The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 77
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 77 31. The Burden of Being a Handsome Man (6)
Recently, Tania hadn’t been looking very happy.
It seemed to have started around the time when he and Leiton Wino grew closer.
Of course, it was understandable. Someone who had been going around with a face like they were about to die from worry was now grinning foolishly, so it would be both absurd and infuriating.
‘Especially since she was the one who even gave me advice. It would be even more so.’
But even so, it was a bit excessive.
Because of this, Lumian had deliberately avoided Tania for about a week.
Lumian couldn’t think, ‘Could it be that my senior is also interested in me?’
He was too absorbed in Leiton Wino to have such thoughts, and there was also what he had heard from Teoro before.
‘Senior Tania tries to maintain good relationships with everyone who has a promising future. It feels like she puts tremendous effort into networking for later.’
The reason she tried to get close to him was probably because of that too.
Of course, even if she had such a purpose, Lumian didn’t mind.
Regardless of that, Tania was a decent person. He could tell after talking with her.
‘But running into her now…’
It’s a bit burdensome.
Neither he nor she had such feelings, but he thought that Leiton Wino might misunderstand if she saw this.
So Lumian tried to pass by quickly while ignoring Tania. It wasn’t polite, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Lumian!”
“…”
But since she called his name like that, he couldn’t ignore her.
Lumian stopped abruptly and gave an awkward smile.
“Haha, Senior Tania. Hello?”
“Why are you just passing by after seeing me?”
“No, I was lost in thought and didn’t see you. Sorry. Hahaha…”
Lumian rambled excuses while gauging Tania’s mood.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.
Unlike recently, she wasn’t glaring at him, nor was she biting her lower lip. Her tone was also relatively gentle.
Also, for some reason he didn’t know.
‘She looks… prettier than usual?’
She really did.
Of course, Tania was originally pretty. Her figure wasn’t his type, but just considering her face, she could be called as great a beauty as Leiton Wino.
But now she was even more stunning than that.
So stunning that her modest chest didn’t even catch his eye.
This made Lumian feel bewildered.
‘No, get a grip.’
He was on his way to meet Leiton Wino.
He still had some time to spare. But he needed to go quickly to not be late for their appointment.
Having finished his thoughts, Lumian managed his expression that had been relaxing.
And he asked about her business.
“But, why did you call me…?”
“Do you see this?”
“Hm?”
Two pieces of paper fluttering in Tania’s hand.
Lumian examined them closely.
“Tickets?”
“Right. Tickets for the Absinthe Troupe.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know either, but they’re performing at the Academy tomorrow.”
“Wow, Absinthe is coming to Tarasan too…”
Lumian showed a surprised expression.
In his previous life, he quite liked theater.
Unlike books, it was less tiring to watch, and unlike paintings, it conveyed a more vivid feeling.
When he focused on the emotions flowing between the characters moving on stage, all the distracting thoughts in his head would be forgotten.
Because of this, whenever the reality of being impotent weighed heavily on him, he would watch plays to wash away his sadness.
‘I don’t need to do that in this life… but still, theater is fun.’
Moreover, Absinthe was quite a famous traveling troupe.
He never would have thought he could see them at Tarasan Academy.
Since she had obtained tickets for such a troupe, he naturally couldn’t help but be interested.
Furthermore.
“Senior, did you remember that I said I liked theater before…?”
“Hehe. Of course. Did you think I just happened to get these tickets?”
Tania smiled brightly. Seeing this, Lumian showed a slightly moved expression.
And seeing this, she was smiling even more brightly inside than what showed on the surface.
‘As expected, I knew it would work.’
For the past two weeks, she had been extremely angry.
She didn’t know why. She was just angry and irritated. Seeing Leiton Wino and Lumian Calard sticking together made her feel like lava would flow out from inside her.
If it had been her usual self, she would have seriously thought about the reason.
But now wasn’t usual.
Tania, who was so angry that her body trembled, could no longer think rationally. She gave herself over to emotions she couldn’t even explain.
