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Hikari mulled over Seiji’s explanation.

Kingdom…a domain where a Black Crown user’s authority was exercised, encompassing a large swath of area, such as the entirety of Shibuya. If the authority itself was granted as a response to the desire entered on the Black Crown App, then a kingdom could be said to be a manifestation of that wish in full.

Hikari then tried to extrapolate it to her own authority, for contextual comparison. Her authority, Inversio Invidiae, compelled those who envied her to act nicely toward her, instead of acting upon their jealousy. If it manifested as a kingdom, then…the entirety of Hane High would be the domain, and everyone who had the slightest thoughts of envy toward her would automatically be compelled to be amicable and pleasant instead?

[img]https://i.imgur.com/cfIB9aE.png[/img]

She shuddered. She felt guilty enough using her authority on her friend, who was slandering her over a misunderstanding. She did not even realise what the Black Crown app would do; rather, she wasn’t even sure if anything would happen. But even so, once it was activated, the effect was undeniable. And she had robbed her friend of her free will, essentially.

She cannot imagine doing that to the entire school, let alone an entire district like Shibuya. She did not know what sort of authority the ruler of this ‘Shibuya Kingdom’ possessed, but if it were anything like hers, she could only imagine the damage that it would have done.

That was exactly why she agreed to join Seiji’s team. To make amends for inadvertently—yet carelessly—robbing her friend of her free will, merely because it was convenient.

“I have some questions, Mi—Noblesse,” Hikari corrected herself, using the codename that Seiji had given her when they met.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/wq1Qif0.png[/img]

“What exactly is the authority exerted over Shibuya? Do we know? Also, after we entered our desire into the Black Crown app, it displayed the message ‘Welcome to Black Crown, Destined Ruler’. I wondered what ‘ruler’ it was referring to, but after hearing about the concept of kingdoms…do you think that whoever created the Black Crown app did so with the intention of having its users create kingdoms?”