All the knight order members concretely realized that this was a choice to determine the knight order's future.
Everyone fell silent yet again.
"Senpai— no, what does Team Leader want to do?" Hoshi was the first to speak.
"I'm choosing to fight," Seiji answered directly. "Protecting the citizens, protecting this city, and obtaining benefits are all reasons to fight. But, the most basic reason is because I want to fight!"
Seiji didn't want to fight for personal benefits or to protect this city. The main reason was simply because he wanted to fight in this major battle.
Of course, personal benefits and protecting the city were also important. If it wasn't for the obtainable benefits and the concept of protection, Seiji wouldn't risk his life to fight for no reason.
But still, he was going to fight because he didn't want to miss such a major battle.
Seiji didn't care all that much about the potential benefits or protecting the city. In the end, he just wanted to satisfy his personal desire.
There was a certain manga character back in his previous world who had saved the world multiple times. But, in fact, that character only fought because he wanted to fight against the strong. In fact, this character would even let a dangerous villain who threatened the entire world free just because he wanted to fight the villain again.
Although this might also be due to the manga author trying to come up with a way for the villain to continue surviving, this really expressed how much of a fighting maniac this main character was. Since he wanted to fight against the strong, it was somewhat understandable that he would let such a powerful enemy go. If he killed the enemy instead, then he wouldn't be able to fight (have fun) with that enemy anymore.
Well, that was the benefit of having a fighting maniac as the main character. It was easy to simply have rematches with the same villain rather than constantly having to come up with new villains. And if the readers got bored, the author could change things up by having the main villain obtain a new transformation, or create some sort of organization to create a new arc.
It could also be similarly effective to have a main character who believed it was morally wrong to kill even his worst enemy. This made the main character on the side of justice and compassion, along with saving effort in creating new villains. Yet another effective writing technique.
So, there wasn't only main character plot armor, for the antagonists would also have plot armor!
This was all the more so for popular antagonists. No matter how viciously the antagonist got beaten, they would always survive. Or even if they died, they could be revived. And if the world didn't have revival, there were always alternate dimensions. Antagonists were actually stacked with more cheats than the protagonist…
Cough, Seiji was getting off topic.
At any rate, Seiji was participating because he wanted to do so, similar to being a fighting maniac. Or, maybe he was more like a "hero who protected others because it was fun."
However, everybody else didn't know about Seiji's inner thoughts. They all thought that he was someone who was fearless, courageous, and willing to face danger head on…
Just about everyone could sense a heroic aura coming from him as they were affected by his (imaginary) willpower. They all felt as if he was shining golden in this moment.
Natsuya, Shika, Mika, Yukari, Hoshi, Kaede, Mayuzumi, and Kaho… Just about every girl present had something flash in their eyes while they recalled various memories together with Seiji.
Wait a moment, something seemed off about that previous statement?
Well, never mind.
"I'm being selfish with my decision, so I'm not asking everyone to do the same as I do," Seiji continued speaking while looking around the room at everyone. "I hope that everyone can make their own choice… Or, more directly, I hope that everyone will choose to leave rather than staying behind to fight like I am."
The knight order members were surprised to hear this.
"Because we're too weak…" Hisashi adjusted his eyeglasses.
"No, you're not weak at all," Seiji denied this. "It's just that this is all too quick. Although almost all of you have combat experience by now, and you've done quite well, it's still too quick to be participating in such a dangerous incident. All of you need more time to grow and mature. Not only in power level, but also mentally… That's what I believe."
The risks of Yukari and Miyabi's trials couldn't be understated. Their mental condition wasn't completely stable yet, and it was also possible that the other Awakened would experience similar trials during the next two weeks… Even if the Awakened were strong enough to handle the upcoming incident, Seiji was worried about their mental conditions.
"So, in the end, you still think we're too weak," Yukari spoke up.
Everyone looked at her as she spoke.
"You want us all to leave because you really still don't think we're strong enough. No need to hide things with pretty words," Yukari stated while looking directly at Seiji.
"…I suppose you could say that, but I truly don't believe that you all are weak." Seiji sighed.
"I apologize… my tone of voice might have been a little harsh. But, if you want to stay behind by yourself and ask all of us to leave, that makes me rather displeased." Yukari folded her arms. "I thought that this was supposed to be a team decision."
"I'm the one who should apologize… I'm sorry, but that's what I really think." Seiji faced everyone directly. "I myself want to stay behind and fight, but I feel that everyone else isn't prepared yet. I hope that you all will choose to avoid this danger."
"What if we want to stay behind anyways?" Mika spoke up.
"I will ask you to carefully consider. Just as I said earlier, avoiding danger isn't shameful at all. Staying behind means risking your life," Seiji spoke seriously. "None of you need to stay behind for my selfishness."
"I suddenly feel like Team Leader doesn't have the right to say that to me…" Hoshi spoke up with a subtle expression on his face. "Previously… I think the words that Team Leader spoke to me previously can be returned to you here without changing a single word."
"Return what?" Seiji glared at Hoshi.
The beautiful boy retreated slightly from this glare.
Hisashi chuckled upon witnessing this scene. Mika and Kazuko laughed out loud as well. Even Shika's mouth arced slightly upwards.
Seiji pretended to see nothing.
"What's going on?" Yukari blinked in confusion.
"It's nothing, pay it no mind." Seiji waved it off. "At any rate… Cough, I've said everything I wanted to say. It's up to all of you what to do now." Seiji looked around sternly at everyone.
"I'll support anyone who chooses to leave. And if you want to stay behind, I'll ask you to reconsider. I'm sorry about treating everyone like this… Truly sorry."
Seiji sincerely apologized for his own selfishness.
The knight order members exchanged awkward expressions with each other.
"To be honest, I'm just as displeased as Knight of Ice and Fire, because Our King isn't displaying the authority he should," Hisashi commented. "It's fine to leave or stay here, since if Our King makes a decision, we knights will simply obey. Yet, the King is having us knights make the decision. That's not good… but it can also be seen as a test from the King to his knights. Will we leave as Our King wishes, or stay behind anyways despite what Our King wants… As for such a choice, this humble one's reply is..."
Hisashi suddenly stood up from his chair and placed his right hand on his chest, making a classical knight gesture of swearing loyalty.
"Stay behind!" the blonde eyeglasses-wearing mafia otaku spoke in a resolute tone of voice. "Even if this goes against My King's wishes, I shall stay behind to fight together with My King! This humble one replies like so!!"
Even if he spoke in a chuunibyou manner, it didn't seem comical at all. Hisashi actually seemed surprisingly imposing.
Together with his ceremonial gesture, it really made him seem quite serious.
Everyone was slightly astounded by this.
"Hisashi…" Seiji looked directly at his Knight #1.
Seiji was unable to tell Hisashi anything like "please reconsider" after that.
"…Thank you." That was all Seiji could say in the end.
Hisashi responded with a smile and a slight bow as if he really was a knight carrying out knightly etiquette before he sat down again.
A joking chuunibyou would be a clown, so what was a serious chuunibyou?
The blonde-haired mafia otaku showed everyone here what a serious chuunibyou looked like.
Yukari and the others all reassessed their opinions of the Knight #1 after this.
Hisashi's meaningful words also caused everyone to begin thinking to themselves.
Was this… Their King's test?