Published at 23rd of August 2019 12:08 am

Volume 25, Chapter 6: The Blue Knight Part 1

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Monday, December 20th

A couple of days after the press conference with Ceilēshu and Koutarou, Elexis was back in his office at DKI headquarters in a great mood. The results of the latest public opinion poll had just been delivered. It covered all sorts of topics and issues, but one in particular was of special interest to Elexis.

“This is even better than I expected! Over 50 percent of Forthorthe is in support of Ceilēshu’s appointment as regent empress! Our plan to win over the undecided citizens was a critical success!”

When asked what power the citizens supported, the numbers indicated the highest support for Elfaria. Ceilēshu was second to her, and Vandarion came in last. However, the majority of the population still supported Ceilēshu acting as regent. Looking at the two polls, it was safe to assume now that a fair trial could be held for Elfaria under Ceilēshu’s regency, and that the accusations against her would ultimately be dismissed. To Elexis, that was a near ideal outcome.

“I’m sure this is largely thanks to that boy being the real Blue Knight.”

In contrast to the excited Elexis, Maya’s reaction was rather plain. That was largely because of their difference in personalities, but if someone like Maki, who knew her well, could have seen her in that moment, they would have been shocked. Maya was rejoicing in her own way. Her expression was surprisingly defenseless, and she was drinking more liquor than usual too. Because Maya fundamentally didn’t trust others, it was exceptionally rare for her to behave like this. Drinking in front of other people, much less getting drunk, was out of the question. However, not even Maya herself knew if she was comfortable drinking now because she was so happy or if it was because she was only in front of Elexis.

“Yes. If Koutarou-kun had just been a descendent or successor, things wouldn’t have gone this well.”

It was true that Ceilēshu alone wouldn’t have been enough to accomplish Elexis’s plan. This late in the game, it would have been difficult to bring around the citizens already supporting Elfaria or Vandarion. And without the support of the citizenry behind her, the regent empress wouldn’t have any real power. The Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire was under imperial rule, but it wasn’t the kind of backwards government that ignored the will of its people.

But in order for the people to back Ceilēshu, they would need something to convince them. That was where Koutarou came in. Elexis had hoped that with Forthorthe starting to see Koutarou as the second coming of the Blue Knight, his advocating for Ceilēshu would move them. With the grand reveal of Koutarou’s true identity, however, the results were beyond expectation. It was more accurate to say that Elexis had won the jackpot rather than a simple wager. In fact, even in the public opinion poll, support for the Blue Knight was abnormally high.

“The rest will be simple from here,” Elexis said with a self-assured smile.

“We’ll selectively destroy evidence and make sure Elfaria loses the trial,” Maya replied.

“That’s right, although... With things as they are now, we might not need to make her lose. As long as some doubt remains, that should be enough. Besides, I made a promise with Koutarou-kun.”

Now that Ceilēshu was gaining support as regent empress, as long as Elfaria was forced to abdicate, their original objective would be accomplished. At first, Elexis believed he’d need to get a guilty verdict for Elfaria in order to ensure that. However, after seeing the overwhelming support that Ceilēshu was getting, he no longer thought they’d need to go that far.

“How kind. Whenever it comes to that boy, you’re rather indulgent.”

“It’s not like it’s just for Koutarou-kun’s sake. In order to stabilize the country and bring the topic of Folsaria to light, I’d rather avoid conflict with Elfaria’s faction.”

If Elfaria was found guilty, those who supported her would vehemently protest, which would plunge the country into chaos once more. To avoid that, Elexis wanted to settle the trial by having the charges against Elfaria dismissed due to insufficient evidence. While Elfaria wouldn’t be found guilty, her innocence wouldn’t be proved either. She wouldn’t be imprisoned, but she wouldn’t be able to reclaim the throne with that kind of lingering doubt about her character. That way, Elexis would technically be keeping his promise to protect Elfaria and Theia while simultaneously getting what he wanted. And if it was the court’s decision, those supporting Elfaria would eventually have to come to accept it. Elexis knew

he’d need the support of the people for the return of Folsaria and the abolishment of the imperial government, but with the turnout for Ceilēshu so far, he now thought he could manage that without a guilty verdict for Elfaria.

“So you’re concerned about us too?”

“I don’t want to get on your bad side after all.”

“You talking about this like it’s a business deal doesn’t please me in the slightest.”

“Oh, come now. Must you act like everything I say and do is strictly business?”

“Maybe you should try talking about something other than work for once then.”

“My, my... Working with women sure is difficult.”

The back and forth between Elexis and Maya was gradually drifting off topic. Things were going so well for them at the moment that they could afford that luxury.

“There’s nothing simple in this world.”

“I’m starting to get that sense, yes.”

“You’re talking about me, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t dare. I’m talking about the situation we’re in.”

“I wonder about that.”

As their casual chatter could be heard from outside Elexis’s office door, the DKI employee standing in the hall was wondering whether to knock or to come back later.

“Oh, looks like we have a guest,” Maya said, turning towards the door.

“Looks like our lovely little tête-à-tête is over for now,” Elexis said with a smirk and a sigh.

“I can’t tell if you actually know how to handle women or not...”

When the employee in the hall realized that they knew he was there, he opened the door after knocking lightly.

“Pardon my intrusion.”

“It’s fine. Do come in. Has something happened?”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that... but we detected some suspicious activity. We believe someone from Elfaria’s faction was responsible, so I came to inform you of the situation.”

Politely approaching after Elexis welcomed him in, the employee used his portable terminal to project a hologram in the office. It was displaying some records and other data.

“This looks to be access logs from Empire Bank... Is there something wrong with them?”

Empire Bank, or more accurately the Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire Bank, was the central bank of Forthorthe. It was the heart of all finance in the nation. Its roles included managing the money of the country, issuing currency, financing general banks, and more.

Of course, as a private enterprise, DKI was normally not privy to records like this from Empire Bank. But through the means of espionage, magic, networking, bribery, and hacking, DKI had access to all kinds of information that should be off limits to them. Nothing, not even law, was going to hold Elexis back from seizing the country.

“Please pay attention to this right here.”

The employee zoomed in on a portion of the massive amounts of numbers and letters being projected. Seeing what he indicated, Elexis crossed his arms and began thinking.

“...An access from the Wenranka territory from ten days ago, huh? An account inquiry using an authorized authentication code... and the account name is ‘Layous Fatra Veltlion’? What is this?”

Normally, the central bank didn’t deal with individuals, but nevertheless, here was an account under the name of Layous Fatra Veltlion. That caught Elexis’s attention.

“I also had doubts about the Blue Knight having a personal account at Empire Bank, so I looked up it... but it appears to be a dormant account with no balance. I tried going through the logs as far back as I could, but there are no records of the balance moving,” the employee explained.

It wouldn’t be for several hundred years after Alaia’s reign that computers were invented. The banking business was digitalized after that, including records of deposits and withdrawals. But the account in question had a balance of zero even before the banks went digital, so the data that was retrievable now indicated the balance had started at zero and hadn’t moved since.

“Which means that its an account that’s been left alone for well over a thousand years,” Elexis commented.

“I have some employees investigating old handwritten books for information before that,” the employee said.

“Well done... So were you able to learn who exactly accessed the account?”

“No, sir. Unfortunately, any trace of the access suddenly disappeared and I was unable to identify the source.”

“It was accessed with a regular code, wasn’t it?”

“It was, but there seems to have been some advanced hacking involved.”

Since the account had been accessed with an access code, nothing seemed unusual about it. But if a normal user had accessed their account that way, the access history and additional information on the login should have been available. However, since none of that could be found, signs pointed to advanced hacking made to look like regular access.

“So was the account data rewritten?” Elexis asked.

“No, that’s not possible. I’ve confirmed with the backups that nothing has been manipulated,” the employee responded.

“Which means that someone went to all this trouble just to peek at the Blue Knight’s account?”

“Yes. That’s why I came to report it to you just in case...”

“You did the right thing. Thank you for letting me know. Please continue investigating. I don’t care what it costs.”

“I understand. I’ll put together a project team right away.”

With instructions from Elexis, the employee quickly left the office to get to work. Elexis didn’t so much as look up as he left the room. He was still intently staring at the data projected before him. He was convinced there was something more to this. He had never heard of anyone hacking without a reason or something to gain from it. There had to be something behind it. Elexis’s keen business intuition warned him that if he left that question unanswered, he’d be paying dearly for it later

“What... Just what was the point of doing such a thing? Who was responsible? What was their goal?” Elexis muttered, still staring at the data.

“I think it was the boy and the others,” Maya replied flatly.

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s one part intuition and one part facts. Look at the date.”

“The date?”

“Haven’t you noticed? This date of the access was the day after the conference.”

