Chapter 292

Chapter 292, Pochi’s Suspicion

“Heh…”

“Why’re you standing there, trying to look cool, Master?”

“Fwahahaha! The Grand Philosopher Asley has been rejuvenated! Look, Pochi! The morning sun!”

“Yes, Master, we did NOT leave town during the night as initially planned. And it’s your fault.”

“Ngh–! Hehehehe… Listen well, Pochi. The plan was… an estimate. And being an estimate means we don’t necessarily have to follow it!”

“Okay, so when we’re back home, I can tell Bruce about what happened last night, right?”

“AAAAAAHHHHHH, NO NO NO! You promised not to. And promises are meant to be kept! ALL RIGHT!?”

“Oh, you sure have a way with words, sir…”

To recap, Pochi saw a totally humiliating side of me yesterday. So humiliating that, regardless of right or wrong, I’m determined to take it to my grave.

And if I die, Pochi won’t stay alive for long after — meaning the secret dies with me and her. Two birds with one stone!

Now hol’ up a minute… Pochi may technically be tight-lipped, but she DOES let sensitive information slip all the time, regardless of whether or not she wants to–

“–You know what, I should make sure you NEVER blurt it out — with Curse-Word Explosion! Or I could erase your memory by strangling or hitting your head… Oh yeah, I did invent that Memory Edit spell! Okay, that’s it– OUCH!? Hey! What’re doing!? That hurt!”

“Do you even have to ask, sir!? Not like you’re THAT good at keeping secrets, either — you let sensitive information slip all the time! You should calm down and think about how you ACTUALLY have to act! And what’s up with that Memory Edit spell, anyway!?”

“What!? Pochi!? Did you just read my mind!?”

“Do I need to hit your head before you get it!? YOU SAID IT OUT LOUD!”

“When!?”

“Just now!”

Welp, today’s off to a bad start — I’m not vibing with Pochi at all.

Maybe she’s already gotten her memory edited by God?

“Oh, I have a GREAT idea! I’ll write a story about you crying like a baby last night, and tell it to Lina!”

“Whoa whoa whoa–! Wait a second! Not THAT! Anything but THAT! For real!”

“Hmm… HMM~~ …All right, deal! I’ll tell you what I want later, sir! Expect it to be costly, yes~~?”

Man, I can clearly see the greed in her eyes. Who raised her to be this way? I sure want to have a nice, looong talk with him.

And so I proceeded to eat breakfast while nodding along with Pochi’s whining.

By the way, I’m pretty sure that I never opened my wallet after giving 200 Gold to Pochi last night… but I have a feeling that I have 100 Gold less than I’m supposed to. Is it just my imagination?

Wait, that can’t be right — I DO remember talking with Pochi about money yesterday, but not the exact details.

Hmm… well, I must’ve just dropped a few coins randomly somewhere. Here’s hoping whoever picked it up uses it for a good cause.

“All right! Rise, A-rise, All Up: Count 2 & Remote Control!”

“I’ll try to get us to Regalia by today’s afternoon, sir! Hmm!”

Pochi gigantified, and at the same time, I hopped on her back.

“Here we go!”

“Hell yeah! Run like the wind, doggo!”

“AWOOOOOOOOO!!”

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Pochi, glancing at me while running along the way, called me repeatedly,

“Master! Hello!? Master!!”

“Whuh–!? W-what’s up, Pochi?”

Is it just me, or has her voice become softer after her archetype got changed to Avian? …Do voices even work that way?

“What’re you doing on my back, sir? It feels kinda tickling!”

“Ah, sorry. I’ve been planning out a new magic spell.”

“What kind of spell?”

“Space-time transmission — I’m naming it ‘Time Teleportation.’ Gotta be able to use it if we’re gonna go back to our original time, you know?”

“Is it because God’s power is weakening, sir?”

I had expected her to laugh out loud, but she actually answered seriously.

