WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble
Chapter 200
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You're Not Enough (2)
A small group left the council chamber and headed toward the training grounds.
At the front walked the bald old man who had made the proposal. Behind him came Airen's group, and behind them trailed the rest, including Julius Hyul and Ignet Crescentia.
The feeling in the air was strange.
Airen Farreira had come to think, since setting out across the continent, that he ran into situations like this more often than he'd expected.
'Proof of skill, huh.'
He thought back over old memories.
The time he'd been tested on the magitech measurement device to earn his mercenary plate.
The time he'd sparred with Hall Master Hyram and Zet Frost in Partisan.
The countless duels he'd fought in the Proof Land at Aienmarc.
There had been plenty of smaller moments besides. Not every one of them, but most had started the same way: with people underestimating him.
He simply wasn't the type whose strength showed on the surface. His relatively young looks probably didn't help either.
'These people are different.'
But the people from the Holy Kingdom walking toward the training grounds now were different.
The ones behind him didn't hold high expectations for him.
But there was no contempt in their eyes either.
Whatever they'd heard about him before, they seemed determined to set aside anything unconfirmed and judge his skill for themselves.
The bald old man walking ahead was the same.
This didn't feel like someone stepping up just to knock some youthful arrogance down a peg.
It was the attitude of someone who meant to seriously measure his ability and respond accordingly.
Airen found himself thinking that the old man in front of him really was no ordinary presence.
'Just who is he?'
"Do you know that old man?"
"...Not really."
Lulu and Illia Lindsay both shared the same question.
He hadn't drawn his sword, but the presence radiating off him alone was enough to tell.
This man felt like someone on the same level as her father.
A powerhouse to rival the continent's ten strongest!
For a moment Illia wondered if he might be Rigoberto Clark, the Red Knight Commander, but she shook her head almost immediately.
As far as she knew, he wasn't bald.
And besides, the figures following behind him, at least ten of them by her guess, all Sword Masters, were people she didn't recognize either.
'Son, the true strength of the Holy Kingdom runs far deeper than the world believes.'
A memory surfaced, a conversation her father and brother once had.
It had happened when she was young, but she remembered it vividly.
As the Holy Kingdom's influence over the continent kept growing, plenty of people had grumbled about it.
Her brother Carl Lindsay had shared that same disbelief.
Even granting that Abilius was the strongest nation, he hadn't thought it could really hold that much power.
Just look at the number of Sword Masters. The Western Five Kingdoms averaged five each. Abilius didn't even have ten.
Sure, their priests and other forces were formidable in their own right, but comparing knights alone, they clearly fell short of the Five Kingdoms combined.
'But Father didn't see it that way.'
Power that never showed on the surface.
Illia swallowed hard, remembering how certain her father Joshua Lindsay had sounded when he spoke of it.
It was true. The strength of the Holy Kingdom, the part she'd never known about, was beyond anything she'd imagined.
Enough that even Ignet Crescentia didn't stand out as anything special among them.
"Shall we begin here?"
The bald old man, standing at the center of the training grounds, spoke. Everyone else had been cleared out. Not so much as an ant remained besides their group.
Airen Farreira looked at the man watching him with eyes neither cold nor warm, and asked.
"Before we begin, may I ask your name?"
The bald old man glanced back, as if seeking Julius Hyul's approval.
The White Knight Commander thought it over briefly, then nodded. The old man turned back and spoke.
"Quincy Myers."
"..."
"I'm telling you because I trust you'll keep your mouth shut. Don't repeat it elsewhere."
"...Yes."
Airen Farreira nodded, his expression still tight.
Illia Lindsay, standing behind him, wore the same look.
Only Lulu blinked in confusion at the gleaming bald head before her and whispered to Illia.
"You know him?"
"...He's a former commander of the Red Knight Order."
"Really? So what?"
"I heard he passed away ten years ago... now I get it."
Illia nodded.
Now she understood. Who these ten Sword Masters who'd suddenly appeared were. Why every single one of them looked so advanced in age.
They were the previous generation's holy knights, every one of them believed to have already left this world.
She looked at them with serious eyes, then turned her gaze toward Airen.
'You've got this, Airen.'
Of course, Airen couldn't feel his friend's support right now. He didn't even hear Lulu's cheering out loud.
That was how deep his focus ran. He was taking in not just Quincy Myers, the former Red Knight Commander, but every single member of the Holy Kingdom watching him.
'Incredible.'
There was nothing else to say.
As his skill had grown, so had his eye, and his Eyes That See Aura had sharpened along with it.
Before, he could only sense the total volume of someone's Aura. Now, at his peak concentration, he could feel the flow of Aura even when his opponent wasn't doing anything at all.
Smooth beyond words.
Soft beyond words.
And yet it felt like a wave of overwhelming force could crash down the instant the man decided to move.
In that moment, Airen Farreira understood.
His own skill fell far short of what the Holy Kingdom considered the baseline for their subjugation force.
"I'll grant you the first strike."
Quincy Myers drew his sword. A massive blade, much like Airen's own. A presence as heavy as his sturdy frame radiated off every inch of him.
That alone was enough to send a bead of sweat sliding down Airen's forehead.
"Yes," Airen answered shortly, and summoned his Greatsword.
"Hmm."
"Oho."
"That's..."
A blade glowing gold from hilt to edge.
Sensing something extraordinary in it, a faint murmur rippled through the holy knights.
But Airen wasn't looking at them now. He wasn't even looking at Quincy Myers, his opponent.
Ignet Crescentia.
Still radiating that sun-like presence.
Standing tall and unshaken even among these powerful, legendary holy knights, and watching her, Airen realized what he'd been mistaken about.
"You..."
Vwoooom!