“What?”

When Maya pointed it out, Elexis saw it for himself. She was right. The account had been accessed the day after he met privately with Koutarou.

“If that’s the case, then that would mean Koutarou-kun had to confirm the account for some reason after our meeting... No, that’s strange. Koutarou- kun had already agreed to work with us, so he would have been able to access it properly if he’d just waited a bit.”

After being recognized by the royal families as the real Blue Knight, Koutarou would certainly have access to his own account at the central bank. He shouldn’t need to sneak in through hacking for that. Maya had made a good point, but Elexis didn’t agree with her conclusion.

“Then how about this? Only after confirming his account’s balance did the boy truly decide he wanted to accept your proposal. In other words, the balance was an important factor in the decision.”

“But he accepted our proposal before confirming that the balance was zero.”

“Yes, but he must have realized that there was nothing he could do against you once he saw he had nothing to his name here, and he accepted your proposal as the next best thing. Or perhaps it’s because the balance was at zero that he thinks he can beat us later on.”

Operating under the assumption that Koutarou and the others were the ones who had accessed his account, that seemed the most reasonable conclusion to her. Maya was now a soldier who fought with a mechanical body, but in the past she had been a magician that used mind manipulation magic. Reading other people was still her forte.

“Beat us? How is that?”

But Elexis was predominantly interested in the last bit of what she’d said. Everything else made sense to him, but not that part. Elexis and all of his business savvy just couldn’t comprehend how being penniless would put Koutarou at an advantage.

“I can’t tell that much. It’s just that we can’t ignore the possibility. Of course, that only makes sense if it was actually the boy and his friends who accessed the account,” Maya said with a shrug.

Her thought process was simply based on knowing how the human mind tended to work. She had no way of knowing if it was actually what Koutarou was thinking. If his first plan was impossible, he’d probably just given up on it and picked the next best thing by working together with Elexis. That’s all she thought of it.

“But a chance of defeating us with a balance of zero...?

The motive for accessing the account would depend on whether or not it was Koutarou and his friends. And based on the date, it was very likely that it was them. Elexis still couldn’t imagine an empty account being a threat to him, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it after Maya had said it. Koutarou was the Blue Knight after all. He didn’t think he’d give up a fight that easily.

“For reference, how much money do you think would need to be in his account for the boy to defeat us?” Maya asked.

“Well, in order to defeat us, he’d need to at least match DKI’s financial strength, so...”

Humoring Maya, Elexis started on a rough calculation of the massive sum.

Wait, how much?!

As he ran the numbers, a certain thought flashed in Elexis’s mind like a warning sign.

“It couldn’t be!”

Elexis stopped his calculations and frantically began tapping away on his computer. He brought up a database of the constitution and laws of Forthorthe, then searched through them using “Blue Knight” as a keyword. He also contacted the employee that had stopped by before and asked him about the progress on the handwritten books.

“What is it? Did you figure something out?”

Sensing something was up from the look on Elexis’s face, Maya put down her glass and walked over to him. Based on how he was acting, this wasn’t anything trivial.

“I don’t know yet!”

Elexis thoroughly read the search results he’d gotten. Once he was done with that, he received another report from the employee he’d been in contact with. It was an email with an attached image.

“I see... So that’s how it is...”

After looking at the image and rereading the message, Elexis reached a certain conclusion. He was practically at a loss for words, and his face twisted into a bitter grimace.

“We’ve been had! Koutarou-kun and the others— No, perhaps the legendary Empress Alaia herself set up a trap, and we’ve jumped right into it!”

Wham!

Elexis slammed his clenched fist down onto his desk. What he’d just realized far outstripped any scenario he could have imagined. There was danger where he’d never even considered it.

“What do you mean?” Maya asked.

“We, or rather the royal families of Forthorthe, have now recognized Koutarou-kun as the Blue Knight!”

“What of it? Isn’t that a good thing? That’s why the support polls were higher than expected.”

Acknowledging Koutarou as a successor or descendant of the Blue Knight was necessary to garner public approval for Ceilēshu. But because he’d turned out to be the Blue Knight himself, the effect of his endorsement was even more profound than they’d hoped. Maya didn’t think there were any problems with that.

“That is exactly the problem! If he had been a successor or a descendant, this would never have happened!”

Elexis had believed at first that Koutarou was the successor or a descendant of the Blue Knight, perhaps both. That Koutarou was actually the Blue Knight was such an outrageous idea that Elexis had never planned for that possibility. Elexis was a practical man, first and foremost. And in this case, that had worked against him. The possibility he’d overlooked had come back to bite him.

“If Koutarou-kun is the Blue Knight, he’s due a salary!”

The Blue Knight had special rights as decreed by Alaia, and a salary was included in that. So once Koutarou was officially recognized as the Blue

Knight, the Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire would need to compensate him accordingly.

“Then why be cheap? Just pay him.”

“It’s two thousand years’ worth of backpay! Not to mention the compound interest on it! Think about it! Even if the annual interest was at 2 percent for five hundred years, that alone increases the amount by twenty thousand times! And in reality, that number is likely much higher!”

Alaia had decreed that the Blue Knight’s salary would be 1 percent of Forthorthe’s military budget, which was 10 percent of Forthorthe’s overall budget. In other words, the Blue Knight was to receive 0.1 percent of the national budget every year.

“And that’s just on the first year’s salary! There are still 1,999 years after that! And every time the national budget has increased, so has his salary! By now it’s far from payable!”

When Alaia had initially decreed it, Forthorthe was just one small country of many on the planet. Because of that, the salary was limited and didn’t exceed that of the most affluent bands of knights at the time. But that amount had increased as Forthorthe expanded. In modern day Forthorthe, 0.1 percent of the national budget was hefty sum.

“As the Blue Knight is granted special rights, he’s tax exempt and his salary won’t be seized due to a dormant account!”

Forthorthe’s ultimate hero, the Blue Knight, was protected by special rights granted to him by Alaia that had been written into law. According to her decree, Koutarou had no obligation to pay taxes and he would receive interest on unpaid salary. His salary also couldn’t be seized because his account was inactive. And the proof that he had never been paid was right there in the bank records. The balance was and always had been zero.

“But the salary has been saved up― Ah,” Maya stopped herself mid- sentence.

“That’s right! It hasn’t! The Blue Knight’s supposed salary was used a long time ago to deal with a disaster and the following famine!”

Three hundred years after the death of Alaia, a terrible disaster befell Forthorthe, the fallout of which had been a terrible famine. The government was short on funds to handle it, so the empress at the time had gone into the money that had been saved as the Blue Knight’s salary. Since he hadn’t returned for over three hundred years, he was believed to be dead. And as the national hero, the people believed that he would lend them the money in their time of need. Even in the extremely unlikely event he were to return through the use of the supposed powers of immortality granted by Signaltin, they could just repay him then. They had made the decision with everyone’s best interest in mind. If the country were to fall into ruin, that money would be meaningless anyway.

“And his salary has never been repaid since then, but he’s still entitled to it now that he’s returned!”

The following year, after the Blue Knight’s property and assets had been requisition to deal with the disaster and famine, it was decided that the savings would stop in favor of paying out all at once should he ever return. And so the Blue Knight’s salary was reincorporated into the budget and returned to the treasury. In times of disaster and famine, 0.1 percent of the national budget was a considerable sum and it went a long way in relief efforts. It was the right thing to do. As long as the nation agreed to take responsibility and pay the Blue Knight as promised if the time came, there was no need to dutifully save up money that may never be spent. But there was a miscalculation in that decision.

“It couldn’t...”

Realizing it, Maya’s face scrunched up.

“That’s right! There’s two thousand years of interest on that two thousand years of salary! I can’t even image what the actual balance due is! The entire national budget wouldn’t even be enough to cover the interest!”

Indeed, the real miscalculation was assuming the Blue Knight would never return. Elexis had made the same mistake Forthorthe had, and now after two thousand years, the Blue Knight was actually back.

“That’s why Koutarou decided to side with use after confirming that his account balance was at zero, meaning that Forthorthe had no means of paying him! He used us to call a royal family meeting and have him

acknowledged as the real Blue Knight, all so the country would be indebted to him!”

Everything had gone just as Koutarou and the others had planned. With her royal authority stripped, Elfaria was unable to call a royal family meeting herself. It made a certain amount of sense considering she was the one at the center of all the commotion. That’s why Koutarou and the others had used Elexis and DKI in order to call a meeting instead. In order to have Ceilēshu become regent empress and stabilize the country, Koutarou’s identity as the Blue Knight had to be revealed and officially acknowledged. And to keep anyone from finding out what kind of power that would give him, he and the others had planned each step very carefully.

