The Princess Knight Is a Coward
No one knows the full name of the cowardly Princess Knight Jeanne. Everyone simply calls her Jeanne. When they feel like drawing it out, they call her the Princess Knight Jeanne. Not a single person knows her family name. Even if asked, she refuses to reveal it. Some people grow curious about why her nickname is "Princess Knight," but one look at her elegant, ethereal beauty is enough for them to conclude that she must simply radiate a princess-like grace. They convince themselves of this and let the matter drop.
But it wasn't just her appearance. She had truly been a princess of a certain nation. Jeanne was born as the princess of a tiny city-state whose entire territory consisted of a single castle—a small country that now lay in ruins, wiped from the map. From a young age, Jeanne had been timid and fearful, a fragile child who would see a frog, scream in terror, and lock herself in her room crying for three whole days. She would faint at the sight of blood from a cook slicing her finger, and if soldiers jokingly showed her their battle scars, she would be so traumatized she couldn't even eat.
A princess with a weak heart and endless fears. Yet this was never held against her. A princess was meant to be protected. The king, the guards, the citizens, or even a passing adventurer would keep her safe. No one ever demanded that the princess stand at the vanguard and fight. Jeanne grew up in a garden where nothing dangerous or cruel could ever reach her—a paradise filled with flowers, butterflies, teddy bears, maids, and fairy tales. Whatever disasters plagued the outside world had nothing to do with her.
Fairy tales over philosophy. Beauty over strength. Love over war. Child-rearing over politics. It was fine if she did nothing. It was fine if she knew nothing. In fact, being a little dim and naïve only made her more popular with men. Her destiny, after all, was to someday receive a marriage proposal from a noble or royal of another nation and live as a fine lady. It was perfectly acceptable for her to believe that the world consisted solely of beautiful roses, sweet cakes, and gentle smiles. For a princess, these were not flaws but virtues.
——Her flawless little world was shattered by the older brother who was supposed to inherit the throne.
"Father. I will marry this woman."
"What? Is that not the Empress of Lydorphia? My son, what is the meaning of this?"
The foolish prince had invited the seed of disaster into the kingdom. Their inevitable, reckless elopement ended less than six months later in the form of Lydorphia's invasion and the kingdom's total destruction. The idiotic prince took his own life. Jeanne, who had been hiding in the detached palace, was captured as a prisoner of war. Her world broke apart.
The maids who waited on her vanished. The castle made of sweets crumbled. The garden bursting with flowers became a wasteland. Bound in chains, Jeanne was given two choices: execution or slavery.
"I hate this! I'm scared! Hic... Father... Mother... Where are you? Jeanne is scared! Somebody please help me..."
By that point, her parents had already been beheaded on the guillotine. Many felt pity for the girl sobbing miserably before the Emperor of Lydorphia. Jeanne was only twelve years old at the time, a pitiful child who didn't even understand why her own country had fallen. In the end, a duke who had known her from before adopted her as his ward, sparing her life. In exchange, she was forbidden from ever using her full name. From then on, she was simply called Jeanne.
Jeanne struggled to adapt to the unfamiliar ducal household and remained an outsider. The bigger problem was that the duke's son had begun to develop a romantic interest in her, constantly pestering her. Jeanne's beauty was a flower perfectly designed to attract men. Already lacking any immunity to the opposite sex, her mental state deteriorated to the point where she even contemplated suicide. After much deliberation, the duke decided it would be better to send her somewhere without men. The place he chose was the Knight Academy.
If she could just graduate, she would receive treatment equivalent to a noble and live comfortably. He thought it was a decent career path. At least, the duke himself believed he was making the decision out of consideration for Jeanne. As for Jeanne, anywhere was fine if it meant escaping the duke's son who knocked on her door every night. She even thought that becoming a knight sounded rather wonderful—after all, it was a cool and dignified profession.
But Jeanne could not adapt to the Knight Academy.
"——I-I'm scared!!"
"Miss Jeanne. How can you say you're scared before the spar has even begun? Teachers and healers are watching to ensure no one gets hurt, so please fight with peace of mind!"
