Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble - Chapter 197

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 197

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Sword of the Heart (1)

What was the most effective power against demons and demonoids?

The answer was already fixed. Holy power, of course.

Where demons carried endless malice toward humanity, the divine granted boundless grace to every creature of the continent.

The paladins of Abilius, the holy kingdom with a thousand years of history behind it, were the ones responsible for destroying the greatest number of evils.

But did that mean anyone unable to wield holy power was simply weak against the demonic?

Not at all.

History held no shortage of figures who accomplished feats even greater than the paladins had.

Dion Lindsay, who subdued the Dragon King four hundred years ago, was one such figure. So was Jacob, the founding Hall Master of Krono Fencing Hall.

Neither of them could wield holy power, and yet both had cut down and brought countless demons to their knees.

Later generations had no hesitation calling such people heroes, and they spoke of their swordsmanship with deep reverence as the Hero's Sword.

And now...

Ignet, standing right in front of him, was known as one born with that very Hero's Sword.

Gulp.

Sevion Brooks swallowed hard.

It was a famous story.

Back in her mercenary days, the White Knight Commander had seen Ignet's swordsmanship and pushed hard for her recruitment, and the high priests, who had worn skeptical faces at first, had unanimously agreed to bring her in.

That wasn't simply because of her overwhelming talent with a blade. It was because she'd been born with the kind of energy that could subdue ten thousand demons.

And yet...

She was offering to teach that swordsmanship?

No, before that. Was it even possible to teach something like that to someone else?

Sevion Brooks couldn't help but doubt it.

The Hero's Sword couldn't be learned from anyone, couldn't be taught to anyone. At least, that was what he'd always believed.

If it could be done, the world would be overflowing with heroes, and demons would have gone extinct long before a hundred and fifty years ago.

A skilled swordsman could be forged through effort.

But a hero was different. A hero had to be born that way. That was what the finest knight of Phalanke believed.

"........."

It wasn't only his own thought.

The other swordsmen felt the same, and if anything, even more strongly.

No matter how much the Black Knight Commander's words shook the continent, no matter that this was her own teaching, none of them believed they could actually get their hands on a hero's ability.

But still...

Even setting aside any hope of gaining the Hero's Sword or a hero's energy, uniquely deadly to demons...

Wasn't the mere chance to learn swordsmanship from Ignet herself an enormous opportunity on its own?

That was it exactly.

That was why none of the doubting swordsmen spoke a single word against her.

A sword especially effective against demons and demonoids? Of course that was good.

But more than that, the simple fact of learning her swordsmanship stirred up an overwhelming hunger in every one of them.

Sevion Brooks was no exception.

If anything, he wanted it more desperately than anyone.

He, of all people, knew exactly how monstrous Ignet's skill was, having crossed blades with her himself.

He wasn't hoping to learn the Hero's Sword and break through the demon's curse with it.

He wasn't even expecting results on that scale.

But if he could just learn her sword. If he could just learn from the future strongest swordsman on the continent!

Fire blazed in the swordsmen's eyes. The mood in the dungeon, which had been sinking little by little, filled with energy in an instant.

There was some unease mixed in too, worry that Ignet might only pass her swordsmanship on to a chosen few among the strong.

"Seems like plenty of you want this."

"........."

"I'll allow it for everyone."

"...!"

"Better to leave the possibility open wide. I'd be glad if anyone, whoever it turns out to be, could take up my secret art and tear down this vile darkness barrier..."

"Thank you so much!"

Ignet hadn't even finished speaking.

From off in the distance, Calven's deputy commander, Amira Shelton, who'd been standing there with a dazed look, bent at a perfect right angle to express her gratitude.

She was, without question, the finest swordswoman her own country could boast of. But she knew.

Widen the view even just to the neighboring kingdoms, let alone the whole continent, and talent like hers was everywhere.

There were countless people out there who'd reached heights she could never touch no matter how hard she tried.

This trip alone had proven it.

Airen Farreira. Illia Lindsay.

Two geniuses more than ten years younger than her, and yet they'd saved the expedition from crisis with skill she couldn't begin to compare herself to.

She couldn't put herself in the same league as them.

Of course not. It was so obvious it barely needed saying.

