WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
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◈ The Weakest Knight Became a Swordmaster, But Only in Dungeons ◈
Chapter 50: Founding Anniversary Festival (1)
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“Mr. Hazely, am I just not meant to ride horses...?”
A few days later, in a secluded corner of the knight academy after riding practice.
Violet, seated beside me on a bench, sounded close to tears.
During several recent riding lessons, Violet had not even managed to bond with a horse properly, let alone ride one. The horses had become frightened of her beforehand.
Today, Violet had somehow gotten into the saddle, but the horse had snorted wildly and bucked in an attempt to throw her off.
─ “I’m sorrrry!”
─ “C-Cadet Violet! Please get down first!”
Violet’s voice, shouting an inexplicable apology at the horse during practice, still echoed in my ears.
That incident seemed to have left Violet deeply upset.
I chewed on some jerky, considered it for a moment, and replied.
“Is it because of your dark mana?”
It did give off an instinctively ominous feeling.
“Probably...”
“Oh, that must be upsetting. That horse doesn’t even know what an honor it is to carry you, Violet...!”
“Ah, haha... That kind of joke is a little much for me...”
“But can’t you just ride an undead servant? That would look cooler anyway. It’s not like riding practice affects your grades.”
“I think riding undead servants is cool too, but at this rate, I won’t be able to learn horsemanship itself...”
Animals had avoided Violet in the original story as well. She would be unable to learn horsemanship on a living horse.
She stood at the complete opposite end from Elise, who monopolized the affection not only of all people, but even animals.
‘Poor Violet.’
Later, I should let her turn a horse magical beast as good as Red Hare into an undead servant.
It would help with my future plans, and she could learn horsemanship on it too.
‘There should be a perfect one showing up later, too.’
Just wait, Violet.
I’ll get a corpse just for you.
...That sounded a little brutal, but let’s move on.
Whoosh.
A cool wind blew.
The academy grounds were painted with red maple leaves and yellow ginkgo leaves. It was autumn.
I looked up at the rippling sky and thought.
‘Does that mean Chapter 2, Act 3 is more or less over?’
Nadia, the Demonkin who had escaped during Chapter 2, Act 2, the Search Tactics Training Arc, had reappeared in Chapter 2, Act 3, the Mastermind Arc.
She had targeted Elise, weakened by an extremely toxic spell, and ultimately died at the hands of Lara, who had protected her.
‘Well, Nadia’s already dead.’
Then...
‘How will things go from here?’
Chapter 2, Act 4 of <For Elise>, the Founding Anniversary Festival Arc.
It was a slice-of-life episode about enjoying the city’s Founding Anniversary Festival.
The first and second playthroughs had centered on character-driven comedy, while the third had given Elise, who had nearly died and survived, a chance to recover emotionally.
The Exchange Realm Society was probably lying low by now, so it did not seem likely that anything major would happen...
‘Still, I should stay alert.’
I could not be certain how things would unfold.
Wearing Kelius’s Cloak while walking around the festival grounds would be... a little excessive.
If I happened to use mana, I would waste one use of the cloak’s effect, so it did not seem like a good idea.
‘Should I ask Elise if she wants to go together?’
It would be good to stay by her side and see whether there were any suspicious changes.
‘What worries me is that Elise has been acting strangely lately...’
Was it after Search Tactics Training?
These days, she no longer sat beside me during lectures, and she had stopped talking to me as often.
Still, she responded properly whenever I spoke to her, so it did not seem as though she was avoiding me.
It seemed that something had changed in her heart.
All I could do was hope it was not a serious problem.
“Violet, let’s talk about the next plan...”
“I wanted to ride a horse too...”
Violet continued to mournfully lament her disappointment.
Hmm... I should talk to her a little later.
* * *
Off-campus educational activities, including field training, had been temporarily suspended.
Quest Office requests were forbidden in principle, with only some exceptions allowed.
On holidays, the range for leaving campus was restricted to the neighboring city of Oldern.
Griffin Knight Academy announced that it would enact such measures for the time being while investigating the incident.
The cadets were protesting fiercely. The knight academy stated that it would conduct its investigation as quickly as possible and gradually expand the permitted range for outings.
