Chapter 70 - Knights Wanted. Inquire Within.

"The world boundary, hm...?"

"Do you know any way to fix it up?" God quietly pondered as he munched on

a rice cracker. They were a specialty in Eashen, so I'd brought them up to him as

a gift. We were sitting in the ever-familiar little room amidst a sea of clouds.

You guessed it, we were in the realm of the gods.

It would've been fine to consult him over the phone, but I didn't want to be

rude. That's why I brought him a gift and came to see him in person.

"Well, you certainly could fix it, yes. A high-ranking god would be able to do it

with little effort at all. But you know how it is by now, don't you my lad? We

cannot interfere with the lower realms. Although if a wicked or renegade God

were responsible for the damage, that would be an exception." God Almighty

sipped his tea and heaved a sigh.

"The barrier was repaired five-thousand years ago, right?"

"Indeed it was. But that was not my doing. There are species in the lower

worlds that could hypothetically do such a thing, though."

Who, though...? You're being a little vague.

"What if I used the power of my divinity to do it...?"

"You may find that a most unwise act, my boy. Can you stitch a cobweb back

together by hand? Using such vast power for such a precise job... Do you truly

have the precision control necessary?"

He has a point, I guess...? At least he doesn't seem to have an issue with me

using my Divinity down there, though. It'd be bad if I tried to fix it and ended up

making it worse.

"Oh right, I never thought to ask but... Is there anyone that's used divinity in

an evil way?"

"Of course. Well, they are not exactly gods in the same sense as us, though.

Most are born in the lower worlds. If they took a dark emotion like regret,

grudge, attachment, and let it pool in their being, then they could attain such a

state of corrupted divinity. This is typically attained by a bad person coming into

contact with something divine to begin with, though, like a Sacred Treasure.

Your old world had many folk stories about this kind of happening."

"Would you interfere in those cases?"

"I do not believe it appropriate to interfere directly, even in those cases. In

cases like that we would simply offer divine aid to the people of that world, like

granting a sacred blade to a chosen hero or some-such. The wicked deities

formed by such acts have divinity even lower than servile gods, after all."

Lower than servile gods, huh...? Well, I guess they are just imitations.

"What if the hero dies?"

"I would not interfere. The world would end, most likely. Do you think I

should just give chance after chance? I would give them a single chance to

remedy the danger, because abandoning a world would surely bring it to ruin.

Worlds would fall if they were not watched over. Though I do have measures in

place to ensure that I pay attention to them for the most part." God let out a

small laugh of self-derision. I wondered how many worlds had been abandoned

or ruined as a result of their failures, though.

Just as I pondered that, God raised a finger and began to speak up.

"That reminds me, the smartphone that you wield is most certainly a Sacred

Treasure at this point in time."

"Wait, seriously?!" I took out my smartphone and looked from it to the old

man. This is a Sacred Treasure, seriously?

"When you died back then, I brought this object into this realm with you.

Naturally, I tinkered with a little, as you know. That little device is truly a Sacred

Treasure, one that contains the power of the gods. How do you think it can call

me, my boy? How do you think it can stream information from another world?"

I mean, true... That makes sense. Still, I didn't realize it was an item of that

caliber.

"Would it be possible for me to make a Sacred Treasure of my own?"

"I do not see why not. It is simply a matter of channeling your divinity into an

object. But, as I told you before, wicked and evil deities are typically born

through interaction with divine powers, so perhaps you might want to refrain."

"Yeah, makes sense." So they grant Sacred Treasures to heroes to fight

against evil people who obtain divine powers. But what would happen if an evil

deity got hold of the sacred item? That'd be bad, right?

God explained that he usually destroyed the sacred sword or other divine

relics after they were used to defeat the villain, and then it was replaced with a

fake. Now and then he'd forget to do this, and the presence of the Sacred

Treasure in the world would ultimately give rise to another villain a few

hundred years down the line. That certainly wasn't good news.

Still, I had come to learn that God and his ilk were not omnipotent. There

were plenty of troublesome gods, apparently. Even in my old world we had

myths and legends about the divine taking human form to cause mischief. Gods

were just as varied as humans... As I was beginning to learn quite well.

"Ah, Touya. It is a little premature to think about this, but... Would you like to

be the one assigned to the world you live in right now?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you see... High-ranking gods, the superior gods... Each is assigned a

particular world to oversee. I thought that when you ascend to that level, you

would prefer a word that you are familiar with."

Hold up. Hold up! Superior god? That'd make me a higher rank than both of

my sisters, wouldn't it? Or... Is that not weird? I guess I am a direct benefactor

of God's blessing, but still...

"...That means I'd have to join the pantheon of gods though, right?"

"If you do not wish for it, then I have nothing more to say. I know that many

of the other gods would like it, however. It has been several thousand years

since the last god was inducted. The elder ones would not mind having a

younger god around so they could brag a little, you know?"

It's nice that they're supportive, but... I kinda have mixed feelings about this.

"If I joined the pantheon, would I be allowed to have children? I'm getting

married soon, you know...?"

"Many gods have fathered children with other species. We do not have a

policy prohibiting it. The children would have strength and capabilities beyond

the standard, but they would not become more powerful than you."

That makes sense. Hercules, Perseus, Achilles, and Cu Chulainn are all

examples of half-gods from Earth's legends. There are a ton more, too.

But according to the Doc, I'm having eight daughters and one son... If they all

have demi-god strength, that might make raising them a little bit much...

"A-Ah, just a question but... is there a god in charge of looking after kids?"

"There is, yes... But one should strive to raise his own children when

possible."

"Tsk..."

It was just a hypothetical! Of course I wouldn't abandon my kids... Man, this is

annoying. Why am I getting stressed about what won't be born for ages,

anyway? It's not like they'll be giving birth right after they marry me, right?

Right...?

