The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

might be feeling left out, what with her staring at us so blankly, Irene seemed to have realized it herself as well, so she promptly puffed her cheeks up when I turned to her.

“Hahahaha, I do want to poke your cheeks as well, Miss Irene.”

“…Bah, way to make a fool of yourself again, Master…”

Pochi seized that chance to mock me as she heaved a deep sigh.
Wait, what? Was I not supposed to say that?

Irene was equally as exasperated as Pochi was… Wha- huh? And Lina seemed to be angry?

“Anyway, please take good care of yourselves out there! I’ll do my best back here, too!”

“Hmph, so the time’s come for us to part ways.
No matter how foolish you may be, you ought to appreciate how Lina helped you out just now, Asley.”

“Seriously, my Master’s foolishness knows no bounds!”

“An Eternal Fool, if you will – Well now, that does sound the most fitting description for Asley here, doesn’t it?”

“Ah, shh-!”

As I hurriedly made a stopping gesture with my index finger over my lips, Irene’s eyes opened wide to show her confusion.
Then she swiftly turned to look at Lina.

[“Doesn’t Lina know about this!?…”]

I bet that’s what she thought.

The one in question, Lina, only stared blankly and tilted her head.

Yes, she does not – I communicated that to Irene through eye contact, and she grew even more exasperated.

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“All right, it’s about time we get going.”

I ended the topic before it could be pursued further, then straightened my old vestment and turned away from them.

“Lina, Miss Irene, I’ll contact you all when things calm down.”

“…Yes, sir.”

“When I find out anything, I’ll contact you, too.”

I nodded to her while I reached down to pet Pochi’s head.

That being a sign to take off, Pochi went on ahead, walking toward Beilanea’s north gate.

I followed right after her, and once we got outside, I glanced at Melchi, who waited there with her back leaning against the wall, signaling her that we were ready to go.

“”Sir Asley!””

As the two called my name one last time while I walked away, I raised my hand and waved in response to them.

Pochi gigantified, and I hopped on her back.
Melchi followed right behind Pochi, keeping up simply by jogging behind her.

We’ll see you later, Lina.

　◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

~~Grassland North of Beilanea~~

“Well, well, what a big catch… We sure got a lot, eh, Pochi?”

“All because you ran ahead recklessly, sir! Now we have seven Murder Tigers and three Ogres on us! What do you plan to do now!?”

“Oh, calm down… Think of it as an opportunity to work up an exquisite combination for us! Commence Operation Pochi from Beyond the Grave!”

“NAY! Aha, I have a better idea! Let us commence Operation Living Dead Asley-boi instead!”

What a dreadful thing to come up with!

I kinda want to see that cute Living Dead form, though.

“NAY, NAY! Well, for now, just buy me some time!”

“Oh, you just had to have me do it, don’t you!”

“Hahahaha, so that’s how you guys always are! I haven’t said anything since I thought you actually had some ideas, but… you’re in real trouble here, right?”

“Well, yes, we are! Please take our right side, Melchi!”

Melchi’s ears seemed to twitch in response to my request.
For whatever reason, she then proceeded to glare at me.

“M-E-L! Call me that and I’ll help.
We’re gonna be the traveling partners, so might as well do it, yeah?”

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Melchi demanded so, pulling me toward her by my collars as she talked.

The face of this almost androgynous-looking girl, who looked like a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, reddened up slightly as she kept quiet and stared at me.

As if I was conforming with her, I started to feel quite awkward, too.
I just couldn’t refuse to do what she’d told me to, it seemed.

“A-all right, fine… Mel! Take our right side!”

“Nuhuhuhu, leave it to me!”

Melchi beat her c.h.e.s.t like a gorilla, and then walked off to our right in high and proud spirits.

While that exchange was going on, Pochi was doing well enough to keep the monsters at bay.

“Master, I’m actually having trouble with these tigers, sir!”

“I’ll buy you baked sweets when we get to the next town! Just hold the line!”

“BRING IT ON, KITTIES! DON’T EVER EXPECT TO WIN AGAINST ME!”

“And nothing for me, Ash!?”

“Oh, for the love of… I’ll teach you the Teleportation spell’s formula sometime later, then!”

“HAHAHAHA!! I AM INVINCIBLE!!”

Hey, she just got a bargain for a Ten-Million Gold Magic.
But no amount of money could replace a life.

And as they had claimed, those two were truly invincible while driven by a greedy goal.
Thanks to them, I had plenty of time to draw my Spell Circle.

“Rise, A-rise, A-rise! You two, get back! Meteor Lance coming right up!”

“”GWAAAAHH!!””

Spears of molten rock rained down from the sky, precisely piercing the Ogres and Murder Tigers as if they had been locked on.

Two of the Murder Tigers had narrowly dodged the attack, but were picked off by Pochi and Melchi on standby.

At the same time, the level up fanfare rang up within my head.
A level up in quite a while… well, maybe not, since I felt like I’d been leveling up like crazy these past few months.

NAME: ASLEYTITLES: The Eternal Fool, The Polarizing, Hermit Candidate, Advanced Mage, Alchemist, Staff Master, Six Archmages (Tentative), Good Teacher, Rank A, Top Student, No Guts, SS Slayer, Guardian Mage (Tentative)LV: 72HP: 1,354MP: 20,035EXP: 1,109,445SPECIAL SKILLS: Attack Magic (Skilled)Support Magic (Skilled)Recovery Magic (Advanced)Purification (Advanced)

…Oh? My first title just got updated with a prefix that hadn’t been there this morning?

Index