(translation)

"Eh~, everyone, I sincerely thank you for accepting this call for an emergency meeting even though we're so busy today~. As for this meeting today, even though Ikki Kurogane-kun here today is an adult who's gone through his coming of age, he has produced as absurd a scandal as having an illicit sexual relationship with a state guest, and voices that call his accountability and ethics as an adult into question have risen in the Japanese branch. He is receiving various privileges that are not bestowed upon student knights or ordinary fifteen-year-old boys. For this reason, we greatly demand a sense of responsibility balancing those privileges. Accordingly, the Ethics Committee is also considering this view, and for this occasion, we have concluded that there is an opportunity to formally and closely examine whether Ikki Kurogane-kun's qualities as a knight is under question. Though we know you are all busy, please favor us with your understanding and cooperation."

The skyscraper of the League of Mage-Knight Nations, Japanese Branch. The ethics directors of student knights, of mage-knights, was on the tenth underground floor there, as was the section controlled by the Ethics Committee that petitioned for things like disciplinary action and expulsion when necessary, or act as military police.

At a room in that section, the chairman of the Ethics Committee, Akaza, bowed his head toward the gathered middle-aged gentlemen, and he made a stiff and smug smile at Ikki Kurogane who stood there with upright honesty.

"―Well, let us open this inquiry meeting. Everyone. Please take your seats."

But there was no chair anywhere near Ikki. Only the gentlemen sat down. It was plainly harassment. Ikki had been forced to remain standing for this meeting that would last how many hours?

Well, it was expected, and he wasn't so poorly trained that he would surrender at that degree of discomfort, so it was no big deal, but...

..At any rate, the air in this place is really stagnant, huh?

Ikki surveyed the indoor room that had practically no illumination. Inside the room, a U-shaped table was set up as if to surround him, and the suited gentlemen were sitting, beginning with Akaza. Three people in front of Ikki. To his left and right, one person each. Five in total. Because everyone there was dressed in red suits, Ikki knew they were all people of the Ethics Committee.

"No need to be so uptight. Despite what I said in the beginning, every one of us here is your ally."

Akaza mocked Ikki who felt like probing the Ethics Committee's combat ability.

"This inquiry meeting is not a place for censuring you. We will not just properly hear the excuse from you who created an unprecendented scandal in carrying out an illicit sexual relationship with a state guest, but also the explanation kindly given by your father the director. In other words, there is no one here but your allies. Isn't that right, everyone?"

"Indeed. Everyone here believes it would be a pity to decide on expulsion whatever your explanation is. Because somehow, you've pushed yourself to appear in the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival so extremely hard that you'll make it with just another step. We don't want to nullify such tenacity."

"..Thank you very much."

How dare Akaza say such insincere things so unreservedly? It was admirable, in a sense.

"Well then, Ikki-kun, now that you understand that we're your allies, first of all let us review the facts. It's true that Ikki-kun and the second princess of the Vermillion Empire, Miss Stella Vermillion, are in a relationship, correct?"

"Yes, that's true."

"He he he. It's good to be honest. When did that association begin, more or less?"

"It began at the commencement of the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival selection battles. The night of my first battle."

It wasn't like he was telling a lie. Therefore Ikki answered honestly. However, every person on the committee made a scornful expression.

"Oh, you started the socializing extremely quickly, didn't you."

"Hmph. Youngsters today are indeed like this. Doing terribly rash and blind things."

"In our youth, we spent more time building a mutual relationship first, after all."

"When it comes to young people today, they're all like monkeys, I see. Why do they do these things that end in unintended pregnancy and shotgun weddings?"

"Truly lamentable."

They were talking entirely like Ikki and Stella were having premarital sex. Of course, Ikki had done no such thing. Up to this day, they had been socializing as nothing more than a platonic couple. That was what he and Stella decided for their relationship after serious consideration. They understood that her position, being a princess, was very delicate. Therefore this kind of false accusation was infuriating.

