On this day, I was relaxing in the garden for the first time in a long time.

　I was rocking in my rocking chair, swaying and enjoying the breeze.
　I've had a lot going on lately, so it feels like it's been a long time since I've had a chance to relax like this.

"Hermes.

　Then Sophia came in.

　She looked up from her half-lying rocking chair and was in a good mood and smiling.
　It's always cute when she's smiling like that - but it's a line that's too annoying to say, so I tried not to say it.

　Instead, I asked him in a bland way.

'What's up?'
Hermes, are you done with your work for the day?
Work?　You mean the office?
Yes.
Well, that's all over now.
Yeah. ....Anyone else planning to come?

　Sophia's face puffed up a bit when she heard that.
　She must be referring to Erica and Kaori.

No, I haven't heard anything about it today.

　Kaori might have poked me without warning - but I didn't say it, because mouths are a recipe for disaster.

'What does it matter?'
If there's nothing else, we're going to the Cave of Trials now.
The Cave of Trials?

　I don't know what it is.
　I think I've heard something before, but I don't know what it is.

　I can't remember what it is, so I decided to ask it back honestly.

"What is it?
What are you talking about?　You used to go there when you became head of the family, the Cave of Trials.
Yeah.

　I clapped my hands with a pop.

　I couldn't remember until you told me, but you mean that cave where they told me to go get the coin.
　Come to think of it, I remember Mimis saying something about an ordeal or something.

　It was a long time ago, I'd forgotten all about it.

　It's good to know that - and then I looked at Sophia.

'Why are you in there again?'
Hermes, you said you only got the seven-star ones?
Yeah, well,

　I nodded, replying vaguely.
　That's the way it's supposed to be.

　I made a mistake that day and brought home a one-star coin.
　Because I thought it was the "dullest" thing I'd ever seen.

　But it was actually the most amazing thing.
　I didn't want to show off, so I kept my mouth shut and told everyone there.

　I decided to take the poorest seven-star coin I had ever taken.

I'll go for the one-star one this time.
'What?　Why again?
Because you can get it, Hermes.
It's...

　I wasn't sure how to answer that.
　I could answer that I could take it, or I could answer that I couldn't.
　From my experience, I had a feeling that neither would be good.

'Can you get it?　'Wow!'

　And.

'I don't open up about my abilities, wow!

　And.

　I feel like no matter what I do, it's counterproductive.
　So I kept quiet, and Sophia started to resent me in a different way than she had before.

'I don't want Hermes to be underestimated.
I'm going to be underestimated.
'I'm going to confront everyone with the results that Hermes is actually great. So I'm going to go get a one-star coin and look them all in the eye.
'Oh...'

　So that's how it is....
　I'm with my sister, here.

　I'm sure we all get along well with your sister.

　We're distant relatives, but looking at this place, you'd think we're related to your sister by blood.

　The only difference is that my sister is the type of person who has a lot of patience and is the one who works behind the scenes.
　Sofia, as you can see now, is the type to snort and charge head-on and break through.

　Which one was more tricky I thought it was both of them.

　Anyway, if that's the case, give me a reason to say no - awa!
　He suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me to him.

'Let's go!'

　Sophia grabbed my hand and forced me out.

　　　　　☆

　On the way from Pindos to the Cave of Trials.
　Whereas last time we had Mimis and a bunch of guards and such with us, this time we're traveling with three.

　Me, Sophia, the originator of the idea, and her sister, who arrived at her request.

...why do you want to come too?
Why are you here?
I asked Lady Sola to be the witness. It's the only way to make sure everyone knows it was her.

　Sofia made a proud face.
　I'm still here with the two of you.

　I remember my sister, at that time, volunteered to be a witness to the event.

I'm sorry.

　My sister, on the other hand, is smiling and laughing.
　This smile is an addictive one.

　She was there.
　I mean, she knows everything.

　And yet she doesn't say anything, she just lets Sofia do what she wants.
　That's a hell of a problem, I thought.

"Hey, miss...
It's good. Let little Sophia see how cool you are.
Totally.

　I knew she was going to be a pain in the ass, I thought.
　At the same time, I thought it would be alright if I had that much of a plan.

　...I was a little bummed when I realized that she had completely poisoned me.

　On the way to the Cave of Trials together with the three of us, I had a thought.

　What should we do now?

　It's not hard to get a one-star coin.
　I've grabbed one before.

　The question is whether or not it's something I can show Sophia.
　The problem is that it's not a good idea.
　It's not like your sister can't do anything secretive, and she's taking me out to spread the word in the first place.

　I'm going to have to get her to keep her mouth shut.

　Plan one.

'It's not cool to open it up now.

　Idea two.

'Can you wait until you have to tell me when you have another agenda?

　Plan 3.

"I slipped and smashed the cave by accident.

　

　Well, I guess I'll just take the first one as a base and improvise the rest.

　That's how I came up with the general plan.
　After putting it all together in my head and simulating the flow, I spoke to Sophia.

'Hey Sophia.'
What?

　Sophia turned to me.

'I'll get the coins, but I don't want you to fling them around.
You can't do this!
It's not cool.

　He says, while quieting Sophia, who is about to become enraged.

