Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble - Chapter 223

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Chapter 223: A Favor to Ask (3)

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A breeze blew.

It was not particularly strong, nowhere near enough to cool the heated atmosphere as it brushed past Airen Farreira and Kun.

The tension was so taut that sparks seemed ready to fly at any moment.

Yet the spar did not begin right away.

Step, step.

Kiril Farreira walked between the two swordsmen. There was not the slightest trace of fear or tension on her face.

Slightly taken aback, Kun asked,

“What is it?”

“I’m going to check on Judith.”

“I said she was fine...”

“Just because you say she’s fine doesn’t mean there’s no need to treat her. Please wait a moment. I’ll put her to bed and give her some basic treatment.”

“Are you a healer? Or a priest?”

“I’m a Sorcerer, but I can handle simple treatment.”

“...”

“Oh, and don’t start before I get back. As his younger sister, I want to watch him fight.”

“...”

“Understood?”

“Huh. Well, would you look at that.”

Kun let out a hollow laugh.

Was it because she was the younger sister of Airen Farreira, who was famous throughout the continent?

She was no ordinary person herself. The way she stood so confidently before him made him a little curious.

He nodded.

“Fine. Be quick.”

“Yes. Lulu, help me.”

“Okay.”

Poof!

Lulu, transformed into a magical girl, raised her Sorcery wand.

Judith, who had been lying on the ground, floated into the air in a comfortable position.

After Kiril and the others went inside, Kun, who had watched everything, looked at Airen and asked,

“Her personality seems quite different from yours.”

“That’s right.”

“Did Judith know your sister? It didn’t seem like they did, but she certainly seems concerned about her.”

“This was their first meeting.”

Airen answered with a smile.

He did not fully understand his sister’s actions.

Still, they were not completely beyond his understanding. She must have felt something as she looked into Judith’s heart.

‘I don’t know exactly what it is, but I’m glad things seem to have worked out better than I feared.’

A little later, the door opened with a creak.

Lulu had returned to her cat form, and Kiril, wearing an imperious expression, looked at Kun.

“Begin.”

“Ha... I’m not usually the type to listen to anyone...”

Kun muttered with a quiet chuckle.

He did not look displeased.

Then again, Airen’s own younger sister had always been popular with unusual people rather than ordinary ones.

With that thought, Airen took a serious stance.

“I’m ready.”

“Good.”

Wooooong!

Wooooooooong!

Their eyes met, and both drew up their Aura.

As if by prior agreement, Aura Swords appeared at the same time, one golden and one white.

Surprisingly, there was not much difference in their lengths.

Of course, Kun was surely not using his full strength, but Airen was still struck by the fact that Kun’s Aura Sword, regarded as the finest on the continent, was not much different in length from his own.

But the truly shocking part came next.

Without any warning, Kun’s figure vanished as though it had been snuffed out.

Whoosh!

Booom!

“Kh...!”

Airen groaned as he knocked aside the sword that had thrust at him in an instant.

He was truly startled. He had nearly lost in a single blow.

Kun’s sword was that fast.

By the time Kun moved his feet, closed the distance, and thrust his sword before Airen’s eyes, all Airen had managed was to raise his blade in an awkward stance.

Boom!

Kun’s thrusts came one after another.

Airen met them with his senses heightened to their limit. He dodged some and blocked others.

At the same time, he tried to find his own rhythm. The iron energy surging from within made him sturdier and heavier.

His eyes shone sharply as he searched for a chance to counterattack.

It was futile.

As he endured Kun’s unceasing sword strikes, Airen realized just how vast the gap was between himself and one of the continent’s three great swordsmen.

‘I can’t bring out the true essence of the Heavy Sword at all.’

A heavy sword was not a slow sword.

It was a pressure-focused sword that advanced solidly and heavily, claiming its own space and restricting the opponent’s freedom.

But that had been blocked from the very beginning.

Kun was always where Airen wanted to advance.

The opponent’s sword was always in the space he sought to seize.

It was not simply that the sword was there. Kun himself was there, in perfect form and fully prepared.

No matter how strong the Heavy Sword was in a head-on clash, it could not gain the upper hand against someone who had prepared several steps ahead.

Still...

‘I can’t give up like this.’

A laugh escaped Airen before he realized it.

It was strange. Not long ago, when he had been traveling from Lavath to Alkantrea, he would not have been able to remain calm in a situation like this.

He would have fretted over earning Kun’s recognition and made reckless moves just to show something meaningful.

Not now.

He did not know it, but the Water Sword flowing within his heart had already given him calmness and composure.

Of course, calmness was not all he possessed.

Airen was a young swordsman.

Unlike an old swordsman who had experienced and felt most things in the world, he still possessed a fiercely burning passion.

Water balanced that passion without ever letting its flame go out.

Thuuung!

He drew upon the Metal energy of the Five Elements Divine Technique and blocked Kun’s sword.

