Chapter 201: Asley and Kaoru

“Now then, seeing that you’ve been referred to us by young Polco… What is it that you need to discuss?”

Straight to the point, I see.

“Well, not that you need to spell it out – I already know.”

“Truth be told, I’m here because I’ve heard that you could use the Title Erasure magecraft- wait, you what?”

Did she just say that she’d already known what I wanted?

Kaoru smirked at me, I felt a chill run through my spine.

She’s got quite a pressuring aura… one that was somewhat different from any other I’d felt before.

An imposing mass of arcane energy that seemed to be swallowing me up. Like, there was absolutely no murderous intent in the air, but it felt as if I’d be killed if I were to let my guard down.

Hmm… Actually, I think I might have felt something like this before.

Huh? From where, though?

“Let me look at your hands.”

I did as told, putting out both my hands in front of me.

Pochi and Chappie were still going ‘konk, konk’ outside. That’s all good, though – Pochi doesn’t have any titles that she wanted to get rid of, and her behaving herself and staying put out there would make things easier for the rest of us.

I’m being pretty lenient with the definition of her ‘behaving,’ of course.

“I see, I see… Looks like Jun’ko was right.”

“Jun’ko… who?”

“My sister. She’s meeting with young Polco and your little friend right now.”

Oh, I see.

So the one in the temple, which those two had headed to, was Kaoru’s sister Jun’ko.

…Huh?

“Um… so what did you mean, Jun’ko was right?”

“Asley, you’re not someone from this era, are you?”

Once again, she spooked me so hard that my heart skipped a beat.

“…I don’t quite understand what you meant to say.”

I was shaking so hard that even I myself noticed, but for just a brief moment.

Still, Kaoru, constantly casting a sharp glance at me, seemed to have noticed it.

“Lies, lies, lies… The interior of your being is a pile of lies. If you don’t let them out while you can, you’ll eventually be in for a world of hurt.”

In response, I sighed. Kaoru, seeming to have caught a tinge of resignation in my breath, changed her fearless smirk into a smile that came naturally.

Hmm, she’s quite formidable.

“You are exactly right, Kaoru. I, and my partner outside, Pochi, are not supposed to exist in this time.”

“Good – your honesty is much appreciated, young man… Oh? The pair of glasses you wear seem to have some interesting functionalities. They’re just like my eyes.”

Kaoru even knew about my Appraisal Glasses.

Which means she’s got something similar with her…

“-You have the Evil Eyes.”

“That’s right, Asley – these Evil Eyes of mine have the same functionality as your glasses. Do you understand what that means?”

“…Even if I hadn’t come clean, you could have deduced some of it from the list of my titles… is that right?”

Kaoru smirked again.

She straightened her back, then took off her glasses and set them aside.

She proceeded to cast her eyes down for a moment, then looked back up, the iris of her left eye changing color from black to white as she did so. 

“Well, this time I just asked you because Jun’ko told me about it beforehand…”

“Does she have the Evil Eyes as well?”

“Hers are… special. They’re on a level of functionality that I can’t compare to.”

Okay, so both of them have it… Noted.

Which means Polco was here to seek assistance, specifically from Jun’ko’s Evil Eyes.

What manner of ability could they possibly have over the other ones?

“Like it or not, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Kaoru turned to look at me, her eyes suggesting to me that she saw my thoughts written all over my face.

“Now then, let’s see what you have. You can ask any question you might have after we’re done.”

I felt strangely reassured by Kaoru’s lighthearted statement.

Her aura resembled Gaston’s, in some way.

That old man… I wonder if he’s doing all right? He must have already been in his mid-eighties when I left, but he didn’t seem anywhere close to dying.

Speaking of which, Lina and her peers should be close to graduating from the Magic University, too. Then they should be going to the Royal Capital Magic Guardians… and get worked on real good, I’m sure.

While I was thinking of these now nostalgic faces, Kaoru, who was inspecting my statistics with her white Evil Eyes, showed an unnatural amount of sweat on her forehead.

Oh? Whatever could be the matter?

I tilted my head and beamed her a smile… that was supposed to be refreshing. Kaoru, her expression unchanged, raised her head and looked up at the ceiling.

I have a bad feeling about this…

Well, more like I’d always known that ‘that’ part was impossible to work with, to be honest.

“…There is one specific title that’s beyond my control.”

