The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 193

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 193 74. Side Story – Memories of a Past Life (2)

“Hey there, Ryan! Training again? Aren’t you tired of it?”

“Training oneself when there are no missions is only natural for a knight.”

“Well, that’s true, but you’re taking it too far! How can you constantly swing your sword, run around the training grounds, and practice martial arts from the moment you open your eyes until you close them… Is living like that really fun?”

“It is fun.”

Whoosh! Whoong!

Ryan Fromhart’s sword swung even more powerfully. Fierce and deadly sounds flowed out accordingly, but Ragan Gardner, who had newly become a Guard Knight within the royal palace, paid no mind. He had a happy and cheerful face as if he had no worries at all, and he frequently came to find Ryan. Then he would try to coax him into doing something fun.

‘How can he be like that?’

Ryan Fromhart couldn’t understand him.

It wasn’t just an ordinary injury, but a major injury where the thing was completely gone. This meant that Ragan Gardner could no longer have sexual relations. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that one of life’s greatest pleasures had disappeared.

That wasn’t all. Just as he himself received subtle contempt and mockery from various people, Ragan was receiving similar treatment.

No, it was even worse than his own case. To think that an injury sustained while fighting demons for the country and continent had become a laughingstock. It would be natural to have his face hardened all day with anger, sadness, and despair.

“Come on, there’s no way that’s fun! Don’t answer so stiffly and come out to play with me? You need to rest sometimes and play too – it increases training efficiency and helps with advancing your skills!”

“…”

“Ah, it’s really true! What was it, I heard it directly from that Sword Master knight commander fellow. If you keep running like you’re being chased by something, your vision narrows and even things that should work won’t work.”

But Ragan Gardner didn’t make a tearful face. He didn’t get angry, nor did he sit down in despair.

On the contrary, he spent each day with a brighter and more joyful expression than anyone else. Such a person seemed as mysterious to Ryan Fromhart as if he were some other being, not human.

“…What exactly do you want to do? And if you want to play, why don’t you play alone? What’s the reason you specifically want to do it with me?”

So he asked.

It wasn’t a polite tone. The current Ryan was in a state where all kinds of negative emotions were overflowing in his heart. The wound he’d had since birth still hadn’t formed a scab and was still bleeding profusely.

However, Ragan Gardner wasn’t offended at all. With a pleased smile, he said:

“Just, I feel sorry for you living so gloomily despite being young. There’s no need to do that – the world is overflowing with fun and exciting things besides sex.”

“…”

“You have a lot of money, right? Mission, training, sleep, mission, training, sleep. You’ve been like that for over 10 years, it seems.”

“…It’s not a small amount.”

“Good, then from now on let’s go enjoy the streets of Jenas Capital!”

Ragan Gardner put his arm around his companion’s shoulder and shouted loudly. It was quite a burdensome action. For Ryan, who had no real friends, such close distance was extremely uncomfortable.

But he didn’t push away Ragan’s arm.

A bit of interest, a bit of excitement, a bit of warmth, and no small amount of kinship.

To push this away, the years of solitude that Ryan Fromhart had carried were quite long.

* * *

Three months from then, Ryan Fromhart busily enjoyed things he had never tried before.

One day he filled his stomach with finger-sized portions of food at an eye-poppingly expensive restaurant, and enjoyed a nobles-only opera that was impossible to enter unless you were part of the Kingdom of Jenas’s upper class.

And the next day, he squandered his fortune at a shabby gambling hall where people who had worked up a sweat without even washing would gather. He also watched endless bare-handed fights beside him while shouting at the top of his lungs.

He tried many other things besides that. He went to an illusion magic theme park that mages had put their heart and soul into creating, and even took leave and traveled to a neighboring country to see a famous traveling troupe’s performance…

Though it was somewhat off-putting that he experienced all of this with a man in his 40s, changes gradually came to Ryan’s rigid heart anyway.

‘Right, I knew it too. That the world is overflowing with exciting, fun, and rewarding things besides intimate relations between men and women.’

It was natural. Just because he lacked male parts didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy delicious food. Just because he had no equipment didn’t mean he couldn’t feel the thrill of gambling, and just because he had no pepper didn’t mean the emotion of watching a sunset on a beautiful beach would disappear.

Ryan Fromhart had simply been turning away from it. Chased by people’s gazes and driven by his own inferiority complex, he had entered a narrow, dark box and buried his head.

But now.

“Tsk, what a shame. If it weren’t for the joint training with the Kingdom of Cairo, we could have gone to see the Rodigia Snowflower Festival too.”

“That’s right.”

Thanks to meeting Ragan Gardner, who was drinking whiskey with a joyful expression before his eyes, that stuffy part of himself had greatly improved.

‘Thank you, Sir Ragan Gardner.’

Ryan looked at Ragan’s face, flushed red from being quite drunk.

He was grateful. Though he’d never said it directly out of embarrassment, he was truly grateful. Ragan had pulled him out into the world when he was destined to live unhappily trapped in a narrow world forever.

Now people’s gazes were no longer frightening. Others’ mockery and ridicule still hurt, but it was much more bearable. He had gained the strength to live his own life completely.

