WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 234: Time to Prove Yourself (1)
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Sword Master.
The term referred to those who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, precious figures numbering only one hundred among the continent's swordsmen, as countless as grains of sand.
That might sound like a lot at first, but there were fewer Sword Masters than there were kings across the continent. That alone showed how extraordinary they were.
‘Though there are quite a few around me...’
That was right.
There was an absurd number of Masters around Brett Lloyd. Masters who were ridiculously young, too.
It was understandable for Ian, the Inspection Hall Master of Krono, and Keira Fin, the Vice Hall Master, to be Masters.
But then there was Illia Lindsay, who had broken through at eighteen, and Airen, who was now advancing beyond the level of a Master. Looking at them was enough to make Brett feel not only jealous and deprived, but downright dumbfounded.
‘I haven’t lost.’
Still, Brett did not crumble.
Brett did not despair or stop moving forward.
The days as a provisional trainee still came to mind.
The time when everything Brett had built, and everything Brett would build in the future, had felt meaningless.
Judith’s fist had snapped Brett out of that state. So had Brett’s father’s advice.
What would Brett be like now if not for those two?
‘...No need to know.’
That was right. There was no reason to dwell on things that had never happened.
The blue-haired youth stared at the sword with wide eyes.
The Blue Sword, a gift from the chieftain of Durkali, had a soft blue Aura rising from its blade.
Looking at that light, the very symbol of a Sword Master, Brett smiled through tears.
“Ha... Hahaha...”
Brett did not keep laughing for long.
Even in a moment of excitement, Brett was still Brett. More composed than most people his age, Brett understood how important this moment was.
The feeling of Manifesting Aura outside the body, and the sensation of focusing it into a sword.
Amplifying condensed power, hardening it, and tuning the sharp senses that encompassed it all.
Brett carefully focused on every part of Aura control while swinging the sword.
Cautiously, as if holding a glass sword that might shatter at any moment.
But that only lasted for a moment.
Soon, Brett grew accustomed to the Aura Sword and began moving through the forms more quickly.
Whoosh!
Swish!
Brett did not close his eyes as Airen did when using Concentration.
Instead, Brett opened them wider. As though unable to miss a single moment, Brett took in every movement with both eyes and mind.
Brett felt proud.
Emotions surged up inside.
The movements were rougher than usual because of it, but Brett did not care. If anything, he turned those emotions into a wave-like momentum.
The demon’s nest was quickly filled with the wave-like Aura Brett unleashed.
Airen Farreira looked startled.
It was not the swordsmanship of a Master.
Nor was it the desperate struggle of someone barely maintaining an Aura Sword.
It was something Airen had never seen before.
Yet it suited Brett better than anything else.
Airen watched his friend intently, as if engraving the sight into his mind. Kiril and Lulu sensed the strange atmosphere between the two and quietly held their breath.
Time passed.
A considerable amount of time passed.
No one paid attention to the unpleasant air filling the demon’s domain.
It ended only when the Aura gathered on Brett’s Blue Sword returned to his body, and the Stone Demon, which they had thought was dead, spoke in a vile voice.
- Hahahaha! You little vermin!
“What? It’s not dead?”
“It’s fine. We’ll just kill it again.”
- Haha, you can’t do that. I’m already dead! No matter how cruel you are, you can’t kill a dead demon twice!
“What is that bastard talking about?”
“Ah, it’s that thing! I heard about it before...”
“Posthumous Curse.”
“Right, a Posthumous Curse!”
Lulu nodded at Airen’s words.
She had heard it from Ignet. Most demons held grudges fiercely.
Even after dying, they did not disappear completely. They would place dreadful curses on the people who killed them to take revenge.
The Stone Demon seemed to be planning the same thing.
No, calling it the Stone Demon now felt awkward.
Its body was made of clumps of dark smoke.
It looked like a filthy stuffed doll, with cotton bursting out from various places.
Despite its undignified appearance, its eyes were still as vicious as ever.
The demon’s Posthumous Will lowered its voice.
- You thought it was over? No! It isn’t over until I say it’s over! I’ll make you experience hell. I’ll give you a place more horrible, miserable, and suffocating than any labyrinth. I’ll turn you into beings that can neither live nor die, trapped forever in an abyss you can never escape! Haha! Bwahahaha... Urk!
The battered stuffed doll spun through the air.
Lulu, who had been blankly watching, returned to her cat form and leaped up to snatch the demon’s Posthumous Will.
“This is fun! So fun!”
- You little brat! I’m not your toy!
“...”
“...Airen, do you know what we should do about this?”
As Kiril stared in disbelief, Brett asked Airen with a serious expression.
As a cultured noble, Brett could not possibly be ignorant of a demon’s Posthumous Curse.
Brett had never experienced one firsthand, but knew from historical records how dreadful and persistent such curses were.
Still, Brett was not too worried.
Airen had subjugated a demon before.
One likely far stronger than this creature, at that.
Airen must have had a plan, a way to overcome this crisis.
Just as Brett thought that, Airen casually drew out his Aura Sword.
Then he drove his Greatsword into the ground.
Wooooong!
Thunk!
Fwoooosh!
With a clear, ringing sound, golden radiance filled the demon’s barrier.
Like a campfire blooming in a dark room.
Like the light of a lighthouse offering hope to sailors lost at sea.
