The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

“First of all, let’s consider the numbers. As of right now, the Devil King’s army isn’t actually the kind of ‘Devil King’s army’ one would expect.”

“What you do mean?”

“It’s supposed to be more like a gathering of monsters… isn’t it?”

I nodded in agreement to Ryan’s words.

Reid then realized the coming threat that he had not considered until now.

“…! Right, according to the legends, the Devil King’s army is just a huge wave of monsters that he controls to fight against the Holy Warriors. But so far, most of the things we had to fight weren’t monsters…”

“Yeah, even now, the world’s monster population is not yet functioning as the Devil King’s subordinates… Which means when they DO function, the numbers on his side will increase dramatically. And consider what they already have — the Devils on their side that are steadily gaining strength, the Alphas and Betas, and the Hell Emperor from the other day. Maybe some members of the Duodecad are under their control, too. The Devil King’s army is going to get stronger and stronger. There are so many things we have to deal with, but that doesn’t mean we CAN deal with much. That’s why I said my chances are about ten percent.”

“……I see.”

Middors, who had been quietly listening to my whole explanation, gave a deadpan reply.

“I know what my role is — and so does everyone else in Team Silver, I’m sure. If our leaders tell us to fight, we’ll fight — doesn’t matter if the enemy is the Devilkin or something else. But now, we’re up against something so powerful that it might make all efforts at working together meaningless…”

“That would be Devil King Lucifer, yes?”

Ryan, understanding the intention behind Midors’ words, turned to me. 

I nodded, prompting Adolf and Reid to groan in frustration.

“To be honest… yes, he is exceptionally powerful. To put it in simple terms, his strength is far above and beyond those of other Devils.”

“Does that mean he is at such a level that you and Master Tūs — whose strength is on the level of Holy Warriors — would be no match for him even if you two joined forces?”

Ryan seems to have a good sense of how powerful everyone is — that’s why he did not include Lylia in the equation.

Lylia is strong, yes, but now that she doesn’t have the Holy Warrior title, the only ones who stand a chance against Lucifer are… Actually, no, Ryan did just suggest that even Tūs and I might not even be a match for him.

Still, I shook my head. Not to reject the idea Ryan had just suggested, though. It’s just that, considering the distribution of our military strength, Irene and Warren simply have no choice but to not let Tūs and I fight together.

“I’ll be the only one who fights Lucifer head-on.”

Midors widened his eyes in surprise, and Adolf and Reid’s jaws figuratively dropped to the ground.

Ryan, while seemingly taken aback for a moment, quickly restored his calm, serious expression.

“As I thought… the rest of us are not powerful enough, then?”

“Honestly speaking, yes. I don’t even know if Tūs will help us out, but even if he does, I think it is better for him NOT to fight Lucifer.”

“W-wait, what do you mean…?”

Adolf took one step forward and asked me.

“Hmm…”

“He meant we would need a second Sir Asley to help us out on the battlefield.”

“A second Sir Asley…?”

“I see, I see…”

“You understand that, Midors…?”

“When a mage runs out of arcane energy, they’re nothing but a liability to the warriors. They can’t just go into a battle that might drag on long after they’ve exhausted their energy supply. But there are two people in this world who CAN do that…”

“I see! Master Tūs can provide the arcane energy everyone needs to get through a drawn-out war!”

Looks like Adolf understands it now, but Reid seems to still be confused.

“Wait, how the hell is he even gonna do that?”

“See, we got this spell called Magic Shift. You stand on its Spell Circle, and you get to use that Circle’s caster’s arcane energy to cast YOUR spells.”

“Ah, right, that’s a thing. But wouldn’t that mean the mages will be stuck in one place?”

“Only temporarily. They only have to stay in the Spell Circle until their arcane energy is restored. I plan to work on a way to expand its size so that one Circle can support several dozen people. Tūs can keep the situation under control by using Giving Magic on himself, receiving All Up buff from other mages, and attacking with spells as needed… Bull and Shi’shichou can also provide him with extra protection… At least that’s the rough plan. Hahaha…”

“Man, you REALLY don’t sound confident.”

Reid let out a dry chuckle.

Midors proceeded to ask his last question — yet another simple question that everyone wanted to ask me.

“…So, Asley, can you beat Lucifer?”

“I have no idea!”

Now, I did NOT plan to say that, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for thinking I did, because it just came out so naturally.

In response, Midors opened his eyes wide and froze up.

“Oh c’mon, man…”

Looks like the answer I gave him did end up throwing him off a bit.

“BUT…”

“Yeah?”

“…Pochi did say that I have about a thirty percent chance of winning, you know.”

And then Midors froze up again.

“That’s… uh, great, I guess.”

Welp, turns out Midors is actually surprised.

Ten percent chance of everyone winning the war, and a thirty percent chance of me winning the fight with Lucifer.

That difference of twenty percent doesn’t really amount to much, does it?

Is he… more willing to trust Pochi’s prediction over mine?

As I was thinking about that, Midors, who had been listening with a straight face this whole time, started breaking into a smile.

“Hahaha… So, thirty percent, huh?”

“Yeah, thirty percent.”

And then, perhaps because Midors’ laughter was getting contagious, Ryan started laughing as well.

“Hehehe, thirty percent chance against the Devil King? Now THAT is an interesting gamble! Hahaha!”

“Wait, wait, wait… this is Pochi’s prediction, you know! And my prediction was just ten percent! And winning the war pretty much means the same thing as beating the Devil King, you know!?”

I tried to explain, but Ryan just proceeded to laugh out loud.

After a while, Adolf and Reid turned to each other and, as if they had noticed something, started laughing as well.

“H-hey…”

I turned to try and talk to Midors, but he was also starting to laugh.

“What the hell, guys?”

I raised my voice and asked, but Midors only looked back at me while still holding his laughter.

“Asley, man, you’re a fool.”

Strangely enough, what Midors just said did not sound like a snide remark, and more like reminding me WHAT I am.

“I mean, how long has Pochi been with you?”

“Ah, well… 800 or so years, I guess…”

“Damn, she’s been spending that much time with a fool, huh?”

At first, I did not get what Midors just said at all.

Ryan and the others seemed to have caught on quickly enough, though.

Yeah, this is a matter of what I am — why others always assume first that I’m a ‘fool’.

While I don’t know that, everyone else here seems to know… or rather, believe it to be true.

“…Yeah, no doubt about it. We can trust Pochi on this.”

Suddenly, everyone — including Ryan — laughed out loud.

“…S-so you’re just gonna believe in Pochi’s prediction over mine, just because she’s been with me for a long time…?”

“Hahaha! Yeah, obviously! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“What the hell, man!?”

“Hahaha, you see, Sir Asley, it is important to have an analysis without the involvement of those the issue concerns. And so, if that is what Pochi said, then it is more likely to be correct… And I must say, with a chance of thirty percent, the future is bright!”

Ryan’s attempt at reassuring me failed spectacularly.

And if one were to ask why…

“So you’re not going to deny the part where I’m a fool?”

“Hmm? No, I mean… AHEM! Everyone, break time is over!”

“Don’t dodge the question like that! Listen–“

“Even if you’re humanity’s strongest, Sir Asley, you won’t be of much help if you stay cowardly! Now, everyone, time for more training!”

“What the hell, Sir Ryan!?”

“LIGHTNING BLADE!”

And so I was forced to take part in the spontaneous training session.

I noticed Adolf, Reid, and Midors shaking from time to time… not because of fear or excitement, but rather, they were holding back their laughter.

Still… seriously? They would believe Pochi’s prediction over mine? Bloody hell, mates…

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