..."

"I've already worked out the gist of it. If you'd said you were Krono's 27th, no one would've agreed to face you at all. Sending out someone your own age would mean a guaranteed loss, and having an older swordsman step up felt like too much to ask. Win and there's nothing gained, lose and it's a disgrace... ah, and speaking of which, here I am. The one who took the disgrace."

"Um..."

"Ha ha ha! I'm joking. None of that bothers me in the slightest. I might be the most Partisan-like swordsman in all of Partisan. Hm? But that's not what I meant to say... right. What I wanted to say was that I understand now. Why you three, with skill this remarkable, came to challenge a fencing hall of this size. Why you looked so thrown off seeing what I could do."

Having said this much, Hall Master Hyram spoke with far more weight than before.

"You three don't fully understand just how strong you are."

"........."

"If you did, you'd never have come to this city in the first place. Swordsmen in Partisan who could actually stand against you... counting every hall master in the city, maybe four? Five? And even then, that's just being able to put up a fight. In the end I think you'd win against all of them. Assuming those two behind you are anywhere near this blond young man's level."

Hearing Hyram's words, all three, Judith especially, looked like they wanted to say something.

But none of them managed to speak up. Asking outright, "Are Partisan's fencing halls really that low level? Why?" would have been far too rude.

Fortunately, she didn't need to say anything.

Clearing his throat, the Hall Master began explaining the tiers of swordsmanship.

"Do you know what level most swordsmen hope to reach? Surprisingly few aim for Master. They dream of Expert instead."

Sword Master.

A level so rare that across the entire continent, there might not even be a hundred, a level that was practically a dream for swordsmen.

That was exactly why most swordsmen never set their sights on Master.

They already knew it was out of reach.

For those with only middling talent, background, and effort, the highest realistically attainable level was Expert, and nothing more.

"But even Expert is no small feat to reach."

Hyram's words held up as fact.

The Holy Kingdom of Abilius had around two hundred Expert-level knights and swordsmen, and the Western Five Kingdoms together had over a hundred.

But those numbers only came from powerful nations able to produce that many. Most kingdoms fell far short.

Smaller nations often couldn't scrape together even ten Experts if they combed the entire country.

Which meant reaching Expert-level skill guaranteed noble treatment, or better, in any kingdom on the continent.

"And every single fencing hall master here in Partisan has reached the level of Expert, without exception. That's remarkable, if you think about it. A single city's military strength rivaling that of a small kingdom, do you understand what that means? Sure, we can't compare to places with a long history like Latiohn or Paitan, but objectively speaking, Partisan's fencing halls stand at a high level. But..."

Hyram paused for a moment, then spoke with conviction.

"Your skill is on a level that even Partisan's swordsmen couldn't handle."

"........."

"I'm not weak. Your level is simply abnormal. Strong enough that an ordinary Expert-level swordsman wouldn't stand a chance against you... that's what I wanted you to understand."

Hearing this, the three of them fell silent again, lost in thought.

Thinking it over, it did check out.

Airen thought of his home kingdom, Hale.

Counting Hill Burnett, he could only think of five or six Experts total.

Considering that, Hyram, having reached Expert as a mere fencing hall master, was more than qualified for the position.

If anything, he was well beyond what the role of a single fencing hall master required.

Still, the disappointment he'd felt facing Hyram came from the simple fact that everyone he'd met along his journey so far had been extraordinary.

'Ignet, for one. Charlot and Victor too, both stronger than me. Judith and Brett as well... and Hall Master Ian goes without saying.'

Since everyone he'd traveled with after setting out had been that strong, he'd never really had the chance to properly gauge where he himself stood.

And it seemed the same held true for Brett Lloyd and Judith.

'Makes sense. They've crossed swords with Krono seniors too... so they're probably in a similar spot as me.'

Hyram's next words touched on exactly that.

"You three probably only just left Krono's care. With all those monstrous seniors at Krono around you, you likely never had a clear sense of where you stood yourselves. Let me tell you plainly. You've reached Expert, a level countless swordsmen dream of, and you're clearly among the upper ranks even within that. If you were hoping to find someone stronger than yourselves here in Partisan, let that hope go now."

