WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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Chapter 256: While He Was Away (2)
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"Well then, I'll be off."
"I'll be off."
"I'll bring back a gift! Have a safe trip, Lulu!"
"Come back safely, dear. You too, Airen and Kiril."
"Yes! I'll ride the Griffin carefully!"
"Of course you will. If you rough up our Cherry, you'll be in trouble."
"...The Griffin's name was Cherry..."
A week after the special swordsmanship lecture, Baron Farreira and the siblings Airen and Kiril set off on a journey to Hale Kingdom's capital.
The rest of the group was not large.
There was only the Commander of the Twilight Order, who had received the king's request, two of the house's knights, and four soldiers to handle chores.
Normally, a countryside lord heading to the capital would bring a large retinue just to keep up appearances, but no one thought the modest size of this party was strange at all.
'Sword Master Airen Farreira. That dazzling title alone makes him someone without equal in the kingdom... There is no reason to worry about that sort of thing.'
And that was not even the only remarkable part.
His younger sister, Kiril Farreira, was also a talent that a small country like Hale could scarcely retain.
Who could possibly look down on a prodigy ranked among the very best even in Cesar Duchy, the land most renowned for Sorcery?
Commander Oswaldo Odone felt his chest swell with pride.
'Sonan, Koln, and especially Bisau Kingdom... Let's see whether you still look down on Hale as you did a few years ago.'
"We'll be setting off now."
At the Commander of the Twilight Order's courteous announcement, the carriage began to move.
Even though he knew the fine carriage rode smoothly, he kept asking Baron Farreira if anything was uncomfortable.
He knew.
A Sword Master and a gifted Sorcerer were both important figures, certainly.
But the father respected by both of them was the one who deserved the most careful attention.
"No problems at all. The carriage is very comfortable."
"I'm relieved to hear it. Please, if anything troubles you, let me know right away."
"You've already been so thoughtful, I couldn't ask for more. I appreciate the consideration."
'A good person.'
Hearing Harun Farreira's answer, the commander let out a quiet sigh of relief.
He found himself thinking that the reason Airen Farreira was kind to others and dutiful to the kingdom probably came from the character of the person sitting right in front of him.
If a Master-level talent had emerged from the neighboring Viscount Gairon, no, the territory that had now been demoted to a barony... would things have gone this smoothly?
'It would not have been easy. Hill Burnett, you were right.'
Recalling what the Twilight Order's vice commander had told him, that there was no need to worry much, the commander smiled.
Carrying the Farreira family, the fine carriage rolled eagerly toward the royal capital.
* * *
"Alright. Guess I'll get going too. Ready to run at top speed? No, wait, we're not running! We're flying!"
Quack!
"Ha, no idea what you're saying. Anyway, let's go, Cherry! You'd better listen to me too!"
Quaaack!
A flying beast with a lion's body, a parrot's head, an eagle's wings, and an adorable name quacked like a duck.
At this bizarre sight, Marcus and a few of House Farreira's knights, who had come out to see her off, wore baffled expressions.
Lulu, of course, did not care.
She was looking forward to having some time to herself for the first time in a while.
Thanks to that, she thought she would finally be able to settle something that had been nagging at the back of her mind for a long while, and the black cat had already stopped noticing anything around her.
"Well then, see you all later! Bye, everyone! Don't forget me!"
"How could anyone forget a cat that talks and uses Sorcery?"
"Don't sass me! Alright, I'm really off now!"
"Safe travels."
Leaving Marcus's friendly send-off behind her, Lulu climbed onto the Griffin's back.
She took off in an instant, turned west across the continent, and picked up speed. A cool, refreshing wind rushed past her.
Riding that pleasant feeling, Lulu carefully went over her plan.
"First I'll go to Adan Kingdom and give Bill Staunton his gift, then meet Illia, then play fishing games with the territory cats, then head to Durkali to see Kubharu, learn spirit magic from Gorha again, oh! And get some Taihoi fruit powder too. No, get a lot of it. And then..."
Further north.
A little farther north still.
