WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 124

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How to Beat a Sword Master (3)

Among all the arenas that made Aienmarc famous for its duels, the Proof Land stood as the most famous of them all.

The duelists there were split into ranks according to skill.

Pawn, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Queen, King, the tiers borrowed from chess pieces.

Add in the entry test ground for those stepping into the arena for the first time, and that made seven stages in total.

And right now, every single stage of the Proof Land was packed to bursting.

'Figured it might be like this.'

Kubharu nodded to himself, thinking it over.

He'd expected a crowd.

Ever since Ignet Crescentia had risen to Sword Master, the Proof Land, already boasting the finest reputation around, had turned into something like a holy site for unaffiliated swordsmen.

Even knights from prestigious houses were flooding in now.

And with a new sun rising in the form of Illia Lindsay, things had only gotten worse.

The Proof Land seemed intent on swallowing up every swordsman in the world, and the audiences, treated to duels of a quality and quantity far beyond anything before, were shrieking with delight.

Which was exactly why Kubharu was curious.

"Why come to us? To Airen Farreira?"

"........."

"Since you've heard our whole conversation already, I'll speak plainly. I don't understand it, reporter. By your own account, there's never been a richer time for stories. Famous talents are showing up in Aienmarc almost every single day."

"That's true. All of you are among them."

"But compared to those old champions and other swordsmen you mentioned, it's a fact that we don't carry much buzz. Especially Airen. Do you actually know much about this young man?"

"Not a great deal. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked into it, but all I could find was that he's from Hale Kingdom and that he distinguished himself in the Demonoid Subjugation Campaign earlier this year. Almost like someone who'd been hiding away for a long time and only stepped into the world this year."

"Right. Then you understand how ridiculous what we've been saying must sound."

Kubharu stared hard at Hints, his eyes deep with thought.

They knew, of course. They knew Airen Farreira had real skill.

And that he carried potential even greater than that.

But to an ordinary person, he looked like nothing more than a well built young man with a mild face.

Claim he'd beat a Sword Master within four months, and all you'd earn was laughter, the kind reserved for a green kid who didn't know better.

'So why is this one clinging to Airen with such humility?'

The orc spirit mage's gaze deepened further. Lulu's did too. So did Brett's.

All three of them waited with their eyes fixed on the elf reporter, wanting an answer.

"........Give me a moment to gather my thoughts."

Hints spoke with careful politeness.

Gone was the playful air he'd carried when he first showed up. Airen's group watched him quietly, wary but willing to listen.

Of course, as a veteran reporter, he wasn't the type to rattle easily.

Reporters were disliked pretty much everywhere, by nature of the job.

Hints had landed stories in far worse atmospheres than this one, and more than once he'd used clever words to flip the whole mood, turning the other side into the one begging him for attention.

But that wasn't the play here.

An orc who looked like he'd weathered plenty of rough experience, a cat Sorcerer who seemed to see straight through people's minds, and the eldest son of House Lloyd with a coldly rational head on his shoulders.

Trying tricks in front of people like this would only backfire. Better to lay his true feelings bare.

Having decided that much, Hints slowly opened his mouth.

"Let me start from the reporter's side of things. A reporter is always drawn more to an unpolished rough stone than to a finished piece of jewelry."

"A rough stone?"

"Exactly. Not a strong fighter everyone already knows about, but someone nobody's heard of yet. Getting to a rising star before anyone else, the moment they first set foot in the world, and turning that into a story, that's the greatest joy in this job."

"I see..."

"But the reason Hints the elf, not Hints the reporter, is clinging to Airen Farreira is a little different. Do you know Ignet Crescentia?"

Everyone nodded at his words.

There was no one who didn't know that name.

The strongest swordsman in her twenties on the whole continent. A once-in-an-era genius who even threatened the standing of senior Sword Masters.

Having brought up that name, the elf kept going.

"When she first set foot in the Proof Land, she declared she'd beat every strong fighter here and become champion within a year. Everyone laughed. She had some renown by then, sure, but back then Ignet wasn't nearly strong enough to talk seriously about the champion's seat. But... she really did become champion within the year, and on top of that, she rose to the great rank of Sword Master."

"........."

"For someone like me, who'd laughed along with everyone else, it was a real shock."

Something that defied all common sense.

A presence that stepped completely outside the ordinary standards people held.

At the time, Hints had told himself it was just a fluke.

A once-in-centuries event that happened to land here, nothing worth losing sleep over.

He wasn't the fool for laughing at her; Ignet had just been that extraordinary.

He'd consoled himself with that thought and gone right back to his reporting life.

When a famous swordsman showed up, he wrote the prediction piece to match. When some reckless newcomer showed up, he wrote the mocking piece to match.

He let that one spark of excitement fade into something belonging to another world, and kept living out ordinary day after ordinary day.

Then, two months ago.

Another event defying common sense had happened, and the whole world had been struck speechless with shock.

Hints included.

Right alongside the ordinary crowd, jaws hanging open, going "I really had no idea," he too had ended up nothing more than a bystander.

Despite being the type who couldn't rest until he got close to a story faster than anyone, analyzed it faster than anyone, and understood it faster than anyone. Despite priding himself on having a sharper eye for swordsmen than most.

He'd been deeply disappointed to find his own judgment no different from that of "Subscriber Number 1" reading his articles.

"This time is different."

"........ Different how?"

"Maybe it's because I've failed twice already. Seems I've developed something like instinct. You there, the cat, you're a Sorcerer, aren't you?"

"Yep. Sorcerer."

"If you're a Sorcerer, you might understand this feeling of mine. Though what I have pales next to yours..."

