WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble
Chapter 32
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Final Evaluation (1)
The Final Evaluation was held in the empty great training hall, a far simpler setup than the Mid-Term Evaluation had been.
The method was simple too.
Each probationary trainee would step in front of the Hall Master and the four instructors and show whatever swordsmanship they chose, in whatever way they chose.
But the results of the year they'd put in were anything but shallow.
"The lower-ranked trainees are exceeding expectations."
"A lot of these kids grew explosively. The final rankings are going to be a complete mess."
The instructors had said something like this back at the start of enrollment.
That the rankings from the first physical test meant nothing at all. That a year from now, a completely scrambled ranking would be waiting for all of them regardless.
Everyone had assumed that was true only to a point. But what they were seeing now went well past anything they'd expected.
A good kind of surprise, of course.
Plenty of trainees had shown results beyond anyone's expectations, and not a single one had turned out worse than expected.
The instructors watched the children display their potential in all sorts of ways, wearing pleased expressions.
Time passed, and before long, about two thirds of the probationary trainees had finished their tests.
Then the trainee everyone had been watching for, Judith, stepped up in front of the instructors.
The girl spoke.
"Can I take the evaluation together with another trainee?"
"Hm? What's the reason?"
"I think showing it together with someone else is the best way for me. For that trainee too, actually. They already agreed."
"No reason not to. So, who is it?"
"Brett Lloyd."
A small stir passed through the children.
Everyone had noticed the two of them sparring often enough despite being rivals, but nobody expected they'd actually want to be evaluated together. The trainees' eyes sharpened.
The instructors felt the same.
Judith was an impressive trainee in her own right, but everyone knew just how steep Brett Lloyd's growth curve had been lately.
The two of them, testing together?
"Now this I'm looking forward to. Probationary trainee Brett Lloyd!"
"Yes!"
"Step forward."
"Yes!"
Called by name, Brett Lloyd walked out with steady steps.
His face looked a little flushed. But not so much that it seemed likely to affect his condition.
If anything, he looked like he was deliberately holding on to a certain level of excitement and tension. A smile crossed the Hall Master's face.
Brett spoke to him with a confident voice.
"Starting now, we're going to spar to each show off the part of our swordsmanship we're most confident in."
"Hm. A sparring match, is it."
"May we begin right away?"
"Go ahead. Show your potential without holding anything back."
Permission granted, the mood settled over the hall. The two exchanged a look, nodded once, then took their stances and faced each other.
The wind that blew, the sunlight pouring down, the faint scent of grass drifting past. None of it registered anymore.
The trainees gathered in the great hall couldn't even swallow, watching the sparring match about to unfold between two geniuses.
A moment later.
The evaluation began with Judith's attack.
"Hoop!"
The red haired girl's movement was far bigger than standard swordsmanship called for. A Vertical Strike falling from overhead.
A seasoned swordsman might have dodged the trajectory slightly and gone for the opening left by such a large motion.
But that wasn't possible here.
Most of the trainees who witnessed Judith's sword found their bodies had gone stiff without even realizing it.
Brett was no different.
Pinned in place by the sheer ferocity of the pressure bearing down on him, he had no choice but to raise his sword and block.
KWAANG!
It wasn't the sound of sword meeting sword.
With an ear splitting crack, Judith's sword bounced upward off the impact. But there was no time to catch a breath.
Tremendous power surged up through the girl's clenched body.
Force traveling through her core, her shoulder, her arm, gathering a savage momentum along the way. It flowed into the blade.
The merciless attack completed by that force came flying at Brett again.
KWAAANG!
It came flying.
KWAAAAANG!
It came flying.
KWAANG! KWAAAANG!
It came, and came, and came again.
The probationary trainees watching the match felt a suffocating pressure settle over them. Cold sweat kept running down their backs.
Overwhelming violence.
That was the true nature of the sword Judith was showing them.
She spat out merciless attacks like fire. Blocked? Didn't matter. She'd immediately unleash an even more terrible follow up.
Block it, block it, block it, none of it mattered. The attacks kept coming until the opponent broke completely.