"So what do we do, then?"

"Head to cities like Latiohn, Paitan, or Malta. Places with over a hundred and fifty years of history."

"Latiohn wouldn't accept our challenge."

"Right. You mentioned that already, I forgot. My apologies. But there's nothing to be done about it. You three grew strong too fast. Fast enough that you'd struggle to find an opponent even scouring the whole world."

"Ugh."

Judith let out a sigh she couldn't hold back. Brett elbowed her lightly in the side for the lack of manners.

Not that he didn't feel the same disappointment himself.

Airen felt it too. All three wore far darker expressions than when they'd first walked into the fencing hall.

Watching them, Hyram couldn't help but burst out laughing.

'Remarkable young people, truly. Instead of basking in the praise, they're disappointed there's no one left to challenge them. Growing this strong without a trace of arrogance, hungry for more instead... maybe I'm looking at three future Sword Masters right now.'

Skilled, passionate, and by the look of it, decent people too, without a rough edge to speak of.

Feeling a rare pang of envy toward another fencing hall, Hyram spoke again.

"Of course, that doesn't mean there's nothing to gain here. Odd thing to say after losing that fast, but let's spar again. This time I'll hold back a bit."

"A sparring match?"

"Yes. Setting Krono and Hyram aside, swordsmanship styles differ quite a bit between the continent's central and western regions... studying and analyzing those differences might be worthwhile in itself. What do you say? Interested?"

"Of course! This time, fight me!"

Judith said, throwing her hand up.

Her face looked far brighter than before. Seeing that, Hyram let out a hearty laugh.

"Good. Are you as skilled with a blade as this young man here?"

"I'm better than him."

"Well then... go easy on me. Not a real combat spar, more like a discussion between blades, nice and relaxed. Understood?"

"I know what you mean. I'll go get a wooden sword!"

And so the sparring match between the four swordsmen carried on late into the night.

A valuable, meaningful time for the old swordsman and the young ones alike.

* * *

"I feel like I picked up more than I expected."

"Mm. There was definitely a lot worth taking note of. He was better at teaching than he was at fighting, honestly."

"He's a good person."

Judith, Brett, and Airen each said their piece as they left Hyram Fencing Hall.

Their time at Hyram Fencing Hall really hadn't been bad. Good, even, right up to the end.

He'd told them they were welcome to visit anytime and had written them letters of recommendation, which would make it that much easier to challenge other fencing hall masters going forward.

But still...

'Still a little disappointing, though!'

'A bit of a letdown.'

'Would've been nice to find someone stronger.'

Even so, the three of them couldn't shake off a lingering disappointment.

It made sense.

They'd come all the way to Partisan looking for fierce fights.

They'd pictured themselves standing against swordsmen stronger than themselves, gritting their teeth, holding on, and eventually overcoming them.

Of course, they understood now that wasn't going to happen here.

The Five Great Sword Houses.

Or some storied, massive fencing hall with a Sword Master as its head.

Nothing less than that could actually teach them anything now.

'But we've already been turned away plenty in Latiohn...'

By the time they made it back to the inn where Lulu and Kubharu were staying, all three couldn't hide the gloom on their faces.

Then Kubharu delivered news that made their eyes snap wide open.

"There's someone you three might find interesting."

"Really?"

"Yes. A very strong person."

"Strange. Hall Master Hyram never mentioned anyone like that..."

Airen raised the question. It seemed odd, especially since Hyram hadn't struck him as someone who'd lie.

Judith, though, didn't seem to care about that at all.

She asked again.

"How strong are we talking? Master? Is it maybe Master?"

"Not a Master. But... someone more famous than a Sword Master, in a way. Word has it he's the 101st strongest swordsman on the continent."

"101st strongest? Ah..."

Judith let out an exclamation, as if something had clicked into place.

Airen and Brett both had the same reaction.

The number of publicly known Sword Masters came to roughly a hundred.

Which made the meaning behind "101st strongest swordsman" perfectly clear.

'The strongest person among all the Sword Experts!'

Fire flared up again in the young swordsmen's eyes.

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