The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 6
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 6 3. Please Respect My Privacy (2)
“No, that’s…”
“No what. Did you see it yourself? That bastard fighting.”
“Well, not exactly…”
“This bastard didn’t even see it himself. Does that make sense? That dimwit beating up a mercenary?”
At the Large Boy’s words, the two sitting beside him burst into laughter.
The Freckled Boy’s face turned red. He had rushed over in surprise, but when his words were treated as nonsense, he felt slightly indignant.
But he couldn’t fight back. His opponent had higher status and better skills than him.
The only reason he, a commoner, could live comfortably at the Academy was because of that boy. The freckled boy smiled awkwardly and continued speaking.
“Uh, sorry. That really doesn’t make sense. Maybe I heard wrong.”
“Right. That coward, he’d piss himself just making eye contact with a mercenary. No way that happened.”
“Exactly.”
“Obviously.”
“But… something definitely changed about him. That’s true.”
“Hmm. Really? What changed so much that you’re saying this?”
This time the Large Boy didn’t scold the freckled boy. The freckled boy quickly described the atmosphere he had felt from Lumian. After hearing the whole story, the Large Boy chuckled.
“Did he learn something from his family during the break?”
“Come on, what could he learn in some countryside territory.”
“Who knows. Maybe he scraped together money from storage and got tutoring from a famous knight. Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. Hmm, what if he got so strong that even I can’t handle him?”
The surrounding kids burst into laughter at the Large Boy’s joke. The Large Boy himself seemed to find his own words funny as his cheeks lifted slightly.
They made a few more silly jokes before returning to their respective dormitories.
And the first day of the new semester dawned.
* * *
‘The classroom is… over there.’
Lumian entered the magnificent building and walked steadily forward.
Since he was a knight cadet, he thought there would be outdoor activities, but that wasn’t the case. Indoor theoretical education was scheduled to continue throughout the morning.
‘Starting second year today… Are all class sizes the same?’
Probably so.
Classes at Tarasan Academy usually remain the same until graduation. Except for special cases like failing grades or skipping grades.
This was supposedly to foster a sense of community within the class and competitive spirit with other classes. Through this, knight cadets would feel like they belonged to a knight order and continue healthy competition.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Lumian.
‘Community spirit my ass, I’ve only been bullied.’
He had lived so suppressed that except for the kids who bullied him and a few others, all their faces were blurry.
Therefore, he had no way of knowing what level the girls in his class were at in terms of looks. Lumian stood in front of the door with an anxious expression.
‘If I open this door… and the female classmates I face disappoint me…’
Then what would happen to me?
Would I lose the strength to continue Academy life?
For the remaining 6 years, would I continue each day without motivation, sighing with a depressed expression?
“Please.”
In his desperation, he muttered to himself without realizing it. Lumian took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut, and opened the door.
Creak.
And he slowly opened his eyes.
Rolling his eyes this way and that to check his classmates’ faces, Lumian closed his eyes again.
A gentle trembling spread throughout his body.
‘Good, this is good…!’
It wasn’t a bad result. No, it exceeded expectations.
The female students were much fewer in number compared to the male students. About a quarter. But each one of them had quite decent looks.
Of course, to him with the memories of a 60-year-old knight, they looked somewhat young, but it was fine.
He thought it would be quite interesting to watch how they would grow and develop into ladies.
‘Unlike ordinary noble young ladies, I like their healthy appearance too…’
“Ahem, hmm.”
Lumian opened his eyes and cleared his throat unnecessarily.
He was worried that he might have looked lecherous. He quietly sat in a corner seat and opened his textbook. And he deliberately made an expressionless face.
‘Let’s not stand out too much for now.’
Lumian was an outcast.
He had been targeted and bullied by some malicious kids, and received cold treatment and contempt from other children. Sometimes he heard mockery too. He always had to keep his head down.
If such a guy suddenly acted brazenly and hit on girls, it would look very strange.
‘First, let’s properly handle the class content while getting rid of the old pushover image.’
Revealing his ambitions could wait until after that.
It definitely wasn’t because he lacked confidence to talk to girls right now.
‘Absolutely not. At times like this, I need to act carefully. That’s right.’
A resolute aura emanated from Lumian sitting in his seat.
Seeing him like that, the freckled boy whispered quietly to the Large Boy.
“See. His atmosphere definitely changed, right?”
“Hmm.”
“Something really did change about him. He still looks scrawny though.”
“What happened?”
The Large Boy groaned, and the other two guys also showed surprised reactions.
The freckled guy usually had a personality that greatly exaggerated trivial matters. So they hadn’t really paid attention to what he said yesterday.
But since even they could feel something had changed, they couldn’t help but be interested.
It wasn’t just them. The kids already in the classroom and those who arrived somewhat late all made curious expressions seeing Lumian’s changed atmosphere.
The freckled boy said.
“What should we do? Same as usual?”
