Leo Cornelia is the kingdom's strongest female knight, its Undefeatable Holy Blade. She has trained with the sword from the day she was born. It is no surprise, therefore, that when she encounters the young magician Houli Dent, she's expecting him to challenge her to a duel. What she never expected, what never for even a moment crossed her mind, was that Houli would declare his love for her.
So begins How to Treat a Lady Knight Right (Ima made Ichido mo Onna Atsukaisareta Koto ga nai Jokishi wo Onna Atsukai Suru or "A Story About Treating a Female Knight, Who Has Never Been Treated as a Woman, as a Woman") by Kengo Matsumoto. A fantasy Slice of Life manga in which Leo and Houli develop and understand their feelings with one another, and deal with those who would either see them broken up or pushed together even harder.
The manga was serialized in Suiyoubi no Sirius from 2018 to 2021, and compiled into seven volumes. It has been officially licensed in English by Sol Press.
Has nothing to do with She's My Knight.
This series contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Leo and Helga both are famous fighters whose day job is questing to slay monsters by the sword. Both do more physical fighting than the magically oriented Houli. Fleur is an Imperal Knight, and one of its top ranked members at that. Meanwhile, Irmgard is a demoness who considers Leo an equal rival.
- Amazonian Beauty: There's a good deal of muscular women throughout this manga, all of them portrayed as beautiful and often sexy, especially when not wearing armor. As the main female, Leo gets the most chances to show off her muscular yet shapely body.
- Ambiguously Bi: Doesn't come up very much especially since it was still Houli, but the last text box in chapter 65 basically implies fem-Houli coming onto Leo gave her an orgasm. Houli also seemed pretty into the idea of kissing male-Leo while he was a woman, though he cools after changing back.
- Attractive Bent-Gender:
- Happens to Houli in chapter 64 after a potion mishap. Leo is very uncomfortable about it throughout the experience.
- Happens again in chapter 80, this time to both Houli and Leo. BOTH of them were even more uncomfortable than Leo was last time, Leo especially after Houli's top ripped open, to the point of punching herself in face to stop some "strange thoughts and feelings" she was getting.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Well, from Leo, with her rebuffing the playboy in chapter 57 and placing the edge over her sword over his shoulder when he insults Houli. Houli already basically worships the ground she walks on and always has since he first met her anyway.
- Bait-and-Switch: The end of Melvie's introductory arc looks like it's building up to the standard "villainess falls for hero after he spares her life and convinces her to see the error of her ways" routine... only for Fleur to sneak up behind her in the middle of the speech and knock her out to drag her off to prison, as she was guilty of a large list of crimes and could potentially commit more.
- Battle Couple: Leo and Houli...sorta. Leo's not great at all the whole "romantic relationship" thing despite Houli declaring his love for her immediately. The series ends with them having finally evolved into a proper one, still going on missions for the kingdom as a married couple.
- Bifauxnen: It's revealed during a bath-bonding session in Chapter 112 that Calvin, the priest-looking guy from the other kingdom, is actually a girl, and a surprisingly buxom one at that.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The succubus that locked Houli in a dream pretty much literally has this aesthetic, using a sheep-like motif to her appearance and horns. That being said, she's not so much of a bitch that she's not utterly tickled by Houli's devotion and admiration of Leo.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Irmgard is introduced proclaiming herself the next demon lord, and expecting Leo to remember their thrilling battle the year before. Leo has put down so many baddies and threats to her kingdom that she honestly has no idea who Irmgard is.Leo: I'm sorry, but it's not ringing any bells, maybe a little more...
Irmgard: Don't you dare ask for any hints, okay!!! - Chekhov's Gag: Houli's ability to rate and identify people by feeling their abs. It first seems like a Running Gag and how he loves the abs on women, but it becomes key in recognizing the demon lord summoned to destroy them is an evil version of Leo from a timeline where she turns evil and kills everyone.
