—However, could the word, pride, be interpreted to mean self-esteem? If
they have that much self-esteem, why would they persist in such shallow
harassment?
When Eugeo rebutted so, unconvinced, Kirito replied after pondering for a
short moment.
—Self-esteem is the continuous judgement of oneself. But pride is not
limited to merely that. Raios and the rest must have cultivated that pride
through comparing themselves with others. Hence, they show contempt for
us who weren't born as nobles or even born in the central capital. Or
approaching it from the opposite angle, they are unable to maintain that
precious pride of theirs without doing so.
Those words from Kirito were rather complex to Eugeo, but he interpreted
it as the more he fed Raios's and Humbert's pride by being meek, the
stronger their swords would get.
The thought that he might as well answer in a provocative and arrogant
manner did come to mind, but unlike his partner, Eugeo had neither the
knack of determining where the limits for violating the academy's
regulations lie, nor the inclination to pick unnecessary fights in the first
place