Five Years Old

I turned five.

On my birthday, we held a small celebration at home.

This country did not seem to have a custom of celebrating birthdays every year.

There was another tradition, though: when someone reached certain ages, their family would give them gifts.

Those certain ages were five, ten, and fifteen.

Since fifteen counted as adulthood, that age system was easy enough to understand.

From Paul, I received two swords. One was a wooden sword for children, and the other was a sword I could not lift at my current age.

Zenith gave me a book, a plant encyclopedia.

"Rudy really does love reading."

She said that as she handed it to me.

Roxy gave me a staff, as well as an amulet. The staff was my favorite gift.

Because after receiving the staff, I tried using magic once toward the outside of the window, and it definitely increased the power of my magic.

What was the principle behind it? I was so curious...

"Thank you, Master. I'll take good care of this staff."

When I said that, Roxy answered with a wry smile.

The next afternoon, my sword training officially began.

It was mostly centered on swinging the sword and practicing proper forms.

Starting from the basics. That made sense.

The heroes of this world all seemed to mainly use swords. Did that mean people who used swords were stronger? Like there was some sort of advantage relationship?

Like mages fought large monsters, while swordsmen fought small monsters and people?

Hmm... I thought about it, but I had no real answer.

Master Roxy was an A-rank adventurer, so she should have counted among the more impressive mages, but I did not feel like her combat ability was that strong.

Looking at it that way, perhaps mages were more of a support type?

But the abilities Paul displayed were terrifying.

He could split a huge rock in two with one slash. That was simply not something a human could do.

The difference between humans in this world and humans on Earth was definitely not as simple as just magic power. One look at Paul made that clear.

His sword did not contain any magic power, yet it could still shatter stone.

Good. After several days of thinking and training, I could clearly notice something.

Magic could support swordsmanship. If I made use of that, could I perhaps create my own style?

Like covering my body in magic power to make myself impervious to blades and bullets... Just kidding.

Even if magic power covered my body, nothing would change. Magic power was just magic power. It had no force of its own; only by turning it into magic would it have actual power.

What a headache...

"You really hate swordsmanship, don't you?"

While I was worrying over that, Paul spoke up.

It seemed he had misunderstood my troubled expression.

Was it because I had a talent for magic? But in truth, what I wanted was to learn everything, because I was a genius.

There was no way I should be unable to do it...

"No, I like swordsmanship too. Or rather, I'd prefer for my swordsmanship to become even stronger than my magic."

When Paul heard that, he seemed deeply moved. He nodded happily and raised his wooden sword.

"All right, then let's start sparring! Come at me!"

What a simple guy.

"Yes, Father. But I should warn you, I will use magic."

"Bring it on! If you can land even one hit on me, you win."

"Understood."

I raised my sword and added wind magic beneath my feet.

The dash I had imagined did not happen. The magic pushed me forward and nearly made me fall.

However, I managed to control the magic power in time and still charged toward Paul.

"Ohhh! You've got a new move, huh!"

Paul sounded completely at ease as he easily dodged my attack.

I turned back around, added magic to my sword, and slashed at Paul. The stream of water followed the blade and stabbed toward him.

"Whoa!" Paul twisted aside to dodge, then swept his leg straight across, knocking me flat onto the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey! Are you trying to kill your own father?!"

As expected, Paul was strong.

Even using magic, I was still no match for him...

No, if I could prepare a little earlier, then maybe...

I shook my head, throwing away the thought of defeating my own father.

"You really are amazing, Father."

"Hmph~ Of course I am."

His personality was actually a lot like Roxy's. The moment he was praised, he went straight to the clouds.

"But Rudy, your talent for combat is far greater than I expected. Maybe you'd be better off studying that fighting style of yours more on your own."

"Is that so?"

"But I'll say this up front. You still have to learn the swordsmanship I teach you! At least up to the intermediate level."

"Yes, Father."

Paul smiled and patted my head.

"Well then, let's go another round!"

"Yes, Father!"