WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 14

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Growth (3)

Ian.

Master of Krono Fencing Hall and a name that never failed to come up whenever the conversation turned to the strongest on the continent.

A figure who could have claimed far greater wealth and honor if he'd only wanted to, someone whose standing transcended rank and bloodline alike.

Given that description, one might expect him to radiate an air so imposing that people would hesitate to even approach him. He was nothing of the sort.

"Say, you're from the Adan Kingdom, aren't you?"

"Y, yes sir! I work as a mercenary in Adan. Th, though I'm not affiliated with a fencing hall myself, it's an honor just to meet you, Lord Ian, the pinnacle of Krono Fencing Hall..."

"No, no, none of that flattery. How old do you think I look?"

"Pardon?"

"People from Adan have a special love for culture and art. Good eye for these things too. So go on, tell me. How old do you think I am?"

"Uh... well... fifty... five... or so?"

The assistant instructor from Adan spoke while sweat beaded on his forehead.

Of course it was a lie. The Hall Master's actual age was ninety this year, and even generously, his appearance suggested well past seventy.

But Ian broke into a wide grin at the assistant instructor's answer.

Patting the man's shoulder, the Hall Master turned to Instructor Ahmed.

"You picked a fine batch of assistant instructors, Ahmed. I like this one."

"Yes, sir."

"Double this one's pay starting next month."

"...Yes, Hall Master."

"Now then, how old do the rest of you think I am?"

"Y, you look under fifty!"

"No, sir! Generously, no more than forty five!"

"What are you talking about! No matter how you look at it, he's barely past forty..."

"You little punk, that's pushing it a bit too far..."

Smiling and throwing out the question again and again, Ian watched as the assistant instructors, one after another, blurted out ages that made no sense at all.

The frozen atmosphere from earlier thawed in an instant.

It made sense, really. Hall Master Ian was famous for his good nature and complete lack of pretension.

The fact that graduates of Krono Fencing Hall were held in higher regard than most knights owed a great deal to Ian's fine character.

Still, Instructor Ahmed and Instructor Karaka kept their stances unbroken and stayed silent, simply watching the Hall Master trade jokes with the assistant instructors.

Certainly, it's hard to find anyone with as much character as the Hall Master.

Despite holding enough influence to found a nation of his own if he wished, he had no greed in him at all.

If anything, he valued chivalry more than knights did, and worked harder for the salvation of the common people than priests did.

Sometimes even young pups, carried away by his easygoing manner, grew impudent with him, and even then Ian never lost his temper.

And yet the two instructors still found the Hall Master frightening.

They had seen, only a handful of times, what lurked beneath that seemingly placid expression.

Probably, there are sides of him I've never seen.

Far more of them, most likely. I've known him for over thirty years, and I still can't read what's underneath.

That was the thought running through their minds when it happened.

The Hall Master, who'd been trading idle jokes with the assistant instructors, slowly turned his gaze toward them.

Both instructors swallowed without meaning to.

A kind, gentle man, sometimes so much so that he seemed to have no guile in him at all, like some harmless old villager.

Wearing his usual warm smile, he said, "Well then. Shall we go see just how much this batch of trainees has accomplished?"

* * *

"That one's not bad."

"That one over there... not great. You can tell he's been slacking on training lately."

"Weak lower body. Shame, really. Such a shame."

Moving through the inspection in secret, his identity hidden, Hall Master Ian looked utterly unbothered as he watched the kids run through their independent training.

And yet his judgments were dead accurate. More accurate, even, than the assistant instructors who had watched over these trainees without a single day's break for the past four months.

"Wow... how did he tell just from watching that kid run for a few seconds?"

"He even caught that one's flexibility issue just from how the kid was standing still."

Of course he did.

Ahmed, overhearing the assistant instructors whispering cautiously among themselves, gave a wry smile.

Even he, who prided himself on having a sharp eye, was like a firefly next to the sun compared to the Hall Master.

He would say, without hesitation, that no human on the continent possessed deeper insight than Ian. Karaka was thinking the exact same thing.

That was why the two of them, unlike the assistant instructors, followed along in silence.

