Night fell after Lion and the girls left.

"Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, five carriages are waiting for us outside the capital. We must leave as soon as possible."

Marquis Atley and Baron Lambton were whispering in the garden of the mansion.

They were planning to escape.

After the marquis's call was closed, he became frightened.

He knew that the head of the assassin's guild would send someone to kill him.

There was no time to think of anything else but running.

Therefore, he immediately ordered that several gold coins, precious stones, jewelry, paintings and other big money items be taken out of the mansion using the excuse of cleaning.

He waited for night to fall to bribe the guards and get out of here as soon as possible.

His safety was important.

(At all costs I must live, no matter what I have to do.)

(It doesn't matter that I had to end the lives of my older brothers.)

(I must escape and live.)

Marquis Atley was an unscrupulous man without a doubt.

But that was also his disadvantage.

After leaving the mansion, the carriage took a route that he did not indicate to the driver.

"Hey, why are we going the other way?"

"Must be a shortcut."

The carriage suddenly stopped.

"See? It was a shortcut."

"But we got here too fast to be a shortcut."

Baron Lambton opened the door and screamed in panic.

"What's the matter?"

"...!"

The marquis himself was stunned to see what awaited him outside the carriage.

A dozen knights belonging to the marquis' family.

But he did not send for him because these knights were loyal to his mistress.

His wife.

"Good evening, Malcolm."

"...Shirley."

Marquis Atley was frightened.

(What is this witch doing here?)

"You must be wondering what I'm doing here, in this place, at this hour."

"That's what I thought. But if you're seeing you with a lover I wouldn't mind that."

"I would love to have a lover and go to sleep with him. But I'm here on another matter."

The marquise's words put an end to it all.

"It's over, I know everything. Don't pretend insanity about you trying to escape."

"What are you talking about woman? I─"

"I said don't play dumb."

She sighed and said.

"I heard you in the afternoon. You were talking to someone belonging to an assassin's guild."

"...!"

"Just now. Lion-kun is at that place finishing off those people."

"He'll come back in the morning possibly and bring the evidence."

"We will bring you to trial and after showing the evidence, you will be imprisoned and executed."

"I wish it were so..."

She looked depressed at what she was about to say.

"What is true is that because of my daughter's illness, which you most likely caused, you took it upon yourself to take care of my house."

"For several years you made the Atley family finances better."

"Malcolm, from this moment on as the real head of the family, I take from you all the responsibility you had."

"You can never get anything from my family again. Right now you are just Malcolm, I will not let you take those carriages with my family's belongings and wealth."

"I'll let you run away for now, but I'll give notice when Lion-kun arrives."

"It is my guilty duty because your late brother spoke well of you and I believed what he said."

"Now get out of my sight."

The marquise turned away and the knights took the former Marquis Atley down and stripped him of his money.

He had only the clothes he was wearing left, Baron Lambton followed him and before leaving said.

"Don't think you'll get away with it."

Like all bad losers he always gave a last word.

After not seeing him anymore, Shirley burst into tears.

"I'm so sorry honey, so many years believing that indeed your brother was a good one and that's why I gave him a chance..."

The Marquise's sadness didn't last long due to an alarm.

"Enemy attack!"

"We are under attack!"

Everyone reacted to those words.

◇◇◇

"Huh?"

"What thing?"

The queen was sleeping on her desk.

She was signing documents so late at night.

Mary came in in her pajamas.

"Mother, the lookouts report an army coming to the capital."

"It's an invasion! Again!"

The queen woke up fully upon hearing that.

"Again an invasion!"

◇◇◇

Boyle's door was knocked loudly by one of his subordinates.

Opening the door and waking him from his sleep they told him what was going on.

"Really!"

"That's right commander. The queen says to get dressed quickly to leave at once."

"U-understood."

Boyle was thinking how bad this was as he dressed.

(An invasion?)

(Could it be the work of the marquis?)

Boyle was a man who was born into a good family of knights.

They were loyal to the kingdom, but he was different.

He thought only of what benefited him the most.

But his skills were genuine.

That earned him his position.

Then one day, he met the late Emerson and talked to him about being his personal escort.

