A familiar face in the streets of Pindos, a brothel.
　They were relaxing alone in Ortia's room.

'Huh, so that's the sword the king gave me then?

　When I mentioned that I received my ancestor's sword in the course of small talk, Oltia's eyes suddenly lit up.

It's just that it's like a medal, so it's considered rude not to wear it at all times.
Hey, hey, hey. Can I touch it?
No, not this one.
Come on, come on, please, for life.
It's a lot to ask for in a lifetime.

　I gave Ortizia a light umeboshi.

''It's not like it's a no-no or anything because it was given to me by His Majesty.
'What?　What do you mean then?
What did I just say?　This is the sword that my ancestor used in his later years, because he became a tremendous swordsman, and he was the strongest sword around - that's why he used it. As a matter of fact, it's a very cheap one.
Yeah.
So. My ancestors are hundreds of years old now. That means this sword is an antique from hundreds of years ago. It's cheap, it's an antique, and now it's very fragile.
Really?
Yeah, it's crumbling.

　He nodded and stroked his sword, which remained lowered at his waist while he sat down.

'Totally, I should have gotten the awesome one. That one would have let me get out of the way just fine when I had to use it.
What's going on?
With this thing, you have to get a certain level of seriousness.
...?

　Ortiz tilted his head, his face saying he wasn't sure.

'Well...'

　I look around the room.
　There was a table in the middle, and a wooden spoon that was used for a set of tea cakes, so I took it.

'Ortya, do you have any paper?　Whatever.
Is this what you want?

　Ortiz picked up a sheet of letterhead and handed it to me.

'This paper is flimsy, right?'
Yes.
Now, fold this in half and...

　He returned the folded letterhead to Ortia.
　He took it, but turned to Ortia, who was still craning her neck.

'Try to swing it down as hard as you can at the pile of folds towards this spoon.
Yeah ... yeah!

　Ortiz did as he was told, and with an undeterred hand, he swung the paper down as hard as he could.

　The wooden spoon snapped off with a cracking sound.

''Eek!　No!　I broke it with paper!
If you stand upright like this and swing it as hard as you can, you can break a wooden spoon with paper. It's the same with this sword. It's a bit fragile, but if you swing it to some extent, it won't break...

　As he says this, he slowly pushes the letterhead against the folded spoon.
　Naturally, the letterhead is limp and bent.

''--So if you do it halfway, it will break.
Oh, yeah, right. That's great, Hermes, you know what you're doing.
It's just a little trivia.
Hey, hey, do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?
"...phew.

　Oltia is still a good woman.
　She knows when to push and when to pull back.

　When she learned that the object entrusted to her by the king was a fragile item, she deflected the conversation in a natural way, without any selfishness.

　This ability to read the air and this carefree attitude is probably the reason why she is so popular.

　I went with the flow and the begging, and presented appropriate trivia that was neither medicinal nor poisonous.
　Ortiz complimented me on it and lifted me up.

　I had a pleasant time there.

　Gasp!

"YEAH!
"Wait, wait, this isn't it!

　Suddenly, I heard the sound of things breaking and screaming from outside the room.

'What the hell is going on?'
I'm going to go check it out.

　Oltia opened the door and stepped out.
　I heard screams and loud noises, and I followed behind her in case I had to.

'What's going on?'
d*mn, that's the first one.

　One of the onlookers, a servant from the brothel, answered Ortiz's question.

'Oh, well, I suppose it's just as well,'
'What?　The first one?
'Yeah, I mean the customer's wife. Sometimes she's there, she's cheating on her husband!　And that's why I'm going to yell at you.
I see.

　I'm sure you'll agree with me.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time in the city.
　I'm sure jealousy is an everyday occurrence due to the nature of the brothel's business.

How are you feeling now?

　Oltia left the room and turned her attention to the commotion.
　I followed him out and stood beside Ortiz.

　One by one, cups, pillows, and other furnishings were thrown at me from another room.

　After a while, a man in his underwear came running out with his head in his hands.

"Ka, give me a break!

　The man made a pitiful noise and ran over to us.
　There were a few onlookers here and there, but they all gave way as the man ran toward us.

'If you're a man, don't run away!

　The one who followed the man out was a middle-aged woman with a sagging figure.
　She looked quite strong for her body type and came out dragging a table and a chair respectively with both hands.

　Then, to my surprise, she threw them at the man.

''Hiiii!''

　The man held his head and dodged, squatting down on the spot.

　The table and chair that the woman threw, went straight over the man's head and flew to us.
　I'm totally baffled.

　I reflexively pulled out my waistband to get the table and chair out of the way.

"Hermes-chan!
Haha!

　Ortiz's shout made me realize.
　Oh no, it was my ancestor's ragged sword that I pulled out.
　But it's not too late, the tip of the cut is already touching the table.

''d*mn!''

　I had to swing through it as hard as I could.
　I tried to cut it off just right, but I was forced to raise it to about thirty percent of its strength.

　The sword I swung out.
　The table and chair swooped behind me and Ortiz as if it had slipped past me and Ortiz.

''What was that?''
Did you slip through?
No, he drew his sword.　Didn't you cut it off?
No, you didn't. The tables and chairs are still there.

　The interest of the couple's bickering onlookers was quickly drawn to us.

　One of them approached the table and chair and touched it.

'Look!　It's cutting!
'It's true!　Ugh, what a slash, it's so smooth it looks like it was filed.
It's not as bad as it looks.

Ah....

　I knew there was a commotion.

　A thirty percent slash.
　The slash to protect the ragged sword created an unusual slash on the table.
　If it were a human being, a sharp slash that would cause blood to spurt out a few seconds after the cut.

''It's an amazing sword technique, isn't it?''
Who are you?
You see, it's the lord who recently became the king's point man.
Oh!

　............Oh, you've done it again.