Somehow I missed reading the final part until going, "Huh? What's going on?!" upon reading the first section of the next volume.
Well.
My prediction as to the solution/resolution was a tad off the mark.
More than a tad.
He did stand off the current Guardian Knight.
He didn't act as Carina's Guardian Knight as part of her 'qualification conflict' thingy.
He did act in a manner allowing the various Great Spirits involved to hammer out a non-aggression pact.
Nobody died. This time, anyway.
So.
He and Charlotte know how each of them feels about the other.
His reputation has been sent through the wash. (This is a good thing.)
There's been a peaceful [?!] resolution of the conflict between North and South. For certain values of 'peaceful', anyway.
Life should be good now.
Queue hysterical laughter, given at least three volumes to go.