Misora Chivalry of a Failed Knight: Volume 11

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-7183-4732-8
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 12, 250 Seiten

Reihe: Chivalry of a Failed Knight

After a tumultuous welcome, Ikki's finally earned the respect of Vermillion's people and is busy preparing for the upcoming 'war' with Cradleland. He, Stella, and Lunaeyes visit Cradleland as part of those preparations, but little do they know that Puppet King Or Gol is scheming behind the scenes to transform the friendly competition between two allied nations into a genuine war! Ikki and Stella will have to work together to keep Vermillion from being engulfed in a sea of flames!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Misora, Riku

Weitere Mitwirkende

Won

Ningen

Leseproben

Chapter 5: Worst One vs. Crimson Lion?!

Sirius Vermillion was grappling with a grave problem. His beloved daughter Stella had finally returned home from Japan, but every time they ran into each other in the castle, she looked at him like he was scum. Whenever he called out to her, she ignored him, and if he kept pestering her, the most he got out of her was a few annoyed words. When she’d been much younger, she’d excitedly talked about how she’d marry him when she got older, but now she couldn’t bear to be in the same room as him. Of course, Sirius knew what the cause was.

That accursed Japanese boy had stolen away Stella’s innocent heart. He knew she was being duped by Ikki’s wily charms, which was why he had to protect her. He’d used his authority as king to put a bounty on Ikki’s head, and he’d even mobilized the army. But nothing had been able to stop the boy. Even his most trusted retainer, Dandalion, had been bested. As a result, he’d lost face, and no one in the Vermillion family respected him anymore.

It was shameful how useless his citizens had been in this critical juncture. And so, he had come to the conclusion that he couldn’t rely on others to do his dirty work for him anymore. He’d do it himself. He’d regain Stella’s trust and love with his own two hands.

“Listen up! We’ll be fighting with our Devices in phantom form, and the first one to get a clean hit wins!” Sirius shouted to Ikki. The two of them were standing on opposite ends of the training ring in the Vermillion Castle courtyard.

Sirius was hoping to beat Ikki in a fair duel to prove to Stella that he wasn’t worthy of her. It was the only way he could think of to win Stella back from Ikki’s clutches. If she saw him valiantly vanquish Ikki, she’d surely remember that he was the coolest man alive, not this weak-looking Japanese boy. On the other hand, Ikki just seemed confused.

“Um, wh-why exactly are we having a mock battle again?”

“I may have agreed to let you marry Stella if you lead Vermillion to victory in this year’s war, but I still have to test your strength for myself! I want to know definitively whether or not you’re stronger than me! If you beat me, I’ll let you be one of Vermillion’s representatives, but if you lose, you’d better run back home to Japan!”

Ikki stared at Sirius, flabbergasted.

“Wh-What?! I know this is just a mock battle, but I can’t point my blade at a king. That would be—”

The two women behind Ikki shook their heads and cut him off.

“It’s fine, Ikki. Feel free to beat him up as much as you’d like,” Astrea Vermillion said.

“He’s the one who wants to do this, so you might as well put him in his place,” Lunaeyes Vermillion added.

Sirius looked sadly at his wife and daughter. He could see why Stella might be mad at her, but it seemed to him that the rest of his family, too, had started to grow distant ever since he’d tried to have the military eliminate Ikki. They all seemed to be getting along just fine with Ikki, yet they refused to talk to him. Yesterday, Astrea had even refused to bathe with him.

But all of that humiliation ended today. Once he defeated Ikki, he’d regain his wife and daughters’ love, and everything would be perfect again. He could already see it—Stella, Lunaeyes, and Astrea all running up to hug him once he defeated Ikki and showering him with praise.

“Hurry up and get into the ring! Once the signal’s given, we fight until one side wins!”

After a brief moment of hesitation, Ikki sighed and stepped forward.

“Fine, but I won’t go easy on you.”

And so, the stage was set.

“Set the world ablaze, Ifrit!”

“Come to me, Intetsu.”

The two Blazers summoned their Devices, the manifestations of their souls, and pointed them at each other. Stella, who was serving as the referee for the match, made sure both sides were ready before saying, “Good to go? All right, then... Let’s go ahead!”

