Ikta Solork wants nothing to do with the military, but his childhood friend Yatorishino Igsem, heir to the Katjvarna Empire's foremost family of swordsmen, talks him into sitting the officer exam anyway. Their ship goes down on the way there, stranding Ikta, Yatorishino, and a handful of other candidates in territory contested with the Kioka Republic, along with a mysterious girl Ikta pulls out of the water who turns out to matter more than anyone expects. Getting the group home forces Ikta to use the strategic mind he has spent his life trying not to use. This manga adapts the Alderamin on the Sky light novels.