Legendary Hero is an Academy Honors Student - Chapter 683
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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683.
Clang-! Clang-!
Driana was hammering away.
Dweno was silently watching Driana.
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Driana make weapons before?”
Ennitha stroked her chin and muttered while watching the serious-looking Driana.
“How skilled is Driana?”
In one corner of Dweno’s workshop.
Standing in front of an alchemy cauldron, stirring the bubbling contents, Cal answered.
“You’ll probably be quite surprised when you see.”
“Well, looking at that child’s handiwork, it is quite worrying.”
Ennitha’s face turned serious as she recalled Driana, who called herself an artist and only made all sorts of bizarre paintings and sculptures.
Dit, who was standing beside Ennitha, clenched his fists tightly.
“Let’s see just how well she can make things.”
Dit, Isvaldi’s smith apprentice.
Dit had worked hard, wanting to become Dweno’s chief disciple.
But that dream was crushed when the outsider Driana became Dweno’s chief disciple.
Dit had shown Driana a weapon he made, claiming he would verify her skills.
And Driana, after examining the sword Dit made, perfectly pointed out its shortcomings, leaving Dit frustrated.
And now it was Dit’s turn to evaluate the sword Driana made.
Watching Dit, Ennitha tilted her head.
“Seeing how she identifies problems with weapons, she seems to have a good eye.”
Iliana, who had been listening to the conversation, quietly asked Cal.
“She’s being spiteful because he criticized her painting, right?”
“Of course.”
Cal recalled Driana’s appearance earlier when she was evaluating the sword Dit made.
‘What is this terrible finishing work! The blade will dull quickly like this!’
‘And why does it sound like this? You! You messed up the fire control, didn’t you?’
‘Are you kidding me! Doing shoddy work like this while aiming to be Dweno’s chief disciple! Give it up! I won’t teach trash like you either!’
Driana had thrown away her usual manner of speaking and somehow managed to tear down the sword Dit made.
Normally, she would never criticize someone else’s work so harshly, but this time she went at it with fire in her eyes.
“What a petty dwarf, as small-minded as her height.”
Arga, sitting on a chair in the workshop, made a disgusted expression.
Clang-! Whoosh-!
Driana finished her hammering.
Then the flames that had been shooting from the red-hot blade were sucked into the blade.
“Phew.”
Driana took a deep breath and put the sword into water.
Hissss-
Steam spread thickly with an intense sound.
Driana pulled out the blade, wiped off the moisture with a cloth, and placed the blade on the workshop table.
Seeing this, Ennitha let out an exclamation.
“Wow… it’s beautiful.”
The blade Driana made was close to a work of art.
The pattern on the blade seemed to burn like flames.
The sword surface reflected faces like a mirror.
Dit also stared at the sword in a daze.
Watching this, Cal clicked his tongue.
‘Of course. Even if she looks like that, she’s a genius recognized by Leo.’
Even if they were replicas, Driana had been copying Dweno’s works since her first year.
Of course, Dweno’s weapons weren’t something you could make just by copying their appearance.
But Driana had the ability to make convincing fakes.
While conquering Dweno’s world with Leo’s party, she received smith techniques from Dweno.
In that process, Dweno gave Driana his hammer.
What this meant was simple.
He recognized her as his chief disciple as a blacksmith.
‘According to Leo, Dweno didn’t teach anyone during the Age of Calamity.’
He made many weapons but never passed on his techniques to anyone.
More precisely, there was no one who could learn Dweno’s techniques.
In that sense, just being recognized by Dweno was enough to guess how brilliant Driana’s talent as a smith was.
After that, she had been steadily honing her smith techniques for a year.
‘The training she’s receiving from Dweno now is preparation to advance to an even higher level.’
“This is a work of art just by itself.”
When Iliana muttered in a daze, Driana wiggled her finger.
“That’s not right. From now on, I’ll turn this sword into a real work of art.”
At those words, Dit was horrified.
“Hey! What more are you going to add here?!”
“First, I’ll engrave patterns on the sword surface! Look! See how I handle this plain sword.”
The moment Driana, with a triumphant expression, brought her hand to the sword.
Thwack-!
Dweno’s fist landed on Driana’s head.
Leaving Driana clutching her head and rolling on the ground behind him, Dweno picked up the sword Driana made.
“Excellent.”
Everyone was surprised by Dweno’s brief praise.
“Dit.”
“Yes.”
“Take a look.”
At Dweno’s words, Dit received the sword Driana made with trembling hands.
Soon he bit his lips tightly.
“It’s… incomparably superior to mine.”
“That’s right! I’m much better than someone like you, aren’t I?”
Driana, who had jumped up from her spot, taunted Dit from beside Dweno.
“Saying my handiwork was terrible and whatnot. This is the level of a sword I made casually.”
“Yeah… you’re really amazing.”
“Do you understand now?”
Watching the boastful Driana, Arga muttered.
“She made it through gritted teeth though.”
“No. Why is she trampling on someone she acknowledged like that? It’s embarrassing for us watching.”
“Right. Why is the embarrassment our share?”
Cal and Arga grumbled.
Then Iliana brought something from a corner of the workshop.
“Let’s see. This is the painting that kid Dit drew, right?”
