YnO 26

GDoc here. Enjoy!

Tranquility

AN: I have made you wait

“Damn it…”

He didn’t win.
He had handled requests, alone, until he became an adventurer.
The requests included collecting herbs in a certain part of the forest, or chasing away animals from villages in the capital city’s hinterland at night. These requests were merely odd jobs for beginners, but he continued to work at them until he was trusted by the Guild.
He persuaded a senior adventurer to teach him how to use weapons.

He was confident.
He had even been invited to a party.
He had planned to surpass Wynn, who had yet to become a knight.

However, he learned from that duel that he couldn’t do a thing.
On the contrary, he lost in front of his crush, after meeting her again after four years.
By the time he swung his sword, Wynn’s sword was already pointed at his face.
Unable to stand the sight of Leti, who was smiling brightly, so close to Wynn, without saying a word, Abel ran to his room, grabbed his stuff, and dashed out again.
He wanted to leave as fast as he could.
It was not yet the meeting time, but he ran straight for the Adventurer’s Guild.
It was his dream to be part of an adventurer’s party.
As he waited to meet his fellow party members at the Guild, he tried not to think about his match with Wynn.

He tried, but…

Though it was his dream, Abel sighed as he trudged towards the end of the line in the adventurer’s party.

“What’s wrong, Abel?”

“… Riggs-san.”

Lost in thought, he hadn’t realized that he ended up beside a man with a gigantic stature.

It was Riggs the axe-wielder.

He was the leader of the party who invited Abel.
He was a veteran adventurer acknowledged by the capital’s Adventurer’s Guild. He was the one who managed the parties that were being assembled to for the current mission to subjugate a bandit group.

“You have such a gloomy face, even before the mission. Were you ignored by a woman?”

“Ugh…”

Being right on the mark, the words hit Abel like a brick.

“Wahaha! I was right on the mark. Who is the other girl?”

“It’s somebody Riggs-san also knows.”

“Hou? If it’s a girl I know… Is it the Flowering Moon Inn’s Mira? The Roadside Pebble Inn’s Merril? Or is it Connie?” ^[1]

Amongst the smiling adventurers, Riggs listed the popular shop girls one by one.

“…It’s Leti.”

With a peeved expression, Abel interjected with a whisper.

“Leti? The Leti that’s always stuck to Wynn?”

“Oh? That Leti-san.”

Upon hearing Wynn’s name, Abel frowned.
Riggs stopped laughing, then looked seriously at Abel.

“If it’s Leti, that’s impossible.”
“Ah, it really is impossible.”
“That’s why…”

Overhearing his conversation with Riggs, the other party members said that it was impossible, to Abel’s indignation.

“What are you guys saying!?”

Upon seeing their uniform faces of pity, Abel became incensed.

“It’s just that, that girl is…”

Leti— Leticia van Mavis.

The adventurers were able to find this out with their intelligence network.
The adventurers affiliated with the capital’s Adventurer’s Guild were in contact with their junior adventurers.
Mingling among the adults, Wynn and Leticia would come in and out of the Adventurer’s Guild, completing odd jobs and errands as a pair.
At first, thinking that it was a childish exploration, they were made light of, but upon seeing them cross swords at the Guild’s training facilities, they were slowly acknowledged.
After showing swordsmanship uncharacteristic of children, the novice adventurers who hadn’t learned the skills tried to leave the training center faster.
Eventually, they didn’t see Leticia anymore, and Wynn had saved up the money for the admission fee for the knight school and was admitted, their visits decreased. But the pair left such a strong impression that they weren’t forgotten.
Later, when Leticia’s many achievements as the Brave reached them through rumors, those who knew her during her younger years realized the difference in their abilities.

“Well, we should stop talking about difficult matters. She’s out of reach.“

“I didn’t know that!”

“Either way, doesn’t Leti-chan like Wynn?”^[2]

“Uuh…”

Abel frowned, unable to reply.
Leticia had always followed Wynn around since they were young.
Through observing the couple’s duels, they could see that Leticia held feelings for Wynn.

It was a fact that Abel didn’t want to accept…
Even if Riggs hadn’t met Leticia since she returned victoriously as the Brave, from Abel’s behavior, it was easy to tell that Leticia strongly yearned for Wynn.
In the first place, they were of different social statuses.
Apart from being the Brave, she was also a Duke’s daughter, giving her a position among nobility, second only to royalty.
Even if Wynn had her heart, it would be reckless for an unrelated person like him to obtain her hand.

“Even then, I won’t give up! I’ll raise my fame, and then, I’ll confess to her!”

Abel raised his fist as he proclaimed.
After the mission, Riggs, wearing a wry smile beside Abel, planned to tell Abel about the value of information gathering.

‘Concentrate, focus on the opponent’s movements.’

To Locke, who was clad in light leather armour, the most important goal was to stop the agile Wynn’s movements.
With his strength magically enhanced, if he could stop Wynn’s movements, then he could win.
Holding his wooden shield in front of him, he observed Wynn’s movements.
It was an opponent he had faced countless times.
In order to tempt Wynn into attacking, he slowly closed in on him.
When the shield blocked the very first attack, he would thrust out just as Wynn stopped moving.
Wynn’s stance dropped slightly—

Bam!^[3]

With his step creating an intense sound, he instantly moved towards Locke.
Quickly and pointedly, he aimed below Locke’s shield, his abdomen.

Gak!

The sword collided with the face of the shield.

“URAAAAAAH!!!”

Locke stopped Wynn’s blade with his shield, and thrust at Wynn’s throat with a shout.
Wynn took a hanmi pose and then leapt to the side.^[4]
Then, Locke, once again, held his shield up, as Wynn raised his sword, gauging the distance between them.

