After watching my brother practice swordsmanship and having dinner surrounded by birds,
I was sitting on my father’s lap in the living room.
Around us were my mother, brother, sister, and Daud.
“Father! I have a request!”
“A request? What is it?”
“I want to practice swordsmanship!”
“S-Swordsmanship? Why so suddenly?”
Father looked bewildered, while Mother smiled and said, “Oh my.”
“Maybe it’s because Luria was watching my swordsmanship training today and got inspired to imitate me,” said my brother.
“So Luria wants to be like Gilberto,” Mother said, smiling as she patted Daud.
“The world is full of dangers. I have to be able to protect myself.”
“Well… that’s true, but you don’t need to worry because we have guards,” Father gently reassured me.
“But you never know when we might be attacked.”
At this, Father and Mother exchanged glances.
My brother and sister also looked at me with concern.
They might have been recalling the time I was attacked as a newborn.
“…But, Luria, girls don’t usually learn swordsmanship, you know? Even your sister hasn’t learned it.”
“Big Sister should practice too. She could get kidnapped. Even inside the house isn’t safe.”
My sister is very pretty. It wouldn’t be surprising if some bad person tried to take her.
We need to be able to protect ourselves in case something happens.
It’s not a matter of being a girl or a boy.
Enemies won’t care about our weaknesses—they’ll only exploit them.
“Swords alone aren’t enough! I want to practice magic too!”
“No!”
Father suddenly raised his voice, startling me.
“I’m sorry, Luria. But no, you can’t use magic.”
“Why not? Magic is strong.”
“It’s not forever, just for now. Luria, you’re still only three years old. Magic is not good for such a young body.”
“Really?”
In my previous life, I started using powerful magic regularly from the age of five, about twice a week.
But I don’t recall having any problems.
“It will stunt your growth, you know?”
“Wh-what!”
I let out a weird sound. Now that I think about it, I was quite short in my previous life.
Even compared to my younger cousin, I was much shorter.
“…Was it the magic… that caused it?”
This revelation was shocking.
If magic stunted growth, then it made sense why I had been so small in my previous life.
“…In any case, no magic until you’re older. All right?”
“Even Gilberto only started practicing magic recently. Luria, you’ll have to wait until you’re about thirteen.”
“Okay!”
With Father and Brother’s advice, I decided not to use magic.
I can’t risk my growth being stunted.
“…So, Luria, do you really want to learn swordsmanship?”
“I do!”
“Well, why not let her? It’s much safer than secretly practicing magic, isn’t it?” Mother suggested.
“Mother, thank you!”
Mother took my side. I was so happy.
“Hmm. All right, Luria. I’ll ask Gilberto’s teacher if he can teach you too.”
“Father, thank you! Oh, and while we’re at it, I want to study letters too! I want to read books!”
“Oh, uh, of course, that’s fine.”
“Yay!”
By starting with the harder-to-get permission for swordsmanship, I easily got approval to study letters.
Had I asked for that first, they might have said something like, “Isn’t three too young to start learning letters?”
“Luria is a strategist… heh.”
“That’s right, Luria is quite the strategist.”
“Luria, you’re so cute.”
For some reason, both Father and Brother patted my head.
