WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 122

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How to Beat a Sword Master (1)

"Are you out of your mind?"

Illia Lindsay asked Airen Farreira.

The question carried plenty of weight behind it.

Look at who she was.

The one who had conquered a record everyone thought unbreakable, Ignet's youngest Sword Master title.

No, that description didn't even do her justice.

'Sword Master' alone was already a name that shone bright enough on its own.

'And he thinks he can beat me and take the champion's seat?'

It was absurd.

Illia looked Airen over with sharp eyes.

A body far more developed than before, and the energy he'd just shown off.

That alone told her everything. He too had made tremendous growth over the past five and a half years.

He'd probably be more than a match for most Sword Experts.

But...

'No matter how much his skill has grown, he can't beat me.'

That much was obvious.

An Expert, no matter how outstanding, was still an Expert.

Nowhere close to a Master's level.

Every swordsman knew it, and so did every child playing in the street.

But Airen stood firm.

"Yeah. I'm out of my mind."

"..."

"I didn't say I'd win right now. Four months left. I'll give it everything I've got and catch up to you."

"What kind of nonsense are you..."

Watching him smile as he said it, Illia couldn't hide her bewilderment.

The Airen she knew wasn't like this.

Sometimes frustratingly blunt, sometimes foolishly gentle.

That was exactly why he'd always caught her attention.

'And now that Airen is provoking me like this...'

No, it wasn't even provocation.

She could tell just by looking at his eyes. He meant it.

He genuinely intended to build up enough skill in a hundred and twenty days to challenge her for the champion's seat.

Driven by nothing but the single-minded goal of stopping her.

"Just so you don't get the wrong idea, I'm not doing this to torment you."

While she was still reeling from how much Airen had changed since she'd last seen him, he spoke again.

"We've had this happen before, back at the fencing hall. We'd drift apart over some disagreement, then patch things up, make up..."

"..."

"I think of this the same way."

"..."

"Four months from now, let's have a good fight."

Airen stood and held out his hand to Illia. A gesture asking for a handshake.

She didn't take it, of course.

"You think you can beat me?"

"Yeah. I think I can. The old you, I wouldn't have dared to say that. But you now, I think I've got a real shot."

"..."

"I'll work hard to prove it's not just talk."

Airen finished speaking and awkwardly withdrew his hand.

But his expression was overflowing with conviction.

Illia stared at him blankly, unable to make sense of that inexplicable confidence, and as Airen headed for the door, he paused and spoke once more.

"Sorry for saying nothing but unpleasant things after not seeing you for so long."

"..."

"This is embarrassing to say, but you're one of my most precious friends. See you next time."

Click.

With those words, he left.

Left alone, Illia Lindsay sat frozen in place for a long while, a dazed look on her face.

But she didn't stay like that forever.

Time passed, her mind started working again, and once she'd found the room to carefully turn over what had just happened.

A terrifying energy began pouring out from Illia's body.

Fwoooosh!

'Why...'

The moment she'd first heard Airen Farreira's name, what she'd felt was a deep, hollow ache.

But right behind it had come something far bigger, joy and relief, and it had swallowed that feeling whole.

Just as Illia Lindsay was precious to Airen Farreira, he was precious to her too.

And now, that precious person had rejected her, right to her face.

Not just with words either. He'd said he'd prove it through action. Said he'd stop her, even by force if he had to.

That had shaken something loose in Illia's heart.

The buried ache surfaced, and something even darker began creeping up behind it.

The demon of flame that burned her alive had reared its head once more.

"..."

What calmed her down, in the end, was an old memory.

Rising from the sofa, Illia Lindsay dug through a corner of her drawer.

She pulled out two things.

A silver bracelet engraved with an Adonis flower, one she could no longer wear now that her body had grown, and a letter.

Both gifts from Airen Farreira.

She carefully unfolded the letter she hadn't touched in ages, and read through its contents again and again.

While she did, the flame that had been slowly consuming her body quieted down.

Illia thought to herself.

'Right. There's no way Airen could hate me.'

He was the one who'd offered warmth to a girl who couldn't get along with anyone.

The one who, despite her harsh attitude, had approached her again and again with that foolishly gentle manner, asking to make peace.

There was no way someone like that shared the same mindset as those other idiots, the ones who badmouthed her brother and her house.

Which meant this was...

'Just a difference of opinion.'

Illia nodded.

Airen was right.

He didn't hate her. She didn't hate him either.

Their thoughts had simply diverged for a while.

Of course, the results would speak for themselves as to who was right.

"Airen... even you..."

I'm not giving this up for anything.

Illia murmured quietly to herself, then lowered her head again to look at Airen's letter.

She read through it twice more, then carefully tucked the bracelet and letter back into the drawer, thinking to herself.

She'd need to go see the priest soon.

* * *

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

After letting loose a satisfying stream of curses, the spirited Judith walked the streets on her way back to her lodging.

Her mood still hadn't improved.

There wasn't much to be done about that.

Someone she'd thought she'd caught up to quite a bit had turned out to be somewhere far off, up in the sky. How could her mood possibly be good after that?

Still, she'd shaken off most of the initial shock, the gloom, the sting of defeat.

No, to be precise, she'd long since turned all of it into fuel for the fire of her fighting spirit.