"Sorry to be rude, but we haven't been doing anything like what you and the newspapers―"

"Ikk-kun, Ikki-kun. I know that you have things you want to say, but please speak only when given permission, okay? If you don't, you'll give a bad impression, you know. He he he."

"..Please forgive my rudeness."

His statement was interrupted by Akaza, and Ikki reluctantly bowed his head in apology.

The man with a goatee who was sitting at Ikki's left side and looking at him hatefully asked him a question with a rather curt tone.

"Hmph. Since it looks like you want to say something no matter what, I'll ask a question. You didn't think about how absurd it is to have an illicit sexual relationship with another country's princess, right? It's so extremely dangerous that it's capable of creating an international problem. I understand that you're at the age where you have too much sexual desire, but your sense in choosing a partner to have fun with wasn't working, right?"

"My intentions in associating with Stella was not to play around. We love each other sincerely."

"Hmph. You really are a child."

"He he he. I was like that as well, you know. The girl that's your first love seems like a once-in-a-lifetime partner. It's so good to be young, yes."

"I'll take your word for it, but both Stella and I are already adults who've had our coming of age ceremonies. We even have the right to marry. Wouldn't it be quite normal to think seriously about our mutual relationship?"

"Hair-splitting, are you? Such an extremely rebellious attitude."

"You, that kind of manner isn't good."

"It'll make a bad impression, I said. He he he."

Akaza filled something in upon a sheet of paper close at hand.

That sight, and seeing the middle-aged people surrounding him with the attitude of not listening to his points―

I knew it would be like this, but.. what a cruel farce.

Ikki sighed in his heart. While questioning Ikki's accountability as an adult, they were completely refusing to recognize the legal rights Ikki has as an adult. Rather than treating Ikki as an adult, it was only a scene for their own convenience. Those indications from the people of the Ethics Committee made Ikki convinced. This was not a place where his qualities as a knight was being carefully examined. This place, it had already concluded that Ikki Kurogane does not have the nature of a knight, and it was definitely an inquisition to collect material for reinforcing that conclusion.

..Well, I already understand that after seeing the evening paper, but...

In the first place, the things they were saying were weird from the beginning. That he had made a lover from a princess who was studying abroad. Well, it was certainly a scandalous story. One could say it would be natural for there to be a media uproar. But it was strange that this would lead to an inquiry on Ikki's qualities as a knight.

As per Ikki's assertion not long ago, neither he nor Stella were children. They were a man and woman whose right to marry was legally recognized. Their love was permitted under the law, so to speak. More than Ikki and Stella's feelings being settled, if for example Stella's father, the king of the Vermillion Empire, displayed discomfort at the matter, that was entirely something to be discussed with the person himself. Despite that, it hadn't become like that, but instead it became a scandal that third-parties were mistakenly clamoring about, and all of it had been collected on pages so that they can be turned into questions on Ikki's qualities as a knight. It was obviously strange.

Why did something so strange develop like that? The reason was simple. It was none other than the existence of something manipulating arbitrary expectations into turmoil.

He's doing roundabout things as usual.

However, Ikki also knew that they were not being so roundabout because they were fond of it. All student knights were members of the League of Mage-Knight Nations. Besides deterrence against war, by enrolling knights into a nationalistic organization, it simplified the legal process for travel, and allowed them to help each other immediately in the case of emergency. Or in the unlikely event of a war breaking out, it allowed for proxy wars smoothly conducted between the knights of different countries under the supervision of the League and so forth. There were various pretexts, but anyway, it wasn't something relevant to what was going on at the moment.

What was important was that the qualifications of mage-knights who were enrolled as student knights at the League headquarters, those qualifications could not by suspended or revoked by the various national governments around the world and their branches arbitrarily. Even Itsuki Kurogane the Japanese branch director, even Akaza the Ethics Committee chairman who acted as military police, were not entitled to such power. Therefore they had no choice but to use a circuitous means.