She meant to trace and confirm the fragmented memories that had been surfacing faintly for the past year.
'Is this really a good idea?'
Ting-a-ling!
Lulu, who had transformed into her magical-girl form at some point, wore a troubled look.
She had always thought she was just a cat.
She had been born in the east of the continent, and she had thought her trip north with Airen last year was her first time visiting the north.
But ever since her power awakened, fragmented memories kept surfacing, and doubt had crept into that certainty.
Was she really a cat?
Was she truly a forest cat born deep in the eastern woods?
If so, then what was this cave image drifting through her thoughts?
What was the cold only felt in the continent's north, the biting wind, the snow-covered mountains?
That was the reason Lulu had separated from Airen.
To clarify her uncertain memories, she thought she needed to go herself to the place her heart was pulling her toward.
"Hmm, no idea."
Poof!
After turning the thought over and over, Lulu released her transformation and flopped onto her back.
Honestly, she still had no certainty.
Was it right to seek out old memories, even if it meant disrupting her current happy life? Would it not be better to leave the past in the past?
But.
"Well, isn't the fact that I'm flying here right now already the answer?"
Muttering to herself, Lulu sat up abruptly.
Then she smacked the Griffin named Cherry again and again.
"Cherry! Faster! Let's go faster!"
Quack! Quaaack!
The Sorcery Griffin picked up speed obediently, even while protesting as though it did not want to listen.
Sitting calmly on its back, Lulu thought it over.
She would follow where her heart led.
And right now, her heart was heading north, whatever else was true.
If that was the case, moving was better than sitting there brooding with regret.
Her doubts settled, Lulu arrived in Adan Kingdom with a much calmer heart than before and delivered the items and letter Airen had asked her to bring in no time at all.
Then, just as she was about to get to her last item on the Adan Kingdom itinerary, meeting her cat friends, an unexpected complication arose.
"Let's go."
"Huh? Go where?"
"To Hale Kingdom."
"Now?"
"Yes, now. I'll get ready quickly and come right out, so take me. You can do that, can't you, Lulu?"
"Uh... yeah, sure..."
The moment she finished reading Airen's letter, Illia Lindsay shot to her feet and asked Lulu.
No, it was not a request.
It was an order.
Seeing the burning look in her eyes, Lulu thought.
'There's no stopping Illia right now!'
It was frightening.
The mood left no room to say no.
The black cat did not have the courage to bring up her other stops after Adan, or to ask if Illia could wait a little longer.
In the end, contrary to her original plan, Lulu found herself flying straight back to Farreira territory.
Marcus, who had run out to the training grounds after spotting the Griffin flying in, gasped when he saw the silver-haired swordswoman dismount behind the cat.
"Wha... could it be, are you... Lady Illia Lindsay?"
"Yes."
"I... I, um, it's an honor, an honor to meet you! So, uh..."
Faced with the sudden appearance of House Lindsay's prodigy, Marcus kept stumbling over his words.
He had already known she was on friendly terms with the young lord.
Airen had oddly kept quiet about her, but Marcus had occasionally heard bits from Kiril and Lulu.
Still, he had never imagined she would show up at the territory so suddenly.
Naturally, nothing at all had been prepared to receive a guest.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but since we didn't know you were coming, our reception might be lacking! Oh! And... are you perhaps here to see young lord Airen Farreira?"
Marcus asked, having barely managed to calm himself.
There was not really any hidden meaning in it.
Why else would the young lord's friend visit the territory? Obviously, it was to see the young lord.
He had only brought it up to explain that Airen was not here right now, so she would have to wait a bit.
"........."
But that was not how it sounded to Illia Lindsay.
When she had first climbed onto the Griffin, she had not given it much thought at all.
She wanted to see Airen.
She did not want to wait any longer. So he could be the one to wait, for once!
That was the only thought filling her mind, and there had been no room to consider anything else.
Now was different.
Over the days spent traveling by Griffin, her returning reason spoke up.
'Is this really okay?'
'What will people think, seeing me fly straight to Farreira territory in such a hurry?'
