WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 65

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Sword That Severs Demons (3)

"...!"

"...!"

Every eye in the cavern went wide enough to tear.

The demonoid split down the middle, black blood pouring out in sheets, and the sight felt almost unreal.

Soldiers and even the Twilight Order's vice commander stood frozen, staring blankly ahead, unable to process what they'd just seen.

In that world where everyone seemed to have stopped moving.

Whoosh!

Airen Farreira shot forward.

Sword raised once more, his eyes burned with a cold flame.

At that moment, a shriek tore from the demonoid's split mouth.

Kyaaaaagh!

The demon she served, Lastro, was a demon of shadows.

Thanks to that, her severed body could rejoin almost as easily as two shadows merging back together.

Or so it should have been. The healing came far slower than usual.

Confusion crossed the demonoid's face.

What? The damage is way worse than I thought!

There was no time to think it over calmly. She poured everything she had into mending herself, focusing first on the hostages she'd taken.

Those two were her lifeline.

If she choked their throats again, even that reckless brat would have to stop.

Insane!

That wasn't it.

She could tell from the eyes of the blond one, already closing in.

She could tell from the greatsword raised high overhead.

There was no room for hostages in that head of his. He was after her, and only her.

Which meant...

If I don't block this... I die!

Boom!

She flung the hostages aside and threw her beautiful black hair up as a shield. Airen's greatsword came down on it.

She barely managed to defend in time and went flying. Her face twisted into something ugly.

But it wasn't over.

Before she could even get to her feet, Airen closed in again, swinging.

Relentlessly. Mercilessly.

Crash!

Crash!

Craaash!

A chain of strikes falling like he meant to smash boulders into dust.

Overwhelming destructive force.

Recoil, rotation, gravity, all of it packed into a single blow, more than even someone blessed with demonic power could handle easily.

But something was wrong.

Under the mounting pressure, the demonoid thought.

This gap shouldn't exist between us!

That one was skilled, no doubt.

His swordsmanship, his composure in facing a demonoid like her, both were leagues beyond the rest of the subjugation force.

But that wasn't why she was being pushed this hard.

Some faint force radiating from the blond youth's sword, from his eyes, kept scattering her demonic aura.

How is this even...

Crash!

"Ngh!"

A Forceful Strike drove down in the split second her focus scattered. Her upper and lower body came apart.

Wearing a venomous expression, she tried to invoke her power again.

But Airen was faster. He kicked her lower half away with a heavy thud and started swinging again.

"Haaap!"

Crash!

Hill Burnett arrived a beat later and took the lower half.

His violence poured out even more savagely than Airen's.

Sensing her end, the demonoid managed a bloody, mocking smile.

Moments later, her upper body, reduced to a shredded mess, exploded in black flame.

Booooom!

"Airen!"

"Airen Farreira!"

"Gah! Young Lord Farreira!"

Harun Farreira's face went pale in an instant, and though it couldn't compare, Hill Burnett and the knights wore faces full of worry too.

But making all that concern seem pointless, Airen Farreira walked out completely unharmed.

"Whew."

The blond youth stepped out of the dust without a single drop of sweat on him.

The same thought crossed the mind of every member of the subjugation force.

That from the unremarkable Hale Kingdom, a genius that would shake the whole continent had appeared.

"...I have nothing to say."

Hill Burnett muttered it with a hollow laugh.

And so, after three days, the Demonoid Subjugation Campaign in southern Hale Kingdom came to an end.

Not a single casualty.

"Waaah, waaaaaaah!"

"Wooohooooo!"

"Airen Farreira! Airen Farreira!"

"Airen Farreira! Treasure of Hale Kingdom!"

As Airen Farreira trudged forward, the Twilight Knights showered him with roaring cheers.

The southern houses joined in too.

Given how close things had come to the subjugation force turning on itself, no words could fully capture how good this outcome was.

Even Baron Russell and Baron Lester let out sighs of relief. Harun Farreira, needless to say, did the same.

Only House Gairon's people stood there with faces like they'd swallowed something rotten.

"Wooohooooo!"

"Airen Farreira! Airen Farreira!"

Amid the unending cheers of joy, Phil Gairon walked toward his son without a word.

His knights supported him, since he still hadn't fully come to his senses.

A soldier moved to support Jack Steward as well.

"No, I'm fine."

"But..."

"Really, I'm fine. It's not bad enough that I need help."

Jack Steward turned down the soldier's support and got to his feet on his own.

Then he silently rejoined House Gairon's group.

His face was dark, darker than anyone would expect from someone who'd just come out of a successful subjugation.

The Twilight Order's vice commander approached him a moment later.

"...I'm sorry. Truly."

"It's not your fault. The campaign leader only followed the Holy Kingdom's directives. If anything..."

His voice came out very quiet.

He didn't finish the thought.

But Hill Burnett felt he understood what was running through Jack Steward's mind anyway.

I'll have to sort out all these small matters once we're back at the capital.

For now, he wanted rest.

And that meant clearing this place out first.

