The first story arc of Lord Marksman and Vanadis, which covers Volume 1 of the light novel series, Episodes 1-3 of the anime series and Volumes 1-5 of the manga series.
In the Kingdom of Brune, King Faron suffers an illness and Dukes Felix Aaron Thenardier and Maximilian Bennusa Ganelon get into a power struggle. In response to this matter, the neighboring Kingdom of Zhcted sends the Vanadis Eleonora Viltaria to invade Brune. After wiping out the entire Brunish army, Elen captures the Alsace count Tigrevurmud Vorn and holds him for ransom in Leitmeritz. But instead of paying for the ransom, Thenardier sends his son Zion to invade Alsace. Hearing of this invasion, Tigre is forced to have Elen loan her troops to him to battle Zion. They are able to rescue Alsace and Titta, Tigre’s loyal maid, and kill Zion, but the Brune Civil War has begun.
This volume provides examples of:
- Action Prologue: The volume starts with Zhcted's battle at the Dinant Plains.
- Adapted Out: Aram is a prominent character in the first volume, but he doesn't appear in the anime due to it being a Compressed Adaptation.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Zion was admittedly an asshole, but you have to feel sorry for him since he loves his father.
- All of the Other Reindeer: With Ryurik and Zion as the ringleaders. Just before Elen’s attack at Dinant, Zion mercilessly mocks Tigre for his archery skills even when he attempts to stop Zion from breaking his bow, but fortunately, Mashas intervenes. In Leitmeritz, Ryurik, along with Lim and the other citizens makes no secret in their dislike of Tigre at first due to a possible rumor about a war maiden falling in love with an archer at first sight could lead to a potential scandal, him missing the targets at the practice range due to a poorly made bow and Tigre shooting Lim's horse in the Battle at Dinant, but fortunately, their viewpoints change when Tigre shoots down the bandit attempting to kill Elen during his training and when Tigre asks Elen to lend him her men.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Zion's men plunder Alsace on his father’s orders, but it fails in spectacular fashion.
- An Arm and a Leg: Zion gets his hand shot by Tigre when he is attempting to rape Titta in the second act and runs away as fast as he can. And, of course, in the finale, Zion’s arm is pierced by Tigre during his duel and escapes again, but Tigre and Elen kill him before he can get the chance to escape.
- Arrow Catch: After rescuing Titta, Tigre grabs an arrow aiming for him and fires it right back at him. It still injures his hand.
- Attempted Rape: Titta almost becomes a victim of this courtesy of Zion.
- Badass Army: The Zhcted army.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: The bandit that Tigre shoots down while in Leitmeritz does this offscreen by biting his tongue off.
- Big Bad: Zion, the son of the ruthless Duke Thenardier, is the main antagonist of this volume. He’s also the Starter Villain for the series as a whole.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: The Battle of Dinant in the beginning and the Battle of Molsheim at the end.
- Bittersweet Ending: Tigre and Elen save Alsace and Zion is killed, but Brune has a full-scale civil war in its hands, Prince Regnas is assumed dead and King Faron is sick.
- Boom, Headshot!: Tigre shoots down a couple of enemy soldiers with his arrow in this manner.
- Boy Meets Girl: Tigre and Elen first meet in the opening of the volume after the Action Prologue.
- Call-Forward:
- Zion’s invasion of Alsace is eerily similar to what Muozinel would do to Brune in volumes 4 and 13.
- Titta almost gets molested by Zion, referencing Greast’s successful molestation of Elen in volume 13.
- Towards the end of the volume, Zion refers to Tigre as a traitor, which is exactly what happens to Tigre in volumes 3 and 12.
- Catch and Return: After rescuing Titta, Tigre catches an arrow from one of Zion's men and shoots it right back at him.
- The Cavalry: Tigre and Elen arrive at Alsace and rescue Titta from being raped by Zion, and Zion and his allies escape.
- Character Death: Zion is killed by Tigre towards the end of the volume.
