1 Prologue
Chapter 1 - Prologue
My name is Kenzaki Emiri. I've loved swords for a long time.
Influenced by the anime I saw when I was young, I began to admire characters who fight eye-catching battles using swords.
Like the legendary samurai who uses Hiten-Mitsurugi Style.
Like the right hand of the Pirate King, who uses the three-sword style.
Like the orange-haired shinigami substitute.
Like the 13th-generation comrade of a famous thief who could split anything with his katana.
Like many more.
Their appearance would linger in my mind.
Driven by that feeling, I played sports-chanbara which uses air-filled soft sticks like a sword, and started learning kendo when I reached elementary school.
For a while, I enjoyed practicing the sword like no other, but as I grew up, I found that it was not what I wanted.
What I wished for was flashy battles, just like anime characters that use the sword.
After all, kendo is competitive swordsmanship with the purpose of training one's self and competing with others, not the true swordsmanship you could use in a life-or-death battle.
In the first place, it is almost impossible to meet a life-or-death sword fight in the modern age. Even if there is a minuscule possibility that I could meet someone who could teach me ancient swordsmanship and legally risk my own life and fight in conflict zones, it's absolutely impossible to exceed human limits in real life, like how the anime characters fight.
When I reached the age where I could distinguish reality from fiction, I silently fell into despair after realizing that my dream was by no means possible.
Even so, I continued practicing kendo.
Partly because my parents taught me not to give up on things I have insisted on so easily, but the greatest reason is because it's the closest thing to what I've admired the most despite being on a different scale.
Really. My admiration is too strong that I get withdrawal symptoms without a sword at arm's length.
Just like a baseball player who dreamed of becoming a professional but failed and ended up playing in amateur leagues because of their love for the sport.
Weirdly close example, but I must make it clear that my despair cannot be compared to that because no amount of hard work could make me reach my dream.
As a result of practicing kendo driven by obsessions, I started to be called the strongest student swordsman, even surpassing males of the closer age.
Honestly, it made me happy, but it wasn't enough.
There's this me who is seriously wishing to be reincarnated in another world, a world of swords and magic, just like in the popular light novels these days.
I'm still a chuunibyou patient even though I'm already at high school.
I'm such a hopeless dreamer.
However, a miracle happened.
"Ogya~! Ogya~!"
Right now, a green-haired baby is loudly crying beside me.
Green hair.
It's a color I've never met in real life.
Since it's a baby, it means that it isn't dyed.
Moreover.
"*~. ****. ************."
The blonde man hugged the baby to calm it down.
He's speaking in an unfamiliar language. What's most surprising is his, and the baby's ears were longer and pointier compared to that of humans.
If it was only the language, I might've thought it was from a country I'd never heard of.
My grades were the lowest because I ran away to kendo all my life, so I don't think I could understand it even if it was just english.
But the long and pointy ears are different.
I am very sure that such a race doesn't exist on Earth.
Most of all...
"****, *********..."
A beautiful woman hugged me while speaking in a gentle voice.
This person doesn't have pointy ears. She looks like a normal person.
But that's not the point.
A high school girl like me was lifted up so easily with her thin arms.
This person probably doesn't possess powerful strength that is different from her appearance.
It's just that I'm simply too small right now.
Like a baby, not even a metaphor.
After explaining so much, anyone should understand.
Surprisingly, I got reincarnated into another world for real.
Into a fantasy world where long-eared races (elves, probably) exist.
Recalling my memory, I quickly thought of the cause.
The trigger was too clichéd.
I died after being hit by a runaway truck.
I was distracted by quarreling students who were wearing the same uniform I was wearing and got hit from behind in an ambush.
It made me understand that o matter how much I trained, since the way I trained was for sports that did not consider life danger, I would never be able to deal with a real crisis.
Just when I realized the end of my life, I became a baby.
In the beginning, I was confused. I cried with my green-haired sibling, who lay beside me.
But I quickly accepted my second life.
I could even say that I regained hope because I might be able to achieve the dream that I couldn't in my previous life.
After all, it's a fantasy world with elves, so maybe, just maybe.
Using flashy techniques, defeat formidable enemies with a sword in hand.
Such fantasy swordsmen might exist for real.
Even, I might be able to become such a swordsman.
It's a lie to say I have no regrets about dying so young in my previous life. I also feel bad for my parents and friends. But I cannot hide the excitement I have right now.
Ah, I'm such a hopeless dreamer.
Still, the fact that I might be able to surrender myself to my yearning is, without exaggeration, a death-pleasing joy.
I! Will become the world's strongest swordsman!
I must become number one in what I love!
"Oh~!"
"!? **, ***********?"
The woman hugging me (probably my mother) was surprised because of my sudden call.
Ah, sorry.
I guess I surprised her because I suddenly called out loud after behaving and trying to not trouble my parents, who were tired of taking care of us twins recently.
She might think I'm emotionally unstable.
For the time being, until my body grows up, I'd like to thank my family for giving birth to this wonderful world (guesswork), and I will do my best to repay their kindness.
Even making up for my unfilial behavior towards my parents in my previous life.
