This Disciple Was Something Else

If you got beaten, you had to admit your mistake!

Everything a teacher said was for your own good, so Li Mo immediately corrected his attitude and looked at Brishisan with an open mind.

"Teacher Brishisan, are there any other dangers inside besides Demonic Beasts?"

B-Besides Demonic Beasts?

Brishisan was so angry that his beard bristled and his eyes widened. Besides Demonic Beasts, and you still think that isn't enough?

But there really were!

Brishisan pondered for a moment, then looked at Li Mo with a grave expression. "Of course there are."

"In the Spirit Tomb, the first thing you need to watch out for is Demonic Beasts. Too many races live in there—there are even plenty of Phantasmal Species, and it's possible that Phantasmal Species from the Age of Gods might emerge.

"The second thing you need to watch out for is unknown creatures. Over all these years, the furthest the Mage Association has been able to explore is the Fae Domain. Even there, we have only scratched the surface and never dared to go too deep. So I don't know what might come out of there."

Li Mo covered his face. Why did he keep feeling like Brishisan was trying to scare him? The more he said, the scarier it got...

Though he did not know what conditions were like inside, in the current Type-Moon World, as long as Gaeia did not appear, Jeweled Sword Zelretch and his group were already the ceiling. What could possibly threaten him?

A bunch of Phantasmal Beasts would be bad enough. Could there really be an "Aristotle" in there?

But ORT was holed up in South America, Crimson Moon had returned to Millennium Castle after fighting Jeweled Sword Zelretch, and the other "Aristotles" had never appeared. Could his luck really be so absurdly terrible that he would run into one?

Right, the "Aristotles" here did not refer to some historical figure. It was a collective term for eight lifeforms that had come to Earth from other planets in the cosmos.

In the Type-Moon setting, these eight "Aristotles" were each the most powerful lifeform on their respective planets—the supreme and sole existence. They had come to Earth only after receiving the command of their home planets.

They used their planets as their names. For example, the Third Ancestor among the Dead Apostles, Crimson Moon Brunestud from the Moon, was called TYPE-Moon, meaning the Moon King, or the origin of the Moon World.

Then there was ORT, an "Aristotle" from Mercury, whose true name was Type-Mercury.

It was merely because humans on Earth did not know where it came from, and because it had instantly killed the Fifth Ancestor of the previous Twenty-Seven Ancestors of the Dead Apostles, that they had treated it as a Dead Apostle and let it inherit the Fifth Ancestor's rank.

But the "Aristotles" all had their own missions. Aside from TYPE-Moon, Crimson Moon, the other "Aristotles" were either still drifting beyond their planets or, like shut-ins, had found somewhere to hole up—and stayed there for thousands of years. No matter how he thought about it, ordinary people should never be able to provoke them, right?

Although Li Mo had plenty of confidence in himself, against an "Aristotle"... it would probably be more reliable to strike a cool pose, raise his middle finger, and make sure he died looking good.

Someone who could not even use magic yet, even if he had a slightly larger reserve of mana, trying to fight a planetary lifeform head-on would be like an old man hanging himself—he must be tired of living.

Returning to the present, Li Mo grinned foolishly at Brishisan and asked, "Anything else, Teacher?"

"Yes!" Brishisan nodded, looking as though the child was teachable.

"Now for the third thing you absolutely must watch out for: mages!"

Mages?

Li Mo was stunned. Weren't mages people? Why did he need to be wary of them?

Seeing Li Mo's shocked expression, Brishisan shook his head, his face growing slightly awkward. "The Spirit Tomb does not only contain people from our Mage Association. Although the entrances are all guarded by us, over the years, some independent mages have still found ways to enter through their own channels. And..."

Brishisan suddenly paused, as though choosing his words.

"And while mages cannot achieve immortality, it is not unusual for them to study all kinds of secret arts and become Immortal Races like the Twenty-Seven Ancestors of the Dead Apostles. So, those kinds of mages inside the Spirit Tomb... you understand what I mean?"

People like Old Worm Zouken Matou, neither human nor ghost?

Li Mo instantly understood Brishisan's meaning. He nodded, his lips twitching slightly, but in the end, he said nothing.

Honestly, although many people in the main world hated Old Worm, Li Mo... how should he put it? It was not that he did not hate him, but at the very least, while thinking that Old Worm had to die, he also sincerely admired people like him.

Just as Brishisan had said, most mages were people with their own pursuits, their own obsessions—or rather, everyone had an obsessive side. But most ordinary people's obsessions would be crushed or changed by reality.

But what about mages? If they lost their obsession and no longer believed in themselves, could they still be called mages?

Everyone hated Old Worm, but how many truly understood him? How many truly knew his obsession? Back when Old Worm was young, even Paracelsus von Hohenheim had wanted to be friends with him. But no matter what world it was, only protagonists got discussed. As for supporting characters... emmmm.

As for Paracelsus von Hohenheim, he was a Servant from the FGO timeline. As a modern mage who had ascended into the Hall of Heroes, was he awesome or not?

People who had watched the Fate series basically thought Old Worm was after the Holy Grail, never realizing that his true purpose was simply to fulfill the dying wish of the woman within the Greater Grail.

That's right, that woman—the Winter Saintess of the Einzbern family, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern. Old Worm was really just a simp. Even after she died, he kept simping for five hundred years!

Anyone with a dream deserved respect. At least, that was what Li Mo believed.

Of course, that was only his personal interpretation. As for Old Worm... Old Worm had to die!

Thinking of this, Li Mo suddenly wanted to slap himself.

"Damn, why did I just come straight back yesterday? Wouldn't it have been great to make a detour to Fuyuki, wipe out Old Worm, and bring Sakura to my side?"

Soft, adorable, and with domestic skills maxed out—wouldn't Sakura be wonderful by his side?

Of course, it was fortunate that Li Mo had not gone. At this point, Sakura and Rin were at most one or two years old... Thinking about it carefully, if Li Mo had shown up at their door and shouted, "Pot King, hand Sakura over to me," would Tokiomi Tohsaka have called the police?

Tokiomi: Even if everything is my fault, what right do you have to come to my door and curse me before I've even done anything?

Tsk~ You dare criticize the great villain?

Li Mo: Because it's all your fault!

"Mō-san? Mō-san?"

At the entrance to the Department of Lore's base, Brishisan looked at Li Mo, who was grinning foolishly and could not be roused no matter how he called him. Suddenly, he felt as if his heart had skipped a beat... No, it felt more like he was having a heart attack!

Daydreaming was one thing, but at least do it somewhere quiet. You started grinning like an idiot while walking—is that an epileptic seizure or something? If the people at the Clock Tower saw you, wouldn't they think I, your old father, had failed you by being too stingy to take you to a doctor?

Slap!

"Ow, Teacher, why did you hit me again?"

Brishisan glared furiously. "Did you even hear what I said?!"

"I heard you, Teacher! I'll definitely bring Sakura back!"

Brishisan: ???

This disciple was beyond saving!