All men are pigs.

Prideful, hypocritical pigs at that.

That was the truth that was seared into my soul ever since I took the path of Chivalry. Whenever a man would hear of my dream, he’d follow a dreadfully familiar script. First, the mask of politeness dropped and was replaced with snide derision. Second, he’d lose a duel he initiated. Third, he’d launch some underhanded reprisal in a pathetic attempt to sate his wounded pride. Rinse and repeat.

That was how I lost my childhood friend, my father, and every man in my family. At some point, I looked up to all of them as Knights who upheld the virtues of Chivalry. There was a time that I was proud to be part of a family that served as protectors of the realm and defenders of justice. I was disappointed to find out the ugliness that lay beneath all that honor and glory. All of them followed that damned script. All of them broke my heart.

I learned the hard way that the virtues of Chivalry only applied to Knights and nobles. And since I was a woman, I was undeserving of their Chivalry. I was disgusted with such blatant hypocrisy! As a result, I had to deal with reprisals like: a 5-men ambush aimed at taking my purity away or theft of my weapons and armor. By the time I was 14 winters old, I slept with my armor on and my sword by the bedside, never able to truly relax my guard. That was the price I had to pay as a woman on the path of Chivalry.

I wished the world wasn’t like this. I wished the virtues of justice, honor, and respect would apply to the Knights and everybody else. I wished for a world where being a woman wasn’t a crime worthy of derision and dismissal. I wished to fight for a better world. For some reason known only to the gods, I was gifted in combat and attuned to force elemental mana. I didn’t care what my family said- I was born to be a Knight. And I was born to fight this battle.

Despite having no support, I trained relentlessly. In lieu of actual instructions, I snuck into the crowd during my father’s training seminars or during sanctioned duels between Knights. I scavenged discarded armor that barely fit me and saved up to buy a mediocre sword through Cornelius. My path to Chivalry was harsh, but I’d worked too hard to surrender to petty men and their fragile pride.

I was lucky that Lady Natalia recruited me and became my liege. Her vision of a world where the strong protects the weak resonated so strongly in my heart. I’ve seen hundreds of Knights over the course of my 23 winters in Carnwennan, and yet Lady Natalia was the most chivalrous of them all. Her unflinching dedication to the cause was worthy of praise… until that dedication brought in a forge-smith named Rummy.

I could deal with men who mocked my decision to walk on the path of Chivalry; I’ve done that all my life. But I’ve never met a man who mocked the path of Chivalry itself. Normally, peasants who were foolish enough to voice these blasphemous thoughts were thoroughly thrashed (or worse). But Rummy actually backed up his mockery with action. On that fateful night, I saw Ser Antonius killed in an ambush with a new weapon that I’d never seen before. He trained for years and wore Expert-level armor that took months to forge; yet he died in mere seconds.

Even a simpleton like me fully understood why Lady Natalia brought him into our cause- without his multiple talents, we would be in dire straits. I loathed him nonetheless. He forged a beautiful Expert-level armor set customized just for me, complete with an Expert-level arming sword that I fell madly in love with at first sight. I loathed him nonetheless. Unlike the other men, he respected my strength and treated me as an equal. I loathed him nonetheless.

I prayed for wisdom, hoping the Gods would tell me why my heart refused to accept him as a colleague within Lady Natalia’s inner circle. Rummy worked harmoniously and tirelessly under Lady Natalia. Yet my Chivalric soul screamed for his blood whenever I saw him. Sadly, no wisdom had come to me yet. I supposed I should keep praying…

***

I was deep into my morning training with my armor set when I heard from Lady Natalia that something terrible had happened. Our convoy was attacked by those Yellow Shirt thugs and 2 of Rummy’s apprentices were in mortal danger. Damn! How careless of him!

“My Lady. Give me the order, and I shall rescue them!” I exclaimed.

“No, Skera. You have a much more important task. Leave the rescue to Rummy.” Lady Natalia replied. Her tone was calm, but I could tell that there was an angry tension that lay underneath that calmness.

“What could be more important than protecting them from those depraved thugs?”

My Lady simply replied. “To make sure this never happens again.” A glint of anger escaped her typically kind eyes.

I understood then what my liege intended. No more needed to be said on that topic. I would carry out her orders to exterminate these vermin without mercy. Rather, I was worried about our people. “Will Rummy truly risk his life for 2 orphans?” I asked.

She wryly smiled at my question. “Well, I doubt he truly needs to risk his life with that weapon of his. But yes, I am confident that he will save them, or at the very least, avenge them.”

