The Failed Swordmaster - Chapter 96

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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 96 38. You’re the Best, Teacher Lumian! (2)

“…That’s how it happened.”

“Yeah yeah! That’s how it happened!”

“…”

Lumian’s explanation was finished. The young dragon that had been flying around distractedly beside him repeated his words exactly.

Tania organized Lumian’s words with a still bewildered expression.

‘So Lumian also only thought this guy was a parrot, but after that incident happened, the guy revealed his identity and apologized?’

Lumian accepted that apology, and they became friends after that.

And now he wants to become friends with her?

“What, are you really a dragon?”

“I’m a dragon! Really!”

“No way, dragons reveal their identity this easily? Are you really a legendary creature?”

“Right! I’m a legendary creature!”

Puff!

Semu, who had shouted loudly, enlarged his body.

He had grown about a span taller than when he was the size of a foal. The guy stood on two feet, crossed his arms, and made what he thought was his most dignified expression.

Of course, to Tania’s eyes, he only looked cute.

She looked at Lumian.

“There’s no animal other than dragons that can freely change their appearance like this, right?”

“…”

“He can also speak human language. I even went to their house on the weekend, so he’s really a dragon.”

“Hah, I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“No.”

Lumian said. But Tania still felt no sense of reality.

The afterglow of breaking through the Lower Gate at the age of 16 hadn’t even faded yet, and an even more absurd thing had happened.

It was so ridiculous that she even felt a sense of wariness.

She asked the dragon.

“O-okay. I understand that you’re a dragon.”

“Thanks for understanding, Tania!”

“But why did you reveal your identity? Weren’t dragons originally a species that lived in hiding, avoiding human eyes?”

“Yeah. There are many scary humans. I don’t reveal myself to just anyone.”

Semu, who had spoken up to this point, shrank his body again.

And shouted with a vigorous voice.

“But I trust Tania, so it’s okay!”

“…You trust me?”

“Yeah. Tania is a good person. It’s dragon intuition! I can trust you! You won’t bully me, right? You’ll play with me often, right? You’ll be my friend, right?”

The chattering guy suddenly hugged Tania’s chest with a puff.

And immediately slid down and fell between her legs.

It was because her chest was lacking. If there had been curves, he wouldn’t have fallen.

Her expression hardened slightly.

Lumian was the same, but he didn’t show it. He quickly said.

“Even a legendary creature says he trusts you, senior. Doesn’t that give you more confidence?”

“Hmm…”

Tania, who had been thinking for a moment, nodded slightly.

She couldn’t say no.

She was still confused, didn’t know what this was all about, and it was too sudden, but at least it didn’t feel bad.

It felt like she had become the protagonist of a novel or mythology.

‘If a dragon is pestering me to be friends, aren’t I quite an amazing person?’

Suddenly, breaking through the Lower Gate felt like nothing special.

It wasn’t in a negative sense.

She felt that this much was nothing, so instead of stopping here, she could climb much higher. It was a childish thought, but that’s how it was.

“Well, if I’m a dragon’s friend, I should at least become an Expert in my teens, right? And hit Sword Master level in my twenties?”

“You should.”

“Good. Let’s be friends, us.”

“Hehehe. I made a friend!”

Semu, who had been wriggling between Tania’s cross-legged sitting position, smiled brightly.

Despite looking like a lizard, his actions were like a cat. That made him even cuter. Tania petted his head.

Lumian made a pleased expression seeing that sight.

Even until before breaking through the gate, there had been anxiety remaining, but Tania’s face now wasn’t like that. She looked much brighter and more spirited.

When Semu had thrown a tantrum about wanting to be friends with Tania, he thought he had done well not to stop it. The guy’s reckless innocent naivety seemed like it would be a great help in the future.

‘But let’s separate them for now.’

Lumian took out the magic sword from his subspace backpack.

It was the very sword that Semu had given as a gift.

Tania was flustered seeing Lumian suddenly take out a sword. But Semu wasn’t.

The guy shouted with an excited expression.

