The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 49
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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 49 23. Facing a Past Life (1)
Lumian Calard and Tania Eloise.
The two, who had never had a conversation except at the beginning of the semester, went out to eat together. And not to some atmospheric high-end restaurant, but to an inn.
That was the only place open for business in the morning.
But surprisingly, it wasn’t awkward at all.
It was all thanks to Tania. She fully utilized the social skills she had cultivated to build connections.
Thanks to her, Lumian was able to satisfy his hunger in a comfortable atmosphere.
“But is this okay?”
“What is?”
“I mean, is it okay to eat at a place like this? I thought you said you’d treat me to something expensive.”
“Of course I can’t end it with just this. I was planning to go somewhere ten times more expensive than here.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I’ll split the remaining nine-tenths wisely. Whenever I need to.”
“I guess you’ll need to earn a lot of money.”
“Were you that poor?”
Lumian chuckled at Tania’s joke. Tania smiled back at him.
The two continued to chat about various things after that.
Most of the topics were related to Lumian.
When they first met, during the midterm evaluation, when he won the Swordsmanship Competition…
In a way, it was natural. The protagonist of the Knight Department this semester was Lumian Calard. Every step of his journey had been nothing short of remarkable.
As they talked about each incident, naturally the conversation turned to the Subculture Research Club and the rumors.
At this point, Tania, who had been hesitating for a moment, offered an apology.
“I’m sorry. Actually, I got swept up in it too back then.”
“…You believed those rumors?”
“No, I didn’t believe them, but… well, to be honest, I did think ‘what if?’ I’m a bit gullible. Anyway, I’m sorry. For misunderstanding you without properly looking into it.”
“No, you don’t need to be so serious about apologizing…”
Lumian looked flustered. But at the same time, he felt grateful.
Countless people must have misunderstood him, but Tania was the only one who had offered an apology like this so far. That fact alone greatly increased his favorable impression of her.
‘She’s a good person.’
No chest, but a big heart.
Dismissing the thought that had unconsciously surfaced, Lumian said,
“Anyway, don’t worry about it too much. It’s all over now.”
“Right! Ah, what a relief. I’ve actually been waiting to say this. If I had put it off until the second semester, I think I would have felt too frustrated. Because of the guilt.”
“Haha, guilt is a bit much…”
After chatting a bit more, the two parted ways early in front of the inn.
It would have been difficult to go around here and there from morning with someone carrying so much luggage.
Tania extended her hand for a handshake and said,
“Well then, let’s see each other more often in the second semester.”
“Yes, Senior Eloise.”
“You can call me Tania. Well then, I’m off!”
Hop hop, Tania disappeared cheerfully like a rabbit hopping away.
Watching her swaying ponytail from behind, he thought she looked like a young foal.
Lumian, who had been watching her for a moment, looked down at his own hand.
‘Maybe because they’re trained hands, they weren’t as incredibly soft as I thought.’
Still, of course they were much better than a man’s hands.
Lumian, who had been having slightly trivial thoughts, muttered,
“I need to earn money for meals in the second semester. And travel expenses too.”
Smoothly, he erased his presence and quietly entered an alley.
Equipped with a robe and mask, he moved toward a place he had visited once before.
* * *
CRASH!
“We have a customer!”
“What the hell, so early in the morning… Gasp! You!”
The Gang Leader, who had been drinking through the night, past dawn, and into the morning, looked shocked.
It was that bastard from last time! The one who had stolen his money!
He could tell for sure because of the identical outfit.
As memories of that incident came flooding back, his sphincter unconsciously tightened. His heart pounded from tension.
Damn, why is this bastard causing trouble from morning?
Of course, that was from the Gang Leader’s perspective. For Lumian, there was no problem with coming here at any time.
Lumian, looking at the Gang Leader as if he were a safe keeper, opened his mouth.
“I’m going to take some money.”
“You crazy…”
“I don’t say things twice. I’m going to take some money.”
As if to keep his word, the Gang Leader turned pale watching Lumian approach with determined steps. He couldn’t help but hate his subordinates who were scattering left and right.
But there was one fact he had forgotten.
The reason he had been drinking until morning today was to entertain his superior.
And that superior was incomparably stronger than himself.
Whoosh!
CRASH CLATTER CLATTER!
The middle-aged man sitting at the head table overturned the drinking table with one hand. Despite the table’s considerable weight, it flew away as lightly as a pebble.
Lumian quickly moved to the left to avoid the table.
His eyes were filled with surprise.
‘A mere gangster with this level of skill?’
This wasn’t the end.
The man who had sprung up from his seat drew a blade from his waist.
Not a short knife that back-alley thugs would use, but a long sword.
Black energy rippled and rose from it.
“What, an Aura Sword?”
“So you recognize it.”
The man at the head table grinned wickedly. He spat and looked at Lumian as he spoke.
“Then you also know that you’re about to die… Gasp!”
However, his words couldn’t continue to the end.
The mysterious Hooded Assailant had charged at him with terrifying speed.
“Hyaaaah!”
Swoosh!
He swung his blade with a battle cry. Black aura blazed like fire along the trajectory.
But unless it hit, it was completely useless.
Like performing acrobatics, Lumian suddenly stopped in place and leaned his upper body backward, then used the rebound to dive into the man’s embrace.
And he delivered a powerful uppercut.
WHAM!
CRASH CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER!
“This can’t be!”
“…!”
Everyone including the Gang Leader was stunned into silence.
Only the man who had been sent flying by Lumian’s punch was groaning.
Lumian asked him a question.
