WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 89

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Vulcanus's Numbering Sword (3)

"So bright..."

"What is that?"

"Wait, is that gold?"

"Gold, it's a golden pig!"

Words that made no sense at all spilled from the crowd's mouths.

A pig.

A golden pig, no less.

But they weren't wrong.

A pig large enough for tiny little Anya to ride, radiating a brilliant golden light, stared back at Airen Farreira.

'Is it alive?'

Airen studied the pig with just as much shock as everyone else.

Looking closer, it wasn't alive. It didn't move, and it looked far too round and cute to pass for a real pig.

More like a toy children played with.

'What in the world is this thing for?'

He turned it over in his hands with a baffled expression, and the girl in the black dress clung to his arm and hopped up.

"The sword! The sword! Let me touch it!"

"..."

"Let me touch it! Anya wants to swing it too!"

"I'll put it down here for now. But what's that pig for?"

Anya didn't answer.

She just swung Airen's greatsword around with an innocent look on her face, and despite her slight frame, her movements were sharp.

Of course, the more astonishing thing was that she could even lift it.

'Even Lulu couldn't lift it...'

That pig was astonishing too.

Anya was too excited to answer, but one thing was certain: whatever was packed inside that thing carried tremendous power.

Even someone whose grasp of Sorcery wasn't especially deep could feel it clearly.

"What is this thing! How did you make it!"

"Huh? That? Anya saved up money hard for a whole year to make it!"

"Can I touch it?"

"You can touch it, but you can't have it. It's for trading for this sword."

'...I never said anything about trading.'

Lulu, meanwhile, had completely lost herself.

It reminded Airen of the first time Kubharu had pulled out the taihoi fruit powder.

Eyes glazed with pure fascination, Lulu went straight for the pig, hugging it, licking it, rubbing her whole body against it.

After a good long while of that, she came back to Airen and said,

"Airen! Can't we trade the sword for that?"

"Can't we trade it?"

"Before that, what exactly is that pig thing even used for..."

"Can't we trade it?"

"Can't we trade it?"

In an instant, Lulu had switched sides to join Anya, parroting her exact words.

It was adorable, but also faintly irritating.

'She won't even answer when I ask, but she answers Lulu just fine.'

"No. And Lulu, snap out of it."

"Ack! I got hypnotized for a second there! Sorry."

Airen coldly refused and scooped Lulu up into his arms.

Lulu, finally coming back to herself, apologized to him.

But her eyes were still glued to the golden pig.

Airen shook his head and unsummoned his sword.

"Aw!"

Anya's face fell.

She looked like a kid who'd just dropped her candy on the ground, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Airen spoke again.

"Sorry. It's really a no."

"Really, really no?"

"Really, really no."

"Even if I grow the pig bigger and come back?"

"No..."

"Never mind. Just wait and see! If I raise it hard until we get to Derinku, it'll look even more amazing. Maybe you'll change your mind then!"

"..."

Once again saying only what she wanted to say, Anya went pattering off somewhere.

The girl stopped right in front of the senior-most merchant of the caravan.

"Mister?"

"Uh, yes?"

"You're headed to Derinku, right? Anya's going there too."

"O-oh, is that so?"

"Yep. Let Anya tag along with the caravan until then."

"..."

"Anya can do lots of things. I'll help out here and there. Won't cost much. I'll work hard for a fair price."

The merchant looked flustered watching the girl finish speaking and give a little bow.

Who on earth was this child?

Where were her parents?

Wait, was she even human?

His head spun with confusion in front of this mysterious Sorcerer.

"Well now, quite the interesting little friend."

"True enough. I like her."

"..."

Watching the girl, Airen Farreira couldn't help but wear a complicated expression of his own.

* * *

Two days passed.

The destination was truly close now.

By lunchtime the day after tomorrow, they'd arrive at the artisan city of Derinku.

"Good thing nothing happened."

"Nothing happened? Have you forgotten the bandit den already?"

"Ah, right, that was a big deal. Still gives me chills thinking about it... ugh."

Just as the laborers said, nothing much had happened over the past two days.