But that was exactly why this chance mattered so much to someone like her.

"I'll do my very best!"

Amira Shelton bowed to Ignet once more, and Gregory Griffin watched her with a proud, satisfied look.

That was where it started.

The knights of the three kingdoms, who'd been holding back and watching each other until now, began bowing one after another without hesitation.

"Thank you!"

"I'll work hard!"

"...I'll do my best too. Please teach me."

Even Sevion Brooks, Sword Master and finest knight of Phalanke, lowered his head.

Perry Martinez watched him with something like wonder.

That Sevion, of all people, so proud, bowing his head like that.

Given Ignet's reputation, it wasn't hard to understand, but it still felt strange to see.

Still, there was someone else who caught his interest even more.

Perry turned his gaze away from his old friend and rival Sevion, toward another figure entirely.

A young swordswoman standing frozen in place, face to face with an old, bitter history.

Illia Lindsay.

What choice would she make, he wondered.

Would she refuse Ignet's teaching to protect her pride?

Or would she swallow her resentment and bow her head to the woman?

Perry Martinez, along with everyone else, watched with rapt attention. Airen and Lulu studied Illia's face.

She was strong enough with a sword to leave anyone in awe, but far more vulnerable to public pressure than her skill suggested, so there was no way not to worry.

But then...

"Thanks. I'll learn well."

"........."

"What?"

Illia Lindsay said it in the flattest tone imaginable, once again dropping the honorifics without a second thought.

Georgu, Anya, and every other expedition member watching the two of them all wore the same blank expression.

Even Ignet's face stiffened for a brief moment.

But she didn't get angry. A short laugh escaped her, and she nodded.

"Do as you please."

"Thanks."

"Airen. What will you do?"

This time everyone's gaze swung back toward Airen.

A look completely different from the one aimed at Illia, filled with nothing but pure expectation.

Even Ignet's eyes carried it.

Her gaze, sharper even than when they'd reunited at the banquet hall, swept over Airen's face.

Of course, none of that shook him in the slightest.

Thump.

Airen lifted the sword that had been driven into the ground, its blade now a complete, unmistakable gold.

After giving the proper swordsman's bow, Airen spoke.

"I'll do everything I can to break this curse."

* * *

A week had passed since the expedition arrived in the dungeon.

Normally, staying that long in a place saturated with curses would leave anyone writhing in agony, but the mood in the dungeon right now was better than it had ever been.

The swordsmen especially.

Watching those gathered around Ignet, Perry Martinez spoke.

"I envy them."

He meant it.

Swordsmen were the type to walk straight into a pit of hellfire without hesitation if it meant reaching a higher stage of mastery.

For people like that, Ignet Crescentia's teaching had to feel like a gift far greater than whatever reward they'd originally expected from the dungeon.

Naturally, mages weren't any different in this regard.

If one of the three great mage houses of Runtel Kingdom offered free lessons, the people of Lavath would probably be reacting the same exact way.

Which made the response from Georgu Poive and the rest of the Black Knight Order all the more surprising.

Not one of them showed the slightest interest in Ignet.

Was it because they could already wield holy power, so they had no particular need to covet the Hero's Sword? But still...

"Hm."

While scanning the Black Knight Order, Perry's eyes met the deputy commander's. He quickly looked away and pretended to be occupied with something else.

Georgu, for his part, glanced away too and turned back toward the commander.

A basic lecture on demons was underway.

Would they even manage to get through the introduction?

Everyone was making the same mistake. Ignet wasn't the type to be stingy about sharing her swordsmanship with others.

Meaning right now, she hadn't made some special decision or reached some grand resolve.

He knew that better than anyone. Back in their mercenary days, when they hadn't even been particularly close yet, he'd been handed the Hero's Sword right away too.

And the result?

A failure. How was anyone supposed to copy that?

He'd understood the basic parts. He'd even managed to give shape to power, to look inside another person's heart.

That was exactly how he'd noticed, a year and a half ago, that Airen carried an iron sword buried in his heart.

But refining that into the shape of a blade, and further still, completing it as an actual swordsmanship?

Georgu shook his head at the thought.

Still... maybe one person could manage it. Maybe even two.

Airen. And Ignet.

Watching the two of them for a moment, Georgu's face remained one of pure confusion.