- Crush Filter: After Leo is possessed, Shaman notices Houli is strangely looking progressively more masculinely-handsome as she's looking at him. Houli is also portrayed as such in chapter 94 (until some women talking to him and asking him to rate their abs apparently breaks this). 92 and 93 similarly portray Houli in Leo's eyes as constantly beaming with radiant light.
- Cute Monster Girl:
- Both of the succubi that appear in the series aren't half-bad in regards to their cuteness
- Subverted by Belphegor, a female demon that is entirely ugly with a large head, portly belly, multiple rows of teeth going down her throat and way too many eyes all over her.
- Defiled Forever: Helga says she can never be a bride now in chapter 46...because a gust of wind blew up her dress to reveal the lingerie Sariela gave her in front of Houli. She is very shy.
- Demon of Human Origin: The guy chasing after Irmgard's doing this to himself after she tries to express a relationship with an inferior being like a human would never happen. Yes, she still just flies away with embarrassment again, though he manages to get a mumbled, incomplete "I love you too" after that reveal, at least.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Melvie approaches Houli and demands to know where Leo is or she will kill him. Throughout her entire speech Houli is just focused on her abs.
- Dying Curse: Monsters have the chance of cursing whoever kills them. Leo has killed so many the curses started to build up and affect her body. Sariela was able to relieve these curses with her special massage.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Alfred Schultz does one better - a single wink from him can leave a dog swooning.
- Everyone Can See It: Pretty much everyone assumes Leo and Houli are a couple. Unfortunately for everyone, only Houli would openly like to think of it like that.
- Familiar: Houli has one in the form of a cat. It can telepathically speak but is otherwise just a cat. Irmgard has one in the form of a hairclip in the shape of a chibi bat on her braid, but unfortunately for her it can speak out loud and utterly embarrass her over the man who confessed his love for her.
- Fangirl: Diana apparently knows a lot about famed, mighty individuals, because she's unable to hide her excitement and gushing whenever she's around one.
- Foil: Diana and Calvin, who are also a female warrior and male mage duo like Leo and Houli. It also turns out they have a dark-haired quiet lady with them, who's named Dolce instead of Helga and is a mage instead of a warrior...though it turns out Calvin's actually a woman.
- For Want Of A Nail: When Leo sees the evil and dangerous alternate version of herself who has been summoned as the demon lord she briefly considers she could have been like that if not for Houli approaching her and declaring his feelings for her.
- Fountain of Youth: Houli's meeting with his master Harriet results in him being reverted to a young child through her magic because she only likes boys 12 and under.
- The Gadfly: Sariela loves teasing people. With Houli and Leo's barely-restrained romantic relationship around, she has an easy job doing it.
- Gender-Blender Name: Calvin's actually a woman. Like, a lot of woman, it's quite shocking.
- The Good King: Downplayed with the king here since he's not really shown in enough aspects to really be declared a competent and moral ruler, but nonetheless he's personable to Leo while pointing out it's been a long time since they last met, he's humorously interested in Leo finding someone to fall in love with and marry like a prying parent, and while he's utterly shocked at Leo's impudence after he assesses Houli as weak, he's apparently perfectly fine with seeing a far less orderly side of her that he's never seen before.
- Grand Theft Me: Leo is possessed by Shaman in chapter 89. Parodied a bit as, before she manages to take full control of Leo, Shaman's having trouble with how for some reason her heart-rate going crazy and Houli is appearing progressively more handsome while she's looking at him.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Irmgard worries about this if she was to have a child with a human.
- Hiccup Hijinks: Chapter 12 has Leo develop a case of the hiccups. Houli finds it adorable, so much so that he has a hard time taking an onslaught of goblins as seriously as he should. The fact that Leo is cutting them all down while hiccuping all the while doesn't help. Leo tries to just act like nothing is happening, but when she releases a huge hiccup right in front of Houli's face, she gets flustered, embarrassed, and starts hitting Houli. The narration notes at this point her hiccups stopped.
