WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Weakest Knight Became a Swordmaster, But Only in Dungeons ◈
Chapter 28: personal squire (3)
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“Ghk, huff...”
Simon, the man with navy hair slicked back, braced himself against the ground and panted heavily.
Ron had landed a strike squarely on him, even at the cost of worsening his own injuries.
“Ha... That bastard’s insane...”
A hollow laugh escaped Simon out of sheer disbelief.
Enduring the searing pain, Simon barely managed to rise.
“That was a proper hit, Ron Hazely...!”
What fighting spirit. Simon liked that side of Ron very much.
He could still fight. He wanted to cross swords with Ron a little longer.
Crackle!
Ron gripped his aura-wreathed sword and glared at Simon.
Fwoosh!
As Simon reignited his aura and began to approach, Ron realized the fight was not over and kicked off the ground.
Just as Ron exploded his aura and swung his sword, and Simon prepared to block it, a chill carrying snow crystals drifted gently through the air.
Then.
Boom!!
A fierce collision of mana resounded.
“!”
Ron and Simon’s eyes widened.
A woman in white had stepped between them, blocking Ron’s strike with the blade of Silver-White Sword Euclia, barely drawn from its sheath.
Fox ears rose from her head. A swaying fox tail. A dignified bearing.
The beastkin did not move an inch. She looked completely at ease.
Drawing the Silver-White Sword only slightly was enough for her Ice-Snow Aura to conceal the cursed energy.
She was Lucia Silverbane, commander of the White Wing Knight Order.
“...?”
The White Wing commander suddenly sensed something strange from the Silver-White Sword.
But she decided to ignore it for now. Ron’s condition was the priority.
“My temporary disciple. You’ve pushed yourself too hard. At this rate, your body may be damaged beyond repair.”
“Ah...”
Fwoosh...
The moment his tension loosened, Ron’s aura faded.
When Ron lowered his sword, the White Wing commander sheathed the slightly drawn blade of the Silver-White Sword.
Soon, Ron’s body began to slump.
Swish.
The White Wing commander gently caught him. Ron leaned against her as he quietly caught his breath.
“Ghk, ugh...”
The agonizing pain he had ignored while lost in a trance finally came for him.
But he was so exhausted that even his groans barely came out.
A technique that gained immense propulsion by exploding aura was practically self-harm.
His muscles had already torn, his bones were broken, and even his mana circuits were under strain.
If he used that swordsmanship again, he would reach a state that even healing magic could not undo.
“You did well. We’ll stop the spar here. Healing unit, take this cadet to the infirmary.”
“Yes!”
Two healers rushed toward the White Wing commander alongside a stretcher floating through Telekinesis.
They laid Ron on the stretcher and hurried toward the training ground entrance.
“Senior, may I go with Ron too?”
“Go ahead.”
After saluting the branch leader, Elise followed the healers out of the training ground.
She could not take her eyes off Ron, covered in injuries. Worry was washing over her.
“Huff, huff... Hey, Elise...”
“Yeah. What is it, Ron?”
Ron’s breathing was uneven. His voice shook uncontrollably from the stabbing pain running through his entire body.
Still, Ron forced an innocent smile. There was something he absolutely had to say.
“Wasn’t I kind of cool...?”
“Pfft!”
Elise burst into laughter.
“Then should I fall for you out of courtesy?”
“Wouldn’t be my fault if you did.”
“Pfft...! Ah, that’s hilarious...”
Elise giggled.
Before long, they reached the infirmary.
Only then could Ron finally let go of the thread of consciousness he had barely been holding onto.
* * *
“I’m fucking back from the dead.”
I shot upright like lightning.
The infirmary of the White Wing Knight Order’s Campbell Branch.
The moment I regained consciousness, I sprang up.
“My arm? Ngh!”
I tried moving my bandaged arm, but stopped when a wave of pain hit me.
“It huuurrts like fuuuck.”
Confirmed.
“Wow, you’re full of energy the moment you wake up, Ron.”
“Huh?”
“Hi.”
A pretty female cadet with magenta hair was grinning at me from beside the bed.
It was Elise Lorendia, sitting in a chair.
Only then did I realize Elise had been here. I swallowed a gasp and flinched, then tried to sound calm.
“Why are you here...?”
“Because we’re classmates?”
“That’s not why I asked... Have you been taking care of me this whole time?”
