WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 176

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Brett Lloyd (2)

"Whew."

The talk was over. Brett Lloyd nodded without much expression and left.

He didn't seem particularly unhappy about it.

But Airen Farreira had been sweating bullets the entire time he talked.

Sure, it was framed as advice for making up with someone, but honestly, it hadn't been much different from relationship counseling.

For someone who, as Karakum put it, struggled just to keep his own body safe, romance, that delicate exchange of feelings between two people, was... an entirely unknown territory.

That was exactly why the advice he'd given hadn't amounted to much.

He'd basically just passed along what Hall Master Ian had told him once. In a sense, it hadn't even been his own thinking, it had been Ian's.

'I don't know if it's right to give the same advice when the situation's completely different.'

"...Still, Brett's a lot smarter than me, so he'll probably figure it out."

He'd probably digest it in his own way.

Even so, whether things would actually work out was another question entirely.

Judith was harder to handle than anyone else he knew.

'...Romance, huh.'

Recalling Brett's words, Airen wandered the empty training grounds.

He had no feel for it at all. Most of his life he'd spent being pathetic, and he'd been so bad at relationships that just making friends had felt like an achievement. Things like this belonged to some world far removed from his own.

Would he ever fall in love with someone, someday?

Or, on the flip side, would someone ever come to love him?

He thought about it for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Summoning his greatsword, he swung it as he thought.

'For now, let's focus on the Five Elements Divine Technique.'

To bring the newly awakened fire aura under control, Airen Farreira drew his conviction up from within.

Compared to those who'd come before him, his form was still clumsy and rough, but the flame in his chest burned hotter and larger than anyone's.

* * *

While Airen completed his conviction through the memories of his past life and kept refining his fire aura,

Judith, too, was looking back at herself through the lens of that same past life.

Her reasons weren't as noble as Airen's.

Honestly, she thought the man from that past life had been kind of an idiot.

If it had been her, she would have driven the blade of revenge into the people who'd scorned her long before dealing with any Jester Demon.

So what part of the man had actually struck a chord with Judith?

'Effort.'

That was it.

Thirty-five years of effort, born from a terrifying, obsessive drive.

That was the part that had stayed with her the most.

'I can't be satisfied just because I slept a little less than everyone else, swung my sword a few more times than everyone else.'

Judith was, without question, a hard worker. Far beyond what most people could even approach.

She swung her sword hard enough to make even her endlessly patient Krono classmates throw up their hands, and she pushed her physical conditioning harder than anyone.

Even Vice Hall Master Keira Fin, who always oversaw training with a cool head, had told her more than once to take it easy.

But so what?

Was that level of effort really enough to catch up to monsters like Airen, Illia, and Brett?

What about Ignet Crescentia, who was supposedly an even greater genius than any of them?

And above her, floating like stars, Hall Master Ian, Kun, the White Knight Commander Julius Hyul?

'No way. Not like this. I'll never catch up doing what I'm doing now. But...'

If she could put in effort close to what the man from Airen's past life had shown.

No, if she could match even half the venomous drive he'd carried, there might be a chance.

That was how intense his flame had been. That fierce, that relentless.

Even if, in the very end, he'd set all of it down and become something else entirely...

'I don't care about that part. What I'm aiming for is the man he was before that.'

She sprang up.

Judith, who'd spent the whole day sitting in her chair turning it over in her head, headed for the training grounds.

The late hour meant nothing to her. Now that her thoughts had settled, she needed to start swinging her sword hard, starting right now.

A hotter flame rose in her chest.

'Still not enough. Hotter, I need to burn hotter.'

No matter how hot, it wasn't enough.

No matter how large the flame, it fell short. Even if the heat swallowed her whole body and mind, that was fine.

She would endure it, no matter what. She'd even take that suffering and turn it into fuel, into a new source of drive.

Judith, now a vessel of fire, steadied her breathing.

Her focused blade was just about to fall in a vertical strike.

"Judith."

"....."

A familiar voice.

Judith didn't turn around. She simply brought the blade down.

But unlike what she'd intended, the motion didn't come out smooth. Her heart had wavered.

Recognizing why, Judith steadied her breath again. Then she swung the sword once more.

Whoosh!

Still, it wasn't satisfying. Of course it wasn't. A stone thrown into a lake sends ripples spreading wider and wider.

It would take no small amount of time for that to settle. Any other person, maybe. But the one who'd come to find her right now was exactly that kind of ripple.

She turned around.

Her closest friend, but at this moment, the most irritating person alive.

Brett Lloyd.

She was about to unleash a stream of curses at his same old punchable face when he spoke first.

"Let's spar. It's been a while."

"....."

Judith scowled.

Thanks to the Durkali tribe's treatment, she'd recovered a lot, but she was still injured.

Where Garam had hit her still throbbed.

Even so, Judith didn't refuse. If she were the type to weigh every little thing, she never would have survived the Trial of the Warrior.

She spat, then settled into her stance.

'Better to cross swords than words with this guy.'

She was thinking exactly that, about to make the first move, when Brett spoke again.

"You asked me before if I was holding back. Yeah, I was."

"What?"

"But it wasn't on purpose."

"What are you even..."

She was about to call it nonsense.

But she couldn't. Brett Lloyd had already closed the distance like a ghost and swung his sword down at her, sharp and fast.

Clang!

"Ugh..."

Blades locked, he pressed in hard. It wasn't the smooth flow of a gentle river anymore, it was the crashing force of a waterfall.

At the center of it, the figure wrapped in blue pushed harder and spoke.

"I'm going to show you now. My sword."

"...Fine, do whatever you want!"

Thud!

Putting her whole body into it, Judith shoved him back and immediately drove forward. Her eyes burned.

