Reborn as a hero's daughter, the hero aims to be a hero again.

Chapter XVI - Five years old, long-awaited training in swordsmanship.

From this point on, I will be five years old.

　Two years have passed since the baptismal ceremony to examine the gift.

　In the meantime, Michelle-chan had been devoting herself to physical training under Lyell's protection.

　No nobleman, no matter how useful a gift she might have been, would have gone so far as to shield the hero of salvation, and so the days passed relatively peacefully.

　I also gained a friend called her, which gave me more motivation in my training, and I was able to achieve good results.

　Two years passed. Finally, at the age of five.

　Finally, the time had come for me to learn the sword from Lyell.

　In the courtyard of the mansion, me, Michelle and a few children from the village are standing with mock swords at the ready.

'Look. The first thing to do is to hold the sword and keep doing it. The role of the warrior is not to defeat the enemy, but to keep the enemy at bay, that's the role you are expected to play.'

　The children ready their swords while listening to Lyell's lecture.

　I was about to lift my sword to follow--

" fn--gunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ......!"

　What I have in my hand is a two-handed sword, just as I had hoped. However, it is a small one for children.

　The length of the sword body is about that of a standard one-handed sword. But the handle is made longer to resemble a two-handed sword.

　The weight is also commensurate with this, and it should be lighter than a real sword .......

'A little heavy for Nicole, don't you think?'

'That's not true - and it's not!"

　Despite all that physical training, my muscle strength had hardly increased.

　Endurance has increased to a certain extent, so it is not entirely useless, but ...... this body is probably more like Maria's than Lyell's.

　Still, I'm not a weakling.

　I can't go whining in front of my former rival.

　I suppress my trembling arms with all my might and slowly lift my sword.

'How is--!

'Oh, great, great, great. Nicole has guts.'

'Mmm-hmm.'

　I would like to be proud of my victory, but if I'm not careful, I'm likely to just plunge forward.

　The same size sword, by the way, was lifted easily by Michelle.

The first thing to do then, is to do some basic swinging. Don't think about anything else, just swing straight up and then swing down.

　This is the basis of the elementary swing called swinging down.

　The swing is not done with an awareness of where the cut is to be made, but simply with a big swing and a big swing down.

　In this process, the muscular strength for swinging the sword is developed.

　The children are happy to start swinging the sword - a mock sword - in their hands for the first time.

　Seeing this, I too raised my mock sword and flipped it behind my back. ......

Oof!"

　I hit the back of my head hard when I flipped over and rolled around with my head in my hands.

　Seeing this, the kids around me pointed and laughed. Watch it now, you little bastards.

'Nicole, are you alright?

'Uh, yeah. I'm fine.'

　Michelle interrupts her own pretence and runs over to me. Good girl. That's my first friend in this life.

　I stand up to claim that I'm safe for now, and take up my stance with the sword again.

　Perhaps relieved to see that, Michelle-chan also returned to her own training.

'Nicole, don't push yourself too hard, okay?　You're not the most physically robust of people."

'Oh, I'm fine!'

　I grew up with very low physical fitness, probably due to the effects of being somewhat anorexic as an infant.

　That seems to have affected my training here.

　However, as long as I have the goal of becoming a brave warrior, I cannot fail at this point. It is still too early.

　Despite such determination, my muscular strength is still not up to scratch.

　I can manage to lift it up, but when I hold the sword behind my head, it pulls me backwards as it is.

　If I continue to do so, I will tip over, so this time I put all my weight on the front.

　Then the sword on my back pressed down on my back and crushed me as it was.

'Geez!'

'Nicole is still more comfortable with this lighter sword...'

　As I struggle, looking like a frog pulled by a cart, Lyell speaks to me with pity.

　'No, no, you're the only one I don't want to be pitied by.

This is fine and ......."

No, but."

This is good!"

　Somewhat willfully, I shouted and stood up.

　Then I swung my sword and brought it down with all my might.

　Then my arm felt light as air.

'Whoo-hoo!

　At the same time, a curious scream is heard. I looked and saw a mock sword sticking out of the ground behind Lyell.

　No, the sword flew just past his face and pierced the ground behind him.

　And the sword was gone from my hand.

'Nicole. I knew I should have used a lighter sword.'

''But.''

'Do. Good?"

'...... yes'

　Lyell, with his ever-serious expression, admonished me, and I reluctantly switched to a shortsword-sized mock sword.