The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 21

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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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Chapter 21 11. Our Lumian Has Changed (1)

“That’s all for today’s class.”

“Th, thank you…”

“Your voice is too quiet. Do you want additional lessons?”

“…!”

“Haha, just kidding. Of course, if you want to stay and train more, I won’t stop you.”

Swordsmanship Professor Karin let out a hearty laugh and disappeared. Only then did the Class E cadets show expressions of relief and slump down on the floor.

“Phew, that’s really tough.”

“I know, right. It was always strict, but now that we’re second years, it feels much worse.”

“I hate Professor Karin’s classes more than Professor Arnold’s now.”

“Me too. He doesn’t know moderation.”

The cadets complained for quite a while.

Most of them had been training since childhood and possessed stamina incomparable to ordinary people, but Professor Karin’s classes were so demanding that even they found it hard to keep up.

It wasn’t just physically demanding. It was mentally exhausting too.

Karin wouldn’t tolerate mindlessly swinging swords without thought.

Students had to concentrate every moment and do their best to show improvement from before. It was a class that inevitably exhausted both mind and body.

“Hey, are you going to do more?”

“Are you crazy? Let’s quickly wash up and rest. I’m dying.”

“True, doing more here would make you a monster.”

After class ended, most of the Class E cadets immediately returned to their dormitories.

It was natural. To do additional training after such an intensive class. They were still too young to do such crazy things. They lacked the stamina, will, and motivation.

Of course, there were always exceptions.

Teoro Shutgarn, who had been Class E’s top student until last year.

And the rising star who had pushed him down to second place, Lumian Calard.

Only these two silently held their positions even after the difficult class ended, sweating profusely as they swung their wooden swords.

Lena Willington, an ordinary female student in Class E, found them incredibly fascinating.

‘How can they be so fine even after taking Professor Karin’s class?’

Were they really children the same age as her?

Lena Willington watched them for quite a while due to rising questions, slight self-deprecation, and admiration.

Among the two, her eyes were particularly drawn to Lumian Calard.

While Teoro had always shown exceptional talent, Lumian had not.

‘Until last year, he was much weaker than me.’

He wasn’t just weak. He lacked will and confidence too.

He always walked with his head hung low and avoided making eye contact with others. He was always last in class.

In her eyes, Lumian had only seemed like a coward who wanted to quickly return to his dormitory.

But not now.

Now that a year had passed and the first semester of their second year had begun, he had become a different person in every aspect.

‘What on earth happened?’

Actually, she still didn’t understand it well.

How a failing student who couldn’t even straighten his shoulders until last year had changed his mind, how he could grow so quickly.

With Lena Willington’s common sense, she couldn’t possibly comprehend or accept it.

However, there was one thing she acknowledged about him.

That was Lumian’s ‘effort.’

“Hup, hah!”

One breath, one swing. Two breaths, one thrust.

Lumian repeated this endlessly. From when Professor Karin disappeared until now, continuously.

And it wasn’t just today.

Since the semester began until now, he had trained harder than anyone else in Class E.

He woke up earlier than anyone to train his body and participated in classes more diligently than anyone. Even after the day’s schedule ended, when everyone was exhausted and returned to their dormitories, only he remained to swing his sword.

Even later than Teoro Shutgarn.

Of course, it was true that his growth rate was fast even compared to that tremendous effort, but Lena Willington no longer felt envious of Lumian.

‘When I don’t even put in half of half of Lumian’s effort, being jealous would be too shameful.’

Lena Willington wasn’t such a narrow-minded woman.

Rather, she became ashamed of herself for not working hard until now. She felt that things couldn’t continue this way.

That was why she continued to remain at the training grounds.

After finishing her rest, she stood up from her spot again.

‘Really amazing.’

Looking at Lumian, who was still absorbed in his sword, she smiled slightly.

The young man who had only made her feel pity before now seemed quite admirable.

‘…I should work hard too.’

Just as Lumian had grown admirably, she too should become a better knight cadet and move toward her dreams.

Lena Willington strengthened her resolve and put force into her eyes. Then, like Lumian and Teoro, she began swinging her sword earnestly.

But unfortunately, she was not Teoro. Nor was she Lumian.

Her talent was far inferior to theirs, and her stamina and mental strength were depleted much faster.

The sword that wouldn’t extend properly unlike her thoughts, the sword tip that kept wavering, made her feel dejected. It lowered her confidence.

In less than 30 minutes, she lost motivation and hung her head low.

She didn’t feel good.

Eventually, she trudged along while holding her messed-up feelings.

It was toward where her belongings were. She no longer had confidence to continue training.

But then, someone called her name.

“Lena.”

“…Lumian?”

“If you don’t mind me, would you like to have a sparring match?”

“Huh, what?”

Lena made a flustered sound.

First, she was surprised that Lumian, with whom she had barely any interaction, had spoken to her, and she was surprised again that he had requested a sparring match.

Actually, someone of his skill level didn’t need to spar with her.

Because there was nothing to gain from it.

Yet requesting a sparring match meant he either wanted to mercilessly break her to satisfy his self-esteem, or extend a helping hand.

She spoke with slight suspicion.

“No, sparring with me wouldn’t help you anyway… Wouldn’t it be better to do it with Teoro?”

“Teoro said he’s doing solo practice. And it’s not unhelpful. It would be plenty helpful.”

“But… hmm…”

Lena examined Lumian’s face.

Still a vague impression. But it didn’t feel weak and timid like before.