Both quietly mourning just how much stricter the Hall Master's standards were than they'd expected.

But even a man like Ian found himself impressed by one particular trainee.

None other than the high noble of the Gerbera Kingdom, Brett Lloyd.

Watching the boy sweat through repeated drills of a single motion from the Mid-Term Evaluation, Ian showed his first positive reaction of the day.

"Quite the promising kid you've got here."

"The eldest son of House Lloyd. Sharp and talented."

"Looks it. I can see he's pacing himself for the evaluation day. And judging by his condition, he hasn't been slacking on effort up to now either..."

I should remember him. Ian murmured quietly, and the instructor and assistant instructors made no effort to hide their delight.

Brett Lloyd could be a bit arrogant, sure, but he was an excellent trainee that everyone rated highly.

Seeing him praised felt almost like being praised themselves.

"Hm. Good."

"That one's decent too."

"This is better than I expected. Guess that's thanks to your hard work teaching them, hm? Ha ha ha."

Thankfully, several more trainees received good marks after that. And with each one, the instructors' faces grew a little brighter.

Made sense. They'd spent every day being harsh with these kids, working them to the bone, but only because they wanted the best for them.

Then a girl stepped into view, and everyone had no choice but to hold their breath and watch Ian's expression carefully.

A genius ranked among the top three, no, top two on the entire continent.

A monster who had never once lost the top rank in the entire history of Krono Fencing Hall.

Illia Lindsay.

I wonder what kind of evaluation the Hall Master will give, seeing her.

He'll be shocked, right? Even someone like Lord Ian?

He'd have to be. There can't be many people in history who achieved this much at her age...

Whether their expectations were on the mark or not.

The Hall Master looked at the continent's genius far longer than he had anyone else. A full minute, no less.

Given how he'd barely glanced at the ordinary trainees, the gap was staggering.

But when Ian finally spoke, after all that time, the words that came out weren't quite what any of them expected.

"Poor thing. She could walk her own path, and yet why does she cling so hard to the path someone else once walked..."

"..."

"Is this what the world made of her... tsk. I do hope the day comes when she can let go of that attachment."

The assistant instructors all wore baffled expressions at words that carried no clear meaning.

Only the Hall Master and the two instructors wore faces tinged with something like sorrow.

Naturally, no one had the nerve to ask what he meant.

They continued the inspection as if nothing had happened, and eventually arrived at the first training hall, where they came face to face with yet another gifted trainee.

The Hall Master spoke.

"This the one?"

"Yes, that's her."

"I can certainly see why you're worried. You tried talking her down, I assume?"

"Of course... but she won't listen at all. She might be the most stubborn kid in this entire cohort."

Possibly the most stubborn in the Hall's entire history. Instructor Karaka kept that thought to himself.

He wasn't exaggerating for no reason.

The girl had always trained with a fierce, gritty determination, but this time it had gone beyond that.

Her training volume had crossed into something close to self abuse.

While the other trainees focused on maintaining their condition for the day of the Mid-Term Evaluation, the runner-up of the fencing hall, Judith, was pushing her body as if there were no tomorrow, and everyone watching couldn't shake their worry.

"I should stop her."

Hall Master Ian was thinking the same thing.

Good bones, good build, and apparently excellent recovery too. That girl called Judith had been born with what people liked to call a blessed body.

But even a body like that had its limits.

How devastating it would be if she ruined herself through reckless training and wrecked her chances at the Mid-Term Evaluation because of it.

Knowing that better than anyone, Ian slowly approached the red-haired girl.

One of the assistant instructors, watching the scene unfold, asked Instructor Ahmed, "Do you think he can talk her down?"

"Of course he can. A few words from the Hall Master ought to do the trick."

"You think so? I suppose, once she realizes who he is..."

Ahmed shook his head.

Ian wasn't the type to pressure someone with his status. He probably wouldn't even reveal that he was the Hall Master of Krono Fencing Hall.

But if she felt the sincerity, the emotion, the sheer weight carried in his words, a twelve year old girl would have no choice but to back down.

Still, I am curious. What on earth set that stubborn girl off like this...

