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Chapter 87: Hermes
The elf girl enthusiastically introduced Aiden to several of Orario's famous landmarks, such as Saint Fulland's Spirit Shrine in the Seventh District and the Hero Bridge in the Sixth District. All the while, she expertly navigated the crowded streets, leading them away from the colosseum.
Along the roadside, bards and travelers put on street performances. The melodious strumming of lutes intertwined with soaring ballads, drawing many pedestrians to stop and listen.
In a good mood, Aiden casually tossed a few Valis into their hats, earning warm, grateful smiles in return.
At a nearby stall, he bought a bottle of chilled cider and a few skewers of fresh fruit.
"Here, quench your thirst."
He smiled, handing the fruit skewers to Lefiya before casually offering the frosty bottle of cider to Ais.
"No! Miss Ais can't drink that!"
Just as Ais's beautiful golden eyes lit up with anticipation and she reached out to accept it, Lefiya's face went completely pale. Screaming, she lunged forward, snatching the cider away and shoving a fruit skewer into Ais's hand instead.
Ais, who had looked so expectant just a moment prior, subtly puffed out her cheeks, revealing a trace of childish grievance.
Aiden blanked for a second before realization slammed into him, cold sweat instantly beading on his forehead.
He had almost forgotten. Ais Wallenstein, Orario's premier Sword Princess, absolutely could not touch alcohol.
Even a single drop would knock her out instantly.
Passing out was one thing, but the real nightmare was that the Sword Princess was an aggressive drunk—the kind who would draw her sword and start chopping people down.
He was well aware of her glorious track record. While intoxicated, she had single-handedly beaten the daylight out of more than half the Loki Familia and nearly sent the Goddess Loki back to Heaven.
Just picturing a Level 5 First-Class Adventurer going on a drunken rampage in the middle of a festival sent a violent shiver down his spine.
"Miss Ais cannot drink alcohol."
Lefiya leaned close to Aiden, whispering in a tone so grave it bordered on deadly serious, meant only for his ears. "Aiden, you absolutely, positively must never let her drink."
The elf girl carried a fresh, pleasant fragrance, and the warm breath from her rosy lips tickling his ear did absolutely nothing to dispel the lingering terror in Aiden's heart.
If a Level 5 adventurer threw a drunken fit on the street, he, being the closest, would undoubtedly be the first casualty.
The gleeful citizens and adventurers around them would also suffer an unmitigated disaster.
What made it worse was that Ais herself seemed to have zero self-awareness regarding her alcohol tolerance. Instead, she possessed an intense curiosity and an overwhelming desire to try it.
If no one stopped her, she would guzzle it down without a second thought.
Even though Ais was only a year younger than him, her mental age was practically that of a naive child. In this regard, she was arguably even less mature than Lefiya.
Realizing she had leaned in too close and that their posture was overly intimate, Lefiya's pretty face flushed a slight pink, and she hurriedly stepped half a pace back.
Right at that moment, a figure suddenly darted out from the nearby crowd, barrelling straight toward Aiden's side.
Given Aiden's sharp senses, he reflexively stepped aside to dodge.
However, the figure's movements were incredibly bizarre. It was as if they had predicted his evasion and executed an agile spin of their own. As a result, the two people trying to avoid each other ended up colliding solidly in an impossibly coincidental manner.
Thud.
A dull impact echoed out.
The next second, accompanied by a ridiculously exaggerated, "Ouch!", the figure stumbled backward several steps before landing heavily on their rear.
Aiden's mouth twitched.
He was absolutely certain this person had done it on purpose.
With this classic routine... had he seriously just encountered a scammer looking for a payout in Orario?
"Aiden, are you okay!?" Startled by the sudden collision, Lefiya instantly looked at Aiden with deep concern.
"I'm fine."
Aiden shook his head. His gaze shifted to the person sprawled on the ground, and his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
With just a single glance, the faint, unmistakable aura of divine presence radiating from the figure confirmed it. This guy rolling on the ground and moaning in fake pain was a god.
If it were a normal person or an adventurer daring to scam him like this, he would absolutely teach them a brutal lesson in consequences.
But since the opponent was a god, the situation was entirely different.
These deities, who had descended to the lower world entirely for their own amusement, were capable of doing all sorts of bizarre things.
Acting on a whim to personally experience what it was like to be a scammer wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility.
When dealing with gods, one couldn't use the same methods meant for mortals.
"I'm sorry, are you alright, Lord Deity?"
I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Aiden was certain the god had done it on purpose. He wanted to see exactly what this deity was playing at.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch— My shoulder— It hurts so much! I think it's broken!"
It was a male god with blonde hair and amber eyes, wearing a traveler's hat.
He clutched his shoulder, rolling around on the ground in agony. His facial expressions were lifelike and dramatic, acting as if Aiden had genuinely shattered his bones into dust.
Realizing that Aiden had bumped into a deity, Lefiya's face instantly filled with worry, watching the situation unfold with bated breath.
"Huh? Isn't that Hermes? When did he get back into town?"
"What's he doing? Is he scamming someone? You can play like that? That looks pretty fun, I want to try it too."
At that moment, a few other gods strolling through the crowd recognized the blonde deity and immediately stopped to offer their unhelpful, peanut-gallery commentary.
Hearing his fellow gods expose him, Hermes's body visibly stiffened. But he quickly pretended he hadn't heard a thing, clutching his shoulder and wailing with even greater vigor.
Aiden's mouth twitched again, and he looked up at the sky in speechless exasperation.
Hermes.
Although he had never seen the man in person, he was intimately familiar with the name.
In the original story, he was a highly prominent and utterly crucial character.
He was a very, very troublesome god.
He was a pure hedonist who believed in "entertainment to the bitter end." His whereabouts were always a mystery, and his intelligence network spanned the entire globe.
Simultaneously, he possessed a fanatical interest in the emergence of a "Hero." To groom a hero he had taken a liking to, he would ruthlessly orchestrate all sorts of trials and schemes.
Looks like I've been targeted, Aiden thought.
"What are you doing now?"
Just then, a cool, elegant female voice—laced with undisguised exasperation—pierced through the chatter of the gathered crowd.
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