The "Master swordsman” who was reincarnated, wants to live freely - Chapter 101

Translator: Paul | Editor: Nebosuke

“Fight me, you say?”

“That’s right”

Iris replied to my question without hesitation. She was serious about this.

She was gripping the conjured up blade firmly, but there was so much determination in her.

… Far more than when she challenged me for the first time.

“Iris, what are you saying? It’s not the time for that now”

Alia said, with a rather blaming tone in her voice.

But as Iris looked back at Alia, you could see a little anger in her expression. Considering the situation, she might as well have overlooked her remark.

— But at that point, I could only wonder, why.

“Right now it’s what I need”

“What are you—!”

As it looked like Alia and Iris were going to have a quarrel, I quickly put up my hand, suggesting Alia to stand down. They don’t need to fight.

I need to see what it is Iris wants from me.

“Mr. Alta?”

“I am sorry. Please stand down”

“!”

Alta looked baffled.

After a short silence, she did what I asked of her, and she moved back.

I answered Iris’ request by pulling out a conjured up sword from my chest. It was a blade infused with magic — just like my Blue Shell Blade.

“Will you fight me then?”

“I might have not said much before about this all, but as of now, it seems like that is no longer an option. And you say you need this, this “battle”… So yes, I will take you up on it”

“…Thank you very much”

Iris loosens up and bows her head.

In the least, we’re both just holding fake swords. We’re not standing here with an intent to kill — However, in Iris’ case it feels like it might as well be.

Now that I think about it, Iris has been rather strange ever since she met Ruino. Did Ruino tell her something?… That much I do not know. But something must’ve happened when they met.

As Iris’ teacher, I should be aware of such things.

“Mr. Schweiss, shall we?”

Iris once more clasped her blade and prepared for battle. Her form looked good, resolute, and unflawed.

With just a single look at her, you can see that she hosts a lot of power.

However, that strength won’t be enough to beat me yet.

Iris should’ve realized this too. Still, she wants to fight me. — I too prepare for battle, and for the first time I stand before her as serious as I can be.

“Whenever you’re ready”

“Understood – Here I come”

She kicks the ground and comes flying. In a moment’s notice, she covered the distance between us and lashes out with the conjured up blade.

First a single strike. I step back to dodge the attack.

There wasn’t any form of hesitation from her end on out – with another step forward she attacks again. I had to block this time around.

An attack this fierce I had to block with my strength too. That being said, I was actually being pushed back.

“!”

With a bit of a surprise, I looked at Iris.

We’re both infused with magic, amplifying our strength — Nothing much changed, except for the fact that Iris had the urge to slash.

Iris lashed out again, in the hope to push against me once more.

“Hmph!”

She left out a grunt and attacked again. She was going to deflect my blade and strike down on me.

However, I countered before she could. She noticed soon enough and prepared her defense.

Then a flurry of five attacks. With the first four, I will bring her off balance, so she will not be able to block them all.

However, Iris wasn’t like before.

Together with my lessons and her battle experience until now – It felt like this Iris, who had actually gained first-hand experience, was completely different.

She managed to completely block my flurry, and lock blades with me. Our eyes met, and our strength was on par.

She clasped her sword with both hands, and never took distance. She’s wary that I might chase her down when she does.

Her fighting sense was strong, standing far above the average swordsman.

She knows that if she were to take distance now she wouldn’t be able to block.

Truth be told, I want her to do so, so that I can finish this with one last flurry.

“So traditional methods don’t work anymore, do they?”

“Thanks to you… Mr. Schweiss”

“Good. I also  – Am having a bit of fun”

I started smiling unconsciously and was actually enjoying our fight.

Whether that was happiness because of how much my disciple had grown – Or whether I was happy that she managed to get this much power in hand I do not know – But it’s one of those truths.

I am at a paper-thin difference with Iris now.

She managed to sacrifice something to get this kind of power – She did get strong, but I did sense a form of hesitation in her.

“Iris. You said you wanted to battle me for real – But I do not know why you would. If you have acquired anything, then I will help you. However, I sense the same as I did before from you. What is troubling you?”

“….”

Iris didn’t answer. We were actually rivaling one another – But now, it seems I was tipping the scales.

As I repelled her sword, I took my distance once more.

She tried to move away, but I quickly conjured up Invisible in my left hand. As it scratches her cheek it disappears into the night’s darkness again.

She peeled her eyes and stopped moving.

“This is my best attack. If you can’t block this, the-“

“Then I can’t win. I know”

Iris left out a sigh and prepared herself again.

“Would’ve been nice to go at each other with the fake blades, wouldn’t it?”

“…No, I asked you to come at me for real. I am sorry I wasted your time”

“I don’t mind. That being said, what’s bothering you?”

I asked her again. 

In response, she looked troubled and averted her gaze. She looked like she was thinking about how to tell me.

I wasn’t trying to hurry her up. She then started mumbling about something.

“For example, and just as an example. If I were to actually go and kill you, what would you do?”

“You would cut me? I knew that there was something ghastly going on at first, but this…”

“It’s just an example! If I were to say I wouldn’t want to do so – I’d be lying though…”

Iris said while gnashing her teeth together. So it’s true. Even though she’s holding a fake sword, she had the intent to actually cut me down.

