The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

“Ugh, great! I sent Lylia to PREVENT you from doing exactly what you just did, you know! What a waste of effort!”

Why am I the only one getting lectured by Irene?

Lylia had just awkwardly walked out of the head professor’s office, and no one stopped her.

And Tūs, well, he never even showed up for the lecture in the first place.

Maybe it’d be perfectly fine if I walked out right now as well? Nah, that can’t be right — why would I think it is?

“…Hey, are you even listening!?”

“Huh? Ah, yes, of course I was.”

“From which part to which part?”

“From the part where you asked whether or not I was listening.”

“…I guess.”

“Ugh… whatever. Just remember to be on time for your next meeting, all right?”

“……Huh?”

“…The gathering of the Duodecad, in case you’ve forgotten already.”

As Irene narrowed her eyes at me, I clapped my hands together, remembering what she referred to.

Seeing my reaction, Irene let out yet another deep sigh.

Indeed, I’m supposed to meet the Duodecad today — I almost forgot about that.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The venue of the magic classroom is used for many other things — the usual learning, gatherings, and even some of the important meetings.

“Asley, you sit here.”

I did as Irene asked, sitting down on a cushion directly opposite to the venue’s entrance.

If this were a meeting table, sitting here practically puts me at the head of it — even though it’s round. Is it really all right for me to be in such an important position?

“Don’t worry about it. You’re technically the oldest one here.”

“Did you just read my mind?”

“It’s written all over your face.”

I really would like to ask what she had meant by ‘technically,’ but the tense air about Irene prevented me from doing so.

Irene did not sit on the cushion next to me, and instead simply folded her arms and kept on standing as we waited for the others to arrive.

Who are the others? Well, the Duodecad, of course.

“Oh? Am I the first one here?”

Actually, you’re the third, boy.

“Hmm, quick to arrive as ever, I see,” said Irene.

Well, not counting us, I suppose he IS the first one here — Barun, nicknamed the Scale Tipper.

From the looks of it, the old Duodecad has been invited as well — whoever of them is available, anyway.

“Where should I sit, Miss Irene?”

“Hmm… right there.”

Again, the cushions had been arranged in a circle. Irene’s seat is to my right, and Barun’s assigned seat is to my left.

“Hello there.”

“I didn’t know you’d be here as well.”

Barun is a FORMER member of the Six Braves. Of course I didn’t expect him to be called over.

“Well, I didn’t know YOU would be here either, seeing that you never were in the Duodecad… Heh, just kidding. It’s not like we’re total strangers or anything — should be fine, yes?”

Saying that, Barun started chuckling.

He’s one of the most frequent attendees of the magic classroom, so we have had many chances to talk.

The same can’t be said about most other Duodecad members, though.

Still, the only other one I feel comfortable talking to is… Dragan, I guess?

If I’m counting former Duodecad members as well, I guess there’s also Jennifer. No, not Charlie — no offense to him, but he’s way too damn noisy.

“Oh, am I late?”

“Warren? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here as a facilitator, so to speak. We’re expecting all kinds of quirky people today, after all. Ah, by the way, Sir Barun…”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I think it would be wise if you moved away from that seat.”

“Huh, why? I sat down here because Miss Irene told me to.”

Warren proceeded to turn to Irene, who pretended to not notice the look he was giving her. Well, maybe that last part was just my imagination.

In the end, though, Barun complied with Warren’s advice, moving to the seat to his left, leaving one space between me and him.

And then the next attendee arrived — Warren’s sister, Jennifer the Black Fist, another former member of the Six Braves.

“……”

She looked grumpy as she walked in, and said nothing as she made a beeline to take the seat next to me.

“Ah, I see…”

Barun said nothing more than that, leaving me clueless as to what he understood from seeing Jennifer sit next to me.

“Long time no see.”

“R-right. Long time…”

And Jennifer doesn’t seem to be in high spirits today. Her arcane energy is perfectly fine, though — did something happen?

“GAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Here comes a laughing voice fit for a monster.

Irene cracked a dry grin, Warren seemed as uninterested as ever, and Barun… also cracked a dry grin.

Well, no need to guess who it is — there’s only one person I know who can laugh like that.

And I sense another person with him — someone who, judging from their aura, is definitely a good friend of his.

“HAHAHA! Did we keep you waiting, Miss Irene!?”

“There’s no need to worry, Sir Charlie. It is not yet the scheduled time of the meeting.”

“Oh come on, Dragan, I’m trying to strike up a casual conversation here! I swear, this is what makes the difference between men like us! GAHAHAHA!”

“What a… wonderful concept. But first, let us take our seats, sir.”

Dragan, quite used to dealing with Charlie, dodged the conversation and got the latter to sit down.

Charlie — he’s known as the Thousand Morphing Blades, and is a former leader of the Duodecad. Then there’s Dragan the Dainty Tiger, also a former member of the Six Braves. Dragan seems to have been more aggressively trying to rein in Charlie’s over-the-top behavior as of late.

Charlie sat next to Irene, and Dragan next to Charlie. Warren is standing behind Jennifer. Somehow, it feels strange that he and Irene are standing while the rest of us are sitting. Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten too used to T’oued culture by now.

……Oh, here come more people. Two of them — ones I’m particularly bad at dealing with.

“…Wow, looks like someone here really hates me.”

