A week has passed since then.
What I have been doing in the meantime is that my father took time off from work to teach me swordsmanship.
What I am being taught is a sword art called “Yato-Yato Ryu,” which, according to my father, is a sword art that specializes in offensive attacks.
What I mean by “specialized” is that it’s a super-aggressive swordsmanship that has no defensive techniques, but rather breaks down defenses and subverts them from above. It is a swordsmanship that shows how much the person who thought of it wanted to kill monsters.
However, there’s also a maxim that attack is the best defense.
Even if all you do is attack, it will lead to defending yourself.
Besides, after my reincarnation, I made up my mind to “kill before being killed”.
In that light, the swordsmanship of the “Yato-Yato-Ryu” is perfect for me.
However, if there’s a problem, it would be my physique.
With my five-year-old body, no matter how much I train, there are certain parts of my body that I can’t reach.
But that will be solved as soon as I grow up.
I should make my body memorize the form of swordsmanship by then.
I learned that my hard work wasn’t in vain during the battle against the fifth rank monster. That was a battle that was the culmination of all the magic practice I had done up to that point.
What I was doing, burning to learn such swordsmanship, was holding a replica sword against a wooden doll in the yard.
But it was no mere doll.
The doll’s body is wrapped in guide thread silvate which is controlled by my father. He went out of his way to make it work for me, because he knew that the best way to learn swordsmanship was through actual combat.
The reason why he doesn’t practice with me is because he thinks that I’m too different from him in ability, and he might injure me unexpectedly. I don’t know if this is true for magic, but it’s true for melee combat, so I swallowed my father’s kind offer and here I am in front of the doll.
“Itsuki, I’ll say it again, you need to look at the opponent’s entire body. It’s not enough to look at the eyes alone or the feet alone. Keep a wide field of vision.”
“Broaden my field of vision.”
“That’s right. Monsters in past battles lie with their eyes and footwork. They deceive you and come to kill you when they have the advantage. That’s why you have to see everything.”
“…Yeah.”
I nodded, and I gripped the fake sword tightly.
My right arm and both legs are wrapped with guiding thread silvate. It’s an enhancement by trait change: body enhancement. The Yato-yato Ryu style is a sword art, but it’s supposed to be used in combination with magic.
As I was paying attention so as not to miss the movement of the doll, it kicked the ground at the edge of my field of vision.
The doll is suspended from above by a guiding thread silvate, so it can jump over to me, without kicking the ground, but if that doesn’t work as training, my father will reproduce the movement.
“…… shh!”
I swing my sword in time.
But the doll saw through the pause and slowed down, stepping on the ground a thin skin far away. It just barely avoided my sword. Then, the doll’s wooden sword swung down at me as I swung my sword away.
But I didn’t stop there.
I jumped off the ground and caught the doll’s body with guide thread solvate.
–I got it!
I will not let that chance pass me by.
I jump off the ground with both of my reinforced legs and drop-kick it. Before the doll could even swing its sword, I was inside the gap, and then I kicked through!
D’oh! The doll, caught by both of my reinforced legs, flies backward with a heavy thud.
“Good job, Itsuki. Good cannonball bullet.”
“…… uyu.”
The most dangerous place in sword sparring is, of course, the range at which the blade is swung.
So, if you want to escape, it is a given that you have to go out of the reach of the blade.
However, in the Yato-Yato-Ryu, a sword art that specializes in attack, there’s no such thing as running away from the blade. It’s the opposite: you must enter the reach of the blade.
Of course, it is dangerous.
However, the reach of the blade is within the range of the swinging arm.
Therefore, the reach of the blade is safe.
Therefore, you take a step forward with courage, and puncture the opponent’s vital point with a kick with all your weight on it. This technique is called cannon ball bullet because it makes a person look like a cannonball.
It doesn’t use a sword at all, but it is a recovery technique for when the sword doesn’t hit, so they call this a sword technique too. Is this true?
“It is also good to shoot magic at an opponent who has taken a distance with cannon ball bullet. It’s good to give it another shot.”
Listening to my father’s advice from a place much further away than me, I decided that I would definitely use magic if this happened in a real battle.
As I readjusted my mock sword, there was a clap from the porch. There they are, Hina and my mother.
Huh? Wasn’t Hina watching TV just now?
“Itsuki. Hina wants to see you practice.”
“Nii-cha, that’s so cool!”
Seriously? For me?
Oh no. Don’t be embarrassed….
And while I was embarrassed, my father was asking Hina.
“Hina. How’s papa? Is papa cool?”
“Um! Papa’s scary!”
“…Hmm.”
The picture of a great guy with only one eye who is blatantly shocked by it is funny and makes me laugh. I know that my father loves me as much as he loves Hina, but seriously, the way he looks…..
While I was thinking about this, the doll that was lying down got up.
Then it jumps off the ground again.
I quickly switched my attention to training and readied my sword.
Seeing this, the doll changed its sword stance.
It aimed at my leg, scooping me up from just above the ground!
The next moment, I matched my wooden sword to the doll’s wooden sword and spun around like a judo “Ippon-shoulder,” using the sword as an arm, to sneak inside the opponent range. Then I used that rotation to slash the doll to pieces!
It doesn’t let the sword stay on the sword.
It softens the sword and swings it like a dance.
That is why the technique is called “Sword ranking dance”.
“Good job, Itsuki!”
The doll lost its balance in response to my father’s vigorous words.
Watching it like this, it was as if it was alive.
It is clear that my father is highly skilled.
I’m still not good enough.
“Huh!”
But even as I think about this, I never miss an opportunity.
I stepped down to the ground and strengthened my sword, arms, and legs.
And then, letting my strength take over, I swung it down as it was!
DOOTS!!!!!
The pressure created by my swing makes the air tremble and roar. The moment the imitation sword that I swung down with such force hits the doll, the doll is ripped in half vertically.
This is a rudimentary first step.
It is just a “step”.
Seeing the doll cut in two, I let out a deep breath.
This was the end of the battle for now.
I tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but that was not the end of the story!
The doll, which was supposed to be cut in half, slithered up with only one arm and threw a sword at me!
“Eh!?”
I was caught off guard and reacted too late.
The wooden sword that was thrown grazed my upraised imitation sword, changed its trajectory, and struck me in the forehead!
“Ow!”
“Ow! Nii-cha! That hurts……”
I was knocked upside down by the impact, and my father came up to me.
“You let your guard down, Itsuki.”
“Papa you’re so cunning. I thought I beat it!”
“What are you talking about? Some monsters don’t die even if you cut off their heads. It’s too early to think you’ve defeated them just by cutting their heads off.”
“……Wh–?”
But if my father says so, I can’t argue with him.
I can only snarl.
I had no choice but to hold my forehead and stand up.
“Itsuki. Come here.”
“Yeah? What’s wrong mom?”
My mother called me to the porch and gently stroked my forehead.
The moment her warm hand touched me, the pain gently slipped away from my forehead.
It’s healing magic!
“Mom, thank you.”
When I thanked her, she smiled and said.
“I’ll teach you after you finish practicing with your father.”
Eh? Ah! That’s right!
She promised to teach me!
I’ve been talking so much about swordsmanship that I forgot she’s also waiting for me to practice healing magic!
Seeing a future where I can still be strong, I couldn’t help but grin.
…… special training, I’ll do my best!
