WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 81

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The Continent's Strongest Swordsman (1)

Lulu was a black long haired cat with a thick coat, bigger in build than an ordinary stray.

Nobody knew why. Maybe it was from eating well and sleeping well. Maybe it was just how she was born.

But being big was only true by the standards of cats. Compared to a human or an orc, she was still a tiny creature.

Kubharu hadn't been teasing her about being small for no reason.

Yet the Lulu standing before them now went past all common sense.

How tall is she even... she's got two heads on Kubharu, and he's not exactly short.

Airen's jaw dropped at a height that towered even over Kubharu's two meters.

It wasn't just the height either. Her shoulders were so wide that three cats could have sat comfortably on each side.

Against that, her head had stayed the same size, which made the whole thing feel wrong somehow.

Is she hollow inside?

Curious, Airen walked closer to Lulu.

She was currently covered in a robe with large shoulder pads.

It occurred to him, a beat too late, that she might just be floating the clothes with Sorcery while only her face poked out.

But that wasn't it. Under the robe was a torso and limbs shaped exactly like a human's.

Except it was a crude mock body, the kind of fake that anyone could spot at a glance.

Kubharu let out a hollow laugh and asked,

"What in the world is this? Don't tell me this is because I teased you about being small."

"I'm not small."

"Not small, sure, standing on top of a body stuffed with cotton."

"This is just clothes. Humans wear high heels or hats and get taller too. Same thing here. Don't you know that, you runt of an orc?"

Lulu flicked her tongue out and taunted him, several times faster than any human could manage.

Airen shook his head.

She really is more childish than any kid in the neighborhood when she gets like this.

But surprisingly, Kubharu seemed to actually be bothered by it.

He wasn't just ignoring her. He looked like he was racking his brain for some comeback.

Seeing that, Lulu smirked and said,

"Hehe, must be the fresh air up here, nice and clear."

"Heh, like there's that much difference..."

"Huh? I hear a voice from somewhere... oh! Sorry, you're so small I missed you. Guess I need to start looking down more."

Lulu lowered her head and trudged forward.

It was all controlled by Sorcery, of course. She clearly wasn't used to it, because the walk was clumsy.

It looked like watching a terrible puppeteer work a marionette.

Kubharu said, looking indignant,

"Hmph. Let's see how long you can keep that up. I'll be watching."

"I'm keeping this up, you know. I'm wearing this outfit the whole trip, except when I sleep."

"Then when you sleep..."

"When I sleep I can't hear a word you say, so that's fine. Let's go, Airen."

Lulu spun around and marched off ahead of them.

Her stiff, creaking steps drew curious looks from the early morning crowd on the street.

It was the kind of attention you'd give a circus act.

The funny part was that this drew far less attention than Lulu's usual self.

Usually she's flying around instead...

Airen remembered what had happened in Alkantrea.

Lulu flying through the sky in a swordsman's outfit, drawing the stares of dozens of burly swordsmen, with him standing right beside her.

Even Airen, who didn't usually care what other people thought of him, had found those stares uncomfortably intense.

Of course, that didn't mean the present moment was ordinary just because that day had been especially unusual. Airen looked over his traveling companions.

A green-skinned orc with a pentagram pendant representing the five spirits hanging from his neck, both forearms covered in tattoos.

A cat-faced creature walking around in a body two heads taller than that orc.

It was undeniably an unusual party.

Airen let out a short laugh and thought,

Looks like this is going to be a pretty noisy trip across the continent.

Not a bad thing.

At the very least, there would be more to laugh about than traveling alone.

Wearing a wider smile, he took a firm step forward.

* * *

Five days passed since Airen's group left House Farreira's territory.

Just as he'd predicted, Lulu and Kubharu bickered constantly, stirring up trouble whenever the mood struck.

Most of the time it was Lulu picking on Kubharu, but every so often, Kubharu got a jab in too.

"Ha, back to being a little friend again, are we?"

"..."

"Weren't you saying just yesterday you'd wear that outfit for the whole trip?"

Lulu shot him a sour look at that. Right now she looked exactly like an ordinary cat.

There wasn't much choice in the matter. It wasn't a one or two day trip. She couldn't keep controlling an unfamiliar mock body with Sorcery for the entire journey.

Still, Lulu wasn't the type to just sit still and take it.

She leaped onto Kubharu's shoulder and slid down his back like tumbling off a cliff.

"Aaagh!"

Kubharu let out a strangled cry.

Contrary to the stereotype that a wandering fortune teller would be grimy and unkempt, he was actually a remarkably tidy person.

Even while walking down the street, he'd periodically brush the dust off his pant hems.

For someone like that, having a cat, a black long-haired cat no less, cling to his clothes and then peel off again was unbearable torture.

"Aaaahh, black fur all over white clothes..."

Kubharu groaned. He kept sweeping his hand over his back to get the fur off, but the clothes never got as clean as he wanted.

Watching him with obvious satisfaction, Lulu said,

"Making a whole scene over a little fur."

"A whole scene, she says. Black fur on white clothes is a serious matter... a tidy appearance keeps the mind clear too..."

