The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

nd… I’ll have to rely on HIM again, as much as I’d rather not.

“…I’ll write up a letter of recommendation.”

“To whom?”

“An… acquaintance of mine.
I would say that he’s on par with the Holy Warriors.
But he’s also… quite eccentric, you see, so I reckon he’ll never offer his aid directly.”

And even disregarding direct assistance, it’s highly possible that he’ll not do anything at all.

“Even if the world is in danger?”

“Even then, yes.”

“…I see.”

“Meaning, Sir Gaston… what you get out of this, and how much of it, will depend on your approach.”

With Gaston’s personality… he might actually just make it through.

“And what will you do, young man?”

“I already have somewhere I absolutely must go to.
It concerns this issue as well, so… Hahaha…”

“…If you say so.”

Was it just me, or did he turn a bit gloomy there? What’s going on?

“A-anyway, how much longer will we be standing here, sir? Weren’t we going to talk over some tea?”

“The tea can wait.”

“Huh?! Now we have a problem, sir!”

Pochi reacted to that one statement, of all things, resulting in an expression as if today was her worst day ever.

Sponsored Content

“Little girl, if you can only keep your patience for a while longer, I will give you my portion of cake as well.”

“Yes, sir!”

Now it’s her best day ever, apparently.

And Gaston… he’s suddenly gotten so good at handling Pochi.
Unlike years before, it looks like he’s having fun now?

Maybe he’s secretly fond of animals, just like Billy, what with his Familiar being a mouse and all.

“So what’s on the agenda, sir?”

“You see, Viola has objected to your enrollment into the brigade.”

“…I don’t remember ever replying to the invitation, though?”

“Of course, I understand that you’ve got things to do now – that you’ve changed over the past two years.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m just letting the possibility go.”

Gaston took me by surprise with the gradual harshening of his tone.

All the soldiers were visibly confused, and Fuyu seemed quite spooked.
Even Pochi ended up closing her eyes.

At any rate, he was right in that, two years ago, I would have wished to be here.
I did genuinely feel happy when Gaston had invited me back then.

But now I had so many more important things to do than work here.
Which was why I had decided to consider that invitation ‘as long as I was still in the Magic University’.
But… it looks like Gaston had other ideas.

I don’t have much time – meaning I can’t afford to spend any of it here.

All things considered, I’d be better off cutting the bridge here.

“…Hmm.
That said, I understand that at this point, you’re not meant to be stuck working here.”

“Uh-huh… huh?”

Uh, so in the end, what was Gaston trying to tell me?

“I’ve already discussed that point with Viola.
Do you want to know her response?”

“W-what is it, sir?”

“‘If he does possess that degree of ability, then we ought to let him in’ – that’s it.”

Wait, but didn’t she just-

“H-how’d she just up and reverse her opinion so suddenly?!”

“That’s was just the first part.
Then I told her that I’d make you the Commander.
Needless to say, she was enraged – Hmm, looks like everything’s ready.
Look there, young man.
She’s waiting oh-so-eagerly for your enrollment into the brigade.”

Sponsored Content

Wowww… Unreal, bro…

Waitwaitwaitwait! What’d Gaston just say?! Me, the Commander? Even disregarding my obviously unfitting personality, there’s no way I can work it out.

Yeah, absolutely no way.
But it goes to show how high of an evaluation Gaston has of me.
I appreciate that, if anything.

Viola walked in a straight line from the back row, stopping in the center of the training ground.

I, upon being nudged ahead by Gaston, dragged my feet toward where she was, with the soldiers dividing their formation to make way.

“Remember that we’re having cake after this, Master!”… That was my Familiar’s idea of what constituted an encouragement.
But, well, she’s not wrong.
I could go for some tea right now, too.

That ‘bad feeling’ I’d felt turned out to be true.
Again.
Man, I sure have been fighting a lot these past few days…

Well, technically most of my activities hadn’t involved fighting, but still… it sure has been quite a while that I’ve last had a one-on-one match.

“You see, Sir Gaston told me that, if I’m capable of killing you, then I’m free to do so.”

How irresponsible.

“But I don’t intend to do that.
I’ll keep you alive… and let you die off by yourself.
Don’t worry.”

Were you a former bandit or something, Miss Viola? Quite a nasty tongue for a Brigadier, don’t you think?

Well, no, she IS part of the Nation’s regular army, so her being stern toward her inferiors could be a part of her job.
Might be why she ended up coming off as rude… or is it?

By this time, the soldiers have already retreated to the sides of the training ground, leaving all the open space for just me and Viola.

“Are you ready?”

“No-“

“Let’s go!”

So scary.

But… what should I do?

I mean… there’s no way I can possibly lose this fight, is there?

Index