The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 90

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

Chapter 90 36. A Special Gift (3)

Tania clenched her mouth shut. Then she turned her head again and focused on her sword.

She didn’t have time for this. If she kept getting distracted by men any longer, even her position as third-year top student might be in jeopardy.

‘Besides, your goal isn’t just being the year’s top student. It’s bigger than that. Get it together, Tania!’

For my ambition, for advancement, for my dreams, I need to work even more fiercely.

So let’s forget about Lumian Calard for now. Though it’s regrettable.

Just as she was thinking this, a familiar figure entered her sight.

It was Lumian. She was startled when the person she had just been thinking about approached her.

‘What? Why is he coming to me first instead of going to Teoro…?’

She was flustered and puzzled.

While she was having these thoughts, he cleared his throat and spoke to her.

“Ah, hello? Senior?”

“Oh, uh… yeah.”

“Um, I’m sorry about last time. I didn’t manage the parrot properly… You must have been really shocked…”

“Oh, no! It’s fine! Boys can play pranks like that sometimes…”

“Phew, that’s a relief. I was worried you might have misunderstood.”

“I didn’t misunderstand. Don’t worry about it. Hahaha.”

“Hahahaha…”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell between the two.

Tania was at a loss when Lumian approached just as she was about to focus on her sword. Though her head told her she should keep her distance, her heart didn’t agree.

Lumian’s mind was complicated too. He wanted to speak sophisticatedly and naturally, but he lacked the eloquence for it. Because of this, awkward time kept passing.

“…Um, do you have something to say?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, it seems like you came here because you had something more to say.”

In the end, it was Tania who spoke first.

She was too curious about why Lumian had sought her out to keep her mouth shut. She felt it wasn’t just to apologize for what happened a few days ago.

Receiving her question, Lumian scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

He felt strange.

When he had helped Teoro or Bumer, it definitely hadn’t felt like this.

‘No, never mind about them. Let’s just say what I came to say.’

Lumian let out a short breath and looked at Tania.

Even though it wasn’t an embarrassing request, his face reddened for no reason.

He spoke with an awkward expression.

“Um, if it’s okay with you, Senior…”

“Yeah?”

“How about we train together until the Swordsmanship Competition?”

“…”

“We could spar together, point out each other’s weaknesses, things like that… Um, this might sound like bragging, but I’m pretty good at giving advice… So I thought it might be helpful for you too, Senior. Ah! Of course, I’d be getting help too. It would be really great if you could help me, Senior. Hahaha…”

Lumian finished speaking with a laugh.

This was exactly the ‘gift’ he had thought of.

‘What would Tania Senior want most?’

After hearing Semu’s advice, Lumian had seriously considered this.

And he judged that ‘improvement in swordsmanship skills’ was the answer to that question.

Lumian knew this too. The fact that Tania had great ambitions.

Of course, to achieve that dream, she naturally needed much superior skills and excellent results than she had now.

Fortunately, this was something he could help with.

‘I may not know about other things, but I’m confident in swordsmanship.’

That’s why Lumian planned to give Tania instructional sparring until the midterm evaluation, or until the Swordsmanship Competition if she agreed.

Rather than giving her accessories or jewels for no reason, this would be much more helpful to her.

Of course, he couldn’t openly use the term ‘instructional sparring.’

If he were the senior it would be one thing, but for a junior to speak that way seemed impolite.

Because of this, he was slightly worried whether his meaning had been properly conveyed, but what worried him more was ‘what if Senior refuses?’

‘No, why am I worrying about that?’

He didn’t understand it.

If the senior refused, he could just say ‘Yes, I understand’ and leave. There would be no problem at all.

Nevertheless, he was anxious. He felt as embarrassed as if he were asking for a date, and his heart was pounding.

Without realizing it, Lumian made a tense expression and looked at Tania’s face, her lips.

What kind of answer would she give?

He didn’t know, but anyway, he hoped she wouldn’t refuse!

Just when he was having that thought deep in his heart.

“Good!”

“…Oh, really?”

Lumian replied with a foolish smile. Tania repeated the same words even more foolishly.