Same as usual. It wasn’t much of a statement, but for the old Lumian, it meant a hellish day was about to begin.
The two boys who were intrigued looked at the Large Boy. They already seemed itchy to act.
The Large Boy nodded. There was no reason to hesitate. He grinned and was about to get up from his seat when.
Creak
“Hmm. Second-year knight cadets? Class E, correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“…We’ll have to do this during break time.”
With the professor’s appearance, the four boys returned to their seats with disappointed expressions.
Lumian glanced at those guys from the corner of his eye.
His expression slightly crumpled.
‘Those bastards were trying to do something again.’
He wasn’t worried at all.
Due to the aura cultivation method practiced for a day, Lumian had become a completely different person.
His body no longer trembled when looking at those guys. He had enough ability to beat them to a pulp the moment they attacked.
‘But if I do that openly, my reputation in the Academy will suffer…’
It would be better to educate them separately in a quiet place. Either way, it was a problem that needed to be addressed once.
While having these various thoughts, class had already begun.
Lumian directed his gaze toward the Elderly Female Professor.
Since he had never experienced Academy life, the current situation felt quite fresh to him.
‘History… Are we going to learn about the history of the Kingdom of Tarasan?’
He knew nothing about it. So he was even more interested.
Lumian’s eyes lit up. Holding his pen ready to take notes, he looked more like a scholar than a knight.
But his attitude crumbled after only about 20 minutes had passed.
‘Shit… I’m sleepy…’
Sleepy.
Extremely sleepy. Lumian struggled to keep his eyelids from closing.
It wasn’t easy. He had already stayed up all night due to aura cultivation, and the professor’s teaching method was unbearably old-fashioned.
Moreover, he knew all the content. The professor with large glasses was talking about the empire that unified the continent 500 years ago, not the history of the Kingdom of Tarasan.
This was like general knowledge for knights. As a 60-year-old veteran knight, he could recite the rest of the story with his eyes closed.
‘Still, dozing off from the very first class is too much.’
Getting on the professor’s bad side was a problem, but he was more worried about the female students thinking he was pathetic.
He actually considered going for a lazy genius concept – dozing off in every class but getting good test scores. However, that was impossible due to Lumian’s reputation from last year.
Last year’s him had no skills and no spirit. Though he was a noble, his father’s title wasn’t particularly high either. It meant an unremarkable guy had spent a year showing only unremarkable behavior.
And now that same guy was dozing off from the first hour of class?
Rather than a lazy genius, he might get branded as a hopeless loser.
‘That can’t happen!’
Thinking of that unpleasant future brought his mind back slightly. Lumian bit his lip hard. Then he started scribbling frantically in his empty notebook.
Actually, it wasn’t note-taking but doodling. To resist the drowsiness washing over him, he wrote down random content completely unrelated to the class.
Seeing Lumian like this, the Elderly Professor made a satisfied expression.
For knight cadets, history class didn’t have much meaning. It was just a liberal arts subject that wouldn’t affect graduation as long as you didn’t fail.
Seeing him listen to such a class with wide eyes, even taking diligent notes, she couldn’t help but find him endearing.
‘A rare child these days. I should remember him.’
“Young Man Lumian.”
“Yes?”
“Your class attitude is admirable. I hope you continue to work hard.”
With those words ending the class, the professor left the classroom with a smiling face.
Lumian stared blankly at her retreating figure and thought.
‘…That’s the first expression of interest I’ve received from a woman at the Academy.’
The problem was that it was from a grandmother. No, considering his own age, maybe the difference wasn’t that big?
While Lumian was having these trivial thoughts.
The Freckled Boy, receiving a signal from the big guy, quietly got up from his seat. Then he carefully approached Lumian from behind.
Normally Lumian would have sensed his presence, but not now. He was confused by his own confusion over the interest from the elderly female professor.
Thanks to this, the Freckled Boy was able to safely approach Lumian from behind and see the doodles he had made.
[Ah, I want to date a pretty girl.]
[I should be able to date someone before graduating from the Academy, right?]
[I want to have sex. Aah, I want to have sex.]
[Sex, mating, intercourse!]
“…”
Extremely shocking content.
The Freckled Boy made a dumbfounded expression and reached for Lumian’s notebook while saying.
“Hey, what is this? What’s this about se…”
“Aaaaaahhhhh! Don’t say it!”
Thwack!
“Grrgh…”
Thud
“…!”
“…!”
A sudden incident.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Lumian and the Freckled Boy who had been punched in the jaw and fainted.
Silence fell, and Lumian made a bewildered expression.
Even so, his hands moved busily. After folding the open notebook and stuffing it into his bag, he glared at the unconscious Freckled Boy.
‘This bastard doesn’t know about privacy.’
Who just looks at someone else’s notebook like that?
Lumian thought to himself.
Even though he had thrown the first punch, he felt no guilt whatsoever.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————