The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Chapter 397: The Reunion with Don

“Pochi… Hey, Pochi!”

“Yes, sir!?”

“Thank God you’re awake now. Sorry, but can you cast some healing spells for Bruce and Haruhana?”

“Ah– huh? Ah. Yes, sir!”

After Lucifer left, Asley woke Pochi up by repeatedly slapping her cheeks.

Then he had her tend to their two unconscious comrades, then went to pick up his Drynium Rod.

“Master, they’re not waking up…”

Pochi placed Haruhana on her back and picked Bruce up with her mouth.

“They were directly exposed to Lucifer’s arcane energy. That’s bound to mess with their systems at least a bit.”

“…So Gaspard really is Lucifer, sir?”

“Yeah, without a doubt. The way he speaks, his eyes, and the fact that… somehow, he is now the Devil King.”

“W-wait, how is that supposed to work!?”

“He probably went and killed the Devil King… Which would explain why the Devil King’s arcane energy suddenly disappeared. I mean, Gaspard and-or Lucifer must be strong enough to beat a newly-resurrected Devil King.”

“And he must have gotten stronger since the last time we faced him at the Regalia Castle, yes?”

“I guess? I couldn’t sense his power level because… you know. But he did hit harder compared to last time.”

“Can you even beat him…?”

“Right now? Definitely not. I gotta get my arcane energy back first, for one. I won’t even be able to stand in front of him if I don’t have anything to counteract his arcane energy pressure. And by counteract, I mean I have to release my own arcane energy… on a level close to Ultimate Limit.”

“…In other words, the only ones who can stand in front of him are you and Master Tūs, yes?”

Asley realized that only after Pochi pointed it out.

“Oh yeah, that’s right!”

“W-why are you so casual about this, sir!? You were supposed to be humanity’s strongest — then you just got beaten up like nothing! And I saw every single moment of it, you know!”

“What the hell!? If only I had my arcane energy, I would’ve been able to fight back! Probably!”

“Nope, that looked like an overwhelming defeat to me! Even if you had arcane energy, I bet there would still be a forty percent chance of you winning — actually, no, make that thirty percent!”

With Pochi saying that, Asley could only widen his eyes in surprise.

“……What is it, sir?”

“Well, you know, that’s a… surprisingly generous prediction.”

“…! Thirty percent is pretty low, you know! M-maybe it’s actually twenty! Maybe just ten, even!”

“Now you’re just reducing it for no reason! Stop it! You’re embarrassing me!”

“Why!? I’m just CALMLY analyzing your capabilities, Master!”

“Well, I’mma analyze your capabilities, too!”

“What do you mean!?”

“For one, you’re the only one who can beat the Hell Emperor right now!”

“Huh!? A-a-a-are you sure!? I’m sure you can do it too — as well as Master Tūs and Lylia! We also have Weldhun, Bull, Shi’shichou, and also the other Heavenly Beasts!”

“I’ve gotta deal with Lucifer, and Tūs might not even help out at all, that’s why! The rest of us also gotta fight so many others — Leon, Idïa, Billy, Cleath, the controlled warriors and mages, and the Alphas and Betas! The Hell Emperor is Lucifer’s Familiar now — you know it’s only going to get stronger and stronger from now on. Ideally, we’d kill it before it can grow bigger… but we didn’t prepare enough this time. So you’ll have to do that later!”

“Why… Why am I always manipulated into doing what you want…?”

Pochi whimpered as she sat down, prompting Asley to deny her statement,

“Look, if anyone’s being manipulated around here, it’s me! ME!”

“Now then, we must first return to T’oued and report to everyone, sir!”

“How the hell are you even able to change the topic so easily!?”

“Oh, wait…? Is it just me, or does Bruce actually taste pretty good?”

Pochi proceeded to completely ignore everything Asley said — aside from the part about returning to T’oued. First, they walked back to the basement room in Kugg Village.

There, a large group of warriors and mages had gathered, and was in the middle of carrying away the treasure.

Irene, also waiting in the basement room, noticed Asley and Pochi’s return.

“…And what up with them?”

Irene, sounding grumpy, looked at Bruce and Haruhana as Asley carried them.

“Uh… they’re souvenirs…?”

“So you’re finally trying your hand at human trafficking?”

“EXCUSE ME, it’s ANTI-trafficking that we’re doing…”

“You know you’ll get arrested immediately if you make that joke to someone you don’t know, right? Now… you two, take them back to T’oued.”

“”Yes, ma’am!””

Irene tasked two of her subordinates to carry away Bruce and Haruhana.

“…So I heard from Lina about a strange occurrence. What was it? Since it was dangerous enough to make those two faint… it can’t be good.”

With Irene pointing that out, Asley and Pochi turned to each other and cracked a dry smile.

Indeed, as Irene was the leader of the Resistance, she must be notified of every single thing that had happened. And since she was sure to be angry at what they had just done, their dry smile was a sign for each other to brace themselves for what would follow.

“…Are you serious!? You were supposed to run away THE VERY MOMENT you saw Gaspard! Even if you had to leave those two behind! Yeah, I know you would never do that — that’s why you’re so damn popular with everyone! And exactly because of that, only a few people would get angry at you! Well, I’M one of those few people! Do you understand!?”