At most, they'd fended off a few monsters that charged in without knowing any better.

But compared to that, the news trickling in had been overwhelming.

Most of it concerned the strong contenders entering the tournament.

Gold Plate mercenaries were said to be on their way after hearing the news.

A wandering knight famed for dual-blade swordsmanship happened to be in Derinku already.

A master of quick-draw swordplay renowned in the west was also entering.

The talk of the tournament grew more exciting by the day, and the caravan's mercenaries couldn't stop running their mouths about it.

Even those with no plans to stay in Derinku started considering lodging just to watch the tournament.

'So many impressive people are coming.'

Naturally, Airen found himself thinking about them too.

Charlot and Victor alone were tremendous fighters, but on top of that, far more Expert-level swordsmen were flooding in.

But even more than them, the one who kept drawing his attention was the ten-year-old Sorcerer girl, Anya.

Whoosh!

Bubble, bubble...

"Whew! Fifty servings of stew, done!"

"Wait, how is this so good?"

"What did you even put in it?"

"Ha! I told you Anya can do lots of things! I'm great at cooking!"

Her cooking skill was outrageous.

Scrub, scrub

Rub, rub

"Here, the shoes and armor you left with me are all cleaned up!"

"It's this clean?"

"Better than most leather workshops..."

"I'm good at plenty of other stuff too! If you need something done, just ask! Oh, of course, you have to pay me!"

"Of course. Cute, hardworking, sharp as a tack. I'll throw in a little extra for this job..."

"No, that won't do! You should only get paid for the work you did. Anything more than that doesn't mean anything."

Her leather-cleaning skill was good enough to impress even veteran mercenaries.

She handled all sorts of other odd jobs just as well, and every coin she earned from it went straight into the back of the golden pig.

It turned out the pig wasn't a pig at all, but a piggy bank, and what happened next was even more surprising.

Hmmmm,!

'Every time she puts money in... the pig grows bigger!'

It wasn't just growing in size, either.

Airen could feel it faintly. Every time coins went in, the energy held inside the piggy bank grew stronger too.

And that energy was thick enough to make him think there was another Sorcerer standing right there.

'She's a far stronger Sorcerer than I thought. Maybe even...'

On par with his brother's master, Skeena Kitten.

Of course, nothing about it was certain.

Comparing the two didn't really mean much anyway.

Sorcerers were a breed whose power couldn't be measured objectively.

But the fact that she could lift his greatsword, and that even he, a middling Sorcerer himself, could feel the sheer power in her.

Add to that the fact that she could keep growing that power indefinitely, and it was clear she had remarkable ability.

'Still don't know what that piggy bank actually does, though...'

Anya wasn't gifted at explaining things, and even Lulu couldn't quite figure out what it was.

"Quite the Sorcerer."

"You think so too, Kubharu."

Kubharu had come up beside him just then.

He chuckled seeing Airen agree with him.

"Can't help but think so. Sorcerers are an unstable bunch by nature, and being able to store that kind of power in a piggy bank like that is remarkable all on its own."

"It is."

"Which makes me all the more curious."

"About what?"

"About the person that girl calls boss. Just how impressive must they be, to have a Sorcerer that talented working under them?"

"Hm."

Airen's expression turned thoughtful.

Now that he thought about it, that was true.

Most Sorcerers were fiercely independent.

Their temperaments were eccentric, and their pride ran higher than a dwarven blacksmith's.

That wasn't prejudice, it was simply fact. By that measure, Lulu was actually quite sociable.

For a Sorcerer that talented to serve someone as their boss...

Naturally, Airen was curious who that person could be.

"That's true. Now I'm curious too."

"Right? Ha, at first I figured it was just some kind of nickname, but it doesn't seem like that... Now I'm wondering whether it's a Sorcerer or a swordsman. Well, we'll find out once we reach Derinku. She said that's where the person is."

"Ah, could be a swordsman too."

Airen let out an exclamation.

He'd naturally assumed a Sorcerer, but a swordsman wouldn't be strange either.

It was something Anya had said.

