The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Pochi and me, back at the Resistance hideout, spent some time in complete silence in our room.

The Silver trio and Lylia have taken War Demon Emperor Vaas over to see Irene. They probably need to explain Lylia’s circumstances as well.

And then there’s the thing with Lloyd of the White… Could it be that he’s actually Leon?

“Hey, Pochi.”

“What is it, Master?”

“Do you think that white-robed guy is Leon?”

“…If he is, then why would he be working with Ishtar and Gaspard, sir?”

Yeah, that’s what anyone would ask.

Still, there’s one thing I know that Pochi doesn’t…

Over the past centuries, Pochi has almost never taken her eyes off me… But that one time she did, she was under the effect of the Brainwashing Pact. Only I know what her eyes looked like then.

Pochi herself does have the memory of being brainwashed. But still, she could not possibly have seen her own eyes.

I remember what they were like — lifeless, inorganic, devoid of light and even darkness.

Lloyd’s eyes were the same. Just like Pochi when she had been under the Brainwashing Pact’s effect.

“He’s probably under a spell, like the Brainwashing Pact.”

“So he’s… being controlled, is what you’re saying?”

“It’s scary to think how long he’s been in that state, and how powerful he has become after all this time. And he’s Holy Emperor Hudl’s son, you know — No wonder Empress Idïa wanted him.”

“And her reason for that was…”

“Very likely a desire for revenge.”

Hearing my conclusion, Pochi cast her eyes down.

Despite all the effort put into saving the Holy City of Regalia, Empress Idïa came back and ruined everything in the end.

She must have had to keep a low profile for quite some time, at least; wouldn’t have been strange for her name to become more prominent if she stayed too relevant for too long.

According to Irene, there was also a time when she, as Ishtar, was one among the Six Archmages. Which means she must have come out to the public stage only in the relatively recent years.

“Gutting strait to ze punt…”

Ah, she’s talking so quickly, she fumbled all her words.

“…Ahem. Getting straight to the point, Master — Is it possible at all to save Leon?”

And now she’s trying again, pretending as if her first attempt never happened.

“Well, the brainwashing itself is possible, so reversing it should be possible as well. If I have something like a ‘key code’ for what was used on Leon… then maybe…”

“Wouldn’t that be quite a challenge, sir?”

“I guess. Talking in adventurer lingo, it would be on the SS-ranked difficulty.”

“And you think you can do it…?”

I turned to Pochi, scratching my head while answering her,

“Don’t you remember what our old War Demon Emperor friend told us?”

“Huh?”

“A man… is all about DO or DON’T!”

“…! That’s right, sir!”

Pochi smiled, happy with the answer she got.

That’s right. It’s either I do it, or I don’t.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“What did you just say?”

Pochi and I headed to the meeting room, where all the talking seemed to have died down to a reasonable extent.

Irene and Warren are here. And so are the people who have escaped death with us last night: Lylia, Blazer, Bruce, and Betty.

They must all be exhausted by now, but probably wanted to get all the talking out of the way as soon as possible.

And so, by the time I heard the main points, I could not help but ask Warren to repeat what he had just told me.

Because it was… way too sudden to bring up.

“Now that we have welcomed Emperor Vaas into our custody, our activities in the short term will be focused on building up our foundation and bolstering our military ranks. And so, Asley, until the Devil King’s resurrection is complete, I would like you to borrow some resources and facilities from the people of T’oued… and open up another one of your magic classrooms.”

I scratched my head again, spent a moment to think, then repeated my question to Warren,

“What… did you just say?”

“Open a magic classroom. Using your reputation as the Holy Warrior Poer should be more than enough to reel in applicants. Hehehe… surely business will be booming in no time. Perhaps it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it THE Magic University of T’oued, you know.”

Warren looked quite happy as he laid out his plans, but Pochi and I just looked at each other, wanting no part in any of that.

We need to hurry up and rescue Leon, too… Oh, but wait…

“But of course, Asley, you have to receive training as well. The Resistance will offer you the cooperation you may need… whether it be technology, strategic knowledge, or other forms of support.”

I see, I see… He’s offering technology, material, and manpower in exchange for my guidance.

It’s tempting — Both Pochi and I do need all those resources to become stronger than we already are.