- Clothing Damage: Zion ruins Titta's maid dress by cutting through most of it, exposing her bra, panties and legs.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In the opening, Elen's army wipes out the Brunish troops at the Dinant Plains.
- Dare to Be Badass: Titta flat out tells Zion that Tigre will return home soon when he invades Tigre's mansion.
- David Versus Goliath: Zhcted's 5,000 troops fight against Brune's 25,000 soldiers at the Dinant Plains. The result: Zhcted wins the fight. However, Elen is disappointed that most of her battle plans went unused when Brune's army got routed.
- Death by Pragmatism: Zion tries to flee a losing battle on dragonback. Tigre shoots him down with a little help from Elen's draconic tool.
- Defiant to the End: Titta does this to Zion during the Alsace invasion shortly after he invades Tigre's mansion. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
- Didn't Think This Through: Mocking an archer and a swordswoman will never end well, as Zion found out the hard way when Elen and Tigre combine their powers to shoot him down when he flees on a dragon.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Zion dies towards the end of the first volume.
- The Dog Bites Back: Tigre is ridiculed frequently by Zion and the other Brunish townsfolk. Once he hears about Alsace's invasion, however, Tigre fights off Zion's army, combines his bow skills with Arifal and obliterates the poor sap while he is escaping.
- Elite Army: The 5,000-strong Zhcted army wipes out Brune’s 25,000 troops at the Battle of Dinant at the beginning of the volume.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: A father-son variant. Zion loves his father despite being a jerk to Tigre.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Zion knows that the temples in Alsace will turn against his army if they are to attack them.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Zion's death involves him being disintegrated by Tigre and Elen’s combined attack.
- Final Solution: Thenardier orders the invasion of Alsace to eliminate the weakest link due to him viewing Tigre as a disgrace. The invasion would also involve Zion capturing any survivors to be sold as slaves to Muozinel. However, all of the women and children are able to find shelter in the local temples and the men are sent to the woods.
- Fingore: Tigre's palm gets a bloody mark after he catches an arrow.
- Gambit Roulette: Ganelon and Thenardier’s plans to start Brune's civil war requires that the Brunish Prince Regnas would fall in battle so that the renowned war maiden Eleonora Viltaria would capture Count Tigrevurmud Vorn to hold him for ransom so that Zion can launch an assault on Alsace and sell the citizens as slaves en masse to Muozinel in order to gain total control of Brune and overthrow the poisoned King Faron.
- Get Out!: Titta gives Zion an ultimatum to get out of Tigre's mansion when he begins to ransack it. Unfortunately for her, it doesn't work.
- Heroism Equals Job Qualification: Tigre goes straight from being an archer and Count of Alsace to being a Zhcted military commander after asking Elen to use her troops to stop Zion’s invasion of Alsace.
- Impaled Palm: When Zion is about to rape Titta, Tigre shoots an arrow through his hand.
- Important Haircut: Ryurik shaves off his hair on his head to show his loyalty towards Tigre after he shows him his skill and sparring his life from Elen.
- In Medias Res: The series begins with Elen taking Tigre as her prisoner after the Battle of Dinant.
- Kick the Dog: Zion mocking Tigre at the beginning of the volume, and attempting to invade Alsace and rape Titta.
- Love at First Sight: Invoked when Elen talks about why she took him as prisoner at the Dinant Plains while in Leitmeritz.
- Male Gaze: In the first episode, the camera often focuses on Elen’s chest, hips and legs.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: One spanning this volume and the next four volumes. Faron’s poisoning by Ganelon → The battle at the Dinant Plains → Zion's invasion of Alsace → Civil war in Brune → Plot by Thenardier and Ganelon to overthrow Faron and gain power.