"Of course I understand. Twenty years working as a reporter, it wouldn't be strange for something like a Sorcerer's sense to develop in your own field. Anyway, you're saying you think Airen can meet the champion? That's it?"

"That's what I believe."

"Hm."

"I won't lie and say I felt it the instant I met Lord Farreira. But... watching him walk up to the champion's residence without hesitation, and now, meeting him again and talking like this... that instinct has slowly started to stir."

"........."

"So I'm asking you. Before I'm a reporter, as a fan of the sport itself... I want to make the match between Airen Farreira and the House Lindsay genius happen before she steps down from the champion's seat on her own. I want to witness the start of a legend faster than anyone, closer than anyone. I'm ready to give everything I have toward that... that's all there is to it. Phew."

Maybe it was because he'd spoken with so much real feeling, so unlike his usual self.

Sweat, which rarely showed on him, beaded on his forehead. His face had flushed a little too.

Hints, unable to properly judge how he looked right now, felt his nerves fray with worry.

Kubharu and Brett stared at him without a word.

"........That was an argument with zero logic in it."

"Tell me about it. Though, had these two already met before?"

"Yeah. This reporter's the one who told us where Illia was staying."

"I see. Either way, I agree with what Kubharu just said."

The orc spoke first, and the blue haired young man followed, his tone blunt.

Fortunately, both of them were the sort of people who didn't get hung up on "common sense."

Their minds hadn't hardened the way an ordinary person's might, simply because everything they'd seen and lived through so far had been anything but ordinary.

Besides, the decision wasn't theirs to make.

Brett looked at the one actually at the center of all this, Airen Farreira, and asked.

"So what'll it be? It's your call, so you decide."

At his friend's words, Airen turned and studied the elf reporter.

Hints found himself swallowing without meaning to.

A gaze more piercing than the seasoned orc's, more unreadable than the cat Sorcerer's unknowable mind.

Feeling, quite literally, stripped bare, Hints waited quietly for the answer.

At last, a question came from the blond young man's mouth.

"All right. What can I do?"

"........Yes! Ah, my apologies!"

Hints shot up from his seat, fist clenched tight, and immediately apologized.

In all his years as a reporter, he'd never felt this nervous, this embarrassed.

He laughed awkwardly and looked at Airen.

"There's nothing too troublesome involved. Like I said earlier... buzz. If you've got anything to boast about that would drive the higher-ups and the crowds at the Proof Land wild with excitement... please, don't hold back."

"Hmm. If that's what we need, I think I could probably explain it better than this one here."

"Me too! Me too! I've got tons of stuff to brag about, about Airen!"

"H, hold on. Let's keep our voices down... actually, why don't we move somewhere quiet to talk this through."

Hints calmed Lulu, whose voice had climbed loud, and asked to change locations.

Airen's group agreed readily and headed to a room together.

And a short while later, Kubharu and Lulu launched into a full bragging contest over Airen.

"........."

Hints listened, speechless, his expression somewhere between blank and stunned.

He didn't even have the presence of mind to take notes.

That was how unbelievable the things coming out of their mouths were, and once Brett Lloyd joined in too, out of all three of theirs.

'During his time as a preliminary trainee at Krono Fencing Hall... he came in second by the narrowest margin, then went home for personal reasons.'

'Five years later, in the subjugation campaign, he took down a high-tier demonoid single-handedly.'

'A month ago, he overwhelmed a Hall Master in Partisan, and earned the recognition of the 101st ranked swordsman, Zet Frost...'

'And even got recognized by the blacksmith Vulcanus himself as the owner of the tenth sword?'

Every single thing said before that had already been extraordinary.

But the last part mattered most of all.

A promise of the Numbering Sword, the blade that marked someone destined for Master rank, straight from Vulcanus.

And not just a promise, either, more like Vulcanus practically begging to be allowed to use him as a reference.

At least, that was how it sounded from Kubharu and Lulu's account.

Of course, none of this could go straight into an article.

Setting aside the fact that there was a better timing for a story like this, he'd need to verify whether any of it was even true.

He'd send a junior reporter first thing tomorrow morning to get interviews from Vulcanus and Zet Frost.

Getting all the way to Hale Kingdom wasn't feasible on a four-month schedule, but still.

'The important thing is... if everything I just heard is true, then a third miracle might really be about to happen.'

Two lifelong rivals who'd never properly settled the score back in their preliminary trainee days.

Two geniuses, reuniting after six years, about to settle it once and for all on the biggest stage there was!

There couldn't possibly be a more thrilling story than that.

Filled with excitement, Hints grabbed both of Airen's hands and spoke.

"I'll do everything I can to get your ranking up fast, so you can challenge for the champion's seat!"

"........Understood."

Airen Farreira, in contrast, answered Hints's words with a calm, even expression.

* * *

Noon the next day.

Airen, Judith, and Brett finished an early lunch and showed up at the Proof Land's entry test ground, the "Starting Ground."

Normally, with swordsmen flooding in from everywhere, just waiting for a slot would have taken a week. But thanks to Hints pulling strings, they were able to take the test right away.

Crunch, crunch. Judith crushed the candy in her mouth and swallowed before speaking.

"Let's go. Time to smash everything."

"Right."

"Smash the Queen duelists, smash the King duelists, smash Illia, smash everything. I'll smash you too."

'........Why me.'

Airen caught Judith's blazing stare and turned his head slightly away.

That was when the entrance to the Starting Ground came into view, along with the crowd packed thick in front of it.

He watched it quietly for a moment, then started walking, his expression set with resolve.

"Let's go."

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