“Good! Good! Totally good!”

“R-really?”

“Of course! When the junior who’s rated even higher than Cal Krone, the Academy’s greatest genius, is personally offering instructional sparring, who would refuse?”

“No, instructional sparring? Just…”

“Hey, it’s fine. I know you expressed it that way out of consideration.”

Tania said with a smile.

Lumian, who had been hesitating for a moment, made an embarrassed expression.

If he was going to deny it, he should have done so right away, but he had already hesitated too long. He spoke with a sheepish expression.

“Um… haha… A-anyway, I’ll be learning things too…”

Smack!

“Ugh!”

“Enough. You don’t have to speak so carefully.”

Tania smacked Lumian’s back.

Her hand was quite sharp. Nevertheless, it didn’t feel bad. Though it seemed perverted, he thought it would be okay to get hit one more time.

‘No, that really is perverted, isn’t it?’

Lumian, who had awakened to a new preference, was stiffening his expression when Tania brought him a sword.

She looked quite pleased. And she actually was pleased.

Tania hummed to herself and thought.

‘This is the best. Why didn’t I think of this?’

She had been thinking wrong all this time.

She had considered sword training and spending time with Lumian as incompatible things. She thought that to do one, she had to give up the other.

But that wasn’t the case.

If she trained swordsmanship together with Lumian, everything would be solved!

‘It’s even better than training alone!’

Who was responsible for Teoro and Bumer’s rapid skill improvement?

Surely their individual efforts were remarkable too, but Lumian’s contribution was certainly not small.

Thinking about this made her excited already.

‘And regardless of that…’

Just because it was Lumian. That alone made her feel good.

So much so that she had to be wary of getting distracted.

Tania spoke with a smile covering her entire face.

“Then please take care of me, Professor Lumian.”

“Hahaha. Then shall we start with some light sparring?”

Lumian laughed and picked up his sword. Tania also took her stance and put strength in her eyes.

The match between the second-year top student and the third-year top student began.

* * *

“Damn it, that bastard Lumian! How long has it been since he broke up with Leiton Wino and already…”

Bumer grumbled with an uncomfortable expression. He was irritated seeing Lumian chatting and laughing with Tania Eloise.

Not only was his own ‘years without a girlfriend = his age,’ but recently he couldn’t even talk to anyone except his classmates.

But the guy he thought was on the same level until the first semester was now thriving like a fish in water, making him feel anxious.

“This is hopeless, hopeless. Even in the training grounds, all he thinks about are women…”

“Hey, why don’t you try doing that too?”

“Shut up, you bastard!”

As expected, Cal Krone gave Bumer a sharp retort. Bumer growled back in response.

“What about me? If I were dating somewhere else, being all lovey-dovey, then what? I wouldn’t say anything! This is the sacred training grounds! And it’s the exclusive training ground where the Academy’s recognized top students gather!”

“Hmm.”

“…”

“Is it okay for men and women to do, you know, that kind of stuff in such a place? Teoro, tell me!”

Bumer, who had been speaking angrily, looked at Teoro.

Overwhelmed by his intensity, Teoro flinched and asked back.

“What?”

“Is it okay or not to think about hitting on women in the sacred scholarship student training ground?”

“…Well. As long as they don’t bother others, I don’t think it matters?”

“That’s not the answer I wanted!”

Bumer shouted, and Teoro shook his head.

Lately, that guy looked even more pitiful. His sympathy had grown so much that he was even forgetting the ill feelings he’d built up last year.

‘Should I just half-heartedly agree with him?’

He was even thinking that when Cal Krone raised his hand and pointed in one direction. The other two naturally followed his gaze.

They saw Lumian and Tania, who had already taken their stances. The two let out battle cries and swung their swords at each other.

Clang!

Clang- Clang!

Attacks filled with aura!

Despite being a sparring match, it seemed fierce enough to be dangerous. It was no less intense than when Teoro, Bumer, and Cal Krone sparred with each other.

No, it seemed even more intense. Lumian mercilessly pressured Tania without holding back, and Tania gritted her teeth and desperately resisted.