"I'm too scared to fight! I'm scared! Father! Mother! Help me! Waaaaah!"
"...Let's excuse Miss Jeanne from sparring practice."
With terrible stamina, virtually no combat knowledge, and above all a spirit so weak that she would simply burst into tears no matter what she was asked to do, Jeanne quickly became famous at the academy. For all the wrong reasons. The fact that she was somehow clinging to her place at the academy despite having a profile that should have gotten her expelled within a week—if not for the duke's recommendation—infuriated the proud aspiring knights. Before long, she became an outcast.
When she opened her shoe locker, thumbtacks waited under her soles. While she was using the bathroom, someone would dump water on her. People would "accidentally" shoulder-check her in the hallway and then laugh as if they had nothing to do with it. If she tried to confront them, no one would take her side; they'd claim she was the one blocking the path. During class, eraser shavings constantly flew at her from behind, and her desk was covered in insulting graffiti. The classrooms, where professors were nearby, were at least tolerable. The dormitory was true hell.
Her refrigerator was packed with alcohol bottles—strictly forbidden items. They all belonged to other people who forced her to store them so they could shift the blame onto her if they were discovered. She had actually been caught by the dorm supervisor several times and received severe punishment. She was often kicked out of her bed and forced to sleep in the bathroom, and there were countless days when she was beaten black and blue.
What tormented her most was the harsh reality that her abysmal grades meant she could not graduate from the Knight Academy. One day, the academy director summoned her directly and spoke plainly.
"This is your final year of eligibility to attend the Knight Academy. The problem is that you, Miss Jeanne, have never once won a single spar. You are aware that the graduation exam consists of a duel, yes? You must win at least once to graduate. At this rate, you will become the first student in the academy's history to fail graduation and be expelled."
She had already received word from the duke that once this year passed, he would provide no further financial support. If she could not find employment, she would end up homeless. From princess to vagrant—the future looked pitch black.
"Father... Mother... Please help Jeanne. I can't do this anymore... Jeanne wants to go back to the detached palace. I want to drink the tea the maids brewed for me, eat cake, sleep in a proper bed, and see those kind people again. I can't endure this any longer...!! How on earth am I supposed to win a duel?!"
She wept alone behind an abandoned building. It was a place with little foot traffic that Jeanne often used instead of the cafeteria—a refuge for a girl with no friends.
"If I get kicked out of the Knight Academy, where can I even go? I heard my homeland was burned to the ground, and I don't want to return to the duke's house... I don't have any skills at all. Hic... hic... But to graduate, I have to win a duel, and there's no one weaker than me! What am I supposed to do?! Somebody please help me!"
—It was exactly then.
A man carrying a ridiculously large pile of luggage on his shoulder appeared and spoke to her.
"Are you a knight too?"
"Eh? W-who are you?"
The Knight Academy was composed entirely of women, from students to instructors. Seeing a man was a first in years. When the tall, handsome man suddenly approached, Jeanne's face flushed with nervousness.
"I'm Werther. I work with the Hero Party. We're looking to recruit a knight to join us."
"What? The H-Hero Party?"
The Hero Party was the very object of every knight's admiration. Sylvia, who was set to graduate at the top of the class this year, dreamed of one day joining them. Since they were roommates, Jeanne had heard plenty about how honorable a group it was.
If I could just join the Hero Party, no one would look down on me anymore... But that's impossible. How could someone as pathetic as me... Just seeing a picture of a demon race makes my whole body freeze up.
Besides, it would be reckless to blindly trust a man who suddenly appeared claiming to be from the Hero Party. Impostors pretending to be the hero were a classic cliché. The fraud prevention education that Beware of anyone who approaches claiming to be the hero or the hero's acquaintance was a mandatory course that every person on the Pangaea continent learned from childhood.
"Here's the thing. I actually went to the academy to get a recommendation for a good knight, but the director treated me like a total con artist and threw me out. Good grief... That's why the hero told me to go with him, but that guy got completely drained by a succubus recently and can't even move right now. So while he's recovering, I thought I'd reinforce our fighting strength and came to the academy, but it's become a real pain. The director labeled me a fraud and put me on the blacklist."