Yes, like instigating the Hunter against Ikki Kurogane a year ago.

By persecuting Ikki behind closed doors, they were trying to cause Ikki to speak self-incriminating words from his own mouth. Even if they couldn't get get that, to have him show bad behavior. Bad attitude. Bad expression. Rough tone. Anything was fine. At any rate, they were stocking up on information about Ikki's giving bad impressions, to support an application for expulsion that they would submit to the League's headquarters. That was the aim of Akaza and the others. Ikki could tell.

In that case, more than repeating the same assertion, it was safer not to let things slip from his tongue and be held against him.

Ikki understood that, but he—

"Whether you all have good or bad beliefs, it's fine with me either way. I sincerely love Stella, and she truly loves me. I know that. Therefore I don't believe our actions were a mistake, and we won't tell others that it was a mistake."

He thoroughly refused to back down from his antagonistic posture. Naturally. Ikki knew very well how much he loved that charming girl. When they held each other, when they kissed, he knew what kind of wonderful smiles they showed. That being the case, he would not declare that it was a scandal. He would not say that it was a mistake. If there was anyone who tried to force him to say it was a mistake, sticking to silence in front of that person would not be what a man does. That was why Ikki came to this inquiry.

—I said so to Stella.

No matter who he was in front of, he would say he loved Stella proudly. So he wouldn't retreat. He wouldn't stay silent. If the men before him had no intention of listening to his opinion all along, that was perfectly fine. It wasn't like he was thinking of getting approval from people like them. Simply put, he was not going to stop asserting it.

Because this feeling was the one thing he would never lie about.

Ikki had been taken away by the Ethics Committee, and he had been confined for three days. Stella was like a volcano just about to erupt. Constantly grimacing with eyebrows drawn in displeasure, her hair scattering incandescence in sparks. There were many students who were curious about the scandal, but they were too scared of the pressure to approach, and no one around her could get close. Even in the dining hall that was crowded with people during lunch time, no one sat at the seats near Stella. It was quite natural, the person herself was in no state of mind to deal with such trivial things, but..

"Even though you managed to finally recover from your cold, you're giving out such an extreme killing intent, Stella-chan."

The one who spoke to Stella without hesitation and sat down next to her was a tall and thin beauty, Nagi Arisuin. From a distance, voices cried out things like 「Aah, Nagi-sama is doing such a dangerous thing...」. That was probably his fans.

But however much she was irritated, even Stella would not injure her friends by venting her anger. Simply put, the manner and speech became as rough as usual.

"..Of course I am. Did you think I'd be smiling while they write that nonsense as they please?"

When Stella said "that", she meant the evening paper from that day. That paper which put down tons of lies about Ikki, and wrote herself like some dimwitted girl who was tricked by a villain. Just remembering that page made her guts boil.

"I heard about how harsh it was, but this country's level of mass media is really the lowest, right?"

Stella spat those words out, and...

"Nya ha ha, my ears are burning."

One more person, a female student wearing glasses, sat down on Stella's other side while making an unpleasant face.

"Kagami..."

"Can I join you too?"

"Go ahead. I don't really know why, but this is the only place that's open."

"Nya ha ha, thanks."

Putting down on the table her tray with a lunch sandwich on top, Kagami Kusakabe continued her words with an apologetic expression.

"Well, it's natural for Stella-chan to get mad. For Vermillion's princess to find a lover while studying abroad, it would be a scandal, you know? But for a reporter to disregard a princess's judgment and treat the association between two people as a scandal, it's too rude. This is very much an international problem, you know. ..Well, the information would come out understanding that much, probably."

"Oh my? What are you saying?"

"..Well, I have just a biiiiit of a lot of influence with the local newspaper reporters, and was able to use my connections to do some investigation, but as expected the Ethics Committee seems to be exerting some mighty pressure worthy of the organization. It's creating the negative image that the news emphasizing the Vermillion imperial princess's scandal is based on. It's just talk between us here, but it seems the Ethics Committee used their power to bully their way into inserting a special bulletin into the King of Knights formal performance broadcast."

