The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

When’d Chappie even find the time to disappear on us, anyway?

Pochi and I searched in and around the Gambling Den, but he was nowhere to be found.

Could he have gotten hungry and gone hunting some monsters? No, that can’t be. He’d have to go far from here to find even one monster – too far from us for him to not chicken out.

Besides, he was never the kind to go off somewhere without telling us first.

“I can’t find him anywhere, sir.”

“Yeah… first time something like this has happened.”

Now that Pochi was a Violet Phoenix, she couldn’t use her nose to reliably track Chappie’s smell.

As such, I called up my Storeroom and took out a certain item from it.

“What is that… dirty thing? …Oh, is it the chicken’s feather?”

Right… I hadn’t heard Ferris say that in a while, but it was what she’d always referred to Chappie with.

Sure, he’s a coward who still can’t even get too far from us, but he still is a Violet Phoenix, one of the legendary Sacred Beasts. Don’t blame me if he pays you back with interest once he gets big, all right, Ferris?

Anyway… I really can’t see Chappie as the same individual as the Violet Phoenix we’ve met in our era.

I mean, he’s almost fully grown now, so his voice is changing less and less… Yet he still sounds nothing like Shi’shichou.

Besides, we shouldn’t be able to take Chappie with us when we return to our time… keyword being SHOULD. We should have to leave him here.

Pochi and I still haven’t talked with Chappie about that yet, though.

Chappie seems to be under the impression that we’d take him along… so it’s our responsibility to tell him otherwise, eventually.

Will Chappie be able to go on living alone in this harsh world?

Well, he’s not on bad terms with Bright, of course. If circumstances are right, he might get to keep on living with him.

Still, Bright’s lifespan is that of a human. What will become of Chappie then? He’s a Violet Phoenix, a Heavenly Beast – his existence is kind of a big deal.

I’ve never thought about it much before, but now that we’ll soon obtain one of our goals, namely the Limit Breakthrough magecraft, we’ll have to talk things over with him sooner rather than later.

Right – once I find Chappie, I need to tell him about it as soon as I can.

With that in mind, I tightly gripped Chappie’s feather.

“Rise, Master Chase & Light Up!”

The feather glowed, then started to drift through the air.

“So this spell traces the object back to its owner? Is that right, Instructor?”

“Yes, you are correct, Master Bright. Though it doesn’t work with everything… in fact, it must be part of the owner. Things like hair, nails, or in this case, feathers.”

“Hey, you never taught us how to do this.”

And now I’m up against these two kids, one a Black Emperor on the verge of enraging, and the other a tomboy princess… who already is enraged.

“Hahahahaha…”

“Don’t think you can dodge the issue, you fool!”

Well, I don’t want to teach it!

This and the Teleportation spell… why do situations pop up so often where I’m pressed to teach people magic spells that originated in the future?

If I were to handle it badly, history would be changed…… Hmm? Now I remember… seeing an ancient Teleportation spell somewhere before?

It must have been when I’d discovered a crystal encasing Lylia-

“Master! We have to follow the feather!”

“Oh. Right.”

“Ugh, what a troublesome chicken.”

And your standards of ‘troublesome’ aren’t exactly all that high, young lady.

Following Pochi, we ran deeper into the city of Eddo.

“This place is… the Kamiyama, isn’t it?”

Bright asked me, to which I nodded silently. Ferris heaved a sigh.

“Are we seriously climbing up a mountain? You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Kamiyama… it’s quite a famous location in Eddo.

That said, it’s not a place that outsiders could just enter at a moment’s notice.

Seeing it up close is allowed, sure, but one would need to be granted permission from Eddo’s authorities to climb it.

“-Wait, this isn’t the time to be thinking about stuff! Shiro, you take care of Master Bright and Lady Ferris.”

“Leave it to me!”

Pochi gigantified and let the two kids get on her back.

Fortunately, there’s no one else here, but if Chappie did go up the Kamiyama, we absolutely must bring him back.

“Rise, Invisible Illusion: Count 4 & Remote Control!”

