The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

aston grinned as if looking down on his opponent and called out the name of his spell.
That gave it away as one occupying one of his Swift Magic slots.

The staff, which had taken Betty’s full force head-on, pushed the young warrior back with an even greater force.

“Kya-!”

After having been blown away, Betty managed to break the impact with a rolling maneuver, but was then caught off guard by her opponent’s sudden approach.

“Kuh-!”

Betty matched the swings of the dreaded staff with her blade in repeated spinning slashes.
And at the same time, she sped up once again and retreated.

Gaston’s offense was heavy and precise, his relentless blows felt as if they could burn the body – this reminded Betty of what Irene had said at one point.

[Do you happen to know why that old man is called the Great Mage of Flame? It’s not necessarily because he’s good at fire magic, you see.
It’s rather his… reputation among those who have fought him.
‘It’s not just his magic, but also his attacks that were so fiery that it felt like he was burning you down’ they said.]

[I see…]

Now that she got to understand from first-hand experience those words that she hadn’t paid much heed to, Betty couldn’t help but crack a smile.

Betty, while also keeping up her flurry of blows, mustered all the strength in her body to kick the ground for propulsion.

Seeing how Betty leapt backwards, Gaston stopped giving chase and instead set his eyes on where she would be landing.
He brandished his staff and prepared to call the name of the attack magic he had set within it, but Betty interrupted him the way she best knew how – throwing daggers.

“Ngh-!”

“Oh-ho… this technique wouldn’t have worked against the Diaminotaurous…”

Gaston, looking back up at Betty, was met with a second wave of daggers – this time they were like a curtain that was about to cover Gaston’s whole body.

The semi-circle storm of daggers approached Gaston, prompting Fuyu to hold her breath in fear, but it did not succeed in changing the expression of the man himself.
He held forward his left hand – the side that wasn’t holding his staff – and shot ‘something’ at the blanket of blades.

Betty had planned to close the gap once Gaston took hits from her daggers, but by the time she landed, she was disappointed to see that none had connected.
Nothing could be seen leaving Gaston’s left hand, but the flying daggers started losing velocity in their tracks, ultimately falling to the ground before reaching him.

Betty made no effort to hide the astonishment showing on her face.

“…Arcane energy, lass.
Just a thin layer is enough for the push.”

“It can do that, too…?”

Betty, having just experienced a fighting style she’d never seen before, felt a streak of sweat run down her back.

Her plan had been foiled, and she had just used the last of her throwing daggers.
Gaston, being one of the Six Archmages, was absolutely not on a level which she could take on with just one blade.

With the stop of Betty’s assault, Gaston held his staff toward her.
Betty, expecting the attack spell that had been interrupted earlier, leapt a slight distance backwards.
Attack spell, no matter how large, could be dodged if one was far enough away.
Betty knew that full well.

But that was exactly why…

“Again, you need more training.”

“What?!”

“Hype Up! Speed Up!”

“Kuh-!”

…When she realized what was up, it was already too late.

Just as it took time for one to move away, it would take as much for the other to close the gap.
With that in mind, the sly Gaston had opted to cast ability-enhancement spells on himself.

Betty rushed forward – and when she was about to reach him, Gaston cast the third of his enhancement spells, Power Up, and swiftly moved away.

And of course, he was now faster than before, having fortified his speed to be almost on the same level as Betty’s.
After a brief stalling using his evasive maneuvers, he finally invoked his attack spell.

“Earth Control!”

“No way-?!”

What Gaston, the one called Great Mage of Flame, unleashed… was an earth-elemental spell.

Moreover, it had been via Swift Magic.
It took Betty, and even Fuyu, by surprise.
They hadn’t anticipated him using up one of his precious Swift Magic slots for this particular spell.

[And that, people, is exactly why it is worth doing.]

A wall of earth emerged before Betty, its height making it impossible for her to jump over.

Opting to dash around the wall between her and Gaston, Betty started toward her left.

However, the spectacle of Gaston’s spell did not quite end there.

“-W-what?!”

Index