WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 130

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Rapid Promotion (1)

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

Hearing John Drew tell him to show his swordsmanship with everything he had, Airen Farreira thought, for a brief moment, about everything he'd done to get here.

Looking back, he'd trained hard over the past few years. Set aside the days at the fencing hall when he'd lived like a puppet with no will of his own, and Airen had never once swung his sword carelessly since.

But if someone asked whether he'd given every single moment his absolute best...

Not exactly.

He couldn't nod to that with full confidence.

That wasn't strange, though. Effort was born from the fusion of wholehearted action and wholehearted intent. Even someone like Airen, who gave his all in action every moment, couldn't always hold his mindset at that same peak.

His resolve when he first decided to travel the continent wasn't the same as it became later. His mindset while training inside the Otherworldly Realm differed from the one he carried after stepping back out. When he'd built up his drive to improve at Alhad Den, when he'd felt that fighting spirit meeting Ignet, when he'd fanned those flames higher meeting Judith and Brett, his heart in each of those moments couldn't have been identical to how it felt otherwise.

That was simply how it worked, being human.

So what about right now?

Was Airen Farreira ready to throw himself completely into his swordsmanship?

I can do this.

The answer was yes.

Fwooosh!

Flame rose from a stance as solid as steel.

An unstoppable will, layered over with fierce longing.

The blond young man swung his sword in that state.

His opponent was Illia Lindsay.

The person who'd first reached out a hand to him.

The person he'd first set as his goal, someone who'd once shone so brilliantly.

But not anymore.

The flame that had once warmed even the hearts of onlookers now burned her from the inside instead of fueling her passion.

I have to stop her.

That's right. He had to stop her. He still didn't know how to bring her back to who she'd been, but for now, he had to make her stop.

Words wouldn't reach her, so he'd have to stop her by force if that's what it took.

And to do that, he needed a far more concentrated heart than anything he'd managed so far.

Shhhk...

Even as the thought ran through his mind, his swordsmanship never faltered.

If anything, it cut through the air sharper and heavier than before.

No, this wasn't just him facing empty air.

Right now, standing before Airen Farreira, an imagined Illia Lindsay stood with sword drawn to meet him.

Sharp eyes.

And a sword sharper still, raised to face him.

Whoosh

Whoosh

Whoooosh!

She was strong.

Even as an imagined figure, she was stronger than any Expert he'd ever faced.

Of course she was. She was a Sword Master.

One of only a hundred sword masters in the world, the one who'd drawn an Aura Sword at the youngest age in recorded history, the continent's greatest talent.

But that didn't mean he intended to lose.

A fiercer flame than before flickered in Airen Farreira's eyes.

"Hyup!"

Thrust, cut, swing.

"Hyeup!"

Block, retreat, advance again.

He moved his sword, moved his body, without a single moment's rest.

John Drew vanished from his mind. So did Lulu, who'd come along with him to John Drew's estate.

Only the imagined Illia Lindsay and himself remained, filling the entire world.

...How much time passed like that?

Thunk!

Airen Farreira drove his sword into the training ground floor and finally stopped moving.

His eyes, which had seemed fixed on some other space entirely, found their focus again, and time, which had seemed to flow differently, settled back into its normal course.

Finally coming to his senses, Airen murmured quietly.

"...How much time has passed?"

"About a week, roughly."

The answer came right away.

Airen turned his head to the side.

There he found Lulu, her expression unreadable, and John Drew, looking utterly dazed.

He spoke.

"That much time passed?"

"This is nothing, honestly. Compare it to the five years you spent inside the Sorcery barrier... ugh. I still see that in my dreams sometimes."

"...Sorry."

"No, you've got nothing to apologize for! Anyway, a week is actually fast, considering you just awakened your Sorcery. Yeah, that's right."

Lulu crossed her arms and nodded vigorously, then suddenly threw out a question.

"So, what ability did you awaken?"

"Huh?"

"You don't know? My guess is it's something related to swordsmanship... Swordsmanship teacher! What do you think?"

"........."

John Drew stared at Airen, still looking dazed.

The fact that he'd swung his sword nonstop for an entire week. The fact that he was now standing there talking, perfectly fine, with no issues at all. None of it made sense to him.

He had no room to answer Lulu's question.

There was something more urgent to deal with anyway.

Slapping his own cheek to snap himself back to attention, he spoke.

"More importantly, I think we should handle something urgent first."

"Something urgent?"

"You've got a duel scheduled. Bishop-level stage. Starts today at two. Yours is the first of four matches today."

"...What time is it now?"

"Noon. Given that you need to be at the arena an hour before the match, we're cutting it fairly close..."

John Drew's face had gone dark as he said it.

Telling someone who'd swung a sword nonstop for a week straight, without rest, that they needed to jump straight into a match weighed heavily on him.

But Airen Farreira didn't seem bothered at all.

If anything, he answered with a bright expression.

"An hour's more than enough time."

"Huh?"

"I'll go wash up and get ready right away. Would you mind showing me to the bathroom?"

"...Sure."

John Drew nodded a beat late, his face still struggling to process things.

But Airen really was fine.

Back during his time at Krono Fencing Hall, he'd shown up to tests without even getting the chance to wash.

Did I actually awaken an ability? Nothing seems to have changed much...

Unlike the frantically moving John Drew, Airen followed behind with an easy, relaxed expression.

A little while later, fully prepared, he showed up at Opportunity Land, the second arena of the Proof Land.

* * *

The Bishop-level duel.

Dominic versus Airen Farreira.

