TL: Yuki

From here I will be 5 years old.

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Two years have pa.s.sed since the baptismal ceremony and the examination of Gifts.

Meanwhile, Mich.e.l.le who was under the protection of Lyell was doing her best improving her physical strength.

No matter how valuable a gift a person would be holding, there would be no n.o.bles who would dare try to underhandedly take away those who are under the protection of the Heroes, and because of our calm days continued.

And that girl also became my best friend and rival, and we were even having compet.i.tions during our daily training, and because of that we were able to easily achieve good results.

Then two years have pa.s.sed since then, I am now finally 5 years old.

I will now finally start learning swordsmanship from Lyell.

Me and Mich.e.l.le is now in the courtyard of our mansion, and there were also a few children from the village that entered the training  for swordsmanship.

「The first thing you have to make sure is to keep your grip on the sword. The main role of a vanguard is not to defeat the enemy but to stall them and make sure they stay put」

While listening to Lyell"s lecture, children started lifting their swords. I also tried to follow it but-

「Fuuunnnuuuu—-gununununu!!」

In my hand is the two handed sword that I"ve longed for. But the once we use are smaller which was made for children.

Despite saying that it"s a two-handed sword, the actual size is only as big as a normal one-handed one, and because it was made to be a pseudo two-handed sword, it"s handle is much longer than a normal one handed one.

That also includes its weight which is only a little heavier than a one handed sword…

「Was it a bit too heavy for you Nicole?」

「Nyow-ish not, I can handle thish」[TL: Strugling so the way she talks slurred]

Despite training my body with everything I"ve got, is seems like my strength barely increased.

It"s not totally useless because it did increase my stamina and endurance but… this body seems to be more inclined to Maria"s than Lyell.

Still, I won"t give up.

I can"t just give up, I don"t especially want to, in front of my former Rival.

My hands were terribly trembling as I force myself to lift the sword with everything I"ve got, and was slowly able to lift it up.

「Ha, how is—it!」

「Oooh, Amazing, amazing. You have guts Nicole」

「Fufu~nn~」

It is really something that I wanted to boast off and be proud of, but if I got distracted the sword will easily fall down in front of me with ease.

By the way, Mich.e.l.le-chan easily swings her sword which was also the same size as mine.

「Well then, first of all, we will start with the basics. Don"t thing about anything else for now. Just lift it up and swing it straight down」

This is the basis of all downward swing.

Instead of thinking about other things like where to slash, we just now focus on lifting it up and swinging it down continuously.

In this process, we will be able to exercise our muscle strength needed to swing the sword.

The other kids were also swinging it happily - although it"s their first time - having a sword practice.

「Uooooohh!!」

I lifted it up high over my back, but I only got dragged down along with it when I lifted it over my head.

When the surrounding children saw it, everyone was pointing fingers at me. I didn"t really want anyone to see that, my blunder.

「Nicole, are you OK?」

「Un, yeah, I"m fine」

When she saw me fell down, Mich.e.l.le-chan immediately stopped her own swing and came towards me. She truly is a nice friend, the nicest one you could ever have in this world.

I rose up in order to show her that I"m fine, and then I held my sword once more.

Probably feeling relieved after looking over me, Mich.e.l.le went back and returned to her stance.

「Nicole, don"t push yourself too much, it"s because your body is not of the strong type」

「Hai, I"m fine!」

I was probably also influenced by the condition of my body in my previous life, that"s why my physical strength didn"t really develop well just like before.

And it seems like my body condition from before is being reflected in my current training.

However, my goal is to become a strong Hero, I won"t succ.u.mb to frustrations from here on. It"s still too early.

But well, even though the strong determination is there, the muscle growth doesn"t follow.

I am able to lift it, but when I bring it over my head, I always got dragged down.

I tried using my weight and balance to lift it and slowly bring it behind, but the results were also futile, and I was dragged down once more.

「Gyaaa」

「Nicole, I think it"s much better for you to use a light—」

Lyell tried offering me something else out of pity towards me who was struggling like a frog trying to jump out of a well.

But I won"t accept your pity, not by you, never.

「No, I"m fine, this is OK…」

「No, but you are…」

「I am fine with this!」

I became emotional, I also cried, but I still stood up.

Then, I wielded the sword once more and tried to swing with everything I"ve got.

Then suddenly I felt that my arms were as light as air.

「Ugyaa!!」

At the same time I heard a strange scream. I then saw the sword used for training stuck on the ground behind him.

No, it was more like the sword flew pa.s.sing close to face almost hitting it and then got stuck behind him.

And that feeling of weightlessness was because the sword literally disappeared from my hand.

「Nicole… You have to switch to a lighter sword after all」

「But I」

「No, you are switching, do you understand?」

「……Hai」