WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 80

──────

Spirit Mage Kubharu (2)

"Move."

"...?"

"Do you happen to know the difference between yourself five years ago and yourself now?"

Airen Farreira was still dazed by an answer far shorter than he'd expected when Kubharu fired off the question.

He couldn't open his mouth.

The orc didn't seem to be waiting for an answer either. He kept going.

"It's the ember in your heart. The you I met before was hollow through and through. But that's not the case now. Not enough to command the energy of Metal, but... having none at all and having some, even a little, are entirely different things."

At Kubharu's gesture, another flame rose up.

This one was tiny, frail enough that a puff of breath could have snuffed it out.

But then the little clay figure that rose up after it started eagerly gathering nearby branches, chopping down a large tree for firewood, and fanning the flame, and everything changed.

The faint, feeble flicker from before was nowhere to be seen. It had grown into a towering blaze.

"If it's about making an ember from nothing, I couldn't tell you. But there are plenty of ways to feed an ember that already exists. You can pick up branches off the ground and toss them in. You can chop wood with an axe if you want to go that far. Fanning in the right amount of air works too. And to do any of that, you have to move. You have to work hard."

"..."

"Don't just sit there hesitating. Act. Before that ember dies out and you're left with nothing but regret."

Kubharu gave Airen Farreira one last, deep look, and with those words, he left.

Silence settled over the table for a while. Both Lulu and Airen sat with the question the orc spirit mage had left behind.

The difference between five years ago and now...

Thinking back, he really had been hollow, just as Kubharu said, back then.

He'd wanted to pick up his own sword, but he hadn't known which direction would even lead him there. He'd only wandered.

Lulu had scolded him for it once too. How could it be called effort if you moved without any heart behind it? That was just wasted labor.

So what about now?

It's exactly the opposite.

He'd understood the moment Kubharu said "the ember in your heart."

His own heart had already tipped in one direction.

A corner of his chest had gone warm with the desire to head out into the world alongside Illia Lindsay, Brett Lloyd, and Judith.

Compared to before, when he'd only wandered without knowing where to go, this was a far better place to stand.

In a situation where all he had to do was act, Airen finally made up his mind.

He would move before this feeling cooled.

Airen spoke to Lulu, who was sitting on his lap.

"I've decided."

"Yeah? What'd you decide?"

"I'm heading out onto the continent."

"Good. I'll cheer you on."

The cat Sorcerer said it plainly.

She'd expected as much. Airen wasn't someone who lacked follow-through.

Once his heart was set, action naturally came after.

Of course, plenty of people in the world couldn't manage even that simple thing.

That was exactly why the word "effort" carried more weight than the word itself suggested.

You're working hard, Airen.

Watching him push forward so earnestly for his own growth, Lulu climbed up onto his shoulder and stroked his head.

"I'll cheer you on. I'll keep cheering you on. Wherever you travel, I'll follow you to the end."

"A journey across the continent, now that's a fine idea."

"...?"

"Nothing sets a young heart on fire quite like stepping out into the wide world. A perfect choice for feeding that ember! This Kubharu will cheer you on wholeheartedly too."

"Weren't you gone?"

Lulu asked, her voice flustered.

That was usually how it worked, wasn't it? A mysterious character shows up out of nowhere, drops the perfect piece of advice for the situation, then vanishes without a trace. It was practically the stereotype for fortune tellers.

And yet, here he was again?

"Hm? I just went to the bathroom and came back..."

"..."

"What? Why the look? Ahem, anyway, to continue what I was saying, could I tag along on that journey too?"

"What?"

"From what I gather, this sounds like your first time setting out on a long journey, and I think I could actually be of some use. If you'd offer just a bit of compensation, I could handle all sorts of little odd jobs that come up along the way. What do you think?"

This time it was Airen Farreira who looked flustered.

They'd barely known each other any length of time, and here he was trying to join their group. For someone who was fairly shy around strangers, it was a personality Airen found hard to understand.

Lulu, though, didn't seem bothered by any of that.

Instead, she asked about something else entirely.

"You want to be our guide? How good are you, exactly?"

"Hmm?"

"We're an incredible team made up of Lulu, the greatest cat Sorcerer on the continent, and Airen Farreira, the swordsman with the greatest potential on the continent! If you want to join a team that good, you'd better bring a guide worth having. You confident?"

"A guide well versed in fortunes and fate and the reading of one's destiny is not something you'll easily find..."

"No fortune telling!"

Tap, tap.

Lulu rapped her paw on the table again. It didn't make anything close to a satisfying thump, no matter how hard she tried.

But the intent must have gotten through, because this time Kubharu answered in an earnest voice.

"Not to brag, but I've been wandering this continent for ten years now. I know the roads well, and I've got plenty to share about local culture, regional quirks, good food, all of it."

"Hmm..."

"You know something? Big cities have shops just for animals."

"Really?"

Lulu's eyes lit up as she asked.

It was almost the same reaction she'd had the first time she saw Taihoi fruit powder, and Kubharu spun the tale with the confident, unshakable expression of someone telling nothing but the truth.