Because of this, she couldn’t help but make a sulky expression every time she encountered Lumian.
She realized this was a mistake three days ago.
‘Calm down, Tania!’
Lying on her bed in her room, she calmly looked back at the situation.
Then she thought this couldn’t continue.
To rescue Lumian from that woman who wore such revealing clothes, she too had to do her best.
Actually, using the expression ‘rescue’ was far from being calm, but Tania didn’t care.
Instead, she focused all her attention on planning to steal Lumian’s time.
‘When we met after the first semester ended, he said he liked theater. Just in time, a traveling troupe is visiting the Academy on Saturday…’
‘I’ll subtly show that I remembered what he said before. But I need to be careful not to make it too obvious since that would look desperate…’
‘I won’t get angry like usual and make the atmosphere hostile, but with a smiling face…’
‘Should I wear a necklace for the first time in a while? Rouge is… too much?’
Various thoughts came up and were discarded.
She even neglected her classes. The past three days had been time devoted solely to Lumian.
“It was just something I said in passing, but you remembered it… I’m really touched. Haha.”
And now, those efforts were about to bear fruit.
It wasn’t a reaction obtained just from the tickets alone.
The clothes she carefully chose, the hair she meticulously styled,
Tania shouted inwardly.
‘Yahoo!’
She wanted to shout out loud if she could.
See that! Leiton Wino!
When I get serious too, I’m just as good! Until now, I wasn’t going all out!
Of course, she couldn’t do that.
If she did, the current atmosphere would be completely ruined.
Instead, Tania approached Lumian with the expression she had practiced yesterday, which she thought made her look most attractive.
“Tomorrow, you don’t have any plans, right?”
“Uh…”
“What, you do?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Lumian hesitated.
There was no promise.
But recently, he had been meeting Leiton Wino every single day without fail, so that weighed on his mind.
‘But she remembered what I said months ago and got tickets for me…’
Wouldn’t it be too rude to reject Tania’s offer because of a schedule that wasn’t even set yet?
Thinking that way, he couldn’t easily refuse.
If he were officially dating Leiton Wino, or if Tania felt like she was interfering with ulterior motives, it might be different, but neither was the case.
At least that’s what Lumian thought.
It was a pure yet frustrating thought that only a clueless and inexperienced virgin could have.
‘Teoro, Morghen! Help me!’
For a moment, he even thought of Teoro and Morghen. His mind was that complicated.
But there was no way they would appear here.
Lumian scolded himself inwardly.
‘Am I a child!’
He couldn’t ask others about every little thing like this and rely on them to make decisions.
He had to do it himself. He was no longer a eunuch but a man.
Having finished his thoughts, he looked at Tania.
It was the moment his mouth was about to slowly open.
“Lumian?”
“Leiton!”
“…”
Leiton Wino had somehow approached near the two of them.
The moment she saw her, Tania’s composure shattered.
The fact that the two had started speaking informally without her knowing was unbearably irritating.
What was even more irritating was that the moment Leiton Wino arrived, the atmosphere of this place completely changed.
“Sorry. Did you come looking for me because I didn’t show up while you were waiting?”
“I wanted to see you quickly.”
“Hahaha…”
A scene like scattered sesame seeds.
Anyone could see they looked like lovers. There seemed to be no room for Tania to squeeze in between them.
Her perfectly managed expression gradually crumbled.
Her energy also leaked out little by little. It was a terrifying aura that would be hard for ordinary people to handle.
However, both of them were completely unaffected.
It was natural for Lumian since he was distracted by Leiton Wino and had a high level of cultivation.
But it was strange that even Leiton Wino wasn’t affected. She was whispering what she had to say in Lumian’s ear without even glancing at Tania.
“Lumian. Tomorrow… will you come to my house?”
“House?”
“Yeah. Not the dormitory, I have a separate house outside the Academy. I want to cook for you directly like I mentioned before.”