“Wow! It’s the flower lady!”

Rustle-

At the same time, a rain of flowers really fell from the sky.

Tania became surprised and muttered.

“R-really a dragon. To cast such precise illusion magic with just words…”

“…Hmm. That’s not it. I did that.”

“You?”

“Yes. It’s a magic sword effect, and Semu, ah Semu is his name. Anyway, Semu really loves flower rain, so I wanted to distract him for a moment…”

It was as Lumian said. The guy had left Tania’s embrace and was busily moving between the flowers.

“While he’s distracted, let’s talk.”

“About what?”

“Various things. Like aura operation methods when you broke through the Lower Gate, or the interaction between aura and body…”

“Ah!”

“The next two hours should be fine.”

“Got it, wait a moment.”

Tania got up from her seat and brought a notebook and pen.

She made an enthusiastic expression and said to Lumian.

“The student is ready, Teacher.”

“…What kind of concept is this?”

“Q-quiet. I just tried it once.”

Tania’s face turned red.

Lumian chuckled and began explaining. The two left the playful atmosphere and entered a serious mood.

“Hehe. Pretty. There are so many varieties too!”

Semu occasionally blurted out words that went against that atmosphere, but it didn’t matter. Their concentration wasn’t so weak as to be disturbed by that much.

But after about an hour, problems inevitably arose.

Semu, who had gotten tired of playing with flower petals, was bothering Lumian.

“Lumian sir, Lumian sir!”

“When will it end?”

“Will 10 minutes do? Or 20 minutes?”

“Tania, can’t you do it while playing with me?”

However, the two didn’t budge at all.

Semu, who had become sulky, poked Tania’s side repeatedly, but when Lumian made a stern expression, he fell back with a dejected look.

Semu had no choice but to find something to play with alone.

‘Wow, this is really different from Lumian sir’s room!’

Fortunately, this was Tania’s room, not Lumian’s Room.

Lumian’s room, which the subordinate had been going in and out of every day, was now boring. However, this place filled with completely different objects despite having the same spatial structure was enough to capture the subordinate’s interest.

Semu began making various comparisons while recalling Lumian’s room.

‘The bed is in the same place against the wall…’

‘Lumian has blue blankets, but Tania has white blankets!’

‘There are paintings hanging on the wall! Lumian’s room doesn’t have any!’

‘There’s a flower vase too! Real flowers. They smell nice!’

The subordinate who had been sniffing the flowers with its nose pressed against them smiled brightly.

It was very entertaining. The disappointment about the two not playing with it was soon forgotten.

The subordinate continued exploring every corner of the room.

Since the two absorbed in conversation paid no attention to this, Semu could wander around here and there as if it were its own world. Still, being somewhat considerate, it didn’t chatter noisily.

It was when the subordinate had looked around everywhere and finally crawled under the bed last that it cried out in surprise.

“Woooah!”

“Semu, be quiet…”

“Lumian! Lumian!”

“What’s wrong?”

Lumian, who had been about to scold Semu, made a puzzled expression as the subordinate crawled out from under the bed.

And it held something up high in a victory pose.

“Here! There’s the same thing here!”

“…”

“…”

It was an erotic book.

The atmosphere instantly became stiff and awkward.

Semu didn’t care at all.

After opening the book, its eyes sparkled like a scientist who had made a great discovery.

“Oh, this is different! Lumian’s book didn’t have candles, but this one has…”

“Stop!”

Tania, who let out a shriek, pulled Semu away from the book. Then she quickly threw it under the bed. To a very deep place where arms couldn’t reach.

“…”

“…”

“Hiiing. I wanted to see more.”

“Quiet.”

“…”

Silence flowed between Tania and Lumian. Semu also became well-behaved after hearing Lumian’s words.

Ahem, hem. Lumian cleared his throat and carefully spoke up.

“Certainly, as my senior said, these days… women also read a lot of those kinds of things…”

“It, it’s my friend’s.”

“It’s okay. You can be honest.”

“Shut up! Be quiet!”