Besides, it’s obviously necessary to future-proof our ranks by strengthening the mages who are in training now.

Warren chuckled, seeming to have understood what I was thinking.

“It seems that we have reached an agreement, Miss Irene.”

“Right.”

Was it just me, or did Irene seem a bit dissatisfied?

“And Lylia, I would like to make the same offer to you, in exchange for your assistance in training our warriors.”

I glanced at Lylia, and saw that she was folding her arms, looking determined.

Seems like she’s already made agreed to help.

“Understood. Do let me know as soon as the details are decided on.”

“It will not take much longer than a couple of days.”

Warren nodded, and the rest of us left the meeting room.

Feeling the exhaustion take over our bodies, we headed to the mess hall, dropped into a set of free seats, and ordered us some ale.

“KAAAHHH! Man, I always love me some drinks after a day’s work!”

“Same, Bruce, same! A hunk of beef after work is the best!”

Bruce drowned his throat in ale, while Pochi dug her fangs into a gigantic piece of steak.

It’s quite clear that Bruce is making himself loud on purpose, to liven up the mood… while Pochi is just being her usual loud self.

Blazer, Betty, and Lylia stayed silent.

“What, you’re not drinking?”

I pointed at Bettyls mug; she looked at me for a second, grabbed the mug’s ear… and then let go of it.

Then Lylia finally spoke up,

“So, that man… Gaspard?”

“Yes?”

“Who exactly is he?”

Looks like he left quite an impression.

Honestly, though, I feel the same.

“Tūs’ first student. Which makes him my predecessor of sorts, I guess.”

“That wasn’t what I wanted to know.”

“Well, it’s not like any of us knows anything other than that.”

Lylia’s question was what anyone would ask.

But that’s the thing — he’s just shrouded in too much darkness, too much mystery.

Oh, wait, actually…

“Maybe Mel knows more?”

“Huh? You talkin’ about Melchi?”

Bruce asked… after fishing everyone’s share of ale and wiping his mouth.

Ah, now that he mentioned her, I just remembered that Bruce and Melchi actually knew each other.

“Oh yeah, she’s also Asley’s senior… She might have been closer to Gaspard than Tūs was.”

“Right.”

Betty and Blazer said in succession.

“Huh? You know about her as well, Blazer?”

“Now everyone is aware, but she has helped us a number of times back when we were bombarded with missions from the Nation.”

“Huh, she did…? You sure we’re talking about the same girl here?”

“Relayed a good amount of information our way, too — in her words, ‘to help mah boi Ash’. She should be in T’oued right now, last I heard.”

Blazer turned to Betty. Huh… so she’s still got the same job as ever, huh?

Betty was the first of the trio to learn to use the Telepathic Call, so the responsibility of a communication coordinator just kinda fell to her.

“Yeah. I don’t know where exactly, but I was also told that she’d be going there. And since this is Melchi we’re talking about, she must’ve left a Teleportation Spell Circle for us somewhere on the way, so I’ll try contacting her later.”

“Please do.”

With Lylia saying that, Betty smiled and nodded.

“But man, that Devil transformation thing really was annoying, huh? We probably would’ve been destroyed if not for Pochi’s help.”

Bruce said as he recalled the battle from the night before.

Pochi and the Silver trio were up against Cleath, the strange mutant-like guy who had destroyed Faltown once in the past. Thinking about it now, that attack must have been carried out under Ishtar’s order.

“I did go in expecting danger, but not going to lie — things turned out to be more severe than anticipated. The whole team will need even more intensive training.”

“Gotta gain some more levels, too.”

Betty rested her chin on her hands.

Then Lylia suddenly stood up.

Hmm? Is she upset that Bruce just grabbed her untouched mug of ale and started drinking?

“I happen to know a good place for that.”

Come again?

“You mean somewhere with a monster outbreak or something?”

“That’s right. The location means it will take some time and effort to even arrive there, though.”

“For real!? I’m totally in! Where do we need to go!?”

With all eyes on her, Lylia chuckled proudly before proceeding to say,

“First of all, we head to T’oued.”

Wherever we intended to go before, it looks like our next stop has unavoidably been changed to the Nation to the far east.

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