The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

t like how I used to make Irene look like so many times…

…Namely, the look of the Brigadier’s forehead.
Quite prominently, too.

It’s over.
Even if I’m not killed, my reputation’s gonna dip to the negatives.
This will surely be my last-

A familiar voice called out from behind me.
The image that popped up in my head perfectly matched the one I saw when I turned halfway around.
And that was the very reason why that voice had practically overridden the whole scene’s priority.

“”Sir Gaston.””

Viola’s hoarse yet dignified voice and Fuyu’s clear voice pierced through me as they addressed Gaston.

I shivered while still in the middle of turning around.

Pochi turned around, albeit looking satisfied as if she had layered a spell of confidence over her face.

Gaston, in a gesture rare of him, expressed confusion as to what that meant… and promptly understood once he caught a glance of the signboard.

Oh, crap… I’m so dead.

Gaston stepped forward, approaching me… or so I thought.
Instead, he walked right past me and went to Viola and Fuyu instead.

“Sir Gaston, these people were-“

“Let them be.”

…Huh?

“But sir! They have shown disrespect toward the Royal Capital Magic Guardians-!”

“I said let them be.”

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Viola promptly shut her mouth.

Why? Why’d he just let that go? W-wait a second… he isn’t gonna say something like ‘let them be after I’ve killed them,’ right?

I was shaking so hard that the key-shaped pendant I had received from Lina clattered against my mantle’s clasp.
All the while, I tried working out a way to haul Pochi over my shoulders and run… but just either one of those would take all my strength to pull off.

When I felt my brain burning hot, and came to the conclusion that the only way to survive would be to run off by myself…

Gaston proceeded to say something I never would have expected.

“This looks good enough.”

Gaston repeated the exact same words that Pochi had said – the words that had made given me a craving for dog meat – as he ran his fingers over the signboard’s letters.

Pochi stood on her hind legs, crossed her front legs, let a proud groan out her nose, and winked at me.

Yup, no dinner tonight.

…Her and I both, that is.

“Young man, come in and have some tea.”

“Ah… yes, sir.”

“We have sweets, little girl.”

“Yes, sir~~!”

By just those brief words of invitation, we promptly followed the man inside, wordlessly passing by Viola and Fuyu.

Wait, what about Betty?

When I turned around, I saw her at a barely-visible distance, waving me goodbye.
This will probably be the last time I lip-read today.

Let’s see… ‘L-O-O-K-S D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S, G-O O-N A-H-E-A-D’…… Ah yes, adventurers, so free to choose their battlefields.
I’m feeling like going back into my cave right about now.

“Viola… get things ready.”

“…Right away, sir.”

Getting ready? Get what ready? Another bad thing for me, no doubt.

At this time, Pochi was leading the line with quite a triumphant strut, with Fuyu following her, and me following right behind the latter.

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Fuyu occasionally glanced at me, and I gave it my best effort to not make eye contact with her.

I held no doubt in my mind that I had surprised her quite a lot.
Now, don’t you worry – it’s just an interference in my arcane energy… or so I want to think so.

Looking from the perspective of others, I must be panicking to a dangerous degree right now.

I better write this down… ‘A Philosopher, at the end of the day, is still human’ – there.

Now that I took a good look, the Royal Capital Magic Guardians HQ was quite palace-like in style with a primarily white color motif, and had Spell Circle vividly carved onto its enormous gate.

Hmm? This formula seems rather interesting, doesn’t it? Always active, invoked by injecting additional arcane energy… As for its actual content, it was a Protection System spell.

I see – it’s for making sure the gate stays shut.

The sheer size of the gate meant that it could be used to let quite a large number of people through at once.
I’m willing to bet that this was used as the brigade’s final line of defense.

“Have you noticed, young man?”

“I sure did, sir.”

“…What do you think?”

I’m sure Fuyu had interpreted Gaston’s question differently.

But I’d heard it as follows: “Will this be useful come the Devil King’s resurrection?”

My experience with the Ogre King was still fresh in my mind despite it being over two years old by now.
Can this gate withstand a single blow of that monster’s tremendous strength?

Nope, no way in hell.

Therefore…

“It’ll last a solid minute, I say.”

“Heh heh heh heh heh… that’s what I thought.”

“What a coincidence, sir.”

“What a coincidence, indeed.”

Gaston proceeded to go through the procedure of opening the gate, keeping his mouth tightly shut.

Index