CH 96.1

The ball leaves my fingers and is swallowed by the air currents created just before my hand, flying toward the mitt while changing its trajectory due to tremendous rotation.

It was incomparably sharper than ever before so much that East wasn’t able to catch and lost it.

The magic ball that Tashiba and I came up with on the baseball field was a great success.

「Robos-dono! That magic ball is amazing!」

East said so excitedly.

It was definitely more variable than the crosswind magic ball I had used in the beginning.

「Did you notice the flow of the wind on your side!?」

「I didn’t get it at all! With this, the batter won’t be able to read the direction of the curve since even I don’t know it!」

「Alright! Awesome! Let’s practice with this magic ball, East!」

「Affirmative!」

「Mamu! Take the bat! If you notice anything, say it!」

「Understood!」

「Ano～how about me? Do you need me to do anything?」

「Tashiba, you’re in charge of picking the ball!」

「That’s～an important task……」

On this day, I threw the magic ball until midnight and……finally saw the completion of my true magic ball.

-0-

In fact, saying “the magic ball has been completed” doesn’t mean anything will significantly change.

In the noble’s league, which is a competition full of magic, even Princess Slayra’s magic ball, which is many times more powerful than mine, gets hit, a lot of times too, so it wouldn’t matter much if I have my own magic ball or not.

However, the number of times my ball is hit in a game has been reduced to about one third compared to the previous number and I can finally be counted as a competitive player.

After finally being useful to the team in a game, we received a compliment from the princess herself.

「Second lieutenant, sergeant, you’ve been doing great lately. As expected of my eldest brother’s personnel, well done.」

「Thank you very much」

「Thank you for your kind words.」

East and I let out a sigh of relief upon hearing Princess Slayra’s compliment while Sawadi Slayra, her husband, is standing beside her.

I was honestly at a loss if I had been told “You’re still not good enough” after working so hard.

However, we cannot be happy just because of one praise.

In order to win against the zarkudo style, I really wanted to be a little better as a pitcher.

「Even so, it’s only one step closer to……」

「Yeah, one small step……」

While East and I exchanged glances like that, the princess lit a cigarette she had taken out of her pocket and exhaled the smoke while smiling wryly.

「In other words, you guys want to be better……?」

「I’m sure it’s good that I’ve developed a magic ball that spins using wind but……Unlike major’s hard magic ball, it is still very visible as it flies forward which means it can be easily hit by the zarkudo style guys.」

「We’re also working on our pitch distribution but again, the zarkudo style guys are just too strong……」

In the end, our enemy is the zarkudo style.

No matter what the other teams we might have been able to compete with, we are still greatly outclassed by them.

「They have players who can hit any kind of pitches from any pitcher and even I myself is working on it.」

The princess said so bitterly as she reduced her cigarette to ashes down to the filter.

Well, if you want to be good at something, you have to work for it…..

In the end, I guess the only way is to practice more and more, to increase the speed of the ball and the curvature.

Just as I was about to conclude that, Sawadi Slayra, who had been silent all this time, called out to me.

「Ano, you mentioned that the wind was causing the rotation, right?」

「Ah, yes……so?」

「How about not making it rotate?」

「Not making……it rotate?」

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Rotation is the power my magic ball.

Why in the world would he make me stop using my strength?

「Yes. The ball will be a little bit shaky if it’s not rotating. The pitcher won’t even know the trajectory of the ball so if it is against the zarkudo style guys, which are strong at reading the ball, they might not be able to….read it, haha」

「If the pitcher himself doesn’t know the trajectory, that means the catcher can’t catch it too, right?」

「Ah…..that’s right. Well, I was just saying……」

「My apologies second lieutenant. Sometimes, he says these incomprehensible things. Maybe because he’s a scholar.」

He’s a catcher so how can’t he know that…..? and.

If the catcher uses magic, catching it will be manageable……right.

Various things came into my mind all at once but for now, what came out of my mouth were safe and reasonable words.

「……no, that might be something to start with. I’ll think about it and see what I can come up with.」

「Really?」

I’m pretty much against the wall and only managed to get over with it upon consulting everyone. I wouldn’t mind taking a detour or two.