- Hidden Buxom: The reveal that Calvin's actually a woman in chapter 112 is quite a surprise considering with her usual mage get-up makes her torso look entirely masculine. It certainly ain't in the bath.
- Hot Witch: Houli's master Harriet is a Shameless Fanservice Girl.
- Hypocritical Humour:
- When Leo's duel against the demoness Irmgard is interrupted by an adventurer showing up to confess his love to her, causing her to fly away in embarrassment, Houli criticizes the adventurer for just confessing out of the blue like that without any consideration for the situation. Leo immediately thinks back to the events of the first chapter where Houli made such a confession to her and is astounded at Houli's obliviousness to his own hypocrisy.
- Anri is humorously outraged and demands an apology for having to see Houli and Leo have a stupid spat over what to have for dinner, which is promptly fixed by them seeing the necklace Houli gave her for her birthday. They ask her why is she getting mad over something so small in response to her demands.
- I Have This Friend: Irmgard asks Houli if he thinks he's possible for true love to occur between a human and a demon...because of this friend of her's wondering, of course. Houli is stupid enough to suggest that this question was asked because of that guy who confessed to her which leads to insist it's a friend and nothing else while tossing a fireball at the ground. Sadly for her, her hairclip familiar blurts out his confusion over the whole thing because she doesn't have any friends.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Leo's possessed by Shaman in chapter 89 prior to her tournament fight with Houli, and Houli naturally immediately realizes something off - though his "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight is aided by the fact the tournament is supposed to be non-lethal already anyway, so even the possessed Leo isn't trying to kill him. Leo gets Shaman to release the possession by posing the threat of a Wave-Motion Gun fired from his wand after he touched Leo's abs. Leo wakes up from it and nonetheless has the skill to cut the beam before it hits her, and Shaman is left sprawled out in the rest area.
- I'm Standing Right Here: In chapter 103, the king has just told Leo that a warrior and mage from another kingdom want to have a match with her and Houli, who is currently under a Fountain of Youth spell that has yet to wear off. Throughout the encounter the two groups provoke one another and Houli's spell wears off just in time for both Leo and the rival swordswoman, Diana, to see him buck naked. Once everything's over, the king asks if they've all forgotten this has all been happening in front of the king.
- Interspecies Romance: Irmgard and the man (now transforming himself into a demon) who professed his love for her just barely aren't this. She's not good at feeling lovey-dovey, but pretty obviously wants to reciprocate.
- Lower-Deck Episode: Chapter 112 is dedicated to the fighters from another kingdom and Melvie enjoying a Furo Scene in order to cool their heads following the intense fight from the preceding arc. It's also the first chapter/arc where both Leo and Houli are completely absent, with them only getting mentioned by the present characters.
- Mirror Self: The demon lord brought forth to destroy humanity is an alternate form of Leo, who unlike the the heroine, likely never met Houli, became alone and detached and eventually kills much of her kingdom in a rampage. Houli first recognizes the enemy is another Leo because she has the same abs as his Leo.
- Mistaken for Romance: Pretty much everyone thinks that Helga is a member of Houli's Unwanted Harem, but they're genuinely nothing more than friends. This realization drives a succubus who'd been trying to hook the two up to tears.
- Ms. Fanservice: All of the females in the manga are sexy and cute in their own way. Especially Houli as a female. The only ones that aren't are Leo's familiar because it's a cat, and the demon Belphegor who can't even be described as looking remotely feminine.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Lisa the succubus is very sorry she tried to magically compel Helga into coming onto Houli when the two of them are utterly and purely chaste friends.
- Not What It Looks Like: Sariela's first meeting with Leo has her use an incense to sap her strength and leave her immobile while alone in her house and Leo's yelling about how if she's killing her. Sariela is actually just giving her a massage which also dispels the numerous curses made by the dying breaths of the many demons Leo's killed.
- Older Than They Look: Sariela is much older than her appearance due to Dark Elves having longer life spans. However she still does not like to be called old.
