"So can I join in?"
"Yes, I think it"s okay, but I still need to discuss it with the others first... by the way, are you really sure about joining? You"re going to have to work properly if you join in."
"It"s not a problem. I promise to work hard!" Chiaki slapped her chest.
"Alright, I"ve received your application, so please await your notification." Seiji smiled.
"I... I want to join in as well!" Mika spoke up.
Both of them looked towards the double pigtailed girl.
"Although I don"t know what I can do... I want to join in as well," Mika said weakly.
Chiaki chuckled. "Then be a voice actress just like me! It"s quite easy."
"No, it wouldn"t be easy at all..." Seiji thought.
"Of course it would be easy for someone like you who"s skilled at acting, but for Mika..."
"I"ll work my hardest!"
"This isn"t something that should be treated like that. There"s no need to work so hard since it was just a project born out of interest to begin with..."
Seiji really wanted to say that she didn"t need to mind this so much, but when he saw Mika"s expression... he was unable to say it.
"Allow me to discuss this tonight with the other members," he said, relenting.
Right then, the bell for cla.s.s started ringing.
After their lessons were over, Seiji had Chiaki, Mika, and Kaho go to the library first, while he went to go find Yukari.
"Chiaki told me about what she did to you." He lowered his head slightly to the purple-haired girl. "For this, I apologize to you on her behalf once again, and I also apologize for not being able to protect your secret... I"m sorry."
Yukari remained silent.
"Chiaki promised to protect your secret, and Mika, who learned it as well, also agreed. I won"t dare to ask for you to forgive Chiaki immediately, but... I hope that you won"t bear too much of a grudge against her," Seiji told her sincerely.
"...What if I don"t forgive her and really hate her now?" Yukari asked softly.
"Er... if that"s the case..." Seiji had an awkward expression.
Yukari smiled slightly upon seeing his expression. "I was just saying what if. To be honest, although I can"t forgive Wakaba-san immediately, I don"t bear a grudge against her, so there"s no need to worry, Seigo." After saying this, she turned round to leave. "I need to go back now. See you later."
The purple-haired girl left just like that.
Seiji silently watched her leave before he headed to the library.
"What did Asamiya-san say?" Chiaki asked in the library.
Seiji told her what Yukari had said.
"I see," the tomboy muttered to herself.
After that, Chiaki didn"t say anything else.
After dinner, Seiji began practicing [Mana Bullet].
This was the most basic offensive spell of all. It just involved gathering Mana into a certain shape before activating and firing it with a runic spell.
However, basic didn"t mean simple. The more Mana that was gathered, the more complex the structure of the Mana Bullet would become, and this also increased the difficulty level and power of the spell.
And the upper limit for the Mana one could gather for this spell... was limitless!
That"s right—according to his system, it was limitless.
This meant that there was no limit on the strength of this spell. As long as one had sufficient Mana and the ability to gather it into a usable shape, it was theoretically possible to destroy the earth in one shot!
It was akin to Kamehameha.
Although it sounded overpowered by having no upper limit, it actually wasn"t very useful. After all, it was impossible to have that much Mana.
Even if someone did have that much Mana, it was difficult to gather such a huge quant.i.ty and give it form. Besides, if someone really did have that much Mana, that person could just cast some other world-cla.s.s spell instead, so why would he or she have to bother with this one?
Seiji coughed and shook off his idle thoughts. "I should stop getting sidetracked."
It would be rather dangerous to practice most attack magic spells at home, but there would be no consequences if he failed to cast the [Mana Bullet] spell, so it didn"t matter.
But just in case, Seiji still asked s.h.i.+ka to cast a barrier spell for him, and he practiced within the barrier.
Shaping his Mana into a form he could use to attack with... he felt it was like a mix between crafting with clay and playing with a Rubik"s cube.
After some crafting and playing, he accomplished it!
Seiji confirmed that the shape was suitable, and activated the [Mana Bullet] spell.
*Whoosh... Smack!*
The bun... whoops, the [Mana Bullet] flew out, hit the barrier, and exploded.
The power was rather weak. Seiji estimated that it could only knock over an empty can, but it was still a success!
Pleased with his progress, Seiji checked the progress bar in his system.
"Hmm, it"s filling up pretty quickly."
He continued practicing for a while. Then, it was time for him to stop and go on the internet at this pre-arranged time, so he asked s.h.i.+ka to cancel the barrier.
Seiji turned on his computer, logged on to his chatting application, and sent messages to Yukari and Hisas.h.i.+.
