Only found this indirectly through Reddit. Maybe make a formal announcement?

Finally, some volume 20 news

@AP24

Is it confirmed that it will be DM20 or is there any chance that chapter might belong to SO 15?

There is nothing in the image besides the title and it being listed as "Prologue". So you are right in that it could potentially belong to SO, but all things considered I'd also go with that it is from DM20.

Omori tweeted another chapter title.

https://x.com/fujinoomori/status/1834170085310595184

Ch2 title is “獅子のち剣姫 (Lion and then Sword Princess)”. I think the chapter focuses on Leon and Ais.

Also Omori tweeted this is response to someone asking for vol 20 so it's confirmed it's not sword oratoria

Well, at least Ais is FINALLY going to get some real pagetime!

I feel like that chapter will have one of these things (maybe all?)...

1. Leon, Ais, and Bell go into the dungeon together.

2. Leon gives some info he knows about Ais to Bell, something he has been looking for since MS16. It won't be earth shattering info either though. It will most likely be info Bell does not know but the readers do know this info already.

3. Bell and Leon have their meeting/conversation, then later Ais finds Bell to have their conversation that is honestly overdue (Tiona said she (Ais) would come looking for Bell when she is ready in MS19).

4. This also could just be a simple chapter of filling in event's from SO13 since Leon, Ais, and Bell are all together in the dungeon during that volume. So basically 1 and 4 could just be a chain of event's that happens in that chapter.

5. Training from both Leon and Ais

This is all I can really see happening in that chapter tbh. They honestly all could happen in that one chapter too. It just won't be earth shattering or just this unbelievable development we have been waiting for since this isn't Ais x Bell/OEBD arc yet. This is also suppose to be a breather/filler arc, so nothing ground breaking should happen in this volume. I still think the spotlight will be on Eina x Bell in MS20 since this will really be the very last time Eina will have any time with Bell until maybe the final epilogue of the series. Omori did say he want's to give Eina the spotlight at some point and this just seems like the ideal volume for it. I also see Eina being used as a tool to cure Bell's trauma that he has from rejecting Freya/Syr. He will reject Eina and seeing Eina's response to that rejection will help him understand that not every girl will react in the same manor as Freya/Syr did (literally brainwashing the entire city and putting him through mental abuse in order to get him to give up on Ais and only look Freya's way).

@AbigailWilliams2020

Agree on 1,3,4,5. About 2, just think that it would be weird for Leon to actually know something about Ais when he mainly wasn't in Orario. I even doubt whether Leon knows about Ais more than Bell does. It also feels kind of out of nowhere for Leon to give Bell's Ais info, whether it's big or small, when Leon and Ais should be basically stranger.

Based on the exact words in the chapter’s title, it looks like Bell won’t spend time with Leon and Ais at the same time.