WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 129

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How Much Would It Take (2)

"........."

John Drew, Aienmarc's top-tier instructor, had taught swordsmanship to countless clients over the years.

A country boy who didn't know the first thing about swords, showing up on nothing but rumor of his name.

A noble's son who'd sworn he'd use any means necessary to beat the eldest son of a rival house.

Even wealthy old men who wanted to learn sword for a hobby, or their health.

He'd talked business, and talked money, with more people than he could count.

How much have you looked into.

How much can you actually afford.

He'd toss out questions with that meaning wrapped inside them, sometimes phrase it directly, feel out the other side, and squeeze out the largest sum he possibly could.

That was how John Drew approached the negotiating table.

But.

'I've never once talked money with a cat before.'

No, forget money.

What kind of conversation was he even supposed to have with an animal that couldn't talk?

John Drew shut his eyes hard and opened them again, pinched his own thigh, tried everything he could to figure out whether this was a dream or reality.

The black cat, Lulu, spoke to him calmly.

"Not a dream."

"...How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Most people react like that after they see me talk. Though I didn't expect it from you. Living in a place like this, I figured you'd have run into Sorcerers plenty of times."

'You're just a Sorcerer!'

A cat Sorcerer. He'd never once encountered such a thing in his life.

Still, he understood the situation right away.

No matter how far outside common sense something fell, slap the word "Sorcerer" in front of it and most of it sorted itself out.

This was no different.

John Drew nodded and studied the cat closely.

The black cat Sorcerer, Lulu, studied him right back.

"........."

"........."

Silence stretched between them for a while.

John Drew could feel sweat beading, little by little, on his forehead and his back.

'I can't read her expression at all!'

Maybe it was because they were different species.

He simply couldn't make out anything from the cat's face.

Maybe it was decades of trading money for deals.

John Drew was fairly skilled at reading human expressions, and he'd used that skill plenty of times to gain the upper hand in negotiations.

To begin with, the fact that someone had sought him out, notoriously expensive as he was, already proved the situation was urgent, so he'd always been able to approach negotiations with the upper hand.

Call it confident dealing.

But.

'This cat... how am I supposed to handle this?'

John Drew swallowed hard and looked at the cat again.

The cat was still watching him.

"........."

"........."

Silence again.

While John Drew wrestled fiercely with his thoughts in that awkward, uncomfortable atmosphere, Lulu scratched her chin with a hind paw and spoke in a flat voice.

"Don't bother scheming."

"Uh, huh?"

"No need to give yourself a headache over it. You want money. You want to squeeze out as much as you can. Right?"

"...Like I said earlier, my life's grown quite comfortable lately, so money isn't really..."

"So you can drop that line, can't you? You just want to squeeze out more."

"........."

'Is it because she's a Sorcerer? Reading my mind that accurately.'

He'd never actually seen a Sorcerer in person, given how far this region sat from Cesar Duchy, the nation of Sorcerers, but he'd heard the skilled ones could read a person's thoughts just from the eyes.

Remembering that, John Drew ducked his head quickly.

Just as he opened his mouth, avoiding her gaze, to say something.

Lulu plunged a paw into empty air and pulled out something glinting and gleaming.

Thunk.

A single golden mouse.

Thud thud.

Two, three.

Thud thud thud thud thud thud.

Four, five, six.

Ten golden mice in total appeared on the table.

John Drew looked up at the cat with a blank expression.

But that wasn't the end of it.

"Hup."

Thunk!

A golden turtle with a red ruby set into the top of its shell.

Thunk!

A golden monk figure holding blue sapphires in both hands.

Thunk!

Finally, Lulu pulled out a golden cat with a Cat's Eye Stone set into it, puffed out her chest, and said,

"That should be enough, probably."

"........."

"What, not enough?"

"...No, it's fine."

John Drew shook his head fast.

His tone had turned far more polite than before.

Normally he'd have pushed his luck a little further, wondering if this was some easy mark, but.

'No. This person, no, this cat...'

Trying to squeeze out a little extra could cost him the fortune that had just fallen into his lap.

Once he'd worked that through, he shot to his feet and bowed to Lulu and Airen Farreira.