"You should take care not to rely on your divinity too much for now. Just

continue on doing what you can. Consider your arrival in that world to be a

blessing... Although perhaps it is not my place to say such a thing, given how I

sent you there. Either way, I am proud of you. Keep working hard."

"Thanks." I guess he's just saying to take things as they come, huh? Well, that

seems fair.

After receiving some praise from God himself, I left his domain.

◇ ◇ ◇

"So, we're recruiting more knights?"

"Indeed. We're currently low on manpower. We're no longer a fledgling

nation, so there's no more breathing room." Kousaka nodded slowly as he

spoke. He had a point, we didn't even have a hundred active knights in our

country. Around forty of them weren't active combatants, either, and they

didn't know how to pilot Frame Gears.

Some of them served Tsubaki as intel gatherers. Others worked for old man

Naito and handled formal paperwork. That's not to say they weren't capable of

fighting, they'd passed the test after all, but they didn't have to attend formal

training.

Our country wasn't very big or anything, so we didn't need thousand-strong

armies like other nations, but bolstering our ranks a bit definitely didn't sound

unwise.

"Guess it sounds fine to me."

"Indeed. Brunhild is not getting any smaller, it is not."

"Yeah, it isn't. I guess the town will be more peaceful if we have more guards

around." Elze, Yae, and Hilde often patrolled of their own volition, as well as

participating in the knight training. They weren't formal members of the order,

but they still liked to help out. They'd probably appreciate more people being

assigned to keep the general peace.

"So how many are we talking?"

"Well, hm... I would move with the aim of doubling our current pool of

knights, so I'd like to see a hundred new recruits. But we should see about

recruiting one-hundred-and-fifty if we include domestic patrols, office workers,

and castle guardsmen."

That many...? Well, I guess that should be okay... Even though they're called

the Brunhild Knight Order, they're technically financed out of my pocket so it's

more like they're my personal band of mercenaries.

I get a fair bit of money from trade with Olba from Mismede, and sometimes I

get to kill Behemoths, which yield heavy rewards. Sometimes I use [Search] to

find missing stuff for important people, too.

"And how many of these people will be Frame Gear pilots?"

"Let's say we should aim for... a hundred in total, including the sixty we have

trained for it already."

So only forty out of the new batch, huh...? The rest will end up being royal

guards, town guards, and office workers. Well, that's fine. That's important

work for the order too. People who'd have a problem with doing those duties

probably wouldn't make it through the recruitment phase anyway.

"Then we should recruit them based on combat proficiency..." It was true that

we needed people who'd handle the paperwork efficiently, but...

I couldn't afford to lower my standards just to accommodate people who

might be more suited for office work. They needed to be strong, ready, and

capable.

Still, I felt like throwing any of them to Moroha for special training would

bring even a weakling up to par in terms of strength.

"Alright, then start setting up a recruitment panel. I trust your judgment on

this part, so have anyone you think would be a good fit apply as well."

"Very well." I personally didn't know anyone qualified to join the order, so I

left it to him.

I could've roped in Sonia and Rengetsu, or Lop's party, but they were

adventurers, so I didn't want to restrain them. They probably made more

money on their quests anyway.

I decided to post an ad in the guild. There'd probably be a lot more interested

people this time around.

Yumina and the pope should be involved so we can use their Mystic Eyes to

screen people, but I wonder if I can ask Doc Babylon to make a polygraph test. A

lie detector would come in handy... Didn't I actually see something about that in

the storehouse records?

I warped off to Babylon and headed into the Hangar. I found Monica and a

mini-bot performing some routine maintenance on Gerhilde.

"Hm, where's the doc?"

"She's currently holding a meeting with Rosetta in the research laboratory.

They're like, totally discussing what to do with the next Frame Gears and stuff."

"Huh..." I didn't fully get it, but I headed to the research laboratory to see

what was going on. There was a miniature Frame Gear and a bunch of

blueprints strewn across the Doc's desk. There was a cross-section image of a

Frame Gear hanging on a nearby wall.

The two girls in the room were pointing at different parts of it, muttering and

grumbling.

"Something wrong? You guys look annoyed."

"Ah, master sir! We're just... Working on Frame Gear development, sir...! We

were thinking that Linze's Frame Gear would be a transformation type, and a

fusion type that could combine with Elze's, sir!" As she spoke, Rosetta picked up

the miniature Frame Gear and folded its arm and legs inwards; this freely

allowed it to spread out wings and transform into flight mode.

Neat. That's a pretty smooth form shift.

The Frame Gear looked sturdy enough in design that it could survive

atmospheric re-entry. Having a flying Frame Gear would also give us an edge in

battle. I looked over the miniature figure again, wondering if we couldn't

produce these as children's toys. They'd probably be popular.

"The issue is Leen's Frame Gear. Specifically, what we're doing with it. I was

thinking of making it a heavy ordinance unit, with big guns installed all along its

body. The Phrase resist magic, after all. So I was thinking we could load it with

magic-based explosions for splash damage, or missiles for a more direct

approach. Perhaps bullets, too. I thought back to that anime I was watching

earlier and wondered if I couldn't make something like that Vulcan rotary

cannon and Gatling gun. That was my thought process at least, but..."

That doesn't sound cost-effective at all. For starters we'd need to produce a

ton of bullets or missiles that could damage a Phrase's body, we'd need

something above mithril at the very least. That's the kind of thing that'd be

ungodly to maintain, price-wise.

Then again, we could always arm it with Phrasium rounds... No, wait. That's a

no-go. It'd be impossible to make tens of thousands of those things, it'd take the

workshop's full operational capacity 24/7 to keep producing them. There's no

way I can dedicate the time or resources necessary to a venture like that.

Plus it's probably limited in how much ammo it can actually take around with

it. We could maybe see about making it a standing unit that constantly has

ammo fed into it, but would we ever even need a sentry turret type Frame Gear?

"If you made a Frame Gear like that, let's say it starts firing all of its ammo

non-stop... How long would it last?"