That cheeky little Sorcerer had said she wanted to give her boss that sword as a present.

Once he thought about it that way, it felt strange if the person wasn't a swordsman.

No, more than that, he found himself hoping the person was a swordsman.

He said,

"If I had to choose, I'd rather it be a swordsman than a Sorcerer."

"Hm? Isn't that backward? If they're a swordsman, that lowers your odds of winning the tournament..."

Kubharu said, frowning slightly.

It was a fair point.

Anyone capable enough to have a talented Sorcerer working under them had to be formidably strong, and someone like that would surely covet one of Vulcanus's Numbering Swords too.

Which meant, for Airen, this should have been an unwelcome situation.

But what Airen Farreira said next was nothing like what Kubharu expected.

"I didn't come to Derinku because I wanted the sword in the first place."

"..."

"If meeting a skilled swordsman means I get to learn more, that's a better outcome for me."

Kubharu fell silent for a moment.

It was strange.

The Numbering Sword was something every swordsman coveted.

A legendary blade rumored to elevate its chosen wielder to Master's level the very moment they were chosen.

A treasure that would justify obsessive greed from anyone.

But what Airen showed right now was nothing like that.

He said,

"You know something? Watching you, I keep thinking that despite being a swordsman, you don't really fit the mold of one."

"Hm... Actually, I've heard that a lot back at the fencing hall, too."

"Still, what you just said sounded quite swordsman-like, by my standards."

"..."

"A sword matters a great deal to a swordsman, but what matters even more is honing your swordsmanship through matches against worthy opponents."

You've clearly grown more ambitious since that business at the bandit den.

Kubharu left it at that and walked off.

Judging by the drinking gesture he made toward the merchant, he was already craving a drink in the middle of the day.

Watching him go, Airen smiled.

At the fencing hall, and at home.

And even out here, beyond both of those walls, there had always been someone willing to teach him.

* * *

Two more days passed.

Even in that short time, Anya kept sweeping up work left and right.

Cheeky as she was for a kid, she did every job so sharply that the merchants were thoroughly satisfied.

Of course, it wasn't all work.

On the day they were due to arrive in Derinku, Anya announced,

"I'm taking today off."

"Why?"

"People need rest. You have to rest well to work hard."

Having declared this solemnly, the girl asked Lulu to read a novel with her, and Lulu happily agreed.

They'd only known each other four days, but the two had grown close fast, and plenty of people watched the cute girl and the cute cat together with warm smiles.

"'Father enters the bag'? Lulu, what's this? The story suddenly makes no sense."

"You dummy! You read the spacing wrong. And you got a word wrong too."

"Really? Then how do you read it?"

"It's, 'Father passes away in the night,' see!"

"Whoa, Father died? This is such a sad story."

"I know, right."

'I know, right, my foot. It clearly says Father enters the room.'

Airen wore a baffled expression.

She seemed to read novels often, but for all that, her reading skills were pretty terrible.

Still, it made sense in a way.

A cat speaking human language was already remarkable enough. Letters could stand to get a little slack.

Anyway, the peaceful morning passed by like that.

A little past what should have been lunchtime, the scenery of the artisan city of Derinku came into view.

Someone had come out to greet Anya.

A man in his late thirties with ash-gray hair, a sword at his hip.

"Hey, you cheapskate."

"What? Why's it just you! Where's boss?"

"Something came up suddenly, so boss will probably be late."

"Then why'd you come? You're useless anyway."

"I was worried you'd cause trouble left on your own. Anyway, why'd you tag along with a merchant caravan?"

"Coming alone is boring, and I can't make money that way! Tagging along with a caravan means more work, so it's better!"

"You cheapskate."

"Hey, I am not a cheapskate!"

Whoever was trading childish jabs with Anya, he clearly wasn't the boss.

They were far too casual with each other for that.

But Airen's group watched him with dead serious expressions.

Kubharu whispered quietly.

"That man looks incredibly strong."

"I thought so too."

"Probably an Expert... and not an ordinary one, at that."

Just then, Lulu, who'd been silently studying the ash-gray-haired man, spoke up.

"He's a Master."

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