WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 159

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The Great Clash (5)

Lulu, the cat Sorcerer.

When he'd finally left behind his long years of wandering and settled with a man named Airen Farreira, he'd genuinely believed there was nothing more he could ask for.

Laughing and talking with Airen, eating with Airen, traveling with Airen every single day, Lulu felt a happiness and comfort he'd never known before, and he wanted those days to keep stretching on forever.

But at the artisan city of Derinku, meeting Ignet Crescentia, he'd understood something.

Keeping that joy alive meant he needed to try harder than he had.

'Enjoying the happiness I have now is fine, but for the people who matter to me, I need to push myself further.'

What Ignet had said was true.

While she beat down Charlot and Victor and stood as a wall between them and Airen, there had truly been nothing Lulu could do.

He cared about Airen more than anyone, and yet he'd frozen solid, able only to pray desperately that the woman, that walking natural disaster, would just quietly go away.

And infuriatingly, there was no guarantee something like that wouldn't happen again.

From that day on.

Lulu the Sorcerer made up his mind. He wouldn't just accept the happiness that came to him. He would grow strong enough to protect it.

And now.

Facing an enemy every bit as dangerous as Ignet Crescentia, maybe even more so, the effort he'd poured into himself these past few months was finally paying off.

Fwaaaaash!

Light burst from Lulu's spinning body.

Bright enough to blind anyone looking straight at it.

Karakum and everyone else grimaced and turned their heads away.

In that instant, the black cat's body began to change.

His stubby little limbs stretched long, and the fluffy fur vanished without a trace.

In place of fur, hair black as ebony grew long down his back, and dark clothing bloomed over his sleek new frame. The garb of a battle mage.

That wasn't all.

Crrrack...

The sound of something growing.

A pair of horns sprouted, followed by a pair of wings.

With that, the transformation complete, Lulu looked himself over.

He spoke, his voice full of surprise.

"Whoa! I turned into a human! I didn't expect that!"

It was true that he'd trained with this kind of transformation in mind.

Lulu knew perfectly well that no matter how hard he honed his Sorcery, there was no way he could beat someone like Ignet under normal circumstances.

But that wasn't a problem.

He didn't need to always be strong. If it meant Airen never fell into danger, Lulu was willing to give up every scrap of the strength he had now.

Which meant it was fine to sacrifice the power he could normally call on, if it meant drawing out something far stronger in a specific moment.

'A power that only activates when Airen is in danger.'

Nothing suited that kind of ability better than transformation!

That was the thought Lulu had while reading a fairy tale book back in Aienmarc.

But even he hadn't expected the form waiting on the other side of that transformation to look like this.

Turning into the body of a human girl was surprising enough, and now horns had sprouted on his head too.

And what were these wings supposed to be?

Not even properly feathered. They looked like something stolen off a bat, and Lulu grumbled a small complaint about it.

"I like fluffy wings better."

"........."

"........."

Watching the whole scene, Brett in particular thought with a stiff expression.

'A dragon?'

A mythical being from legends older even than the four-hundred-year-old age of the great demons.

Creatures said to have bodies as massive as castles, who sometimes used magic to take human form, or so the stories went. Lulu's current shape looked eerily close to that.

Of course, there was no way Lulu was actually a dragon. Maybe he'd just picked up some description like that from one of the novels he occasionally read.

Even so, it was more than enough to leave everyone stunned.

"........."

Karakum felt the same way.

He'd thought of Lulu as nothing more than a strange cat, and then after a few words, the creature had transformed in an instant into something radiating an overwhelming presence.

He couldn't even begin to guess how strong this new form was.

Karakum was a mighty warrior and Spirit Mage, but he knew nothing about Sorcery.

Looking at an opponent who all but reeked of a Sorcerer's aura made his head throb.

'Sorcerers, every last one of them, impossible to predict... and this one seems even worse.'

Of course, he didn't think for a moment that he'd lose.

Karakum was strong. Strong enough to believe he wouldn't fall to anyone except the continent's Three Great Swordsmen among humans, Ian, Kun, and Julius Hyul.

But a fight against a Sorcerer always carried some maddening element that made that kind of straightforward comparison impossible.

He was still turning that thought over when.

"Hyah!"

The Sorcerer, who had spent all this time studying his own body, reached a hand out into the air.

A gesture Airen made often, and right after, something appeared.

A long, slender magic staff.

Fitted with what looked like an enormous Cat's Eye Stone, its dazzling shape drew a satisfied smile out of Lulu.

"Wow, pretty!"

"........."

A voice so innocent it was hard to believe he was standing in the middle of a tense battle.

Everyone in Airen's group went blank in the face for a moment, and even Karakum, who'd been building up his fighting spirit, felt his eyes lose their edge briefly.

That was the moment.

Shouting "Hyah!" again, Lulu pointed his magic staff at Karakum, and a great fireball shot out from the crimson-tinted Cat's Eye Stone.

It fell short compared to the movement of Master-ranked swordsmen, but it was fast enough that no one could dismiss it.

Still, Karakum had no reason to dodge it.

"Ah, missed."

"........."

The fireball kept sailing upward, far off into the distance.

The four watching let out a collective sigh, and even Karakum, looking almost cheated out of all that tension, cracked a tired smile.

Of course, whatever their reactions, the fireball kept flying, farther and farther.

Fwoooosh...

It passed high over the head of the great warrior Karakum.