Bumer watched this with a dazed expression.

Cal Krone, who had approached him, placed a hand on his shoulder.

“They seem to be acting appropriately for the training grounds, don’t they? Though it doesn’t seem like they’re completely without ulterior motives.”

“…”

“Instead of badmouthing a friend who works hard at both training and romance, let’s have another sparring match. If you beat me, I’ll introduce you to a girl I know. How about it?”

“Really? For real!”

Bumer said with delight. Cal Krone nodded.

“Of course. Naturally. I don’t lie.”

“Great. Let’s go right now. Graaaah!”

Bumer raised his sword with a vigorous shout.

Cal Krone faced Bumer with a relaxed expression.

Teoro, who was watching them, shook his head.

With Bumer’s current skill level, he couldn’t beat Cal Krone. At best, he could only make him breathe hard.

In other words, Cal Krone had no intention of introducing a girl to Bumer.

‘What a really bad bastard.’

Should I introduce someone instead?

Teoro pondered for a moment.

Then he shook his head even more vigorously.

He couldn’t do that. If he did, who knows what the girl would say.

‘There’s no need to go out of my way to get cursed at just to help him.’

Having reached his conclusion, Teoro also began his individual training.

Several hours passed like that.

* * *

“Let’s take a break.”

“Huff, gasp, huff! Y-yes, whew.”

“I’m sorry. It would have been better to stop in the middle.”

“It’s, fine, gasp, huff…”

Tania kept breathing heavily.

She couldn’t properly respond to Lumian’s words. Normally, her pride would have been hurt and she would have frowned slightly, but right now she couldn’t manage that.

‘Incredibly… strong!’

It was shocking.

Of course, she knew that Lumian Calard was stronger than her.

What she saw during the swordsmanship competition was already above her level, and the skill she witnessed at the Subculture Research Club building far exceeded even that.

Tania wasn’t an unrealistic fool. She was someone who acknowledged what needed to be acknowledged, and she had no jealousy toward a junior who was better than her.

But she honestly hadn’t thought the difference would be this severe…

‘The gap is so big that even feeling hurt pride would be rude. How can this be…’

Tania, having caught her breath, made a frustrated expression.

She had been a bit lazy since the second semester started, but she still took pride in working much harder than others.

Yet despite that, she was angry that the gap kept widening. She couldn’t stand how pathetic she was.

‘It’s okay. This is actually good.’

Of course, she wasn’t someone who would give up over something like this.

She had climbed to this position through sheer determination, receiving more suspicion than praise. If she was going to get dejected over today’s events, she would have given up the path of knighthood long ago.

She looked at Lumian with a smiling face.

“Amazing. It’s a complete defeat.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a complete defeat…”

“No, I acknowledge it. I have to acknowledge it to move to the next stage. Ah, I’m really glad. If I hadn’t sparred with you, I would have lived like a frog in a well for much longer. Watching and actually fighting are completely different.”

Lumian gave an awkward smile.

Tania continued speaking.

“Is there anything you could point out?”

“Hmm…”

“There is, isn’t there. Then speak comfortably. I won’t get upset over something like this, so don’t feel burdened.”

It was true.

She was different from stubborn idiots.

She was ready to listen with an open mind to advice from someone stronger than her. Sincerity could be seen in her eyes.

“Umm.”

However, Lumian didn’t relax.

The advice he was about to give would be difficult for anyone to accept. Burdensome enough to be hard to say.

‘But I have to do it.’

If they weren’t particularly close, it would be different, but if she were someone without talent, it would be different.

Tania didn’t fall into either category.

That’s why he absolutely had to give this advice. He really wanted to see her break through her current wall and make rapid progress.

Having finished his thoughts, Lumian opened his mouth.

“Tania, senior.”

“Yes.”

“How about completely changing your swordsmanship style?”

“…What did you say?”

Tania made a bewildered expression.

She thought he would mention some part of her movements at most, or point out minor mistakes.

Change her style itself?

‘What’s wrong with my swordsmanship style?’

Without realizing it, rebellious feelings welled up inside her.

Unmistakable dissatisfaction filled her face.

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