Because it's not cool to say it to yourself now.
I'll tell you.
'I didn't say enough bad words. It's not cool to say it from your people.
My people...
'It's better looking and more appreciated if you hide it in a situation like this, and then it's suddenly exposed in an unexpected way from a place that doesn't involve it - isn't that right, sister?

　I threw the ball to my sister.
　I used the words she told me.

"...yeah,

　Her sister nodded while opening a breath but maintaining her smiling face.

'But ... if you keep this up, people will underestimate Hermes. That's what's so frustrating.
Patience for a little while. A little patience is rewarded with more fruit. More haste, more speed.


　After getting lost in the grand scheme of things - to the point of stopping - Sophia nodded grudgingly and disapprovingly.

''Okay, I will.''

　I seemed to have come to terms with myself, just in time, and Sophia accepted it.
　Okay, this bought me some time for now.

　The rest - if we can take the time and make sure it doesn't leak out of the irrelevant parts, we can craft it.
　If we can do something about it now, I thought, the rest will be fine.

　In the meantime, we came to the Cave of Trials.
　The entrance to the cave was exactly the same as the last time I was here.

''Let's go.''

　Sophia said and went in first.
　Me and my sister followed a little later.

　The exact same path as last time, the same trick.
　We didn't have to hide it here, so we broke through the contraption, not caring that we were being watched.

　Eventually, they come to the first pedestal.

'So this is the coin you were talking about.

　Sophia looked down at the coins on the pedestal.

'Oh,'
This is-- Ugh!

　Sophia reached out carelessly and touched the coin.
　Instantly, her face grew stronger.

''Ugh........ugh.......uck!

　It was as if his hand had sucked on a coin.
　Using his other hand, he somehow managed to pull the sucking hand out.

''Ha... ha... ha...''

　Sophia is out of breath and has a pea-sized sweat on her forehead.

'Are you okay?'
What was that...
I heard it sucks up magic. I heard it's a mechanism that allows you to keep it if you don't have enough magic power.

　One of the big guys was almost mummified before because he got sucked up so much.

'Well did you get this off?'
Yeah.
Great.....

　Sofia looked at me with more respect than ever before, probably because she had experienced it herself.

'Hermes took it with a cool look on his face then. Hey Hermes.

　In a complete change from earlier, she said with a smiling face.
　Oh, don't add fuel to the fire," she said.

　I sighed and took the coin.

"Wow...

　Sophia was more and more impressed with me as I lightly lifted the coin.

　Immediately after, the coin began to glow.

''What?!''

　What's wrong - before you can even think about it, the situation changes even more.

　As if the light from the coin was a wake-up call, the sword on my hip began to glow as well.

"What happened?
This....might be.........
You know something, sister?

　In the flood of light, she turned to her sister in a flash.
　Her sister had an unusually serious look on her face.

''The sword of Hermes belonged to the First Lord.
Yeah.
''I wonder if there's some kind of trick to make the same first-sama's possessions resonate with each other when they come together.
!

　I was astonished at the possibility that my sister had pointed out.

　It's possible, that possibility is very possible.
　It's such a magic item, there's no wonder it's been rigged to that degree.
　Or rather, I'm a person who reverses the meaning of the stars to create a trick, it's not surprising that they've done something to this one as well.

　This place--

"I don't know what will happen, let's just get out of here!

　I said and tried to take the two of them out - but it was already too late.
　The path we came in was blocked by a wall of light.

　I touch my hand.
　It's not going to break a little bit or a little bit.

　If I release a little more power, I can break it, but with that kind of power, not only the wall, but also the cave will collapse this time.

　I shook my head.

No, I don't think I can get out.
What the hell is going on?

　In the meantime, the coin became completely luminous and "melted".
　The light gathered together and took the form of a woman.

　I've seen that figure before.
　A woman whose face is also engraved on the coin - the first head of the Cano family!

Why are you-- Shh!

　The first generation drew their swords and attacked.

　A storm.

　A slash that can only be described as such attacked me.
　In a flash, I draw the sword at my waist - the sword that the light had settled on before I knew it - and intercept it.

''Not good!''

　It's not good.
　That's really bad.

　It's the kind of thing that will push you over the edge if you slack off even a little bit.

　There's no time to take it easy.

　I'll take him down in one fell swoop.

　Thinking that, I switched my consciousness (I raised my gear).

　I unleash a storm of slashes that are more than my opponent's and push through in one fell swoop.

　In the end, I flick my sword and cut it in half from the body.

''.........''

　The vision of the first generation - which was cut off in both directions - looked at me, huffed, and then swooshed away.

''Huh........''

　I'm in a bit of a hurry.

　From the illusion, the original's competence can be deduced to some extent.
　If it's an illusion, isn't the original at the level of Kaori?

　No way.

　Having defeated the illusion, I turned to the two of them.

　Then - I was prepared for it, but Sophia was looking at me with sparkling eyes.

'That was ... amazing!
Oh, I didn't know you could do that.
'It's amazing!　I've never seen a fight like that.
Well, it's just Hermes, after all.

　Sophia said, and her sister agreed once, and then followed suit.

　I knew it was going to be like this........