I didn’t know what to say to that unwavering confidence she had in him. So I saluted her and left for Percival Street.

Finally! I got to unleash the righteous fury of justice on these thugs. With my new armor set, nobody could stand in my way as I served up some long-overdue justice!

***

I arrived at Percival Street within the hour dressed in full armor with sword in hand. 4 guardsmen stood outside the entrance to their headquarters. With a menacing scowl, I walked up to them slowly yet resolutely. The bystanders, perhaps sensing the impending danger, all scattered. The guardsmen noticed my arrival and drew their weapons as well.

“Oh hey! It’s the bitch who loves playing dress-up!” One of them exclaimed with a leer.

“Lucky us! Let’s have some fun with her!”

“I’ll give you scoundrels one chance to live. Get out of my way or die.” I intoned.

One thug scoffed at my offer of mercy. “Who the fuck do you think you are? When we’re done with you, you’re gonna wish you stayed in the kitchen making sandwiches!”

Without saying another word, I activated the mana circuit attached to the Adept-level earth-elemental mana crystal and activated <> to maximize the hardiness of my armor. Then I switched the mana circuit and activated the Adept-level force elemental mana crystal. <> was activated, and I could feel holy strength filling me to the brim.

I launched myself at my enemies. In an instant, I was next to them, in the middle of a horizontal sword swing. Before even one of them had a chance to scream, I beheaded the first thug. My sword continued on and managed to hit the chest armor of the second thug, launching him 5 meters back.

The 3rd thug swung a polearm at my left side. Slow. Pathetically slow. I didn’t even need to use Rummy’s enhancements to be able to side-step that blow. I aimed my counterattack at the break between his gauntlet and his bracers, slicing off his right hand.

“AHHHHH! YOU FUCKING CU-”

I stabbed my sword through his neck, instantly ending him. I held onto the corpse of the 3rd thug and rammed it against the 4th, knocking him on his back. Before he could recover, I viciously swung down at his neck, cutting it open. The 2nd thug tried to help, but he was too late. Activating <> once more, I launched myself right at him with my sword arm cocked back. In an instant, I landed a very satisfying slash on his shoulder and severed his sword arm.

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Blood splattered all over the ground. The thug screamed and screamed as he knelt on the ground. I finally shut him up for good when I stuck my sword right at his nape.

“Know your place, trash.” I contemptuously mocked as I beheaded him.

After swinging my sword to get rid of the blood, I kicked open the door and entered the den of the enemy. That felt good. Impossibly good. I felt exhilarated being the judge and executioner of these filthy criminals. For so long, Lady Natalia asked me to endure various injustices for her sake. But not that day. For that day, I’d put the fear of Chivalry into these thugs!

“Hey! What’s going on out th- UGH!”

“Fuck! It’s that Bravestorm bitch! Men, to arms! Let’s puni- ACK!”

Men after men were mercilessly slaughtered like pigs. Most of them couldn’t even put up a decent guard before getting cut down like wheat during harvest. The ones that could put up a guard were surprised as I effortlessly broke through it with overwhelming <> and killed them all the same.

After gutting 2 floors worth of thugs and leaving a trail of carnage, I arrived at the 3rd floor. With no hesitation, I kicked open a double door leading to the inner sanctum of the headquarters. In the room, I saw 7 Knights waiting for me.

“Not bad, for a woman.” One of them sneered at me.

Another one rejoined. “But your rampage ends now. We have captured a hostage, and we will kill her if you don’t leave us.”

“Had we decided to put you down, you’d be dead 7 times over. Be thankful we spared your life. Now leave and tell your liege that if she want her hostage back, she will have to conce-”

I started to laugh.

“My Lady doesn’t negotiate with dead men.” I viciously smiled.

“Insolent wench! You’re courting death!” The Knight closest to me shouted as he leveled his polearm and charged at me with <>. I activated <> to side-step his sudden charge. Before he knew it, I skewered his neck with a single decisive stab.

“One.” I dispassionately remarked.

A cacophony of insults flew my way. Nothing new. When a man failed to assert his dominance over me, it must’ve been because I was a cunt, a bitch, or a slut, right?

“Wrong.” I declared to nobody in particular as I activated <>, slowing down the 4 swords and 2 polearms charging at me to a crawl until they harmlessly bounced off my armor. With extra focus, I cast <> with twice as much mana than usual. I could feel the holy strength threatening to burst out of me. I launched a kick at the Knight on my right.

