The blond haired Holy Swordsman
"I still don't know who you are. What you are trying to slash. But now... I don't need much. All I need is a will that made me keep going through the pain. A willpower as strong as steel! That's all I need!"
— Airen Farreira
The Lazy Lord Masters the Sword or Reformation of The Deadbeat Noble or The Lazy Prince Becomes a Genius is a korean webnovel by Second Star that debuted in 2020, and is currently being adapted in webcomic form by Doip and Dodomoon. Airen Farreira spent most of his life sleeping to escape reality, earning himself the nickname of "deadbeat", untile starts dreaming of a talentless man, that every single day for decades swings his sword, until he became immensely powerful. Influenced by this dream, Airen picks up the sword himself, and begins his own journey of self-betterment.
This series provides examples of:
- Always Someone Better: Heavily discussed. Everyone got to where they are by working hard for extended periods of time, so when confronted with someone who got even father than they are in less time or less work, their ego crumbles and they become prey to resentment or an inferiority complex. This is usually a turning point for the character, as their growth going forward will depend on whether they learn from their failure and keep working, or crumble under the realization.
- Brett falls victim to this after the final evaluation. Watching Airen who only started a year ago surpass him made him feel like all his work was pointless, and that he could never reach the level of Ilya or Airen even if he tried all his life. He's snapped out of it when he realizes they are more important things to him than the sword anyway.
- Ilya's brother Karl completely crumbled after his defeat at Ignet's hands. He was called a genius and was the shining star of swordsmanship, but Ignet crushed him in three hits. He was mocked and shamed for his loss, and never picked himself up. He then vanished without a trace.
- Airen is confronted with this perpective when swordsmen attempt to kill him to get their hands on the Numbering Sword. Airen cannot understand why they're willing to throw it all away from just a blade, and the swordsmen snap back that getting that blade would mean finally reaching the level of Master, something they have been trying to attain their entire life, and finally leave the hell of throwing themselves at a insurmontable wall for years.
- Badass Pacifist: Airen cannot understand how someone could kill another human being without a second thought, and so, avoids killing when he can. This doesn't make him weaker in the slightest, and he doesn't have that problem towards evil beings like demons and demonic humans.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: The magic equivalent of it. Anya has a magic piggybank that can grant wishes in exchange for money. The bigger the wish, the more money it needs.
- Coming of Age Story: The entire tale is about Airen and his growth, and this extends to the side characters as well. Really, the theme of growth in both strength and as an individual is present everywhere.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The motivation of Karen Winker, the man in Airen's dreams. The Demon Clown forced him to choose between the life of his child of his wife, but the latter killed herself to spare him from making a choice. Unsatisfied by the outcome, Clown presented another Sadictic Choice, this time making him choose between his son or the lives of the people living in Karen's territory. Karen sacrificed his child, and left the territory. He then settled down in a remote village, and trained endlessly to one day take down the demon who ruined his life.
- Deal with the Devil: Humans can make pacts with demons, granting them great power and transforming them into a human-demon. This usually ends with the pactee losing control of themselves. Those who do manage to keep themselves together are understandably more dangerous than their mindless conterparts.
- Funny Animal: Lulu, a cat capable of sorcery who can talk, write, read, and wear a cute little armor. Lulu's behavior is more akin to a child than a cat, fittingly enough she ends up being able to shift to a more human like appearance, one of a young girl.
- Good Stepmother: The second wife of Airen's father, Amelia, treats Airen very well, and is supportive of his endeavors with the sword. She is also as relieved as his father when Airen breaks out of the Mystic Barrier after 5 years. Airen reciprocates, calling her "mother" right from the beginning of the story and admitting he loves her along with the rest of his family.
- Ground Wave: Airen's Vertical Slash has this effect. What is standing in the way of it usually gets slashed to smithereens along with a cleaved ground.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Airen and his sister Kiril are both blondes and very good people.
- Irrational Hatred: The first time Airen lays his eyes on a demon, he's overcome by anger and pounces on the creature, completely ignoring orders. He's extremly confused afterwards, wondering where that outburst came from. This is the hatred Karen feels for demonkind, which Airen has inherited.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Airen's signature move is just a plain Vertical Slash. However, it's one powerful enough to rend the very ground. When he shows this off for the first time during Chrono's final evaluation, he renders the entire student body speechless, obtains second place, and accidently completely crushes Brett's ego.
- Nice Guy: Airen is kind, polite, gentle and would rather end conflicts without anyone getting hurt. That doesn't mean he's unwilling to unsheathe his sword when he knows it's nescesary.
- Oblivious to Love: Even after traveling with them for months, Airen is completely blindsided by Brett confessing he's in love with Judith. He is also blind to Ilya's feelings towards him.
- Reincarnation: Turns out the man from Airen's dreams is Karen Winker, a lord who lost everything after the Demon Clown forced him into a Sadistic Choice and cursed him. His last will was for his soul to be passed on, which Airen inherited. This has multiple consequences like Airen's dreams, his passion for the sword, and a burning hatred for demons.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Ilya eventually falls for Airen, who has been nothing but supportive of her and her growth, and was always ready to lend her an ear or a shoulder when she needed it.
- Tranquil Fury: Airen's brand of anger: completely ditching his kind demeanor and switching to a cold and efficient behavior that doesn't take any nonsense. Examples include but are not limited to:
- After being humiliated by other nobles during a formal dinner, realizing what sort of crap his family has to deal with, and being provoked by the sons of said nobles into a spar, he proceeds to take them all down with frightening effiency, even slicing in two his opponent's iron sword without even touching it.
- Time Skip: Airen spends 5 years trapped in a mystical barrier training with the sword. When he wakes up from it, he's baffled that it wasn't operating on a Year Inside, Hour Outside rule and that 5 years truly did pass by. He's ashamed of having left his family without him all this time and promises to make them proud in the future.
- Unknown Rival: Since the beginning, Ilya has been attempting to surpass Ignet, the woman who defeated her brother. This has both been a goal and a shackle to her, but with Airen's help, she realizes she needs to trace her own path instead of chasing after Ignet. When she does meet Ignet who completely ignores her, and then ackowledges her after the battle with the Demon Clown, she's left extremely distraught that she is still swayed by her words after resolving not to be influenced by her. It's after a talk with her father that she realizes that she should only take to heart the words of those important to her who mean the best. She decides to stop paying so much attention to what other people and Ignet thinks, because Airen and his thoughts are much more important to her.
