The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

“You know, I never thought there’d be such a fine-looking restaurant hidden away in this corner of Eddo.”

“This place is what you would call a hidden gem♪!”

“So… you really love your sweets, huh?”

“Mmm… Hmm?”

I only asked Fuyu that because she was having a ‘cream anmitsu’ — a local dessert consisting of ice cream, ‘an’ — which is red bean paste, and ‘mitsu’ — which is syrup. 

For some reason, though, she suddenly stopped wolfing down her sweets right when my sentence ended. 

Seeing that she was still holding her spoon in her mouth, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hey, it’s fine — I like sweets, too.”

“T-this is… Uh… Well…”

I can’t quite hear what she’s saying… For some reason, though, the way she’s mumbling to herself kinda reminds me of when I tried out the Levitation spell the first time, particularly how Pochi mumbled when we landed.

As I recalled that memory, Fuyu finally let go of the spoon in her mouth.

“…! This particular taste of mine is influenced by Sir Gaston, I say!”

Oh-ho… Influenced by the Great Mage of Flame himself? Interesting.

“Now I’m curious. Wanna talk about how exactly he influenced you?”

“So Sir Gaston knew some so many amazing non-famous restaurants and shops back in Regalia, you see…”

“Oh-ho…”

“And whenever I went to see him and turn in progress reports, we often ended up visiting such places afterward!”

“I see…”

“And those places just happened to have so many tempting desserts…!”

“Mm-hm…”

“So naturally, Sir Gaston and I ended up ordering at least a few every single time… Uh..!”

“Oh, so that’s how the ‘Chocolate Milk Banana Sundae, Fuyu’s Special with Extra Chocolate’ came to be?”

“Huh!? H-How do you know about that!?”

I only vaguely remember it randomly coming up during one of my Telepathic Calls with Gaston. I must say, though, Fuyu’s reaction to it was way more intense than I expected.

“Well, like I said, I like sweets too. Don’t worry about it.”

Upon hearing that, Fuyu fell silent again, this time with a flushed face. 

Hmm, maybe I poked fun at her a bit too much… not that it was my intention; my tone must have come off that way.

She’s not the only one who’s on edge — everyone else is, too. We’re in a situation where we don’t know when a war might break out. I want everyone to have some time to relax — that’s the least I can do to help them. But… yeah, sometimes I just don’t know when I’m supposed to stop trying to sound funny.

So I guess it’s about time we wrapped this up and get back to–

“S-so! Sir Asley, you’re making me feel… things. What do you think it is!? Is this… LOVE!?”

This time, it’s me who suddenly stopped eating. 

No, not just me. Everyone in the shop froze as well. 

And for some reason, it feels as if everyone is focusing their ears on our conversation.

“…Uh, Fuyu?”

“Yes! It must be! I won’t deny it anymore — this is love!”

“I-I know, all right? Really, I know! J-just sit down, all right? Please?”

Seeing that Fuyu stood up in the heat of the moment, I tried to remind her to take a seat.

Fuyu took a few moments to calm herself down, sounding a bit out of breath for some reason. 

Is this… my fault? Yup, it’s definitely my fault. 

I must have poked fun at her a little too much.

“Do you feel it too, Sir Asley!?”

Why is she standing up again?

And once again, the restaurant fell silent. It’s become so quiet that it feels like we’re the only humans here. What the hell is going on with this restaurant?

“Ah-huh… Huh?”

“Make up your mind! Or else, I’ll eat this!”

She’s starting to talk like Pochi… and act like her, too. That cream anmitsu cup she’s holding now? It’s MINE!

Yup, it definitely doesn’t belong to Fuyu. Just from looking at it — as well as the look on Fuyu’s face earlier when she was eating from her cup — I can tell that it’s sweet and delicious. I do want to eat it too, honestly.

…? Oh, I see. So she’s asking if I love sweets, and wants me to answer without sounding funny, huh?

“Ah. Right. Love. Yeah, that’s what I feel.”

“I-is that so!? W-whew…! That almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Uh, sorry. I might’ve joked around a bit too much.”

“It’s all right, Sir Asley. It’s important to have fun like this whenever we’re on a date!”

Huh? Since when was this a date?

“Oh, Sir Asley, this rice flour cake is delicious, too! It’s called… gyuhi, I think?”

“Is it? I might as well give it a try, then — experiencing culture is sure to have educational value.”

“Sir Gaston was quite interested in T’oued culture, too.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that he quite liked T’oued desserts — those cakes and rice crackers he used to have with tea…”

“He used to tell me that you never ate all that much. Did he ever tell you that as well?”

“Well, Pochi would always eat everything up by the end of it, so…”

“That’s true, but I think Sir Gaston wasn’t particularly worried about that…”

“What do you mean?”

I tilted my head, curious about the true meaning behind Gaston’s words that Fuyu had mentioned.