“Cooking, cooking…”
Lumian repeated the word cooking with slightly unfocused eyes.
However, what he was thinking about now wasn’t cooking.
It was the house.
‘Not the dormitory, but a house outside the Academy… could it be…’
Gulp.
A woman inviting a man of the opposite sex to her house.
It could literally be to serve him a meal, but Lumian thought of something else. His imagination didn’t stop at just cooking.
Moreover, Leiton Wino’s words weren’t finished yet.
She opened her mouth.
Sweet words leaked from her moist and glossy lips.
“And… tomorrow, no one will be there.”
“…!”
“Except me.”
It was the decisive blow.
Hearing those words, Lumian froze stiff.
His head also became strange.
He reached a state where he could think of nothing but Leiton Wino and ‘that thing’ that might happen tomorrow.
Naturally, what Tania had said was also forgotten.
“Then, shall we go eat dinner?”
“Y, yes!”
Leiton Wino walking while swaying her hips gently, and Lumian Calard belatedly sticking close to her side.
And Tania, left alone desolately holding two tickets.
She moved only after about 10 minutes had passed, having stood there stupidly for a while.
Stomp stomp.
Her stride was very large.
Despite wearing heeled shoes that didn’t suit a knight cadet, her walking speed was extraordinary. It felt like a race walker moving.
Click.
Bang!
Thus, Tania Eloise finally returned to her dormitory.
Only then did she express her emotions.
A terrifying aura poured out from her body like wind sweeping through the northern regions.
Riiip- Tear-
The first to be sacrificed were the tickets for Absinthe Troupe.
They instantly became unrecognizable in form. It was a tragic sight.
Poof!
The second to be sacrificed was the down pillow that had been responsible for Tania’s sleep every night.
It split open and spewed out hundreds and thousands of feathers before dying gloriously in battle. It was a miserable sight.
Hiss, hiss.
Nevertheless, her anger didn’t subside. The misery didn’t disappear either.
She looked around for another victim and discovered Lumian’s portrait placed on the desk.
It was a drawing she had made when the Subculture Research Club incident occurred.
Her hand moved quickly toward it.
Hesitation.
But just before destroying the Lumian in the portrait, Tania stopped her movement.
She had no choice.
No matter how annoyed she was, the portrait was innocent.
Of course, if you thought about it that way, the tickets and pillow were innocent too, but anyway. Tania took a deep breath and looked at Lumian’s portrait.
‘Now that I look at it, there are many different aspects.’
She wasn’t sure if Lumian had changed or if she had drawn it wrong at the time.
What was certain was that the current Lumian was much more handsome than this portrait.
Thinking that way, she somehow couldn’t stay still.
Tania took out paper and tools from the drawer and began drawing a portrait again.
Scratch scratch-
Scrape- scrape-
This was Tania Eloise who had been trembling with anger just moments before.
The sight of her suddenly drawing calmly was a very strange scene.
“Ugh, so annoying!”
“Urrgh, Lumian!”
Of course, she would have occasional outbursts while drawing, but nothing more than that happened.
She diligently drew in her gradually calming heart and was finally able to complete a new portrait.
“Hmm.”
Tania placed the old portrait and the newly drawn portrait side by side for comparison.
Certainly, this was much better now. He felt a little proud.
“Ah, whatever. Let’s just sleep for now. I’ll think about it after sleeping.”
Her anger hadn’t completely subsided yet. But there was nothing she could do.
In times like that, sleeping was the best option.
Tania gathered up the scattered feathers and put them back into the pillow, then fell asleep without even changing her clothes.
In her dream, Lumian appeared. Leiton Wino didn’t appear. Fortunately.
She smiled pleasantly. And for the first time in a while, she slept in.
And that morning.
“This should be… okay, right?”
Lumian Calard, perfectly armed and ready.
He stood before the mirror with a resolute expression like a new recruit heading to the battlefield for the first time.
“Just in case, should I wash up one more time?”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————