“Right now, Koutarou has become the biggest creditor in history! He could ruin Forthorthe in the blink of an eye!”

Because he hadn’t realized those ulterior motives, Elexis had called the royal family meeting and played right into their hands. That gave Koutarou terrific power in the form of astronomical financial strength that far surpassed what Forthorthe was able to repay.

“You could call that empty account a second Signaltin created by Alaia the Silver Princess!”

The Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire had used up Koutarou’s assets without permission. They had an obligation to repay him. They couldn’t just write off a debt they owed the Blue Knight. And Elexis was right. Not even the entire national budget would be enough to repay the interest they owed Koutarou now. If he chose to cash in on it, it would throw the nation into financial ruin.

“That is the true sword gifted by the divine, the sword of kingship! Forthorthe would become Koutarou-kun’s!”

The only person with the power or the potential to rebuild Forthorthe at that point would be Koutarou, and that would allow him to rebuild the country however he saw fit. In other words, it essentially meant that Koutarou would become emperor. As such, he could reinstate Elfaria if he so desired.

“This was an error on our part! Using Koutarou aside, acknowledging him as the Blue Knight was a big mistake!”

If Koutarou wasn’t the Blue Knight himself, this wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand. The special rights Alaia allowed the Blue Knight made no concessions for his descendants or anyone that took up his title. The salary was limited to him, and once inherited, it would be subject to taxation again. With that in mind, even with the knowledge of his true identity, they never should have formally recognized Koutarou as the Blue Knight.

Of course, this wasn’t something that Alaia had intentionally done. What she’d really wanted to do was properly show her gratitude for Koutarou and amass funds in case of an emergency. That emergency had come much sooner than expected, but it certainly Alaia’s fault Forthorthe had gone all this time without making proper compensation. Koutarou getting this much power, in the grand scheme of things, was merely a coincidence.

“I can’t imagine that boy going that far though,” Maya said and shrugged.

She didn’t think that Koutarou would bleed Forthorthe dry just to gain control and get what he wanted.

“Of course not. He loves Forthorthe. He’ll likely only turn to such measures as a last resort if we continue to put up a fight.”

“If we give Elfaria a fair trial and reveal that the evidence against her was fabricated, he probably won’t do anything at all.”

“Indeed. He wouldn’t do anything to harm Forthorthe and make the citizens suffer. History tells us that much.”

Elexis agreed with Maya’s assessment. Koutarou most likely wouldn’t use his financial strength to such an end. Just because he had a sword didn’t mean he had to use it. It was probably better to keep it sheathed until it was really needed.

“However, if a proper trial is held, the chances of Ceilēshu ascending the throne are incredibly low. We’ll need to come up with some countermeasures for that...”

In order to keep Koutarou from drawing that sword, Elexis would have to see to a fair trial for Elfaria and make sure the evidence against her was

exposed as fake. In that scenario, she would have the charges dismissed against her, meaning her royal authority would be restored and she would automatically reclaim the throne as empress. In order for Ceilēshu to become empress now, she’d need to display incredible aptitude for the job and garner an overwhelming amount of support from the citizenry before Elfaria’s trial. Unfortunately, by conventional means, the chances of that happening were meager. That’s why Maya believed that some special measures needed to be taken. But Elexis shook his head.

“No. At this rate, the chances of Princess Ceilēshu becoming empress are next to zero.”

He had grounds to believe it was realistically impossible for Ceilēshu to become empress at this point.

“What makes you say that? This is just going to reverse the balance of power, isn’t it?”

“If that was all it was, it wouldn’t have been a problem. The real issue is the one move that Koutarou-kun is certain to make in the future.”

“What do you mean?”

“With a mere fragment his vast wealth, he’s going to buy up all of DKI’s shares. In other words, DKI will become his company.”

“Which means you’ll be dismissed and DKI will be pulled out of the fight. Then we lose be default, huh...”

In order for Ceilēshu to become empress, DKI would need to make a move. But if Koutarou bought out DKI, they’d be unable to do anything at all. In order to prevent a buyout, DKI stocks would have to be private, but that wasn’t the case. DKI was publicly traded, and it was one of the hottest stocks on the market. For the right price, Koutorou could eventually become the largest shareholder of the company and gain a majority stake in it. Forthorthe could also prepare enough money if it was just to buy up DKI. That would cement Elexis and his associates’ loss in this race.

“I underestimated the national hero. To think he’d attack with financial strength!”

Wham!

Elexis slammed his fist into his desk again. The young leader of a cutting- edge conglomerate had lost to the legendary hero from two thousand years ago in a game of trickery and economic power. It was an unbelievable development and a great blow to Elexis’s pride.

“...So our plan to use the hero and the royalty ended up with us being used by them.”

“In this case, there’s only one thing left to do! Eliminate Koutarou-kun before he can make his move!”

Elexis and his associates still had one chance to stage a comeback. They only needed to eliminate Koutarou before he could take over the company. Koutarou was waiting for the results of the public opinion poll to make his move. If the citizens weren’t supporting Ceilēshu’s appointment and the Blue Knight in turn, the buyout wouldn’t happen. That’s why he was biding his time until now.

The public opinion poll had come out after midnight, and both the stock market and Empire Bank had long since closed for the day. That meant that the soonest Koutarou would be able to make his move would be when Empire Bank opened the following morning. They could stop the buyout by eliminating Koutarou before them.

“Are we going to do that? We’d end up going against the ceasefire.”

“What else can we do? Koutarou-kun, the Blue Knight, has already given Princess Ceilēshu his support! We’ve gotten what we needed out of him!”

It had been decided that the ceasefire between Koutarou and Elexis would last until power was taken from Vandarion. However, Vandarion was just silently waiting in the wings. He already had his forces deployed, and if they waited for him to make the first move, it would be too late. That’s why Elexis had to take action now, even if it meant breaking the ceasefire agreement and disgracing himself. He’d been backed into a corner and had no other choice.

The one that noticed Elexis and the others making a move was Clan. Thanks to her experience from the past, she was an expert at enemy surveillance. That said, it was difficult to directly keep watch on DKI

headquarters. DKI had technology so advanced that not even Clan could let her guard down when messing around with them.

Their headquarters was predictably well guarded. That was why Clan had her sights set on their communications instead, surveying the parties the company interacted with and the amount of outgoing traffic. DKI’s clients and business partners didn’t have defenses on the same level DKI did, so keeping tabs on them was much easier.

Clan was mainly watching over Empire Bank and the public records office. More specifically, she was keeping an eye on access to Koutarou’s account at Empire Bank and access to constitution and law databases at the public records office. Someone tapping into both would indicate DKI had caught on.

If that happened, their next move would inevitably be an attack on Koutarou, which meant that the traffic from DKI to the military sector would drastically increase. With DKI’s security, it would be difficult to tap directly into a communication line to figure out what was going on, but monitoring the amount of outgoing traffic and where it was going was easy.

Of course, acting on that alone would be rash, so the entrances and exits to DKI headquarters were also being watched with scrutiny. The most important one was the helipad on the roof, which would let them know if either the president’s personal aircraft was taken to the military sector or if a military craft landed at DKI. And once she saw the president’s personal craft take off and had confirmed the other details, Clan determined that Elexis and his associates were indeed on the move.

“Veltlion, it looks like they’re onto us!”

“Jeez, it would have been checkmate if it had just taken them a little longer to figure it out.”

“If only. This is the CEO of DKI we’re talking about.”

Koutarou didn’t seem surprised by Clan’s report. He had vaguely expected that this would happen, and preparations had been made in advance for that reason. Up until now, Koutarou and the others had tried to stay together as they moved. That’s why Maki and Kiriha were also in the

room with them where they were staying. And it wasn’t just them. The room had everyone’s equipment in it too, all packed up and ready to go. Not thirty seconds after Clan’s initial warning, Koutarou and the girls were geared up and ready to escape.

“Clan-dono, how does it look on their end?” Kiriha asked.

Kiriha, who had finished preparations to depart the quickest, slightly pushed the curtain aside to peek outside. Wary of snipers, Kiriha had her haniwas protect her with a barrier, but fortunately she was worried over nothing. Nothing seemed unusual outside the window.

“The military aircrafts haven’t taken off, but they’re on standby. It doesn’t look like they’re planning a direct attack on the guesthouse. They’re likely waiting for us to move first.”

Still something of a sheltered princess, Clan was the last one ready to go, and she answered Kiriha as she was still slowly packing up her computer and the other equipment she’d been using. In the end, Koutarou couldn’t stand it and threw it all in her bag for her.

“Even if the situation’s bad, it seems like they want to avoid attacking the palace. Though I’m sure it took a lot to hold Crimson back,” Maki added.