“Huh? What are you doing!”
Dit panicked.
“I was curious to see how well he drew.”
A few days ago, Dit had claimed in an argument that even if he drew with his feet, he’d draw better than Driana, and said he’d bring a painting.
The painting now in Iliana’s hands was exactly that result.
Iliana quickly swoosh- dodged Dit and came to Driana’s side, handing over the painting while rubbing her hands.
“Oh my~ Driana, Dweno’s chief disciple. I brought this for you. As a reward, could you make me a sword next time…?”
“Hmph. I suppose I could do that.”
Arga muttered as he watched Iliana fawning over Driana like a sycophant.
“The way she’s acting is completely like a despicable villain, isn’t it?”
Cal let out a sigh.
Dit’s face, completely red, looked pitiful.
Driana triumphantly unfolded the drawing.
And then froze stiff.
“Wow…”
Iliana unconsciously let out an exclamation.
“My goodness! Dit! Did you really draw this?”
When Ennitha, who had seen the drawing, asked in surprise, Dit nodded.
“Yes.”
Dweno, who had taken the drawing from the frozen Driana’s hands, was also amazed.
“Amazing! Dit! You must be a genius!”
“Huh?”
“Such a beautiful night sky drawing! Have you ever painted before?”
“It’s, it’s my first time?”
“Amazing!”
Watching the excited Dweno, Ar and Cal also looked at Dit’s drawing.
Hero Academy students also take liberal arts classes as part of their education.
They often appreciate works of art.
Of course, except for Driana, Ar, Cal, and Iliana would be the type of students to yawn during such classes, but at least their eye for art had improved.
Even to those three people’s eyes, Dit’s drawing was incredibly beautiful.
“How did you draw it?”
“Well… how should I put it, I drew it while recalling the memory of when I first saw the night sky.”
Watching the embarrassed Dit, Dweno nodded and then his face darkened.
“It’s unfortunate. If only we had discovered this talent earlier…”
“It’s not too late even now! Dit! Have you ever thought about becoming an artist?”
When Ennitha asked with a bright smile, Dit spoke firmly.
“I want to make weapons! I want to become an excellent Smith and help the warriors fighting for this world, even just a little, like my late father did!”
“What an admirable mindset, unlike someone else.”
When Arga looked at Driana and grinned, Driana flinched and trembled.
“That’s right. Unlike someone who was doing their best to nitpick at a kid younger than herself.”
When Cal also chimed in from the side, Driana rushed at Cal with a reddened face.
“Why only me?!”
“That stupid cat annoyingly dodges even when I want to hit her!”
Watching the noisy interior of the workshop, Iliana tilted her head.
“But if Driana thinks this kind of drawing is beautiful, her sensibilities are normal, so why are her own works such a mess?”
“She says she wants to make things like that too, but when she works hard at it, it becomes a mess. She uses the best methods she can and tries to make it as beautiful as possible. So the result looks pretty to her own eyes, I guess.”
“…She’s cursed.”
After hearing Ar’s explanation, Iliana looked at Driana with pitying eyes.
After a bout of commotion.
Ennitha smiled brightly as she watched Driana looking at Dit’s drawing with a gloomy face in one corner of the workshop, and Dit looking at Driana’s sword in the opposite corner.
“I have a good idea.”
“What is it?”
“Driana wants to learn drawing and Dit wants to learn smithing techniques, right? How about they teach each other? Since they’re similar in age but have different values, I think they could give each other some inspiration.”
“Hmm. That doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”
Dweno crossed his arms and nodded.
“Yeah. Dweno. You’ll still have to teach Driana though.”
“Ennitha. Don’t you also have to teach Driana drawing?”
“Wouldn’t learning from Dit be much more helpful for Driana than from me?”
Hearing that, Cal tilted his head.
“Isn’t that just dumping it on Dit…”
“Hohohoho. This big sister really dislikes perceptive kids.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It would be auntie, not big sister.”
When Dweno spoke coldly, Ennitha struck Dweno’s head with her elbow.
And then collapsed to the ground clutching her elbow.
Ignoring Ennitha, Dweno called Driana and Dit.
“So, what do you two think?”
“I think it’s great!”
Dit spoke enthusiastically.
Having acknowledged Driana’s skills, he was welcoming the idea.
“I like it too.”
Driana was also stimulated by Dit’s drawing.
The two who nodded had a conversation in one corner of the workshop.
Watching them, Ennitha smiled slightly.
“It’s really nice to be able to see new possibilities.”
Before they knew it, the sun had set and stars were rising in the night sky.
The hopeless day was passing and a hopeful night was rising.
“How long has it been since I’ve seen such scenery.”
It was scenery that couldn’t be seen during the times when they were desperate just to survive.
***
Kwagagagak-!
The head of the giant Lord Gigantes was completely crushed.
Kwaang-!
Looking at the Lord Gigantes with its head crushed, Leo looked up at the sky.
A week had already passed since they started exploring.
Red flames swirled around the writhing body of the Lord Gigantes.
Whoosh-
Leo, who had burned the Lord Gigantes with Jerdinger’s aura, sheathed his sword.
‘With this, I’ve explored the entire area around the fortress.’
Returning to where his party members were, Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘Why can’t I see the entrance?’
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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