The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

With me ignoring Irene’s persistent questioning the whole way, we made our way back to the southern gate of Eddo.

There, I came across a certain person who seemed surprised to see me.

“Ah!? You really are here! Mister Asley!”

Hmm? I recognize that appearance of hers from somewhere…

Tan skin, decent abs, golden circlet, purple eyes…

And this scent of musk… tickling my nose…!

“Ah! You’re that fortune teller!”

I said, pointing at her.

In response, she winked at me.

Irene said, having jumped up to peek over my shoulder for a look at the young woman.

So her name is Sayaka, huh? I only knew that she was one of Minerva’s students…

That time she read my fortune with those cards of hers, she gave me some vague results, and then stopped right when it was getting to the good part.

I still don’t know how to describe my frustration at that moment, even though it’s been quite a while since then.

“Ah, I didn’t notice you there. Please don’t spook me like that. Ahahaha…”

“So? Another message from Minerva?”

Oh yeah, I haven’t heard from Minerva for quite a while now. According to Irene, she’s traveling around the world and helping people.

Since she has Blue with her, she’s definitely the right person to do that job. And she did tell me at some point that she would send a messenger instead of communicating via telepathy… Ah, I see, so this Sayaka girl has been reporting to Irene, huh? 

Frankly, I wish Minerva was here when Lucifer and Cleath came, but I guess what’s past is past. Miverva and Blue had their own places to be, and their own initiative in saving the people. There is much more to this world than Eddo, after all.

“Yes, but this time, it’s addressed to Mister Asley.”

“All right. I’ll head on back to the classroom, then.”

“Ah, yes.”

After we saw Irene off, I turned to ask Sayaka,

“Now wait a second… Did I even introduce myself to you last time?”

“Huh? A-ah… maybe not? But I do know who you are — you’re pretty famous, after all!”

“…Right. So, you said you have a message for me? From Miss Minerva?”

“Well, yes, that’s one part of it.”

Uh-huh? So she has her own business with me as well or something? And does it have to be now?

I mean, it’s not like I can just send her away — she’s an associate of Minerva’s, and Minerva pretty much saved my life, after all.

“So what do you need– Hey, what do you think you’re–!?”

Okay, it’s no surprise that I’m calling her out like this — she’s taking out her fortune-telling cards again!

“It’s all right! I have permission from my master this time!”

Sayaka said cheerfully as she used arcane energy to make the cards do the fortune-telling.

Okay, so she got permission from Minerva, but what about ME? …And what is that permission from Minerva supposed to mean, anyway?

“……Hmm. Still the same.”

“What’s still the same?”

I asked, sounding grumpy, and Sayaka showed me the two cards in her hand.

“…What are those?”

“As you can see, they are both The Fool.”

“……And?”

“You see, there is supposed to be only one of these in the deck. But whenever I read your fortune, TWO of them appear.”

“What if I hold on to one of those?”

“As strange as it sounds… that will make no difference.”

“And you’re sure you didn’t put an extra copy into your deck?”

“Even if I did, the technique isn’t supposed to bring out the same card twice in a row.”

“So that’s why you stopped telling me the results last time?”

I tilted my head, and Sayaka responded with a nod.

“Okay… so what does that mean for my fortune, anyway?”

This is what Minerva allowed — this girl telling me the results. I should assume there’s a good reason for this.

Sayaka took a step closer to me, vigilant of her surroundings. Then she said in a whisper,

“Unknown possibility.”

“Hmm?”

“That is the meaning of an upright The Fool.”

“So…”

“You have all the possibilities of the world within you, Mister Asley.”

Man, she really talks like a certain doggo furball I know…

“…I don’t quite get it. What exactly are you trying to tell me, Sayaka?”

“No, not me — my master.”

“Miss Minerva?”

“Yes, this has been the message from her.”

“What about that business you had with me?”

“That was to read your fortune again… which I just did. And by master’s business was for me to tell you the result. They may sound the same, but are very different.”

Okay… So in Sayaka’s case, she probably wanted to do this because she couldn’t comprehend the result she would always get… but what about Minerva? Her motives are still as unreadable as ever, I see.

I tilted my head. Sayaka put her cards away and raised her hand.

“Well then, it’s about time I got going.”

“Huh? Already?”

“Ah, I almost forgot… I do have an actual message from my master.”

“You don’t say…”

“‘The final battle is an inevitability. If you find yourself in trouble, remember what you have been doing…'”

Another vague statement…

And so Sayaka took her leave, headed north.

Considering Minerva’s prowesses, I do want them to stay, though… we need all the power we can get.

Surely Irene and Warren would want them for the Resistance, too.

“Oh, Mister Asley. What brings you here?”

Shortly after entering the city, I came across Trace, Irene’s assistant, not so far from the south gate.

“What about you, Miss Trace?”

“We have just received the delivery of Drynium steel armors from the manufacturers, you see. While Miss Irene was talking with everyone, I was busy making the arrangements, and was done with that just now.”

“Hahaha… Thank you very much. Did they have enough steel, though? What we got from the cage bars didn’t seem like a lot…”

“We used your gold to purchase some more, you see.”

“Oh, you mean the funding from Master Polco?”

Trace nodded.

“The Nation of T’oued is rich with history and tradition — naturally, there have been excavations of Drynium ore and items forged with Drynium steel. We have purchased as much of them as we could.”

“T-that must have been difficult.”

“Oh, not quite. No one refused to sell their goods to us, thanks to Mister Warren’s assistance with the negotiation processes.”

Ah, it’s one of those ‘offer they cannot refuse’ things…

He definitely was the right person for the job.

Trace handled the front end of the transaction, with Warren exerting pressure from many directions onto the reluctant sellers… Man, I didn’t expect Warren to have gone around doing so many different things in so many different places. I mean, there’s no way Trace herself didn’t know what he’s been up to.

People who wear glasses are not to be underestimated! Wait… does that also apply to me? Hehehe… now that sounds great!

“You seem quite carefree, considering you just made Miss Pochi cry…”

“Hwuh–!? H-how much did she tell you, Miss Trace?”

“I only saw her.”

“T-then why would you say I did…?”

“Well, who else could have made her cry?”

Other than me? Tūs and Lucifer can. Physically and mentally.

But, well, Tūs wouldn’t bully Pochi, and Lucifer wasn’t in Eddo, so… Yup, it was me.

“S-so… where is she now?”

“She just went that way… which I assume is where Master Tūs is. After all, he is almost always out of town, finding a good spot to nap.”

“Do you think she’s going there to… complain to him?”

“No. I think she’s planning her revenge, actually.”

God damn, she really can say some dangerous things so casually sometimes.

“R-revenge…?”

“Has Miss Pochi ever let any slight at her go without retaliation? You should know… actually, no, considering it is YOU, I should rephrase. EVERYONE knows the answer to that.”

With Trace spelling that out for me, I was at a loss for words for a brief moment.

I talked about it with Irene, so Trace, who just told me she ‘only saw her’ should not know the nitty gritty details.

This is it — there’s absolutely no way out of this. Neither for me nor for Pochi. Not even if she were to get help from Tūs, Philosopher of the Far East and High-Order Muscle.

We must accept it. It’s almost time for the final battle. And the time to say goodbye to Pochi…

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