She had finished her own preparations and was standing next to Koutarou before anyone knew it. With the life she’d lived, she was no stranger to this kind of situation. But even so, she knew that there wasn’t any immediate danger right now. With that peace of mind, there was even a smile on her face as she thought of her friend on the other side.

“But if we take too long, the other leaders of Darkness Rainbow will come in on their own. So let’s hurry up and get out of here. I definitely wouldn’t want to fight Crimson indoors.”

Koutarou and the girls were currently in the guesthouse at the royal palace. Elexis and the others should have been aware of that, but they weren’t attacking directly. There were lots of risks with attacking the imperial palace, but they might have the leaders of Darkness Rainbow infiltrate if things took too long. Attacking without leaving evidence behind could be considered their specialty. Having to deal with Darkness Rainbow with

just the four of them wasn’t desirable, so they made their move to escape before that happened.

The hallway connected to the guesthouse was silent. As it was a place for important people to stay and rest, there wasn’t anyone walking around like there would be in a normal hotel. Since it was now past midnight, the only people passing by at this hour were patrolling guards on night duty.

“...Looks like it’s still safe,” Clan said as she peeked out.

“You’re too worried. They’re not going to come this fast. It’s only been a few minutes,” Koutarou chided her.

After that, Koutarou and the girls walked down the quiet, extravagant hallway. The silence was only disturbed by the occasional whisper and the footsteps of the four of them as they moved along. The mood was almost especially somber in such a grand setting.

“I got it, ho! Clan-chan is worried that assassins might have infiltrated beforehand, ho!”

“Th-That’s right! That kind of thing happens, doesn’t it?!”

“You’re just scared, aren’t you?”

“Just scared, ho?”

“I am not!”

As the guesthouse at the imperial palace of a massive galactic empire like Forthorthe, the place was huge. Koutarou and the others were headed for the exit, and had avoided the elevators just in case, but even then it took them several minutes to get down the hallway from the room they were using. Confirming they were approaching the door to the outside, Maki turned to Kiriha.

“Kiriha-san, don’t you think it’s about time we do that thing?”

“Yeah, now’s a good time.”

Their enemies were DKI and Darkness Rainbow. They would try and plan an ambush with divination magic, but Kiriha had come up with a clever

way to thwart that. She had devised multiple plans and escape routes, and they would choose one at random when the time came so that it would be impossible to predict. To ensure the random element, they would use the trading cards that Kiriha was always carrying with her.

“Aren’t there more than usual today?” Maki asked.

“Since there are so few of us, it’s just in case,” Kiriha replied.

She pulled out about a dozen cards and began shuffling them. She looked like a stage magician with the cards beautifully dancing in her hands.

“Well then, Maki...”

However, when Kiriha spread the cards out and offered them to Maki to choose one, Koutarou stepped in.

“Stop. Leave that for later,” he said with tension both audible in his voice and visible on his face.

“What is it?” Kiriha asked.

“There’s someone in the entrance hall. There’s no hostility in them, but...

Clan might actually be right.”

Koutarou could sense the aura of someone just ahead in the entrance hall. That was thanks to the ability given to him by Sanae, and while he wasn’t as good at it as she was, he could sense the emotions of others. In this case, he wasn’t reading an hostility or caution, but unlike the guards they’d encountered, this person wasn’t moving around. They were just silently standing in the hall. If it was an enemy, it was a highly trained expert, so Koutarou and the girls slowly approached with caution. They had considered using a different route, but if it really was an enemy, they didn’t want them getting behind them either.

“How do you do, Layous-sama?”

But it turned out that Koutarou’s fears were for naught. Standing in the hall ahead was only the recently appointed regent empress, Ceilēshu. She gave Koutarou a mild smile as he entered the hall.

“Princess Ceilēshu... What brings you here?”

“That man told me to delay you, Layous-sama.”

The man she spoke of was none other than Elexis. She was standing in the entrance hall because Elexis had told her to, and spread out on either side of her were dozens of unmanned weapons. But even in such a position, Ceilēshu’s smile was unchanging.

“So what are you going to do, Your Highness?”

Koutarou held his ground too and continued speaking as usual. He still didn’t sense any hostility from Ceilēshu.

“This, of course.”

In total there were 32 unmanned weapons in the hall. If all of them activated together, Koutarou and the other girls would be in trouble.

“Destroy one another,” Ceilēshu ordered.

“As you wish, my princess,” the machines responded in unison.

They were quick to follow the order they’d been given. After locking on to each other, the unmanned weapons attacked without mercy. Before long, they were each reduced to scrap. After seeing to that, Ceilēshu approached Koutarou and the others without saying a word. Just as Koutarou sensed, she never had any intentions of hurting them from the very beginning.

“I’ll pray for your fortune, Layous-sama.”

“Why would you side with us, Princess Ceilēshu? That can’t have been easy considering the situation.”

Koutarou was surprised. Since Elexis had been the one responsible for her appointment as regent empress, he wasn’t sure why she’d go against him. Koutarou had even suspected that Elexis had chosen a weak-willed puppet for the position to make it easier to achieve his goals. Odds were Ceilēshu was working together with Elexis either for personal gain or out of personal weakness. Yet she moved out of the way. It was a selfless act of defiance. That struck Koutarou as strange.

“That was the only question I didn’t want to be asked,” Ceilēshu sighed. She had constantly been smiling, but now she looked sad. “I debated the

matter for a long time, whether I should save my father or protect the country...”

“That bastard...”

Koutarou clenched his fist and tried to hold back his anger. He’d known that Ceilēshu’s father was seriously ill. It was information that accompanied the report on her, and it turned out that was her weakness. “Do what I say and I will treat your father’s illness” was the condition that Elexis had given Ceilēshu. Even if it was a feat impossible for medical science, Elexis had spiritual energy technology and magic at his disposal.

“But in the end, I was unable to abandon my father... I decided to listen to that man.”

That’s why Ceilēshu had had no choice but to accept Elexis’s terms. Having lost his mother early in life, Koutarou was painfully aware of how she must have felt. In a sense, Elexis had dangled hope in front of Ceilēshu and used that as a way to manipulate her.

“I was going to obey that man and save my father. That’s what I truly wanted... until the day that I met you.”

But a couple of days before the press conference, when she first met Koutarou, the Blue Knight that saved the country alongside the legendary Princess Alaia, Ceilēshu was seized by a certain thought.

“I am about to sell this man and the country so many people died to protect to a despicable enemy.”

That thought pained Ceilēshu. She wanted to protect the country, but she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her father. Caught in between those two conflicting emotions, she was beside herself. That’s why, on the day of the press conference, she had asked Koutarou a desperate, earnest question: Was he still the Blue Knight? It was only when she heard his answer that she was finally able to find her own path.

“I am still a princess of Forthorthe.”

Ceilēshu couldn’t betray the long history, the culture, or the pride of her country. She couldn’t forget those who had staked their lives to fight for it. Her father was among them. Betraying the country would mean trampling

on what her father’s life had stood for. And with that realization, she made her decision. Even if it was painful, Ceilēshu chose to be a princess of Forthorthe.

“No matter what I lose because of it...”

Tears fell down from Ceilēshu’s eyes. She knew that the path she was walking meant there was no way to save her father, and that very thought was too much for her. Watching her cry, Koutarou was reminded of Alaia the night of the harvest festival. In that moment, Koutarou was also quite certain of the path ahead of him. There was only one thing he could do.

“Your Highness, I will save your father without fail. I swear on my life and this sword. So please don’t lose heart. Wait just a little longer.”

This girl who had been given hope voluntarily scorned it for the sake of what was right. And even though she’d done what was right, it plunged her into the depths of despair once more. The pain was likely several times worse than when she’d first learned that her father was dying. And that was what steeled Koutarou’s resolve now. He was going to protect this noble princess. He was going to save her, this princess weeping over her own helplessness. No matter how much time passed, Koutarou was still the same.

“Layous-sama... those words alone are salvation to me.”

Ceilēshu wiped away her tears and tried her best to smile, but it was no use. Her tears continued to fall and her lips were quivering.

“Please stay safe. Not for my sake, but for the sake of the people of Forthorthe.”

“I am not worthy of such words, Your Highness.”

Koutarou bowed to Ceilēshu. He was truly angry. The only thing on his mind right now was defeating Elexis. That was how he would save Ceilēshu and her father.

“Well then, I must be going.”

Raising his head, Koutarou bid farewell to Ceilēshu. The truth was that he wanted to stay a little longer to talk to her, console her, and put her at ease.

But the current situation didn’t allow for that. If he took too long now, everything would be for naught. Koutarou burned the image of teary-eyed Ceilēshu into his mind and ran past her. Knowing what he was thinking, Ceilēshu didn’t say anything as she saw him off.

