Looking at the button, Haku felt instantly revitalized.
To be honest, after he summoned Tom, the summon button had turned gray, without even a recovery status or progress bar. He had thought he could only summon this one Servant.
Although having Tom was enough to protect himself, no one would complain about having more combat power. Now that he could summon a second Servant, Haku's heart was filled with nothing but excitement, and he even started fantasizing about which Servant he would summon this time.
He slightly reined in his excitement, casually placed the bento he had just picked up on the coffee table, and then immediately walked to a relatively open area nearby. He then prepared to perform his second summon.
Just like the first summon, after Haku clicked the summon button, a crimson summoning circle immediately appeared on the ground and began to summon on its own. Throughout the entire process, Haku didn't have to do anything except press a button.
As the summoning circle automatically operated, every line of the summoning circle began to emit a faint blue light upwards, becoming increasingly brilliant.
Finally, after an extremely dazzling pure white light burst forth, this summon also ended.
"Tom, don't look here!" This time, Haku learned his lesson. Last time, he didn't cover his eyes, and the white light hit him directly in the face, making everything blurry for a short while. This time, he decided to anticipate it.
Just then, a tiny, soft light flew out of the summoning circle, heading straight for the wall nearby, hitting the base of the wall. A mouse hole appeared where the light landed the next moment. However, since both Haku and Tom had their eyes closed, neither of them saw this scene.
After the white light gradually dissipated, Haku released his hands from his eyes and looked expectantly towards the summoning circle, beginning to confirm what kind of Servant had been summoned this time.
Then, Haku saw… zero figures appear in the middle of the summoning circle.
Yes, that's right, zero figures. There was nothing where the summoning circle had been, and even the summoning circle itself didn't remain for Haku; it also gradually disappeared.
"…" Looking at the disappearing summoning circle, Haku's smile froze. Then, utterly bewildered, he opened his panel again.
However, the summon button on the left side of the panel, just like when Tom was summoned, had already turned gray. In other words, by all accounts, Haku should have completed the summon by now.
"Where's my Servant?!!!" Looking at the empty ground before him, Haku instinctively grabbed a bento, wanting to throw it on the ground, but then he remembered it was quite expensive, so he decisively put it back. Sadness was one thing, but Haku's rationality, born from poverty, was very strong. Wasting a bento box would only make Haku even more heartbroken.
Haku looked at the ground in front of him, then looked at the panel again, and cried out in a low voice, filled with indignation, "Can this thing be a dud?!"
He had never expected that summoning a Servant could actually fail. Who knew this thing might be a chance-based summon!
Seeing Haku's indignant expression, Tom, who was rapidly eating, looked up for a moment. It didn't know what was happening, but after confirming that it wasn't its fault, it continued to eat with its chopsticks.
As long as it didn't significantly affect him, Tom would always choose to slack off.
Haku's mentality instantly exploded. He had thought he would soon have a second Servant, but… good heavens, it just summoned a pile of air, didn't it?
"This panel must be poisonous, right?" He was still a bit unwilling, tapping the summon button that had already turned gray. Unfortunately, there was no reaction at all. "So, I really just summoned air, huh?"
Haku felt completely numb. He could only sit back down next to the coffee table and pick up his bento box again.
Simplicity is truth. Haku had no choice but to turn his grief and indignation into appetite, grabbing his chopsticks and starting to eat his rice again. At this moment, Haku felt like he could eat three large bowls in one go.
In a corner that neither Haku nor Tom had noticed, a mouse hole had appeared at some point. Moreover, this mouse hole was unusually peculiar; the entrance was not the rough, gnawed kind typically made by rodents, but an almost perfect semicircle, making it seem as though someone had specifically designed it that way.
And inside this mouse hole, it was even more preposterous, practically a miniature version of a normal person's bedroom.
All sorts of furnishings were available: a bed, a cabinet, a table, a lounge chair, a rocking chair, a wardrobe—it was a completely normal room, provided, of course, that one ignored its size.
One could even say that this miniature room was far, far better than the house Haku was living in, which had been uninhabited for over 20 years and even had a ghost. There was simply no comparison.
On the bed in this small room, a mouse wearing a nightcap was lying. Its name, 'Jerry,' was written on the headboard. He was sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of where he had ended up. Well, even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care.
At this moment, a visible, smoke-like wisp of gas slowly drifted from the bento box and precisely entered Jerry's room, as if with a purpose. It floated directly towards the bed where Jerry was sleeping, and the leading edge of the gas seemed to form a hand, gently brushing Jerry's nose.
"Mia~ mia~..." Smelling this aroma, a little drool began to trickle from Jerry's mouth.
After the arm formed by the fragrant gas brushed Jerry's face, its index finger and thumb pinched his nose and slowly lifted him upwards. Jerry himself floated along with it.
Once it reached a certain height, it dragged Jerry towards the entrance of the mouse hole. Jerry himself slowly floated towards the hole's direction. However, he seemed to have floated too high earlier, so when he reached the entrance, Jerry directly crashed into it.
"Thump!"
"Ouch!" The moment he hit the doorframe, Jerry instantly woke up from the pain. The invisible hand also released Jerry, causing him to fall onto the ground with a thud, making Jerry let out a cry of agony.
Opening his eyes, he saw an arm made of fragrance floating in front of him.
The fragrant gas in front of him had not yet disappeared, and at this moment, it pointed in a direction. After completing this action, it completely vanished from Jerry's sight.
Following the direction the gas arm had just pointed, Jerry saw a large bag of food, and his eyes immediately lit up.