Tania grabbed a pillow and threw it.

Lumian dodged, and Semu giggled happily at the lively atmosphere.

On this day, teacher and student came to share two secrets.

Dragon.

And erotic books.

Though unintended, this resulted in their bond becoming even deeper.

* * *

The morning after breaking through the lower gate.

Tania woke up from a nightmare.

The nightmare didn’t feature terrible creatures like monsters or demons. Rather, the dream began with her beloved family members.

Father, mother, and her two brothers.

They all looked at her with loving expressions and affectionate eyes.

However, the words coming from their mouths weren’t what she wanted to hear.

‘Tania, do you really have to go to the Knight Department?’

‘You don’t have to push yourself so hard.’

‘You’re smart too, so there’s no need to do physical work…’

‘We’re just worried you might get hurt.’

Her family’s words were filled only with worry and concern.

It couldn’t be helped. From the perspective of a family that had been scholars for generations, they couldn’t help but feel anxious when their precious youngest daughter said she would walk the path of a knight.

Tania understood. That’s why she spoke with an even brighter face.

That she would do well. That they should look forward to it.

But inside, she felt very disappointed and struggled.

What she had wanted to hear were words of encouragement and praise.

‘It was similar even after coming to the Academy.’

The dream didn’t feature only her family. The people from when she first entered the Academy also appeared one by one. None of them had any particular expectations for Tania.

‘Why did someone from a scholar family apply to the Knight Department?’

‘I don’t know. What was she thinking…’

‘If she needed a hobby, she should have entered high society instead of the Academy.’

‘She has a pretty face, but won’t she get scared and back down when aiming for the upper levels with a sword?’

The students’ prejudices poured out.

Even then, Tania endured. She trained hard to show them, and displayed her talent to show them.

Thus she finally rose to the upper ranks and made many loose tongues fall silent.

But even so, the prejudice didn’t disappear.

Not only the upper-rank students from knight families, but even the professors didn’t expect any further achievements from her.

‘You’re doing well enough.’

‘You seem to have worked quite hard?’

‘You don’t need to push yourself too hard. You might not be able to endure and break.’

They were definitely compliments. However, Tania wasn’t happy at all.

In the end, it was no different. They praised her current achievements, but no one praised her potential. No one expected achievements beyond her current level from her.

As if this was good enough for someone like her. As if someone from a scholar family, and a woman at that, should be satisfied with achieving this much.

And such words had been gradually wearing down Tania’s confidence from some point on.

Little by little, without her even knowing it.

‘It must have been hard for me all this time.’

Tania, reflecting on last night’s nightmare, let out a bitter smile.

She felt a little sad. The fact that because of so many people who didn’t believe in her, she had eventually come to not believe in herself either. That fact made her mood sink.

But it was okay.

Reality was different from the nightmare.

Until last semester, the two wouldn’t have been different, but not anymore.

She thought of one person.

‘Lumian Calard.’

The person who had supported her with a mountain-like solid presence.

The person who believed in her more deeply than anyone, even more than her family. The person who extended his hand so she could believe in herself.

“Haha.”

She laughed. Getting up from bed, she prepared to go to the training grounds.

The swordsmanship midterm evaluation was tomorrow. She didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in.

Of course, she also wanted to see Lumian.

Tania laughed again and opened the window curtains.

* * *

Finally, the day of the midterm evaluation dawned.

The 3rd-year swordsmanship professor, Ben Barrett, looked over the Class A cadets in a row.

His expression was much brighter than usual.

This was because the senior professor David Caren, who always interfered with his work, was away on kingdom duties.

That meant he could decide the midterm evaluation grades all by himself.

“Heh heh heh.”

Professor Barrett, who laughed damply, looked at the two cadets in turn.

They were the second and first place students of the third year.

When he looked at the second place student, favorable emotions dwelled in his gaze, but when he looked at the first place student, contemptuous feelings filled his eyes.

He thought to himself.

‘How dare you ignore my words and practice with a medium sword, Tania Eloise?’

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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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