“We’re going too.”

“Yes. Wait up, Satomi-kun!”

Kiriha and Maki chased after Koutarou. When they both took off, Clan— who was distracted by the crying Ceilēshu—realized that she was being left behind.

Oh no, I have to go too...

Clan started to run past Ceilēshu after the others, but she called out to her.

“Clariossa-san.”

“Wh-What is it?”

Surprised, Clan stopped. Since she’d only just recently started learning how to really relate to and talk to other people, crying wasn’t something Clan was very good at handling.

“How was it that Alaia-sama shook off her hesitation?”

Ceilēshu wiped away her tears once more, this time with more success. Once she’d stopped crying, Clan was somewhat able to recollect herself.

“I don’t know that either,” Clan said, slightly shaking her head with gentle smile on her face. “But there’s one thing I do know for certain.”

“What’s that?”

“Alaia-san loved both Forthorthe and that man. That’s why she was able to do everything she could for them. That is all.”

“Clariossa-san... You’re right. I’ll do everything I can too.”

Next, Ceilēshu tried smiling again. Fortunately, she was able to succeed this time too.

“I believe that would be good for you. Now if you’ll excuse me too...”

Relieved that Ceilēshu had regained her smile, Clan hurried to catch up to Koutarou and the others. Her steps were light and without hesitation.

“...I’m really not capable of being empress... How truly unfortunate...”

Clan was running while Ceilēshu was standing still. They were both princesses, but that distinct difference between them made her realize that she wasn’t suited to be empress. Her destiny would be returning the throne to Elfaria.

Koutarou and the others wanted to return to the Hazy Moon, but if they were to use a transfer gate, the gravitational waves created when activating it would be detectable by their enemies. Once that happened, the Hazy Moon’s location would be revealed and an enemy fleet would rush to the spot. It wouldn’t be a problem if they had an allied fleet protecting them, but the Hazy Moon was currently solo. That meant that they only had two choices: either make a break for the Hazy Moon using the Cradle, or head for the suburbs where gates were commonly used. The former relied on not using gates at all, while the latter relied on blending in so as not to raise suspicion. Regardless of what they chose, they wouldn’t be able do either at the imperial palace, so their first real objective was to escape from there.

There were several routes that led to the outside from the guesthouse at the imperial palace. The card that Maki pulled from Kiriha’s shuffled and fanned out cards was the Kabutonga Atlas special attack card, which corresponded to getting out of the palace using the drainpipe from the palace pond.

“While this might be an emergency, I can’t say I’m happy about damaging the imperial palace as we escape...” Koutarou said, shaking his head.

“If you’re the one doing it, no one is going to complain. You practically made it after all,” Kiriha replied matter-of-factly.

“Even so...”

Koutarou and the others had infiltrated the pond’s drainpipe from the water treatment facility and were currently traveling through the maintenance tunnel. Naturally, there were grates and things along the way every so often to keep people from getting through. Koutarou, at the head of the group, was breaking them down as they came across them.

Slam! Smash!

“But still, why isn’t the alarm going off?”

Koutarou tilted his head curiously as he destroyed yet another grate. The grates were there to keep people from infiltrating the palace. When one was destroyed, it should set off an alarm to warn of a possible inbound intruder. But despite that, no matter how many grates Koutarou broke

through, the alarms on the walls weren’t going off. The surveillance cameras set up were all on standby too. Thanks to that, Clan was out of a job.

“Thinking about it rationally, Darkness Rainbow must have cut it off.”

Maki’s thought process was simple. She believed that Darkness Rainbow had silenced the alarm and cut off the surveillance cameras in preparation for their own plans to infiltrate the palace.

“Which means that they’re coming from the other side of this drainpipe?”

“Not necessarily the drainpipe. Shutting down the entire system would have been more convenient.”

Disabling just the systems along their planned route would indeed be effective, but that kind of focused strategy would take more time and effort. Disabling the entire system was more effective, especially so in situations like this where a small group would be infiltrating in a race against time. That’s why Maki figured the chances of encountering Darkness Rainbow in the drainpipe specifically were low.

“...I think it’s Ceilēshu-san’s doing,” Clan said.

Her assessment of the situation was almost the opposite of Maki’s. She believed an ally was assisting them.

“Her Highness Ceilēshu?”

“Take a look behind you. Around the grates you destroyed.”

Clan stopped walking and pointed behind them. Koutarou turned his head to look.

“...There’s nothing there, really.”

Nothing looked any different from before, and he didn’t see any enemies either.

“Take a closer look. The surveillance cameras are working. You see?”

“Now that you mention it, the lights are on now.”

All of the warning systems were deactivated when Koutarou and the girls had passed by them. They’d been able to tell because all the lights on the cameras and alarms were off. But looking back at where they’d come from, the lights were all on now. That indicated the equipment was starting back up again.

“Ceilēshu is most likely at the imperial palace security station, and she’s selectively operating the systems just for us.”

Clan recalled Ceilēshu’s words when they parted. She’d said she’d do everything she could, and Clan was convinced this was Ceilēshu’s way of helping out.

“Princess Ceilēshu is an amazing princess, isn’t she, Clan?”

Ceilēshu was in a difficult situation. She had sided with Elexis in order to save her father, but now she had betrayed him. It put her in a rather dangerous position. But even then, she was trying to help Koutarou and the others. Koutarou thought rather highly of that.

“You look like you have something else you’d like to say,” Clan said with a frown. She was unhappy with his wording and his expression, which was very similar to the one he often had on his face while teasing her.

“Yeah. I’m a little relieved, honestly. Even if I die, there would still be hope.”

“...”

However, much to Clan’s surprise, the words that came out of his mouth were nothing of the sort. That wasn’t at all what she’d expected him to say. And since she’d only been prepared to complain or argue, she had no idea how to respond to him now.

“We can’t afford to die, Koutarou. We have plans for the future.”

“She’s right, Satomi-kun. There’s no way you can lose.”

After Kiriha and Maki answered in her stead, Clan had finally come up with something to say herself.

“There’s no need to worry, Veltlion.”

“That’s true. You guys are here after all.”

“Heh, you really are more gentlemanly when you’re incredibly angry.”

Clan knew that when Koutarou was genuinely angry, he became too focused to tease her. In that sense, he was more honest about what he was thinking and his intentions. It did make him seem more gentlemanly. Funnily enough, that’s what it took—being livid—for Koutarou to behave like a gentleman towards Clan.

“Clan...”

“And when you’re angry, you don’t lose to anyone. That’s historical fact.”

Clan had seen Koutarou angry several times before. The first time she saw it, that anger was even directed at her. That’s how she knew that when he was mad, he always came out on top. She also believed that the day would come when Koutarou could tease her freely again.

“...Yeah.”

“Do what you will. We’re here to help you make it happen.”

Koutarou actually felt roughly the same way about Clan. Normally she was selfish and her faults were rather pronounced, but when she was angry, she transformed into a splendid princess. Koutarou could see it happening even now, and he could sense something similar in Kiriha and Maki.

It’s not just Princess Ceilēshu. I’ll make you pay for making these girls

feel this way, Elexis...

Of course, Koutarou didn’t want Clan to be a splendid princess. He wanted her to be her usual, somewhat unreliable self. He wanted Kiriha and Maki to be themselves too. And that wish only made him more angry at Elexis.

As it was now after midnight, the group couldn’t tell that they were closing in on the exit to the drainpipe. There only appeared to be darkness ahead. They didn’t even realize they’d made it until Koutarou broke down the last grate.

“Hey, this is the exit, isn’t it?” he asked in surprise.

“So it seems. Now we can finally say goodbye to this cramped place,” Clan replied in relief.

The drainpipe led out into a river with the city on the other side. As they approached the end of the pipe, their view broadened and they could finally see the skyline lit up by skyscrapers.

“So we’ve managed this far without running into Darkness Rainbow,” Koutarou said as he looked out of the pipe.

Between the guesthouse and the end of the drainpipe, they hadn’t encountered a single enemy. They’d been on high alert the entire time waiting for an attack, but they’d reached their first objective rather anticlimactically.

“They likely didn’t want to attack us at the palace anyway,” Kiriha responded. “They’re probably going to come after us once we’ve escaped. There are only but so many places we could go to after leaving here.”

There were more than ten escape routes from the imperial palace, so even if Maya and each of the six leaders of Darkness Rainbow spread out, there’d still be blind spots. If they let Koutarou and the others escape, however, they’d be able to attack as a group. Kiriha’s assumption was that they believed they’d have a much higher chance of success that way.

“Which means that we’re only just getting started...”

Just before stepping out of the pipe, Koutarou stopped. In front of him was a normal nigh-time city scene. But once he took another step, he’d be walking onto a battlefield.