Plenty of people had come to the arena to watch the two swordsmen fight.

The crowd was noticeably bigger than the average Bishop-stage turnout.

"That guy's Krono's 27th Cohort too, right?"

"That's what they say. Never heard the name before, but if he's 27th Cohort, he's probably solid enough."

"Still, that interview was way too cocky, don't you think? He hasn't even made it to Queen-level yet, and he's already talking about ending fights in one strike..."

"Probably got a swelled head fighting nothing but Central Region nobodies."

"Either way, should be fun. Whether he actually ends it in one hit or gets wrecked instead, it'll make for good drinking entertainment."

"Fair point. I was pretty annoyed I couldn't get tickets to Judith's match, but this one's got its own kind of appeal."

"Hey, kid! Better be ready to eat a mouthful of insults if you can't back it up!"

"Dominic! Don't you dare lose to some rookie who hasn't even shaken the prospect label yet! Show him what a Western swordsman can do!"

As two o'clock, the start time, drew closer, the crowd's shouting grew louder.

A few excited drunks even started hurling curses at the top of their lungs.

But there was someone even more worked up than any of them.

Airen Farreira's opponent, a Western-born mercenary named Dominic.

What? He said he'd end every match in one strike until he reaches Queen-level?

Remembering the blond kid's interview from the dueling magazine, Dominic's mouth twisted.

It was ridiculous. Even though the comment hadn't singled him out specifically, his pride couldn't let it go.

Of course, he admitted the opponent wasn't just some ordinary kid.

An official trainee at Krono, the finest fencing hall in the Central Region. He was bound to have real skill.

There was a real chance he'd lose. He admitted that much.

But losing in a single strike? That's not happening!

He wouldn't go down easy.

No, he wouldn't lose at all. He'd show this kid exactly what it meant to be ranked near the top of Bishop-level!

While he was still lost in thought, all the procedures wrapped up and the referee's voice rang out.

"Both duelists, to the stage!"

Thud thud!

Dominic pounded hard against his chest, covered in dueling armor.

He followed it by tapping his head a couple times, then strode confidently onto the stage. A little ritual of his own.

His opponent Airen, by contrast, looked remarkably composed.

A young man with no particular expression, no flush of excitement, just watching him steadily.

...Calling him a rookie didn't quite fit.

Just standing there normally, he gave off a strange chill.

So he's got some skill to back it up, huh...

Muttering good to himself quietly, Dominic gripped his two-handed sword tight.

Play it defensive for now.

Feel him out carefully, read his style, and only then move to attack.

He'll charge in right away just to keep his word, so if I just brace for that properly...

"Both of you, ready?"

While he was still working out his strategy, the referee approached and asked the two of them a question.

Whether they understood the rules and were ready to fight.

Dominic shouted that he was ready, loud and clear, and Airen Farreira gave a light nod.

The referee nodded as well.

Stepping outside the stage to avoid interfering with the fight, he raised a hand high.

Dominic's senses locked onto that hand.

The instant it dropped and the call to start rang out, this guy would come charging in like a wild boar.

That much was already decided.

It was like solving a problem with the answer sheet already in hand, putting him in a far more favorable position...

"Begin!"

Thump!

Dominic was still thinking that thought when it happened.

In a single leap, Airen Farreira skimmed across the ground and passed right by Dominic.

Startled, Dominic spun around a beat too late.

His face had gone red, then purple.

He thought his opponent had just ignored him and blown past.

Of course, that wasn't what happened.

Clang

"...Huh?"

The veteran mercenary Dominic's sword hit the stage floor, a beat late.

He hadn't dropped it.

It wasn't the whole sword. It was the blade itself, cleanly severed at the midpoint, falling to the ground.

Realizing this a moment too late, Dominic wore a look of blank shock, and the equally stunned referee barely managed to call the result.

"M-Match over! Airen Farreira wins!"

"Woooooo!"

The reaction was explosive.

Both the ones who'd cursed Airen Farreira's cocky interview and the ones who'd admired his nerve roared together as one.

In the end, what they'd wanted to see was a strong duelist putting on a good fight, and now that they'd gotten it, there was no reason left to criticize him.

A little while later, instead of the dejected Dominic making his exit, the match host climbed onto the stage.

For the winner's interview, something plenty of fighters actually dreaded.

Not this time, though, probably.

Made sense. Someone who avoided that kind of attention wouldn't have given such a provocative interview to begin with.

Smiling, the host held up the magic microphone and asked his question.

"Congratulations on the win! Just as you promised in your earlier interview, you took the match in a single strike. How does it feel?"

"...Not much to say, really."

"Huh?"

That was unexpected.

The same young man who'd made such a bold statement was now acting so modest.

But that assumption was wrong too.

"I just did what I said I'd do. Nothing special about it. I don't think I'll have much to say until I reach Queen-level."

"........."

"Sorry, but I've got things to do, so I'll end it here."

Calm and brief, as if none of this were anything remarkable, Airen Farreira finished the interview and stepped down.

A swarm of reporters trailed after him as he left the arena, firing off more questions.

Airen didn't respond to any of them.

To fight the champion eventually, he'd need to handle reporters well too, but...

Right now, I'd rather train with my sword.

He'd realized something fighting Dominic. What kind of ability he'd actually awakened.

Now that he'd grasped it, even faintly, he had no time to spare on reporter interviews.

Airen Farreira's figure shot off swiftly, heading back toward John Drew's estate.

And the next day.

The people of Aienmarc began talking about Krono's third trainee with far more seriousness than before.

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