“Yas, ma’am…”

“I understand, ma’am…”

“Really…”

“We understand…”

As they listened to Irene’s lecture, Asley and Pochi cast their eyes down the whole time.

This was a battle for humanity’s fate — these two, the greatest fighting force on the side of humanity, were never meant to act recklessly.

They were aware of their mistake…

“But you know, my Master was–“

“Actually, no, Pochi was–“

…To some extent, at least.

Of course, Irene understood their personalities well, so it did not take long for her lecture to end with a sigh of exasperation.

After Irene let them go, Trace, who had just teleported here, approached them.

“Mister Asley, good work out there.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“By the way, the Kisaragis have already arrived in T’oued. Laeus seems to want to meet you, Mister Asley. Do you have a moment to spare?”

“…! I almost forgot!”

Asley reached into his chestpocket and took out the letter from Garm Kisaragi, which he had not gotten to read due to sensing the Hell Emperor’s resurrection.

“Ah, Miss Lina and Mister Hornel did mention in the report that you were carrying the other letter that had been found in the basement. From the looks of it, you have an idea what you should do next, yes?”

“I do — first, I must go to T’oued right now! Also, please call Blazer, Betty, and the caster of the Teleportation Spell Circle to Radeata!”

“Radeata… Yes, I understand. Now, let us head to T’oued.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Asley and Pochi stepped onto the Spell Circle and teleported away with Trace.

Reappearing in the capital city, Eddo — specifically the magic classroom venue — they found that the Don and Laeus Kisaragi, acquaintances they had made by chance back at the Royal Capital Regalia, had already been waiting for them. 

“Ah! There you are!”

“Hey, Laeus! Looks like you’re doing great — and much taller than before!”

“Yeah! Thanks for the help back at Beilanea!”

“Beilanea…?”

Asley tilted his head, having no idea what Laeus was thanking him for.

Don Kisaragi then cracked a smile and approached Asley.

“You see, we were in Beilanea when the Devil King was resurrected.”

“I see. So that’s why you were able to come here so quickly.”

“You really saved us — if we’d been left alone, the whole Nation… the whole world, even, would have fallen into chaos.”

“Is Beilanea doing all right now?”

“More or less… Sir Tangalán and Sir Dragan are doing all they can to help. But even that wouldn’t have been possible without your efforts.”

“Oh, no, I’m just doing all I can as well.”

“How did you travel here, by the way?”

“We received help from that little lady over there.”

Don turned in another direction, and Asley did so as well.

Then he saw Tifa… with the Chihuahua Tarawo sitting on her head.

“Tifa! Didn’t you go back to school already?”

After the fight between Asley and Tūs, Tifa had headed back to Beilanea.

Asley was surprised to see her back in T’oued so soon.

“The Magic University has… closed down for now.”

Hearing Tifa’s explanation, Asley nodded in agreement.

“Ah, that’s fair enough. It’d be hard for the Universities to stay running with the Devil King being back and all. Also, maybe it’s better for you to stop pursuing the positive titles that you would have gotten from the University…”

“Yes. Now I can stay here, too!”

Tifa seemed strangely excited and happy, which came off as quite a surprise to Tarawo.

“Inconceivable! Why do you sound so happy, Tifa!? This is the resurrected Devil King we are dealing with! Still, I suppose this is a challenge I must face! The time to decide which one of us is superior — the King Wolf or the Devil King! Fwahahaha! Very well! I shall slice the Devil King into pieces with my magical claws! Isn’t that right, Tifa!?”

“Shut up.”

“Huh?”

“Shut. Up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Asley could not help but chuckle at the exchange between them.

A few moments later, Blazer, Betty, Lala, and Tzar — coiling around Lala as usual — came over, having been called by Trace’s Telepathic Calls.

“What’s wrong, Asley?”

“Sounded like it’s something urgent.”

Betty and Blazer immediately asked what they were needed for.

“Ah. Sorry to call you over so suddenly, but… Wait, what are you doing here, Lala?”

“I dunno!”

Lala said, tilting her head.

Then Tzar spoke up, explaining in her stead,

“”Because you said you needed the caster of the Teleportation Spell Circle to Radeata…””

“Yes, I did. So Lala is the one who’s maintaining it, then?”

“”That is so. Now, Lala, connect this place to the Spell Circle.””

“”Yes, Sir Instructor!””

While Lala drew the Teleportation Spell Circle, Asley went over to Blazer, Betty, and Don Kisaragi, and showed them the letter from Garm.

Then Blazer and Betty smirked and said,

“Now I see why you’d want us here.”

“And my brother’s not good to go since he’s still out cold… Well, that’s fine by me!”

“Let’s call the others, too. Natsu should be especially helpful.”

“Okay, leave it to me!”

Betty proceeded to use Telepathic Calls to notify the rest of Team Silver.

And then Don, after getting to read Garm’s letter, muttered to himself,

“Now THIS is interesting…!”

An individual human’s power did not amount to much, like little twigs — but if enough twigs were bundled together, they could become unbreakable.

Even when faced with the reality of Lucifer’s resurrection, Asley’s eyes were burning… with a silent passion.