"..Because the KOK is completely bound to the League, they can do such bullying, right? I see."

There was no way to insert a special bulletin into the world's biggest form of entertaniment. Even the occurrence of a shocking death would not give a news event that kind of priority. This kind of move was like thrusting a dagger at their throats. No doubt, it was something inevitable. And that truth given by Kagami, it was evidence of more than just the Ethics Committee, but also a flanking attack from Itsuki Kurogane seriously trying to snatch away Ikki's qualifications as a knight.

"Unbelievable..."

Knowing their seriousness, Stella couldn't stop that word from coming out.

"Ikki isn't just some student! Just to corner him like that, why does Ikki's father, the Japanese branch director, go that far!?"

Moreover, what the heck kind of advantage was there in this? If he denounced Ikki to this extent, wouldn't it also harm the reputation of the Kurogane house? What was the reason for cornering Ikki this far despite that issue?

"Even though Ikki is his son, why?"

"Because he is that kind of father."

The voice that answered came from the opposite side of the school cafeteria table. It came from directly in front of Stella, not unlike the chime of a bell, a small and sweet voice. It was—

"Because he is that kind of man, he did this. And it isn't just what you mentioned."

"Shizuku..."

"Honestly speaking, what Father is thinking, why he has such prejudice against Onii-sama, I can't understand any of it, because that crookedness is beyond my comprehension. But that is why nothing he does seems strange."

While announcing such cold facts dispassionately, Shizuku laid her tray with her Japanese meal set lunch on the table. And she sat down at the table in front of Stella.

While Stella was a little bit hesitant to speak to her when she was like that, Shizuku still spoke as usual. Because Shizuku hadn't shown her face once after the match with Raikiri, Stella hadn't spoken with her since then—

"Umm, Shizuku... I'm sorry. We haven't talked to you about the relationship."

Stella knew how strongly Shizuku loved her brother. Therefore there was no helping it, whatever kind of attack she'd receive from Shizuku. Stella was content to face it with resignation.

But Shizuku's response was alarmingly light.

"It's not like there's a problem, you know. I mean, I knew about it."

"Eh?"

"I can tell with a glance, you know. That the relationship between you two changed after the night of Onii-sama's debut battle. Isn't that right, Alice?"

"Ha ha, Well, it was delightfully easy to tell."

"Yep, yep. Heck, even I could figure it out."

"Wow..."

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Stella covered it up. It was probably very easy to tell that they were flirting. In the doom room or the in the forest, they had tried to hide it from casual sight, but...

"Stella-san has her position. Announcing that kind of thing always causes an uproar. It's understandable that you two would think about not bringing such a disturbance during the busy Sword-Art Festival season, and even I would think about the best thing to do. Therefore it's not like we're thinking about blaming you for it. The crucial thing is what you will do after this."

Saying that, Shizuku turned her sight to Kagami who was sitting next to Stella.

"Kusakabe-san. The discussion is moving toward things that people who know my family circumstances to a certain extent would understand, but..."

"Nya ha ha. Clear information is a journalist's life, you know? Well, just as far as the situation goes."

"In that case, I want us to speak our minds without holding anything back, but in this case, it could possibly lead to Onii-sama's expulsion, right?"

Kagami declared without hesitation toward Shizuku's question.

"It is unlikely to, presently."

"Oh my, is that so?"

"After all, Alice-chan. It's not like Senpai and Stella are both doing something bad, right? Even though we just talked about it now, mere news reporters are disregarding the feelings of Stella who is royalty, and rudely calling her relationship a 'scandal', you know. This story was from start to end a?『The Princess of Vermillion found a lover while studying abroad. Eek! What kind of person is he~? Yay yay!』?kind of thing. The company that wanted to forcibly make this a 'scandal' is just instigating a pointless disturbance. With that kind of composition, those people would lack legitimacy after all. At present, they have nothing but huge false accusations. And naturally, those people understanding that much would manipulate this kind of impression, and to do it they'd go trawling for faults by holding an inquiry. Senpai is no fool, so no matter how many times they try to simply find fault in him, they probably won't collect anything, and it's hard to imagine the League headquarters choosing expulsion. Because the League very much considers expulsion a last resort."

