The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Dragan of the Six Braves had just had a reunion with Asley under a difficult series of circumstances.

Now the large man was in the Warrior University — specifically the Headmaster’s office, sitting in the seat that Charlie had passed on to him.

Dragan proceeded to heave a deep sigh.

“Ishtar is a Devil.” — That was what Asley had declared back then. It had since been constantly swirling around in Dragan’s mind.

[Confidence was written all over his face… No, that was not mere confidence — His claim was powerful enough to be called a firm belief. And above all, Asley had displayed that he possesses an extraordinary level of arcane energy… yet he still felt the need to be careful about dealing with Lady Ishtar. I suppose I must do my own investigations, too.]

Dragan quietly stood up, left a note on his table, and opened the door in the back of the Headmaster’s Office.

On the other side of the door was a shining Spell Circle — the Teleportation Spell Circle that Asley and Irene had given to the Nation.

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Dragan the Dainty Tiger visited the Royal Capital and snuck into the Castle late at night.

As one of the Six Braves, he had quite a bit of freedom in regards to which government buildings he could enter. Despite this rank-granted privilege, however, his walking around the Castle at such a late hour was bound to raise at least some suspicion.

As such, he was going about it in such an unconventional way: he snuck in and used a meticulous combination of presence-hiding techniques to stay in there, undetected for days.

He slowly but surely progressed deeper into the Castle, moving from one hiding room to the next, until finally he reached a room where neither the patrol nor himself were allowed to enter.

[…It is quite a ridiculous thing I’m doing, if I were to say so myself. I wonder what will happen if I was discovered. And the possibility of the suspect being a Devil is… quite unnerving. The Warrior University should run itself just fine, at least; nothing even happened that one time Sir Charlie went away for a whole week.]

And so Dragan delved deeper and deeper into the darkness.

At multiple points, Cleath and Billy passed by the room in which he was hiding, but neither of them ever noticed him.

And eventually, he saw what could be what he was here for — a secret meeting between Ishtar and Billy.

“In other words, Gas– I mean, Master Grey has… detected an intruder?”

“That is right. Even I myself am getting excited. Finally, I will see HIM again after so long.”

“Hehehe… I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“I shall await him and the other intruders at the tower. You and Cleath will lurk in the darkness… and wait for the right time to strike.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Whether it be by coincidence or inevitability, it turned out that Dragan was in the castle during Asley’s group’s infiltration attempt.

Gaspard, the one who exposed Asley’s infiltration, either counted Dragan and the other active Six Braves as his allies… or perhaps did not see them as significant enough of an opposition.

And as all hell broke loose, Dragan managed to barely escape alive and undetected, now armed with the knowledge of Asley’s actions and Ishtar’s true identity. He returned to Beilanea, and made his decision on how to proceed.

“Oh dear… Now that was what I call a big deal.”

Dragan stroked his bear-like beard, his facial expression turning increasingly annoyed.

Then he looked at the sky through the window facing north, the direction in which Regalia was located.