- Morton's Fork: After Elen stops Tigre from leaving Leitmeritz, he is faced with a morally grey decision: either go out to Alsace alone to stop Zion's 5,000 troops, which would lead to his death, or let Elen kill him, which would lead to Zion burning Alsace to the ground and indirectly lead to Thenardier assuming control of Brune. Tigre asks Elen to lend him her troops, and it works.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Lim and all of Elen's troops get this reaction when Tigre shoots down the bandit who interfered with his training.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: The invasion of Alsace give some similarities to Nazi Germany, particularly in Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will where Zion is observing his troops from a hilltop during the Alsace invasion. In addition, Duke Thenardier orchestrated the invasion of Alsace to gain more power similar to how Adolf Hitler had some of his army pose as Polish citizens and attack their own key buildings so he would have the excuse to invade Poland.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Tigre is shocked when Bertrand informs Tigre of Zion's invasion of Alsace.
- Titta grows utterly shocked when Zion's forces invade Alsace. Seconds later, she has a moment of slack-jawed horror when Zion infiltrates Tigre's home and is about to rape her.
- Zion when his hand is impaled by Tigre’s arrow.
- Elen and the Leitmeritz army get a Mass "Oh, Crap!" in the Battle of Molsheim when the dragons show up.
- Zion has two in the final battle: when his arm is pierced through his shields and when Tigre and Elen’s combined attack heads straight for him.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Regnas’s assumed demise in the Battle of Dinant helps kickstart the plot.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Doubles as a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner. As Elen is about to use her Signature Move for the first time on a dragon, she delivers this incantation:Elen: "Mow down, air and all! Ley... Admos!"
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Zion tries to rape Titta. It does not go well for him.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Zion's clothes and armor are colored pink.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tigre delivers one of these to Zion near the end of the volume for his actions in invading Brune and mocking Tigre.
- Redshirt Army: The Brune army gets routed and wiped out by Elen in the beginning of the series.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Prince Regnas and Zion Thenardier have very important roles to play despite having little screen time. The prince’s demise at the Dinant Plains leads to Elen capturing Tigre and taking him as her prisoner. Afterwards, Zion, the volume’s Big Bad, is sent by his father to invade Alsace to eliminate Tigre and his people. However, his death leads to Duke Thenardier plotting to exact his revenge on Tigre and Brune’s civil war has begun.
- Sole Survivor: Tigre appears to be the only survivor to survive Elen's assault on Dinant; most of his allies are dead and/or have escaped, and Tigre himself was Playing Possum after he was knocked down.
- Sore Loser: By the end of the volume, Zion doesn't take his loss to Tigre very well and decides to get the hell out of Dodge. Elen even lampshades this.
- Spanner in the Works: Bertrand. Had he not infiltrate Zhcted on Mashas’s orders, he would not have been captured by Leitmeritz guards and Alsace's invasion would go unnoticed by either Tigre, Elen or Zhcted.
- This Is Unforgivable!: When Tigre is about to duel with Zion, he basically tells Zion that his acts are unforgivable.
- Too Dumb to Live: Zion thought it was a good idea to invade Alsace and rape a maid. It wasn't.
- Underestimating Badassery:
- At first, Lim, Ryurik and Elen's troops underestimate his archery skills during his training. They realize Tigre's true worth when he shoots down a bandit aiming for Elen.
- Zion seriously underestimates Tigre’s archery skills and nobility, and pays for it with his life.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Faron sends Prince Regnas and a fleet of 25,000 soldiers to the Dinant Plains, only for Elen to take Tigre for ransom and Prince Regnas to seemingly perish; as a result of Faron and Elen’s actions, Zion launches an invasion of Alsace and ultimately leads to the start of Brune’s civil war.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
- Once Tigre stops Zion’s rape of Titta in Alsace, Zion makes a quick break for it.
- Zion does this again when he is defeated in the Battle of Molsheim, but Tigre and Elen make short work of him before he can do so.
- Villainous Breakdown: Zion suffers a major one after being defeated at the Battle of Molsheim.
- The War Has Just Begun: Tigre and his allies save Alsace from Zion’s grasp. Unfortunately for them, Brune’s civil war has already begun.
- Would Hit a Girl: Zion would commit an Attempted Rape on Titta .