"It'd probably last around a minute in total."

"That's nowhere near enough." Even in anime, giant robots lost most of their

power when they ran out of ammo. There was no way I'd risk it.

If it focuses fire, it might be able to last a little longer... But that's still not

good. Plus there's no guarantee every bullet would land, either. It sounds like a

pain. It'll just end up using up all the ammo and becoming a regular melee

Frame Gear.

"How about we nix the Gatling idea and make a high-powered sniper?

Something that could penetrate the Phrase Cores at long range. Don't you think

that'd work out better?"

"That might be practical, sir! But... The aesthetic I was going for with this

Frame Gear was more of a mobile fortress, sir! Big, bad, beastly! The kind of

thing that would be equipped to mow down armies at mid-to-long range!"

Rosetta collapsed with a grumble. A sniper would definitely be slower and less

bombastic.

"We could always set it so it shoots out [Fire Arrow] barrages, or maybe

[Thunder Arrow]. But that wouldn't help against the Phrase. The Gatling gun

could use magic-based attacks, too." The doctor shrugged and smiled a bit as

she spoke. Bullets wouldn't be an issue in that case, but Leen running out of

magic power would be a real threat.

"...Actually, master sir! Where do you keep your ammo?"

"For my gun? Just in a pouch at my hip. There are live rounds, explosive

rounds, and paralyzing rounds in there. I alternate them based on the

situation." I showed her the pouch, and the three split pockets inside. There

were twenty bullets of each type inside.

"...Hm. You switch these in the heat of battle? Isn't that obstructive?"

"Oh, nah. I have them load into my gun automatically. I programmed the gun

with [Apport] so it ejects spent casing and immediately replaces the chamber

slot with new rounds, then I—"

"That's it!" I wasn't finished talking, but the two of them suddenly jolted

upwards and yelled in my direction.

"That's it, yessir! We don't gotta load the ammo on to the Frame Gear

directly, no sir! We just need to build a huge ammo repository inside Babylon

and then use [Gate] or [Teleport] to reload from there!"

"Hm... That gives us a small delay on firing, but frankly that's not a big deal.

There are more benefits to that setup than setbacks. Still, we'd need to have

enough ammo produced, hm..." The two of them were just going right into it

without me. I was being left behind in the dirt.

"Ah, Touya. How much of the crystal material do you have now, anyway?"

"The Phrasium? A ton. We only really use up a lot of it when we make a new

special Frame Gear, so we have a lot to spare right now." I took all of the

Phrasium I could find during the Roadmare and Yulong incidents. I had enough

to cause a market crash if I put it all into circulation.

"So we have enough material, excellent. And we can't have the workshop tied

up making bullets... I'll have no choice but to make another with an ammo

focus."

"Another? Another what?"

"Another workshop, duh. I was always planning on building a second one

anyways. It won't be on the same scale as the current one. It'll only be about

the size of a smallish house. I'll call it the junior workshop!"

You're basically making a munitions factory! Isn't that a little much?! Well, I

mean... I guess if it works just like the current workshop it could be a handy

backup.

"Small or not, won't it be hard to build another workshop?"

"It'll be fine, sir! We can just make it with the workshop!"

Huh? Making a workshop with the workshop? I was stunned by what Rosetta

had told me.

"The workshop is an engine of power, sir yessir! Making a smaller version of

itself is a piece of cake!" Rosetta grinned and puffed out her chest.

"Should take us about two weeks, I think. We'll need to fine-tune the magic

processors, as well... Well, we'll have you move it with a [Gate] afterward,

Touya. It can't move like a Frame Gear, after all."

"Yeah, that's fine, but..." Making a workshop with a workshop so we can

create while we create... That's playing dirty. It was true that it might not be

able to produce Frame Gears due to its smaller size, but it would still be capable

of mass producing a lot of other stuff.

"Alright! We've set our course, let's get on it!"

"Yessir, ma'am!" The two brats ran full-pelt out of the research laboratory.

I wonder if they're always this high-energy...

I looked down at the miniature model Frame Gears. Linze's with its aerial

form shift, and Leen's with its Gatling arm and Vulcan rotary cannons.

This'll be interesting... An Aerial Combat Gear and a Heavy Duty Bombardier

Gear, huh...?

I picked up the model of Linze's gear and stood it atop Leen's. Heh, these are

good. Oh, it's off-balance... Maybe I should see about selling these. If we made

them smaller, we could put them in little randomized capsules. I could make

little gacha machines and place them around... A little kid should be able to

afford something like that on a basic allowance, right?

I left the lab with the scale figurines as I pondered such thoughts to myself.

◇ ◇ ◇

Our recruitment drive for the knight order had gathered quite a bit of

attention in the end. I attributed this to posters being put up in places like the

guild and busy roads.

In all honesty, the wages offered by my knight order were low. Even if an

individual knight earned a promotion, there wasn't much room for job growth

either. If they were after a lucrative job, they'd be better off working for

another nation.

Adventurers often earned great riches by taking huge risks and fighting

magical beasts. The risk was proportional to the gain. But even mediocre

adventurers could probably make more than what my knights earned. I wanted

to formally increase their wages once Brunhild became a bit more prosperous,

but that wasn't feasible for the time being.

The advantages of working for Brunhild's knight order was that the pay was

steady, and basic life necessities were covered as well. Plus, there wasn't nearly

as much risk as being an adventurer carried with it. Some of them did fight the

Phrase, but they were still equipped with Frame Gears, which kept them

relatively safe from harm.

I thought that these circumstances would mean we'd get maybe a thousand

applicants at most, but I was way off. We had over three-thousand people

wanting to join up. I was amazed.

We wanted to recruit about a hundred and fifty people from this pool, as

well.

There were too many people to fit in the courtyard, so we had all the

prospective applicants head to a northern plain that we typically used for Frame

Gear practice.

