The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Chapter 332: A Hooded Mantle

Chapter 332: A Hooded Mantle

“And here’s the thing — I also knew about Holy Warrior Poer’s two students. Young aristocrats from… somewhere I don’t remember, but I heard that they disappeared after the Devil King was killed. Which means they likely weren’t in Regalia at the time. But you did meet them, Lylia, so you should know where they were, right?”

“They were staying in the mountains in northern T’oued.”

“North-east of here, then…”

Well, we certainly can’t deny the possibility of God causing a Drop of Eternity to appear somewhere else.

But the Devilkin’s presence acts as the almost definitive proof against that.

They’re gathering in Regalia — And especially back in the days it was called the Holy City, it’s the place that must be kept intact at all costs.

Which means it’s totally believable that someone in the city created a Drop of Eternity.

“Working with that theory, what T?s said — about how very likely it is that they took a Drop of Eternity — seems quite plausible, doesn’t it?”

Lylia said and pointed at the crude map, hovering her finger over the north-east region where Bright and Ferris must have been. 

“…Bright was researching the Drop of Eternity, you see.”

“Wait, how did he…?”

“I’m sorry. After you left, I told him… pretty much everything about your situation.”

Lylia said, genuinely apologetic.

I’m assuming that Bright pushed Lylia to talk — I’m not about to blame Lylia for that.

“Hah, another fool — No one can make a Drop of Eternity just because they want to. They gotta be super lucky AND do it when God wants it to happen.”

Lylia isn’t saying anything — probably because she doesn’t have anything to say.

And it’s true — it’s not like a Drop of Eternity is going to pop up when someone’s baking a cake. Hah. Bright probably would have started pulling his hair out if he knew about that part of my history.

Anyway, since he’s one of my students, I feel compelled to at least say something…

“Look, T?s, Bright is extremely talented. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“Heh, doesn’t matter if he can’t get his project done.”

Again with his perfectly reasonable attitude from his perspective…

Well, this is T?s we’re dealing with — of course he’s gonna be like that.

“Now, enough talking. Be on your way already!”

T?s waved his hands as if to get rid of us, so that we’d stop annoying him.

I cast recovery magic on everyone and shoved a vial of Pochibitan D into Pochi’s mouth as she laid there on the ground.

And Lylia started drawing a Spell Circle.

Oh? Could this be the spell that I had taught her–

“–A-rise, A-rise… House!”

Weldhun emerged from a massive dome of light.

“GWOOOOOOHHHHHH!?”

And then he suddenly screamed.

“What’s the matter, Weldhun?”

“This SUCKS, Lylia! Why’s my body feeling wobbly all over!?”

Weldhun groaned and shook his body around.

T?s scowled and proceeded to grab him by his horns.

“UOOOOOOHHHHHH!”

Then he threw Weldhun against a huge rock.

Both Lylia and I were taken aback, while T?s started chuckling.

“What was that for?”

“What? He’s a Heavenly Beast — that was just a little massage at most for him.”

“You can’t just–“

“–HAHAHA! Now I feel a little better! Hey, you giant Ogre over there! You’re pretty good!”

Well, shit.

Weldhun hopped back and forth, shook his body a little to get the dust off, and then turned to me.

“Oh hey, is that you, Poer?”

“H-hello, Weldhun. Long time no see.”

“W-WELDHUN!?”

Pochi, standing behind me after finally having recovered her strength, noticed Weldhun’s appearance. She promptly clung to my mantle and refused to move away.

Her trauma must still be there, and now it’s resurfacing after a good while.

Heh, maybe I’ll turn Pochi into a cow again if she starts acting too obnoxious.

“Master, you’re not getting some weird ideas again, are you?”

Pochi turned to me and asked, while in the background, Lylia talked with Weldhun to get the latter up to speed.

Man, this doggo is as perceptive as ever.

“O-of course not!”

“You don’t sound very convincing, sir…”

“W-well, anyway! We’re on an important mission here, so let’s all do our best, people! Rise, All Up: Count 2 & Remote Control!”

I cast a physical enhancement spell on Pochi and Weldhun to distract them.

Then I put down a Teleportation Spell Circle here, with the plan being to connect this place with the Silver trio.

