The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

In the shade just outside of Eddo, a Familiar was snoring loudly.

It was none other than Bull, the King Happy Killer — Familiar of Tūs the High-Order Muscle, also known as the Philosopher of the Far East.

Beside Bull, Tūs sat cross-legged with his arms folded.

The moonlit night sky stretched above, and small footsteps approached him — footsteps most familiar to Tūs and Bull.

“Hey.”

“HEY!”

With a cheerful greeting and a raised hand, Melchi, Tūs’s apprentice and also Asley’s senior, appeared.

Reaching Tūs, Melchi sat down cross-legged just like him. She leaned her hands behind her back against the ground and joined Tūs in gazing up at the moonlit night sky.

“You want something?”

“Ya ain’t foolin’ anyone, Mel. You wouldn’t be here for no reason.”

“Well, you do got a point there…”

Tūs still gazed at the sky, while Melchi, attempting to conceal her blunder, pulled her wizard hat lower.

“It’s gotta be about that bastard, yeah?”

“That’s one thing, I guess…”

“The Duodecad?”

“Yeah, that too… Man, you never miss, Master…”

Melchi shrugged.

Finally, Tūs turned to face her, his expression containing three emotions: slightly annoyed, moderately annoyed, and extremely annoyed.

“Wow, you look annoyed…”

“Yeah, any apprentice of mine should be able to tell that.”

“I guess…”

“So? You made up your mind about what to do with that bastard yet?”

Melchi looked taken aback to hear that question from Tūs.

“Uh, Master Tūs, you’re being way too straightforward about all this… Like, don’t you have anything else you wanna say…?”

Melchi gave Tūs an utterly confused look, prompting the latter to clear his throat and say to her, scattering his spit all over the place,

“Nah. You need to get to the point YESTERDAY.”

“Meh… I wasn’t expecting you to say anything anyway.”

“Yeah, right… if you wanna hear someone say nice things, you’re better off asking Asley.”

“And make Ash work harder than he already is? I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“And you’re fine with ME having more work? Hmph!”

“Oh, y’know, I figured you’d be able to handle a teeny tiny bit more…”

Melchi tapped her own forehead, and Tūs groaned out of annoyance once again.

However, being their mentor, Tūs cast down his eyes in an attempt to suppress his anger.

“…Well, I do agree that having Asley do more work now wouldn’t be good…”

“How about you try to be as nice to me as you are to him, eh?”

“You seriously sayin’ that?”

“Nah… I’d say that you’ve become much nicer than before already. A few years ago, you probably wouldn’t even bother to listen to anything I say. And that’s saying a lot, considering how you’re STILL pretty lazy, y’see?”

“Hmph, you’re still beating around the bush.”

“It’s just the way I am~~!”

“So? You made up your mind about what to do with that bastard yet?”

“Oh, gimme a break…”

It was a strike of déjà vu — and Melchi could not be blamed for feeling this way.

She looked at Tūs with not just exasperation, but also ended up bursting into laughter.

“Pfft… ahahaha! Aw, Master Tūs, you never miss…”

“Weren’t you the one who just asked if I had anything else to say?”

In response to Tūs’s question, Melchi widened her eyes.

“Huh? You mean…”

“I do have a LOT to say… Will probably go on for a week.”

“Huh? Uhh… Okay? That’s a bit… y’know, too long…?”

And so Tūs’ inherent laziness was showing once again.

Though he reluctantly engaged with Melchi’s conversation, indirectly indicating concern about Gaspard’s matter, this could be considered a sign of Tūs achieving a degree of maturity. For Melchi, however, it was still far from the level of concern she would like him to have. In a way, perhaps it would have been better if he had not matured at all.

“So what, you have a problem ’bout that?”

“Well, no, but it feels kinda out-of-character for you, see? I mean, let’s just say you don’t have to talk THAT much. Sorry for asking.”

“Look, just get to the point already.”

Melchi, who seemed to have grasped the whole situation now, once again pulled her wizard hat low over her head and leaned both hands behind her back against the ground.

“……So at the end of the day, he’s still Gaspard, you know?”

“Yeah, he is. No doubt.”

“…I wonder why he ended up like this…”

Unlike the first time, this question was rhetorical.

Still, Tūs answered. Even if it was not the answer Melchi sought, he could not refrain from saying it. After all, he, too, was one of those who worried about Gaspard’s well-being.

“He got obsessed with power.”

“Power, huh…”

“Yeah, that’s what I just said. And I’m never wrong. But here’s the thing — he wouldn’t have become so powerful if I hadn’t taken him in as an apprentice in the first place.”

“So… this is your responsibility?”

“Well, yeah, I gotta wipe my own ass and all that… is what I’d like to say, but at this point, I can’t beat him in a fight.”