At one of their secret meetings he met the still Marquis Atley.

He talked to him about how to make money if he served him and secretly became his faithful vassal.

All that Boyle remembered as he rode to the door with his unit.

(I get it.)

(The marquis must have planned this.)

(Hahahaha the Marquis is a funny man. He planned this to prove my superiority and thus make me gain an advantage over that blissful hero.)

Boyle's perception of reality was totally distorted.

What was happening in front of his eyes he interpreted as something planned to make him look good in front of the queen and the ministers.

If idiocy were a crime, Boyle would be a war criminal.

He reached the door and there stood Zara with her unit.

"Oh, but if it isn't the captain of the knights protecting the queen. I'm surprised to see you here."

"The queen immediately sent me to deal with this. The invading army is Argrand, this is not something to take lightly."

(Argrand, huh?)

(This is better than expected.)

Boyle thought that defeating some weakling from the mercenary country would make him appear great.

(This is good.)

He got off his horse and walked to the huge gate.

"Stand aside, I'll go outside."

"Wait! We must plan our strategy first."

"Watch out!"

"...?"

One of the lookouts shouted and before they knew it, the oak door was smashed into pieces.

"Oh, what a sturdy door, I really had to use a lot of force to break it."

A smiling black-haired man entered, next to him a red-haired man with a sleepy expression said.

"Why didn't you wait for them to come out?"

"It was easier for the two of us to go in."

"Hey you idiot, go in and take the city!"

The army from the outskirts began to shout and start advancing to enter.

"Don't let them in, stop them now!"

The knights under Zara's command went out to fight, while Boyle's knights waited for orders.

Boyle smiled.

"You two make a lot of fuss."

He turned to the two men, Kristoff and Belgata who were wondering who this fellow was.

"You see, something like a war is stupid, lots of dead men are something no one wants."

"That's why I came up with this."

He pointed outside.

"Let's settle it outside in a duel."

"If we win you will be our prisoners and if we lose the capital is yours."

"Boyle, what the hell are you talking about!"

"Cut the crap!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Zara yelled, but Kristoff laughed.

"Hey, did you hear what he said?"

"He said if they win we'll be their prisoners."

"Yeah, but if we win we get to keep the city."

"Sounds like a fair deal to me."

"...!"

The two men agreed and Belgata turned to his army being held at the gate.

"Hey you wretches, there will be a duel to get in."

"Do not waste your strength and retreat!"

Kristoff calmly stepped back without taking his eyes off them.

"We accept the duel. We'll give you 15 minutes to clear an area out there and then..."

"Sounds good to me, it's not like we're going to lose."

"Deal."

Kristoff said before walking away.

As they backed away, Zara grabbed Boyle and slammed him to the ground.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Boyle said to her in a relaxed tone after brushing her off.

"Why are you getting mad, isn't this good for us?"

"Those two must be the captains. There may be more, but if they went in first they must be the strongest."

"Even knowing that! Did you promote the duel?"

Zara's anger made her beautiful face distort in anger.

"Do you not think I can defeat them? Or could it be that you are not strong enough to defeat them?"

Zara understood what Boyle did.

It was stupid.

He wanted to prove to the queen that he was a strong man.

But at the same time she didn't want to fight them without an army.

Relying fully on his abilities was not something Zara liked to do.

She couldn't say anything to Boyle after acknowledging that she was afraid of losing.

"All right. Let's do what you say."

"Naturally I'm right."

Boyle stood up and dusted off his uniform.

(After all. The marquis planned this.)

◇◇◇

The duel was about to begin.

Boyle and Zara were waiting for their opponents.

On one side were armed knights waiting to see the enemy's reaction.

On the other end was Argrand's army ready to attack.

They shouted as they saw their commanders arrive.

One of them had a drink in his hand and the other had a fried chicken.

Arriving at the camp, Boyle dictated the rules.

"It will be only two turns. No matter who wins or who loses, the winner will be the one who defeats both opponents."

"There is no time limit."

"Understood?"

"Sure."

Said both men as the flames of the torches lit up the huge red circle.

The first to enter was Boyle, the next to do so was Kristoff.

Zara gave a few words of encouragement to her partner.