Meanwhile...
“Are you going to the Oldern festival?”
“Of course I am.”
“I’m going too!”
“It’s not like we have anywhere else to go.”
“I saw them preparing for the festival. It was really exciting, you know?”
The conversations of the cadets reached Elise Lorendia’s ears in Class 2’s lecture room.
The Oldern Founding Anniversary Festival.
It was an annual event held for three days, and the upcoming holiday fell during the festival period.
Since the permitted range for outings had been restricted to neighboring Oldern for the time being, even some cadets who had not cared about the festival had begun to take an interest in it.
“Elise!”
“Lady Lorendia!”
“Would you like to go to the festival with me?”
Whether Elise sat quietly or walked down the halls, cadets approached her amicably for social purposes, while others gathered the courage to ask because they had a crush on her.
They invited her to the Oldern Founding Anniversary Festival.
However, Elise merely refused, saying that she already had someone else to go with.
“Hm?”
As she walked through the halls, she would occasionally spot a light brown-haired young man. Ron Hazely.
Ron was often with Violet, the female cadet with deep purple hair, or accompanied by the Barbarian Turak.
Normally, Elise would have immediately walked over and called, “It’s Ron~,” but she did not do so.
“Elise? What’s wrong?”
Lara Twisloff, who was walking with her, asked curiously.
‘Should I ask Ron...’
...to go to the festival with me?
Just as she was about to do so, several memories resurfaced and stopped Elise.
Ron, who had been taken captive by Demonkin at the eastern border.
Ron, whose body had been battered while enduring Nadia, the Demonkin.
─ “No matter what happened, it was my choice and my life, punk. It has nothing to do with you. Don’t get overly self-conscious and start having strange ideas.”
Ron had said that as though he had anticipated what Elise might think.
His consideration had comforted her, but people’s hearts did not always move as they wished.
Because of that, a question had recently begun to creep into her mind.
‘Was I trying to get too close...?’
With an unknown force targeting her, had she been selfishly trying to get closer and closer to Ron?
“Elise?”
“Mhm, it’s nothing.”
Elise smiled softly at Lara and shook her head.
Lara easily noticed that Elise seemed concerned about Ron.
Lara glanced sideways at Ron with a subtle, knowing look before leaving with Elise.
* * *
[Status]
- Tier: 3
- Physical: C-
- Mana: C-
- Realm: Low Sword Expert
[Experience Details]
- Physical Experience: 52%
- Mana Experience: 71%
Training Ground Seven.
My stats appeared in a translucent notification window floating in the air.
‘My mana will rank up once I achieve one more achievement.’
Mana Grade C was already close at hand.
Among the remaining cadets with any real ability, it was a lower-middle ranking, and if things went well, I might even be able to aim for the middle.
‘Could I avoid it by then?’
Crackle!
I took a sword stance with blue aura flowing through my mock sword. My entire body was drenched in sweat.
There was something I had been repeating occasionally during training lately.
‘Again. Let’s imagine it.’
I imagined Nadia’s true form from the previous Search Tactics Training.
I casually called it Air Nadia. It had looked like compressed air forming a vague whitish figure.
The imaginary Air Nadia charged quickly, holding its wavy kris.
Boom!
Whoosh!
I detonated my aura at a level that would not strain my body too much, then used the resulting propulsion to evade quickly.
But it was no use.
‘Ugh!’
Air Nadia was incredibly fast.
In the end, I had to let out an inward cry as Air Nadia’s imagined slash struck me.
A sigh escaped me.
“As expected, it’s still impossible...”
Even with luck on my side, I could only endure about two exchanges at most.
Trying to hold out against Nadia during the previous operation had been arrogant after all.
‘It was the symbol of a pathetic rogue on the community forums.’
As long as you avoided its assassination attempts, it had been among the weakest scenario Demonkin to appear so far.
Who would have thought Nadia was this strong?
I had been complacent. I really did need to experience things for myself to understand reality.
‘For now, could I learn some kind of evasion or movement technique using the principle of the Raging Thunder Sword?’
