The Female Knight Who Gave Up On Everything Is Too Cute

“Fnyaaa—!???”

That bizarre shriek echoed through the castle at night.

I had already made sure no one else was around. We were underground too, so it probably wouldn’t reach the ears of everyone sleeping peacefully on the castle’s upper floors.

“…Um, sorry, Captain. I didn’t think you’d be that surprised.”

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You…”

Standing before me was a woman in the prime of her life whose face had turned so red she looked ready to explode. She seemed to be trembling, making her glossy black armor rattle softly.

“You idiot!! Anyone would scream like that if someone suddenly told them ‘I want to do it with you’ when we’re alone together in the dead of night, when even the frogs are asleep!?”

Her name was Karen-san. Despite being a woman, she served as captain of the Fourth Knight Squad of the Royal Capital Guard, the unit to which I belonged—commonly known as the “Black Hawk.” Even in this country’s knightly order, which was often said to be a man’s world, she possessed swordsmanship and leadership equal to anyone else. At twenty-nine, she was the youngest person in a command position.

And under her command, I trained hard every day in hopes of becoming a full-fledged knight, but—

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Haru. I graduated at the top of my class from the knight training academy and was assigned to the “Black Hawk” this year as a rookie knight.

“? Really? I thought you did it with all sorts of people during the day.”

“Right, right. I use my authority as captain to swap my subordinate knights in and out so I can enjoy their finely trained bodies to my heart’s content—like hell I do!? Do you have me confused with some kind of supreme overlord of power and sexual harassment!?”

Karen-san rattled off her retort while splattering the daily report she had to submit today with black ink. Normally, she carried herself with remarkable calm, composure, and dignity, but once she got like this, her excitement went completely off the rails.

Well, I was deliberately provoking her into acting that way.

“Um, Captain. Aren’t you misunderstanding something?”

“? What?”

“I’ve been saying this whole time, ‘Captain, I want to practice swordsmanship with you’—”

“…!!?”

Of course, I had deliberately left out the words “practice swordsmanship.”

Because doing that let me see Karen-san looking this adorable.

“Um, Captain Karen, surely you weren’t imagining anything… indecent—whoa!?”

Just as I tried to tease her a little more, a flash of light shot past my cheek.

Several strands of my hair fluttered down onto the floor.

“That’s enough! You’re nothing but a rookie, yet you’ve made a fool of me again and again! Stand right there! Today, I’m finally going to beat that rotten attitude out of you!”

Uh-oh. It looked like I had gone too far today.

“Ah, Captain, sorry, but I just remembered I need to go home and feed my Pomeranian, so I’ll be heading out. Good work today.”

“Pets are forbidden in the knights’ barracks where you live! Get back hereee!”

I casually cast an enhancement spell that increased my speed and bolted away like a frightened rabbit, escaping Karen-san’s pursuit. I had graduated at the top of my class, after all, so something like this was a piece of cake.

“Hehe… Karen-san really was unbelievably cute again today.”

As I sprinted home at full speed, replaying the highlights of the day in my head, I muttered those words to myself.

Ahh, how should I enjoy Karen-san’s cuteness tomorrow—the cuteness of this “female knight who had given up on everything,” who had devoted herself so thoroughly to her work that she was well on her way to missing her chance to marry?