"I will serve you to the very best of my ability, honored client."

Watching John Drew bow at ninety degrees, Lulu said to Airen,

"See, this is how you spend money."

"........."

"What? No?"

"...You're right, Lulu."

Airen nodded, his expression complicated.

Maybe the richest person on the continent wasn't some king or noble of a great power, but this black cat right in front of him.

Curiosity about Lulu's past stirred in him naturally, but he decided to let it go for now.

'She didn't bring it up herself, so digging into it feels wrong, and it's not what matters right now anyway.'

Airen nodded and turned his head.

Looking at John Drew, who now stood attending him like a subordinate, he asked,

"Sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, so could we start the lesson right away?"

"Of course! Absolutely! Come, follow me to the training room!"

Watching his smiling face, far more excessively friendly now than at their first meeting, Airen let out an inward sigh.

'Please be as skilled as the rumors say.'

* * *

John Drew had been born without much going for him, looks-wise.

To put it plainly, he was ugly.

Kids had called him "ugly" since childhood, and the meaner ones among them had thrown out humiliating words like boar and monster.

Fortunately he was stronger and bigger than most of them, so he could beat them down, but there was nothing he could do about the whispering behind his back.

Especially when it came from girls.

Maybe that was why he'd grown so obsessed with appearances, so obsessed with reputation.

He'd taken up the sword and entered arenas to win girls' attention, and he'd poured every coin he earned into luxury goods to show off to the guys.

John Drew's flashy fashion sense had been built for one purpose alone. Looking impressive.

And yet, despite it all, he still looked like nothing much.

That was exactly why.

Why John Drew found himself less than fond of Airen Farreira.

'Handsome. Annoyingly so.'

Skin pale as if mixed with milk, without a single blemish, as though sunlight simply avoided him.

His features, including those blue eyes, looked a touch delicate but settled into a likable, well-balanced face, and his golden hair carried a distinctly noble air.

The body holding up that face was just as impressive.

'If a guy like this gets stronger on top of it, he'll get even more popular with women. Not one at a time, either. Two, three, five or six at once. Guys like me won't get a single one.'

Inferiority welled up inside him, thick and slow.

But John Drew never once let it show.

Not because of the cat Sorcerer Lulu, capable of seeing straight through his mind via the eyes.

Teaching swordsmanship for money.

When it came to that act alone, John Drew was more serious than anyone. A professional, so to speak.

Whatever had been said during negotiations, however his feelings had soured or brightened, none of it mattered.

He owed his clients teaching that matched what they'd paid, and he had to give it his absolute best.

'Earn your pay, John Drew. Sword instruction is your greatest pride.'

He steadied his resolve. Watching him, something flickered in Lulu's eyes.

Airen, not noticing any of this, wandered the training hall taking in every corner.

He'd expected decorations scattered all over the place, but oddly enough, there weren't many.

Instead, something resembling a magic camera, the kind reporters might carry, sat mounted in a corner.

Noticing his gaze, John Drew spoke.

"A magic recording device to capture every one of your sword movements. Unlike a photograph, it can record entire sequences of motion."

"Ah, feel free to speak casually with me. You're my master, after all."

"Speak casually with me too, then."

"...Then I'll ease up a little. First, show me every sword technique you're capable of performing."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Sincerely, with everything you've got. Better still if you set up an imaginary opponent while you do it."

"What? Wouldn't it just be easier if you fought him yourself?"

Lulu cut in abruptly, but John Drew shook his head, his face dead serious.

"I may be stuck at the low end of Expert rank, but I'd like to think my eye, knowledge, and experience don't fall short of a Master's. This young man's clearly stronger than me, so I can't very well face him myself."

"...!"

"Honestly, I'm curious. Are you some hidden son of one of the Five Great Sword Houses? Did you use magic to alter your hair or your face? Or maybe the disciple of some reclusive Sword Master?"

"...I'm a formal trainee of Krono."

Surprise showed plainly on Airen's face as he spoke.

It made sense for a swordsman above him in level to recognize a lesser talent's skill. But John Drew had openly admitted, in his own words, that his own skill fell short.

That alone required the kind of sharp eye he'd claimed to have.