There were a lot of people here just to watch, as well. It wasn't like we were

putting on a show or anything, but having the townsfolk around to see their

new prospective guards probably wasn't the worst thing.

"Greetings. I am Lain Netherland, and I am in charge of Brunhild's knight

order. I will be presiding over today's recruitment proceedings." Lain stood up

on a platform and introduced herself, using her smartphone's speaker as an

amplifying mic.

As an aside, Nikola had the family name "Strand," but Lain and Norn only had

forenames due to their lack of family.

I thought a family name would be beneficial to people in their elevated

positions, so I gave them the names Lain Netherland and Norn Siberia. The

names come from the Netherland Dwarf Rabbits, and the Siberian Huskies, but

it wasn't like the people of this world would know anything about it. They were

beastwomen, so I thought those names matched up just fine.

I didn't think it was a good idea to appear in public, so I kept out of sight.

More specifically, I disguised myself as a participant with [Mirage]. I wanted to

see everything as my knights-to-be would see it, after all.

I had to disguise myself because my face was already pretty well-known at

this point, and I didn't want anyone coming up to me in the middle of things.

I'd informed my knights of the plan, so they wouldn't be worried about

anything I did. I also told them to treat me like any other examinee.

Plus, being on the ground level would allow me to get to know those who

wished to join me. I'd already found out a few people who weren't a good fit for

Brunhild's order.

I'd noticed a few people in the crowd who were goofing off and completely

ignoring Lain's speech, for example. I didn't know if they were ignoring her

because she was a woman or because she was a beastwoman, but either way

that made them unfit for duty.

I noticed that a remarkable number of knight applicants were women. Around

forty percent of the people in the area were girls, give or take. That made a bit

of sense, given that most other knight orders in the world didn't recruit women,

and the ones that did only recruited nobles. Word had probably gotten out

about how Brunhild was a country that cared not for race, sex, or creed.

There were a lot more beastmen and demonkin, too. I couldn't help but

wonder if this was the overlord's doing... Part of me suspected that he sent a

bunch of demonkin to join so he could get more information on what Sakura

was doing. Even for a doting father, that would be a little much... I decided to

give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were regular participants.

"Now, let us begin. Please turn around."

"Huh?" Lain pointed to the horizon and, as if on command, the sound of

flapping wings overwhelmed the area. Everyone turned around to find a

monstrous dragon staring them down.

"GRWAUUUUUUGH!" The Azure Dragon, Luli, reared her head and roared

with bestial vigor.

H-Hey, isn't that a little much? I just told you to scare them a bit.

"Eeek?!"

"I-I-It's a Dragon! Why?!"

"Run for your life! It's gonna kill us!" The vast majority of the applicants began

to head for the hills, scattering in all directions and desperate to escape. Luli did

nothing but silently stare at them as they dispersed.

Those that ran were naturally disqualified. That was phase one. There was no

place for cowards in our army, we needed people who would stand their

ground for the innocents around them.

We lost about two-thirds of the initial crowd. Luli descended to the ground,

and Lain began to speak again.

"Those who prioritize themselves over the citizens of our nation have no

place amongst us. Congratulations, those that remained have passed the first

test." Lain finished talking, and the crowd finally realized what had happened.

There were some people who had gone weak at the knees and simply couldn't

run away because of how deep their fear was. That wasn't a big deal to me,

though. I had a feeling those people would be weeded out during the next few

phases.

Some of the cowards came back and tried to make excuses for themselves,

saying that they were running back to town in order to fortify it, or that they

were swept away by the crowd unintentionally, but Norn and the others simply

ignored them. There were those that refused to back down even after being

rejected, so I telepathically told Luli to roar at them. They ran away again, and I

knew they wouldn't come back.

Luli soared back up into the sky, having done her job. Lain began to speak

again as the crowd watched Luli fly off.

"Alright, on to phase two. I'll be having everyone spend three days in the

forest to the west of this plain. Water is plentiful as there's a large river running

through it. But you cannot bring food inside. We will provide water canteens,

however. If you leave the forest before the three days are up, you are

disqualified. We're going to have several knights from our order take the role of

hungering Oni, and they will hunt you down. These Oni will not kill you, but they

will attempt to knock you unconscious and remove you from the woods." Lain

finished up her explanation, and several examinees raised their hands as if to

question her.

"Can we fight back against the Oni?"

"Yes, of course. Defeating them is completely fine. But we would ask you to

refrain from killing if you can avoid it."

"Can we team up with others in the forest?"

"That's also fine, yes. But it may be easier for the Oni to track you if you're in

a large group."

"How many Oni will there be?"

"I can't tell you that. There could just be one, there could be a hundred.

They'll all be wearing distinguishable Oni masks, so you'll be able to tell at a

glance."

"Can we use magic?"

"Magic use is prohibited for this exam. We've erected a barrier around the

forest that renders magic useless, so you'll have to use your wits." I didn't want

the forest burning down due to fire spells. All they had to do was avoid the Oni

for three days. If they relied on magic all the time, it wouldn't say much for their

survival skills.

"If you remain in the forest after three days have passed, you will pass this

stage of the exam. There is no limit to how many people can pass. If everyone

here is inside the forest by the end, then you all pass. We will be distributing

badges to you, fasten them to your clothing. If you remove them at any time

and toss them to the ground, you will be teleported back here. If you think

you've reached your limit, don't be a hero. Resign if you think you can't take it.

The badges will work if you leave the forest too, they'll bring you right here.

You'll still be disqualified, though." We started handing out the badges we'd

used last time. I ended up getting the last one.

"This goes without saying, but terrorizing other contestants into giving up

their badges or leaving the forest is also forbidden. Doing so is grounds for

immediate disqualification. You must act in a way that fits the image of a

knight." Lain hopped down from the platform, and Nikola began to guide

everyone towards the woods.

I was walking along with them when a black-haired woman next to me started

to talk in a hushed tone.