It passed over the heads of the Durkali orc forces that had gathered nearby without anyone noticing.

Flying on far past even that, the fireball arced through the sky and finally came down.

Everyone gathered on the plain stared after it, as if by silent agreement.

Then, a moment later.

KWAAAAAAAAAAANG!

A tremendous roar and flash of light battered their eyes and ears into a daze.

Fwaaaaaaaaash!

"Whoa!"

"Ugh!"

A powerful shockwave followed right after.

A blistering wind hot enough to sear skin slammed into the Durkali soldiers.

Several already-wounded orcs couldn't withstand it and were sent tumbling across the ground.

Of course, the blast's reach hadn't extended as far as where Karakum stood.

But once the dust settled, the sight it revealed was chilling enough on its own, regardless of the distance.

"........."

"........."

A crater so massive it was hard to even guess its size.

The one responsible for creating a scene as bleak as the mouth of hell itself muttered, looking crestfallen.

"No good. This is way too hard."

Everyone stayed quiet at his deflating words, but Lulu meant every bit of it.

Part of it was that he'd never used this kind of power before, but more than that, he felt strongly that it just didn't suit him.

He'd finally pulled his abilities up through transformation, and now it felt like he was using all that raw power in the most wasteful way possible.

On top of that, maybe from getting too worked up, he felt suddenly, sharply exhausted.

Maybe there was a time limit on it.

Most of the transformations Lulu had come across in stories worked that way.

Like a beautiful woman turning back into her old self the moment the clock struck twelve.

Of course, none of that was actually a problem.

Smiling, he looked at Airen and thought.

'The reason I awakened wasn't to hurt anyone.'

That was true. Whether he beat someone or not meant nothing at all to Lulu.

As long as Airen stayed safe and out of danger, he didn't care how the fight turned out either way.

Someone like him was never going to be any good at wielding a power meant to attack.

Lifting his magic staff again, Lulu let out another "Hyah!"

'Not with a heart set on hurting people I dislike, but with the will to protect the ones who matter to me.'

Hummmmm...!

With that thought settled, white light poured out from Lulu's staff.

A power that felt far more refreshing than the blazing fireball from before.

It rose high into the sky, then split into four separate streams.

And came falling down toward Judith, Brett Lloyd, Illia Lindsay, and Airen Farreira.

Fwaaash!

"...!"

The stream of light that touched Judith turned into a fiery red energy, wrapping around her entire body.

"Hm?"

What wrapped around Brett was a blue energy.

Feeling power well up endlessly inside him, like a river flowing steady and deep, he wore a look of astonishment.

Illia felt something similar. Wrapped in a silver energy, she felt her body grow far lighter.

Like the blessing of the wind itself had joined her.

And last, Airen Farreira.

Wrapped entirely in a golden energy that matched his greatsword, he faced Karakum and took up his fighting stance.

"........."

"........."

"........."

The other three were the same.

Carrying a strength unlike anything they'd felt before.

Bearing the support of the most reliable ally imaginable, the young geniuses raised their swords against the strongest warrior of the orc tribe.

Watching the four of them, Karakum let out a low laugh.

"Hah..."

His mind was still a tangled mess.

His head throbbed, and it felt like this state would linger for days even after everything here was over.

At least there was one small comfort. Every single one of the people his son had brought along happened to be someone he found himself liking.

Karakum met the eyes of each of the four swordsmen, one by one.

Looking into their gazes, hotter and clearer than any warrior of the Durkali tribe had ever shown him, he drew out the greatest strength he had left in him.

Karakum's eyes, brimming with the energy of fire, burned bright, and the air around him grew fiercely hot.

A moment where the faintest spark could set the whole fight off again.

Even the Durkali soldiers surrounding them swallowed hard, the tension thick enough to choke on.

But it wasn't Karakum, nor any of the four human swordsmen, who brought that atmosphere to an end.

It was the wandering orc fortune-teller, Kubharu.

Step. Step.

Kubharu walked forward, slow but steady, toward Karakum.

Blood trickled from his mouth.

A powerful warrior's presence carried more than just an atmosphere. It held real force, capable of affecting others directly.

For someone who wasn't a warrior, Karakum's presence was nearly unbearable to withstand.

But Kubharu endured it.

He didn't groan, didn't so much as wince.

Finally standing before Karakum, he knelt down with a solemn expression.

Then he pressed his forehead hard against the ground in a deep, formal bow.

"Kubharu, Spirit Mage of the Durkali... no, this unworthy son greets his father after seventeen years."

"........."

Karakum studied his son for a long moment before lifting his head.

He looked at the four swordsmen.

He looked at the still unpredictable Sorcerer.

He looked at the Durkali warriors ringed all around him, and then turned his gaze back to Kubharu.

His expression remained just as cold as ever.

Fwoosh...

But the fierce presence that had been pouring off him had vanished without a trace.

Turning quietly away, Karakum spoke.

"...We'll talk back at the fortress."

"........."

Kubharu couldn't answer.

Head still bowed, not even thinking to wipe away the tears and blood streaking his face, the wandering orc Spirit Mage wept for a long while.

Watching him, Lulu leapt up and flew straight into Airen's arms.

Fwip.

The cat Sorcerer, back in his original form in an instant.

Holding him close, Airen Farreira thought.

'That form Lulu showed just now... was that really just something he picked up from a fairy tale book?'

There was no way to know.

What mattered more was gently holding the one who'd given everything he had for his sake.

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