All the while, Pochi never took her suspecting eyes off me until I hopped on her back.

“HAHAHA! So this is five thousand years in the future? That’s awesome!”

Okay, looks like Weldhun has caught up with the whole story now.

Lylia proceeded to climb onto Weldhun’s back, then both she and I turned to T?s and waved our hands.

T?s groaned and turned away… Well, I know that that’s his way of sending people off, so that’s fine.

“All right! Next stop: Royal Capital Regalia!”

“Full speed ahead!”

“Don’t get thrown off, Lylia!”

“Heh, who do you think I am?”

“AWOOOOOO!!”

“HAAAAAAHAHAHA!!”

??????????

“And so we left with much fanfare… but we ended up having to put Weldhun back in his House, huh?”

“What else could we have done, sir? The people of the Royal Capital are bound to be on guard if they see a giant ox approaching the city.”

When we arrived at the Royal Capital, I had Lylia wait outside while Pochi and I headed in and walked through the commercial district.

What for? Well, to buy some disguise — because Lylia is an Elf.

Her long, pointy ears are bound to stand out, and would raise quite a commotion if she were to casually walk around the city.

“Master, look! This hooded mantle looks so cute!”

Hmm, it’s dark brown — which isn’t exactly my favorite — but the embroidered pattern that goes from the chest down to the abdomen really shows the craftsman’s taste and attention to detail.

No wonder Pochi thinks it’s cute.

“All right, let’s take that one, then.”

“Here’s the price tag, Master! It’s twenty thousand Gold!”

“Ngh–!?”

Well, I know what they say — labor must be compensated! The craftsman has put their heart and soul into this work… probably, and must be compensated fairly!

Telling that to myself, I purchased the hooded mantle for Lylia.

Now that I think about it, we’ll probably be starting our infiltration at night, so this isn’t a bad choice at all. Its color is sure to help her keep a low profile in the dark.

With the transaction done, we went back to Lylia and handed her the mantle.

“You’re… giving it to me?”

“Yes. Figured it’d look good on you, not to mention it’ll help you blend in while we’re in the city.”

With me saying that, Lylia blushed a little and said nothing as she proceeded to put it on.

Ooh, it really is quite well-made — looks great when actually put on, even with its plain color.

“S-so, how does it look?”

“It suits you quite nicely, I’d say.”

I said and smiled. Lylia’s face turned even redder; she turned around and threw her hood on.

She doesn’t need to do that yet, since she’s not in the city yet… But hey, who am I to judge?

And for some reason, Pochi isn’t saying anything. I expected her to start boasting right about now, about how she’d picked out this clothing.

I mean, considering her personality, that’s probably what she’d say… Hmm, I don’t get it.

??????????

After getting Weldhun out for a while to feed him, we entered the city again and stayed at the nearest inn to Regalia Castle.

Its location means it’s quite expensive, sure, but its amenities and service staff are top-notch.

They even serve food right to the rooms, which is quite a boon to Lylia, who would have otherwise been inconvenienced by having to keep her hood on while eating.

After finishing her meal, Lylia went straight to sleep.

Pochi and I left a note on her table and went back to our room. Pochi immediately hopped on her bed and fell asleep, most likely exhausted from the multiple days spent running all over the place.

Running from Beilanea to the Far East Wasteland, where we all got into a fight with T?s… and then more running from the Far East Wasteland to the Royal Capital. Pochi must have had to push herself quite hard.

After all, the Pochibitan D does have its limits… though it’s probably what has kept her alive through all that.

After giving Pochi a few pats on her head, I set up a Teleportation Spell Circle in the room 

Now then, time to call over the Silver folks.

With that in mind, I teleported to my assigned room in the Resistance hideout.

“Whew.”

Talking with Betty through a Telepathic Call, I learned that Bruce and Blazer are busy hunting monsters in T’oued. I decided to wait for them to return.

All right, then. Looks like I have a little bit of time to kill.

I ordered some drinks in the mess hall and sat down to think up some battle tactics, and at one point, an unexpected voice entered my ears.

“Sir Asley!”

The voice sounded happy, and was quite familiar to me.

So familiar that I could tell who it was before turning around.

Goes to show how close of a friendship I have with her, I suppose?

“H-hey there, Lina. Back from your mission already?”