The "Master swordsman” who was reincarnated, wants to live freely - Chapter 77

Translator: Darling | Editor: Nebosuke

Iris calmly assessed the situation as she swung Purple Lightning’s beautiful purple blade at Qufirio.

Including Iris, there were four people in this room. There was Alia who was restrained and Qufirio in the white robes, standing at quite a distance.

Then there was also the young boy Qufirio.

It seemed that only one of the two Qufirios was able to actually put up a fight.

The Qufirio in white robes was stroking his chin, looking attentively towards us.

“Hmmm, I’ll ask you this once, Qufirio. It will take a while to repair the equipment. But the longer Iris is here, the worse your wariness will be. And that might make your transition to become Alia fail.”

“Become Alia…?

As Iris heard this, she quickly looked around her and at the equipment in the room.

She could at least guess that by looking at Alia this all meant “No good”.

When she looked back at the young Qufirio, she knew what was going on. – For who knows how many years, he’s been transferring his mind to a new body.

“That’s what this is. I will remain a child indeed.”

“Qufirio, I don’t care about how many you kill… You can’t just spoil it like that.”

“Ahahaha, I know, I know.”

If you can transfer your mind, then you might also be able to copy a person – That’s what this is.

The Qufirios that are here might be different in appearance, but they’re one and the same person. 

“The shadow of the Empire” – There was no mistake in calling these kinds of humanity-defying practices shady.

Still, Iris wasn’t here to talk about that right now.

She was here to do one thing – To save Alia and defeat Qufirio.

“You have good concentration. Your strike just now — should you have taken one more step forward, you might’ve actually struck my intestines.”

“…”

Iris didn’t respond. She gripped Purple Lightning’s hilt and stepped forward again.

“But that step was perhaps too much – wasn’t it?”

“…Yes, true.”

Qufirio’s remark wasn’t off.

If Iris had taken the extra step, she would’ve defeated Qufirio. However, if she had taken the step – then her neck would’ve started bleeding, and it would’ve hurt immensely. 

They would’ve hurt so much that she would’ve had trouble clinging on to life.

And then Qufirio would’ve stuck her too and killed her with one attack.

“Fuuu—-“

She let out some air.

This kind of pain would be an obstruction, even to Iris.

What she needed to do was focus on her consciousness. In order to save Alia, she had to defeat Qufirio.

To realize this goal, Iris turned off her consciousness away from the pain and fatigue.

It was fine as long as she was able to wield Purple Lightning – She threw away everything else. Here stood a complete Swordsman Princess.

“Here I go.”

For Iris, these words were like a switch.

As she spoke these words, she kicked the ground with her right foot. In a flash, she covered the distance with Qufirio.

“If you’re going to do the same—!”

Qufirio defended with his short blades and took a big step back.

Seems like he inferred something from this one strike. Iris then swung her Purple Lightning to strike the retreating Qufirio.

With a crisper sound, lightning formed. This wasn’t Iris’ magic, but rather the special lightning coming from her blade.

It didn’t strike around her. It instead enveloped the blade, making it shine.

Qufirio bent his body, dodging the attack.

He quickly adjusted his posture and stood before Iris.

He went for a single strike meant to drill through the enemy. Iris defended against it with her blade. The sound of steel clashing could be heard, and Qufirio slid his blades against hers.

Iris then made a slight adjustment to deflect the short blades’ trajectory.

A blade attack to slide against another’s blade – That was what Qufirio was good at. You think you’ve defended against it, but not a moment later, the short blade might reach you.

To be able to stay this calm and allow your blades to glide along with your opponents, Iris knew that this was all that Qufirio had in regards to special sword techniques.

But this technique deemed ineffective against Iris. She managed to simply look at her opponents’ movements and move accordingly. That was all there was to it.

“I see. That blade technique does make you worthy of the title of the Swordmaster Princess.”

“Praise me all you like, but I will still finish you with one attack.”

“Hohoh, good, good! However, I didn’t say that to praise you. My blade techniques are made to assassinate… They will never match your fighting style.”

With those words, Qufirio made various Black Holes around them.

These were the same as Alia’s magic. No – She learned this from Qufirio. 

These holes connected the two spaces and allowed the items to go through.