"Preparations complete. We can move out any time."

"Good work, Tsubaki. Let's monitor how the first two hours go for now. I want

to see what everyone does. If there are any people acting sneakily or

suspiciously, have them removed. I don't have time for troublemakers."

"Understood." Tsubaki nodded subtly by my side. She was infiltrating the

participants, just like me. Not just her, either. A few members of the knight

order were mixed in with the other examinees. Most of them were Tsubaki's

intel corpsmen.

They were going in without food, so survival was paramount. I devised this

test with the idea that it'd bring out a person's true nature. I had people

infiltrate the exam to investigate how people would act, but also to ensure the

safety of any innocents in case of emergency.

I had a feeling there'd be dangerous troublemakers mixed amongst the

hopefuls, and the forest had a few magical beasts in it as well.

Heh, I wonder if they'll run into the special traps I set...? Heheheh... I wonder if

they'll be able to last the whole time in the forest...? Heh... W-Wait, that makes

me sound villainous! I'm working on it, I promise! I'm a good guy!

The forest was pretty broad, and it had a lot of dense shrubbery. There wasn't

much leeway for vision in there. Brunhild's territory was originally overrun by

magical beasts, and I'd driven out most of them, but the woodland had slowly

become somewhat of a breeding ground for the more stubborn ones in recent

months.

Nobody really went all the way out there, with the exception of the odd

adventurer sent on a guild quest to find certain items. The density of the forest

protected the highway from magical beast attacks, but I still thought it'd be

safer to wipe them all out.

As I pondered that, we reached the edge of the woodland, and Nikola began

to explain the proceedings.

"The examination begins here. You'll enter the forest in order of badge

number, taking a canteen with you beforehand. If we call your number and

you'd like to quit now, then let us know and you can leave. If you're unarmed

and would like a weapon, put in a request and we'll grant you some basic gear.

Once you've entered the forest, you're free to move. The Oni are already inside,

so take care. Now, Contestant One, Contestant Two..." Nikola used his

smartphone to photograph every contestant as they passed by, confirming their

entry.

Norn began to take photos as well and, after about thirty minutes, I was

finally called upon. They didn't have to take a picture of me, but they still did.

"Have Flora and our recovery mages on standby, alright? Set the teleporter

destination to the starting area, too. Oh, right... Nikola, Norn... You two are

gonna be Oni too, right?"

"Right. We'll be entering the forest soon."

"Yeah, we will. But what if we encounter you or the other infiltrators while

we're in there?"

"Attack us like you would attack anyone else. We'll fight back in order not to

raise suspicions. At night, I'll take the role of Oni as well." Norn flashed an

awkward smile towards my response.

"...Hold back, please. I'd feel sorry for anyone that fights you, Oni or

contestant." She had a point.

Most members of our knight order were playing the role of Oni for this

examination. Not the office workers, though. Even old man Baba and old man

Yamagata were participating. The Oni were told not to disqualify anyone that

displayed exemplary traits in any particular way. I didn't want the really good

people failing by chance here and missing a chance to shine during the

interview.

The people playing the roles of Oni were holding poles that were enchanted

with [Paralyze], so they wouldn't be injuring the contestants. Even if they were

defeated, the Oni would simply leave them lying there if they displayed some

great type of skill or personal trait. If they were just bad, though, their badges

would be removed, teleporting them to disqualification.

Moroha wanted to be an Oni, but I very delicately rejected her. I couldn't

afford to have her doing that. Nobody would end up passing.

"Alright, I'm going in. If anything comes up, call me."

"Gotcha."

"Have fun, Boss." Nikola bowed his head toward me, and Norn began to wave

and grin. I walked into the dense undergrowth.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Alright, so what am I even gonna do in here..." I decided to get some water,

first and foremost. I walked toward the river with my canteen in hand.

If I remember right, the river should be in the middle of the woodland...

Flowing down from north to south-east.

I could see some other examinees in the distance as I made my way through

the woodland. Seems they'd had the same idea.

Man, I can barely see... There's a ton of trees around, too. Oh, a rabbit. That's

a good find, but I only have a sword on me...

Even though I was capable of using magic in here, there was no way I could. I

didn't want to compromise my identity.

Every member of Brunhild's cause was exempt from the barrier's rules. But

there was always the risk that someone would see me. It wasn't like I could use

[Storage] to pull out a bow and a set of arrows.

I wonder if this basic gear'll be enough if magic beasts come attacking... Well,

the trees are dense enough that I could run off without a hitch. Well, I guess I

shouldn't use magic here, anyways... But man, I'm gonna end up hungry at this

rate. I have food in my [Storage], water too, but I can't afford to raise suspicion.

It'd be suspicious if I had water with me without even going to the river.

The current exam was to measure the proficiency of knights who would

become castle guards, town guards, or spies under Tsubaki. Anyone that proved

themselves capable in here would get an interview right away. That kind of left

the office work department a bit behind... But whatever. We didn't need a

dedicated magic squad yet, either.

It was a survival game, and only those with basic survival skills would make it

through. I wondered if they'd fight or use their wits to flee. Either way, if they

lasted three days in here, they'd have what it took.

I kept on walking until I heard the sound of running water.

I came out into a clearing and saw the river, its bed lined with smooth

pebbles. It was about six meters wide, so it wouldn't be difficult to cross. For

the most part it was shallow, too.

I filled up my canteen and chugged some of the fresh, cold water. Man, that's

good...

I looked around and saw a lot of other examinees in the area, they were filling

their canteens up as well. This place was pretty open, so it was easy to sense

danger... But it was also a prime area for the Oni to find you.

If they were smart, they'd leave right after filling their water up. Some of

them had the right idea and were filing off already. After all, anyone who

lingered here too long was at real risk of failing the exam immediately.

I headed back into the woodland and clambered up a big tree. Alrighty...

