Ore wa Mada, Honki o Dashite Inai - CH 73

Jealousy and Conviction

Translated by Mlzkzr

Edited by Mlzkzr

One afternoon, as I was walking through the streets of Pindus to pass the time, I noticed a strange atmosphere in the air.

There were so many men in the place, and they stopped, glanced in the same direction, and if they will, they were mesmerized and blushing, which was strangely creepy.

Wondering what was going on, I stopped and looked where the men were looking and saw a familiar face there.

A beautiful woman is sitting alone on the terrace of a cozy coffee shop on a street corner, enjoying her tea time with elegant manners.

Hestia Mercuri.

She is a former prostitute and a familiar face who has moved near Pindos since she quitted.

For some reason, this Hestia has an air of ennui on her.

Even though she’s in her tea time, she doesn’t even put her mouth in the cup; she was looking far away in the twilight.

That bothered me a bit, so I approached her and tried to talk to her.

Then.

“What am I going to do?”

“About what?”

“About how to deal with those who don’t come to see you―― wait, He,Hermes-sama!”

“Yoh”

A seat across from Hestia was vacant, so I sat there.

A young waitress came to take my order, and I ordered the same thing as Hestia.

“It’s rare to see you here.”

“Ye,yes”

“It’s been a long time since we met in the first place. The country ―― since the time of King?”

“Yes, indeed”

Strange, for some reason, the conversation is awkward.

Hestia mumbled, subtly averting her gaze.

“Are you meeting someone, by any chance? I will leave if I’m getting in the way.”

“N,no!”

Hestia who was eating, raised his voice.

“I’m all alone. For a while now.”

“Is that so?”

“Is it okay for you to be here dawdling, Hermes-sama? I heard that you became His Majesty’s instructor in swordsmanship.”

“You know a lot. Well, I’m not surprised.”

I was normally convinced.

Among Hestia’s customer, is the former king of Aegina.

From the current king’s point of view, she’s “his father’s partner” and I’m a real witness to the fact that he can’t raise his head to her.

Furthermore, many of her customers are nobles.

So it is no surprise that she would get information about my appointment as a swordsmanship instructor, which is not well known to the general public.

Hestia smiled at me with a calm smile, a far cry from her earlier smile.

“It’s a well-known story in some parts.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. It was said it was a master that the famous sword master King followed in order to become even stronger. Word on the street is that you’re quite an expert.”

“Uwaah…… that happened huh”

“Kusu. You don’t seem to be too pleased about it.”

“I don’t want to stand out, you know.”

“You are a difficult man. There are a million people out there who want Hermes-sama’s position so bad they’d drool over it.”

“Because that’s my nature”

As I was making a fairly small talk there with Hestia, I suddenly became aware of the stares around me.

The men who had helped me find Hestia were still focusing their eyes on us, but for some reason, it was starting to build up with sticky emotions.

“He…… made friends with Hestia-sama just like that ……”

“That overly familiar loser”

“I want to kill people with hatred, I want to kill people with hatred, I want to kill people with hatred, I want to kill people with hatred ――”

Obviously, all of their eyes are on me, and I feel I’m being lightly cursed.

Did I, do something?

I’m just talking to Hestia, though…… what is this?

“Hermes-sama?”

“Eh? Ah, sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

“No, I didn’t say anything. What’s wrong, Hermes-sama?”

“No, it’s nothing in particular…… by the way, your wordings has become quite normal.”

I didn’t know the reason why the men were looking at me, but it wasn’t something I was going to tell Hestia, so I decided to divert the conversation appropriately.

“Yes, I’m not a prostitute anymore. That was my business lingo, so to speak.”

“I see. That might be a little disappointing.”

“Eh?”

“I really liked the way you used those wordings.”

“I,is that so?”

“Ah”

“……”

Hestia looked me up and down a bit.

Her long ears, poking out of her golden hair, were clearly visible red.

“The,then”

“Hmm?”

“When I’m with you, I’ll talk this way.” (TN: So here’s the thing, since I’m not quite adept yet in Japanese language, I don’t know how to express the way she is talking. But it’s something like how an attendant talk to their customer)

“Oh”

I felt like I missed it.

I haven’t heard that wording from Hestia in a long time.

Yeah, as expected, I really like it.

“I’m pretty pleased if you do that.”

“I am happy if you are happy.”

“I see. I hope it’s not a burden.”

“It’s not a burden at all. …… you can say what you like and what’s nice this way.”

“Eh? What did you just say?”

“……You are the best-looking man in the world, that’s what I said.”

Hestia said this with a smile.

The smile of a beautiful woman has an outstanding destructive power.

I think I understand a little better why dozens and dozens of kings and nobles throughout history have been addicted to women and destroyed their countries and houses for them.

It was from this.

“Hestia-sama…… aahh…… you look beautiful.”

“Damn it, why only to that man.”

“Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell, go to hell ――”

Chills(sfx), I shuddered.

More chills came over me than before.

I looked around, then the men gathered around me were staring at me more and more.

Did I do something again?

I’m not sure what I did, but I’m leaving here for the time being ――

“――!”

This time it wasn’t a chill, but something distinctly imminent.

It flew towards the table we were at.

Moreover, the trajectory of its flight corresponds to that of Hestia.

I grabbed the teacup and quickly prevented that.

“You? This is …… the tea has turned into a poisonous color.”

“It’s a curse.”

“Curse ……?”

“Ah, well, it doesn’t seem like much of a curse.”

I put the teacup down on the table and, with a touch of magic power, I flip the edge of the cup with my middle finger like a finger flick to the forehead.

The energy of the curse was ejected from the teacup.

Black negative energy was released into the air, and I drew my sword and released a flash.

It was a special slash with the type that slays spirit monsters, making it disappear.

“We’re all good now.”

“As expected, you, were very cool just now”

“Thanks “

As expected of a former popular prostitute, the way she says compliments sounds much more pleasant than that of a normal human being.

I could maybe do a little more for this one.

“――Hah!”

I looked around in a panic.

Today, it’s twice already, then it was “I don’t know what it is, but I did it” afterwards.

As I was thinking so, in there, a curse flew at me, so I used my own body to react to it and even released a slash that cut the spirit.

In my experience, this is another action which indicates “I had done it”.

So I panicked and looked around.

“I knew it …… it had to be a man of this caliber. ……”

“I lost …… completely.”

“Burn and explode for a long time, burn and explode for a long time, burn and explode for a long time, burn and explode for a long time, burn and explode for a long time ――”

I don’t know what it was, but they were disappointed or convinced.

“Err……”

I’m, not sure.

This may be the first time I have inadvertently shown my power and received such a reaction.

What the hell did I do?

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