Sure, the process left no small number of openings exposed, but that didn't matter either.
Anyone caught in Judith's momentum and attacks would only expose an even bigger opening!
"KIAAAP!"
KWAAAAAANG!
Judith's battle cry rang out across the whole training hall.
She caught her rebounding sword and set it upright again. No, more than that, she swung it right back around.
An absurd core, and an absurd amount of stamina, made it possible.
The red haired girl swung her iron sword with the resolve to kill her opponent outright.
But she couldn't. Not right now. She couldn't break through, couldn't shatter him.
Because the one receiving her attacks was none other than Brett Lloyd.
SHWAAAK!
A heavy strike driving straight down.
There was no way to take it head on. Naively blocking a slash carrying the acceleration of centrifugal force wouldn't stop at a broken arm.
Brett quietly gathered his strength and opened his eyes sharply.
Calm, with perfectly calculated timing, he traced a great circle with his blade.
KWANG!
Still a heavy collision sound.
But noticeably smaller than before. He'd redirected the force of the strike through an ideal angle in his sword's path.
Of course, this wasn't the end. Judith's sword kept driving down again and again, like an explosion of flame.
It came flying without regard for direction, up, down, left, right.
But the circle Brett kept tracing never broke either.
KWANG!
KWANG!
THUNK!
KWANG!
THUNK!
A dull sound kept repeating, like something striking a sphere made of water.
The frequency grew, and after a while, most of the exchanges produced only that dull sound.
Everyone understood now. Judith's sword was slowly being broken down.
Crrk.
Judith ground her teeth.
It really was hard. She'd wanted to bring him to his knees this time without fail, but it looked like that chance would have to wait for next time.
Her thinking done, she prepared her final blow.
THUNK!
The sword that rebounded from below swung upward in a great arc.
Whoooosh!
Not a perfect vertical strike. The angle at which a person could put out the greatest force was a 45 degree Diagonal Strike.
Judith's sword came crashing down hard toward Brett's right shoulder.
Centrifugal force, gravity, and on top of that, the full force of Judith's whole life gathered without a shred of waste. The strongest strike she had!
Astonishingly, the sword Brett Lloyd brought to meet it looked like a perfect mirror image.
An attack every bit as savage as Judith's blazing strike came crashing in like a tidal wave.
For the first time in the match, the two swords met head on.
KRAANG!
CRAAACK!
"...Whew."
"Haah, haah."
Brett's sword, unable to withstand the impact, shattered. So did Judith's.
The match was over.
Watching the two of them gasp for breath with their broken swords still in hand, the children couldn't say a word. Even the instructors kept their comments to themselves.
Only Hall Master Ian looked delighted, clapping his hands.
"Splendid! Both of you may return to your seats!"
"...Thank you."
"Thank you."
The blue haired head, the red haired head, both bowed low. Then each returned to their place.
One wore a satisfied expression. The other did not.
The instructors understood why.
Ahmed thought to himself.
'Both of them were excellent, but Brett is still above her.'
Judith had been magnificent, holding nothing back in showing off her raw, powerful blade.
But Brett Lloyd, who managed to draw out his opponent's absolute best while still bringing out his own, had been even more impressive.
'Maybe, really...'
No, it was still too soon to say for sure.
Ahmed shook his head to clear the thought.
No need to guess ahead of time. Wait, and when the moment came to compare, there would be time enough for that.
Settling his excitement, he turned his focus back to the evaluation.
The next trainee in line stepped forward.
"Um..."
But that trainee's swordsmanship wasn't particularly impressive.
No, actually, it was impressive. At least not worse than the trainees before.
It was because of Brett. Because of Judith. The two of them had raised everyone's standards too high.
And it wasn't only the instructors thinking it.
'Damn it. I should've gone before those two.'
'How is anyone supposed to get evaluated fairly in this atmosphere...'
The Final Evaluation ran in reverse order of the Mid-Term Evaluation rankings.
Meaning trainees would be evaluated starting from the lowest rank of the Second Evaluation up to the highest, then from the lowest rank of the first test up to the highest.