“I knew that would be the case……”

――――――――――――――――――――

NAME: ASLEY

TITLES:

The Eternal Fool, The Polarizing, Hermit Candidate, Great Mage, High-class Alchemist, Staff Grandmaster, Six Archmages (Tentative), Honored Teacher, Rank S, Top Student, Papa, No Guts, SS Slayer, Guardian Mage (Tentative), The Strong, The Swift, Below Familiar, Ancient Slayer, Devil King (Tentative), Mad, Forbidding Breacher, Thousand Magician, Holy Warrior (Tentative), Village Hero, Heavenly Beast’s Father

LV: 172

HP: 24,115

MP: 182,887

EXP: 231,786,693

SPECIAL SKILLS:

Attack Magic (Zenith), Support Magic (Skilled), Recovery Magic (Skilled), Purification (Skilled), Fortify Strength, Fortify Resilience, Tempest, Light Body, Fortify Mind

――――――――――――――――――――

“This title, ‘The Eternal Fool’… it has become fixed into your very existence, Asley. It’s twisted its way… well, more like broke straight through into your core, I guess. The cause is a high degree of emotional opinion from a certain someone… now, from whoever could that be?”

Kaoru noticed the flicker of my emotions and my reaction to the voice from outside.

“I see, I see… From the sounds of their footsteps, they should be a dog and a bird… Are they your Familiars?”

“That ‘dog’ is technically a wolf, actually… But yes, I must admit… she’s my Familiar.”

“Now, there’s no shame in that. But here’s the thing – if you don’t get rid of that wolf, that title isn’t going anywhere.”

“I knew it. Might I assume that you can erase the rest of the titles just fine, then?”

Kaoru smirked in response to my question, and proceeded to nod.

So it’s from Pochi’s… strong opinion on me, after all – I knew it.

And it can’t be erased as long as Pochi is still around, huh…

All right, I guess I’ve got no choice but to let it stick with me until the day we both die.

We’re immortal, so we only had to be careful about getting sick… ESPECIALLY careful, because there was no guarantee that we wouldn’t catch an incurable symptom down the line.

We’ll have to be careful from now on, even outside of battle.

Kaoru then proceeded to erase my chosen titles, sweat beading on her face.

The process seemed to require a great deal of concentration. Each time she erased a title, the degree of exhaustion became more apparent.

“…Whew. And that’s the last of them.”

“Thank you very much – really, I mean it. Here, I’ll cast Giving Magic.”

I set up the Spell Circle below her feet.

“I didn’t use all that much energy, but… well, thanks. You’re a pretty decent guy.”

Ah, physical exhaustion, then.

Then how about this? 

I passed her a vial of Pochi Bitande’d that I’d been keeping in my chest pocket.

I’d made a whole new batch of them, in great quantity, and had stored most of them in the Storeroom.

I wouldn’t have any worries about them running out for quite some time, and this was for Kaoru, to thank her for the huge help she’d given me. Not one bit of regret to do that.

“What is this?”

“Please do give it a try – just chug it down.”

Kaoru popped open the cork of the vial and drank the contents, just as I’d told her to.

“Mm, this is pretty good… hmm?!”

Kaoru, noticing the immediate change in her physical condition, looked at me, speechless.

“…Your obsession is so strong that you twisted even the logic of this world, I see. Quite impressive. And thanks – it was delicious.”

Kaoru sighed, seeming somewhat happy.

In the end, I had her erase five of my titles:

‘The Polarizing’, ‘No Guts’, ‘Mad’, ‘Forbidding Breacher’, and ‘Below Familiar’.

The latter four were titles that granted nothing but negative effects. ‘Below Familiar,’ which I had gotten from my association with Pochi, was particularly penalizing.

It seemed to have been stuck to me after being called ‘one-o-one’ again and again for months. Kaoru looked super exhausted by the time she had finally gotten rid of it.

And then there was ‘The Polarizing,’ which I’d had for such a long time.

Its effect apparently altered one’s balance of HP and MP, remove the title, and my balance would be restored to how it used to be. To be specific, if the title was present in my list, my HP would be decreased significantly, while my MP would be boosted significantly. On the other hand, without the title, the two statistics would be back to perfectly balanced.

I had indeed been worried about my relatively low HP, so for the time being, I had asked for it to be erased.

And now that it was gone, I felt that my body had gotten somewhat lighter.

The change seemed to have a noticeable immediate effect in terms of increasing my strength.

…Huh, and I’m sensing… something?

“Now, let’s get talking… You two over there, let yourselves in.”

“AWOO!”

“Chappie in da house!”

Almost simultaneously with Kaoru’s sudden invitation, Pochi and Chappie entered from the door as if they had crashed through it.

Those two had been listening in… right, of course.

As for the topknot-haired man who had led us here, he must have already gone back to the entrance.

The two haphazardly dusted off their fur and feathers, and proceeded to check each other’s cleanliness.

Then they slowly walked up to me and sat down as if to hide behind me.

Still at least a bit scared, I see.

Pochi had her nose sticking out from behind me, and Chappie the same but with his beak.

“I am Pochi!”

“Name’s Chappie!”

Right, they definitely were listening.

Worth noting that Chappie had already known that the names Pochi and I used here weren’t our true names, by the way.

There was no use in having him call us differently in different places, though, so I hadn’t made him do so yet.

Kaoru sighed, then smirked once again.

“I’m Kaoru.”

Now, time to ask her our questions, I suppose.

First off, about how she knew our secret.