"Last resort? Hey, Kagami, what do you mean?"

"The League has never expelled anyone without inquiring about a student knight. To put it in a way Stella-chan can easily understand, look, what about Donrou Academy's Kurashiki-kun?"

"Yes."

"Even with people as notorious as he is, the League's response ends at reprimand."

"..It is extremely light, true."

"I wonder what reason there is for that?"

Kagami nodded, and answered Shizuku's question.

"The knights who receive expulsion, they are generally those who become criminals."

Mage-knights who acquired their license are, of course, Blazers who as student knights considered how to be successful in life using the strength of their superpowers. Those kinds of people, what happens to them if their privileges are permanently revoked? The answer was that they are very likely to become criminals who use their Blazer abilities for unlawful activities. It was a reality that statistics from numerous investigations had already made clear.

"Well, it's natural. Although this is absolutely human nature for those who make such a mess that they are expelled, it's safer to have a chained mad dog than an unchained one, right? That's why the League wanted to lay down the rule that all knights are to be supervised, you know. Receiving that intent from the League, almost every League member nation created laws to proceed that way with all the Blazers in their country. Although Japan has human rights organizations clamoring, and hasn't taken that plunge yet."

In doing that.

"By quickly expelling someone, the League would create criminals with its own hand, and in doing so leave those criminals unregulated. Therefore even the League deals with expulsion decisions very slowly. And in particular, expulsions of student knights who are still in the position of learning and studying are extremely rare cases."

However—

"But this time, it seems that a rare case serious enough for expulsion has arisen. That's why I'm worried, you know. What kind of suffering Senpai is going through right now, and such."

The inquiry is to find fault in how he is responding in attitude and tone; that was the ultimate goal of the Ethics Committee. But if Ikki himself recognized that he had been thoughtless, that would become a truth that everyone accepted. That truth would become strong support for expulsion. Therefore, the Ethics Committee would without a doubt try to get that conclusion no matter the method.

Everyone there sank into silence at Kagami's meek words. The Ethics Committee hearing was going on in deep underground where sunlight didn't reach. That place was Itsuki Kurogane's territory. And the Ethics Committee was a position monopolized by generations after generations of the Kurogane house's bloodline. A sacred ground, so to speak. There was absolutely no one in the vicinity except for people close to the Kurogane house. There was no way that Ikki would receive decent treatment in that kind of place. Though he would probably not receive physical torture like in a true inquisition, they could use methods to run a person down as much as they liked.

The more Stella thought about it, the more her head filled with unpleasant guesses. In truth, she hadn't slept decently for two days. Whenever she closed her eyes, she would imagine what kind of days her beloved was spending deep underground. But that was...

"..Entirely my fault."

If she was just a normal girl. She wouldn't have been used by Ikki's enemies. That kind of unavoidable regret swirled and spread through her mind. She had become Ikki's noose. A restriction on his appearance at the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival, she was hold him back during this important time. That was painful, painful—

"Should I separate from Ikki..."

From Stella's mouth, a few words spilled out in such complaints.

"After all.. isn't it my fault? If I were an ordinary girl, this kind of thing—"

"Stella-chan!"

In an instant, what penetrated Stella's ear was Arisuin's voice in a blade-sharp cry. Her spine shuddered at that voice, and Stella raised her gaze, taken aback.

And she became aware.

That the points of icicles as sharp as lances had approached before her eyes.

