Chapter 187: Versus Lyell

A student of the magic academy and one of the six heroes, a living legend. By all rights, these two weren’t supposed to ever fight each other.

However, the situation changed when they were father and daughter. When they heard that these two would be facing each other, waves of uproar spread throughout the training grounds.

Lyell, someone who was the leader of the Six Heroes. Facing him was a lovely 10-year-old girl—in other words, me.

Normally, this wouldn’t even be considered a match. However, both the academy students and Lyell were aware of my strength. Naturally, they only knew my strength without my thread manipulation, as only Maxwell was aware of it.

I couldn’t exactly show my true power in front of all these people, so I wasn’t in my best form.

Even so, I was in a far more advantageous state compared to Lyell. Both of us were holding fake swords made from Keratos whiskers to avoid injury.

Their nature was highly compatible with me, while Lyell hasn’t even experienced it yet. It was a very bendy weapon that he was unfamiliar with.

Compared to someone unaccustomed to it, I who had familiarity with it due to my threads held an overwhelming advantage.

“Hey now, are you sure about this, Nicole?” “Of course. You should resolve yourself.” “These fake swords are certainly better compared to ones we use… But don’t blame me if you get hurt, okay?” “If I do, I’ll just ask mom to heal me. Maybe it will be you who’ll end up that way.” “Hah, my daughter sure has learned how to talk back… Do you see it, everyone? My daughter is so cool, isn’t she!”

Lyell was showing off towards the knights about something so weird. We are about to face off, so just look in front of you, you b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲!

“Mgggh, don’t blame me if you get hurt for underestimating me!”

I tried intimidating him with all the dignity I could muster, but his expression grew even warner. Not just that, even the knights’ expressions looked as if they were looking at some adorable creature.

And Cortina was on the verge of nosebleeding. Maria, however, had her usual relaxed expression, so I couldn’t read what she was thinking.

“Ahh, Nicole is really an angel. You guys, I’ll not forgive you if you make moves on her, you hear!”

Lyell looked towards the knights, but this time it was a threat. The knights waved their hands in denial while sweating bullets.

“Enough! Referee, please give the starting signal already!”

I urged the referee without hiding my displeasure. It seemed that my body openly expressed my emotions on the outside, and I even started lisping when my emotional state was in a mess.

I hoped I wouldn’t end up as someone who’d be openly looking sulky every time I felt displeased.

“Ah, right. Well then, mock battle one-game, start!”

The knight that got involved with Lyell earlier gave the signal without any tension. That was only natural, as no one expected me to win. But I could see this being my chance to win.

Before Lyell realized the discomfort of this unfamiliar weapon… And before he adapted to it, even with my current physical abilities—I could win!

“Hiiiyaaaah!” “Woah!”

To meet my downward swing, Lyell casually put up his sword in an attempt to block it. But that was naive of him.

My sword bent more than he’d expect and a mistimed blow headed towards him. And his sword that was supposed to block it also missed its timing as it bent greatly.

When it came to masters of Lyell’s level, even their defensive movements were faster compared to an average swordsman. This fake sword could not keep up with such speeds.

My attack that included the bending factor into the calculations slipped through his defenses and landed right on his head—or so it was supposed to go.

“Oops, this thing bends more than I expected.” “Wh-!?”

My hand… No, my arm was easily caught by him. The moment he judged that he couldn’t make it in time to block it with the sword, he instinctively raised his other hand and grabbed my wrist.

By all rights, it should’ve been too late to react by the time he realized about the bendiness. My attack that passed through his defenses should have landed on his head and the victory should’ve been mine.

However, the instant he perceived the flaw in his defense, he used his other hand to defend himself with another method.

This was proof of his long experience and the intuition that he picked up through battles. Getting familiar with the sword would take time – the moment he judged that, he switched to using bare hands.

“Grrrrrr, Leeeet goooooo!”

I was dangling in the air as he held me by the wrist. Since I thoughtlessly aimed for his head, I had to jump, but Lyell caught me in the middle of it.

Even if I had nimbleness that’d put an adult to shame, that was only when my feet were touching the ground.

Were my body in the peak of its prosperity, I wouldn’t have ended up in such a disgraceful state, but I was overwhelmingly lacking in height now.

“Ha ha ha. Maria, look, I caught a fine game!”

While Lyell was showing me off like I was some fish he caught, Maria responded with her usual smile while putting a hand to her cheek.

“Dear. If you act like that, she’s going to start hating you again, you know?” “Whaaaat!?”

His actions were really brutish, truth told. If it was me in my previous life, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but little girls had very delicate and easy-to-break bodies.

Not to mention, my own constitution far overshadowed the other girls.

Realizing that, Lyell hurriedly let go of me. I fell down from around a meter at most, but I rolled down at the moment of landing and evacuated behind. Along with my back roll, I kicked up the ground to raise a cloud of sand.

Naturally, Lyell wasn’t one to fall for these cheap tricks. The sand didn’t get in his eyes, but he still didn’t charge blindly while the visibility was limited.

Using that opportunity, I planned to get back on my feet, but…

The back of my head slammed into something hard with a loud sound.

It seemed that during my backward roll I crashed into a random rock on the ground. I stopped in the middle of the roll and toppled over like a frog, losing my consciousness.

“I didn’t want to lose in such a lame…” “N-Nicole!?”

I only managed to mutter those words before I completely blacked out.