"[Long Sense]." I projected my senses through the surrounding area. There

were some people moving in groups, and some who had decided to kick it solo.

Oh, this guy's climbing a tree like I did... Can't really make out his face,

though. He's wearing a mask, dressed in all black... Kinda looks like a ninja, heh.

Huh? Is he... looking at me? No way. He's over a kilometer away, and there are

obstacles, right? What... he's waving, now? I moved my body, returning the

wave. The man displayed a shocked and surprised reaction. I wondered why he

waved in the first place, though. Perhaps he was trying to determine whether or

not I could see him as well. If he was a ninja, then it was probably one of his

ninjutsu techniques, something that worked differently to magic. Either that or

he possessed some kind of Mystic Eye, which wasn't out of the question either.

"Gah! An Oni! Gugh!!!"

"Hngh! Gyaaah!"

"R-Run! Run for it!" My hearing directed me toward a sudden burst of yelling,

so I turned my gaze to the river once more.

Two members of our knight order, wearing their Oni masks, were making

short work of some of the stragglers who still remained by the river. They were

relentless in their approach, knocking contestant after contestant down with

their stun rods. They were old man Baba and old man Yamagata...

They projected an air of joy around them as they gleefully knocked down their

prey, swiping the badges from their fronts. They honestly seemed like ruthless

bandits... A little too much like ruthless bandits, honestly. Those that were

stripped of their badges vanished in a flash, teleported away to the starting line.

Apparently not even one of the people there showed any kind of potential.

Other examinees in the area had heard the commotion, and their reactions

were varied. Some of them fled, while others moved in to see just what had

happened. Some stayed still, as if making a single move would expose them.

I turned my attention back to the tree, and the ninja man was gone. He's

surprisingly swift... Gotta be a ninja.

The Oni duo by the riverbed made their way into the dense woodland and

joined the shadows once more.

"His right eye's busted! Flank him from that side! Get him!"

Hm? What's all this, then... I projected my senses toward a group of three

examinees. They were fighting against a King Ape some distance away from the

river. Wait, that's not a King Ape... It's bigger than usual. Is it some kind of

mutation?

"Go for his legs! Stop his movements!" The man barking orders looked to be

around twenty years old. He had short, silver hair. He was wearing chainmail

that looked weathered but surprisingly durable. His command over the group

was pretty damn impressive, too. Plus, he was making full use of his

companion's skills, despite having apparently just met them.

I watched them for a while, and they ultimately managed to take out the

oversized King Ape. While they were fighting, the leader was keeping a close

eye on the surrounding area. He was likely looking out for an Oni attack, just in

case. I had instructed the Oni not to fight the examinees while they were

engaged with magical beasts, but they didn't know that. I had a feeling that this

guy was leadership material.

I climbed down from the tree, headed south, and eventually ran into an

examinee digging in the ground.

"...What are you doing?"

"Eeek! A-Ah! Ah... F-Food... I was just trying to acquire some food." I scared

him, apparently, but he quickly settled down. He must've mistaken me for an

Oni to begin with.

"Food?"

"Hm? Oh, y-yeah... This vine here grows giant mountain yams. You can eat the

produce that grows underground, at least during this season... After three

months they'll ferment and go toxic."

"Huh, really...?"

"Th-The Oni could catch me if I light a fire, s-so I just thought I'd go foraging

for stuff, you know? There are a lot of edible flowers and nuts in the area, too."

Huh, I see... So even if you catch a rabbit, cooking it isn't advised. Nobody's

gonna eat a raw one, either. This guy isn't doing anything flashy, but it's still a

valuable survival skill.

The young man had a lot of flowers, nuts, and fruits on his person. He

basically had every kind of edible plant in the area. Evidently, he knew his stuff.

"I-If you go south, there are persimmo trees as well... I only took a few, so

there should be some left."

"Hm, thanks. I'll check it out." I left the man behind to continue his foraging.

He didn't seem all that interested in holding up a conversation anyway.

Then, I went in the direction he told me to go, and the persimmo trees were

there. Persimmos had a pear-like texture, but they were sweet. I subtly opened

[Storage] and put some inside, but kept one to eat.

Tasty... Huh? A whooshing sound came from behind me. I jumped back just in

time, having noticed something flying toward me from the underbrush. It was a

fist.

I just managed to dodge the punch, but I instinctively threw my persimmo

away.

Whoa! The attacker stood tall, wearing a distinct black oni mask. They had

long, silvery hair that shook in the wind. And it was clearly a woman... A woman

I knew all too well.

"Haaah!"

"Gaaah! W-Wait! Elze, Elze! It's me! Me! Touya!"

"...Touya?" The gauntlet-clad punch was inches from my face before stopping.

Holy cow! You nearly took my damn head off!

"Did you use [Mirage] to join as a contestant or something?!"

"Ahaha... Something like that..." Crap, I totally forgot... I was talking about it

at dinner last night, and Yae, Hilde, and Elze said they wanted to participate...

Not as participants, though. As Oni...

"Why'd you attack me from behind when I was eating...?"

"I can't afford to show mealtime mercy, you know? You think anyone who

gets caught off-guard so easily would survive your sister's training?"

She raised a fair point. Unless you had some level of talent, you wouldn't

make it far under Moroha.

"Maybe dial it back a bit, though. Were you using [Boost] or something?"

"...No, I decided not to use it for the exam. I didn't want to cause any

injuries."

What?! Those gauntlets would give anyone a goddamn concussion! Well... I

guess if they get sent back there are recovery mages on standby, but still...

"Alright, I'm gonna keep hunting enemies. Good luck, Touya."

"You too!"

Good lord... She's getting scarily strong...

I clambered up a nearby tree and activated [Long Sense], keeping up my vigil.

I saw some examinees being attacked by the Oni, and I saw others coordinate

assaults against magical beasts. Seemed like none of my guys had been knocked

out, either.

Some people had been disqualified, but not as many as I'd have thought.