This type of magic seemed nothing like your usual magic, so if you were to classify it, it would be “typeless” magic.

Iris looked around her and saw the Black Holes around her. Qufirio took out a few blades.

“Show me how you dance.”

He then threw the short blades into the holes.

As soon as they entered one hole, they came out another, flying into Iris’ direction.

Iris bent her body and managed to dodge them – But then a hole formed behind her back, and as soon as the thrown blade entered the hole, it came falling from above.

From a different hole to a different hole – The blades aimed at Iris came for her irregularly.

But Iris didn’t flinch. Just like Qufirio said, it was a dance. So, with Purple Lightning in hand, she deflected the blades. But then–

“!”

“Iris!”

Alia left out a shriek of despair.

With great force, you could hear the sound of the chains that restrained her.

Her back was filled with pain. Iris had great trouble dodging all the blades, but she didn’t turn her head.

Then, there were two more attacks – The first hit her upper arm, and the second hit her thigh.

Then Iris took a big step.

Qufirio looked at her a surprised expression. It was risky to step forward when you didn’t know where the blades would come flying from.

But in order for her to overcome what was happening, she had to approach Qufirio without hesitation.

She then thrust her blade straight at Qufirio. He tried to block with his short blade.

Qufirio then laughed at her. Iris flipped her blade.

“!”

She then slid her blade alongside his. This was the same technique he used before. She was willing to fight with the techniques her very enemies used against her.

“Haahahahaha, how interesting!”

“Not really. I will get that grin off your face in no time.”

“Aah- – Well, then I too will actually try to kill you.”

Qufirio once more threw his blades.

Black Holes appeared around them – On top of that, Qufirio closed the distance between them.

As their blades clashed, blades came flying from around them – Iris barely managed to move herself to dodge the blades.

–She was able to do this thanks to the training she had with Alta. Iris was one of the best when it came down to one-on-one combat.

However, fighting an assassin like Qufirio, there are many weak points to be found.

For example, right now, the many blades that came flying at her were something she hadn’t trained for at all.

Still, she managed to evade them to fight Qufirio.

The more she moved, the more pain she felt in her back, and she bled significantly from the wounds in her arms and legs.

As fresh blood fluttered to the ground, her consciousness was fading. 

“–ris!—“

(Alia….?)

She could hear Alia’s voice.

But it wasn’t very clear. Right, Iris didn’t have much of her conscious left, yet here she stood. Yet, the pain she felt had started to interfere with her concentration.

Though she was full of scars and wounds, Iris finally looked over to Alia, only for a small moment during this battle. There she saw Alia with a horrendous expression on her face.

” –n’t ba-k do—!!”

“!”

Giinnnk! Qufirio’s blade was deflected.

Brimming with anger, Iris swung her sword.

She was filled with anger towards Qufirio, but also towards herself.

If she were to strike once more, she was going to hit Qufirio for sure.

But Iris’ body stopped here. She couldn’t keep up her balance and fell to the ground.

Qufirio wasn’t going to let this chance slide. He immediately took a step forward to slice at Iris.

(I have—)

Lost. That was the reality of it, yet she didn’t want to admit it yet. She firmly gripped Purple Lightning in order to defend against Qufirio’s attack.

At that moment, Qufirio noticed something and went to his rear side. Iris lost strength in her legs and her body fell to the ground again.

But someone managed to catch her and support her body.

Surprised, she looked over to the person who did, and without realizing it she seemed relieved. He had already told her that she could depend on him.

“Iris, is this your limit?”

The boy – Alta – asked Iris this question as he looked at her.

As she looked behind him, she saw the hole in the wall which he undoubtedly used to get in here. 

Iris laughed in response to Alta’s usual question.

“I can still go.”

“Really? Well, then I will leave it to you.”

As he let go of Alta, she picked up her Purple Lightning. 

She was already past her limit. Still, Alta left it to Iris.

“Surprising. Though you’ve come here, you still let her fight? But whatever, it’s fine – She’s already dead.”

“You don’t get to decide that. It’s her body. What’s more -“

Alta quickly looked over at Iris.

As long as Alta was here, her safety is as good as guaranteed. 

Iris once more started running at Qufirio.