Kun looked intrigued. A weight unlike anything he had felt until now traveled through his hand.

Seizing that brief opening, Airen counterattacked.

Flames joined steel.

His sword, heated with murderous intensity like an iron block in a forge, shot toward Kun’s solar plexus.

‘This is beyond what I imagined.’

The interest in Kun’s eyes deepened.

Honestly, he was impressed. He had thought Airen would only defend like a turtle, yet he had somehow created an opening and turned to the offensive.

Nor was it a sword wielded with a desperate, anything-goes attitude.

That move held firm resolve, along with a hot, fierce spirit that refused to retreat.

It was a terrifying presence, enough to make even an equal opponent feel fear for an instant.

Of course, Kun was several levels more skilled than Airen.

With a faint smile, he raised his tempo even further. His physical strength, Aura, and heart all accelerated to their absolute limits.

The great swordsman’s expression turned serious as his sword descended upon the opponent charging at him fiercely.

Clang!

It descended.

Claaang!

Again and again, it descended.

After unleashing seven attacks in an instant, Kun took a relaxed step back.

Then he said,

“That was quite good.”

“...”

Airen could not pursue him.

His own sword caught his eye.

The opponent’s attacks, which had rained down at unbelievable speed, and the wind they had stirred up had already blown away the heat he had gathered in his blade.

Cold steel alone could never reach his opponent.

Airen nodded, then spoke to Kun.

“Um...”

“You can call me Kun. I don’t care much for formality.”

“...Sir Kun. I’m sorry, but could you give me a moment?”

“Hmm.”

Kun studied Airen closely.

Normally, he would have told him not to say anything so ridiculous.

What use was a move that required the opponent to wait in a real battle? He would have harshly scolded Airen, telling him to stop wasting time and rush in more desperately.

But he did not.

Just as Ian could not understand Kun’s swordsmanship, Kun could not follow Ian’s swordsmanship either.

The same would be true for their juniors. He should not treat Airen as he treated Judith.

‘I really have changed.’

Kun had always trained, thought, and acted with only fights against rivals in mind.

But that was no longer the case.

Feeling himself treat Airen with the mindset of a teacher, he smiled faintly.

‘Not that I’m his Master... but as a senior, perhaps I can show him a little generosity...’

It might not be so bad.

With that thought, Kun gave a solemn nod.

Airen nodded as well.

His expression was strange too.

A young Sword Master as solid as steel, as hot as flame, yet filled with calmness and composure.

He resembled Ian.

But he did not feel exactly like Ian.

As Kun took interest in that fact, Airen’s presence reached completion.

“Hoo...”

A calm breath flowed from his lips.

Airen’s presence was the same.

Kun’s eyes gleamed as he felt his opponent’s Aura, slow and majestic, rise until it reached his feet.

‘It’s like water.’

No, it could not be compared to water alone.

Kwaaaaaaa!

The presence that had felt plain and dull until a moment ago suddenly turned violent.

It was a tidal wave. A raging current. Airen’s presence, crashing toward him, was far too hot to be called mere water.

Zuuuuung...!

Then the presence of steel joined it.

Watching the opponent’s attack collapse toward him, vast and heavy, Kun nodded.

His mouth smiled, and so did his eyes.

‘I’ve seen what your sword can do.’

The choice he made was no different from when he had blocked Airen’s earlier attack.

Booom!

He thrust out his sword.

Booom!

He thrust out his sword again.

Booom!

Boooom!

Booom!

Booooooom!

Fast, faster, faster still, he thrust out his sword. He thrust his sword madly at a speed no one could follow.

Shwaaaaaak!

Kun was not Ian.

He did not possess the continent’s greatest talent or dazzling potential.

Unlike his rival, who had shown remarkable achievements in many areas, Kun held only one weapon in his hand.

The Sword That Cuts Water?

Of course, he did not know it.

He did not want to know it.

He did not need such a thing to face the oncoming wave.

“...!”

Airen’s eyes flashed.

Kun’s sword strikes, pouring out without end at terrifying speed, met his wave.

Kun had not shown an impossible miracle like Ian, but as countless powerful, swift sword strikes rained down, even the majestically flowing tidal wave had no choice but to lose momentum.

The water was pushed aside.

Because it was water, it would eventually gather and return to its place, but before it could, another plunging sword pushed it aside again.

It happened over and over, countless times.

The result was a tidal wave split apart to both sides in the distance, if only for a moment.

And between them stood a lone young swordsman with a promising future.

That small opening was enough.

Kun smiled faintly and extended his final attack. His sword brushed past the neck of his completely defenseless opponent.

It was a perfect finish.

“...”

Kiril and Lulu, who had been watching the spar, could not say a word.

The same went for Airen Farreira.

He stared blankly at the opponent who had crushed water in a way completely unlike Ian’s, in a way Airen could never have imagined.