“Sir Asley, you’re the kind of person to do something alone if you can, yes?”

And what’s wrong with that?

“By dividing the work, you could finish it faster, you know? You shouldn’t hesitate to rely on others more, I say.”

“Hmm, but sometimes, doing things alone can be faster…”

“Why?”

Fuyu turns a little grumpy.

Looks like she’s particularly quick to get angry today.

“So when you need to do things together with others, you need to gather everyone up first, right?”

“Oh-ho…”

“The time spent waiting for everyone to get together eats into everyone’s time… is what I meant. And if that messes up the plans they already have, then it eats into their time even more.”

“I see…”

“And it’s even worse if the work they planned to get done before the end of the day gets interrupted halfway, because that means they’ll have to wait until the next day.”

“Mm-hm…”

“…Wait, are you copying me or something?”

“A little bit.”

The look in Fuyu’s eyes suggests that she’s happy, as if she got to get back at me.

Heh, she’s actually pretty funny when she wants to be.

“Well, anyway… for those reasons, working alone is ultimately more efficient. While dividing the work and finishing them quickly might seem effective at that moment, when you consider scheduling with others, it’s definitely better to do it alone. Or rather… it’s easier.”

“You sound very confident…”

“Well, it’s only because I have an unlimited lifespan.”

“But you only live once!”

Fuyu’s gaze was intense as she spoke, and then she began devouring the cream anmitsu with a determined gleam in her eyes.

“And so! You have to! Take good care! Of yourself! …Whew, that was good.”

She exclaimed… while also savoring the rest of the ice cream.

Today, it feels like I’ve gotten to see so many sides of Fuyu that she normally wouldn’t show.

We proceeded to finish our meal, then I realized that we had no immediate plan after this.

Before standing up to pay the bill, I turned to ask Fuyu,

“By the way, Fuyu…”

“What is it?”

“It feels like people have been staring at us for a while now… Are any of them an acquaintance of yours?”

“Hmm?”

According to Fuyu, her former junior members from the Royal Capital Magic Guardians — ones who deeply admire her — were present at the restaurant.

I see, so those intense stares were from them… And it seems that Fuyu’s popularity is the reason why those stares were directed at me alone.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“I heard the news, Asley!”

“Yeah, don’t even think about keeping us in the dark, man!”

After finishing some miscellaneous errands, I returned to the Silver Manor… and as soon as I walked in, my neck was caught by Betty’s right arm and Bruce’s left arm. It’s like they’re trying to arrest me or something.

But what news did they hear? 

Whenever these two seem excited, it’s usually for nothing special, though…

“It took you long enough, man — I can’t believe you actually made your choice!”

What choice is Bruce even talking about?

“I thought you’d choose either Lina or Tifa, you know… Never thought it’d be ‘her’!”

Who is this ‘her’ Betty is talking about?

“MASTERRRRRRRRR!!”

And here comes the ever-noisy furball…

“Are you sure you want to do something THAT important NOW!? I don’t understand what you’re thinking anymore, sir!! Now what!? How do you plan to go from now on, sir?! Also, I’m hungry!!”

She never changes…

…And I still have no idea what’s going on.

“Okay, seriously, guys, what are you even talking about? Just tell me — don’t assume I know anything.”

“What do you mean, what? …Huh?”

Betty is looking at Bruce, seeming to seek some kind of agreement.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… You’re gonna make ME talk about it? …Yeah?”

And now Bruce is looking at Pochi. Are they going to go in circles?

“I-I won’t say it, sir! It’s too embarrassing!!”

Well, she’s not doing a good job at not saying things — she’s blocking her ears, not her mouth!

With that thought crossing my mind, I was about to tell her that when the sliding doors of the mansion’s hall were suddenly flung open. It was the loudest I’ve heard those doors slam — if someone were to say that was their maximum volume, I’d believe it. 

And the one who appeared was, contrary to all the noise she just caused, the one known as the Silent Witch — Lina.

“Sir Asley, we need to talk.”

For some reason, Lina’s eyes look SCARY — like the eyes of someone who has buried billions of Devils. 

Maybe she is scarier than Devil King Lucifer, even. 

Lina enters the hall and gestures for me to follow her. 

Along with an inexplicable chill down my spine, I felt the presence of another person behind me.

“What in the world did you even do, Asley?”

“Oh, Blazer. To be honest… I have no idea, either.”

Looks like Blazer is taking my answer seriously. 

Then, he looked at me again; something seemed to have come to his mind.

“Oh yeah, you and Fuyu are in a relationship now, right? I suppose congratulations are in order. Ryan even had something to say about that — ‘In times like these, it is not a bad idea to be close to someone’… but he also seemed a little angry, you know? Something about Tifa and Lina, I think? I’m afraid I have no idea how this concerns them, which goes to show that I still have to pay attention to my Team’s members more…”

And so Blazer is already going off on a tangent…

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