Irijina desperately rides on her horse.

"Irijina ! Please save me!! Gugaa!"

"Stop! Save me! I don’t want to die!"

Her comrades are being defeated one by one but she doesn’t turn around. They ask her to help them, but she can’t do anything other than dying together with them. The battle is already over, what is happening now is a continued one-sided massacre, nothing more than an extermination.

"What on earth! Why!?"

It is her first time since becoming knight that she fights while being outnumbered, although she have heard from others that they are mostly conscripted peasants, which are weak opponents. 

Everything was fine until Arkland was reduced to a hundred men. Despite her individual achievements, her team as a whole couldn't cope with much bigger number of foes. She was also leading her 10-man squad and attacking their flank, only one more push and she should have been able to defeat them.

"But those guys!"

The timing of those cavalry was like they aimed to finish them, and on top of that the enemies were charging at them with strength equal to Arkland’s heavily armed steel spear cavalry. They were originally not expecting to fight a full-scale battle, so Arkland soldiers and equipment, which were focused on ease of movement, were mainly equipped with short spears and swords.

The tiger cub long-spear squad was also demolished by a warrior who was like a monster, she remembers his name clearly, as Arkland comrades called the monster as Margrave Bryce Cousland. 

There were no further tactics after that point. Arkland knights had otheir hands full and were just trying to deal with what was happening by thinking on the next move.

Bryce Cousland ultimately broke through their formation and marched straight into our headquarters, that monstrous knight…he killed the commander and the vice-chief right in front of her eyes, and also killed the rest of them. With their headquarters demolished, they couldn’t maintain their little squad. They could not even get out orders to retreat properly, so they could only escape by scattering.

She will never forget the eyes of that knight. He split the commander in half vertically, his armour and spear was covered in blood…he instantly sent her spear flying and, she screamed while running away without shame or respectability, but she wonder why he didn’t chase after her…

Fortunately she still has another spear which kept at somewhere inside the border, and she, as a largely-built woman is quite lightweight. The main force of the enemy is mostly heavy cavalry so they could not catch up with her.

She was riding on her horse with determination, but soon the horse reached its limit and fell over. After rolling around the grassland, she checks behind her subconsciously to see if anyone was chasing her but there was nobody there. She looks around and the surroundings look familiar.

It seems that she has already crossed the borderline.

"I…I’m safe."

Like a little girl she sits down on her inner thighs with her legs slightly spread open. A little urine leaks out but she pays it no mind. It has been leaking since she saw that Bryce Cousland and ran away, so it doesn’t really matter much at this point.

Naturally there are no comrades. She could wait here for one or two to return here, but she chooses not to and decides to return to go deeper into Arkland.

In the unlikely event that enemies cross the border like this, she must immediately let her allies know… No, that’s a lie. She actually wants to immediately go back to a safe place. She cannot remove the image in her head of that monster, Bryce Cousland chasing after her. She hugs her trembling body.

At that moment, certain memories play on her mind.

"Oh matchless heroine."

"The pride of the Wolls  family."

"Female general of the future."

How many times has her  late father told her that he wished Irijina was born a boy. She leaks urine while crying and she wonders, if people sees her shaking in fear right now how many of them would be in shock. Irijina Wolls shrinks her tall figure and walk alone.

***

Northern Arkland, Near a village

"Irijina, your behaviour is regarded as problematic!"

"…" She just looks to the ground.

Northern Army vice-squad leader Count Varus Litobaroll is quiet, but he continues to lay the blame on Irijina without any sugarcoating.

"Your company only had a measly 10 people who ran away and came back, anyhow you ran away without giving the order to retreat."

She did not give the order to retreat. The headquarters was destroyed; the only leader that survived was her so of course she would run away.

"In your report, everyone in the headquarters under Butress’s command died in battle, but if that’s the case then according to rank you would be the commander in his place, so shouldn’t you have taken command of the entire squad?"

"Don’t say something so unreasonable!" Irijina screams in her heart.

In that situation even a cat taking command would produce the same result. And also, if she didn’t run from that place, she would also become that Bryce Cousland’s prey. Just thinking about it gives her the shivers.

"I am ashamed…" She just accepts the blame.

"I had hopes for you because of your fighting abilities. That is why I placed the title of company leader on a woman, but in the end are you saying you were the same as the women who only dance and talk at parties?"

"In this regard! I will definitely make up this humiliation in the future!" Irijina replies with red face.

"Whether that opportunity will be given to you or not, I will be judging you. For now, you must tour the villages along the border.... alone...with your horse."

She keeps quiet and look down. It is determined that a knight will be executed if he runs away in the middle of a battle. Conscripted peasants are excluded from thus rule. 

If she accepts that she ran away after the squad’s destruction, then it isn’t such a heavy sentence, and she can understand the meaning of something like putting a woman in prison. Suddenly running away in the enemy’s presence and becoming a traitor, the jailor and the prisoners will not show her any mercy. She will need the determination to have all the holes in her body broken.

Anyway, her superior has given her one final chance, although she may have to face the monster, Bryce Cousland again.

Furthermore, after becoming someone this disgraceful, she must apologize to her deceased father. Irijina sits cross-legged in the center of the room in which she was ordered to be disciplined in. She prays that this will be a chance to vindicate her honour, and on that occasion let it be one where she will not meet Bryce Cousland.