The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

And here they are – two sheets of paper, filled up as much as they could.

Two years ago, I had tried to teach Lina some magecraft via the parchment I’d passed to her – the Distance Line, as I liked to call it – but in the end, Tifa still had a deeper understanding of the subject.

I suppose that was to be expected from having access to heaps and heaps of my research materials. Then again, she hadn’t just read it, but also understood that. It must have taken a great deal of effort to make all that knowledge practical.

On the other hand, Lina was more knowledgeable when it came to magic. That served to balance things out in its own way, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about the classes’ structure.

“Let’s start with a review. Rise, Quadra Boundary.”

I directed the magecraft at Pochi.

Four stakes of light surrounded her, forming a perimeter that restricted her movement.

Lina and Tifa, being dedicated mages as they were, paid most of their attention to my hands. They especially focused on how Velocity Augment affected my Circle drawing.

“Master! Did you not listen to what Lina said earlier?! You’re being cruel!”

“Hmm? …H-hmph! Of course I can! Hah!”

Once Pochi exerted a bit of force, the Quadra Boundary dispersed with a high-pitched plosive sound.

“The Quadra Boundary. In a practical environment, they are likely to be effective against monsters up to Rank C. There are exceptions, of course, with one being floating gas-form monsters, which are especially vulnerable to magic and magecraft attacks. You could use it to buy some time against the A-ranked Elemental Reapers. The magecraft’s power increases linearly with each iteration, naturally, with Hexa Boundary effectively immobilizing enemy monsters up to Rank B, and Octa Boundary up to Rank A. The… technically last iteration of it is what you two should aim for as an end goal. Rise, A-rise, A-rise! Deca Boundary!”

I directed the magecraft at Pochi… again. Pochi, having let her guard down, glared at me with an ‘AGAIN?!’ exclamation written all over her face.

C’mon, don’t look at me like that. Didn’t we always do this back when we were in Faltown?

“The volume of information in it is incredible! And he drew the Circle up so easily…”

Tifa said, her eyes wide open.

“Wow…”

Lina muttered, her breath almost long enough to be considered a sigh.

Heh heh, I’ve got to act like a teacher from time to time in order to maintain my image, after all. Show them awesome stuff, get them motivated.

While I thought that, Bruce walked up to me from behind. And as usual… he hit my buttocks.

“That hurt, Bruce.”

“Stop with that creepy smile, man. You still keeping even bigger stuff to yourself, right? It’s written all over your face, you know?”

Bruce declared, sounding smug as he was sure that he’d seen me through. Damn it, did my face really give him that idea? It wasn’t supposed to be so obvious…

I reached up to touch my face, prompting Pochi and Bruce to both crack a smile.

“Ahahaha, I can see it written right there, sir!”

Damn it, not you, too!

I was briefly heartbroken by how blunt my Familiar was – briefly because Lala shouted at me not a second later.

“Asley! Over there! OVER THERE!”

Lala pointed into the forest, calling my attention to what was in there. It seemed that monsters were approaching us. They weren’t repulsed by the pressure of Baladd’s arcane energy? Not from around here, perhaps? But if they originated around here, then they would have to be the undead-

“Oh, a Shade… they’re pretty rare around these parts.”

Bruce said as he stared into the distance.

Turned out I’d guessed right – the Shade, alternatively called the Animated Shadow, was a type of undead monster. Its entire body was pitch black, and although it technically had eyes, one would never be able to tell where they were. Other distinguishing features included its weakness to light and its body not casting any shadow on other surfaces.

“Look, I’ll stall it for ya, so show me the stuff as well, yeah?”

Bruce drew his blade and charged onward, while I put up a bitter smile and scratched the temples of my head. Oh, he just had to set a scene to get what he wants. I’ll make sure to ‘thank’ him real good some time later.

Bruce could easily take it down if he wanted to, but instead, he had Lala distract it while he himself messed around with it to buy time.

His fighting flowed well despite being self-taught. As expected from a regular of The Silver.

Lina and Tifa’s eyes were practically glued to their moves… Um, hello? Aren’t you two supposed to be observing me?

