Ikta succeeds in a daring plan to cross the Kioka border and return the princess home. But this means he gets a reward, and his reward is the title of Imperial Knight. Now he finds himself dragged into a war he hates, serving a government that doesn't want to win, and despising the princess he rescued.

War breaks out in the far north, as the Empire's oppression of the mountain people results in a terrifying backlash. With the one competent leader in the Northern Garrison assassinated, the ignorant garrison commander flings the troops headlong into a highly defended, mountainous position, with disastrous results. Ikta and his friends are kept as part of the reserves for now, but it won't be long until they're thrust into the war as well.

The Imperial army is continuing its retreat from the numerically superior Aldera forces at the base of the Alafatra mountain range. They've set fire to the forest to buy themselves more time, but after a few days the fire is beginning to burn out. To buy the time they need to finish the retreat, Ikta is forced to maintain a proactive mobile defense and keep the flames burning. But the enemy general is breaking all the rules, and Ikta can't figure out his game. By the time Ikta realizes what's happened, it's too late, and the enemy is battering down his walls with a new weapon and sending their cavalry straight through the flames!