"Your mind was never clear to begin with. Of all the orcs I've met, you're the worst one."

"Same to you. Of all the talking cats I've met, you're the most vicious one."

"Why you..."

Watching the two of them bicker again, Airen sighed.

It wasn't boring, at least, but if nobody stepped in, this would go on forever.

Besides, he'd been about to bring up something important.

He lowered his voice and said,

"Kubharu-ssi."

"Hm? Ah... right. I was about to talk about our travel route."

"Right. Which kingdom should we visit first?"

Airen asked, his expression full of curiosity.

The broad shape of the journey had already been decided. They were heading for the Western Five Kingdoms.

That decision had come entirely from Judith and Brett Lloyd's influence, though Kubharu, who didn't know the full story, thought it made perfect sense on its own.

It was only natural for a swordsman to head toward the Western Five Kingdoms, famous as they were for swords.

Still, before they went to the Five Kingdoms, he recommended stopping by one more place first.

"The artisan city, Derinku?"

"That's the one. It's full of skilled blacksmiths, dwarves included. We'd only need to angle the route slightly north, so it's not even really a detour. Sound good?"

"But Airen doesn't need a new sword or anything, does he?"

Lulu said.

She was right. Airen had no need to find a sword. Thanks to his Sorcery, he could summon his greatsword whenever he wanted.

Old and crude as it was, it had never once caused a problem.

And since it was the weapon he'd seen in his dreams over and over, it had become second nature in his hand.

The fact that it belonged to that man still nags at me a little, but...

Forcing himself to avoid it felt like its own kind of problem.

But Kubharu's reason for recommending the artisan city Derinku had nothing to do with getting a new sword.

"There's meaning in meeting the people who handle fire, and iron, better than anyone else in the world."

The reason they were traveling the continent right now was to help Airen Farreira grow.

More precisely, to grow the ember in his heart and melt away the iron stake buried inside him.

That was just a metaphor, of course.

What lived inside him wasn't a literal iron stake, but the unidentified man and his will, and what melted it was a burning heart.

I felt it once, five years ago. Thanks to the Head of House Council...

It wasn't a pleasant memory, but the hot anger he'd felt that day had genuinely helped.

And this, too, was purely a matter of the heart. It didn't literally mean he had to go stoke a forge and handle iron himself.

Even so, Kubharu insisted that watching blacksmiths at work with his own eyes would help a great deal.

"Watching a raging fire melt down solid iron with your own eyes, that alone will stir something in you. Just picturing a strong, vivid image is enough to strengthen the power of the heart."

"I agree with that too."

Lulu, still sulking, backed up Kubharu's words.

"It happens a lot when Sorcerers build up their power. Instead of thinking abstractly, like 'please give me great strength,' it works better to actually watch a man of tremendous power rip a tree out of the ground bare-handed, and then wish for that 'great strength' while picturing that concrete image."

Airen nodded.

He looked back and forth between Kubharu and Lulu.

The two of them looked so serious and wise now that it was hard to believe they were the same pair who'd been squabbling like children moments earlier.

It was thoroughly disorienting.

That feeling only deepened once the food arrived at the table.

"Aaah! My fish dish!"

"Hm? Weren't we sharing that?"

"No! I ordered that because I wanted to eat it myself!"

"Ha ha, being stingy over food won't win you many friends, little one."

"I'm not little! And I only need Airen and Kiril to like me anyway!"

Watching the two of them squabble again over something trivial, Airen said nothing and just brought his food to his mouth.

* * *

A month passed.

Airen Farreira's group arrived safely in a city about fifteen days out from the artisan city of Derinku.

In that time, they'd learned that Kubharu was far more useful to have along than they'd expected.

"Distance-wise, this way is shorter, but I'd recommend the other route. Rakajan Kingdom has an unfriendly attitude toward Sorcerers, so getting around comfortably there might be difficult."

"I've been here three times now. I know a good restaurant. Shall we head there, if it's fine with you?"

"That inn across the street was this much cheaper than here. Shouldn't you knock a bit more off the price?"

Whether it was directions, restaurant recommendations, or haggling, Kubharu perfectly filled in the gaps that Airen and Lulu, both hopelessly out of touch with the world, sorely lacked.

Watching him negotiate prices with shopkeepers, Airen realized something.

He realized just how badly they'd been overcharged on the short trip from the estate to Krono Fencing Hall.

Neither of them had ever felt short on money, of course, but it's just the way of the world that losing out sours the mood while gaining a bit of an edge settles the heart.

Thanks to that, even Lulu, who used to go around calling Kubharu "insufferable," had grown noticeably gentler.

Even now, that held true.

Kubharu petted her while she slept on the table, and she didn't react at all.

Three weeks ago, she would have swatted him a good twenty times with her paw.

"Now then, what should we talk about today..."

Kubharu also knew a great deal.

Having lived a wandering life for so long and met so many people along the way, he'd seen and heard a huge number of stories.

The tales he told while walking or eating were sometimes dull, but more often than not, they were endlessly interesting.

And this time was the latter.

"Do you know who the ten strongest people on the continent are?"

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