"We're not on the best of terms, but... encouragement."

"I don't need your encouragement, but it's welcome."

Boyle introduced himself as Kristoff emptied his bottle into his mouth.

"I am Boyle, the commander of the royal knights of the Lespinasse Kingdom."

"Let me show you the power of the sword based on my name, Enzio the─"

As he introduced himself, it was the declaration to begin combat.

Boyle forgot something.

They were mercenaries, they do not answer to the rules of knightly etiquette.

The moment he drew his sword, Kristoff interpreted that as a signal and quickly approached him and proceeded to slice his neck.

Boyle was asking himself. "Why is the sky on the ground?" being his last thought as his head and body fell to the ground.

Not two seconds had passed since he entered the ring.

Kristoff asked after turning his attention to the head rolling off his feet.

"Huh?"

"This is it?"

"Really?"

"Tch. I'm disappointed, Belgata switches with me. I got a little drunk for nothing."

He got out of the ring and in came his partner who asked to remove the corpse from the spot.

Zara was shaking as she saw how easily someone she could never defeat was removed like trash.

She began to remember the reason for becoming a knight.

◇◇◇

Zara grew up in the Forgrave family, a prestigious baronet household that accompanied the royal family from the beginning.

Great knights were always produced to protect the queen and her kin.

But among those children that were born, one day a girl was born who said on her sixth birthday.

"I want a suit of armor!"

The parents did not know how to react to their daughter asking for a knight's armor as a birthday present.

Naturally they granted it.

It was her birthday they said.

She would soon grow out of it, they laughed.

But when she turned thirteen, being the legal age to enlist in the knight corps, her parents watched as their only daughter enlisted in the military academy.

Instructors and fellow students were shocked by this.

Never in the history of the country had a woman decided to become a knight.

Her family talked to the management and the queen herself about her daughter being a knight.

No one had faith that a woman could endure the hellish training that knights undergo.

Therefore, they deduced that she would be leaving soon.

Instead, Queen Angelina commented to them as follows.

"If she wants to be a knight, she must not be given favored treatment, she must be shown that a knight whether male or female is a soldier who must protect the country."

All were in favor to verify her qualities.

She was given a room of her own and a specific bath time just for her for two reasons.

Because she was a woman... and because they wanted to see how she reacted to the jealousy of her fellow soldiers who saw such treatment of a woman.

Zara wasn't playing around, she wanted to be a knight because she always loved knights since she was a little girl.

Her books were about knights fighting to protect people.

She loved that concept of a warrior.

So she prepared herself psychologically for the teasing, mistreatment and bullying she would experience when that day came.

She prepared her own body to be able to compete with men.

Even her large breasts were not a hindrance to her.

Graduating from the academy on the honor roll and valedictorian of her class as well as of the decade.

She thought she was achieving her dream.

But when she came to reality, she realized that the academy was just a structure that made sure to give her security and education.

When she got to her first fight against some bandits, she was almost killed and raped by one of them.

The knights, of which there were many, had a hard time against simple bandits.

The reason for these confrontations is for the young knights to prove that they will serve the country and be able to die for the people.

But in Zara's case it was much worse.

A woman on the battlefield was an easy prey.

As soon as the bandits saw her they wanted to abuse her.

If it were not for the fact that in the heat of the battle, her companions indirectly helped her, she would have returned covered in a sheet.

No one was killed, but many were wounded.

It was just the first day of being an official knight.

She was about to touch her superior's office and surrender.

She was almost raped or killed, she didn't want to go through this again.

For that reason, she wanted to resign.

(A woman is no good for the knight's corps.)

It was what she thought just before she knocked.

"What nonsense."

Two small people were passing near her.

They were the princesses who were arguing as usual.

"Don't say it's silly Mary!"

"Of course it's silly, what woman would want to go to the battlefield?"

"If there is a female knight, I would only get in the way of the knights to keep her from dying."

"I'm telling you it's not like that. A woman knight is a demonstration that anyone can protect the country."

"Just because anyone can protect it doesn't mean anyone can do it. There's a reason the knight academy exists, to see who are the ones worthy of protecting the kingdom."

"...!"

Zara upon hearing that discussion remembered something.