Stella had already reflexively donned her?Empress Dress, and blocked the strike from icy spears by crossing both her arms. But that strike was fast and heavy, lifting Stella's body off her feet and knocking her body into the dining room wall, smashing through it, and blowing Stella's body completely out of the dining room itself.

「Eeeek!」

「Wh-What are you doing!?」

Panic filled the dining room at the unexpected situation. In the middle of the noise, Stella asserted her personal ability that had received the ice spears, and..

*Crack*

..frowned at the pain reverberating through her bones. It seemed that a bone in her arm had been fractured. Stella's flame would seize and vaporize even a rifle bullet, but the best it could do was melt and blunt that sharp spear-point. Only one person here could use water magic to that degree.

"Wh-What are you doing, Shizuku!?"

Stella protected her injured arm, and at the same time roared at Shizuku who was standing imposingly on the table with?Yoishigure?in one hand. And Shizuku...

"And I ask the same of you. What are you saying?"

Shizuku's eyes flew through Stella's mind, and sent Stella's spine trembling so much it couldn't compare to what it was like not long ago.

Shizuku's tone was quite calm, and that expression was as composed as always. But Shizuku's eyes had a chilly brilliance that Stella had never seen before, and her whole body seemed to be frozen in wrath.

"You, do you not understand the reason Onii-sama has gone along with this farce? For Onii-sama, the option of sticking to silence and not responding to the hearing exists. At any rate, the inquiry is nothing more than an inquisition in name. It is a farce coming to fruition. Those people will not listen to anything Onii-sama says. Knowing this and facing their request, it is because he can't stomach people exploiting the opportunity to cast vulgar intentions on your relationship with him. It is because he thinks the relationship between you two are just that important. If you betray Onii-sama without understanding that―I won't forgive you for it."

That icy fury, it made Stella very conscious of her own slip of the tongue.

"..I'm sorry. I was being stupid just now."

Stella obediently bowed her head to Shizuku.

How could I say such a miserable thing?

To this day, she had never considered her relationship with Ikki to be a mistake. The fact that Ikki was in the middle of the enemy camp, it was proof that even now he was still still proud of their relationship. The enemy's intention was to sow doubt on Ikki's responsibility, and an adult who is called a knight would be able to stand his ground. Therefore, if negative testimony like "it was reckless" and "it was a mistake" was taken, it would be impossible to make an official announcement of their friendship. Because if words like "I am a meager fool who can't take responsibility" were confessed by Ikki himself, those words would become proof.

「Stella, I love you, and I want to say so proudly in front of everyone.」

Ikki was putting into practice the words he said that day as he always did. His love for her was just that strong. In that case, what should she do? To his strong feelings, how should she answer them?

I can't do anything, not a single thing–

That was—

"Sheesh, you two are destroying the school building without a care, aren't you?"

Suddenly, a voice mixed with a sigh came to Stella and Shizuku. The owner of the somewhat husky voice was Kurono Shinguuji, who had weaved her way toward the two of them through the murmuring students.

"I'd like it if someone could also fix the body over here too."

While grumbling under her breath, Kurono came outside through the hole that Shizuku had opened, and she gently snapped her fingers.

Thereupon, the scattered debris of wall material floated up, and installed themselves into the hole that Stella had broken through. It was as if someone had played a video in reverse. In a few seconds, the large hole had been filled in entirely.

"That should do it."

Nodding her head approvingly at her own work, Kurono turned her gaze from the filled wall to where Stella had fallen. And—

"Vermillion. I have a bit to say about the Kurogane matter. Will you come to the chairman's office?"

She told Stella to come the place where she herself worked.

Kurono invited Stella into the chairman's office that reeked of tobacco and had Stella sit on the sofa for visitors. She herself sat down herself on the sofa across the table between them.

"It's become an extremely troublesome thing, hasn't it?"

She grumbled with a brow etched with wrinkles. The fatigue that could be seen was probably from repercussions arising from having been investigated for being responsible for Ikki and Stella staying in the same room. Well, as far as the system of boys a-->>

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