Even so, he thought recovering enough to leave the dungeon on her own strength would surely be faster for the commander than either of them managing to master the Hero's Sword.

What was the commander even thinking?

Did she really believe they could pick up the Hero's Sword that quickly?

Or was this just for the sake of morale in the dungeon?

If that was the goal, it had worked. The mood among the swordsmen was far brighter than before, practically swirling with energy.

For a moment, it even felt like the darkness of the barrier had thinned.

Still, this kind of behavior felt a little different from how Ignet usually acted.

Which was exactly why Georgu couldn't shake his confusion.

Maybe she'd realized something. Reached some kind of insight.

While Georgu sat lost in thought like that, Ignet's explanation of the Hero's Sword kept going.

"First, what exactly are demons? No, let me put it more precisely. What is the nature of the demonic aura that demons wield?"

It wasn't a hard question. Everyone already knew the answer.

Malice.

Destroying humans, killing them, trampling them, toying with them, driving them into terror...

The demonic aura's true nature was, in essence, everything close to darkness that could make a human suffer.

That was exactly why so many people, rather than defeating demons, found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer weight of that aura and couldn't even fight at their real strength.

But there existed an opposite force that swallowed that energy whole, and that force was holy power.

"Holy power, in contrast, is made of boundless love for humanity. Strong faith in the divine shines brilliantly on its own, and you could call it the mutual conqueror of demons."

"........."

"And human will, too, can stand in for the grace of the divine."

Fwooosh!

Ignet turned her back for a moment, and an unknown energy poured out from her body.

It wasn't Aura. It felt like something that reached far deeper into the heart than that.

A flame. Unlike the warmth Airen gave off, there was no nostalgic comfort to it, but just standing behind it gave off a sense of security, as if it could shield you from anything.

People stared at Ignet's back without even noticing their own mouths hanging open.

Fwoo...

"Hff, hff, hoo... this is my inner Protective Will, given shape as energy, made to break the demon's Destructive Urge head on."

"You mean..."

"Think of it as giving outward form to the invisible power of the heart."

"........."

"The same way training the body builds visible muscle, and training Aura manifests an Aura Sword outward from within..."

Fwooosh!

"...like this, the power of the heart, and among that, the will opposed to a demon's will, meaning the will to protect the world, made visible on the outside, hff..."

Fwoo.

"Then trained, refined, and carried forward into the realm of swordsmanship. That's what I mean."

"........."

Everyone fell silent, at a loss for words.

It wasn't that they didn't understand what Ignet was saying.

It wasn't that they looked down on the power of the heart as some vague abstraction either.

Hadn't they felt it themselves, the moment they entered the dungeon?

Those lacking strength of heart had nearly been left behind, while those with unshakable belief in themselves had broken through the first trial without much trouble at all.

But turning that into a tangible energy?

Further still, shaping it into a blade the same way an Aura Sword took form, and developing it into an entire swordsmanship?

Was that even possible?

Before that, was it something that could actually be learned and taught?

That was when it happened.

Bwaaam!

"........."

A sound like the air itself bursting rang out up ahead. The people nearby wore expressions that said, no way.

And no way turned out to be exactly right.

Airen Farreira examined the newly awakened power carefully.

No, wait. It wasn't really something new.

The Heart Sword?

He'd already been using it.

During the Final Evaluation at Krono Fencing Hall. When he cut down the demon during the southern Subjugation Campaign. When he left a handprint on the iron stake in front of Ignet. When he drew out an Aura Sword against Illia Lindsay. When he confirmed his past life and completed his flame of conviction.

Every single time, he'd been swinging a sword meant to use and protect the power of his heart.

Whether that will belonged to the man in his dream, or to himself.

That was why he understood the moment he heard it. Why he could do it.

The moment that somewhat abstract concept locked itself concretely into place in his mind...

Fwooosh!

A third power spread through his entire body.

The moment he focused on carrying it fully into his sword, the golden Aura Sword blazed with even fiercer light.

Fwoosh.

Having achieved the Hero's Sword, Airen Farreira looked at his temporary teacher and asked.

"Is this the Hero's Sword?"

"That's right. But..."

Ignet Crescentia paused for a moment before answering.