- Our Elves Are Different: Sariela is a dark elf. Apparently in-universe, no one really trusts the likes of dark elves and assumes them to be an inherent danger to humans so she kept this aspect of her identity a secret to Leo when she first met her and keeps a hood up over her head in public to hide her ears, though Sariela is entirely benevolent if endlessly teasing.
- Out-of-Character Alert: A succubus tried to tempt Houli in a dream which has Leo act very straightforwardly romantic to him, which Houli doesn't bite because, hey, he likes Leo just as she always is.
- Running Gag: Irmgard will soon go red with embarrassment and fly away whenever the man who's professed his love for her and is chasing after her enters the picture. Even Leo's eventually just sheathing her sword and reasoning this is all that's going to happen anyway when the two are in eyeshot.
- Serious Business:
- In chapter 5, Leo encounters Houli behaving much more serious than normal. So much so she imagines he's about to pull a weapon on her. In fact, he was simply psyching himself up to give Leo a birthday present.
- Chapter 24 sees Anri and Leo get into a water fight so intense it threatens to destroy the surrounding area.
- Chapter 47 has Leo zip up her midriff because she heard it'd be cold. Houli's magical power (based on emotions) decrease at his inability to see her abs. She latter unzips, which causes him to practically go Super Saiyan (complete with spiky hair).
- Shipper on Deck:
- A succubus tries to tempt Houli with a dream of Leo acting very romantic toward him. When this doesn't work, the succubus instead becomes a fangirl for the two of them and asks why doesn't Leo reciprocate his feelings.
- A second succubus shows up when Helga tries to summon a familiar with Houli's help. Thinking Houli is Helga's boyfriend and believing they are in an Unresolved Sexual Tension situation, the succubus puts an aphrodisiac spell on Helga in an attempt to get them to consummate their "relationship". She gets increasingly pissed off with how innocent and pure Helga acts towards Houli, before breaking down in tears when she realizes her efforts could've ruined the friendship they already had.
- The King is eager to see Leo find a man to marry; so much so that he makes the opportunity to propose to Leo one of the prizes in the Grand Tournament. He also teases her when he notices her going red in the face upon thinking of Houli.
- Shout-Out:
- Chapter 47 starts with Houli in Yamcha's death pose and ends with him going Super Saiyan.
- Spotting the Thread: Parodied. Even after Houli has already declared that the succubus' image can't be the real Leo, the image tries to further to coax him by exposing her abs and offering to let him touch them, which he criticizes as being a bit incorrect to the true thing and then saying she was walking with the wrong dominant foot the entire time too.
- Shaman's possession of Leo turns her sclera black and puts a vine motif on the right cheek of her face. Needless to say, Houli realizes something is wrong immediately.
- Sickeningly Sweet:
- Houli's inner thoughts around Leo are basically constant unconditional "LEO IS LOVE, LEO IS LIFE". Leo finds this out from being lent mind-reading earplugs from Sariela, and can't stand to hear it over and over, wondering how he can even function with his thoughts pre-occupied like that.
- Chapter 82 and 83 sees Houli and Helga summon a succubus named Lisa so she can have a friend while traveling. Lisa tries to hypnotize Helga and make her lustful and come onto Houli after they say they're just friends which causes Helga to, with trepidation... ask him to hold her hand and pat her head. Houli is similarly immune to any sort of sexual desire relating to the situation. This makes the succubus cry over how she attempted to magically compel them to have sex for her own amusement which surely would have ruined their chaste and friendly relationship.
- Stealth Pun: The succubus has a sheep-like motif about her with very-curved horns, wool on her clothing and a small bell on her collar. This is because she causes dreams, like counting sheep.
- Stepford Smiler: Fleur after outwardly seeming endlessly vocal about her own excellence, claims to know everyone finds her very annoying and has thoughts about ending it all...but that might just her trying to guilt Houli.
