Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble - Chapter 152

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 152

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What Do You Do (1)

"I'll drive the carriage."

When the four of them decided to take turns handling the odd jobs Kubharu had always managed alone, it was Brett Lloyd who volunteered first for driving duty.

He'd spent plenty of time chatting with Kubharu on the driver's bench before, and he'd ridden horses often enough since childhood, so he figured he was the most qualified for the job.

That assumption turned out to be more or less correct.

Rattle, rattle!

"Mm! Mmm!"

"Hey! Can't you drive straight?"

"First time with a carriage. Give it time to adjust."

The ride was rougher than when Kubharu drove, but Brett handled it well enough.

Judith, who'd grumbled nonstop at first, stopped complaining within about an hour, which said something about how fast she picked things up too.

The real problem was that Brett had a bit of a poor sense of direction.

"What? Didn't you say there'd be a town by lunchtime?"

"The map's wrong."

"The map isn't wrong, you just went the wrong way!"

"This is harder than it looks. The roads don't run in a straight line, so every time you turn, a little error creeps in. Can't be helped..."

"Can't be helped my foot! We've got two more hours to go now!"

"..."

Watching Judith and Brett bicker, Kubharu swallowed a laugh.

Still, this much was fine.

For someone driving a carriage for the first time, Brett was doing decently, and Kubharu figured he could just nudge the direction here and there when needed.

But that opinion started to shift once they reached a town.

"Lodging fee comes to thirty-two silver total."

"Understood. Here..."

'Wait, hold on. Thirty-two silver for a place like this is way too much.'

Maybe it was because none of them had ever wanted for anything in their lives.

Lulu's, Brett's, and Illia's sense of money was frankly absurd.

Watching them nod along to whatever price the innkeeper threw out, barely even glancing at them to gauge reaction, something inside Kubharu started to boil.

It wasn't about whether they had money to spare or not.

Getting fleeced two or three times over without even trying to haggle was something he simply couldn't stomach.

"This isn't some luxury building in a big city. How is thirty-two silver for a room like this reasonable? What kind of scam is this?"

"Heh heh, young lady. Calling it a scam, that's no way to talk to your elders..."

"What? Elders? No way to talk? I was trying to let this slide politely, but this bastard..."

Judith, at least, had a proper sense of money, but that made her stepping in an even bigger problem.

Lately she seemed to have gotten more short-tempered, raising her voice at the smallest excuse, and she'd become something of a walking trouble magnet.

If Airen hadn't jumped in each time, something would have ended up broken. After this happened a few times in a row, Kubharu's expression kept souring more and more.

But there was something even worse than all of that, something that eclipsed every other headache.

Illia Lindsay's cooking.

"Are you insane! What did you do to that expensive cut of meat!"

"What do you mean, what did I do? Why are you talking like that?"

Maybe she'd felt uneasy once everyone got assigned their own job.

When the distance between towns didn't line up and they'd been getting ready to camp, Illia had volunteered to cook dinner that night.

Everyone had eyed her with suspicion but let her go ahead anyway, since she wasn't attempting anything complicated, just grilling meat.

But after a short while, what came out was nothing short of horrifying.

It had clearly been good quality beef going into the pan, but what landed on the plate was something unidentifiable.

Brett picked up his fork and knife, let out a small sigh, and muttered quietly.

"Looks like twisted goblin hide from the underworld."

"What...!"

"Brett's got a point. Actually, if you'd just burned it, I could understand that. What did you even do to end up with this? Walk me through the whole process."

"I didn't do anything weird. Just washed the meat normally, poured oil in the pan, lit the fire..."

"Are you out of your mind? Why would you wash meat that's already been properly cut! And how much oil did you use!"

"About this much...?"

"Ugh, that's not oiling the pan, that's dropping the meat into a vat of oil!"

"..."

Illia glanced around at everyone while Judith raged on.

There wasn't a shred left of the dignity of the champion who'd once looked down on the whole Proof Land. Brett and Lulu just kept sighing regardless.

Even Airen, her most reliable ally, poked at the meat a few times before quietly setting down his utensils, and stung by that, Illia set her jaw and scraped the chunk of meat onto her own plate.

When the knife wouldn't cut through, she reflexively let her Aura Sword flare out.

Hmmmm...

Slice.

Clatter!

"..."

"Ah, I get it, she cooked it extra tough on purpose since she's a Sword Master."

"..."

The meat, plate and all, split cleanly in two and hit the floor.

Illia trudged into the carriage looking downcast, and Kubharu, who'd been quietly watching the whole thing unfold, finally spoke.

"I'll just go back to doing what I was doing. If I need help, I'll ask you when it comes up."

"Sounds good?"

"That'd be for the best."

"Fine by me."

"Sure!"

Airen, Brett, Judith, and Lulu all answered at once, and from that day on, peace returned to the party.

Illia, precious daughter of a noble house, could finally spend her days in peace.

Of course, that didn't mean she was hopeless at everything.

Hmmmmm...!

"...Just like I showed you, if you use your Aura this way, you can move a lot more freely."

"Hm, that does look right. But it seems like it'd take a while to get the hang of."

"Ah. For me, it's more like pushing water aside, if you do it like this, it's a bit easier..."

"Ah, I see. That's noticeably smoother than before."

"Illia? Am I doing it like this?"

"Mm. Close enough."

"Hmm."

The sword debate, led as always by Judith and Brett Lloyd, had begun again without fail.

Unlike Airen Farreira, who'd taken a fair amount of time to adjust, Illia Lindsay showed off a solid grasp of swordsmanship and Aura control right from the start.