With that decided, Hill Burnett walked toward the priests. Time to purify the demonoid's stronghold.

"..."

In the middle of all that noise and celebration.

The one who'd achieved the greatest feat of the entire campaign, Airen Farreira, wore a complicated expression.

* * *

Two days later, the entire demonoid subjugation force returned safely to Gairon territory. It felt like a miracle.

Not a single death. Not even a single injury.

"It's unbelievable, honestly."

"Tell me about it. That wasn't some run-of-the-mill demonoid either, was it? I've never seen one that strong in my whole career."

"Ha, that's rich coming from you. This is only your second demonoid subjugation. And didn't you not even swing your sword once in front of her?"

"Ah, come on, senior! You saw it yourself, didn't you! The first mind control, and then what she used on Sir Jack Steward and the Gairon heir! Even the vice commander must've been shocked. But wow, taking down a demonoid that strong all alone..."

A young Twilight Knight rattled off Airen Farreira's exploits with obvious excitement.

Plenty of time had passed since then, and everyone around had already seen it happen with their own eyes, so the story shouldn't have held much charm anymore.

And yet everyone listened to the young knight's retelling with keen interest.

That was how strong the impression had been.

Talent enough to shake the whole continent, not just the kingdom.

A swordsman of such staggering skill, and only twenty one years old.

And he'd appeared out of nowhere, like he'd dropped straight out of the sky!

For knights, there could hardly be a more fascinating story than that.

They savored their honey-sweet rest and spun tales about Airen Farreira for a long, long time.

But not everyone enjoyed such an easy, comfortable time.

House Gairon, for one, did not.

Viscount Phil Gairon had blatantly ignored Hill Burnett's orders, broken the Holy Kingdom's directives, and even tried to stir division within the force.

From the campaign leader's perspective, that wasn't something to let slide.

But Viscount Phil Gairon had an excuse ready.

"I'm sorry. But I wasn't myself, back then."

"What?"

"I mean I was under the demonoid's mind control attack."

"..."

"However much my son matters to me, I'm not fool enough to throw away the continent's peace just to indulge my own stubbornness. Truly. If it hadn't been for that vile demonoid's brainwashing..."

Hill Burnett was speechless.

That couldn't possibly be true.

The memory of that moment was still vivid in his mind, and because of it, he could tell the difference between someone under mind control and someone who wasn't.

The expressions alone had been completely different.

But it was also true that there was no clear proof, which made it harder than expected to press House Gairon for compensation.

And that wasn't even the end of it.

Separate from the compensation matter, House Gairon was already spreading rumors that exaggerated Airen Farreira's faults, trying to shape public opinion in their own favor.

However much authority he'd been granted to act on his own, acting rashly in the face of a demonoid was a clear mistake!

He had the means to save the hostages and made no effort to do so. A complete disregard for the virtue of protecting the weak, something any noble should hold dear!

Of course, Hill Burnett and the rest of the Twilight Knights didn't even dignify it with a scoff.

If anything, they were thoroughly disgusted by House Gairon's shameless attitude.

But strangely enough, Airen Farreira himself, the one at the center of it all, couldn't stop thinking about his actions that day.

In that moment, I wasn't holding my own sword.

Sitting quietly in his room with his eyes closed, he replayed the fierce battle against the demonoid.

Looking only at the fight itself, there was nothing to fault.

He'd seized the momentum after a surprise opening strike and held onto that edge without letting go.

Staying alert to the very end had let him avoid the explosion cleanly.

But his state of mind had been the problem.

That wasn't a sword for my family. That was... a sword meant only to cut down a demonoid.

The feeling that fact stirred in Airen wasn't disappointment in himself.

It was confusion.

For the past five years, he'd tempered himself without pause.

Along the way, there had been wandering, and there had been moments of despair. But in the end, he'd pushed through and grown stronger for it.

Meaning he'd built his own sword on a foundation that didn't waver.

Of course, even the finest blade rusts with time, and a day would eventually come when his resolve wavered too.

But for that moment to arrive this soon, this unnaturally, felt wrong somehow.

Is it that dream again... because of that man?

Airen Farreira's face hardened.

It was a dream that had only ever helped him.

Every time the dream shifted, he'd found a new foothold for growth and leapt higher because of it.

Even now, looking only at the swordsmanship, that much held true.

But if it was also the cause of his sword wavering, that was far from a good sign.

What was he supposed to do about this?

A young man barely past twenty had no answer. He didn't even know how to search for one.

But it was fine.

Airen wasn't alone, and someone had come to help him.

"Excuse me."

A completely unexpected guest.

Airen Farreira's face showed his surprise the moment he confirmed it was Jack Steward at his door.

"Sir Jack Steward?"

"Good day, Young Lord Airen Farreira."

"How did you... why..."

But an even more surprising guest was waiting behind him.

A small, timid shape peeking out from behind Jack Steward.

The moment he saw the black, glossy furred cat Sorcerer, Lulu, Airen Farreira couldn't help but shoot to his feet.

"Lulu!"

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