“Seriously, Master! What are you gonna do if all those burns actually leave a mark?! They won’t be easy to get rid of if you leave them alone!”
“Shut up! They’re all gone now, so it’s fine!”
“What’s with your attitude!? I’m actually worried, you know!”
“Ow–!? Hey! Your claws! Get them away from !”
“How about I DON’T!?”
Welp, she’s not gonna listen no matter what I say.
In tis like this, it’s best to just leave Pochi alone. All my past experiences have taught that.
“Nahahaha! Your clothes are all ssed up, Ash! Ti for your good ol’ l to fix them up, eh?”
“Yeah. Thanks, l.”
“Non non non! Consider it a reward for surpassing our ntor! C’mon, take it off! Hehe… hehehe…!”
“Uh, no… That’s not…”
I looked around.
Lina and Lylia seem embarrassed, as apparent from their faces turning red, but for so reason, Haruhana and Tifa are grabbing lchi’s shoulders and giving her a thumbs up. Fuyu is covering her face with her hands, but her fingers are spread apart, making it so that her eyes aren’t covered at all.
“Ugh… Look, you’re technically a high-ranking mber of the Resistance, so I trust you to have so public decency, all right?”
The leader of the Resistance, Irene, said to — and then she heaved a sigh.
Not like I ever planned on taking off my clothes here, though.
“…Gah, you really beat !”
“You’re awake already, Tūs?”
“Yeah, ’cause I just sensed a LOT of arcane energy signals coming right here.”
In an instant, everyone’s expression changed.
Among all of us, Tūs is the one who can sense arcane energy most easily.
Since he’s the only one sensing whatever is approaching us now, they must still be far away, but…
“Are they hostile?”
“Nah, shouldn’t be — they’re human. Pretty strong, too. Just as strong as that team over there, y’know?”
Saying that, Tūs pointed to Argent with his chin.
“Oh-ho.”
Argent narrowed his eyes, seeming happy.
A team that’s just as strong as Silver General… in T’oued, huh?
“They must be adventurers, then.”
“Most of the pressure from the Devil King’s resurrection is gone now. That’s probably why they can move. And of course, they’re coming to Eddo. And since they’re not enemies… I’mma go back to sleep. Hwah…”
After a long yawn, Tūs drew a Teleportation Spell Circle on the ground and disappeared through it.
“It seems that Guild Master Scott has deed Eddo to be the most important of the potential major battlefields.”
Warren’s speculation is probably correct.
Guild Master Scott seems to have coordinated with Adventurers’ Guilds from all over and sent them to Eddo. The fact that they didn’t use the Teleportation Spell Circles ans that they were either coming from very remote locations or it was Scott’s instruction to cull the monster populations along the way.
Although the arcane energy pressure has subsided, the monsters are still active and just as ferocious as they would be during the Devil King’s Fetal Stage.
It’s still unclear whether or not the Devilking will beco more active, but we must consider the possibility of more Apostles of Despair appearing among the monster population.
That’s why, from now on, many more adventurers will likely co to the capital city of T’oued — to Eddo.
“Now, Master, you should go ho and get a change of clothes!”
“Right.”
As Pochi suggested, I decided to head back to the Silver Mansion, feeling slightly uplifted by all the praise I’m getting from everyone… and at the sa ti, weighed down by a trendous sense of responsibility.
In defeating Tūs, I have proven just how much stronger I have beco. I also realized the sheer value of what I had gained from this fight — the understanding of the essence of the arcane arts. It will undoubtedly be useful in our fights against the Devil King and Gaspard.
And of course, it cannot be overstated how heavy and significant the responsibility I now bear on my shoulders is.
But there’s one thing I feel that is above that. It’s the fact that I can push myself to do my best because I have all my friends… that feeling has never been clearer to .
“Ah, Sir Asley, welco back! You have a guest waiting for you!”
Itsuki — still a contracted manager for Team Silver — said to .
Apparently, this guest has co here this morning after a visit to the Pochisley Agency in Beilanea, and said that they would be having ‘so business with us for so ti going forward’.
But why wait for specifically? And who could they be?
“Oh yeah, I forgot to ntion… He’s a giant talking bird with dark feathers!”
The very mont she said that, Pochi and I closed in on Itsuki.
“What’s his color!? Was it purple!?”
“Did he say anything of note!? Like, did he ntion a ‘Chappie’ at all!?”
“H-Huh? Well, he did look pretty purple, yes, but he never said anything about a ‘Chappie,’ I think…?”
“Where is he now!?”
“Where!?”
“Uh, in the courtyard–“
“–Follow , Pochi!”