Just looking at the Aura made hope well up inside Brett.
“Kiril.”
“Yes, big brother.”
“Do you have a spare sword?”
“Of course.”
Kiril took a miniature sword from her Sorcery Pouch and tossed it over.
It soon expanded to a size similar to the one Airen used.
The blond swordsman swung the Sorcery Sword through the air a few times, then grinned at the filthy stuffed doll.
The demon’s expression stiffened.
It had already realized something was wrong when Airen drove the sword shining with golden Aura into the ground.
- Y-you bastard! What are you trying to do...?
Airen ignored it.
Turning toward Brett, he said, “Have you heard of the Hero's Sword?”
“The sword art Ignet uses? The one said to be naturally effective against demons...”
“It isn’t inborn. You can learn it.”
“Really?”
“Really. It might be a little strange, but this is the best place to learn it.”
“Hmm.”
Brett frowned for a moment, then nodded.
Trials had always made heroes stronger.
Having just become a Sword Master and overflowing with confidence, this level of hardship was nothing to Brett.
“Fine. I don’t really know what it is, but we just need to train here, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then let’s start.”
“Okay. First, I need to explain the Protective Will humans possess, which opposes a demon’s Destructive Urge...”
- ...
The demon’s Posthumous Will wore a blank expression.
Not only were they unconcerned about its curse, they were going to use it for training?
What kind of lunatics were these?
“Rawr!”
- Argh! Get away from me!
Lulu bit down on the demon, which had frozen in disbelief.
Startled, the demon flung her away, but part of its body was torn off. Black smoke billowed from the wound.
“Play with me a little longer!”
- Get lost!
“Hehehe, you can’t!”
Whoosh, whoosh!
The demon felt a little afraid as it watched the black cat not only fly through the air, but teleport in every direction.
Kiril watched the two of them, then took out a mat and tea set from her pouch.
Kiril poured hot water over the tea leaves, then looked around and said, “Mm, this is nice.”
Lulu and the demon moved wildly amid the soft lighting.
Her brother and Brett began training without paying them any attention.
There was no time to get bored. Kiril felt as though she would not mind staying for a few more days.
‘If I get bored, I can train my Sorcery too.’
* * *
Ten days passed.
During that time, Brett Lloyd not only learned to produce an Aura Sword steadily, but also learned the Hero's Sword, Ignet’s secret sword art.
It was not easy, of course.
Embracing a Protective Will was manageable.
Family.
Territory.
Friends at the fencing hall, and Judith, a lover a little more precious than the rest.
Simply thinking of them gave Brett more than enough resolve to stand against demons.
But that was not enough.
Ignet’s secret art gave concrete form to those feelings and will through swordsmanship.
It was not simply mental discipline. It was a fully developed sword art, grounded in difficult and complex theory.
Even an ordinary Sword Master would find it hard to learn, so Brett could only grimace in frustration.
Even so...
“This is damn hard.”
“It is. But you’re getting the feel for it, aren’t you?”
Though Brett grumbled constantly, Brett learned Ignet’s secret Hero's Sword.
That did not mean it had been mastered. At most, Brett had taken the first step.
Still, that alone was enough.
It was a sword art even Sevion Brooks, Phalanke’s finest swordsman, had failed to learn.
Taking the first step in learning it proved that Brett possessed talent among the very best.
“Hehehe. I was already pretty impressive before, but now I might be an even better man...”
“...”
“...”
“Can’t I even make a joke?”
The Farreira siblings shook their heads at the same time and immersed themselves in their own training.
Brett was not the only one growing.
Airen also renewed his resolve as he trained the Hero's Sword, no, the Heart Sword, for the first time in a while.
He stopped worrying about the future before it came.
He let his bound heart flow toward the people and places most precious to him. His family, friends, masters, and fellow trainees... It was no different from Brett’s heart.
They were all the dearer for having been forgotten for a time.
His heart had wavered for a while, but it had become even firmer. That made his sword firmer as well.
“Whew.”
Kiril was the same.
She worked in the field of Sorcery, which could not be measured in numbers, but the Cesar Duchy already acknowledged her as its greatest talent.
No matter how powerful the demon’s Posthumous Curse was, Kiril could not possibly fail to withstand it with the golden Greatsword planted there.
It was difficult, of course. The despair and depression that kept rising put her on edge.
But it was not harder than the five years she had spent apart from her brother.
‘This is nothing. It’s actually the perfect environment for concentration training.’
Hundreds of rays of light flickered around Kiril as she closed her eyes.
Lulu’s eyes darted around as she watched the geometric patterns change dozens of times in barely a second.
The lights flickered in rapid succession.
The black cat chased the light with complete innocence.
The demon, now completely ragged, trembled as it watched her before suddenly screaming.
- Craaaaaaah! You lunatics! I can’t do this anymore! I can’t take it anymore!
“Hmm?”
“What?”
- I have to get out of here. I can’t disappear meaninglessly among lunatics like youuuuu!
Its desperate scream, like a final cry, gradually moved farther away from Airen’s group.
The darkness faded with it. The Demonic aura that had constantly poured from the demon’s Posthumous Will no longer restrained them.
The barrier had been lifted.
Or more precisely, the demon had run away.
While everyone stood there blankly, Brett was the first to come to his senses and shout, “We have to catch it!”
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