As I was relaxing in the garden of the mansion, I saw Midea trying to leave.
She feels different than usual.
She was wearing a headband and her face was very enthusiastic.
What’s going on?
“Midea”
I called Midea over to listen to her story.
She who was called by me, ran clatteringly towards me.
“Shishou!”
“What’s with that appearance. Are you going to challenge a dojo somewhere?”
“It’s close, Master!”
“Hmm?”
What does she mean? With my eyes, I stare at Midea.
“I heard from Sora-sama, that a guy named Lotto Rhodos has recently appeared in the city of Pindos. He was all over the place screaming 『Let me take on a strong guy』, so I’m going to beat him a little.”
“I see, that’s why you’re so enthusiastic about it.”
“Yes!”
“I understand the story now, be careful on the way. Ah, by the way――”
“I know! I’m a student of Nanas-style.”
Midea answered without hesitation.
I think she already knows very well that I wouldn’t give my name no matter what.
I saw off Midea, who was going out as a student of the Nanas-style.
I don’t want to get involved with the kind of skilled people who show up in the city of Pindos.
“Hermes.”
This time, nee-san came.
She made a beeline towards my spot from the back of the mansion, and stopped in front of me.
“What’s wrong, nee-san”
“I want you to look at this.”
Nee-san said that and presented me with an exaggerated box that looked like a jewelry box.
When I received and opened it, I saw that it wasn’t jewelry inside, but there were two pills in it, about the size of the tip of my pinky finger.
“Medicine?”
“Yes, I want you to see if this is the real deal.”
“What kind of medicine is this?”
“I won’t give you any preconceived notions. I want a more accurate inference.”
I was aghast at nee-san’s expression.
That thing is really important huh.
I pulled myself together, took the box and observed the pills closely.
From the color and smell, it doesn’t seem to be poisonous.
Or rather.
“It doesn’t have malicious intent”
“Malicious?”
Nee-san tilted her small head and asked me back.
I glance at my surroundings, and nee-san was the only one there.
Then there’s no need to hide anything or say anything in a roundabout way.
“When something is made by a human being, it reflects that person’s feelings. His will, or should I say his thought. The more powerful it is, the more strongly it is embedded. A typical example of this is a sword. A sword that is strongly imbued with the grudge of the swordsmith or, in some cases, the person who was sacrificed for it.”
“I see”
“So, this isn’t malicious. Rather ―― what is it? A blessing? It feels something like that.”
“Is that so!?”
When she heard of the blessing, nee-san exposed her joyful look.
If it’s filled with blessings, does that mean it’s real?
I picked up one of the pills, smelled it more, and tried to lick it.
After all, it has no poison or such negative things at all.
What the hell is this ―― thinking about such a thing.
My field of vision, was rapidly becoming distant from what I could see.
My consciousness, was cut off in an instant.
☆
“Hermes!? A,are you okay?”
“……”
In front of Sora, the child looked around his surroundings restlessly.
After looking around for a moment, he fixed his line of sight on Sora.
“Onee-san, are you a guest of my father?”
“Eh?”
“Are you my cousin, by any chance? Since you look very similar to my mother, and you’re the first person I’ve met.”
“Hermes, you ……”
Sora’s face became puzzled.
But, she is a very intelligent woman.
After how Hermes licked the pill, his body shrank rapidly, and just now, he said those few lines.
From there, she drew one conclusion.
“……How old are you now?”
“7 years old”
“I see. …… It’s good that it’s the real rejuvenating medicine, but it also rewinds your mind.”
Sora let out a big sigh.
“What’s wrong, onee-san?”
“No, the world doesn’t go that well, is what I was thinking”
“I’m not really sure, but I don’t think you need to be dispirited. Onee-san, is very young, and beautiful.”
“Did you hear that just now?”
“Yup, I, have good ears.”
The child innocently answered ―― Hermes, who became young due to the power of medicine, made a statement that readily acknowledged his abilities, unlike with his usual self.
“Is that right……”
Kyupin, Sora’s eyes glowed on the inside suspiciously.
She is a smart woman, and a scheming one, that even Hermes would agree.
Such a girl, towards Hermes, who rewound back his mind and became honest ―― cannot overlook this situation.
“Hey Hermes, do you feel anything strange in your body?”
“Feel strange? Ah, is it some kind of medicine? It’s weird, I’m not sick or anything.”
“You can tell”
“Yes. But don’t worry, since the medicine will wear off in an hour.”
Hermes wonders, while Sora has a determined look on her face.
