Chapter 447.1, How They Spend the Night ~~Act 2~~ Scene 1 (Split Part 1/7)

Chapter 447.1, How They Spend the Night ~~Act 2~~ Scene 1 (Split Part 1/7)

In the shade just outside of Eddo, a Familiar was snoring loudly.

It was none other than Bull, the King Happy Killer — Familiar of Tūs the High-Order Muscle, also known as the Philosopher of the Far East.

Beside Bull, Tūs sat cross-legged with his arms folded.

The moonlit night sky stretched above, and small footsteps approached him — footsteps most familiar to Tūs and Bull.

“Hey.”

“HEY!”

With a cheerful greeting and a raised hand, Melchi, Tūs’s apprentice and also Asley’s senior, appeared.

Reaching Tūs, Melchi sat down cross-legged just like him. She leaned her hands behind her back against the ground and joined Tūs in gazing up at the moonlit night sky.

“You want something?”

“Nah.”

“Ya ain’t foolin’ anyone, Mel. You wouldn’t be here for no reason.”

“Well, you do got a point there...”

Tūs still gazed at the sky, while Melchi, attempting to conceal her blunder, pulled her wizard hat lower.

“It’s gotta be about that bastard, yeah?”Cheêck out latest novels at novelhall.com

“That’s one thing, I guess...”

“The Duodecad?”

“Yeah, that too... Man, you never miss, Master...”

Melchi shrugged.

Finally, Tūs turned to face her, his expression containing three emotions: slightly annoyed, moderately annoyed, and extremely annoyed.

“Wow, you look annoyed...”

“Yeah, any apprentice of mine should be able to tell that.”

“I guess...”

“So? You made up your mind about what to do with that bastard yet?”

Melchi looked taken aback to hear that question from Tūs.

“Uh, Master Tūs, you’re being way too straightforward about all this... Like, don’t you have anything else you wanna say...?”

Melchi gave Tūs an utterly confused look, prompting the latter to clear his throat and say to her, scattering his spit all over the place,

“Nah. You need to get to the point YESTERDAY.”

“Meh... I wasn’t expecting you to say anything anyway.”

“Yeah, right... if you wanna hear someone say nice things, you’re better off asking Asley.”

“And make Ash work harder than he already is? I don’t think that’s a good idea...”

“And you’re fine with ME having more work? Hmph!”

“Oh, y’know, I figured you’d be able to handle a teeny tiny bit more...”

Melchi tapped her own forehead, and Tūs groaned out of annoyance once again.

However, being their mentor, Tūs cast down his eyes in an attempt to suppress his anger.

“...Well, I do agree that having Asley do more work now wouldn’t be good...”

“How about you try to be as nice to me as you are to him, eh?”

“You seriously sayin’ that?”

“Nah... I’d say that you’ve become much nicer than before already. A few years ago, you probably wouldn’t even bother to listen to anything I say. And that’s saying a lot, considering how you’re STILL pretty lazy, y’see?”

“Hmph, you’re still beating around the bush.”

“It’s just the way I am~~!”

“So? You made up your mind about what to do with that bastard yet?”

“Oh, gimme a break...”

The one who spoke was Tūs’s familiar, Bull, who should have already been asleep.

“What, you’ve been listening in or somethin’?”

“Does that really matter? It’s not like any trouble will come from me listening to that.”

“Yeah, no trouble for YOU...”

“It’s quite a rare occurrence, you know, THE Tūs listening to someone so attentively...”

“Meh. All I did was say things to drive her the hell away.”

“I know Mel understood you — And that strictness is also a form of kindness...”

“Oh, really? Easy for you to say with that mouth of yours.”

Tūs pursed his lips, and Bull continued to scrutinize him closely.

“What?”

“Could it be that... there be some lies regarding Gaspard’s situation?”

“I ain’t told any lies about anything. That bastard’s malevolence DID grow when he was my apprentice, but it didn’t start that way. If he hadn’t summoned the Devilkin, but instead got himself possessed by Lucifer, then I guess the possibility of saving him is not zero, but...”

“...Explain.”

“Remember how Lucifer took the form of that guy named Stoffel?”

“Yeah, that did happen... So?”

“That was by neither magic nor magecraft. It was a transformation of his own body.”

“......I don’t understand.”

“That Stoffel guy wasn’t even in Royal Capital Regalia at the time. That’s why the rumors spread.”

“Rumors? Oh, the thing about him being straight up eaten by Lucifer?”

“You can’t dismiss that. It might actually be true.”

Bull reached a conclusion from Tūs’s explanation.

“So you’re saying Lucifer might have devoured Gaspard... is that it?”

“And if that’s the case... after finishing off Lucifer, it might be possible to pull Gaspard’s body out, don’t you think?”

When Tūs asked, Bull shook his head slightly.

“...Unfortunately, I don’t have as much knowledge about this kind of thing.”

“Well, details aside, it’s just like I said earlier — the possibility isn’t zero.”

“Then why didn’t you tell Mel that?”

“Because it’s just ‘not zero.’ Considering Asley’s chances of killing Lucifer, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.”

“Why not? It would give Mel some hope, wouldn’t it?”

“If we show her hope, she’ll get ahead of herself. If she lets it misguide her even a tiny bit, she’ll stumble. Even if Asley wins and successfully gets Gaspard out, it won’t mean anything if Mel — the one person who wants him back — is dead.”

“...Right.”

“There you have it. She needs to see the harsh reality. It’s safer that way.”

This time, Bull shook his head in disagreement with Tūs’ words, causing the latter to tilt his head.

“Huh? What, you don’t like the sound of that?”

“Well, you’re never gonna convince me that you weren’t being nice, that’s for sure.”

Realizing that he was being mocked by Bull, Tūs scratched his head with a grimace.

Bull, while avoiding the raining dandruff, chuckled.

“Hehehe...”

“Damn it, go to sleep already, you damn boar! You won’t be laughing when I turn you into steak!”

“Ooh, sho scawwy~~ Hehehe...”

Tūs let out the heaviest sigh of the day and looked up at the moon again.

Even after Bull shut up and went to sleep, Tūs continued to spend a few moments gazing at the sky.