Chapter 22

Ex Strongest Swordsman chapter 22 is out!
TLN:
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This chapter has been edited by Dogboy90, thank you very much!
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As mentioned in the story earlier, Soma spent almost half of the lesson time with Camilla to read research results regarding magic, and the other half was learning various general knowledge.
Although the content was difficult, compared to before, Soma could finally feel the consistency while chewing it, and he still had time to spare. (ED: In other words, this is talking about him going through the content while thoroughly understanding what it entails, like a food critic thoroughly savoring some food and understanding the ingredients used to make it)
Camilla thought that Soma was most likely to finish the higher learning lesson sooner or later.
On the other hand, Soma, who didn’t know that fact, finally entered the lesson for medium learning.
It was because Soma didn’t remember the details, like what kind of things to learn at what age, even though he had the memories of his previous life.
In the first place, such a matter might be different from one world to another. It seemed easy to assume that it was something that Soma had to learn in elementary school.
Well, it was also unavoidable when considering the time he spent for studying.
Incidentally, Soma didn’t know his current progress, due to the time restriction.
As for how far Soma had progressed, the former tutors didn’t try to inform him when they considered the possibility of whether he could understand the lessons.
Nonetheless, it still continued because Camilla was interested about what would happen if she kept doing it.
She was struggling because of that and she considered it as her atonement.
—
“Now, we’re going to talk about Mankind and Demons today, alright?” (Camilla)
“A lesson about Mankind and Demons… is it?” (Soma)
Accordingly, Soma tilted his head because he had a hunch at this late hour.
Of course, he had heard such stories so far.
However…
“Well, it is not weird to be surprised, but it is the knowledge you need. Just listen for the time being.” (Camilla)
“Hmm… Well, alright.” (Soma)
Thereupon, Soma naturally nodded because it was the first time Camilla spoke about such a thing.
He was thinking whether there were good reasons when she said that he needed the knowledge.
“Well, this is for the start, but… Soma, do you know the meaning when we use the word ‘Mankind’ in general?” (Camilla)
“Of course. The general meaning of the word ‘Mankind’ is a collection of several races, isn’t that right?” (Soma)
“Yes. With the Humans as the lead, it also includes the Demi-human race, Forest Spirits, Youmas and Vampires. Generally speaking, these five races of human origin are known as ‘Mankind’ in general. Typically, when we say ‘Mankind’, it refers to one of these five races.” (Camilla) (ED: Due to the fact that 妖魔 has a general meaning of “monsters” the 妖魔種 will remain as “Youma” to mean “Monster-humans” and differentiate them from both Demons and monsters)
Yes, Soma didn’t know about it until he heard the explanation. It seemed that there were various races in this world.
Well, most of the residences in the mansion were from human race, but it was natural that he didn’t know unless he understood the differences between races.
Incidentally, since those in the mansion were rather special, people other than the human race were naturally distinguishable by appearance.
Many differences were common in various ways, and it was something that one could understand at a glance, if they knew the differences.
For example, the Demi-humans — these people who called themselves ‘Beastkin’. As the name suggested, there were many who had the characteristics of a beast on parts of their bodies.
Most of them had a small body-frame with ears and tails, and some of them had the characteristics on half of their bodies.
It could be said that Demi-human were an obvious race that could be determined by their appearance.
Other than that, Youmas — it was also easy to identify them by appearance.
To put it briefly, they had similar characteristics with the Demons.
Some people said that the Youmas were considered to be a kind of monster, and they were considerably easy to encounter persecution.
The Forest Spirits – they were also known as the Elves. They had an easy-to-understand appearance.
Anyhow, the Elves had many handsome men and beautiful women.
Therefore, if a beautiful woman was seen, it could be said that she would be suspected to be an Elf.
Other than that characteristic, they had pointed ears. If one carefully observed them, they wouldn’t make a mistake by thinking that they were from other races.
However, it could be said that the Vampires were the only race that was difficult to be determined by their appearance.
Their skin was somewhat pale, and it was said that they had many handsome men and beautiful women, although not as much as the Elves, but that wasn’t enough to call them so by their characteristics.
The only unique characteristics were the canine teeth in their mouths being developed. It could be said that one would understand if they looked there, but… well, people didn’t deliberately look at the mouth.
Because of that, it was easy to think of them as Human, and it was also a race that was easy to be mistaken with.
Furthermore, the reason why all the characteristics were the characteristics of the Human Races was simple.
It wasn’t because Soma was a Human Race.
It was the Human Race that decided such things.
