The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

God damn it, Tūs… Why would a freaking musclehead like him NOT want to enhance his muscles even more? I mean, he invented the All Up spell to do just that, for God’s sake! Well, I guess he’s got his own standard of effort he’s willing to exert…

I did tell him about it, though — now it’s up to him what to do with that knowledge.

Today, we had a special lecture by Jeanne the Lightning Flash… which was, of course, about her specialty move, the Vestment Thunder.

I just could never figure this spell out due to the uniqueness of its structure.

Jeanne herself has already mastered a more powerful version of it, the Vestment Lightning Bolt. But everyone understood that, to even start using it, they had to learn the mechanisms of the weaker one first.

And really… it’s quite admirable that she’s willing to teach her specialty to others with no strings attached.

After class — and after being bombarded with questions — Jeanne came to the head professor’s office to hand in her report, and I tried to ask her about the content of her next lecture. The reply I got was… quite unexpected.

“Jeanne, do you have some time to spare?”

“What is it, Asley? Now is hardly a good time to ask a lady out on a date, don’t you think?”

With me asking that, Jeanne turned a little grumpy.

“It’s pretty annoying being compared to HER, of all people, you know.”

Dinéya… back when I went to the Magic University, she was a particularly seductive Student Council staff member who had a ton of fans in the school. Used to tease me quite a bit, too, though she was ultimately a harmless comic relief character.

But, well, Jeanne has made her likes and dislikes clear, so her comment was fair.

“Ahaha, right. Speaking of which, I heard she became a wayward mage soon after graduating… I wonder what happened? Surely she could have gotten a job somewhere prestigious.”

“From what I heard, she DID. Had a pretty good time at the Nation’s magecraft research institution — way too good, maybe. Flirted with all the guys there and totally ruined the office’s politics and hierarchies. She was eventually fired and blacklisted from most government-funded institutions… which makes her quite a rarity among Magive University graduates, I suppose.”

“And then she just showed up here… That was quite a surprise, too.”

“Despite everything else, she IS talented when it comes to magic, after all. Anyway, what do you want from me?”

“Your lecture on Vesment Thunder has been very informative, so I’d like to ask some additional questions.”

“Hmm, you sure that’s not a date?”

“…Why’re you even making that joke again?”

Jeanne cracked a sarcastic grin at my question. Heh, so she’s just joking around on purpose.

We proceeded to walk out to the magic classroom’s practice area.

“What, Pochi’s here too?”

Jeanne turned to ask me, pointing at Pochi as she noticed her waiting there already.

“Yes! My Master has told me to be here no matter what! It’s true! He totally did! So I had no choice — TOTALLY no choice — but to come here! So, will you be receiving his training as well, Jeanne?”

“Uh, you’re not convincing anyone with your ridiculous web of lies, Pochi. And she’s the one teaching, not me.”

“Oh no! Apologies!”

She APOLOGIZING to Jeanne so easily!? She barely even does that whenever she screwed me over! Man, I’ve really been spoiling her too much…

Jeanne chuckled and patted Pochi on the head, telling her not to worry about it.

“Since Jeanne is teaching… it’s going to be that spell, yes?”

“Yeah. I got the practical application of it down during class, but I want you to learn it as well.”

“I see… She couldn’t come to class today because she was at the Scarlet Devil Wetlands. That’s understandable.”

“Now, Jeanne… when my Master makes that face, he’s clearly got things planned other than teaching me stuff!”

Wait, what face? This is how my face usually looks!

“He doesn’t look any different than usual, though.”

That’s right, Jeanne. Exactly.

“The weird face is his usual face, that’s why! But I assure you, I never miss even the subtlest of changes in his expression!”

Seeing Pochi proudly puff up her chest, Jeanne proceeded to take another look at my face.

God damn it, now my face is being studied like a book! At least I just cleaned my nose hairs, so they should look perfectly fine…

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“…And that’s about it. The magic formula itself isn’t so difficult.”

And so Jeanne ended her explanation with a top on the portable blackboard. Pochi seemed to have had fun from start to finish, nodding to the lesson… as she wore my glasses.

“Wow… I never expected the spell to contain properties similar to speed-boosting magecraft!”

Pochi said as she looked at the Spell Circle drawn on the blackboard.

“I never even knew this was magecraft, you know… Just came up with it randomly. And then I was able to enhance it after learning from Sir Gaston.”

“Right, that makes sense… he’s got a deep understanding when it comes to magecraft.”

Jeanne put on a face of mixed feelings and looked down.

Damn it, I shouldn’t have kept talking. Now Pochi’s poking me.

Looks like she hasn’t moved on from Gaston’s death yet — Actually, no… it’s just that he was such a major character in her life, as he was to so many others.

“S-so we can get Vesment Thunder by properly fusing the speed-boosting magecraft, Regeneration, and Thunderbolt… But there’s a major issue in doing just that. Can you tell what it is, Pochi?”

“Hmm… Thunderbolt is an intermediate-level attack magic, so logically speaking, Regeneration shouldn’t be able to keep up with it, yes? Even if the Regeneration’s formula was edited, the caster should still take at least some damage…”

I nodded, and Jeanne did as well.

Looks like she’s well aware that I’ve noticed that she’s been glossing over that issue.

She must be doing that for a reason, though…

“Right, and that’s how I knew the spell had its limits. I plan to bring it up during the next lecture, but you seem to have some ideas to offer… So how about we talk about it now.”

“Yes, of course.”

Jeanne smiled and picked up the chalk again.

“So… yes, the Thunderbolt is so strong that it damages the user, forcing them to end the battle quickly. But here’s the thing — the Vestment Lightning Bolt does NOT use Regeneration.”

“Huh!? Wouldn’t that hurt a lot to use, then!?”

“Yes, Pochi… But that’s only if the magic formula was used as-is. Well? Got any ideas on how I do it, Asley?”

“Hmm, since the Regeneration spell will take up too much space if you edit its formula to enhance its effect, you removed it… and applied something else to the free space instead?”

“Bingo! Good one, Asley! And here’s how it works!”

Jeanne drew the magic formula on the blackboard. Pochi and I started chuckling dryly upon seeing how complicated it was.

“Oh, I see. By absorbing the Shine Bolt’s arcane energy, you can make a magic barrier over the surface of your body, creating something like a layer of armor… Which seals in the arcane energy aura that would normally be in the air AROUND you, enabling the effect to always be active. Now that’s an efficient use of energy — and just about as complicated as All Up.”

“It’s layered armor, sir! Layered armor!”

Yeah, that sounds fitting. In this form, it’s the outer layer that does the hurting, after all.

“Man, this is pretty impressive…”

“Well, Master? Do you think you can learn it?”

“Well, the Shine Bolt is an advanced-level spell, so I sure can. I can see it having a more powerful form, too — by using an even more powerful attack spell and stuff.”

“Y-you can do that!?”

Jeanne’s surprise is understandable, but doing exactly that is part of my duty as the head professor here.

“We have to be able to. We must be as powerful as we can to stand up to our future enemies.”

Yes… as powerful as we can.

When I fought Gaspard, it was the other mages who kept the transformed Ishtar at bay. The fights ahead of us, too, are fights I absolutely can’t win by myself.

Even with all these magitek and spells we’re learning, there’s no guarantee that we’ll win without difficulty.

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