“Are you hesitating to do so?”

“…I thought I wouldn’t hesitate to do so. I mean, when my father got killed before me, I felt like I would kill the Swordsman Gang for sure. And when I went out to save Alia I thought so too.

She said as she looked over at me and Alia.

“I thought I could kill them when I went out to save Alia. But now… I do not know now”

“You don’t know…”

“…Ruino Tomura told me she’d kill you, Mr. Schweiss”

“!”

Iris heard straight from Ruino’s mouth that she declared to come and kill me.

I had actually meant to explain that to both Iris and Alia myself – The fact that Ruino Tomura wants to kill me.

But before she could she is helping the Kingdom’s knights by dealing with the Swordsman Gang.

The duel between me and Ruino is the actual reason she helps the knights out of course.

You could say that it was a rather painful choice of Remyl to make this choice.

“I’ve decided to stop Ruino. But all she’s after is a duel to the death. The only way to stop her is to kill her — I realized that soon enough”

She balded her fist strongly. She was still aiming to be the Kingdom’s strongest.

But of course, as a swordsman – You need to kill your opponents too.

Still, she’s only a 15-year-old girl. And though she’s good with the blade, and had managed to topple foes bigger than herself, she has yet to kill anyone.

I understand her trouble rather well.

The Swordsman Gang member Adyl Grash and Alia’s father, Qufirio Notoria are constantly involved with Iris and her loved ones.

“A blade to protect others” is the type of blade Iris wants to swing, but she of course wants to do so without any hesitation or issue.

But how about Ruino then. She killed some of the Swordsman Gang and is now cooperating with the Knights Order.

She’s out to kill me, but there is no way she’d just be obvious in her movements.

And there’s no doubt that this is a foe Iris wants to stop – Even though she has to kill her if she wants to stop her.

Even though she does not have that experience yet, she’s already filling herself with doubts.

“She’s after you… So that’s why I want to stop her by battling her. But perhaps – If you were to fight her, she might be stopped without being killed. 

But if I am the one to fight her, one of us will die. That’s where I got troubled and stayed troubled… And ran. 

I figured that it might be fine to kill someone that was coming after you..”

For Iris, it feels like she’s running away if she leaves the battle to me, and she also feels that way when she only fights her to protect me.

If she leaves it to me, Ruino might be stopped without being killed. But on the other hand, she can battle her if it is to protect me.

— Ruino and Iris’ power levels should be equal, so it’s really a matter of whether she wants to kill her or not… But for someone who’s still a student, this is a rather hard choice to make.

“Don’t you want to kill people then?”

“…Ruino asked me something like that too”

“And, what did you answer?”

“I will if I must, I said. I am after all aiming to be a knight… I should be prepared to do so at least. But I can’t fight someone if it’s to kill them… 

If I was only stronger I might’ve been able to just stop her. But she’s after you, so all I can do is just leave it to…!”

“— You’re troubled with things that should be unfamiliar to children once more”

“…Hm?”

Iris looked at me rather puzzled.

Is she always bothered by things so unfitting for a student? Without realizing it I left out a sigh.

“You expect me to stop Ruino if I am the one that fights her, right?”

“Th-that’s what I thought when we just fought, yes. After all, you’re far stronger than I am after all”

“Well, then you can leave Ruino to me”

“… But she’s really after you, so I can’t just ignore—“

“You can’t you say? That’s quite a difficult conversation you’re willing to have. …But what do you think you can do right now?”

“What I can do?”

“Yes. I will give you a piece of advice here – The one thing that you lack is self-confidence”

“Self-confidence…”

“If that weren’t the case, you wouldn’t be learning the blade from me now. I’ve more than enough guessed what Ruino might’ve told you. But I will tell you the same as before, you have to make a choice.

Are you… Are you willing to just have the strength to kill Ruino? Or is it the strength to win without killing?”

“Th-That… That’s what I am deciding on…”

She showed a bit of bewilderment for a moment, but then clearly answered.

Just like before, she isn’t looking for strength to just blindly kill her opponents with. “A blade to protect others” – She had already decided that this is what she wanted.

“If you can’t do that yet, you can leave it to me. But if you think you can – Then I will leave it to you”

“…Mr. Schweiss… Thank you. It never feels like talking to a child when talking to you”

“Ahahaha, I feel like that too. That being said, we do have a lot to talk about your career, don’t we?”

“Iris is just keeping too many feelings cropped up. You can also rely on me if you need to, you know”

Alia finally found an opportunity to get into the conversation.

She had just kept silent and watched us fight – Alia too knew that Iris was filled with doubts.

“Alia, you… Thank you too. And, I sorry for taking so much of your time”

“Don’t worry, you can buy me ice next time”

Alia said in response to Iris’ apologies, and they both laughed at one another.

It seems like Iris’ troubles had disappeared – What now remains is how we’re going to deal with the remaining enemies.

There’s not just the Swordsman Gang, but also Ruino… It seems like there is quite a lot of hostility. All of us here knew that very well.