- Sword and Sorcerer:
- Leo and Houli respectively. Leo is a near-peerless warrior, trained from a young age to be a master of the sword. Houli is proficient in both offensive and defensive magic, either providing Leo magical backup or healing her injuries after the fact.
- Houli also has this relationship to other women in the cast. Helga is right up on Leo's level of warrior while Houli's sister Anri is no slouch as a Bare-Fisted Monk. Both provide the muscle when questing with Houli without Leo.
- Tap on the Head: Parodied in chapter 67 - Helga was showering in a waterfall but Houli comes under attack by multiple trolls, so while she's terribly embarrassed with having to defend him just shy of Full-Frontal Assault (she was still wearing underwear), she tries to knock him out for the duration of the fight. It doesn't work well, causing her to have to try to knock him out multiple times and leaving him to remark that it was like someone was kicking him while he was down after she actually succeeds in conking him out for a longer time.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Melvie only wears an open coat that barely covers her breasts. Because of this her abs are completely exposed. Harriet's abs aren't as defined, but she's hardly any better dressed with just a single button done on her coat over her torso that only really covers her arms, sides and nipples.
- Wedding Finale: The story ends with Leo and Houli getting married.
- Will They or Won't They?: One-sided. Houli literally declared his love for Leo in the first chapter. Leo just needs to openly reciprocate it. After 111 chapters of her denying it, Leo does. He was unconscious as she said the words though...
- Wham Episode:
- The mini-arc titled "The Female Knight and a Friendly Match" initially seems like it's going to be just another mini-story where Houli and Leo fight together with Leo refusing Houli's love. However, things take a massive swerve since Leo's Clingy Jealous Girl Tsundere attitude comes to its boiling point thanks to recent events, causing her to violently lash out at Houli, which results in her being so off her game she gets knocked out easily before being dragged into a shadow dimension. While in there, she breaks down crying at the fact she was acting so cruel to Houli despite how kind and caring he was to her. During her remorse, Melvie comes to save her and decides to drill it in her head all the problems she's causing by refusing to accept that Houli is genuinely in love with her. This causes Leo to finally experience a genuine Love Epiphany, which not only returns her to top fighting shape due to lifting the weight off her heart, it also pushes her to finally make a whole-hearted Love Confession to Houli.
- Not long thereafter in "The Female Knight and a Gathering", Fleur confronts Houli in her usual attempts to seduce him - and then reveals she knows how his recovery magic is transferring his own life force into others once she realizes he couldn't heal himself and looked into why that was, something he's intentionally hiding so no one worries about him. The problem is that since they're setting off to fight the Demon King, which is an actually serious threat this time, this could very well kill Houli from overuse.
- World of Action Girls: The strongest characters in the series have all been women. Not counting Leo herself, there's Houli's sister Anri, "Berserk Blade" Helga, Imperial knight Fleur, and would-be demon queen Irmgard is one of the few demons to go toe to toe with Leo and live to tell the tale. Houli often goes on quests with Anri and Helga, which only aggrevates Leo's Clingy Jealous Girl tendencies. The neighboring kingdom's strongest fights also turn out to all be women (including Calvin, despite usual appearances).
- Yandere:
- Fleur pretty much becomes one to Houli, breaking into his house at the break of dawn and trying to have sex with him despite his polite refusals and suggesting they just be friends. It takes Anri punching her which leaves her spinning across the room to get her to drop it.
- Leo also tends to enter this state whenever she sees another girl make a move on Houli.
- Turns out Houli's master Harriet is one, willing to try and kill any girl she thinks is trying to lead Houli astray, with her refusing to accept a woman she doesn't think matches him.
- Leo gets her own in Princess Diana Aldrich, a Psycho Lesbian loony fan that is obsessed with her, both romantically and power-wise, with her absolutely despising Houli because he has Leo's personal attention. Even after she loses thanks to Leo accepting her love for Houli, she still states she'll try to kill him when they fight again if he makes Leo unhappy.