As soon as she said the magic words, Sirius sprang into action.

“Raaaaaaah!”

The famed Crimson Lion wreathed his Device, a large battle-axe, in flames and charged at Ikki. The flames around Ifrit were a whopping three thousand degrees Celsius, making them hot enough to cut through steel. But as he raised his axe high, he suddenly realized that Ikki was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh?”

A second later, he slumped to his knees.

“Bwuh?”

“The winner’s Ikki!” Stella shouted.

“Whoa, seriously? Is it just me, or is our king super weak?”

“It’s barely even been five seconds. How do you lose that fast?”

“What even happened there? I blinked, and he collapsed.”

The maids who’d gathered to watch Sirius make a fool of himself started gossiping among themselves. Sirius himself had no idea what had happened either, and he just stared down at the ground in confusion.

He looked up to his left to find Ikki standing next to him.

Sirius had lost sight in his left eye during an incident thirty years ago, and Ikki had indeed taken note of that. He’d kept the disability hidden from even his family, but Ikki had picked up on it immediately after he’d seen how erratically Sirius’s left eye moved from time to time. So he’d used Twin Wings’s techniques to accelerate to top speed at the start of the match and catch Sirius from his blind spot.

Like Ikki, Sirius was a warrior, so he would never call Ikki cheap for taking advantage of his opponents’ weaknesses. The first rule of battle was to make full use of every advantage you had. However, Sirius was overawed by Ikki’s incredible powers of observation, as well as his martial skill. On the outside, he seemed like little more than a slender kid, but he was clearly a hardened warrior. Sirius knew it took an inordinate amount of training and willpower to reach the level that Ikki had. At the same time, he realized how utterly futile it would be to try to win his family’s respect back by beating Ikki.

“You really are pathetic, Dad,” Stella said with a shake of her head.

“Surely now you have no complaints, Father. Ikki won, so let him be one of Vermillion’s representatives,” Lunaeyes added.

Unfortunately, even knowing that it was futile, Sirius was too childish to give up.

“Heh heh heh... Ha ha ha ha ha... Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Come now, do you really think I’d go all out against a child? I simply gave Ikki a handicap for our first bout! But this is a best of three! I simply forgot to mention that earlier! My bad! Aha ha ha ha ha!”

Laughing to disguise how shaken he was, he got to his feet. Stella let out a long, exasperated sigh, but Sirius paid her no mind. All he had to do was win once. If he could just manage that, everything would work out. His daughter would love him again, and this eyesore would vanish. It didn’t matter how he arrived at that victory; all that mattered was the result itself. Besides, he’d just thought of a great idea.

“Um, o-okay, what’s the next contest going to be, then?” Ikki asked hesitantly.

“I’m glad you asked! Next up will be an arm wrestling competition!”

“Arm wrestling? What does that have to do with proving I’m worthy of being a Vermillion representative?”

“Everything! When it comes down to it, even battles between Blazers are all about strength! I’m impressed you were able to take advantage of my blind spot to cut me down in our practice match, but cute tricks alone won’t be enough to prove your worth! Men have to be strong too!”

One of the senior maids brought out a steel barrel for the two of them to rest their elbows on.

“Let’s see just how strong your arms are, youngster!” Sirius shouted, waving Ikki over.

The younger maids frowned at each other.

“I never knew our king was such a sore loser!”

“There’s no way Master Ikki can win when His Majesty’s twice his size...”

Sirius grinned to himself. Ikki might have been a master of the sword and far more skilled in battle, but ultimately, his arms were slender. Sirius’s biceps were twice the size of Ikki’s, and more than anything, European men were genetically predisposed to having more muscle mass than Japanese men. He was certain this was one area in which he beat Ikki handily. And surely if he won this arm wrestling match, Stella and Astrea would love him again.

“What’s wrong?! You’re not scared, are you?!”

Ikki sighed and walked forward.

“All right, but I won’t hold back.”

He placed his elbow on the barrel and clasped Sirius’s hand.

“I respect your boldness. Stella, count us down.”

“Fine...” Stella muttered, clearly getting tired of this. “Ready, set...go!”

The moment Stella said “go,” Sirius let out a primal roar.

...