“You could say that. I won’t refuse your thanks.”
“Uh, well... Thanks.”
“Good. Now that Ron’s awake, I should show off my fruit-cutting skills~”
Speaking playfully, Elise picked up an apple from the fruit basket on top of the cabinet.
Slice, slice, slice!
She swung a fruit knife more than a dozen times at a speed too fast to see.
In an instant, apple slices cut with precise angles were laid out on a plate.
‘Never thought I’d see something straight out of a comic in real life...’
Of course, comics were exaggerated. It was not quite that unrealistic.
Still, it was not normal either.
Elise smiled proudly.
“Ta-da, rabbit-shaped apples!”
“Ooh...!”
“Mhm~, that’s a good reaction, Ron. I’ll let you eat one as a reward.”
“Oh, nice. ...Ngh.”
The moment I reflexively reached for a fork, pain shot through me.
I sighed and leaned back against the headboard.
“Feed me some apple, would ya? My hands’re like this...”
“What was that voice?”
I had jokingly copied a line from a movie I had seen in my past life, but Elise looked flustered.
Soon, she snickered and picked up a fork.
“Can’t be helped. Say ah~”
“Ah.”
Fortunately, Elise did not hesitate. She speared an apple slice with her fork and placed it in my mouth.
As I crunched into it, a sweet and tangy flavor spread through my mouth.
“You’re eating well.”
“It’s good.”
“I think even bad food would taste good if I fed it to you.”
“No, the apple is just good.”
“I think even bad food would taste good if I fed it to you.”
“Don’t force the answer you want by repeating yourself...”
While chatting with Elise, I turned to look out the window.
The sun was slowly setting. It seemed I had been asleep for several hours.
“Maybe it’s because they’re part of the Imperial Five Wings, but the healers are really skilled. They said that with your current condition, you’ll be completely healed before tomorrow.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But they also said to avoid moving as much as possible.”
“It hurts like hell, so I can’t move anyway.”
Well, I had received healing magic right after the spar, so there should be no problem.
The sooner one received healing magic, the better.
“Elise, did anything else happen while I was unconscious?”
“Hmm, the commander came by. She asked me to tell you that your new swordsmanship is too dangerous and still beyond what you can handle, so you should refrain from using it for now.”
“Ah... Yeah, that makes sense.”
It felt like my body was falling apart in real time.
It hurt terribly, and it consumed an enormous amount of mana.
Fwoosh.
Crackle.
I let mana flow over my hand. When I touched upon a certain sensation, the mana gradually began to spit blue plasma and transform into fierce aura.
“My aura...”
Proof of a Sword Expert.
For some reason, emotion welled up deep inside my chest.
‘Ghk, I’m getting emotional...!’
I was riding a high.
This feeling like my shoulders were about to reach the sky...! It was blissful!
“Hmm, strictly speaking, it seems to be fire or lightning aligned? It’s not especially rare, but it does seem unusual in some ways.”
“Unusual how?”
“It’s incredibly fierce. It feels like it could explode at any moment. That’s probably why you could use such a dangerous technique. Normal aura doesn’t explode like that.”
“So it’s unstable?”
“Not exactly... Hmm, it just feels like it has a violent personality?”
Elise raised her index finger to her head, as though imitating a demon horn.
“Hmm, really?”
“They say the form an aura takes reflects its owner’s ego.”
“I know that.”
“Maybe Ron is actually a person overflowing with wild charm.”
“That makes sense. I do have plenty of wild charm.”
“Mhm, I was joking...”
Elise let out a hollow laugh.
Crackle.
I clenched my fist and withdrew my aura.
“By the way, Elise. Does my aura look like it has a unique color too?”
Even after awakening aura, many people could not manifest a unique color.
That was why I asked with a bit of concern.
“Who knows? Even if it does, it’ll be hard to notice for now. When you first reach Sword Expert, only fragments of your unique color tend to show.”
“Fragments...”
“Still, they say a unique color reflects its owner’s inner self. Maybe you could find a clue in your beliefs, desires, or feelings.”
In short, even if I had a unique color, I was still at a stage where it would be difficult to notice.
‘It’ll be the same even when I become a Swordmaster in a Dungeon.’
In For Elise, no temporary enhancement effect could affect one’s unique color. That was because it reflected one’s inner self.
