The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Asley was down on the ground, unconscious… and to his side was a wolf, raising a ruckus.

“MASTER! A-a-a-are you all right!? Do you know who I am!? Ahh! The face you’re making makes you look like a total fool!”

Pochi expressed her concern with her usual teasing.

But this time, the result was different — Asley did not respond to her at all.

Pochi’s expression gradually changed for the worse.

“Uh… Master? Hello!?”

A stark contrast from moments ago, now she sounded serious, her voice suggesting that she was only a step away from panicking. She pushed her nose under Asley’s shoulder and raised her head, turning Asley over so that he faced upward.

Everyone then saw Asley’s face — a face of total exhaustion, one that none had ever seen from him before.

“Alsey! Come on, pull yourself together, Asley!”

“Sir Asley!”

And Lina was on the verge of tears.

Gradually, countless warriors and mages gathered around Asley.

“Rise, A-rise, High Cure Adjust!”

Warren promptly tried casting a healing spell, despite there not being a single injury on his body in the first place.

“Rise, Giving Magic!”

Hornel then tried using a continuous arcane energy recovery spell, but that did not get any reaction out of Asley either.

Pochi proceeded to put her ear on Asley’s chest.

“His… his heart isn’t beating!”

“Pochi, step aside!”

The first to act then was Warren, putting both his hands on Asley’s chest and applying rhythmic blasts of pressure.

“Asley, man! Wake up!”

Bruce shouted as he ran up to the scene.

“Ash! You’re not supposed to die yet!!”

“Sir Asley! Please stay with us!”

Melchi and Haruhana also shouted out of worry.

Lina and Fuyu shivered and wept, while Irene tried to help Warren out by casting a wind spell to send air into Asley’s lungs.

Lylia approached, dragging her tattered body through the crowd of warriors and mages.

“Warren, let me do it!”

Lylia, switching in, raised her fist up.

“At this point, his body is about as tough as Tūs’. What you’re doing isn’t anywhere near enough to make his heart move…”

Tightly clenching her fist, she then swung down at Asley’s chest with all her might.

The blow was so heavy that it quaked the earth, the sound of the impact echoing through the whole area.

But Asley’s heart still refused to move.

Lylia tried again and again, beating on Alsey’s chest.

Putting all her strength into every single blow, she refused to give up.

Tūs, watching from afar, heaved a sigh and quickly drew up a Spell Circle.

“Thunder.”

The elementary-level spell zapped down on Asley.

Its power combined with Irene’s spell, and Warren and Lylia’s punches…

“Master!”

…Pochi shouted again…

“…! GAH!?”

…And in the end, the fool opened his eyes.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Bruce carried Asley back to the Silver Mansion in Eddo, and the others leaned against the walls, resting from the fatigue they had accumulated.

Higher-ups such as Blazer, Warren, and Irene were busy with post-battle paperwork, but in a corner of their minds, they were worried about Asley.

“Do you know how worried I was!? Do you, Master!?”

“…Yeah.”

Asley rose from his mattress and leaned his back against the wall, then looked down at his own hands.

Seemingly not listening to anything Pochi had been saying, he kept staring at his hands… but at the same time, it seemed as if he was not looking at anything at all.

Pochi noticed that, and so she kept on talking — so as to keep Asley’s mind from wandering elsewhere.

“You always work yourself too hard, Master! Really, you don’t know when you need to stop! You should learn from Sir Tūs’ example! Well, just a little bit, though!”

“Yeah.”

“Now that we’re past the big fight, you should rest, sir! That’s right — resting is important too!”

“Yeah.”

All she got were the same blank answers — no intonation, a calm and utterly powerless voice.

Still, Pochi continued.

“You and I may be physically immortal, but we’re not undead, sir! It’ll still be over for us if we die! So get some rest while you can!”

By now, there was no reply from Asley at all.

He only clenched his hands, opened them, clasped them again, opened them again, and repeated the process over and over.

“Oh, I know! Let’s get something to eat! Only the things I like, though! BUT I’ll let you have a little bite! I’m a nice dog, after all!”

For one last time, Asley tightly clenched his fists and closed his eyes. Then, when he opened his eyes again, he stood up.

“I can’t stay down…”

He mumbled, prompting Pochi to stand in front of him, blocking his path.

“N-no! You have to rest, Master!”

“Let me go, Pochi.”

“I! WILL! NOT! You’re not going anywhere!”

“LET ME GO!”

Asley’s tone was rough, his voice full of anger.

Pochi was startled for a moment, but then she went back at Asley with a gaze just as strong.

“…NO!”

In response to their voices, several footsteps echoed from the corridor, and then the doors to the room were slid open.