Once Lina noticed me, she chuckled, and then gestured me to do my thing. Uh, I don’t know why, but I feel obligated to say sorry here.

“All right, check this out – the very best of the Boundary magecraft! Rise, A-rise, A-rise, A-“

Bah, drawing this one up takes way too damn long! Still got plenty of room for improvement!

“-Rise, Sancta Boundary!”

The Craft Circle suspended itself high up, illuminating the night sky with its dazzling light. In fact, it must be so bright that Bruce and Lala down below couldn’t open their eyes.

There we go – Bruce and Lala promptly broke away from the spot, while the Shade gave chase, seeing it as an opening to strike. All within my calculations.

Except… well, they already were caught.

Unlike the other Boundary crafts, one was able to move within the Sancta Boundary’s perimeter. As usual, the only way for one to get out, aside from the caster disengaging the craft itself, was to force the wall open with one’s own arcane energy. It was most likely to confine all monsters up to Rank S, however. I would have used it more liberally if not for the hefty consumption of arcane energy and Circle drawing time.

“Wow, just wow! Really feelin’ the magic here – and I’m a warrior, man!”

“Ooh~~ sparkly sparkly~~”

Lala’s eyes sparkled as she observed the magecraft’s invocation process. And so did Tifa’s.

As for Lina… I don’t know if I should have expected this, but she was looking at me. Really, why?

…Then she turned snappingly away once Bruce turned around.

“So, Asley? What now?”

“Rise, A-rise! Gatling Lightning!”

I drew up the spell – one that had enraged a Heavenly Beast once before – and wedged it into Sancta’s Boundary magecraft formula.

The Gatling Lightning was then unleashed inside the Boundary’s perimeter.

The spell’s bolts, having no place to go, zapped around within the perimeter, burning the Shade down to a crisp.

“Whoa……”

“Impressive…”

Two whispers, likely from Tifa and Tarawo, entered my ears.

By the time all the sounds and magical lightning bolts within the perimeter disappeared, the unexpected enemy also vanished without a single trace.

“It’s… it’s perfect…”

Lina was the one to make the last remark. Seems like she would be remembering this scene for quite a long time.

As for how this magecraft came to be, it had been completed by Tūs after I had gone to him to discuss its earlier form, which had been an old stalled invention of mine.

I suppose the final result could be considered a collaboration… right, Pochi?

I turned to her, asking the question in my mind as if to reaffirm myself of my opinion, but was instead met with her glare. Huh, whatever made her look at me like that this time?

“Master, when will you let me go?!”

I just realized the Deca Boundary was still active, confining Pochi within it.

“Sorry. I forgot.”

I hurriedly disengaged the Deca Boundary with a bolt of arcane energy. Once released, Pochi gave me a stern stare.

Haha, I’ll have to pamper her a bit some time later…

“Man! That was awesome!”

“Yeah, stupid awesome!”

In expressing her cheerful surprise, Lala imitated Bruce’s manner of speaking. Always interesting to see how quickly her expression changed.

I’d been noting how Lala was quite… erratic when it came to emotional ups and downs. She’d regularly look bored out of her mind with half-sleepy eyes, but once something caught her attention, her eyes would spontaneously sparkle up full of hype. The peak of her expression would be when she was doing farm work. Well, that applied to Tzar as well.

Hmm, maybe I should teach her a thing or two as well, what with her also being a mage of considerable skill – all right.

“Lala, you wanna try learning magecraft as well?”

“-!”

Rendered speechless by sheer surprise, Lala stared at me. Then she proceeded to nod repeatedly. Oh, ain’t she a precious little scarecrow.

…Whoa, she’s nodding so quickly that I’m feeling the wind from up here.

I’d never realized how much she wanted to learn it.

“Heck yeah! I’M SO IN!”

Lala clenched both her fists – she was so happy that she didn’t even notice Tifa glaring at her.

I wonder what compelled Tifa to glare at Lala like that…

Anyways… that was how I took up the responsibility of teaching yet another student. I’ll have to push myself harder than ever from now on.

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