And it also meant, regardless of skill level, that he had the confidence to teach Airen anyway.

"Mm, I see. So the famous 27th Cohort... but even accounting for that, this seems absurdly strong."

"........."

"Well, honestly, it doesn't matter. You came because you're missing something, and I got paid to fill that gap. That's what matters here, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"That's exactly what I need to figure out. Your physical ability, your sword style, your combat instincts, your habits, your quirks, I need to grasp every tiny detail to give you the right instruction. Understood?"

"Yes. Understood."

"Good. Then start now. Keep going until I tell you to stop. Ah, by the way, the weapon rack is..."

Fwoosh!

"I'm fine without a weapon rack."

"...You're a Sorcerer too, then?"

"It's really the only thing I can do."

Airen smiled, a little sheepish, and John Drew nodded and spoke again.

"By any chance, did you enter arenas carrying that Sorcery sword? If it holds something beyond what a normal sword's capable of, that could be a problem..."

"A few judges checked it already. Should be fine."

"I see. I just tend to worry too much about things that aren't my business. Anyway."

Clearing his throat, John Drew adjusted the magic camera, then put some distance between himself and the spot where Lulu floated lazily in midair.

His expression had turned far more serious than at their first meeting, and he said quietly,

"Begin. Give it everything you've got."

"Yes."

The moment the words left his mouth, Airen swung his sword.

Whoosh.

Whooosh.

Whooosh!

Heavy, solid swordsmanship that made full use of the greatsword's weight.

But never passive. Airen's sword claimed space actively, flowing without a single hitch.

John Drew did everything he could to keep the shock off his face.

Airen's performance was far beyond what he'd expected.

'It's not just the swordsmanship. His physical ability is beyond anything I imagined. Didn't he say he'd barely passed twenty?'

Movement powerful enough that it defied easy explanation.

Even claiming he'd trained his body and built his aura since birth wouldn't have been enough to justify what he was seeing.

But that wasn't the only surprising part.

'His style's nothing like what I expected either. I figured a Krono trainee would move in a more rigid, textbook way.'

The young man in front of him was fighting with swordsmanship unlike anything he'd ever seen from any Krono swordsman before.

Grounded and heavy as a lump of iron when holding his stance, then bursting forward like an exploding flame the instant he attacked.

And when he shifted into defense, he gave off a weight and calm like something holding an entire ocean inside it, an impression striking enough to leave a mark.

John Drew forgot, for a moment, that he was supposed to be acting as a teacher, and simply stood there, lost, watching Airen Farreira's swordsmanship.

But he wasn't the only one caught in that state.

"........."

Lulu, who'd been floating in midair playing with a toy ball, had gone quiet.

She drifted silently over beside John Drew and watched Airen Farreira.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes.

Not moving an inch the whole time, focused so completely he seemed not to be breathing at all.

"...Um? Lulu-nim? No, Lulu-ssi?"

Had something gone wrong?

Seeing how serious Lulu had become, John Drew asked.

Something did feel off.

His instincts, though nothing compared to a Sorcerer's, were still fairly sharp.

The cat Sorcerer, silent until now, finally answered him.

"He awakened."

"Awakened?"

"Phew. At least he's not going anywhere this time. Thank goodness."

"What? Going where? What do you..."

He caught himself slipping back into formal speech without meaning to.

His face was awash in confusion, like he couldn't make sense of a single thing happening right now.

Lulu, floating back up into the air, patted his shoulder with a small front paw.

"Don't stop Airen Farreira, no matter what, until he stops the sword himself."

"Huh? Ah, right."

"No matter what. Half a day, a full day, two days, doesn't matter. No matter what."

"...Okay."

Overwhelmed by some strange force in her words, John Drew nodded frantically.

Watching him, Lulu nodded too and kept talking.

"Thanks, teach. We already got results, right out of the gate."

"...Ah, right. Thank you...?"

"This is a bonus. Take good care of him going forward, okay!"

Whoosh.

Lulu plunged a paw into midair and pulled out an elephant with an emerald set into its forehead.

Then handed it over to John Drew without hesitation.

Taking it obediently, the sword master, ugly middle-aged man on day one of the job, thought to himself,

'Wait, what exactly did I even do?'

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