“You’re pretty strong. Are you an executive of some notorious guild?”
“You… bastard…! Do you know who I am…!”
He was an executive of Red Moon, the continent’s greatest dark guild, and privately had a brotherly relationship with Red Moon’s leader.
The reason he possessed knight-level skills despite being a criminal was exactly that.
However, Lumian wasn’t curious about such circumstances.
He looked at the gang leader and said.
“Money.”
“Pardon?”
“Money. Not gems, mix gold and silver coins. A reasonable amount.”
“Ah, yes!”
The gang leader moved quickly.
For now, he had to listen to that guy’s words. That was the only way to survive.
Swiftly gathering the money, he bowed ninety degrees and handed the money to Lumian.
Lumian checked the amount and nodded.
“Sorry about that. I’ll be going.”
With those words, Lumian left the gang’s hideout.
While everyone wore expressions of disbelief, the Red Moon executive with two broken teeth staggered to his feet.
“That bastard… I don’t know who he is, but I’ll definitely find out and kill him! Put out a bounty immediately!”
“Y-yes!”
Of course, Lumian wasn’t such an easy target.
He quickly left the city and began his journey home humming cheerfully, completely blocking any actions that could lead to his pursuit.
Of course, even if his identity was discovered, it wouldn’t matter much, but since he disliked troublesome things, he acted thoroughly.
In the end, the Red Moon executive wasted three days in futile effort and could only grind his teeth while harboring resentment against an unknown figure.
To catch Lumian, who had done this dozens of times since his previous life, his experience was far too lacking.
In fact, connecting an Academy cadet with a Sword Expert was absurd in itself.
* * *
“Hmm. Did I arrive too early?”
On the late afternoon of the 5th day of travel, Lumian muttered to himself as he arrived at the transit city.
Due to moving quickly to avoid troublesome matters, he had covered a distance that should take ten days in just four days.
Since it felt refreshing to run using aura after so long, he didn’t stop, and thanks to that, his schedule became very relaxed.
At times like this, moving alone was truly convenient. It was both the sorrow and happiness of a rural noble.
‘This is faster than coming by carriage. Should I rest leisurely for about a day…’
Fortunately, the city was quite large.
There were fancy inns everywhere that couldn’t even be compared to the village lodgings he had stayed at along the way.
Lumian decided to get a room and wash up first, entering a suitable inn. He had sufficient travel funds, so cost wasn’t a concern.
“Phew, nice.”
Lumian washed his body with the warm bath water provided in his room.
He could feel the day’s fatigue melting away. While recovering his condition through aura cultivation was good, this kind of daily rest was also necessary.
Of course, the most important things for rest were meals and sleep.
After getting out of the water and drying himself, Lumian came down to the hall on the first floor. It was to order food.
But then.
A completely unexpected figure caught his eye.
‘Morghen!’
It was certain.
Though he seemed disguised with a different hair color, such a change meant nothing.
A connection from his previous life, Ryan Fromhart.
Lumian stopped dead in his tracks upon encountering this for the first time.
‘No, come to think of it, this isn’t the first time.’
Now that he thought about it, he had seen one person during the Swordsmanship Competition too. Bercal Garcia, a high-ranking knight of Jenas.
But the situation when he saw him and now were completely different.
While Sir Bucal was someone he knew only by name at most, Morghen was the closest person to him except for Knight King Philip III.
‘In terms of comfort… he’s the closest.’
After all, it was difficult to have heart-to-heart conversations with the king.
Morghen, he was a veteran mercenary rather than a knight of Jenas, someone Lumian had met while doing external missions.
With his quite sociable and brazen personality, and considerable talent and passion for swordsmanship, Lumian ended up taking him along on various small missions, and before they knew it, they became sworn brothers.
Although there was more than a twenty-year age gap, that wasn’t important.
When he had uttered those shocking last words, Morghen was the only non-Jenas member present at the scene.
‘How should I approach him?’
Lumian pondered.
His current self was too different from Ryan Fromhart.
Even if he immediately said he had entered another person’s body, there was no way he’d believe it. At least a long process of proof would be needed. Like continuously bringing up stories that only he and that guy could know.
‘Should I say I have something urgent to discuss? Or should I suddenly bring up a story only we two know?’
He never once thought of pretending not to know and passing by.
He wanted to talk with his closest sworn brother.
How he had spent the past 10 years, what he was doing these days, and whether he had kept his promise made before death to reach the realm of Sword Master within 10 years.
There were so many things he was curious about.
And there was one more important thing here.
‘This guy… had exceptional skills at wooing women.’
It was a part that couldn’t be ignored.
Naturally. His second life goal was solely women.
‘This guy is definitely amazing… Though he’s skilled enough to be counted among the top mercenaries, honestly speaking, his face isn’t much.’
He looked like what a slightly handsome Bumer would become when old.
Nevertheless, that guy was popular. He remembered being amazed watching Morghen, who had a different woman every time they met.
‘Maybe this guy’s advice might resonate more than Teoro’s!’
Teoro Shutgarn, that guy was actually different from the starting line. He could get by on face and atmosphere alone, so he didn’t need trivial tips.
In contrast, his long-lost sworn brother Morghen was different.
He couldn’t even imagine how many trials and errors that guy must have gone through to woo countless women with that face, and how much experience he must have accumulated.
‘Good. Let’s meet after a long time and catch up, and also open up about my situation that I couldn’t tell anyone.’
As a bonus, let’s also get some secrets on wooing women!
Having finished his thoughts, Lumian strode toward Morghen.
Shortly after, their gazes met in mid-air.
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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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