Chapter 9

I–in any case, let’s recollect ourselves… and sort out this situation.

Currently, we have two problems on our hands.

First is the issue we discussed with Crazy:B earlier—

There’s a rivalry brewing in the Kansai region. The ES and non-ES idols are digging their trenches and trying to destroy each other.

Yes. It’s truly heartbreaking. But I’m not sure what to say to that, as we spent our lives at Yumenosaki entrenched in duels, ourselves.

But even if we can’t just ignore the conflict, it’s not like we have any way to intervene.

Yes… That’s, well, it’s hard for me to speak on it.

You mean to say that you can’t say it yourself. But Knights have been forbidden by your secret order to engage in live showdowns.

Yep yep, I get it. ‘Cause the leaders of each unit are given a secret order to go with their normal order, right?

Yeah. And on top of that, you can’t tell anyone what that secret order is—You have to keep it secret.

Well that’s annoying.

I sure am glad I’m not the leader anymore then~ ♪ Who needs a heavy title like that, anyway! It’s just a pain in the ass!

So in any case, because of the secret order, we’re prevented from Dueling anyone, even though that’s our forte.

We’ve risen through the ranks through Duels—live showdowns. But we can’t use the tactics we’re most familiar with this time around.

Even saying just that much is so annoying… The quickest way to beat down someone you don’t like is to Duel them, after all. Violence solves everything.

Oh my, so savage ♪

…The problem is, in light of the current climate in Kansai, a secret order like this is becoming a fatal obstacle for us.

Since right now, these showdowns are all the rage.

Maybe it’s because of the features in the local paper or online, or maybe the fans in Kansai are just really passionate—But they all seem to be paying attention.

Everyone’s getting really heated about it, making predictions about who will win the showdown like this is horse racing or pro wrestling.

Well, even if we say stuff like “conflict” or “live showdown,” it’s not like there’s any actual bloodshot. So all of them innocently watch us and enjoy themselves, as if it’s a sports game.

And if they don’t like how rough it is over here, they can go watch the Qualifiers in other regions with a more relaxed atmosphere.

Subsidies and travel expenses are available if you apply for them, after all.

Yeah, everyone can move between regions freely. Well, except for us idols.

Yep. Actually, it looks like a nice chunk of more bloodthirsty fans heard rumors and started gathering in the Kansai region. Something about being able to see some really awesome battles here~

Wait a hot minute, isn’t everyone way too bloodthirsty?

…Honestly, I don’t even know who I’m talking about when I say that.

It looks like the fans have Knights in high demand, actually, since we’re famous for waging war left and right.

That said, we’re one of the Big Three—the ES idols in particular generally think they have no fighting chance against us.

Like we’re some sleeping giants or something~ But in reality, we can’t win even one of these lives.

‘Cause of the secret order preventing us from waging war, we’ve pretty much lost the fight as soon as we’re challenged.

Yes. And then, suppose we ignore the secret order and accept the live showdown. Of course we would claim victory—It’s only natural.

But afterward, we will face a penalty for violating the secret order.

By the way, I don’t remember all the details since I don’t really care about it, but uhh? I heard you get fined if you go against your order, but what happens if you go against your secret order?

…It seems to vary based on the individual who was given the secret order, but essentially, something important will be taken from them.

In my case it would be, well… um… I won’t go into details here.

It seems that one would be punished with a heavy penalty which cannot be balanced with the rewards gained from winning a live showdown.

(whispering) …Even still, in the unlikely event that it happens, I—

What? Don’t go mumbling to yourself. If you have something to say, spit it out!

Now now… They said he’d get punished if the details of his secret order is found out too, so Suo~ probably can’t talk about whatever that is either. Right?

Sigh… Anyway, that would be why we can’t perform in any live showdowns within the Kansai region.

Yep. And it’s totally out of the question for us to go challenging anyone, but it’s also bad to have someone else challenge us.

We can’t participate in live showdowns at all because of the secret order—And if we turn down the challenge, we have to give half of our SSL$ to the challenger.

So it’s just a loss by default.