But unexpectedly, Judith and Brett had shown their swords early, and the tension of the whole test had dropped sharply because of it.
The kids further down the order gave everything they had, but they couldn't hide their irritation.
Of course, that only lasted a moment.
The instant Illia Lindsay, the continent's genius who'd taken top marks in every test including the first, was called by name, the trainees went silent again without a word.
"Now then, trainee Illia Lindsay. What will you show us?"
The Hall Master asked.
The children shut their mouths and opened their ears.
Everyone remembered what Illia had said. That she didn't need to draw the house sword to prove herself.
To her arrogant words, Brett had answered that she'd never hold on to first place without showing the house sword.
So which would she choose?
A moment later, her answer came.
"I will show the house sword."
"The Sky Sword that took the head of the Demon Dragon King, is it? Excellent."
Every eye turned toward Brett.
Admiration, cheers, envy, jealousy. Every kind of gaze carried a different mix of feelings.
Seeing this, Brett let out a light breath to hide the tremor in his heart.
"Whew."
Then he turned to look at Illia Lindsay.
He'd once thought she was someone he could never reach.
A genius he couldn't even follow, let alone surpass.
But not anymore.
Not only could he draw out the Sky Sword, he believed he had every chance to surpass it.
He believed, honestly and completely, that he had that much potential in him.
His gaze burned as it fixed on the silver haired girl's face.
Illia paid it no mind.
Not Brett Lloyd's eyes, not Judith's, not the eyes of the other trainees.
With a calm expression, the girl picked up her sword and spoke.
"I'll begin."
A moment later.
A storm broke loose.
* * *
Brett Lloyd stood perfectly still.
His eyes had lost their focus, his fists had lost their strength. So had his legs.
Even keeping his wits about him took effort. A weak breath slipped from his mouth.
The start hadn't looked like much. At first, Illia's sword was nothing more than a single butterfly.
But when that fragile butterfly's wingbeat called the wind, and the wind that answered gathered strength, growing as it swallowed everything around it.
And when it had, before anyone realized, become a storm ruling the sky.
Only then could Brett truly feel it.
How thick, how high, the wall standing between her and him really was.
He could feel it, clearly.
'Calm down.'
He tightened his fists again. Braced strength into his legs. Held his crumbling stance upright, kept his expression under control.
Yes, he'd lost.
But not completely.
The Final Evaluation would go to her, no question. But he had still succeeded in drawing out House Lindsay's Sky Sword.
That alone was enough as a step toward closing the distance to her. A big enough step.
'Let's try again.'
He steadied his wavering resolve.
He could still do it. Telling himself that, the blue haired boy stood with his eyes wide open, bracing to meet Illia's gaze as she turned back.
But the silver haired girl, lowering her sword and stepping back, didn't turn her eyes toward him.
"Last up... trainee Airen Farreira."
"Oh right, it's not over yet."
"Right, I thought it was done. That guy got the special commendation, so he was outside the rankings."
"But it already feels like it's over."
Murmurs rose here and there at the Hall Master's call.
Fair enough. This was Airen Farreira they were talking about, the one who'd spent the last three months quietly, without anything worth noting.
The children held no particular expectations for him.
He'd pass, sure. His potential was considerable.
But no one thought the swordsmanship he'd show could possibly surpass Judith's, Brett's, or that of Illia, the continent's genius.
There was no way he could clear away the impression those three had left behind.
So even as the very last trainee to go, the mood in the hall stayed calm to an almost strange degree.
But then.
"Yes."
The instant the lazy lord, who had been holding his sword in a meditative stance, opened his eyes, the atmosphere shifted.
"..."
"...!"
No one could speak.
No one could turn their head away.
The moment they saw Airen rise up out of the dream he'd been buried in, everyone found their eyes locked in place, as if pulled by a magnet.
Clench.
Brett Lloyd's expression crumbled. Blood trickled down from his tightly clenched fist.
He alone kept glancing back and forth between Illia Lindsay's face and Airen Farreira's. Neither of them was looking at him.
Then, fully returned to the present, the lazy lord began walking forward.
He looked like a giant forged from steel.
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