While the two were discussing general ideas for the new ship, Shirou and Artoria arrived at the cockpit. Ethan noticed that Shirou had returned to his original appearance from before taking the potion that had made him younger so he could return to school.
"Oh? You've gotten taller."
"..."
Shirou felt awkward hearing Ethan's comment. Although he knew Ethan wasn't as young as he looked, from an age standpoint, it wasn't wrong for Ethan, as an elder, to comment on his younger self.
"Mr. Ethan."
"Just call me Ethan."
Shirou smiled wryly and nodded. He should have been glad that this "god" who had recruited him didn't put on airs, but because they weren't that close yet, Shirou still felt a bit reserved.
"Did you call me here for something?"
He thought that, having gone through a training mission and then lived a relatively peaceful life for a year to digest the experience, Ethan calling him now meant he was about to be sent out for another round of training.
"Are you going to send me to a new world for more tempering?"
He now believed this method of training was quite effective. He could gain a large amount of combat experience in a short time, clearly identify his weaknesses, and it was far more interesting than dry, repetitive training.
Though there was some danger involved, the benefits far outweighed the risks.
"No, you've been a member for some time now, but you haven't met all the crew. This time, I've called everyone back for a meeting, and one reason is to help you get to know everyone."
Shirou nodded. This was related to why he hadn't yet felt like a true part of the team. He could go home every day to rest, attend school like normal, and only come over afterward to see if there was anything to do. If any of his companions hadn't eaten, he'd make them food. If they had, he could study freely, then either stay on the ship or go home.
It felt similar to his previous life, just with a few more people involved.
Compared to the companions who had been living on the ship from the start, Shirou's experience was completely different.
First, Ethan introduced Shirou and Tony to each other. When Artoria was introduced, Tony's expression became incredibly strange.
"King Arthur?"
Tony kept looking at Artoria, then looked seriously at Ethan.
"You think I haven't met King Arthur before?"
"..."
Ethan spread his hands. He knew Tony understood what this meant and was just playing around.
As expected, after a few jokes, Tony let it go. For someone like him, who had already mastered quite a bit of mystical knowledge, this was just another case of a parallel world.
Tony's introduction was a bit more complicated. He hadn't officially joined Ethan's team, but he was practically part of it. In the past, he might have been considered an outsider since he had mostly lived in his own world, but now that a permanent connection had been established, Tony could freely travel between worlds. That made him no different from a regular member.
Especially since most of the team wasn't even on the ship most of the time, Tony didn't stand out in any way.
At least in Shirou's eyes, Tony Stark was already a full-fledged member of the crew.
What interested Shirou most about Tony was his superhero identity. He was the famous Iron Man in his own world. For Shirou, who aspired to become a champion of justice, Tony was an ideal role model.
He even began considering whether he should emulate Tony and use his own abilities to help people.
For now, it was just a thought. Even if he wanted to act on it, he had no idea where to begin.
As they chatted, they made their way to the conference room, since Nebula and Maria Hill had also returned while Shirou and Tony were talking.
It was expected that everyone would be returning to the ship soon. Although the cockpit was spacious, it wasn't suitable for holding a meeting. Ethan had Luna greet each returning member and direct them to the conference room.
By the time they sat down, Shirou had even prepared some snacks and placed them on the table for everyone to enjoy. Annette and Ada arrived shortly after.
Then Betty, Evelyn, O'Connell, Jonathan, and Selene returned one by one, along with Leah, Rin, Illya, and finally Logan, who was the last to come back. In the end, the entire crew managed to return within half a day.
Ethan had been sitting at the conference table the entire time. As each person arrived, they exchanged greetings and found seats. No one rushed to ask questions. Once everyone had gathered, the room that had previously felt like a casual marketplace suddenly turned quiet.
Everyone's eyes turned to Ethan, waiting for the captain to speak.
Ethan scanned the room, surprised at how many people had gathered around him without him even realizing it.
Some of them were people he had deliberately recruited, like Logan and Ada.
Some were friends he had intentionally befriended and were now close companions, like Tony.
Others, like O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan, Imhotep, and Anck-Su-Namun, had joined through a series of accidents and gradually become trusted assistants.
There were also those who had asked to join and slowly integrated into the team, such as Annette.
Naturally, there were also members like Laura and Sherry, who had originally come aboard as "extras" and eventually started taking on responsibilities, along with Mordred and Galahad, who had been entrusted to him to travel various worlds and learn.
"This is our new member, Shirou. Some of you have met him already, others haven't. One reason for calling everyone back this time is to introduce new members to the team."
It wasn't just Shirou. Some members hadn't even met Scáthach yet, who had essentially joined on her own terms. She would be introduced this time as well.
No one objected to Shirou joining as the team's chef. They had always lacked a proper cook, a complaint that had come up many times. Even though most now felt a chef wasn't essential, having someone who knew how to cook and was willing to do it was a welcome addition.
As for Scáthach, as a powerful figure from Celtic mythology, no one would object to her joining.
There was always room for more capable fighters.
After introducing the new members, Ethan moved on to the next topic: whether or not the Transformers world was still worth developing into a base.
If it was, then how should they go about developing it?
"Is there even a need?" Annette asked after some thought.
For Ethan's team, the value of the Transformers world was limited. Only Cybertronian technology had some usefulness, mainly as a technical reference for the construction of their new spaceship.
According to Ethan, Cybertronian technology was built for silicon-based lifeforms and wasn't fully compatible with human usage. Their spaceship tech would need major modifications before it could be used. On top of that, the tech wasn't advanced enough to surpass what the team already had.
"So, that world has limited value. We just need to extract the technology."
As for planetary resources, the Earth authorities in that world couldn't provide Ethan with unlimited materials. Earth's resources were already stretched thin for its own people. There was no way they could supply Ethan as well.
"As our ship grows larger and consumes more materials, a world like the Transformers world struggles to qualify as a logistics base."
Unless it was like the world where Arthur had unified the entire planet and had the entire population supporting Ethan, it couldn't be considered a viable base.
At minimum, it needed to be like the Starship Troopers universe, where a major corporation with significant influence and advanced tech could develop large space battleships under the Federation's name. Normal worlds were not worth considering and too difficult to develop.
"In that case, I'll find time to retrieve the Cybertronian tech next time. As for making it a base..."
Seeing that everyone agreed, Ethan decided to abandon the idea.
As for the promise he had made before, Ethan would keep it. He was someone who kept his word.
"If you want a world to fully belong to you, why not just occupy one?"
With Ethan's strength, he could easily take over most worlds. In many versions of Earth, there wouldn't even be any resistance capable of stopping him.
Even if Ethan didn't want to start a war, and his companions weren't the kind of people who would do so, they could always choose an ancient time period or find a world without an Earth background.
"Because there's no need."
Ethan softly called out to Luna, and an image appeared on the conference table.
This wasn't Ethan's magic, but a built-in feature of the table itself.
Everyone immediately recognized the image. It was the island on the ship. The crew was very familiar with it, but they didn't understand why Ethan was showing it to them now.
"I can now create a small world like this. And my strength is still far from its peak." Ethan spread his hands. "You should understand what that means."
(To be continued.)