"The first knight has answered your summons! My king, what orders do you have?" Hisas.h.i.+ responded with a respectful image of someone giving a bow.
"The second knight has answered your summons. My king, what orders do you have?" Yukari also answered in almost the exact same way, adding an elegant expression at the end.
"My knights, your king wishes for... Hey! What are you two doing!?" Seiji was almost dragged into their pace.
"This is the setting for our team," Hishas.h.i.+ typed. "I believe that "Knights of the Round Table" would make an excellent name for our game-developing team, and Idle Fish is the leader and also the "king." All the other members are "knights!" The numbering order shall be determined by the order in which they joined the team."
"I think it"s pretty good, and I like the name of "Knights of the Round Table." I also have no objections to Idle Fish being our king," Yukari typed.
"I have a few objections! It"s fine to be a knight squad, but why am I the "king?" Sweet Pig was the one who began work on this game, so if anyone should be king, it should be him," Seiji pointed out.
"I can"t; I"m not qualified to be king. I couldn"t pull out the sword in the stone."
"I haven"t pulled out such a thing either! Besides, that doesn"t even exist!!"
"No, you have such a quality. I"ve witnessed the holy light within you—that"s a light only a king would possess!" Hisas.h.i.+ followed up with a divine emoticon.
"I agree." Yukari followed up with a polite-smile emoji.
"What the h.e.l.l"s with "the light of a king!?" I"m not a walking human light bulb! Even King Arthur wasn"t glowing, was he!?" Seiji retorted forcefully.
What glowed was King Arthur"s sword, not King Arthur himself... or herself, in some genderbent versions.
"This is the evidence that you possess the quality to surpa.s.s the legendary kings of yore!"
"That"s right."
"What the h.e.l.l kind of evidence is that! That"s enough!! Ice and Fire, you as well; stop egging him on and joining him!"
In the end, they played around for quite a while.
"I"m already tired of commenting... Let"s get serious here—I don"t feel like I"m suitable for being the team leader. Isn"t it better if you take the position, Sweet Pig?"
"I really can"t. I"m not cut out to be a leader. Let"s pretend that I was the leader, and I gave an order for Ice and Fire to do something. How would you feel about that, Ice and Fire?"
"This pervert actually dares to give me an order!?"
"Although I expected it, I"m still astonished! Ice and Fire Sensei actually views this humble one as a pervert!?"
"Aren"t you?"
"Er... although I am... I"ve always been very polite to you, Sensei! I don"t think I"ve overstepped my boundaries."
"From the very start of our discussion, you wanted me to draw some rather extreme scenes. I could smell the scent of your perversion even from across the computer screen," Yukari told him bluntly while adding an emoticon with a look of utter condescension.
"Wahhhh!" Hisas.h.i.+ used an emoticon of suffering.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
"See, that"s how it is, Milord Idle Fish. You shall be our king, and this humble one will be taking the next s.h.i.+p out to sea to find a quiet haven..." This was followed by an emoticon of a wandering traveler.
"Come back here already! Fine, I got it—I"ll be the team leader." Seiji sent a helpless emoticon.
"Perform fireworks ceremonies for the crowning of the new king!" Hisas.h.i.+ instantly typed.
Yukari immediately cooperated with him by sending a long series of celebratory emoticons, which included trumpets, exploding firecrackers, scattered confetti, clapping, and even some cannon fire...
"So this world had such a phrase as well!" Seiji"s cheeks twitched.
"Thank you for your trust in me and for choosing me as the leader. I can"t promise anything other than this: I"ll try my best."
"The first knight hereby swears to follow my king to my death!"
"Please be a little more serious, Sweet Pig Knight."
"Being called that suddenly makes me feel like a fool!"
"Then how about Milk Cream Knight?"
"That"s even worse! No! I want to change my name!!"
"I feel like Sweet Pig Knight sounds rather cute... Yes, it"s not bad at all," Yukari typed in an attempt to console Hisas.h.i.+.
"Really?" Hisas.h.i.+ asked.
"Yep, there"s no need to change it."
"Oh… then I"ll listen to Ice and Fire Sensei."
"Please call me Knight of Ice and Fire."
"That"s a really cool name in comparison to mine! Now I really feel like I"ve received a huge impact!!"
Yukari responded with an emoticon that was laughing while covering its mouth.
"Stop talking about this stuff! As your king, I command you to stop! It"s time for us to get serious."
Seiji picked an emoticon that he felt best represented Gendo Ikari"s serious expression.
"Let us begin the Knights of the Round Table"s first-ever conference!"