“That would be the case. Karama, Korama, I’m counting on you.”

“Roger that, ho!”

“Leave it to us, ho!”

The two haniwas activated their stealth mode which effectively cloaked them, then headed to the exit. They peeked out of the pipe to get a look at the surroundings.

“We’re in luck, ho! There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, ho!”

The haniwas couldn’t sense any people nearby. With their spiritual energy sensors, they could detect auras just like Sanae did. On top of that, they also had sound, electromagnetic, movement, and infrared sensors, meaning that there was no getting past them other than with magic. They were quite certain there weren’t any people nearby.

“But it looks like we’re being watched from above, ho! It seems we’re very popular, ho!”

Though it wasn’t clear what it was, the haniwas detected something overhead. It was too far away for them to get a good read on it. Even with how advanced they were, the haniwas had their limits.

“I’ll take it from here.”

“Me too.”

If no one was around, it was Clan and Maki’s turn. Clan had far more advanced technology than the haniwas did, so she’d be able to identify what they had detected. Maki also scanned the surroundings with magic, just in case. Together, it would provide them with a much more complete picture of what they were about to get into.

“It looks like it’s small reconnaissance crafts,” Clan announced.

“Are you sure?” Koutarou asked.

“Yes. They’re much like the ones that Pardomshiha uses. They’re barely a meter or so big.”

The sensors in Clan’s bracelet scanned the objects flying overhead. They were small, unmanned reconnaissance crafts. The haniwas had had a hard time discerning them because they were intentionally made out of materials that were hard to detect.

“This is bad. I can sense mana moving around in the sky too. Those reconnaissance crafts probably have spells cast on them.”

Maki frowned as she looked up at the ceiling of the drainpipe. She could feel green magic, the magic of divination, moving around overhead. In other words, the reconnaissance crafts had been magically augmented to help them gather information.

“I see... So that’s why they didn’t infiltrate the imperial palace,” Kiriha mused.

“What do you mean?” Koutarou asked.

“They must be rather confident in those reconnaissance crafts. They think they’ll be able to catch us as long as they have those.”

“So this is bad...”

“Indeed. What to do...?”

Kiriha began strategizing based on the information the others had gathered. If they just jumped out of the drainpipe without a plan, they’d be found within seconds. And since they’d be vastly outnumbered, they wanted to avoid that as long as possible.

In total, there were around twenty unmanned reconnaissance crafts. Fifteen of them were placed along various escape paths out of the imperial palace, while the remaining five were stationed at the blind spots between the others. It was a well made surveillance net. And just as Maki had sensed, they all had spells cast on them meant to gather information. It was the doing of one of the leaders of Darkness Rainbow, Dark Green.

“Hurry up and show yourself, Navy... I’ll kill you for sure this time.”

Green held a personal grudge against Navy—against Maki. Mostly she was jealous of her relationship with Crimson, who was very precious to Green. After Koutarou and company agreed to temporarily cooperate with Elexis, it had given the two of them a lot more chances to see each other, which only fanned the flames of Green’s jealousy. When she learned that the ceasefire had been broken, she was so happy that she could have broken out into a dance.

“Where are you? You can’t hide from my magic!”

That’s why Green was looking for Maki now. The spells cast on the reconnaissance crafts were all to find her. She was using the magically augmented crafts like a radar to detect the mana of cast spells. And since she was magically connected to each of the crafts, it was like she was there in twenty places at once. Now she was just waiting for Maki to use a spell.

After a dozen minutes or so had passed, she finally picked up a reaction.

“I’ve found you! There you are, Navy!”

Out of the twenty reconnaissance crafts, four of them had detected mana. Since casting spells on so many crafts was a lot of work, she had only used a simple spell that let her know the distance to the detected mana. With multiple reactions, however, she could derive the location between them. Four samples was more than enough to do that.

“Maya, give control of the four units that detected the mana to me! Use the rest to chase after Navy!”

“Don’t get so worked up. It’s a waste of your cute face.”

“Just hurry!”

“Okay, okay.”

Following Green’s instructions, sixteen of the reconnaissance crafts then headed towards where the mana was detected. The remaining four maintained their positions so as not to lose track of the target. The mana they were detecting was moving at around ninety meters per minute. It was rather fast for a running speed, but it was no match for the reconnaissance crafts.

Several reconnaissance crafts passed by the drainpipe where Koutarou and the others were still hiding. Seeing how quickly they were moving, Kiriha realized that her gamble had paid off.

“Hmm... just as expected. The spell they’re using can only tell the distance to the mana, and the four slower moving crafts were the first to detect it. That means the other three were at the edge, so this should be the max detection radius.”

Kiriha organized her thoughts out loud as she drew a large circle on the holographic map that Clan was projecting. It indicated the estimated maximum range for the detection spells on the reconnaissance crafts. Now all they had to do was get outside of that circle. Doing that would buy them a considerable amount of time.

“Kii, please let me thoroughly examine your brain one of these days...”

Clan sighed, amazed by Kiriha. The mana that Green had detected was a decoy prepared by Kiriha.

“That would trouble me.”

“It’s not like I’m going to cut you open or anything. Think about it. Without your brain, we’d all be in a world of trouble. Like right now, for example.”

Following Kiriha’s instructions, Clan had prepared a small exploration drone. Maki then cast two spells on it. The first was to conceal mana, and the second was to create an illusion of Koutarou and the others. Once it got far enough away, Maki dismissed the stealth spell from the craft, allowing Green to detect it.

While it was primarily a decoy, it also served as a way to detect what the enemy crafts were really capable of. They weren’t sure that part would actually come to any fruition, but it looked like they’d lucked out after all.

“Even if you say that, this is just to buy time. From here on out, it’s a race against the clock.”

The first four crafts were still spread out, but the other sixteen were closing in on the decoy. If Koutarou and the girls could get outside the range of the remaining four crafts overhead before the others discovered the decoy, Maki would be able to use her magic freely. If they could manage that, it would greatly increase their chances of escaping.

“Let’s hurry, Koutarou,” Kiriha urged.

“Yeah. Let’s go. Clan, want me to give you a piggyback ride?”

“I’m fine! For now, anyway...”

“If you don’t think you can keep up, say so. We’re not messing around here.”

“I know that!”

Koutarou and the others dashed out into the dark of night. It was only a matter of time before Elexis and Darkness Rainbow realized they’d been fooled, and when that happened, all twenty reconnaissance crafts would

come looking for them. Would they make it out of their range in time, or would they be hunted down? They needed both speed and luck on their side now.

Koutarou and the girls were barely able to make it out of the reconnaissance crafts’ effective range before being discovered. Thanks to that, Maki was able to cast a disguise spell and another stealth spell to conceal the mana used. With that insurance, the four of them headed for the suburbs. Originally they had planned on going into the forest, but the crafts coming after them had forced them towards the suburbs instead. Their new goal was either the station or the commercial zone where gates were most commonly used in order to get to the Hazy Moon.

“So where do we need to go specifically, Clan?” Koutarou asked as they moved along.

“There are two gates I set up beforehand that are close to here. One at Fornorn Central Station and one at Rushstock Cemetery.”

The transfer gate was originally a tool meant for instantaneous travel, but when human lives were involved, it took about an hour to make sure the gate was safely prepared. As a precaution, Clan had prepared twenty such gates around the perimeter of the imperial palace. Fortunately, two of them happened to be near where they’d ended up.

“The fewer people, the better.”

“At this hour, that would mean Rushstock Cemetery. It’s a famous place so there are probably people there even now, but nothing like the number of people that will be at the station.”

“All right, then it’s decided.”

If they were only concerned about escaping, the central station was the better option. Since it would be full of people, they would have an easier time blending in and an easier time using a gate without raising any suspicion. But as things were, they had no idea what Elexis and his associates would do when they got desperate. In order to avoid casualties, Rushstock Cemetery was they way to go. Rushstock Cemetery did indeed have a graveyard, but it largely served as a memorial park for Forthorthians who had died in war. It was a common sightseeing spot in

Fornorn and it was still open and lit up at night, so there would be people there even at this hour. But compared to the unsleeping central station, it was still the safer bet.

“At Rushstock Cemetery, I’ve set up a gate at the plaza next to the station.”

“So it’s still at a station?”

“That’s usually where gates are, and we needed ours to blend in. The only other option would be a factory that would have a gate in a docking area.”

“Clan, you’re breathing pretty hard. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m still fine.”

“All right, then let’s hurry.”

Koutarou and the girls ran through the city while weaving through the crowds. As expected of the capital of Forthorthe, there were still plenty of people out on the street even after midnight. The traffic put a limit on how fast they could move, leaving them feeling a little anxious and rushed. But after running for a couple of minutes, they started to see stars overhead instead of skyscrapers. They’d reached Rushstock Cemetery.