"Of course, really. Sure, they're mostly meant for pets, but there's no reason you couldn't enjoy them too. Not just meals made for human tastes, but food made just for cats, and grooming with magic combs that pluck out only the dead fur..."

"Oooh... oooh..."

Snap.

The cat Sorcerer turned to look at Airen.

Her eyes were shining.

Whatever strict interviewer's posture she'd had was long gone. She said,

"What do you think, Airen?"

"..."

"Take your time deciding."

He said that, but it was pretty clear Kubharu very much wanted to come along with them.

Is he just nosy? Or did he take a liking to me?

Airen couldn't tell.

What mattered, though, was that the advice Kubharu tossed out here and there had genuinely helped him.

What he needed to keep the ember of his heart burning was his own action.

But that action didn't have to happen alone. He'd realized that much a long time ago.

Airen had made it this far only because of the help of everyone around him.

Seen that way, traveling for a while with this strange fortune teller turned spirit mage orc didn't seem like a bad choice at all.

"All right. Let's travel together."

"Ha! Excellent! Looks like I've got myself a nice, steady income for a good while now!"

"..."

"Ah, I don't mean I'm doing this for the money. There's just nothing more satisfying than watching a young person grow, up close. And if I can be some help along the way, that makes it all the more rewarding..."

"If you don't earn your keep, you don't get paid!"

"And you have to introduce us to that shop you mentioned earlier!"

The black cat laid down her warning.

Kubharu let out a hearty laugh and reached to stroke Lulu's head.

"Don't worry. Ow!"

Smack.

"Don't touch my head!"

More precisely, he tried to touch it and failed.

That was the moment a new member joined Airen Farreira's journey across the continent.

* * *

A few days later, Airen Farreira arrived safely back at the household and told his parents his decision right away.

He figured dragging it out would only leave him with regrets, and surprisingly, Harun Farreira nodded without much resistance.

"I'd suspected you might leave the household. I thought it would be to become a formal disciple of Krono Fencing Hall, but setting out to broaden your horizons across the wide world is just as fine a choice."

The baron said, working to keep his expression composed.

It wasn't that he felt no reluctance about Airen leaving.

He'd wanted to spend time with the son who had overcome the pain of his childhood and grown into someone so admirable.

But what he wanted even more was for Airen to keep growing into an even finer person.

His swordsmanship is impressive enough that the vice commander of the Twilight Order acknowledged it, but he's spent so much time in such a narrow world that he's lacking in ordinary experience.

Seen that way, this decision of his son's wasn't something to discourage. If anything, it deserved to be pushed forward with both hands.

Amel Farreira also pulled her son into a tight embrace, for the sake of what lay ahead of him.

And Kiril Farreira offered a rather unique piece of advice.

"Big brother, don't go around looking like an idiot while you're traveling."

"Kiril. Big brother isn't that much of a mess anymore. Still, thanks for worrying about me."

"I'm not worried about you, though."

"Huh?"

"I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about everyone else."

Kiril, meditating atop her tower of marbles, kept talking.

If you have real strength, you need to make it obvious, but big brother doesn't do anything like that at all.

Which meant people would end up picking fights with him based on appearances alone, and in the end, the casualties would fill up dozens of carriages.

"What do you think, Lulu? Pretty logical thinking, right?"

"Yep. Whatever Kiril says is always right."

"Good. Keep agreeing with everything I say from now on too."

"Of course. Nothing Kiril says is ever wrong."

"..."

Airen, who'd been dazed for a moment by their exchange, nodded belatedly.

It wasn't wrong, really. He'd nearly ended up in a fight in Alkantrea for exactly that reason.

Maybe his little sister had a point, that showing off a bit of strength while traveling wouldn't hurt.

He just didn't know how to go about that yet. He decided to think it over slowly.

There's plenty of time to think about the journey once I'm on the road. For now, let's make the most of the time with my family.

He was about to spend the next few months, maybe a year, maybe even longer, away from the household.

Better to set aside the small worries for later and focus on the present.

Thanks to that, Airen Farreira spent the happiest two weeks he could remember, and by the time he finally set out on his journey, he'd shaken off most of his regrets.

"I'll be off now."

"Stay safe."

"Take care of your health!"

"Bring us back a souvenir!"

Airen left the lord's castle, seen off by his family.

He didn't look back. He was afraid that if he did, tears might come without warning. He forced his reluctant feet to move forward.

Walking through the quiet streets of early morning, he felt a complicated mix of excitement and a faint edge of anxiety.

Before long, he reached the meeting place, and Kubharu appeared before him.

Nothing about him had changed much. Having lived a wandering life for so long, it seemed there hadn't been much for him to prepare in the first place.

But the sight of the cat Sorcerer who showed up a moment later was more shocking than anything he could have imagined.

"Lulu?"

"What, what happened to you?"

Airen Farreira and Kubharu stood there with their mouths hanging open, staring at Lulu, now a towering figure standing two and a half meters tall.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried