The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Seeing a Garm appear before him, Asley’s face twitched.

“Hah hah hah… hweh–!?”

It was too hungry to notice all the unusual characters right in front of it. 

A few moments passed until it realized what kind of scene it had just walked into.

“Hah… hah… hah…?”

And then… it sat down on the spot.

As the duel between Sagan and the Living Dead King raged on in the background, Asley glanced at Pochi in a corner of his eye.

[I don’t think I’m seeing things…]

The Garm’s line of sight was locked on to Asley.

[Judging from the way it acts… this one is very likely Tarawo, sir. Hell, I’d even say it’s TOTALLY him. Look…]

Pochi communicated so to Asley through eye contact.

Getting the message, Asley took another look at the Garm.

“GRRRRRR…!”

In return, the Garm groaned and glared at Asley.

Technically, the one with the least and weakest arcane energy here was Sagan. But the Garm could see that he was holding his own in a fight against the Living Dead King, an SS-Ranked monster.

And then the one with the second least power was… Asley.

His energy capacity had been restricted by God, causing the Garm to get the wrong idea…

…That it had a chance at killing and eating this man.

Pochi held back her laughter as she glanced at Asley.

[She sure is enjoying this, huh? Good God…]

Asley directed a cold, displeased glare at Pochi. The Garm, consumed by hunger, took this chance to leap at him.

However, arcane energy capacity was the only thing Asley had lost upon his arrival in this era.

His brute strength was still perfectly intact… and made him technically the strongest of everyone present.

“HAIYAH!!!!”

With one simple slap, the Garm was blown away.

The impact was so great that even the Living Dead King, fighting in the background, was startled.

“GWEH!? Yawp–!?”

“Aha! He’s saying his catchphrase, isn’t he!? ‘I will never live this down,’ was it?”

“H-how are we supposed to even tell, sir!? But… well, I’d say he probably did!”

The King Wolf Garm, despite being on its last legs, still approached Asley.

Asley looked at it and whispered,

“Give it up. In that state, you don’t stand a chance.”

Asley put on a gentle look in his eyes — but failed to consider that humans and monsters spoke different languages.

“Ouch–!? What the–! Dammit!”

“Grr! Grr! Gah! Guh-rrr!”

The Garm managed to cling to Asley’s arm… by biting it.

Asley’s physical strength was far too great, however, and the weakened Garm could only hold on for just a few seconds.

“Grr! Grr! Grr! GRRRRRR!!”

[He’s sure as hell gonna starve to death if I chase his away. Ugh… okay, fine. If he’s Tarawo, then I can’t let him die anytime soon…]

Asley heaved ad deep sigh and started drawing a Spell Circle.

Sagan, currently holding the upper hand in his fight, stole a sidelong glance at the spell. Its formula was so beautiful that it seemed to glitter in Sagan’s eyes.

“Rise, Storeroom.”

Unable to comprehend the appearance of the Storeroom before it, the Garm could not bring itself to walk forward.

Asley reached his hands into the Spell Circle.

“Huh… where’d I put that?”

As Asley muttered to himself, Pochi grumbled, exasperated by what he was doing during what technically was a combat situation.

But then Pochi’s nose twitched.

“Huh–!?”

She promptly turned back to face Asley… and saw what he had in his hands.

“–! ARF～♪”

The Garm barked happily.

And then…

“AAAHHH! THAT’S MINE!!”

Asley’s Familiar, Pochi, let out a bewildered cry.

What Asley had taken out of the Storeroom, and now being held in his hands… were two tasty-looking whole roasted chickens.

“What’re you saying? You just ate! These are MINE!”

“But Master, what’s yours are mine!”

“Then you could at least look at ME, not the FOOD!”

Despite Asley’s protest, Pochi’s eyes stay glued to one of the chickens.

When Asley held the chickens up high, Pochi stood up tall on her hind legs, and when he pointed them to the side, Pochi’s eyes followed.

“Sit!”

He shouted, prompting both the Heavenly Beast and the King Wolf to sit down in unison.

“”WOOF!””

Both of them stuck out their tongues, waiting to be fed.

“”ARF ARF ARF!””

“All right, Pocchie Mask! Catch!”

“AWOO!”

As one of the chickens was thrown far away, Pochi chased after it, and the Garm sat up.

However–

“Not yet.”

Despite not being anywhere as loud as a yell, Asley’s voice was so intimidating that the Garm was petrified.

“Arf!? Arf arf arfarf arf arf arf!”

[Yup, he’s TOTALLY saying his catchphrase…]

The Garm’s glare grew sharper and sharper, but Asley’s aura was too powerful for it to look him in the eyes for too long.

“Let’s make a deal.”

“Grr… Woof!”

“I’ll give you this, but you must agree to leave this place — and to avoid interacting with humans as much as you can.”

“Woof woof!?”

“Gah… Okay, listen. This place is the territory of strong people like me and my friends. And humans are under my protection. So you keep away from us and hunt beasts instead. Got it?”

“Grrrrrr… Woof!”

[Damn, this guy’s stubborn…!]

Asley’s face twitched in annoyance for a brief moment, and then it turned into a look of surprise.

“GIAHHHHHH!!”

Hearing the scream, Asley knew that Sagan’s opponent — the Living Dead King — had been finished off.

“Whoa! It took him no time at all to kill an SS-Ranked monster… by himself, no less!”

Sagan, hearing Asley’s compliments, happily smiled back.

And then–

“Oh? OOHH!? OOOOOOHHH!?!?”

Asley noticed something changing within his body.

Pochi, happy to have gotten her chicken, looked back to an eyeful of blinding green light.

Arcane energy erupted high and wide into the sky like a flaming pillar.

Sagan’s jaw dropped, in awe of what he was seeing.

“What in the world…! I can see your arcane energy aura with my naked eyes… I didn’t know that you were hiding so much power, Leole Mask!”

With Sagan’s objective fulfilled, Asley’s arcane energy was fully restored.

“Man, my powers are finally back! So our mission here is complete, huh?”

“Ooh! Master, congra– Oh, that chicken was delicious!”

“At least say the whole word, damn it! …Ah, wait, we’re not done here quite yet.”

Asley looked at Garm, and saw that it had been scared stiff yet again.

“Here, take it.”

Then he shoved the whole chicken into the Garm’s mouth.

With both his hands free, Asley proceeded to unleash his Ultimate Limit form for a brief moment.

Sagan was taken aback by the even greater boost of arcane energy.

“Absolutely amazing. He might actually stand a chance against the Philosopher of the Far East…”

He muttered, but his voice reached no one’s ears.

Asley, having shown Garm the true extent of his power, shot a sharp glare at the monster and whispered,

“Monster, this is my territory. After finishing your meal, take your leave… Understood?”

“Arf arf arf arf!”

Hearing Asley loud and clear, the Garm nodded repeatedly. It was panicking so hard that, despite it being so close to starving to death, it had not taken a bite of the chicken in its mouth.

“All right, go ahead and eat, then.”

“Woof!”

Garm, with Asley’s permission, began to wolf down its meal.

“Hehehe… taming a monster? You sure are full of surprises.”

Hearing Sagan’s cheerful voice, Asley disengaged his arcane energy.

“Impressive work, my Lord. I must apologize for being distracted midway through, though…”

“No need for that — I don’t mind. If that Garm had intervened, the duel might have ended up with worse results… perhaps with me dead. Your presence was necessary.”

After Sagan was done giving his words of appreciation, Asley bowed to him. Pochi, after finishing her chicken, promptly followed suit.

“So… you are leaving already?”

“Yes. We’ve already achieved our objective.”

“Surely there are still things that need to be done?”

“You’ll do that for us, won’t you, my Lord?”

“You just answered a question with a question… you fool.”

“Hahahaha… that’s what everyone calls me. Oh, also…”

Asley looked at the Garm, and saw that it had already finished its chicken.

“Could you please spare this dog’s life?”

“This POWERFUL MONSTER, you mean? …Very well. It is your choice to make, Leole Mask. I’ll pretend not to see it for today.”

“You heard him. Better remember to stay away from human cities, all right? Even a monster stronger than you can end up… like that.”

Asley pointed to the actually-dead remains of the Living Dead King.

The Garm looked into the eyes of the cruelly slain monster. The dead, jet-black eyes of the monster considered the king of the dead.

Feeling the very concept of fear being engraved into its body, the King Wolf trembled… and once again, it repeatedly nodded its head.

Seeing an image of Tarawo overlap with the Garm, Asley subtly chuckled before turning back to Sagan.

“Well then. Thank you for taking care of us, my Lord.”

“What are you saying? It is I who was taken care of.”

“May the Nation find prosperity under your rule.”

“I will make sure it does; such was my intention from the start. Hehehe… I sounded like a poet.”

“Oh! And please make it so that the people can eat tons of delicious food, my Lord!”

“Very good idea, Pocchie Mask! I promise to see that it is done! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

As Sagan exchanged words with Pochi, he sported a natural, non-forced smile.

Sensing that, Asley said while drawing his Spell Circle,

“My Lord, one day you will find the best Familiar you could ask for. Please remember — treat it well; give it a good life…!”

“Not good enough, Leole Mask!”

Sagan rejected Asley’s words… but he did not deny them.

“You and I are friends, aiming to be the very best… Call me Sagan!”

He spoke proudly of the friendship between them.

At the same time, he saw that Asley’s Spell Circle was complete.

Asley and Pochi proceeded to remove their sunglasses and said,

“Well… I… My name is Asley!”

“And I’m his Familiar, Pochi!”

“Asley and Pochi! Very fine names! HAHAHA!”

“Sagan! I won’t ever forget the friendship between us!”

“Neither would I!”

Then Asley shouted out,

“Time Teleportation…!”

A flash of light wrapped around them.

The light soared above Sagan and Garm’s heads, tearing through the sky like a lightning bolt returning to heaven.

Sagan looked up at where it had gone and muttered,

“Farewell…”

And before long, he directed his sight to the Garm.

“Woof?”

“You ought not to overstay your welcome. The people of this nation are strong… and territorial.”

“Woof!”

Having turned away by the time the Garm answered him, Sagan slowly walked back to the dried-up Regalia Lake.

“Oh, I almost forgot that I’ll be meeting another skilled mage tomorrow. What’s her name, again? …Ishtar, was it?”

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

~~One O’clock in the Morning, Third Day of the Sixth Month, Ninety-Sixth Year of the War Demon Calendar~~

In Asley’s room in the original Pochisley Agency building…

“Whew. We’re finally back… right?”

“Hah… I’m exhausted, sir…”

Pochi hopped onto the bed, landing with a thud.

“Hey, now isn’t the time for that! Now that we’re back, we’re in a race against time! As we speak, Lina is–“

As they continued to argue, they heard a loud noise coming up the stairs.

Asley grabbed Pochi by the nape of her neck, and at the same time, the door to his room swung open.

Pochi’s sleepy eyes, and Asley’s startled eyes, turned to where the sound came from.

“Hah hah hah…! Ngh–!”

Each of the overlapping gazes was of various different emotions.

But there was one emotion common among them: joy.

The first thing Asley saw was a tattered uniform of the Royal Capital Magic Guardians. And the next, an exhausted body… of none other than his very first student of the arcane arts.

“…It’s good to be back, Lina.”

A short, simple greeting.

But it would remain echoing in the young woman’s ears forever.

The following moment, tears burst from Lina’s eyes, as if they were a breached dam.

The droplets were ceaseless, and her voice trembled as she sobbed.

But as hoarse as Lina’s voice was, she squeezed out all she could to say,

“…Welcome back…”

She stood before Asley — her honored teacher, and her beloved.

So that he could see how much she had grown.

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