(Why did I want to be a knight in the first place?)

(For prestige? For fame? For being the first woman to be one?)

(No. I wanted to be a knight because I wanted to protect people.)

She slapped herself hard on each side of the cheek and then walked out of there. Being watched by those girls who smiled at their mother who was at the other end of the hallway.

Because of that memory, Zara lost the fear she felt when she saw Boyle's head hit the floor.

She sighed several times and after having her eyes closed, she opened them at last.

"I'm ready."

She stepped forward and drew her sword as she introduced herself.

"I am the captain of the royal guard of Her Majesty the queen, Zara Forgrave."

Belgata who was still eating introduced herself.

"Head commander of the Argrand Mercenary State, Belgata Ludenberg, also known as the Black Rabbit."

"The Black Rabbit?"

"That's right, since we're done with introductions... die!"

Belgata quickly pounced on Zara.

She dodged him, but the strength of his muscles was so strong that even hitting the ground, he was able to quickly turn his hips and aim his sword at Zara who had to jump in a split second to keep from losing her legs.

Her heart was racing, but she couldn't stop.

Belgata again raised his greatsword to slash at the girl.

She swung it from side to side as if that huge mass of iron was a tree branch.

Zara could barely use her sword to block the attacks.

Then.

"It's taking you a long time, you know?"

She heard Kristoff's voice behind her.

Quickly Zara dropped to the ground and avoided being cut by his sword.

"Commander Kristoff Goldsmith, known as the Crimson Lion King, a pleasure."

Zara bristled at the sight of him interrupting their duel.

"Why are you barging in here if your fight is already over?"

"Are you serious?"

He laughed at her as did their other subordinates.

He turned to her after both he and his friend moved into attack position.

"Do mercenaries follow that ridiculous code you knights have?"

"Of course not!"

"We follow the code of anything goes as long as you win!"

They both ran at her, Kristoff was the first to attack with quick non-lethal moves to hurt her.

"War is a dirty place, if you're not willing to get your hands dirty let alone eat shit, you'll never survive here!"

Every strike with his sword was to humiliate Zara, he didn't seek to harm her body which he wanted to have fun with.

He only wanted to torment her, to show her how horrible the battlefield is for the weak, especially women.

Belgata was not far behind.

Using the handle of his sword, he struck her belly hard, breaking part of her armor and making her spit blood.

"Puah!"

"Not only that. A soldier is a weapon, a killing machine, you must see your enemy as the worst scum you hate, and eliminate him, there is no mercy or clemency on the battlefield, only winners and losers."

"For that reason a woman is the worst candidate to be a soldier, what was your country thinking when it placed you as a knight?"

Zara rolled on the ground, almost rolling out of the ring.

Because of the long night that was passing so fast, the sun was starting to show itself at the end.

Belgata said to his men.

"Get ready you idiots. We will attack soon, the break is over."

On one side, there were the invaders who were singing victory.

Zara had no support, or so she thought.

"Captain stand up!"

"Why are you just standing there like that?"

"Please stand up!"

Her subordinates, even Boyle's subordinates were supporting her.

Kristoff laughed at them.

"Look at those fools, thinking they can win."

"Well it's not like if they won it would change anything."

"Hahaha! If they won it would be good for me, so I'd get rid of you."

Belgata went to end this.

"Girl, if you swear mercy, I swear I'll be gentle with you."

Zara was staggering to such a degree that her legs had no strength.

Belgata approached her to end this.

It was the end of Zara...

Or so they thought.

Zara smiled and quickly using the advantage that Belgata wasn't using a stance to move her sword, she moved faster than anyone else and raised her arms until she was close to his face.

In both hands she had small pieces of broken armor which she embedded in his eyes.

It was the first time in Belgata's life that he underestimated an enemy so much that he let her enter his personal space.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"My eyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!"

Kristoff saw this immediately and quickly went to his aid.

But it wasn't to help him precisely, it was so he could thrust his sword into him.

"...!"

"I told you didn't I?"

"We don't need more than one commander."

"I am very glad that like Akaza Gyutaro, the supreme commander, you have met your end by trusting."