Therefore, with all of these bases, it became the standard of Human Races.
—
“By the way, do you know why these five races are called ‘Mankind’?” (Camilla)
“No, I don’t know. By the way, there was one thing I was curious about. I thought they were called ‘Mankind’ because of the outward appearances, but I don’t understand why Spirits are not included.” (Soma)
As Soma was told that there were various races, there were not only five races in this world.
Although Soma learned this fact, that race was not considered to be Mankind.
When he heard that, he had some doubt for a long time, but—
“Well, that’s easy. It depends on whether the country acknowledges it as unique for that race. Since there is no problem if another country acknowledges that it is a race of that country, there is also no problem if other races are blending in with their citizens.” (Camilla)
“Aah… so are the Spirits included?” (Soma)
“They did not create a country. Same goes to other fantasy-like races. Well, regarding these races, there are also some stories about whether it is alright to treat them as a race in the first place.” (Camilla)
“Hmm… is it the same as the Dwarves and others?” (Soma)
Those who were called ‘Hobbits’, ‘Dwarves’ and ‘Gnomes’ also existed in this world.
However, it seemed that they were rare existences. It was said that if one saw them, they could be considered fortunate.
“No, those races are a bit different. In regards to Dwarves and others, they are not recognized as races.” (Camilla)
“What do you mean by that?” (Soma)
“It is simple. They are not considered as races because the pure-blooded people for those races are almost non-existent.” (Camilla)
“…I see.” (Soma)
It was certainly not weird to not consider them as a race, if that was the reason.
Well, even though it was possible to bring out an objection, this world was the world he lived in now.
“Hmm… speaking about that, is that the reason why Sensei is like this?” (Soma)
“Haa? What do you mean?” (Camilla)
“Isn’t Sensei a Hobbit? And you are most probably a pure-blood.” (Soma)
“—!?” (Camilla)
At that moment, Camilla opened her eyes wide.
She was told something that she didn’t expect.
Nonetheless, Soma didn’t really expect her to react in that way.
As for the features of Hobbits, they grew only to the extent of human children, even when they became an adult.
For that reason, Soma thought that it was normal to reach that assumption, when considering her short body stature, but… was it not like that?
While Soma tilted his head, thinking of such a thing, Camilla eventually made a bitter smile.
“You are right, but… I never thought to be noticed.” (Camilla)
“Is that so? If people think about it like usual, they will also understand, but…” (Soma)
“They are rare to the point that they are on the verge of extinction. There is no way you think this as usual thing, you know? Hobbits have a characteristic that leans towards other races when their blood is mixed, and I was also misunderstood that I had a very slow growth-rate.” (Camilla)
“Hmmm… it is like that, huh?” (Soma)
“Well, whatever it is, I am fine. Let’s return to the talk. By the way, why do you think the outline of Mankind was made in the first place?” (Camilla)
“Hmm…?” (Soma)
That was something he had never thought about.
To be told something like that meant…
“Was it because the outline was necessary to be made?” (Soma)
“Well.” (Camilla)
“Hmmm… when it comes to this… I see. Is it related to Demons?” (Soma)
When he muttered that, a bitter smile appeared again on Camilla’s face.
She looked at Soma, and she gave a nod.
“Why did you arrive to that point just now?” (Camilla)
“No, I did notice it as normal. Because today, we’re expressively talking about Mankind and Demons.” (Soma)
“Aah, I see… It was my mistake.” (Camilla)
“No, I didn’t really think this as your mistake, but…” (Soma)
It would rather be a plus, since it was easy to understand.
However, whether Camilla was surprised or not, she regretfully breathed out and kept on talking.
“Well, as you have guessed, Demons are the reason why the outline of Mankind was officially made. More importantly, it was caused by the origin of the people known as Demons.” (Camilla)
—
TLN:I probably need to do major changes on the term used for 魔族 (Mazoku). FYI, the word Demon used in previous chapters was translated from Mazoku.In this chapter, one of the five races is 妖魔種 (Youma-shu). In one of the sentence, the English name for Youma-shu was written as デモニス (Demons or is it Demonis?). Is there something I miss here? I stopped watching Anime long time ago, so I barely have idea how to translate this.Because of above point, I had to change Mazoku from Demons to Devils. But, when I think about Devils especially in Main Character Hide His Strength novel, I am not sure what to do now lol.Please give input what terms should I use for Mazoku and Youma-shu. Thank you for your help.I will maintain the translation of Mazoku as Demons while Youma will remain as Youma.