'What if someone notices I like Airen?'
'What happens then, if they do?'
Nothing happens.
Someone liking someone else was something to celebrate, not mock. Illia's thinking right now had a slightly childish edge to it.
But the more absurd part was that she still believed her feelings had not been noticed by anyone at all.
Everyone around them had already caught on to their romance, yet the two people involved were fretting endlessly as they tried to hide it.
That, really, was the fundamental problem here.
'What do I do, what do I do?'
Of course, Illia in her current state could not think that clearly.
No, rational thought itself was impossible right now.
'How deeply must you adore Airen, to come rushing to his territory like this?'
Marcus's perfectly ordinary words, "Are you here to see the young lord?" twisted themselves into that in her ears.
In an instant, Illia became as bashful as a young girl, and her face flushed bright red.
Her heart pounded.
Her blood raced.
Heat surged through her.
She could not think straight. Her head spun.
To calm herself down, she circulated her Aura at full power.
Fwoosh!
"Ugh!"
"Gah!"
"Kuh..."
Illia Lindsay had no intention at all of pressuring anyone.
But she was so flustered, and had circulated her Aura so sharply and suddenly, that a faint amount of energy manifested outside her body.
Just that much was enough to send Marcus staggering back under the pressure.
He was not the only one caught off guard.
The soldiers training hard on the grounds felt it too.
So did the knights supervising them.
Every single one of them let out a stifled groan, unable to withstand Illia's presence.
It was a shock nearly as intense as the day they had watched the young lord, Airen Farreira, return as a Master and give his special swordsmanship lecture.
In the middle of it all, the only one free to move as she pleased was Lulu, the battle-hardened Sorcerer.
Or, no, that was not quite true either.
A young man came striding quickly from a distance.
Uncommon blue hair and a noble dignity that made anyone watching tense up on instinct made for a striking sight.
'Who's that?'
'Who is he?'
'Doesn't look like he's from the territory, where did he suddenly...'
Question marks had settled over everyone's heads at once.
Before anyone knew it, he had closed the distance to Illia and let his own presence flare out.
Fwoooosh!
"Hm?"
"........."
"Whew... hmm!"
Illia's energy, surging out roughly from her flustered state, was blocked by the young man's own.
Thanks to that, the people on the training grounds, able to breathe again, stared at the blue-haired swordsman with astonished eyes.
Setting aside why House Lindsay's gifted daughter had suddenly manifested her Aura.
Just who was this person, who had single-handedly held back the continent's youngest Sword Master's presence with room to spare?
Not everyone was in the dark, though.
Marcus, still not fully composed, wiped away his sweat quickly and stepped toward him, speaking.
"Young Lord Brett Lloyd?"
"...!"
"...!"
Gerbera Kingdom's finest talent, and one of the three most promising swordsmen in The Golden 27th Cohort at Krono Fencing Hall!
His appearance sent another wave of surprise rippling across the onlookers' faces.
"That's right. But, if you'll excuse me for a moment..."
Brett Lloyd was not flustered in the least.
He was used to this kind of reaction. Good background, good looks, and refined bearing on top of it all meant he drew attention wherever he went.
After a brief silence, reflecting on the burden of being someone so accomplished, he lifted his head and looked at the Griffin, at Lulu, and at Illia.
Brett looked startled.
Feeling a mischievous urge rise up, Brett said.
"Missed Airen that badly, did you?"
"........."
"Why is that, I wonder? Why would you miss him so much?"
"...Be quiet."
"Why should I be quiet? I only asked a question."
"........."
"Is there some particular reason you want me to shut my mouth? Could it be that you like Airen..."
Woooooom!
He could not finish the sentence.
Illia Lindsay, the finest genius in Adan Kingdom, no, across the entire western continent, had drawn her Aura Sword. It shone with a menacing light.
"Spar with me."
"........."
"It's been a while. Shall we spar?"
Illia's voice rang out across the training grounds, gone dead silent.
To most people there, it was an intensely intimidating voice, but not to Brett.
Grinning, he drew his own sword and said.
"Anytime."
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