733 I want to fight! (1/2)

Two different choices. Two paths that everyone could take.

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!

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.