A gentle smile spread across his face.

“What? Why are you making that strange expression?”

“Ah, I’m not?”

“What do you mean you’re not! I saw you making that unpleasant expression!”

“You must have seen wrong. Or maybe I was drunk and had a blank expression for a moment.”

“Huh? Drunk? You?”

Ragan blinked his eyes as if he’d heard wrong.

And for good reason – Ryan Fromhart’s drinking capacity was truly the best in the knight order, no, beyond the kingdom, perhaps the best on the continent.

“What nonsense. I still remember. When I didn’t know your drinking capacity and suggested a drinking contest, I got completely crushed, took sick leave the next day, and got totally mocked by my fellow knights…”

“Haha, that did happen.”

“But you’re drunk? Really?”

“Yes. Really. I’m sleepy now.”

Ryan said while yawning. It was true. For some unknown reason, he was extremely drowsy right now and wanted to jump into bed immediately and fall into dreamland.

“That’s strange. We only drank two bottles of whiskey…”

“Hmm, that’s right. Was yesterday’s mission tiring?”

“No. There wasn’t anything particularly difficult.”

“Well then, accumulated fatigue must have built up. Ugh, I should get up now.”

“You’re leaving?”

Ragan got up from his seat. Ryan also tried to get up from his seat, but felt his head spinning. As he sat back down, laughter reached his ears.

“Haha, this is interesting today? Seeing Ryan drunk and all. Should I just stay a bit longer?”

“Stop joking and help me up so I can lie down on the bed.”

“Ugh, having to take a man to bed when it’s not even a woman.”

“That’s not something a eunuch should say, is it?”

“You’re a eunuch too, aren’t you?”

Puhahaha, laughter burst out simultaneously. Ragan still had a laughing face as he lifted Ryan and laid him on the bed, then said as he left his quarters:

“Since you’re drunk anyway, sleep well. I know you usually don’t sleep properly and practice martial arts instead.”

“Mmm…”

“There’s fatigue that can only be recovered through sleep. Anyway, I’m going.”

Slam!

With those words, Ragan returned to his own room.

Ryan looked toward the door where he had disappeared with drowsy eyes and let out a chuckle.

He owed him again. Though it was just being helped while drunk, he felt great gratitude. He could feel deep in his heart the warmth contained in each of his actions and words.

No, even so, this is too embarrassing. Why am I like this today? Is it because I’m drunk for the first time in a while?

Ryan’s consciousness gradually became hazy as he continued these various thoughts. Right, Sir Ragan’s words are correct. Let’s sleep when we can. With that final thought, he quietly closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep while breathing out breath full of alcohol.

But he didn’t.

He forced himself to sit up and spoke to himself while putting strength in his eyes.

“I really should say thank you today.”

Ryan Fromhart sprang up from his seat. Then he roughly washed his face with water from the pitcher on the table. He was still sleepy, but felt much better. After clearing his throat, he opened the door and walked toward Ragan’s room.

‘If not now when I’m drunk, I might never be able to express this gratitude for the rest of my life.’

Of course he would be teased a lot. He would be tormented terribly at every drinking session to come. He would get annoyed and shout at Ragan’s persistent and mischievous pranks.

But he had to do it. If he couldn’t even say this much to the benefactor who had changed his life, that would be the more shameful thing.

“Whew.”

When his thoughts were organized, Ragan Gardner’s room came into view. Ryan exhaled. His warm breath touched the door.

Good. No need to hesitate. Don’t think about it and just go in right away.

Having made up his mind, he opened the door.

Or tried to open it. But it didn’t open easily, so Ryan even drew up his aura to apply stronger force.

Crack!

Thanks to that it opened, but the door broke. Ryan made a startled expression. Now he could see that the door had been locked. Various words for apology came to mind.

However, after seeing the scene that unfolded before his eyes a moment later, Ryan had no choice but to forget all those words.

“What? Ryan? How did you wake up?”

“…Ra, Ra, Sir Ragan?”

“Damn, was the drug effect weak? Or does your body have resistance to sleeping pills as well as being strong with alcohol? No matter what, it was an amount that should have made even a Sword Master unconscious… Tsk.”

“No, what is that now… No, more than that, that thing…”

Ryan Fromhart raised his hand with a shocked expression. His eyes were shaking back and forth as if he had seen a ghost.

The bed.

The woman lying on that bed, unable to regain consciousness as if drugged. Ryan knew who she was. It was Sheril Cruna, rumored to be the most beautiful among the royal palace’s maids.

But what was even more shocking than that was…

“How, how do you have that thing?”

“…”

At the center of Ragan Gardner, who was taking off his pants with a deeply furrowed brow, stood the symbol of masculinity, proudly erect.

He spoke with a sinister expression completely different from before, like a demon.

“Because I deceived my way in with sophisticated illusion magic!”

“Then, then you weren’t actually a eunuch…”

“That’s right! I’m not a eunuch, you bastard! No…”

Ragan Gardner twisted his lips uglily and added one more line.

“You eunuch bastard.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————