“Hey Hermes, can you guide me around the city?”
“Guide? Yeah, sure, onee-san.”
Hermes was still smiling innocently, and readily accepted Sora’s request.
“Ah, before that ―― so~i!”
Sora, despite her dress, threw away the other remaining pill with a magnificent form.
She got the women’s dream, the rejuvenating medicine, but if her whole mind would rewind and there’s a time limit, then it has no point at all.
After Sora threw it away with all her might, she then went into the city with the confused child Hermes in tow.
☆
The child Hermes and Sora, the two of them, went out into the city side by side.
Sora, who organized a story about her being a relative older sister to him, has Hermes guide her around the city.
“I wonder if there’s a place that sells flowers.”
“Flowers? Then there is a flower market over there.”
In order to get the child state Hermes to show her the way, Sora led Hermes in a subtle way.
After a while.
“A’re? Somehow, there’s a crowd of people here.”
“Isn’t that usually the case?”
Sora, who knew the city of Pindos and what’s going on here well, asked Hermes back with a feigning ignorance feeling.
“Yes, it’s a flower market, so there are usually more women here, but …… it feels like something is wrong.”
The child Hermes furrowed his brows.
He had a very unpleasant face.
“Fuhahahaha, weak, weak! Is this the extent of all the experts in this city!”
When he approached them with an unpleasant expression on his face, he heard an audacious voice from the other side of the onlookers.
One man and one girl are there, surrounded by a group of spectators.
The man casually put his unpulled longsword on his shoulder with a tap, showing that he had plenty of room.
The girl was ―― Midea. She looked at her longsword, her shattered longsword, and looked frustrated.
The result of the fight between the man and Midea, seemed to be a complete victory for the man.
“O,one more!”
Midea refused to back down.
It was a natural reaction for those who were unhappy with a match.
However, the man’s reply was the worst.
“Alright? But, if you lose again, you’ll become my partner tonight.”
“Wha ――”
Midea was at a loss for words, and her surroundings became noisy.
“The way to swing such sword*, the flesh on the hips. You don’t know men, do you? I’m going to teach your body what a man really is.” (TN: The sword here is, you know ╰( ̄ω ̄o))
Saying that, the man carried his sword and moved his hips back and forth in a disgusting manner.
Midea shuddered all over, and there were voices of criticism rising from the onlookers.
“Stop!”
That perplexed Midea.
A young voice interrupted there.
The child Hermes stepped forward, breaking through the crowd of onlookers.
“What are you? Children should just go home and suck their mommy’s breasts.”
“You’re a bad person.”
The child Hermes refuses to do so, and heads towards the man.
The man was flippant at first, but then, his facial expression changed dramatically.
He changed his complexion, and took a quick step back.
The surroundings buzz.
They don’t know the reason, but the phenomenon is transmitted to them.
The man was pressured by the angry boy. Though the cause is unknown.
“U,uuuooohhh!”
The man who was pressured, eventually swung the longsword he was carrying towards Hermes with a “at his wit’s end” look.
It was a sharp blow, the slash of a master, which was no wonder that it overpowered Midea.
However, Hermes who was undaunted by that ―― grasped it between both his hands.
It was stopping a sword stroke between one’s bare hands.
The child Hermes effortlessly blocked a slash from a master, which would have left a sound behind.
And ―― pakin!
When the child Hermes twisted his hands, his longsword broke with a beautiful sound.
Immediately after, the man’s clothes were torn ―― No, it was chopped up.
All of his clothes were instantly chopped up like rags.
“Wha!”
The man was astonished.
He instantly realized that the child in front of him was much stronger than he was.
But, more than that.
Chuckle.
A laughter was heard from the onlookers.
“It’s tiny”
“That’s the size he was going for?”
“It’s no better than a toothpick.”
Mocking exchanges could be heard from here and there.
The man turned his face bright red and trembled.
“Uuuuooooohhh!”
Then, flying into rage, he slashed at the child Hermes with the remaining half of his sword.
At that moment, something happened again.
The body of the child Hermes made a popping noise “pon”, and swelled rapidly at the cellular level.
Immediately after ―― he returned.
The child Hermes has returned to his original form.
Gakiin!
Hermes easily caught the man’s sharp, frenzied and murderous slash with a broken blade.
It might have been his instinct; his body reacted in an inexplicable way right after he turned back.
However, the phenomenon was still handed down to them.
“““Oooooooohhh!?”””
Hermes grasped the master’s slash that has a broken tip, which he would normally hesitate to grab.