“Rushstock Cemetery: the resting place for those who fought and died for the country and its citizens.”

The AI in Koutarou’s armor translated the Forthorthian words on the sign, letting him know they’d reached their destination. Rushstock Cemetery was a memorial for those who had fallen in battle.

“Looks like this is the place...”

I wonder if soldiers from back then are here too...

Koutarou was thinking of his comrades-in-arms from two thousand years ago. He had tried his best to keep sacrifices as low as possible, but there were sill many men lost in battle. Thinking about that, Koutarou felt both nostalgia and sadness. And from those rose a strong desire to live and act in a way that would have made his allies proud. They’d given their lives and put their faith in him. With that knowledge, he understood that he had

to live with his head held high as the Blue Knight until the bitter end. Standing in the cemetery reaffirmed that for him.

“Let’s come here again sometime. But right now...”

Right now, he didn’t have time to spend dwelling on his former allies. It was also for their sake that he needed to hurry. If he didn’t, the citizens of Forthorthe they had died to protect would be in danger, and the number of brave men resting here would only increase.

“Satomi-kun,” Maki called to him.

“I know,” he said with a nod.

Koutarou had only stopped for a few seconds, but now he was running with his current allies again. Their destination was the plaza by the station on the cemetery grounds. Their goal was right in front of them.

The cemetery was big, over a kilometer across. The majority of it was a neatly maintained forest with a lake in the center. In the middle of the lake was an island, and on that island was a cenotaph. Koutarou and the others glanced at it as they ran around the east side of the lake.

“It looks like things are going to work out just fine. This is all thanks to you, Aika-san.”

They were almost at the plaza now, and they’d managed to evade both DKI and Darkness Rainbow so far. Maki’s disguise spell was perfect, and despite the reconnaissance crafts circling overhead, they hadn’t noticed Koutarou and the others.

“That’s not true... Besides, we’re not even there yet.”

Maki blushed for a moment but soon snapped out of it. She understood better than anyone that they couldn’t let their guard down yet. The sudden sound of a familiar voice made that all too clear.

“There’s no need to be so modest, Maki.”

“That voice... Maya-sama?!”

The voice coming from the surrounding darkness belonged to Maki’s former master and the previous Dark Navy, Maya. If she was around, it meant they’d been discovered by Darkness Rainbow after all.

“Why are you here?!”

Maki’s face betrayed her surprise. The bustling capital city of Forthorthe was busy even at night, so picking Koutarou and the others out of a crowd should have been quite a chore. Especially with Maki’s magic disguising them. But even so, Darkness Rainbow had found them and caught up to them. Maki was downright shocked.

“You can thank Green and Purple for that,” Maya said with a casual smile.

“Thanks to my predictions, we were able to narrow down your location to a few places. But since we didn’t have anything decisive to go on, we had to split up,” Green said as she stepped from the shadows.

“But that’s when the spirits here started to stir, saying that the Blue Knight had returned... so we all rushed over,” Purple said as she followed close behind Green.

“I see! Purple is a master of necromancy!” Maki gasped, finally putting everything together.

Because Kiriha introduced a random element to her strategy, it made it difficult for Green’s divination to pinpoint her plans. Her readings were blurry, and she could see several futures blending together in them. They also wouldn’t be able to find Maki with divination magic until her disguise and concealment spells wore off.

That was where Purple came in. Her specialty was necromancy, which tapped into spirits and spiritual energy. She’d noticed right away when the spirits in the graveyard started to rouse. They could see right through disguise spells, and there was quite a stir over the return of the Blue Knight.

The commotion was in a location that had come up in one of Green’s predictions, and Darkness Rainbow was smart enough to put two and two together. Once they had that much information, they regrouped and descended on the cemetery.

“It was truly splendid, Maki. If you hadn’t come here, it would have been a total loss for us.”

“So not bringing Sanae-san with us backfired...”

It was perhaps their only mistake. Koutarou and the haniwas could sense spiritual energy, but they just weren’t as sensitive to it as Sanae was. Even though they’d been able to tell the levels were high in this area, they couldn’t tell why. Cemeteries and sacred places often had high concentrations of spiritual energy anyway, so it was hard to tell anything was strange just from that. Really, it would have been fine if their enemy hadn’t had someone as adept at reading souls as Sanae was on their side.

“Regardless of the reason, we managed to overcome our biggest crisis yet, Koutarou-kun.”

Elexis finally appeared behind the dark magical girls. And it wasn’t just Elexis. He was in his five meter tall robotic giant, so he stood out like a sore thumb even behind the girls. The front of the armor opened up, and Elexis looked down at Koutarou. Koutarou stared right back at him without flinching.

“As expected, things didn’t go as we’d hoped with you guys. If you’d just stayed in the dark for a few more hours, everything would have gone according to plan,” he said in a low voice.

Once morning came, Koutarou and the others would get enough money from Empire Bank to buy out DKI. It would have been an uncontested checkmate, and Koutarou would have been able to declare a decisive victory.

“I admit it was a close call. Who would expect that a legendary hero to attack with financial strength instead of a sword?” Elexis responded.

A fight was a hair’s breadth from breaking out, but Elexis was still chatting away as if meeting with an old friend. It was hard to believe he was here as an enemy. There was no hostility in the way he shrugged his shoulders or the casual expression on his face.

“But would you mind if I ask you something, Koutarou-kun?”

“I’ll answer if it’s actually something I can tell you.”

Koutarou responded to Elexis in an equally calm fashion. Despite how he sounded, however, Clan could tell without even seeing his face that he was suppressing tremendous anger as he spoke.

“Did the legendary Empress Alaia know this would happen?”

“She never said anything about it to me, but she was smart. She must have known there would be trouble down the line after she learned that I got the armor and sword from Theia.”

The meaning of a princess appointing a personal knight and giving him her namesake treasured sword was weighty. With that kind of responsibility on his shoulders, his knightly duties would mean facing serious danger sooner or later. It was hard to imagine that Alaia, a princess herself and one well known for her intellect, wouldn’t have realized that.

“So that’s why she left the salary... In order to allow you to protect Forthorthe, I mean.”

“Though in the end, it didn’t remain.”

“Yet that has given you more power than expected. Forthorthe can no longer disobey you.”

“I have no intention of forcing anyone’s hand.”

“I bet not. Just the same as you didn’t two thousand years ago.”

As the nation’s hero, Koutarou could have married Alaia if he’d really wanted to. But since he’d chosen not to and left, Elexis knew that

Koutarou had no intentions of getting involved in politics or government affairs.

“So how does it feel?” Elexis asked with a smirk.

“What are you talking about?” Koutarou responded with a glare.

“To hold Forthorthe in your hands. To make the country yours.”

“I haven’t done anything like that.”

“But you have. This country is indebted to you in more ways than one now. It can’t do anything against you, its hero and creditor. You’ve basically become its emperor... No, it’s god. That’s why I want to hear it from you. How it feels to be the first person in history to successfully invade Forthorthe!”

More than two thousand years had passed since Alaia’s reign, and in that time, Forthorthe had never been conquered. Koutarou was the first to ever do so, and that’s what had Elexis so curious. He wanted to know what it felt like to take over someone else’s empire.

“It was just a convenient way to protect this country.”

However, Koutarou was still the Blue Knight first and foremost. While he might temporarily keep the power he’d gained in order to assure his victory, he had no intention of freely exercising it. He wasn’t thinking of anything other than protecting Forthorthe. That was what he’d promised he’d do, and it was a promise he’d made to many of those laid to rest in this very cemetery. It was also what Alaia, Theia, and the others wanted.

“You really are an ideal knight, aren’t you? If you so wished, you could rule everything.”

Pssshhh...

Once he had Koutarou’s answer, Elexis closed the front of his armor. Following his lead, Maya and the six magical girls readied their weapons. This would be the end of their conversation and the start of the real battle.

“If you think being some all-powerful god is fun, then you’re mistaken. Ruling everything would mean that there’s nothing left to do. I’m after something much smaller.”

“Honestly, that’s great news to me. If you’re not a god, then I just might be able to defeat you.”

Elexis’s voice through the speaker of his armored mech seemed a little dulled compared to before, but it was actually a sign of him becoming focused rather than losing interest. Elexis was going to eliminate Koutarou and someday gain the very thing Koutarou was now scorning. This was the moment of truth for Elexis. He was giving his all to defeat Koutarou. He was dead set on it.

“No,” Koutarou replied boldly. “You can’t defeat me.”

Sching!

Despite being face to face with an enemy twice his size, Koutarou stepped forward and unsheathed Signaltin. Sword in hand, he glared at Elexis.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because I’m really angry today.”