With the effect of my weather-manipulation spell, we all faded away, our figures blending into the environment.

“…We’ve never been taught this, either.”

Ferris was probably glaring at me as she said that… if I could see her eyes, that is.

“Me spoon-feeding you every bit of knowledge wouldn’t leave much room for you to learn things by yourself, after all.”

With me closing the topic by throwing out a plausible excuse, we proceeded to follow the feather as it kept on floating through the air.

Pochi and I followed the glowing feather, running sometimes on the mountain path, sometimes on a plain animal trail.

Befitting its name of Kamiyama – mountain of the gods – the environment has almost no signs of human tampering.

Was it even necessary for us to turn invisible in the first place?

As I was thinking about that, the feather began to slow down.

Then we saw Chappie’s characteristic purple through the shades of the bushes. The moment we caught a glimpse of that unique deep purple, Pochi and I immediately stopped our feet.

“W-what in the-“

“Shh!”

Ferris was about to complain about the sudden halt, but Pochi and I shushed her. We then crouched down and stealthily proceeded on ahead.

I see two birds with feathers of deep purple. One’s Chappie, and the other… also a Violet Phoenix.

“W-what’s going on here…?”

Too occupied fighting the bewilderment in my mind, I didn’t have the time to try and quell Ferris’ confusion.

I’d never expected another Violet Phoenix to appear here.

They seem to be… talking about something? And the big one’s voice really jolts some memories of my past…

“I ask you again, little one: Why do you live amongst the humans?”

…It’s THIS ONE!

“Look, I don’t even know what you’re trying to talk to me about anymore. What’s wrong with me living with my family?”

“Humans, your family? One of those lowly creatures is your parental figure? Disgusting.”

This is it… this one… this one… this one’s got the right voice!

The Shi’shichou, the one we’ll eventually meet in our era!

But what does it want? Why did it call Chappie here?

“Insult my family again, and it won’t end well, you oversized chicken. Also, my name is Chappie.”

How is Chappie so much… braver than he usually is? Is it because he’s against one of his own kind?

I mean, it’s another Violet Phoenix, sure, but its level even in this era is… 160. Huh. Still clearly stronger than Chappie, though.

So I should go out and defend him as soon as possible… right?

With that in mind, I got ready to stand up, but then someone pinned down the end of my mantle, stopping me.

That someone was… none other than Pochi.

But why? What reason could she possibly have?

Oh, wait – Pochi had become a Violet Phoenix as well, thanks to the Archetype Changer. Perhaps she had sensed something from those two.

That, or she was telling me to wait and see for a while longer.

And so I hid myself again as the scene unfolded.

“A personal name… is something a Shi’shicou ought not to occupy its mind with.”

“Ought… occupy…?”

“Hmph.”

Shi’shichou sneered, seemingly intended as a mockery, but perhaps for the unintended reason… since it seemed like Chappie just didn’t understand what those words meant.

“Look, quit being vague and speak with words I understand.”

Called it. And now, the big bird seems to have understood the situation with his opponent.

Chappie himself, the one being mocked, doesn’t even realize that he’s being made fun of.

He’s not someone good for arguing intricate points with, after all.

“Very well. The Commandment is the Commandment, and you would do well to uphold it.”

“What Commandment?”

“I suppose you could use an explanation, what with you having been raised by a human. Shi’shichou are trained from the moment of their births to do battle against their father and mother – which, in normal cases, would be the Shi’shichou it originated from.”

Must be a tough species to be born into.

I mean, being trained when their babies, when their bodies couldn’t even move properly yet?

…Now I remember how Chappie used to pee all over Pochi’s fur.

Still, it said ‘mother and father’, but in the singular form… Could it be that Violet Phoenixes reproduces asexually?

I see, I see… Makes sense that they would be called ‘legendary’ rather than just ‘rare.’

“And when our bodies approach full growth, when our powers surpass those of our respective parents, we kill them and consume their remains.”

“……”

Okay, this is getting darker and darker.

“Only one Shi’shichou – one Violet Phoenix – shall exist at any given time. That is the Commandment.”

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