“Not even THE Philosopher of the Far East… So? You’re just gonna have Ash do the heavy lifting?”

“He’s the only other guy I can’t beat, so yeah… What other choice do I have?”

Tūs groaned once again and affirmed Melchi’s question.

“Gaspard… he’s not coming back, is he?”

“Better to think that way than regret it later.”

“Wow. Enthusiastic much?”

“I know I have to be this way. Look at you — you’re supposed to be good enough, but in the end, you FAILED to be a caster of that anti-Lucifer magic spell.”

Naturally, Melchi was one of the people who had been invited to the Lucifer Break caster selection process.

As Tūs mentioned, her long-time association with Asley and her ample qualifications made her eligible.

However, she had failed to make the cut. It was because her heart was not strong enough to focus on the magic spell intended to defeat Gaspard.

“Gah… you make it sound like I’ve been failing at everything…”

“Not everyone can make it though with everyone and everything intact. You gain some, you lose some — and some people or things are… well, harder to keep than others. Struggle like hell for them — drag them with you if you have to.”

“Wow. You actually sound like a Philosopher for once.”

“If you got that, then get the hell to bed already. Make sure you’re ready to keep yourself alive tomorrow.”

“You’re so strict…”

While saying this, Melchi let go of her hands, then she somersaulted, stood up, and gave a small nod to Tūs before leaving.

Watching on as Melchi departed, Tūs stayed silent, casting his gaze down — or at least, he was trying to. After all, as he was about to sleep, someone else came over to bother him.

“Well, well… you’re being awfully nice today, Tūs.”

The one who spoke was Tūs’s familiar, Bull, who should have already been asleep.

“What, you’ve been listening in or somethin’?”

“Does that really matter? It’s not like any trouble will come from me listening to that.”

“Yeah, no trouble for YOU…”

“It’s quite a rare occurrence, you know, THE Tūs listening to someone so attentively…”

“Meh. All I did was say things to drive her the hell away.”

“I know Mel understood you — And that strictness is also a form of kindness…”

“Oh, really? Easy for you to say with that mouth of yours.”

Tūs pursed his lips, and Bull continued to scrutinize him closely.

“What?”

“Could it be that… there be some lies regarding Gaspard’s situation?”

“I ain’t told any lies about anything. That bastard’s malevolence DID grow when he was my apprentice, but it didn’t start that way. If he hadn’t summoned the Devilkin, but instead got himself possessed by Lucifer, then I guess the possibility of saving him is not zero, but…”

“…Explain.”

“Remember how Lucifer took the form of that guy named Stoffel?”

“Yeah, that did happen… So?”

“That was by neither magic nor magecraft. It was a transformation of his own body.”

“……I don’t understand.”

“That Stoffel guy wasn’t even in Royal Capital Regalia at the time. That’s why the rumors spread.”

“Rumors? Oh, the thing about him being straight up eaten by Lucifer?”

“You can’t dismiss that. It might actually be true.”

Bull reached a conclusion from Tūs’s explanation.

“So you’re saying Lucifer might have devoured Gaspard… is that it?”

“And if that’s the case… after finishing off Lucifer, it might be possible to pull Gaspard’s body out, don’t you think?”

When Tūs asked, Bull shook his head slightly.

“…Unfortunately, I don’t have as much knowledge about this kind of thing.”

“Well, details aside, it’s just like I said earlier — the possibility isn’t zero.”

“Then why didn’t you tell Mel that?”

“Because it’s just ‘not zero.’ Considering Asley’s chances of killing Lucifer, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.”

“Why not? It would give Mel some hope, wouldn’t it?”

“If we show her hope, she’ll get ahead of herself. If she lets it misguide her even a tiny bit, she’ll stumble. Even if Asley wins and successfully gets Gaspard out, it won’t mean anything if Mel — the one person who wants him back — is dead.”

“…Right.”

“There you have it. She needs to see the harsh reality. It’s safer that way.”

This time, Bull shook his head in disagreement with Tūs’ words, causing the latter to tilt his head.

“Huh? What, you don’t like the sound of that?”

“Well, you’re never gonna convince me that you weren’t being nice, that’s for sure.”

Realizing that he was being mocked by Bull, Tūs scratched his head with a grimace.

Bull, while avoiding the raining dandruff, chuckled.

“Hehehe…”

“Damn it, go to sleep already, you damn boar! You won’t be laughing when I turn you into steak!”

“Ooh, sho scawwy~~ Hehehe…”

Tūs let out the heaviest sigh of the day and looked up at the moon again.

Even after Bull shut up and went to sleep, Tūs continued to spend a few moments gazing at the sky.

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