Like me, he also activated <>. But there was a world of difference between a <> powered by an 8-star mana talent versus a mere 6-star. My right foot slowed down a bit, and the holy strength in me decreased; but I still broke through and landed a satisfying kick right into his guts. The Knight was launched backwards, right into another Knight behind him.

Before the other men could recover their guard after their failed charge, I launched a diagonal down slash aimed at the neck of the Knight on my left. Despite the <>, I still managed to gash his shoulder due to my superior <>. I followed up by roundhouse kicking him into the Knight next to him.

The two Knights in the middle instantly put up their guards in response. I charged at them full speed, breaking through their collective <> spell and knocking both of them down. Before they were able to land on the floor, I jumped and landed on top of them, one foot in each chest.

As they desperately gasped for air, I swung my sword in a downward arc. Two more severed throats stained my armor and the floor.

“Three.”

At this point, the 4 surviving Knights got up and took their stances once more. Their arrogance was drained from their previously prideful faces. Expressions of nervousness had replaced the previous expressions of haughtiness. After all, losing a duel against a woman was the worst thing that could happen to an Artorian Knight.

One of them lashed out in frustration. “I will have your head, you uppity cu-”

*Thud*

A freshly decapitated head unceremoniously fell on the floor. While he was bantering on like an amateur, I was able to cast <> and charge before he was able to counter with <>.

“Four.”

The remaining 3 men gritted their teeth in frustration and despair. Seeing the smug expressions of my enemies turn into that of despair would always bring me joy. Today was no exception.

But my good mood was instantly spoiled when Rummy arrived with the hostage in tow. Not only was he here, he was escorting a traumatized girl wearing a cloak. I knew too well what that meant, and righteous fury further compelled me to slaughter the remaining 3 men.

Two of them charged at me while the other one charged at Rummy, perhaps hoping to take him as a hostage. Such worthless cowards… Not to mention foolish- for all of Rummy’s many many faults, weakness was not one of them.

*Pop* *Pop* *Pop*

3 shots hit his chest plate with dull thuds, failing to penetrate. Apparently, Expert-level armor with <> and <> could protect against such a weapon. Regardless, the Knight still got knocked onto his back.

*Pop*

A peasant just immobilized a Knight with that weapon and rendered him helpless. Such a thing was an unthinkable fantasy mere months ago. Now I wasn’t even shocked by it anymore.

With <>, I side-stepped the double charge of sword and polearm. As my enemy realized that they were vulnerable to a counterattack, I swung down vertically. The Knight with the polearm lost his stance when he received my blow at full <>. That was the opening I needed- I immediately swung at his neck, striking true.

“Ack!” He fell down grabbing his sliced neck in a panic. Blood continuously trickled out of him until he expired.

The other one, surprised and distracted by the loud noises of that weapon, failed to parry my follow-up overhead swing. I viciously caved in the right hemisphere of the helmet. I raised my right boot, enchanted it with <>, and violently stomped down at the head of the downed enemy. Blood slowly flowed out of the mangled helmet.

“Six.”

Time to finish this. I walked to the downed Knight struggling to get up and ripped off his helmet. I kneed him on the back of his head in order to knock him prone. He struggled to form words. Not that it mattered- I was not here to talk. With no hesitation nor fanfare, I stabbed my arming sword through his nape.

"Seven."

I flung the blood away, sheathed my sword, and took off my helmet. I asked Rummy, “What’re you doing here?”

“Just to report that we got both apprentices back and burned down the looted warehouse. And to help you do the same to this place.” He replied with such shameless casualness. Once a shameless scoundrel, always a shameless scoundrel…

But he did enter the thugs’ den and rescued the apprentice, just like Lady Natalia predicted. Gods, it was exhausting thinking about his paradoxical existence.

After a sigh of exhaustion, I replied, “Do as you wish.” Besides, I had more important things to worry about. I turned to the frightened apprentice and said, “Come with me, little one. Let’s get you home.”

The poor girl looked at Rummy first, and only after he gave her a reassuring nod did she begin to follow me back home. You naive girl- trusting that man too much would only break your heart. My dear friend Emma would learn that soon enough.

At the end of the long bloody day, the only thing I could truly trust was the sacred bond of Chivalry between a Knight and her liege. Everything else was just smoke and mirrors meant to distract me. While I’d admit that particular distraction was perplexing and fascinating and strong in his own way, my Chivalric heart could never accept him. This conflict within my soul continued to rage on and on, and I was not wise enough to resolve it.

Sigh… I supposed I should pray once more for further guidance from the Pantheon...