Ideally the numbers would be whittled to less than five hundred, but they were

holding fast.

Gradually the sun went down, and the real fun was about to begin.

I used my smartphone to confirm there was nobody in the vicinity, then

deactivated [Mirage]. I pulled open [Storage] and retrieved my mask. I put it on

and changed my outfit into a jet black one. Then I leaped from tree branch to

tree branch as I made my way onward.

Upon noticing a light in the distance, I projected my senses toward it. There

was a large group of contestants there, gathered around a campfire. They were

cooking game that they'd successfully hunted, and taking turns watching the

perimeter.

Heh, not a bad idea. With that many, they must be sure that the Oni won't

come for them. Taking turns eating and guarding is pretty smart, too...

They'd be a little bit harder than usual to defeat, but I was certain that my Oni

could defeat them if they went all-out.

I used my smartphone to determine where the Oni were gathering nearby

and swiftly moved to join them.

"Evening, lads."

"Hm?! Oh... Your Highness. You gave me a fright."

"Don't frighten me like that, squirt. Almost jumped outta my skin." The

people sitting around the area all got a little annoyed by my sudden

appearance.

Old man Baba, old man Yamagata, Logan, Nikola, and a few others were

there. There weren't more than ten. They were all guys.

The atmosphere was pretty relaxed. Our knight order was pretty familial,

after all. We had a band of brothers kind of feeling. We were all good people,

too. Yumina's Mystic Eye made sure that any bad people were rejected at the

interview stage.

"So, what's the situation? Found any talented people?"

"Aye, a few who'd do well if polished up."

"Indeed, I've found some promising young soldiers." Baba and Nikola nodded

in my direction. That was good news. I was glad to hear that there were some

real promising people in the running. I'd seen my own share, too. The ninja, the

commander guy, and that plant-gathering guy were all good in my book...

Though it was still possible they'd have been taken down by the Oni by now.

Especially the plant guy, he seemed resourceful but physically weak.

"So what are you guys planning? Gonna attack that group?"

"Hmph... There are ten of us here, but about a hundred at their camp. It's not

like we couldn't beat them, but we'd have to go all-out... Measuring individual

skill in a large-scale battle like that isn't really viable, either." Yamagata

grumbled slightly as his arms folded. He had a point, though. We were at a

disadvantage in terms of examining them. If we went in, we'd get surrounded

and we'd have to take them out fast. That would mean we wouldn't have much

time at all to test their skills.

Plus, while we had a good few Oni gathered in the area, the group around the

campfire was comparatively small when you considered how many other

contestants were still out in the forest.

That being said, if they had such a big fire set up, it felt like they were almost

goading us to attack them.

"What about you, Your Highness. What would you do?"

"Me? I think I'd show myself, scare them a bit, then run. I'd then start

ambushing any of them that decided to follow after me."

"Hmph... Do you think they'd fall for that?"

"Sounds fine ta me. Anyone that charges headlong instead of holdin' their

ground isn't fit fer us anyway! Defeated or not, we'd see their true colors."

Baba was right. Doing that would show us the reckless idiots hiding amongst

them. I used [Long Sense] along with my smartphone to project an image of the

enemy camp into the air.

"I see... There are people watching the perimeter, so that means the people

inside will be slacking, hm?" Nikola muttered as he surveyed the image. There

were some nervous contestants keeping an eye on their surroundings, while

others were goofing around and looking pretty relaxed. They had confidence in

numbers, apparently. It seemed like they thought they could afford to relax.

Hm...? What's going on there? I looked over at a certain area in their camp, a

couple of examinees showed up near the fire, and about ten of the men

gathered there were trying to ward them away. I turned up the volume out of

curiosity.

"No way! Beat it, damn it! There are already too many here as it is!"

"What? We're not asking for food or anything, we just wanna get some time

by the fire. What's wrong with that?" The approaching group was a small team

of beastmen and demonkin, two men and two women. They had a bunch of

dead rabbits with them, and it seemed like they were asking permission to cook

there. It was safe to cook while you were surrounded by allies, after all. Less

chance of a surprise Oni attack.

"Hmm... One of the beastmen is a lion derivative, and the other is winged...

The demonkin are a wardog and an arachne, respectively." Nikola gave me

some context on their species.

Hm, interesting... I've seen those kinds of beastmen before, but those

demonkin are definitely new to me.

Wardogs were a type of demonkin that resembled canines. Not in the wolfish

sense like Norn, who appeared human with a wolf tail and ears, though. They

were like anthropomorphic dog people from head to toe. They kind of

resembled werewolves, shaggy fur and all. They couldn't turn into humans,

though. And their features were more like household dog species than wild

wolves.

The arachne stood up gracefully. Her black hair was short, and neatly

arranged in a princess cut style. She looked pretty cute, honestly. There were a

lot of spider legs jutting from her back, however. And also, her eyes were a

piercing red.

"Beat it, you hear me?! If your type hangs around, the magical beasts in the

area are gonna sniff us out and cause trouble."

"That's right. You stink like animals, so get the hell out!"

"It's fine if animals fight amongst themselves, but don't get us lumped in with

it."

"You...!" The lioness beastwoman had to be restrained by the wardog male.

She was about to angrily attack the people by the fire, it seemed. The woman

growled slightly before lowering her arms. The wardog simply sighed and shook

his head. They quietly turned around with the winged man and the arachne girl,

then left.

"Tsk. What the hell are those monsters even participating for? They should

stick to Xenoahs and Mismede. Who even runs this knight order? Would they

let pets eat at the same table as people, too?" The man who rejected the group

turned back to his fellows at the fire.

"Brunhild's a new country, so they probably just lack people with skill. It's the

only reason I can think of for recruiting animal labor. Beastmen and demonkin...

Gross. It's a weird country for sure."

"The commander was a beastwoman, right? If someone like that can rise so

high, we'll have no trouble getting noble status in a place like this."