What the hell.. for once, the furball’s actually happy for my achievements!

“Yeah, and I’m sure my ginormous arcane energy pool will be back once we’re done with our tasks in this era. As long as there’s enough energy, a space-time transmission can be performed… in theory, anyway.”

“The little bit I’ve seen of the formula is gibberish, though… What’s up with that, sir?”

“It’s fundamentally similar to the Teleportation spell. What’s different is that it also plays out the effects of explosive speed enhancement and defense augmentation at the same time, letting one cross through time and keep their body intact despite the impact.”

Once she heard the whole explanation, Pochi gradually slowed down, eventually stopping entirely.

“Hey, I’m not telling you to hurry, but try to get us there before the sun sets, all right?”

“Are you sure it’s going to be safe, sir…?”

Pochi stared at me real hard.

What the hell, this furball isn’t happy for my achievement at all…!

“Totally safe, yeah… Aha, I think this will work.”

“It’s already finished!?”

“I’ve already created and used similar spells before, you know? And I’d like to make more, in fact…”

“Let me guess, the Instant Transmission spell?”

Yeah, why?

“W-well, that’s one thing… and there are other specialized stuff, too. They’ll be quite a challenge.”

“Um, your eyes are… sparkling real bright right now.”

“I know, right? Gotta rack up more achievements, or I’ll lose to the Black and White Chain People… and the new Devil King. Hehehe… I must expand the scope of my dreams! WITHOUT END!”

“Ah, I just remembered! There’s one thing that’s been on my mind for a while now!”

Why’d she so suddenly bring up a new topic? To distract me from the other one?

“Oh yeah?”

I got down from Pochi’s back and sat on a nearby boulder.

“It’s about Sir Billy.”

“What about him?”

“Well, more like about his Familiar, actually! An Eye-Dorr! Wasn’t it called the ‘Devil King’s Minion,’ and said to appear near the Devil King, sir!?”

“……Now that you mentioned it, we didn’t see any of those ‘minions’ when we fought Lucifer, right? Did the Pochi Pad Breath’s explosion blow them all away or something?”

“No, sir, I think that’s a bit of a stretch…”

Ngh… despite her track record, Pochi does make quite a reasonable point.

“Well, it IS a legend, so maybe they’re not actually a thing during Lucifer’s time?”

“Hmm, that is quite possible, sir… But then it creates another question — how did Sir Billy find one of them in the first place?”

Right, anyone would be curious about that.

Maybe he was manipulated by the Devilkin, and got one as a Familiar to help him do their work?

That would make it unlikely that the Eye-Dorr was from our era.

I mean, when I looked it up, that one book said Eye-Dorrs spawn directly from the Devil King’s body.

Man, I don’t know what’s going on anymore! So many challenges, so many questions…!

“Oh, another thing, sir!?”

“ANOTHER!?”

“I remembered it just now!”

Boy, oh boy, she sure does remind me of some genius around here…

“Well, what is it?”

“The Devil King who’ll be born in our era… won’t be named Lucifer, will he?”

“That’s it? Hmm… if it IS a ‘birth,’ then he’ll be someone else, yeah. But him ‘resurrecting’ as the same Lucifer is… quite possible, actually.”

“You’re being pretty vague, sir~~”

“What’d you expect? I haven’t been alive for THAT long. And I wanted to ask God about it, but He disappeared before telling me anything.”

“What do you mean, not long? You’re over 5,000 years old! Say that around other people, and they’ll get angry, sir!”

Ngh… that’s right. People are sure to get angry, especially Irene.

Speaking of her, I wonder what the Irene in our era is up to. 

I don’t think that was ever brought up when I was talking with God. I should’ve remembered to ask…

But, well, this is Irene we’re talking about. She’s probably busy whipping the new students into shape or something.

“Look, enough talking. Let’s go!”

“Yes, sir!”

A few hours later…

We finally saw Royal Capital Regalia for the first time in this era.