Chapter 5

Well yeah, we’ll do our best. But it’s a pretty tall hurdle, you know?

Yes… I had hoped that such a development would not occur, but it seems my wishes were left unanswered.

Yeah, really… And the whole mystery of the orders and secret orders being posted all over Kansai hasn’t been solved yet, either.

We don’t even have an iota of a clue who the culprit might be. Our allies, Crazy:B, have been investigating the matter, of course.

But they were far more useless than we anticipated.

Maybe they figured they could just slack off in their investigation, or maybe they really are the culprits, just like everyone’s been saying.

Well, the timing’s a little too good… Our secret was exposed at the absolute worst time for us.

It’s only natural to think Crazy:B had a hand in it, since they were the only ones we had contact with through our alliance.

Yep. We might just be a bunch of idiot clients who asked the murderer to solve the case.

For a culprit like that, we’re perfect prey—They can boil or roast us however they like.

That is true… The secret order that we had tried so hard to hide was finally revealed this morning, just before Sena-senpai and Leo-san made their departure.

Posters displaying it were put up all throughout the city.

It clearly stated that the secret order that Suou Tsukasa, the King of Knights—the order that I was given was a prohibition on live showdowns.

Fufu. I’m sure everyone had a little “aha” moment right then and there. Like, no wonder we’ve been so quiet, when we’re usually going all-out in duels.

Yes. However, as of right now, only our secret order was exposed.

No one has actually confirmed its veracity; we’ve obstinately avoided live showdowns up until now.

Yep. I finally realized just how popular we actually are.

We had a long stroke of bad luck, so when people say we’re powerhouses or one of ES’s Big Three or something, it never really clicks for me.

We didn’t have to face any close calls or compete in live showdowns—We could earn SSL$ just by doing our regular jobs.

Just like, solo lives, video streaming, that kinda stuff. And we always get positive feedback, high ratings, and huge profits.

Yep. We couldn’t just sit back and relax, so we really threw our backs into it and did our best.

Suu~chan’s always getting mad at us for being slow to get the ball rolling, but this time we jumped right into it.

It kinda reminded me of way back when we were running around to clear our name after what Secchan did.¹

Right? Yeah, I was feeling a little nostalgic too.

Personally, I’d love to see you show that sort of motivation on a regular basis. If we performed as such all the time, we would win all the time.

Um~? Hard pass. If you work too hard you’ll break, y’know?

Yep. Since ES was established, we’re living in an era where hard work is rewarded. If we’re always pushing ourselves to our limits, we’ll just die.

You got it! Everything in moderation—That’s the best way to live ♪

Well, we would’ve been in trouble this time if we hadn’t pushed ourselves.

Indeed. Moreover, we will need to fight to protect the fruits of our labor until our dying breath. We must not allow our efforts to be robbed of us.

Our silver lining is that no one has yet confirmed whether the exposé about our secret order is true.

Thus, everyone is proceeding with caution and hasn’t tried to challenge us.

The rules state that if you lose a live showdown, the loser has to give up all of their SSL$ to the winner…

Generally, people can’t just put their lives on the line like that.

That’s true. Kansai has been in this state of war, and thanks to all these ongoing live showdowns—

Slowly but surely, the number of survivors is decreasing, so the conflict feels like it’s dying out naturally.

Yeah, and—well, they probably should have been doing this from the start, but everyone who won their showdowns and made it big have gotten more cautious in order to protect their wealth.

They don’t want to risk losing all the money they’ve amassed by thoughtlessly provoking an unknown entity.

If they want to win the SS Qualifiers and move onto the Finals, they should be trying to take all the SSL$ we have to our name.

But no one has the guts to try that. Their odds of turning a profit by challenging us are abysmal.

In order to profit, they have to either challenge us, get rejected, and win by default—

Or, if we accept, beat us.

Everything works out for them if we don’t accept. The unit that challenged us runs away with half our SSL$ without any effort.

Those are the rules, after all. If you turn down a challenge, you are obligated to relinquish half of your SSL$ to the challenger.

Yep. But let’s say we ignore the secret order that bans us from live showdowns. What if we agree to the match?

For better or for worse, we’re Knights—We’re renowned for our military prowess.

Especially at Yumenosaki, we’ve had so many Duels, dealing blow after blow to units we deemed unworthy.

I’m not sure how much our notoriety—or should I say, our accolades—are known throughout the world.

But if we take up the gauntlet, they’d have to fight against a terrifyingly strong opponent. If they lose, they have to give up all the SSL$ they’ve got.

If they win, that’s great for them. But I don’t think there are any powerhouses in the Kansai region who can fight against us and be sure they’ll win.

So considering the risk of losing, they can’t issue a challenge all willy-nilly. If they’ve held out this long, they should be able to figure that much out.

Yes. And so while the other units waver and hesitate to challenge us—

We’re going to escape into a safe zone as fast as possible. We’ll take shelter so that no one can challenge us, and then we’ll sit and wait for the Qualifiers to end.

We’ll quit while we’re ahead, Suu~chan—all according to the policy you decided on.