No, it wasn't just her eyes. Brett felt real pressure, like a massive fireball was bearing down on him.

And it wasn't just a feeling. Judith's sword really did burn like flame.

Clang!

Clang!

Sparks flew every time their blades met.

The aura woven into each strike carried real dread with it.

A primal fear that any living thing would feel without choice. Judith's presence kept stoking that fear without pause.

It wasn't just in her sword strikes.

It was in her footwork.

In her gaze.

In her breathing.

The heat of flame clung to every single motion she made, fierce and relentless, pressing in on Brett. His expression twisted with difficulty.

'Good.'

Judith smiled, satisfied.

She'd learned something from her fight against Garam, Master Halifa's eldest son.

Destructive power mattered, sure, but the greatest strength fire carried was fear.

Nothing was more threatening, nothing inflicted greater pain, than flame, and she could use it to stoke an opponent's terror without end.

Break them down. Crush their will, even.

And beyond that, restrict them movement by movement, until finally they couldn't even flinch with a blade an inch from their nose.

Not just brute force, but overwhelming violence.

Having found her direction, Judith let out a fierce laugh and swung her sword. Swung it, and swung it, and kept swinging.

Innocent as a child with a new toy.

The sparks their blades threw off burned hot and wild enough to swallow the whole world.

She noticed something strange was happening only after about ten minutes of that same rhythm.

'What?'

Something was off.

Brett Lloyd was clearly being pushed back.

It didn't look deliberate, like he was just playing defense. He genuinely looked like he was losing ground. His strained expression and the sweat pouring down his forehead proved it.

And yet Judith, the one pressing the attack, wasn't comfortable either.

Her chest felt tight for no reason, her body heavy.

Like she was wading through thick fog wrapped in a heavy padded coat.

A dampness her flames couldn't burn away seemed to have soaked into every part of her.

'This bastard's pulled something.'

Judith gritted her teeth.

She'd felt something like this before.

Aura scattered like sticky swamp water, restricting movement. She remembered calling it a sly, underhanded trick back then, fitting his personality.

But whatever this was now, it went far beyond that.

It wasn't fog.

It wasn't dampness.

At some point, the aura Brett had scattered all around them had started turning into something like deep blue water.

Roooaaar!

There shouldn't have been any actual sound.

But Judith heard it anyway. The sound of waves crashing in from every direction.

She swung her flaming sword to sweep away the surge of aura closing in from the left, the right, and behind her.

It was useless. This counterattack was everything Brett had been quietly stacking up since the start of the fight, all released at once, and there was no way a sword swung on the spur of the moment could block it.

It looked like a dam breaking on three sides at once. Judith's face twisted.

In the end, the only path left to her was straight ahead.

She had to break through Brett Lloyd, who stood waiting, fully braced, right in front of her.

Grinding her teeth, Judith planted her feet and pushed forward.

No, right as she was about to.

Pfft!

The waves of aura crashing in from three sides lost their force. The current collapsed and scattered, spent.

But that wasn't what caught Judith's eye.

Brett Lloyd, staggering, blood spraying from his mouth.

She dropped her sword and ran to him. She caught him just before he collapsed.

Laying his head against her knee, she shouted.

"What the hell!"

"Did you see it? My sword..."

"No, what the fuck is going on right now. Why are you coughing up blood all of a sudden!"

Judith's face twisted into a deep scowl. Brett smiled.

Lately she'd worn that same look every time he came near her, but this expression now was nothing like that.

Seeing real worry written across her face, Brett thought quietly to himself.

'Not bad.'

It was true he'd pushed himself hard to pull off the technique.

Scattering aura slowly and secretly through the air, then suddenly solidifying it all at once into waves to crush the opponent. Aura control like that.

If it succeeded cleanly, the power would be more than enough, but even a technique at that level was still a stretch for his current skill.

That was why he'd kept this achievement hidden from Judith.

He hadn't wanted to show it off until he'd polished it properly.

'Because pulling it off perfectly would look a lot cooler...'

But after hearing what Airen had said, Brett's thinking had shifted a little.

Whether it was perfect or not didn't matter.

Looking cooler, looking less cool, those were problems for later.

When Airen was asked what mattered most in resolving conflict and making up, his answer had been simple: showing your true feelings, completely, without holding back.

That was why Brett Lloyd had pushed himself to attempt an unfinished technique.

He'd figured showing his own sword was the best way to get his true feelings across.

'Airen's method was a letter, but... a swordsman should speak through his sword. Besides, a letter feels kind of embarrassing.'

If he'd written her a letter and handed it over, wouldn't Judith have looked at him like he'd lost his mind?

Thinking about it that way, that idea had its own kind of appeal too.

"You lunatic, why are you grinning like that? Explain, now. What the hell happened?"

"Ah... don't shake me. It hurts."

"Then explain, quick!"

"Okay, okay."

Hearing Judith's demand, Brett slowly explained what had happened.

He worked in a cough here and there. Seeing the blood splatter, worry bloomed even bigger on Judith's face.

Watching that, Brett thought to himself.

'Good thing I overdid it a little.'

His insides were rattled, but honestly, it wasn't that serious.

Still, he figured coughing up blood would sell it better, so he'd bitten the inside of his cheek on purpose.

Even taking Airen's advice into account, he wanted to play this part his own way. That was just how Brett operated.

Of course, Judith had no idea.

If she'd known, she would have thrown punches and kicks instead of holding him up, but for now, at least, her touch was gentle, careful.

Her face looking down at him was unrefined but somehow endearing.

That was why.

That was the only reason Brett spoke his true feelings.

"Judith."

"What."

"I like you."

"...?"

Judith's blank expression slowly turned bright red.

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