Akaza Gyutaro was known as the Purple King, but he was killed by a mysterious person which was Loki a long time ago.

Kristoff and Belgata were happy about it, but they only changed their boss.

For that reason, Kristoff used his chance to attack his friend.

When he tried to draw his sword...

"Huh?"

It remained embedded in Belgata's muscles.

The moment she attacked his eyes, Zara knew that the body went into a state of muscle tension.

For that reason, she listened carefully to what they were saying.

She understood that Kristoff saw Belgata as a threat to his control.

That was why she gave him the opportunity to finish him off.

Quickly she stepped behind him to cut him down.

But Kristoff himself would not allow it.

Using his leg and elbow he stopped the sword just in time.

"Hahahaha! Did you think with something like this you would stop me you idiot?"

Zara smiled at her victory.

"Of course not, but my victory needed to show you that the difference between a vile mercenary and a knight is simple."

"We don't attack our comrades."

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Belgata raised his huge sword, Kristoff realized he should run away.

But he couldn't since if he stopped holding Zara's sword, she would stab him, while behind him he has an enraged ex-partner.

Kristoff's face of horror and sadness showed how much he ruined his victory by being selfish and a bad person.

"It's not fair..."

Belgata lowered his sword and slashed Kristoff's back at the same time he let go of Zara who stabbed them both with her sword.

They spent a few seconds watching him spit blood until finally they both collapsed and died.

Zara drew her sword and pointed it at her enemies.

"This is the power of a simple woman knight, do you want the same?"

The invaders quickly threw down their weapons as they watched the two strongest in their army lose their lives to a mere woman.

Zara smiled at her victory.

This was the first step to being a real woman knight.

The happiness didn't last that long thanks to a strange shadow that covered the sky.

Raising her head, she cried out.

"A dragon!"

◇◇◇

Some time ago, near a certain city stood Prince Algard and Prime Minister Kramer in a subway magical experiment base belonging to their kingdom.

There they were watching as a strange necklace was placed on the body of a huge black dragon.

Eclair was placing runes on that necklace.

Every second she did it, the more frightened she became.

She asked her prince.

"Your highness... do you really want to do this?"

"It's too dangerous to do this. We don't know how he will react."

Algard of course got angry.

"Shut your mouth woman, I'm telling you what to do because this is the best chance to get our country strengthened."

"So Your Highness, taking out that dragon was difficult in that dark cave and with that fetid smell."

"Many soldiers died, but fortunately we made it out alive ourselves."

"Hmph, for me you would have perished with them, you are very annoying."

"How do you say!"

"R-Ready."

Eclair said pointing to the obedience runes placed on the necklace as written in the manual.

Algard stood in front of the dragon and behind him was Kramer.

Eclair was so afraid that she was the only one who went to hide.

Algard recited the words of the spell.

"My name is Algard Raphan Bellmoth, as your master I command you. Do my bidding and destroy my enemy, the Lespinasse Kingdom."

The necklace began to glow and exerted a strong electrical discharge which caused the dragon who was in a deep sleep to awaken.

The dragon was a hundred meters tall and very thin.

Its red eyes opened and the first thing it did when it woke up was to let out a mighty roar.

The roar was so loud that Algard laughed like a madman.

"Hahahaha!"

"The time has come for my reign to begin. I will do what no king of Bellmoth has ever done before, rule all that I see!"

"Congratulations your highness, but don't you think it's too small a place for the dragon?"

"Small?"

That's when it dawned on everyone, the dragon when he stood up, was much bigger than when he was asleep.

Its wings spread out on the spot blocking the entrances and destroying the pillars.

The black dragon pressed his back against the ceiling to get out and carry out his command.

"Wait, stop!"

"At this rate you'll bury us!"

"Your highness, ruuuuuuuuun!"

Kramer shouted to run watching as the roof began to collapse.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

"My legacy shouldn't end like this!"

"Idiot prince, I told you not to do that here!"

Unfortunately for everyone especially Algard, the whole place collapsed and they were all buried alive dying from the pressure of the accumulated rocks.

The black dragon saw the sunlight and headed for the coordinates on the necklace.

A threat was stopped and now a flying calamity is heading for the kingdom.