The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

r now.
How did Lina do out there?”

“Ah, she did perfectly fine!”

So that one switch was enough? Really?

“By the way, who might the young man be?”

“Umm… I think… he might be starting at me a bit too much…”

Suddenly, Egd rushed to straighten up his attire, scrambled to fix his hair — then he proceeded to stare at Lina.

…I can read you like a book, boy.

“Ehm — Aye’m — I’m — My name is Egd! Miss Lina, I am so very pleased to make your acquaintance!”

“Um, yes… It’s nice to meet you.”

In the face of Lina’ response to him, Egd stood his ground, frozen solid.

Egd’s blushing was probably due to a reason different from Lina’s blushing from all the awkwardness.
They are at quite the emotionally s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e age, after all.

“I am Pochi, Sir Asley’s Familiar!”

“Your hair is lovely! Glittering red-ish brown… like a Red Dragon’s discharge!”

That’s… not quite an example you should have brought up.
Be aware of your surroundings, boy! Look, Lina’s totally distressed!

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And look! Pochi is visibly saddened from getting her introduction ignored!

“I! Am! Pochi!”

“And your beautiful pale skin! As pure as a toxic swamp purified with High Cure!”

So he’s the type to go bonkers in the face of girls, eh.

“M-Master, why’d you have to cast a transparency spell on me…”

“I didn’t! I swear, it’s gotta take some special spark of genius for you to come to that conclusion…”

“You — Who are you!?”

“Knock it off! We’ve been through that before!”

Bah, it’s about time we bailed Lina out of there.

“Eh–“

“Egd, are you in the middle of something?”

Who’s this big guy?

“Huh… Ah, Master!?”

A burly man, clad in Greenmetal armor, has appeared.
He was practically towering over all of us.

His neck was thick, his build identifiably solid under all that armor, and he had quite the bushy eyebrows to go with his intimidating, sharp countenance… And he’s even more than 2 meters tall, I think?

So this is Dragan, one of the Six Braves.
He looks more like a bear than a tiger, though… maybe… the people thought calling him a bear would sound disrespectful.

Egd proceeded to explain everything up to this point to Dragan.

“Oh-ho, so you have provided Egd with much-needed assistance… Pardon my belated introduction.
I am Dragan, officially titled Dragan of the Six Braves.”

“It is an honor to meet you, sir.
I’m Asley, a traveling mage.
This is Pochi, my Familiar, and she is Lina, an apprentice mage.”

“Oh-ho, you are a mage capable of employing a Familiar… Are you perhaps a Magic University graduate?”

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the impeccable honorifics of Mister Bear here.
I just can’t shake his wild-ish first impression off my head — Aha, so that’s where he got the ‘dainty’ in his title from.

And that aside, shouldn’t it be relatively easy to employ Familiars? Has it now turned into something only ones on the level of Magic University graduates could do?

“No, sir, we’re actually on our way to enroll there.”

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“Astounding… Perhaps in a few years’ time, you may be one to upset the ranks of the Six Archmages.”

I don’t particularly care to become that big of a deal, though.

But wait, I might want that title for its beneficial effects on my statistics.

“As for you, Egd, when you present yourself to a lady, you should tilt your head forward an additional two degrees.
Ideally, your heels should be close enough to almost click together — only almost.
Your eyes should be opened a millimeter wider and the corners of your mouth raised two millimeters higher… As, yes, that is perfect.
Do keep that in mind from here on out.”

“Yes, sir!”

So meticulous!

“I usually take up residence in Beilanea, so we may very well cross paths once again.
“

“Ah… The p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e is all mine, sir.”

“Now, then… If we may excuse ourselves.”

“Ah — Yes, sir…”

I saw Egd and Dragan off as they headed back to their room.

Curious of the Six Braves’ strength, I invoked the Appraisal Glasses at the last second before they went up the stairs.

NAME: EgdTITLES: Six Braves Pupil, Apprentice Swordsman, Apprentice Archer, Apprentice Spearman, Apprentice Boxer, Apprentice Axe Troop, Jack of All Trades, Rank ELV: 15HP: 136MP: 33EXP: 11,201SPECIAL SKILLS:  Fortify StrengthAerial Dancer

Now that’s a lot of apprenticesh.i.p.s for one boy.

NAME: DraganTITLES: Warrior University Graduate, Six Braves, The Dainty Tiger, Dragon Slayer,  Teacher, Great Warrior, Specialist, Rank SLV: 100HP: 3,250MP: 680EXP: 9,999,999SPECIAL SKILLS: Fortify StrengthFortify ResilenceAerial DancerHigh-frequency BladeBeast King FistStealth ShotEarth SplitterFlash Thrust

Whoa, he’s a beast!

What’s with the long list of special techniques!? From his appearance, he shouldn’t be past his thirties… is he one huge hunk of talent or something?

“Is something the matter, Master?”

“Oh, y’know, just revelling in how large the world is…”

“So you’ve broadened your horizons, sir? Come now, let’s go for another hunt or two!”

Urged on by the optimistic Pochi, we ended up going on three more hunts that day.

Afterwards, we took a moderate amount of slaying requests as we went from town to town on the way to the Magic University, the enrollment deadline of which was the last day of the Second Month of the year.

Index