There had to have been some kind of trigger.

Did she want to overtake Illia Lindsay, someone she'd never once beaten, and claim the top rank for herself?

Or had she been needled into it by her real rival, Brett Lloyd?

Or maybe...

While various guesses ran through his head.

Ian returned from what had been a shorter conversation than expected.

And Judith kept right on with her strength training, hoisting a weight heavy enough to make anyone want to retch.

Karaka approached with a startled expression and asked, "H, Hall Master? Don't tell me..."

"Ha ha. What a stubborn girl she is."

Unbelievable. She'd ignored even the Hall Master's words and kept pushing through reckless training.

At this point, it was certain. Judith was the most stubborn person in the entire history of Krono Fencing Hall.

But that was that, there was still something they wanted to know.

Ahmed, standing next to Karaka, asked one more question.

"Did you happen to hear the reason? Why she's pushing herself this hard, I mean. She hasn't said a word to us about it..."

"Airen Farreira."

"Pardon? Ah, yes."

Ahmed's voice came out startled at the sudden name.

But he quickly gathered himself and answered.

"Airen Farreira, a diligent trainee. As I mentioned earlier, he's also been pushing himself with excessive training lately. Just like Judith."

"So that's how it is."

"By any chance, is the reason Trainee Judith is doing this right now..."

"That's right. Apparently it's because of him."

Nodding, the Hall Master continued his explanation.

Judith had apparently argued that if a kid far weaker and frailer than herself was pushing through hard training all day long, then there was no reason for her to stop.

If they wanted her to stop, they should make him stop first, or so her argument went.

Hearing that, Ian figured the right order of things was to go meet this Airen Farreira trainee first.

Ahmed rubbed his chin after hearing Ian's words.

"I see. If that's her reasoning, then stopping Trainee Airen would have to come first."

"Is that trainee just as unreasonable as her?"

"He's not usually like that... but this time, he's much the same. Won't listen no matter how much we tell him to stop."

"And his skill?"

"Honestly, no comparison to Judith. He barely holds on in the middle ranks... though even that's a huge improvement for him, I'll admit."

That was precisely why no one had imagined that Judith was even aware of Airen at all.

Rivalry, competitive fire, that kind of thing only sparked between people on roughly the same level.

Sad to say, but Airen Farreira simply wasn't on Judith's level.

"Well, shall we go take a look? Let's see what this second troublemaker of a trainee is up to."

Finishing his words, the Hall Master left the first training hall. Then he moved without hesitation toward the second training hall.

He must have gotten Airen Farreira's location from Judith.

There was anticipation in his stride, even a kind of eagerness. Watching him, everyone felt a knot of discomfort settle in.

He's not really as impressive a trainee as expected.

His future looks promising, sure, but there's still a lot rough around the edges.

Honestly, there's a good chance he fails the Mid-Term Evaluation. The Hall Master's going to be disappointed.

Even among the assistant instructors, even Ahmed and Karaka, who thought well of Airen, none of them could shake off that pessimism.

But.

Once Ian stepped into the second training hall first, his expression turned far more serious than any of them had expected.

"..."

A minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

Five minutes, and then even more time than that passed.

Throughout it all, all Airen Farreira had shown was repeating the same weight training, lifting far less than Judith did.

He'd improved some from a few days ago, sure, but nothing that meant much in the grand scheme.

To Ian, though, it meant something entirely different.

Eyes clear and deep as a lake studied every corner of the boy's insides.

After some thirty minutes had passed, the old man spoke, looking troubled.

"I was going to stop that boy and stop Judith too, but this has thrown a wrench in things completely."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Airen Farreira, was it? Leave that one be."

"Leave him be?"

"That's right. Don't stop him, not unless he decides to give up himself. Even if it means he can't make it to the Mid-Term Evaluation."

"..."

An unexpected order, and an unexpectedly grave expression to go with it.

The mood turned strange. Everyone but the Hall Master exchanged glances, saying nothing.

"Huff, hah, huff!"

Unaware that so many people were watching him, the lazy lord kept pushing through his grueling training, without pause.

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