“–Follow , Master!”
Pochi and I rushed to the courtyard as if we were competing with each other.
The mont we opened the sliding door leading outside, our eyes widened. There he is — a living legend that has survived the previous era of conflict. Our good old–
“Long ti no see.”
“”……””
“Hey, what’s that look for?”
Okay, actually, no. First of all, the way he’s looking at us is way different.
Chappie would be looking at us in a more… adorable way.
“Wrong one?”
“Probably, sir. This must be the one you beat up, Master.”
“That’s what I thought, too. We settled our differences already, though, so why is he here?”
“How am I supposed to know? Just try asking him yourself, Master.”
“No way. I’m still salty about how he beat up in this era, you know. You should go, Pochi.”
“Boy, oh boy. What are you gonna do without , eh, Master? All right, here I go…!”
“I can hear everything, you fools!”
“”AHHHHHH!?””
We made sure to keep our voices down, so how did he hear that?
And why is this Violet Phoenix here, anyway?
Is it because it might be dangerous to stay in the Regalia Ravine due to Gaspard being on the move now…?
“Master, he just called a fool! And it’s your fault!”
“Hmph, no, he called only YOU a fool. I’m humanity’s strongest and a symbol of hope — there’s no way anyone’s calling a fool now!”
“But he said FOOLS — with an ‘s’ — which makes it plural, sir!”
Ugh, Violet Phoenixes sure have good ears… and Pochi is technically one as well, so it makes sense that she heard it.
“So, anyway… what do you want? Why’d you co all the way here to see ?”
“Tūs didn’t tell you?”
“What? Why’d you bring up Tūs all of a sudden?”
“He’s a long-ti friend of mine. Bull as well, of course.”
God damn it. None of them have ever brought this up before!
……Huh? Wait a second…
“Wait, so that ti when l told I could find you in the Regalia Ravine…”
“It’s so that you could et , most likely.”
“Shit! She played us like a damn fiddle!”
“Hmph, at least you’ve sharpened your skills since then. You even won against Tūs — I was watching, you know?”
“Ugh, really… Where were you even watching from? Well, whatever…”
With saying that, Shi’shichou tilted his head.
“We haven’t seen each other for years now, huh?”
“Thousands of years, even!”
Yes, the last ti we saw Shi’shichou was in fact over 5,000 years ago.
Technically speaking, we did et him just a handful of years ago, but we knew nothing then — not the Shi’shichou of the ancient tis, not even the absolute chaos of that era.
That’s why, right here and now, saying ‘thousands of years’ is appropriate.
“…N-now, enough with that nonsense! I did not co here just to greet you and talk about the past! Absolutely not!”
After a mont of hesitation, Shi’shichou said turned his face away.
He seems to be embarrassed for so reason… or maybe it’s just my imagination.
“All right, all right. So what are you here for, then?”
Good thing Pochi’s here — she’s great at handling awkward situations like this.
Her… simple-mindedness allowed her to get straight to the questions. Not exactly the kind of thing I can do.
“A-ahem! Together with Bull, I have asked the old tirs for help.”
“…! You an the Heavenly Beasts!?”
“That is right. They too have sensed the Devil King’s power in the ti leading up to his resurrection. And as more sources of powerful arcane energy gather in T’oued, they are sure to co here as well.”
“Good thing you took the initiative to ask them first, though.”
“It was Tūs’ idea! I just did what HE asked to!”
Hmm, I’m not sensing any hostility from him anymore. Looks like he’s gotten much better at interacting with humans over the past 5,000 years.
But wait, then why was he hostile toward us when we t a few years ago? …Oh, right, because my magic accidentally hit him. Anyone would have been angry about that.
Still, Tūs really had to do things his own way, huh? He could have discussed this with us first… Not that he’s exactly the kind of person to discuss things, especially with , anyway.
“Poer… Actually, no… Asley, was it?”
“Yeah?”
“I have a bad feeling about what is coming next…”
“…You’re not gonna say ‘last ti was way easier,’ are you?”
“Actually, that is exactly what I ant to say.”
So Shi’shichou has caught on to the strangeness of our situation as well.
The Devil King’s resurrection clearly happened too quickly, and then his arcane energy just up and disappeared. Then there’s Gaspard to fit into this whole ss, and also the thing about Leon…
That’s why I have to beco stronger… much stronger. Hell, not just — Pochi, Lina, Irene, and everyone else, too.
We’ll all beco stronger, together…!
“Also, the Chappie fellow has been wanting to see you for so ti now…”
“”!?””
“Well, he has given a ssage to relay to you.”
A… ssage?
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