“So you’d chose to be an angry knight over an all-powerful god? That might unexpectedly be more dangerous...”

Elexis’s will was unmoving, but so was Koutarou’s. He was the Blue Knight—the hope of the country and those who lived there, and the supreme protector of the royal families. He had to survive this ordeal and protect all of them. Koutarou too was going to give his all in this fight.

The ones who launched the first attacks were Elexis and Crimson, and both of them were aiming for Koutarou. The plan was to have the two with the most attack power take down Koutarou while the remaining six of them suppressed Kiriha and the others. It was a strategy they’d devised assuming Koutarou would be using Signaltin.

“Explosion!”

Booooom!

A small cannonball about three centimeters in diameter flew out of the barrel mounted on Crimson’s staff. By casting the explosion spell in the right end of the barrel, the energy of it was all directed out through the muzzle. It pushed the cannonball out with it, launching it with all the force of the explosion spell. Because of that, its speed was shockingly fast. Even to Koutarou whose reflexes were enhanced by spiritual energy, it felt like the cannonball connected just as it was fired.

Clang!

“Guh!”

The additional equipment installed on Koutarou’s armor—Garb of Lord, or GoL—had an active barrier system that automatically deployed in response to enemy attacks. Koutarou, however, had disabled that function in favor of specifically having it constantly deployed on his left arm like a shield. Crimson’s cannonball was so fast and there was almost no sign of her firing beforehand, so the AI in Koutarou’s armor had a hard time reading her attack. He would have been out of luck without his spirit sight indicating where he needed to hold the shield to block it. But even though he’d blocked it, a speeding cannonball still had quite a kick to it. The shield deflected most of the blow, but the momentum from the hit was enough to momentarily stagger him.

“You’re having a hard time against this combination, aren’t you, Koutarou-kun?”

Elexis didn’t miss the opening Crimson had given him. He moved in to attack staggered Koutarou.

“Tch!”

Chink!

Saguratin clashed with the blade of a massive axe. The giant mobile weapon that Elexis was using, his Warlord, had a lot of strength. The axe it was using had also been enhanced with spiritual energy. Because of that, the blow had terrific power and it sent Koutarou flying backwards even with GoL’s assistance.

Pfwoosh!

But thanks to the boosters on his armor, he was able to stay on his feet. The laser cannon on Koutarou’s right shoulder fired repeatedly as he quickly moved away. The next moment, Crimson’s laser creating spell and the mech’s mini-missiles rained down where he’d just been. If he hadn’t moved back, Koutarou would have been killed on the spot.

“But why aren’t you using Signaltin, Koutarou-kun? I see it’s hanging at your waist.”

Elexis and Crimson weren’t attacking together just because they both had a lot of firepower. It was also because they could use attacks that wouldn’t be nullified by Signaltin. Since it had the power to dispel magic, normal attack spells and enchanted weapons didn’t work against it. However, Elexis’s mech had weapons without magical effects cast on them specifically as a countermeasure against Koutarou. Crimson was also using her spells in a way that transformed her mana into different forms of energy, such as firing cannonballs and launching lasers. Neither of those could be negated by Signaltin, but they were still strong enough power to break through standard magic defenses. Elexis and Crimson were both making clever use of their powers against Koutarou.

But strangely enough, Koutarou wasn’t using Signaltin in the first place. Even though he had it with him, he hadn’t even drawn it. It was enough to give Elexis pause. Something seemed eerily strange, making Elexis unconsciously hold back in his attacks.

“This sword is better for fighting you guys. Well, you’ll see.”

It was a bluff. The reason Koutarou wasn’t using Signaltin was of course because he was worried about the strain it would put on Harumi. He had to avoid doing anything that would make her collapse like that again. He knew it would be difficult to win even with Signaltin in this situation, but using it was out of the question. There was no way of telling what it would to do Harumi.

“Hey, Elexis, maybe it’s not that won’t use it... but that he can’t.”

As she listened to Elexis and Koutarou’s back and forth, Crimson paid close attention to Signaltin hanging at Koutarou’s waist. With her senses as a magician, she could feel the mana within the sword. And strangely enough, it seemed to be at a very low level. In the past, the sword had

emitted great power even when it was in its sheath. In the condition it was in now, however, she figured its powers were probably unusable.

“Hmm, I see. That’s certainly a possibility. If that’s the case... not being able to use Signaltin might be one of the reasons why he agreed to cooperate with us.”

After what Crimson said, Elexis finally had an inkling of Koutarou’s situation. Without the power of Signaltin—if Koutarou continued fighting without it—he would eventually meet his end. And once he did, the Reborn Forthorthian Army would probably fall apart without his support. Since there was no reason not to use Signaltin in this fight, Elexis figured Crimson was probably onto something.

“So we can go all out, right?”

“As long as you don’t let your guard down.”

Crimson and Elexis decided to be more aggressive with their attacks. While they couldn’t be 100 percent sure, they decided to proceed on the assumption that Koutarou couldn’t use Signaltin. If they were too careful, things would just take longer and ultimately put them at more risk.

Not good... Can I beat these two with just Saguratin?

Koutarou momentarily put his hand on Signaltin in its sheath, but with the continuous fighting they’d been through up until now, he knew drawing it would mean shaving away at Harumi’s life. He shunned the thought and then gripped Saguratin tightly with both hands as he readied himself.

Maya and the rest of Darkness Rainbow were fighting against Maki, Clan, and Kiriha. Maki and Clan were focused on one objective, and that was keeping Kiriha alive.

“Kii, stay back no matter what!”

“She’s right! If you don’t survive this, we’ll lose a winning battle!”

Koutarou’s death would of course do the most damage, but Kiriha’s would be a close second. As the brains of the operation, losing her would leave Koutarou and the others like a zombie. No matter how strong they were, they wouldn’t be able to make full use of that strength. It would be like

replacing the mind of a professional boxer with a complete amateur’s. All they would be able to do is blindly and wildly swing their fists.

“But just the two of you can’t take on all of them!” Kiriha objected.

Clan and Maki would be going up against Maya and five magical girls. Yellow had created four clay golems with her magic, and they stood on the front line alongside Maya. Purple was gathering the surrounding spirits and forming a guerilla force. Orange and Blue who were both good at long range combat and diversions were in charge of attacking with magic from the rear lines. And Green was in the very back using spells to gather all kinds of information and forwarding it to the others.

It was just the three girls against them all. Even counting the haniwas, they were still outnumbered. Moreover, their enemies were prepared to fight a force twice their size. Each and every one of them was powerful, but despite that, Clan and Maki were keeping Kiriha from actively taking part in the battle. At this rate, they wouldn’t last for long.

“That’s true even for the three of us!” Clan shouted to Kiriha while preparing to hold off the magical girls. “So rather than all of us getting wiped out, letting you escape is far more logical!”

“If Koutarou dies, we’ll eventually be wiped out either way! We need to win this!” Kiriha shouted back.

She ignored Clan and Maki’s pleading and stood shoulder to shoulder with them on the front line. Even if she managed to escape, she knew the outcome wouldn’t be much different. If Clan and Maki fell, Koutarou would be next. In order to prevent that, Kiriha chose not to run. Holding her weapon, a naginata that transformed her spiritual energy into attack power, with both hands, Kiriha took a fighting stance.

“Yes, you’ve made the right choice. As expected of a lady of the Kurano family, you truly understand the situation you’re in.”

Accompanied by two clay golems on either side, Maya calmly approached. She had the same amused expression on her face she always did, but her eyes made it clear that she wasn’t going to let down her guard for even a moment. Once Kiriha declared her intent to fight, Maya started her cold-hearted calculations.

“But just because you made the right choice doesn’t mean you’ll be getting the outcome you hoped for!”

Maya suddenly broke into a dash. The clay golems were unable to keep up with her, so she charged ahead of them with great speed. While she wasn’t going to let her guard down, Maya wasn’t a coward. Since Maki fought by using magic to enhance her entire body, she’d be a moment slower. Apart from her sharp mind, Kiriha was just a normal human. And while Clan had incredibly advanced technology at her disposal, she hadn’t called forth anything dangerous yet. Maya knew she still had the chance to launch a preemptive attack.

“Maya-sama really did charge in on her own...” Maki said with something like a sigh.

“‘They will try to get their strategist to escape when they’re cornered. She will realize that staying is the only way to win, but it will leave them without a solid plan for victory.’ That’s what an expert would think,” Kiriha said calmly.

“Kii, your brain really is something else,” Clan said shaking her head in amazement.

“Detonating number 142, ho!”

“Everyone evacuate, ho!”

“Impossible!” Maya gasped.

Share