Kayaba Akihiko had accounted for many things when he set his stage. The players would be kept alive to populate Aincrad, unique skills to be granted to those with the potential to be the heroes of this story and even the role he would play in this living world he created. But there was one thing he could never have foreseen. The appearance of a real hero in this fake tale of his.

Brought back from the gates of death by a princess and her mother, the Lord's Blade was told of their plight. And yet, despite being saved, she was not compelled to aid them. And yet still, she found herself unable to abandon them in their time of need. So she thought of her knight, pondering what he would do in her place... A silly thought. She knew exactly what he would do.

He was an idiot. Picking a fight over some random maid? Stupid. Fighting a noble for this? Suicidal. And the gall to accuse her of not being a noble just because she didn't want to stick her neck out for some random commoner... and now, here he was, getting beaten bloody just to protect the weak and innocent... Louise de la Valliere sighed. She couldn't just leave him could she?