'Fine, I'll admit it. Right now, you're way above me.'

Judith nodded. Nodded hard enough to send her red hair swaying.

There was no denying it.

She was an Expert, and Illia Lindsay was a Sword Master.

Someone standing above even the great Zet Frost.

Trying to guess the outcome against a monster like that was pointless.

She accepted reality.

'But... five years from now, ten years from now.'

Honestly, even ten years might not be enough.

So what?

Kun, the spouse of Krono Fencing Hall's Vice Hall Master Keira Fin, had spent decades gritting his teeth trying to beat Hall Master Ian, hadn't he?

"...Just you wait."

Judith let out a low, savage growl, like a beast.

She would win.

She would win in the end, no matter what.

Even if right now she had no choice but to look up at that girl from far below, someday she'd claw her way up to that same height and stand on equal ground.

"I can do it! You hear me?!"

"Whoa, that scared me!"

"What's going on?"

"What's with her all of a sudden... is she crazy or something?"

Several passersby reacted with bafflement at Judith's sudden outburst in the middle of the street.

She paid them no mind, of course.

Reaching the front of her lodging, she gave a quick grin and opened the door.

The rest of the group came into view right away.

Brett Lloyd, Airen Farreira, Lulu, and Kubharu too.

All five of them gathered in one place for the first time in a while.

Feeling pretty good about that, she flashed a brighter smile than usual and took a seat.

But something about Brett's expression was off.

"Hm?"

No, it wasn't just Brett.

Lulu being a cat, her expressions were hard to read, but Kubharu, being an orc, was similar enough to a human that his face gave things away.

And he too was wearing a strange look.

More precisely, both Brett and Kubharu were staring at Airen with strange looks on their faces.

The answer came quickly enough.

Brett took a sip of beer and, sounding utterly baffled, laid out what had happened between Airen and Illia.

"...So, to sum it up, Airen's decided to settle things with a Sword Master within four months. Through swordsmanship, no less."

"..."

"I already figured he was crazy, but I never in my life expected him to pull a stunt like this."

Brett shook his head and downed another mouthful of beer.

Understandable, from where he stood.

Airen's skill really was remarkable for his age.

He'd probably climb quite high in the Proof Land too.

But no matter how he looked at it, growing strong enough to beat a Master within four months just wasn't believable.

Kubharu felt the same way.

Only Lulu threw her full support behind Airen's plan.

"That's so cool, Airen! That's exactly how a Sorcerer should be! If you keep thinking something's impossible just because it's impossible, you'll never break past your limits! I believe you can beat a Sword Master! I really believe it!"

"That cat's a lost cause."

"You're gonna get it!"

Lulu leaped up from Airen's arms and thumped the table with a paw.

She'd been so quiet lately, buried in training, but today she seemed unusually excited.

Of course, to any outside observer, it was nothing but adorable.

If this had been the usual Judith, she'd have thrown her arms wide open to scoop Lulu up.

She never cared whether cat hair got on her clothes anyway.

But right now, she couldn't do that.

She wasn't in the mood at all.

"...Me too."

"Hm?"

"I'm doing it too."

"Doing what?"

"I'm challenging too! I came here to settle things with that Illia Lindsay brat, so I'm going for champion too!"

Bang!

Judith slammed her fist on the table.

Lulu, Brett, and Airen all stared at her with baffled expressions, while Kubharu looked at the spot where her fist had landed.

Thankfully, no damage.

He let out a sigh of relief, just as Judith brought her fist down again.

Crack!

Craaack!

"Wait, no!"

"Airen, you're not the only one who gets to be great! I've got just as much pride and drive as anyone, I don't lose to anybody on that front!"

"..."

"Anyway, that's how it is! I'm off to train."

"Where..."

"Anywhere!"

Judith shrieked at Airen's question and headed for the door, stopping by the counter to hand over a silver coin first.

Compensation for the broken table.

Brett nodded, watching her, noting how much more sensible she'd become compared to before.

He spoke.

"Looks like she got fired up by you, not Illia. Makes sense, honestly."

Someone sets an unreasonable goal.

Most people who see that would just laugh it off, but not Judith.

She'd feel ashamed of herself for not being bold enough to set that kind of goal, and then work herself half to death trying to reach something even bigger.

That was the Judith he knew.

'But this guy... I really don't get what's going on in his head.'

The blue-haired young man looked over at Airen Farreira.

Judith being like that made sense, she was just built that way, but why had this guy proposed such an absurd match in the first place?

"Airen."

"Yeah?"

"You confident?"

"Confident about what?"

"That you can beat Illia. You must have some kind of plan, right? That's why you said it."

"Nope, don't have one."

An answer delivered with total confidence.

Brett froze.

Watching him, Airen spoke again.

"Whether I can do it or not isn't the point right now."

"..."

"Whether I do it or not, that's the real question. And I'm doing it, no matter what."

Airen declared it solemnly, with total seriousness.

Then, shifting the mood entirely, he turned to Brett with a question.

"So, help me out."

"What?"

"How do I beat a Sword Master?"

"...?"

"Let's brainstorm ideas, starting now."

"...You lunatic."

Brett had always kept a fairly polite tone with Airen, but there was no helping it this time.

He let out a deep sigh and ordered another beer.

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