For times when I had to fight an enemy like Nadia, who exceeded my usual specs, and for the part after next, I wanted to learn at least an evasion skill or an emergency escape method...
All I could think was that I still had a long way to go.
It seemed best to test it directly as a Swordmaster and reach a conclusion then.
“Who were you imagining just now~?”
“!”
A lively voice suddenly came from behind me.
Startled, I quickly put some distance between us and turned around.
As expected, an elegant female cadet with long magenta hair came into view.
The protagonist, Elise Lorendia, had a refined beauty. With both hands gathered behind her hips, she smiled brightly at me.
Still dazed, I asked.
“When did you get behind me...?”
“Just now.”
Normally, even if Elise deliberately hid her presence, I thought I would notice her once she got this close.
‘It can’t be because I’m lacking in skill. I’ve gotten much stronger too.’
Then...
“Elise, you must’ve learned a technique in the meantime.”
“Hehe, I’m always improving.”
Elise rested her chin between the index finger and thumb of her right hand as she answered smugly.
That bit about always improving was a joke I made before, wasn’t it...?
“The Demonkin that hurt Ron last time seemed good at hiding its presence. So I watched carefully and tried copying it.”
There was no way she could just copy it and learn it right away...
Ah, that was not the right way to think about this.
‘The protagonist really is a genius.’
Anyway.
In a way, this was another benefit of Elise no longer collapsing from illness.
A huge win, really.
“By the way, Ron, it looked like you were evading someone other than me. Who was it?”
“Oh. The Demonkin you mentioned from before.”
I had no reason to hide it, so I answered honestly. One of Elise’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“...I see. It certainly might have been fast.”
Unlike me, who had been knocked out in a single exchange, Elise had exchanged several blows with Nadia in her true form before utterly crushing it.
She probably understood Nadia’s speed far better than I did.
“So? Are you trying to learn a technique that will let you escape in a hurry when you’re in danger?”
“Something like that. An evasion technique, maybe? But I’ll learn it later.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think I can manage it yet. It would probably be a waste of time.”
I began fastening several weights to my mock sword for training.
Then I spoke to Elise.
“By the way, Elise, is there anything you want from me?”
“Anything I want? Ah, are you trying to repay me?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I should settle that debt. For saving me last time.”
“Hmm, something I want from Ron...”
Elise tapped her lips with her index finger as she thought, then gave me a faint smile.
“Then, the...”
The fes?
Elise shook her head.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“Why stop halfway through?”
There are two ways to make someone angry.
The first is stopping halfway through what you were saying, and the second is...
“I want to think about it a little more.”
“Ah... Then do that.”
That could not be helped.
I had asked her suddenly, after all. I should give her enough time to think.
“Then I should get going~”
“Already?”
What was this about?
“I came all this way to help Ron, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything I can help with today.”
That was true.
Then...
“Ahem...”
Should I say it now? Ask Elise to go to the festival with me?
‘This is making me embarrassed for no reason.’
I was nervous when I actually tried to say it. It sounded like asking her on a date.
As I hesitated, Elise tilted her head and mischievously narrowed her eyes.
“Why? Would you like it if I stayed with you?”
She saw right through me and immediately started teasing.
I drew out my voice playfully.
“Ah, I wanted to stay with Elise~ I’ll be so lonely without Elise~”
“Mhm, the words get full marks, but there’s no soul in your voice?”
“Well, I’m fine today. I don’t think I’ll need your help either.”
“Is that so?”
Elise answered meaningfully and started toward the exit.
“Then I’ll go, Ron. See you tomorrow.”
“...Elise.”
I called out while watching her walk away.
Elise answered without stopping.
“Yeah?”
“Would you like to go to the Founding Anniversary Festival together?”
Stop.
Elise’s feet halted.
She turned her head toward me. Her eyes seemed a little surprised.
“...With me?”
“I owe you, and I want to do something for you, but I wondered what I could possibly do for someone as amazing as you. So I thought maybe I could do something for you while we enjoy the festival. That’s what I was thinking.”
It was a boring, overly academic explanation, but my greater purpose was to stay near Elise and watch how events unfolded.
