The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

~~Adventurer’s Guild, Night of the Twenty-First Day of the Third Month~~

I am Tarawo.

My Master is Tifa.

Tifa has been holed up in her room of the building called ‘University Dormitory’ up until yesterday, and now she is finally coming outside.

All the while, I was stuck in this fascinating pose the humans called ‘sitting’ in front of the room.

Tifa never let me in no matter how much I tapped on the door, so I was constantly subject to the humiliation of being petted and scratched by all the young ladies passing by. Still, all that did feel quite comfortable.

Still, those girls never stayed long, courtesy of the death growl of Tifa’s arcane energy driving them away.

I do not understand.

Why would Tifa choose to seclude herself for as long as a month? Would it not be more reasonable for her to be at the Adventurer’s Guild, garnering some experience and earning those shiny gold trinkets people use to exchange for food?

At any rate, she IS outside now and is heading to the Adventurer’s Guild, so I suppose there is no longer a need to question it…

Which reminds me, this if my first time here at the Beilanea Guild. I had visited one at the previous town, but was entrusted with the humiliating task of waiting outside.

Oh, it seems that I may enter the establishment today? I suppose Tifa is still a human child, after all. Very well, I shall be your shield as you brave this uncharted territory, hmm?

“Oh~? What a cute li’l doggo~~ Is he your Familiar, my girl?”

…Wha-what is up with this freak? Is he a Devil or something?!

Those muscles of his are practically a millimeter away from bursting through his shirt! That thick aura of arcane energy behind him! And those constantly analyzing lines of sight are as sharp as the Sacred Sword!

“I’m a Rank D adventurer. Do you have any high-paying jobs?”

Hmph, taking a crude stance right off the bat, I see. It seems that my Master is also quite a Devil herself.

Perhaps this is what they call ‘asserting one’s dominance’. Then again, I’m seeing quite a lot of well-trained adventurers here.

Part of it is due to the city’s large size and its dense population, of course… At any rate, I feel that this particular place has a somewhat different feel from the other towns I have been to.

“How about this? Assault Kobold, C-ranked monster. It’s still a full hunt but the target is injured, so the difficulty rank’s been bumped down to D. From what I’m seeing, I’d say you’ll do just fine♪”

“I see. Then I’ll take that-“

“Excuse me, I would like to accept this Assault Kobold hunt-“

Tifa and I turned around and was met with the sight of a rarely-seen black-haired girl.

Judging from her stance and wardrobe, she must be a warrior. Hmm… for a human, she sure has a pleasant fragrance about her.

“Oh, Haruhana? Sorry, but I just handed it to this girl, you see…”

“Is that so… I will be searching for a different quest, then.”

Hmph, that is so. You’d best step aside, young lady. My Master has accepted this request before anyone else, and that is final.

It would not do us good for you to interfere with our activities.

“No, wait – how about you go with us?”

Come again?

“I also want to see how strong the other adventurers here are, you see. So how about we form a party and split the reward?”

“Heh?”

Look what you did, Tifa. Now this young lady is confused as well.

The Devil man glanced briefly at us just now, too… are you sure it’s normal for a human to act how you just did?

“Well, Haruhana, if you’re fine with that, then I sure can make it happen~~ Err, this girl here’s Tifa, by the way. Hope you all get along~~”

And so we have bolstered our ranks for this quest.

…Haruhana, was she now? From what I’ve seen of her so far, especially her strut, I would say she’s not bad at all.

“Yes, I’m Tifa. And this is… -well, anyway, nice to meet you.”

She just eliminated my chance at introducing myself… EXCUSE ME?!

Damn it, Tifa! How could you?! I’ll never live this down! I’ll never live this down, you hear me?!

“I am Haruhana. Nice to meet you, too.”

Nah… what an elegant human woman she is.

Oh, I swear, I will have her display such mannerisms toward me one of these days.

“Hey, Tarawo! Stop it!”

Here comes her glare, sharp like a spear of ice. Whether by coincidence or by fate, my slap on her leg for forgoing my introduction ended up leaving a scratch.

Gah, now she’s bleeding out of it. I supposed I must do THAT, zenith disgrace be damned!

“Hmm~~ slurp, slurp – geh…!”

That bloody hurt! She just ‘poked’ my forehead so heavily, as if to express how hurt she was herself!

“T-that was a bit too much, Tifa…”

“I wouldn’t have done that if your licking was actually good for healing. Your tongue is dirty, so keep it away from me.”

Well excuse me, princess! What, did you believe my tongue is toxic or something?!