The reason Werther had approached Jeanne, who was sniffling alone after being chased out of the main building, was precisely because the director hadn't trusted him. But the naïve Jeanne had neither the worldly wisdom nor the suspicion to doubt the shabby-looking Werther. She was completely enchanted by the sweet temptation of the Hero Party.
"We need more combat personnel right now. Cynthia... well, she's our mage, and we're relying on her for attacks. We're thinking of recruiting a knight who can take the lead in battle. Are you a knight?"
"Y-yes! I am a knight! I've been attending the Knight Academy for five years. I'll be... graduating in a month."
"Oh, really? That works out perfectly. It should take Leonhart about a month to recover. Would you like to join our party?"
"...Pardon?"
Me, who couldn't even get hired as a guard for a small guild, becoming a knight for the Hero Party? Just the thought made her heart swell with dreams. However, there were far too many practical problems for her to accept so readily.
"Th-thank you for the offer, but I can't. I'm... I'm a total loser. I won't be any help. I can't even fight."
"You can just get stronger little by little."
"No, really... I'm a much bigger loser than you think, Sir Werther. The moment I pick up a sword, I get so scared my body freezes up. Besides, I won't even be able to graduate in a month. The graduation exam is a duel. There's not a single person in the entire academy I can beat... Please find someone else."
"But I've been banned from entering the academy... So you'd be fine. Join the party. You can grow stronger once you're in."
"It's impossible. I've trained for five years and made no progress at all."
"Ah... well." Werther chose his words carefully. "Ahem. I can't go into detail, but from what I can see, you have talent. Just spend a month with us. I'm sure you'll grow tremendously."
"That can't be... Even I know I'm a loser."
"Trust me. You will definitely become an outstanding knight."
"............"
Drawn in by Werther's smile as he gave her a thumbs-up with absolutely no basis for his claim, Jeanne found herself expressing interest in joining before she even realized it.
Before long, the fact that Werther was truly the porter for the Hero Party spread throughout the Knight Academy. The director personally visited the hospital where Leonhart was admitted to apologize. Sylvia, who had dreamed of joining the Hero Party more than anyone, aggressively appealed to be chosen, but when she heard that Jeanne had already been selected as a party member, she flew into a rage.
"That loser is joining the Hero Party? That's ridiculous! There must be some mistake! She won't even be able to graduate from the academy anyway! I'll personally serve as her opponent for the graduation exam! If she can't beat me, Jeanne's graduation will be postponed! She won't become a proper knight and therefore cannot join the Hero Party!!"
Sylvia's duel record placed her at the top of the class this year and among the top two in the academy's entire history—a genius with the sword. Jeanne, who knew Sylvia's skill better than anyone, trembled in terror, but Werther simply told her with a carefree expression to relax.
"S-Sylvia will try to kill me! The graduation exam assumes real combat conditions, so deaths sometimes occur. She's definitely planning to kill me and call it an accident!"
"If you're stronger than Sylvia, you won't die, right?"
"What are you saying...! Sylvia and I are on completely different levels. Sir Werther... I'm scared! I want to give up!"
"Don't do that. Just try fighting her. Maybe something has changed after a month."
"What could possibly change in just a month? I only joined the Hero Party; I haven't even done any special training..."
Werther insisted that everything would be fine. That if she found courage and strengthened her will, she would definitely become stronger. His confident voice convinced Jeanne to give it one more try.
Time flowed mercilessly, and soon the day of Jeanne's graduation exam arrived. Because of the rumor that whoever won this duel would become the knight of the Hero Party, spectators swarmed in like bees. While Sylvia glared with murderous intent, Jeanne wore a frail expression that suggested she might burst into tears at any moment.
"Jeanne. Even if you die, don't resent me."
"Scaredscaredscaredscared... uuu..."
The duel, whose outcome seemed obvious even before it began, commenced.