There was no guarantee that Chapter 2, Act 4, the Founding Anniversary Festival Arc, would proceed as peacefully as it had in the original story.
Well, it would not matter if Elise refused. I could watch from behind instead.
“Hmm...”
One corner of Elise’s mouth curled upward.
She quietly walked over to me, leaned forward, and brought her face closer.
“You know, Ron.”
“You’re going to tease me about it being a date invitation again, aren’t you?”
Elise shook her head and asked gently.
“Aren’t you afraid of getting close to me?”
“?”
What the hell was that supposed to mean...?
“Me?”
Elise nodded.
‘Of course, she’s scary as hell sometimes.’
The way she grinds enemies up like a blender, and the way she wields aura absurdly powerful...
Ugh, just thinking about it gives me chills.
But it wasn’t the kind of atmosphere where I could answer with a joke.
‘Why was she asking something like that?’
As I wondered, Elise picked up on it and continued.
“At the eastern border, and during Search Tactics Training. You nearly died because you got involved with me.”
Ah.
‘So that was it...?’
I understood now. That was why Elise had kept her distance from me lately.
She had been worried about me.
I scratched my head and answered casually.
“Those things were scary, sure... But is that what matters?”
“Huh?”
I spoke calmly, as though it were obvious.
“Whatever happens from now on, you can sweep it all aside, and I can grow stronger and sweep it aside with you. Wouldn’t that solve it?”
Wouldn’t that be enough? I honestly did not see the problem.
...Though to begin with, Elise and I shared the same interests.
‘Solving Elise’s problems is how I survive.’
It was not your problem alone, punk.
“...”
What was it? Elise’s teal eyes lingered deeply on my face for a while.
Her eyes, which normally hid her emotions with skilled expression management, trembled slightly.
Soon, Elise’s cheeks reddened faintly, and she smiled brightly.
“You’re right. That’s very straightforward~ You’re smart, Ron.”
“I’m quite intelligent, actually.”
“Mhm, your confidence is sky-high.”
Elise giggled at my light joke and straightened the upper body she had leaned toward me.
Her head tilted slightly to the side. Her magenta hair flowed smoothly with the movement.
“I’ll accept Ron’s date invitation.”
Her voice was lively and animated.
I glared at Elise.
“You had to call it a date invitation after all...?”
“Hehe.”
She had put on such a serious mood as though she would not tease me.
“Ah, but Lara will be coming too. What should we do~? Too bad it won’t be a date with just the two of us.”
“I said it’s not a date invitation... Well, it would be nice if Lara comes too.”
Elise playfully drew in a sharp breath and quickly covered her mouth with her right hand, pretending to be shocked.
“Oh my, Ron. Are you a harem guy?”
“No, you brat...”
When I shot her a dissatisfied glare, Elise grinned.
“But what about Violet?”
“She said she has other plans, so she can’t come.”
“I see.”
For the original plan, I had asked Violet to go to the festival with us too. But...
─ “I’ll watch over the whole city and focus on detecting demonic energy.”
─ “Are you sure?”
─ “I’m more comfortable that way. Rather than walking around with Ms. Lorendia... Um, hehe...”
Perhaps afraid of Elise, Violet had awkwardly laughed and chosen her position.
So if Elise had refused my invitation, Violet and I would have watched events from behind.
“Then I’ll go. I’ll look forward to Ron escorting me~”
“Shouldn’t I be the one getting escorted? You’re much stronger than me.”
“I’m a lady too. I want to be escorted.”
“Of course you do.”
Elise stuck out her tongue and left the training ground.
‘She seems to be feeling a little better.’
Her worries could not have been solved by just a few of my obvious words, but she did seem somewhat relieved.
Well, the person she had been worried about had basically said, “Can’t we just work together and deal with it?”
‘Either way.’
Chapter 2, Act 4 of <For Elise>, the Founding Anniversary Festival Arc, was approaching.
No matter when it was, all I could do was protect Elise.
...
The city of Oldern.
The day of the Founding Anniversary Festival.
[Mr. Hazely! It’s a Gate Break...!]
An army of monsters appeared in the middle of the city, and the city descended into chaos.
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