Rather, it was closer to pure and innocent. The slight smile hanging on his lips made her feel more at ease.

‘He doesn’t seem to be trying to bully me. Then…’

“Alright. If you don’t mind me.”

“Thank you.”

The smile on Lumian’s lips grew a little bigger.

Seeing that, Lena Willington’s cheeks reddened slightly. She turned her head slightly and fanned herself with her hand to cool down the heat.

Taking advantage of that gap, Lumian and Teoro exchanged glances. Teoro nodded, and Lumian secretly gave a thumbs up.

It’s working.

The diligent appearance, the considerate and gentle behavior.

Even the pure-looking but not excessive smile he had practiced until his facial muscles cramped last night all seemed to be effective.

‘As expected, any field needs a proper teacher.’

Of course, there was still a long way to go. He was still awkward in front of women he liked, and his voice trembled if it wasn’t a practiced line or situation.

But in terms of seeing possibilities, Lumian was sufficiently satisfied.

He smiled even brighter and crossed swords with Lena Willington.

“Hah!”

“Haap!”

Lumian didn’t one-sidedly overwhelm his opponent.

Instead, he moved with much more care than when facing Teoro, focusing on drawing out Lena’s potential. It was a moment when his past life’s expertise naturally unfolded.

While Lena couldn’t fully perceive Lumian’s delicate guidance, she could at least tell that he was being considerate of her.

After the sparring ended, she caught her breath and expressed her gratitude to Lumian.

“Huff, haa, ha. Thank you, Lumian.”

“Don’t mention it. I was the one who asked. I should be thanking you.”

“No. I know you were being considerate of me. Huff, it really helped a lot.”

“Haha…”

Lumian smiled sheepishly. Lena Willington gathered her things and continued speaking.

“If there’s ever anything I can help you with later, I’ll do my best to help. Well, I’ll be going now.”

“Yeah.”

With those words, Lena left the training grounds.

Watching her figure disappear in the distance, Lumian thought to himself.

‘Too bad she’s not my type.’

“Lumian.”

“Oh, Teoro.”

Teoro, who had approached at some point, called out to him. Lumian asked with a slightly tense expression.

“How was it?”

“Not bad.”

“Was it okay?”

“Yeah. Keep maintaining this image without breaking it. You can do that, right?”

“Umm… Honestly, without you telling me what to do, I feel like both my words and expressions would become too awkward…”

“Just be sparing with your words. You can stay quietly focused on your own tasks while occasionally looking out for others, can’t you?”

“That’s true. But, was today really okay?”

“At least it was much better than at the ball.”

“Good.”

Lumian clenched his fist. After closing his eyes briefly and opening them, he bowed his head to Teoro.

“Thank you, Master.”

“No, you don’t need to go that far.”

“No, I do. I still have much to learn, so please provide me with much guidance and instruction. Until I can date a woman who’s perfect for me, pretty, cute, has a good personality, and is capable too.”

“…Right.”

Teoro nodded with a reluctant expression.

After maintaining silence for a moment, he continued speaking.

“Oh, about that aura utilization method from before. I’m having trouble flowing energy into the surrounding branch pathways instead of the main route, so I was wondering if there’s a way…”

“Ah, that part is…”

Upon receiving a question about aura, Lumian’s expression quickly changed.

His serious face calmly and thoroughly continued the explanation.

Watching him like this, Teoro felt both admiration and bewilderment.

He couldn’t get a sense of which side was the real one.

* * *

For about two weeks, Lumian built up his new image following Teoro’s guidance.

He was diligent and quietly performed his duties, helping fellow cadets whenever he could. His pure-looking smile, the result of rigorous training, was a bonus.

Seeing him like this, the Class E cadets gradually began showing favorable reactions.

“Lumian really has changed a lot.”

“I know, right. How can a person change like that?”

“He still looks clueless sometimes, but he’s actually pretty cool during sparring, honestly.”

“Well, being clueless is just because he has such a kind and gentle appearance… though he really is genuinely kind.”

“Right, he really is kind. It seems like he only had that brief thing with Karal and Rack at the beginning of the semester, and now he’s forgiven them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they were even sparring together? Though calling it sparring, he was basically just teaching them.”

“Wow, that’s amazing…”

While Lumian originally didn’t pay much attention to the Large Boy Family, there was a reason he went as far as giving them instructional sparring. He wanted to build an image of being broad-minded and kind-hearted.

Naturally, this was also Teoro’s advice. Besides this, he gave countless other pieces of advice, successfully elevating Lumian to the position of a ‘warm-hearted model student.’

It was truly an incredible journey.

‘I really went through a lot.’

Teoro chuckled softly.

A romance mentor, of all things.

It was the first time in his life doing such a thing. In fact, until that guy asked him, he had never even thought about this kind of work.

But it was more fun than expected.

Lumian’s personality itself had become much easier to deal with compared to before, and watching his gradual progress was rewarding. He was quite curious to see how far he could develop this romantically hopeless guy.

And most of all, he was most pleased with the swordsmanship and aura teachings he received as tuition.

In fact, with Lumian’s help, Teoro had improved his skills to a degree that showed a clear difference from before the semester.

‘I hope things work out well for him.’

Watching Lumian overuse his practiced smile to maintain his concept, Teoro smiled again.

And so, several more days passed in an atmosphere completely different from last year.

Finally, the time for Tarasan Knight Academy’s midterm evaluation approached.

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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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