Just as Quincy Myers's brow creased, an Aura Sword surged up from Airen's blade.
The same gold as the sword itself.
At the sight of that radiant form, the former Red Knight Commander, who'd been about to scold him for his lack of focus, fell silent instead.
Words weren't needed.
He served a god, but he'd given no small number of years to the sword as well.
To feel the will that would come through that blade, Quincy Myers settled into a firm middle stance.
"Whew."
Watching him with steady eyes, Airen caught his breath.
Being granted the first strike was a real advantage.
Techniques too difficult to pull off in a real fight became possible, given enough time to prepare.
He thought back to his first sparring match with Zet Frost, the 101st ranked swordsman, and gathered his focus.
Body.
Aura.
The heart of his past life.
The heart of his present life.
The steel and flame born from both.
And one more flame, meant to burn even hotter than that.
Holding all of it in his mind, Airen Farreira finally raised his sword.
* * *
Vwoooom!
"Mm."
"Impressive, I'll give him that."
"Twenty-three, was it? Certainly..."
"He's earned the right to that confidence."
The moment the Aura Sword bloomed from the blond young man's blade, ten knights of the Purification Order nodded in unison.
Most who retired from their posts spent the rest of their lives in prayer, or set out to travel and spread their god's word.
But a few knights took a different path. They left the mortal world behind to train quietly with their swords, or wandered the continent in secret, hunting down evil while hiding their true identities.
Officially, they were listed as dead. Because of that, they answered to no command, not even the Holy King's, living out a second life of their own choosing.
There was only one event that could ever draw them together again.
The rise of demons.
That was why these ten Sword Masters, the Holy Kingdom's Purification Order, had shown themselves here, and why they were relatively unmoved by Airen Farreira's talent.
Decades of accumulated experience had settled them into a calm no display of skill could easily shake.
That didn't mean they felt nothing at all.
A body honed to a startling degree for someone only twenty-three years old.
And more striking than the body itself, an Aura so gentle it carried something like warmth.
Smiles spread across the faces of the Purification Order's members.
They'd realized this young man hadn't volunteered for the subjugation force out of honor or self-interest, but out of a genuine concern for the continent.
'If he keeps growing like this, he'll become a great strength for the continent.'
'Remarkable. I'd almost want to recruit him for my own kingdom.'
'If a child like this rises as the sword of god and stands at Ignet's side, I could return to god's embrace with real peace of mind.'
Warmth rose in them unbidden. It showed not just in their mouths but in their eyes. Of course, none of it broke their focus.
They kept their eyes wide open, watching Airen, hearts pounding as they waited for the sword strike sure to come.
But it wasn't over yet.
Given all the time he needed, Airen Farreira's sword was about to prove far more remarkable than any of them expected.
Booooom!
"...!"
"...!"
Something burst, and a fierce energy bloomed outward.
A mysterious power, invisible to ordinary eyes, wove itself gently into the golden Aura.
One of the Purification Order members, recognizing it as the Hero's Sword, turned to Ignet.
She spoke.
"I did mention I'd taught him something."
"...Didn't you say three weeks?"
"I did."
"That's..."
Bzzzzt!
The conversation cut off. The old man who'd been asking snapped his head back around, eyes going wide.
He wasn't the only one. Several others frowned deeply, racking their brains to figure out what new energy had layered itself over the Aura Sword and the Hero's Sword.
It was then that Julius Hyul, the White Knight Commander who'd stayed silent until now, finally spoke.
"Five Elements Divine Technique."
"Five Elements Divine Technique? Ah..."
"You're thinking right. Spirit energy... metal energy, and now fire energy woven in. The metal energy's already complete."
"..."
With that, Julius Hyul fell silent again.
His eyes, still fixed on the blond young man, were colored with the same astonishment as everyone else's.
But it still wasn't over.
Not yet.
Not the Purification Order's members, not Quincy Myers standing across from him, not even White Knight Commander Julius Hyul.
Airen Farreira had erased every one of them from view except a single person.
His gaze was fixed on Ignet Crescentia, who still stood with that same unshaken, confident look on her face.
Through the training of his past life, he'd forged a will of steel.
Through the journey of this life, he'd carried a conviction of flame. A protective will toward the world, and a genuine goodness, those were the roots that had carried Airen this far.
But...
'The hero's path alone can't explain the whole of who I am!'
Fwoooosh!
Another flame bloomed inside Airen's heart.
No, not a new one. A small ember that had always been there began to grow, feeding on his heart.
Walking the hero's path required no comparison with others.
That much was true. Anyone could walk the hero's path. Anyone could move for the sake of the world.
On a righteous path, competing with others served no purpose at all.
But Airen wasn't only a hero.
That was the truth of it.
Unlike before, he now genuinely loved the sword, cherished it, and burned with the will to climb ever higher.
He had become, in every sense, a true swordsman.
Fwoooooosh!
And that swordsman's heart was speaking now.
He didn't want to fall behind.
He wanted to stand at the same height. He wanted to join the subjugation force Ignet had joined. And that wasn't all.
Someday, he wanted to reach a level that would astonish even her, and win a real fight against her, fair and square.
A swordsman's competitive fire.
A heat every bit as fierce as a hero's conviction poured fresh life into Airen's blade.
Booooooom!
The blast tore through the air. Quincy Myers's brow furrowed.
The heat rolling toward him was nothing ordinary. But he didn't close his eyes. The sword the young man before him held looked far too beautiful to look away from.
Steel, perfected.
Flame, perfected.
No, watching Airen Farreira wrap his blade in a flame beyond perfection, the former Red Knight Commander paused for a long moment.
The air hung heavy, ready to break into a clash at the smallest provocation.
Then, with a calm expression, he spoke.
"I lose."
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