“Ooh, Locke-san, that was pretty strong.”

Leticia, who was observing their spar from the sidelines, commented.

“Ah, that’s because Locke was the runner-up in last year’s Knight Selection Tournament.”

“Oh? I didn’t know that.”

Noting the words of Cornelia, who sat next to her, Leticia inspected the frivolous-looking red-haired youth who was sparring with Wynn.
It was about a month after Leticia returned to the Wandering Bird’s Pavilion after four years, and the day Wynn dueled Abel.
Since the Knight School was still closed, Wynn and Locke would occasionally train together.
Since Locke also had responsibilities as an apprentice knight, it wasn’t every day.
Due to the coup d’état, there was a shortage of full-fledged knights
Consequently, the duties of the apprentice knights increased.
It was the same for Cornelia.
After the incident, she also started joining in the training.
Since she was a princess, she couldn’t just exit the castle as she pleased.
She also had official duties.
She came here with an escort, which was now on standby off to the side.
On the other hand, Leticia visited Wynn every day, like before.
She was a noble of the highest position in the country, but as the Brave, she could avoid being involved in the country’s matters.^[5]
Because of that, Leticia, who had not much else to do, borrowed books from the library to read with Wynn, and the sight of the pair studying became common.
That’s why, even if Leticia was almost always with Wynn, it was rare for the four of them to be together.
In the past month, though Wynn and Locke were timid upon learning that she was the princess at first, they eventually opened up to Cornelia. It was to the point that her Imperial Knight escorts wore sullen expressions, but since they were also in the presence of Leticia, they didn’t voice their opinions.
On this rare occasion in which the four of them were present, Leticia and Cornelia sat under the shade of a tree while watching Wynn and Locke train.
Unable to keep up with Wynn’s almost superhuman speed, Locke always faced Wynn, observing his movements, creeping forward, defending himself with a shield, and then counterattacking with one strike.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? Since I’m observing from the sidelines, I can see Wynn’s blade, but when I’m up close, I can’t see it at all.”

Cornelia was praising the fact that though their magic was sealed, Wynn, and Locke, who fought with Wynn, overwhelmed many knights and soldiers.
His strategy should have been a bad choice against the agile Wynn.
Thus, Locke’s abilities were excellent for an apprentice knight.
If he weren’t from a wealthy family, but rather an aristocratic family, he may have claimed the top spot from Regin, who lost his life during the coup.

However—

“But, Onii-chan still isn’t giving it his all.”

“Eh?”

Just as Cornelia heard Leticia’s remark—

“ooOOOOOOH!!!”^[6]

Wynn raised his voice.
He closed the distance between them, and attacked with a horizontal slash to the neck.
As with the first thrusting attack, Locke used his shield to receive the blow.
The sound of the sword and shield colliding was heard once again.

“Wha-!?”

Locke, who tried to counterattack with a thrust like the first time, raised his voice.
At the moment Locke was confused by the fact that Wynn was no longer at the place he was aiming at, Wynn’s blade was held to Locke’s throat.

“You used the recoil from the collision to attack from the other side, huh…”

It was fast.

Even Cornelia, who was watching from the sidelines, was unable to perceive Wynn’s movements, but Locke was able to keep Wynn in his field of vision.

“You really are strong, to be able to move like that even without magic.”

Wynn retracted his sword as Locke took a deep breath, and smiled bitterly at his friend.

“But Locke, weren’t you able to follow my movements? The knights from before weren’t even at the point of struggling to do it.”

“That was an one-on-one fight. If I fought you on a battlefield, I would be slaughtered along with all my allies.”

“What do you wanna do? One more round?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“Wait a minute!”

Leticia also obtained a practice sword and shield like Locke and Wynn.

“Onii-chan, may I join? Seeing the two of you, I also can’t resist joining in!”

“Ah, then I’m dropping out okay?”^[7]

Locke set his shield down.

“No. It’s two-versus-one. It’s fine if you go all out, since I’m going to be using magic.”

“”Eh!?””

Leticia stretched her body.

“Hey, didn’t Leticia just see my fighting style?”

Leticia, who treated Wynn as her Master, had the same speed-based fighting style.
However, she had a god-like magical power to strengthen her body.

“The shield would be torn to shreds— no, even the blade would be smashed, and my body would be blown away, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s right… Well, you get to spar with Mavis the Brave. What an honour!”

“Well, let’s go all out!”

Leticia looked over her shoulder with a smile.
She gradually became wrapped in magic power, and a golden glow was visible, even in the sunlight.
Wynn and Locke exchanged glances.

“It seems like she really is going to fight seriously.”

“Wha-what is that light?”

“Well, try not to die!”

In the end: two people were left full of holes, only hanging on with Cornelia’s healing magic.

AN: I plan get things moving next time.

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Translator notes

1. Maybe I should leave these names in romaji… roadside pebble more elegant sounding… lol–back
2. I was for some reason thinking that these adventurers would betray Abel, but… they seem decent. They’re on my ship!–back
3. SFX, not a name–back
4. https://pequeniosuniversos.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/hanmi-hitoemi-01.jpg I’m pretty sure it’s about this, and not about half a body dodge…–back
5. No intent on reform from the inside?–back
6. pronounce the oooooh not like “look”, but like the beginning of the ‘a’ in “wall”–back
7. smart choice…–back

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Well, that was a fun chapter! I probably enjoy a slice of life series more… I seem to translate plotty chapters slowly… Not dropping it, of course. I still have a cache of 11 or 12 Kuro Kishi chapters for me to use…

Until next time, and hopefully more stuff translated over thanksgiving break.