While Illia freely shared her know-how, Airen supported her using his Eyes That See Aura, and Brett soaked it all up like a sponge in water.

"..."

Watching this, Judith felt something twist uncomfortably in a corner of her heart.

It was a good thing, obviously. Two Sword Masters generously sharing their knowledge with everyone.

Even Brett wasn't just sitting idle.

He couldn't steer the direction of the discussion, but every so often he'd toss out an idea sharp enough to surprise even Illia, and even prideful Judith couldn't help but nod along.

That was exactly the problem.

'Damn it.'

That familiar sense of defeat, back again.

She buried it as deep as she could and threw herself fully into the sword debate anyway.

Not just in the debates, either. In actual sparring, she pushed herself to keep pace with the two, no, three geniuses around her.

Thanks to that, her stagnant skills had started creeping forward bit by bit.

"Ah, now I really get it. So that's the feel of it."

"Your method's pretty useful too, actually. That helped."

"Thanks, Brett."

But the gap never closed.

'Don't think about it. Don't think about it, just do your own thing.'

'No, I should think about it. Dwell on it more. Chew it over harder.'

'And use that to catch up to all of them. That's the right call.'

Endless waves of frustration.

Pressure piling up without end.

Pushing through all of it, Judith did her best to get through each day as if nothing were wrong.

But sometimes, it wasn't easy to hold back the anger that surged up inside her.

"Oh, a little town like this and there's whiskey this fine!"

"That's right. Actually... hm. Come to think of it, we never gave Illia a proper welcome after she joined."

"Ah, right! Well then, why not throw one now? With this fine whiskey, no less!"

'Those crazy drunks!'

Watching Kubharu and Brett Lloyd hit it off so well, Judith felt an irrational surge of anger rise in her.

It was strange.

She knew perfectly well those two were always like that, and she herself had left her old dark history behind and drank a cup here and there these days too...

But watching the two of them look so relaxed left a bad taste in her chest, for no good reason.

Of course, she didn't let any of it show.

The old Judith might have, but the current Judith had grown up quite a bit since then.

More than anything, there was barely anyone here she could justify dumping her anger onto.

Kubharu was a true adult, handling all the grunt work without ever once showing displeasure, and Airen was a guy whose ridiculous talent made her blood boil just looking at him...

But she couldn't take it out on that idiotically kind fool. Lulu didn't even need mentioning.

And Brett was...

'No, don't think about it.'

Judith shook her head hard and turned her gaze elsewhere.

That was when she noticed Illia, staring at the drinks on the table with obvious curiosity.

'Right, this one's a little annoying.'

It wasn't that she truly disliked Illia or held some grudge against her.

But compared to the affection built up with the rest of the party, what she felt for Illia was thinner, that much was true.

Which made her a perfect target for working off some knotted-up feelings.

Of course, she had no intention of doing anything serious.

'...Still, a light joke or two should be fine.'

Smiling faintly, Judith called out to her.

"Illia."

"Hm?"

"Ever had a drink before?"

"No."

"Really? Guess this is your chance, then."

"Um... would that be okay? This looks like some pretty strong liquor. Should I really..."

Illia was still waving a hand in protest when Judith cut in.

With one corner of her mouth curled up in an infuriating smirk, she said, small but crystal clear.

"Scared?"

"..."

A short word.

A near-slang term you'd never hear among nobles.

But the meaning came through more clearly than any refined phrase could have.

'Calm down.'

Illia Lindsay closed her eyes gently.

And steadied her heart.

She already knew this. Judith had always been like this.

Actually, compared to how she used to be, back when teasing shaded straight into open irritation, this was practically adorable now.

"Scared?"

"...Fine. You're drinking too, right?"

But the second provocation was more than she could just let slide.

Illia's eyes snapped open, and she added a follow-up.

"How about a bet?"

"What? A bet?"

"Yeah. We each drink the same amount, one glass at a time. Until one of us admits defeat or passes out. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"

"Hah, come on..."

"Um, Illia..."

"Judith, Illia. That's enough, don't you think?"

"Ooh! I've seen this kind of thing plenty of times before! A duel? A drinking duel?"

"Heh, heh heh heh."

While Lulu and Kubharu looked on, Airen and Brett tried to talk the two women down.

If lightweight Judith and first-time drinker Illia got into a drinking contest, who exactly would suffer the consequences?

Obviously, whichever of them was still sober enough to deal with it.

That wasn't the only reason, of course. Worry for the two of them alone was reason enough to stop this bet.

"...Scared?"

But the moment Illia repeated the same word back, a little awkwardly.

Bang!

"Fine. I accept that challenge. Should we grab our own table?"

"Sure. Two glasses over here, please."

"Uh, uh..."

"..."

Before Airen and Brett could stop them, Judith and Illia had already moved to another table.

Between the two of them, locked in a fierce staring match, the innkeeper set down a bottle of forty-proof whiskey and two on-the-rocks glasses filled with ice.

Judith spoke up.

"No ice needed. Ah, do you need it?"

"...No ice for this one either."

"Ha, bold pair, aren't you! Understood, I'll bring shot glasses instead."

The innkeeper, wearing a pleasant grin, cleared away the iced glasses and set down two small ones instead.

Then he poured the strong whiskey in, glug, glug, glug, filling each about three-quarters full.

Neither of them paid him any mind, too busy locked in a steady glare at each other.

"..."

A suffocating moment.

Feeling the air around her grow heavy, Judith lifted her glass.

Illia Lindsay, not to be outdone, lifted hers too. And studied her opponent's glass carefully.

As if watching for any sign that Judith might tip her hand and spill some on purpose.