The one who said that as soon as she saw my face was Catherine, the so-called Benevolent Petal. She’s another former member of the Six Braves, and right now she’s working for the Adventurers’ Guild as a special staff member.

“Not as much as the look you’re giving him, Miss Catherine.”

“Oh, shut up, Jacob!”

The other one is Jacob the Demon Blader — formerly one of the Six Braves and a special Guild staff member just like Catherine.

Guild Master Scott personally recruited them, so they CAN be trusted. But if they’re left to their own devices, who knows which side they’ll pick… Hey, wait a second…

Since they’re not part of the Six Braves anymore, wouldn’t the current Duodecad not be functioning?

As if to answer the question I had in mind, Irene spoke up,

“Took you long enough to notice, huh? The Duodecad doesn’t exist over there anymore, really — so except you and Warren, everyone here is a former Duodecad member.”

…Oh.

Catherine sat down next to Dragan, and Jacob next to Catherine.

“What, you’re here as well, boy?”

Catherine said, looking at Barun. From the look in her eyes, they don’t seem to get along at all.

“I’m terribly sorry, ma’am, but I must ask… do I know you?”

Barun played up his innocent persona, his face looking like a young boy — oh, wait, his face ALWAYS looks like that of a young boy’s.

Catherine is not amused, though — she scowled even harder, showing wrinkles on her face.

“Why I oughtta kick yer a–“

Irene — the one in charge of the arrangement of today’s meeting — predictably stood between Catherine and Barun, preventing the argument from escalating.

And was Catherine about to say ‘kick yer ass’ just now? That was quite an unexpected thing to hear from someone called the Benevolent Petal.

“Keep it down.”

“I know, I know!”

Well, Irene can keep her under control just fine, though. Not many people are strong enough to go against her.

Moreover, Barun is more powerful than Catherine — hell, he’s probably good enough to be a decent match for Irene.

He seems to have been working so absurdly hard for someone so young. And the fact that he can hide his strength so well really shows how impressive he really is.

Another one who could fight Irene is… Charlie, I guess. Warren would agree with me, though he probably wouldn’t say it because she’s his superior.

And I’m not saying it, either — because I’m a wise Philosopher.

…Okay, actually, it’s because she’d be super pissed at me.

Now then, who else is coming today?

“Whew… the arcane energy sure is dense around here.”

A man clad in all black walked in, constantly tapping the floor with his staff. He has blonde hair with some streaks of gray, and a long scar runs straight through both his eyes. That’s Russel the Glorious Dark, one of the Six Archmages.

He has superior control over his four senses due to the inability to rely on visual information, which is probably why he is the first among the Archmages to successfully learn the Ultimate Limit.

Warren stood up and took him by the arm, guiding him to his seat.

“Oh, this energy signature… Sir Barun, yes?”

“Hello, Sir Russel.”

Catherine started scowling again, probably salty about how Barun pretended not to remember her earlier.

And since Barun is interacting with Russel just fine, they must be on good terms. Heh, what a convenient indicator.

As soon as Russel sat down, someone else entered the venue — in quite a hurry, too.

“D-did I make it on time!?”

A mage with matching silver hair and eyes — that’s Amil the Super Silver Spirit, famous for landing a position among the Six Archmages at an impressively young age. Her technical knowledge of the invocation of magic is SUPER high. In fact, she probably could use Deca Spell if she were to give it a try.

“Yes, you did. Sit wherever you’d like, Amil.”

Hearing Irene say that, Amil nodded happily and sat down next to Russel.

Wow, everyone’s totally avoiding Jacob and Catherine. This is kinda funny to see.

“Mind if I sit here?”

An unexpected voice came from Amil’s side — that’s Natasha, one of the Six Braves known by the scary nickname of Unholy War Princess, who has entered the venue without anyone noticing. She has silver hair, and her skin is conspicuously pale. Her overall appearance is quite similar to Irene’s, but her aura is… much more gentle, so to speak. For some reason, though, Irene refused to tell me the origin of her nickname.

Maybe she wanted me to ask Natasha herself instead… but frankly speaking, I don’t think I’m brave enough to do that. Since the name is so widely known, someone else might be able to tell me about it instead, I guess.

Now then, looks like almost everyone is here by now.

Here comes another guy — someone I didn’t expect to see today, in fact.

“..Hmph.”

Tangalán the Meteor Battlemage… the one who replaced Irene as one of the Six Archmages after she resigned.

He’s also the Headmaster of the Magic University. We crossed paths a handful of times back when I was a student there.

…Oh, he sat next to Jacob. Now this is some pretty interesting relationship dynamics we’ve got going here.

Billy won’t be with us today, of course, but what about the real Stoffel? Hmm, I guess I shouldn’t expect him — he’s been missing without a trace for a while now. Rumor has it that Lucifer ate him. Like, literally ate him.

Well, when I was with Kaoru, I did see ‘Stoffel’ transform into Lucifer right before my eyes. The rescue squad in Regalia was not able to track him down, either, so it’s probably safe for us to assume that he’s gone now.

So… who else are we expecting? Am I forgetting someone? No offense to them, but I can’t think of anyone…

…And just as I thought that, I heard loud footsteps approaching the venue.

And then came the familiar voice–

“MISS LINA!?”

Right, Egd. How could I forget him?

…Sometimes I do wish I could actually forget him.

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