Editing Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi: Volume 6 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 1===
The new school term had just begun, so Ash was kept busy from morning till night with the preparatory work for ‘Ansarivan’s Five Hundred Years Festival’, and time passed by in the blink of an eye. There was now less than a week’s time before the first day of the Five Hundred Years Festival. Even on a holiday, he was unable to rest, as Ash and Eco were currently walking together towards Julius Hall. There was also going to be a meeting today.

“Fuwaa…”

Eco drowsily yawned while she walked across the campus grounds.

“You don’t need to force yourself to get out of bed, you know?”

Previously, Eco would’ve overslept and stayed in bed all the time, but she was now nearly able to get up early. Although she was grouchy when getting out of bed each morning, she no longer stayed in bed. Eco’s role in the Student Council was the ‘mascot’, so there was no real need for her to show up to meetings, but she still dutifully attended every meeting.

“What? Are you complaining about going to the meeting together with me?”

“Not at all. Don’t you feel weak when you get up in the mornings? I’m just afraid that you’ll find it difficult.”

“…I don’t find it difficult. Also, aren’t you my knight? You’re the ‘Avalon Knight’ and I’m the Holy Dragons’ Emperor Family’s Imperial Princess! That’s why it’s very natural for me to follow you! Am I wrong?”

“Y-You’re right!”

Ash was rather embarrassed, and he replied with a volume that surprised even himself.

''—Princess huh…''

He had almost forgotten that Eco was the descendant of Avalon’s Holy Dragons’ Emperor Family, and was basically a Dragon Princess. In fact, the identity of the noblest person on this planet could actually be her. When she was first born, she did not forget to emphasise ‘I am your master’. Ash smiled wryly.

“I remember that you used to say that I was your meat slave.”

“T-That is…uh…I’m sorry.”

“Haha, I’m not angry about it. I’m now acknowledged as a knight properly.”

“Ash…”

Ash suddenly thought of something. Speaking of a knight in the Lautreamont Knight Country, most people would think of a Dragonar, but the neighbouring Chevron Kingdom was not the same; the image of their knights was closer to strong lady warriors who served the people. Although many stories of chivalry and knighthood were also published in their country, the majority of them were love stories.

''—In other words, I shouldn’t be thinking about the problem of how to train Eco, but rather following the example of the knights in neighbouring countries, so that I can aspire to become a knight that can serve this princess, Eco.''

As he thought of that, the image of another princess appeared in Ash’s mind.

''—<Ice Blue Princess>.''

It was Silvia, who had confessed to him with ‘I love you’.  The girl that he had met in Albion Forest when he was seven years old — even after being separated, Silvia still kept the memory of Ash in her heart. She had only met him once, a boy whom she didn’t even know the name of—

“Ouch!”

The sudden pain that Ash felt almost caused him to jump.

“……………”

Eco scowled and pinched Ash on his side. Eco was also aware of her own strength, so she did somewhat show some mercy, but even so, Ash felt as though the skin of his abdomen was being clamped down on by a vice.

“W-What are you doing!?”

Eco loosened her grip, and angrily looked up at him. Her face appeared to have an uneasy expression.

“…Just then, were you thinking about other girls?”

“N-No, I absolutely wasn’t thinking about any other girls!”

“Your eyes were wandering.”

Eco emitted a terrifying aura that could almost be heard rumbling, as she took a step towards Ash. Ash involuntarily retreated backwards.

“Ara, why are you trying to escape?”

Eco was smiling, and she had a pretentiously sweet tone when she asked, but this actually showed that she was even scarier than when she showed her angry face.

“O-Of course, it’s because you’re so scary!”

“…And why would you feel afraid?”

The image of Eco’s true appearance as a Holy Dragon Emperor manifested behind her — although Ash knew that it was his own imagination, it still frightened him to the point that cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

“Y-Yeah! We had better hurry over to Julius Hall, otherwise we’ll be late again!”

Ash swiftly turned around and ran off.

“Hey! Why are you running away!? So you really were thinking about other girls!”

Eco brandished her fist as she angrily chased after Ash.

“If you don’t wait for me — I’ll crush you!”