In other words, even if I became a Swordmaster, only my aura’s output would grow stronger. My unique color itself would not.
Only my normal growth would gradually cause my unique color to manifest more strongly.
‘My inner self...’
It was an abstract subject I wanted to skip, but if I had to think about it...
I just wanted to prevent every bad ending in Elwi and survive. That was all. Maybe that was what my inner self was like.
‘Well, that’s assuming I even have a unique color.’
I was curious.
I hoped it would be an absurdly amazing color. Then I could brag all I wanted.
“Ah.”
Wait a minute.
“Come to think of it, Elise, what are you going to do for three days?”
Elise thought for a moment before answering.
“Hmm... Actually, I don’t think the commander intends to teach me anything special. She said my power is unusual enough that her teachings might get in my way instead. So she told me to look around the White Wing Knight Order, ask anything I was curious about, and things like that.”
“That’s still special treatment in its own way.”
Just as in the original story.
“Then you can train with me.”
“With Ron?”
“Yeah.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I just want to improve with you.”
“...”
I answered casually.
Hadn’t we grown closer after trading sword wounds and blows? I thought saying something like this was no big deal.
But...
“Hehe...”
Why was it that Elise was staring at me with such a satisfied smile?
‘Could she be...?’
I narrowed my eyes and deliberately glared at Elise.
“Just in case, don’t read into what I said. I’m not making a move on you.”
“Wow, Ron is so sensitive~ Would it be such a disaster if I fell for you?”
“No, you idiot. I just mean don’t misunderstand...”
“Hehe.”
Elise smiled meaningfully and held an apple slice in front of my mouth.
“You’re so mean, Ron.”
“?”
Huh.
‘This is, uh... How should I put it...’
Something something... Very something something.
Elise’s gaze toward me seemed somehow different from before we came to the White Wing Knight Order.
Still, when people had romantic feelings, they usually showed it. Whatever Elise felt toward me seemed different from that.
Maybe it was my imagination or maybe I was being self-conscious, but it felt like she considered me special in another way.
Was it because I had awakened aura?
‘Well... It’s probably a good thing.’
Getting closer to Elise could only be good for me.
Unlike Violet, she was still too frightening to call a true companion, and there was a high chance she might use me. But we were undeniably bound by fate.
“What do you mean, I’m mean... Waaahp.”
Just as I leaned forward to bite the apple slice Elise offered me.
Swish.
“Hey, are you all right...”
A fierce-looking face. A deep scar carved beside his eye.
The branch leader of the White Wing Knight Order’s Campbell Branch suddenly appeared.
The infirmary had curtains instead of doors, and he had entered while pulling one aside.
Elise and I turned toward the branch leader and met his eyes.
“...”
“...”
“Huhup.”
The branch leader let out a strange laugh and turned around.
“Bad timing. I’ll come back later.”
Swish.
After the branch leader left, Elise and I exchanged looks.
Elise was still smiling brightly.
“Elise. I think people might misunderstand us...”
“That sounds fun. Should we let them misunderstand?”
“No, you little...”
Ugh, she was nothing but mischief...
I decided I would have to clear up the misunderstanding myself tomorrow.
* * *
Late at night.
Lucia Silverbane, the woman in white, sat alone in the office of the White Wing Knight Order’s Campbell Branch.
Bathed in moonlight streaming through the window, she focused her senses on Silver-White Sword Euclia resting in her hands.
She had already received a report that Ron’s treatment had gone well and that he was resting comfortably.
“Ron Hazely...”
She recalled the moment she had blocked Ron’s sword strike during the spar.
It had been an overwhelmingly powerful strike for someone who had only just entered Lower Sword Expert, so she had hurriedly drawn the Silver-White Sword slightly to block it.
But at that moment... she had sensed something strange from the Silver-White Sword.
After getting away from everyone’s eyes and checking it, she found that something had changed in the Silver-White Sword.
Shing.
Fwoooosh.
When she drew the Silver-White Sword a little, black, ominous energy rose from the blade as usual, like heat haze.
However.
Fwoosh, fwoosh...
That black haze occasionally warped irregularly.
A small crack had formed in the curse surrounding the blade.
A curse that had remained untouched despite every possible method... had been cracked by Ron’s aura.
“It seems you were... more extraordinary than I thought...”
Her softly trembling voice seeped into the night air.
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