Heh, at any rate, I have gained myself a valuable piece of information. I shall use it to pester Tifa the very next chance I have.

“Hmm… Tarawo, was it now? Nice to meet you as well.”

“Hmph, finally realized my noble presence, have you, young lady? You ought to not hold us back, yes? Now, Tifa, let us go forth-“

This is it! This is it! If I nail this strut, the Haruhana lass would surely look with envy at my elegance!

“What’re you tip-toeing around for?”

“Ah – apologies.”

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“North from Beilanea, reach the signpost on the fork in the road, east there into the woods… so it’s supposed to be around here.”

“Tifa, I smell blood. And… slight decay.”

“Rise, A-rise, Hype Up.”

“-!”

“Hmm? Something the matter, Haruhana?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing.”

It seems that Haruhana just had a particular reaction to Tifa’s… chanting. Whatever could be the deal with her?

As we progressed deeper into the woods, we happened upon a hole deep and wide enough to fit at most one adult-sized human.

“Oh, makes sense that the rotten smell came from here.”

“These are monsters’ corpses… quite a few of them. Goblins and Little Ogres.”

“Take a closer look, you two – the state of these bodies seem quite eccentric.”

Seriously, what is up with the ominous state these monsters’ corpses?

These particular monsters had their hearts located in the same spot where a human’s heart would be, and the bodies all had that spot gouged out.

This definitely was not the work of a beast.

“They might have been put through some unnatural movement.”

“Oh-ho, you’ve noticed as well, Tifa?”

“The Assault Kobold doesn’t seem to be here…”

That moment, a small, dark silhouette appeared behind Haruhana.

“Hmph!”

It was a Kobold, dagger in hand, swiftly closing in for a stab.

However, Haruhana reacted in time, unsheathing the katana on her waist and blocking the attack. The vicinity rang with the shrill of steel against steel.

Reddish-brown skin of peculiar texture and blazing red eyes, just as the quest sheet reported – that is the Assault Kobold.

But something isn’t right… What is up with that black vapor it’s emitting from its body?

Met with such bizarre circumstances, Tifa immediately began drawing a Spell Circle.

“-! Is an Assault Kobold supposed to be this strong?!”

Haruhana is being pushed back… No, that’s impossible! How is it that this C-ranked monster possesses the strength to overpower one such as her?!

“-A-rise, Power Down & Remote Control!”

The Assault Kobold is promptly wrapped in a red veil of light. However, that did not weaken its push against Haruhana’s defense at all.

“Oh c’mon, how’d that not work…?!”

“Ngh…!”

This is bad… it seems that Haruhana is at the limit of her strength. Very well, I shall-!

“Gweh-!”

“You just stay put.”

She grabbed me on my scruff and flung me backwards, causing me to land just in front of the hole.

For the love of God! That hurt, Tifa!

I turned to Tifa, intending to shoot a glare at her, but what I ended up seeing cause a chill to run down my spine.

My Master, Tifa, is bleeding from her arm. She’s staggering slightly from the pain, and to her side is another Assault Kobold. This one is missing its left arm – oh, I see! THIS one is the one that was reported as injured!

I would have been in for a world of hurt if Tifa didn’t toss me out of there! However, she is the Master – in doing that, she completely missed the point of our relationship!

Curses! Is there nothing I can do?!

As the injured Assault Kobold limped toward her, Tifa drew out a knife from one of her check pockets.

Don’t be crazy, girl! A mage can’t possibly win against an Assault Kobold at close-quarters-combat!

Haruhana’s knees are starting to give out under the other Assault Kobold’s persistent push. She can’t afford to retreat, either!

What should we do now?!

“-A-rise! Quadra Boundary!”

Tifa unleashed a spell in an instant… or was it? I don’t recognize a Circle of that design.

The unfamiliar Circle shot out four stake-shaped masses of light toward Haruhana’s opponent, forming a square perimeter around it and restricting its movement.

“GYAH!!”

Free from the Assault Kobold, Haruhana jumped backwards and landed in front of Tifa, then turning to confront the wounded Assault Kobold instead.

“Hah, hah… thank you very much!”

“Rise, A-rise, Middle Cure! You’re welco-… what the-!”

Beyond Tifa’s line of sight was the Assault Kobold that should have been confined, but now it is slowly moving forward, resisting the Quadra Boundary’s electrifying light.

“Oh, c’mon…!”

In the end, the Boundary shattered in a yellow burst of sound. The Assault Kobolt stepped forward as if wading its way through the residual light.

Ngh- if only my original powers would return…!