Asley’s eyes were focused on Pochi. And behind Pochi were Lina, Fuyu, Haruhana, and Tifa — the last of whom had teleported here from Beilanea.

However, Asley did not take his eyes off Pochi, and kept a dark, piercing look in his eyes.

The four others, having never seen Asley like this before, instantly were able to tell what was wrong.

Taking his eyes off Pochi for a moment, Asley turned to them.

“…Looks like you’re all safe. Thank goodness.”

Lina clenched her fists — and so did the three others.

Asley’s voice lacked its usual gentleness, and still contained a hint of impatience and the anger that he had directed at Pochi moments prior.

“D-did something happen, Sir Asley…?”

Lina asked, trembling.

“Nothing.”

“”!?””

The reply he gave Lina was cold, his face expressionless.

With that, Lina and the others were left speechless.

Pochi was the only one to be angry at Asley now.

“Is this how you talk to the people who are just worried about you!?”

Now that the Devil King had returned, Asley could not afford to waste even a single moment. Pochi understood that well, which was exactly why she had to be angry at him — to keep him under control.

His cold attitude was a result of impatience, and Pochi knew better than anyone that Asley must not stay this way.

This anger Pochi was showing was on a level the four others had never seen before. Only Asley knew the severity of the look she was giving him — and that she was getting angry for his sake.

But he was too impatient to accept that… perhaps rightfully so, considering everything.

“…Sorry.”

Asley turned away from everyone and tried to leave.

“NO!”

Finally, Pochi resorted to biting Asley’s right leg… but that still did not make him stop.

She kept biting harder, so much so that Asley’s blood started dripping from her mouth.

“…! S-stop it, Pochi! And you too, Sir Asley! You shouldn’t be up and about yet!”

Lina held Pochi back…

“You must rest, Sir Asley!”

…Haruhana attempted to lock Asley by his shoulders…

“”Sir Asley!””

…And Tifa and Fuyu stood in front of Asley, spreading out their arms to block his path.

But neither Asley nor Pochi — those who had lived through the era of legends — could be stopped by them.

Pochi shook herself free from Lina’s grasp, and Asley brushed Haruhana’s hands away before forcing himself past Tifa and Fuyu… and then made a wide swing with his right leg, forcing Pochi to release his right leg from her mouth.

Barely sticking the landing before hitting a wall, Pochi called out to Asley again,

“DON’T GO!!”

But with her voice failing to reach him, Asley quickly disappeared without a trace from the mansion.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Tūs sat cross-legged in the magic classroom’s practice area, with Bull standing next to him, and Shi’shichou perching on Bull’s back.

Standing in front of them was Warren, looking up at Tūs.

“I see. So Alsey still hasn’t quite recovered…”

Warren said, while Tūs picked his ear with his pinky.

“He really messed up, using just pure arcane energy to push back so many breath attacks like that. Not like he could have done anything else, though…”

“Yes. He saved Miss Irene’s life. Billy and Cleath had aimed to attack while Asley, Pochi, and Lylia were all absent, but in the end, they failed to kill Miss Irene — that must have been a big blow to their ego. Our casualties were small, too… is what I’d like to say, but we still lost no less than thirty combatants.”

“That sucks.”

Tūs said, blowing his earwax off his finger.

“Sir Tūs, if not for your ‘nap,’ even Miss Irene and I would have died — as well as everyone else on our side, too.”

“Hmph.”

“That was the only thing you could do to help without unnecessarily riling up the Devilkin, I understand. Quite a valuable learning experience, I must say.”

“I don’t remember any of that. Anyway, what’re you gonna do now?”

In response to Tūs’ question, Warren’s eyes widened — a rare reaction coming from him.

“Oh, so you ARE interested in our activities?”

“Shaddup. It’s not like I wanna die either, you know — Look, I’ll pay rent if you’d just give me a place to hide.”

Warren chuckled at Tūs’s indirect request for help… but that smile only lasted a brief moment.

Tūs had heard of Warren before through Asley’s stories, so as a result of them talking here for the first time, he was able to understand a decent bit of Warren’s character.

For that exact reason, he had an idea why that smile had disappeared.

Tūs let out a loud sigh and closed his eyes.

“…You probably can tell what’s happening to him now.”

Warren also let out a sigh — another rare reaction coming from him.

“Kickback from releasing so much arcane energy at once…”

“Yeah, and now his arcane energy is just… gone. I have no idea how to make it come back.”

Tūs scratched his head and looked up to see a night sky filled with dark clouds. Eventually, Warren did so as well.

Tūs then grumbled quietly,

“This sucks…”

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