"Dumbass. If someone like you becomes a noble, then I'll obviously be high up

in the government. I heard the grand duke here was an adventurer once, too.

This knight order's just a joke, that's why they don't care who or what joins it."

The group chuckled amongst themselves, quietly. But my smartphone had

picked up every last detail.

"Yeah, I guess so. That's why things'll change after we get recruited, huh.

Can't have a knight order with animals running around... Let's aim for the top

spots."

"Hm? You wanna be the new commander, then?"

"I guess so, yeah. Once more real soldiers come in, they won't need those

beasts anymore. We'll just defeat the current commander and vicecommanders in training, show how good we are, and we'll get promoted.

Winners win, losers lose." The group of men began to laugh obnoxiously. They

were smiling and laughing, but none of the Oni around me were so highspirited.

"...These guys are worthless."

"Agreed." Nikola, who was himself a fox beastman, glared down at the

screen. He was close friends with Commander Lain, even before coming to

Brunhild, so his anger was completely understandable. I could see that his fists

were clenched.

These guys clearly thought we were recruiting demi-humans out of necessity

or lack of resources. That was a grave misunderstanding on their part.

Beastmen and demonkin rarely traveled outside of Mismede or Xenoahs, so

the outside world generally had little experience in dealing with them.

A lot of people still saw demonkin as a subspecies of magical beast, and there

was a lot of discrimination against beastmen as if they were all unruly savages

or something.

Demi-humans, in general, had been historically mistreated, having been

considered inferior creatures on a genetic and social level. There was even a

period in the past where they were commonly used as slaves for manual labor,

or other degrading duties.

After Mismede was founded, discrimination against beastmen was reduced

somewhat, but it wasn't completely gone. Demonkin were extremely rare sights

though, so the fear against them could also be seen as synonymous with fear of

the unknown. Either way, I didn't want people who were like that in my

country.

Our country was special, they were right... Our knight order might not have

seemed like a proper one, but it was one nonetheless.

I didn't see the problem, though. Most of the world leaders I'd met didn't

really act like stereotypical kings or emperors. All of them had weird quirks,

come to think of it. If you based the idea of a 'good' knight order on some

stereotypical image, then you were a dumbass.

Lain and the others had been entrusted with the knightly duties initially

because we didn't have many people, that was true. But they'd endured

training that would make even the most seasoned knight fight to his fullest.

They were Brunhild's knight order. They had made it their own.

They'd been trained by Moroha herself, making them comparable in power to

Yae or Hilde. People who talked big like those guys wouldn't hold a candle to

the commander and vice-commanders of my nation.

Baba and the other old men aside, they were absolutely the top three knights

in Brunhild. Their powers had been honed by the god of swords herself.

I had no patience at all for people who judged based on first glances.

"We'll help you take out those bastards." Three other Oni appeared from the

forest. I could tell from their hair that they were Yae, Elze, and Hilde. Seems

they'd overheard.

"They deserve to be punished... They're definitely unruly..."

"I cannot stand idly by as my allies are badmouthed, I cannot."

"Yep. They're not worthy to be knights." The three of them seemed angry.

They weren't formally members of the knight order, but they still trained

alongside them daily. It only made sense that they saw the knights are close

comrades. I felt the same, after all.

"Alright... Then let's handle these guys together." The Oni nearby all nodded

to what I said. Nobody objected, which was understandable.

"Let's see, though... Before we attack the camp, we need to make sure we

single out anyone who might be alright over there."

"In that case, not these guys. They've just been chitchatting the whole time,

not a cautious bone in their bodies."

"These two have been attentive and careful all night, though. Let's not target

them."

"These three... Hmm, it's hard to say. Let's fight them and base it on that."

We were deciding who we'd target to disqualify, and who we'd target to test.

The hopeless contestants would get knocked out in one shot and that would be

that. The ones that showed promise would either lose their badges or not

depending on how they fared.

If they showed a certain level of skill, we'd overlook them and let them stay

unconscious. If they didn't, we'd just take their badges. Everyone was gonna get

beaten up, either way.

Our strategy was a simple one. Move in and rush them. We had no need to

hold back, especially against those racist assholes. It was an official exam,

though... so I had to take care not to torture them too much.

"Shall we?" Everyone held up their stun rods, ensured their masks were

secured and stood up.

We split into three groups and flanked the bonfire. The plan was to instantly

knock out the people we'd deemed as worthless, and then fight against the rest

of them.

The teams were led by myself, old man Baba, and Nikola respectively. We

coordinated the assault through our smartphones.

"...Three, two, one... Go!" We jumped out from the shadows, surrounding the

bonfire on three sides.

"Ghah! Oni!"

"They're attacking! Let's fend them off!"

"Wait, they're behind us too!"

"Oh shit, they're coming in from the sides?!" The guardsmen all jumped into

action, but the guys who were lazing around had delayed responses.

The panicked examinees attempted to draw their weapons, but it was too

late. They were bashed in the bellies by our stun rods. They were way too slow!

That was why preparation was vital in cases like this.

"Gwuh!"

"Hgh!"

"Hrgh!" The cowardly contestants were taken down one after one by a mere

ten Oni.

There were women around them, but that didn't affect our behavior. We took

them out fair and square. Well... I hit them a little softer than I hit the men. I

made sure to smack the guys good, though.

"Gh!"

"Hm?"

Wow... That guy actually took one of my hits, nice... He went down on the

second strike, though. I made a mental note to memorize his badge number,

then left him behind without ripping it off.

As I was fighting on that side, Nikola was on the other edge of the camp,

confronting the racist group. Nikola was wielding a two-meter stun rod that was

shaped a bit like a staff.

"Ghuh! Haaah!"

"...Silence." One of the charging men was promptly put down with a swift

strike to the gut.

"Ghaaaugh!" The man fainted on the spot, his eyes wide open in shock. Even

without the stunning effect, a hit that hard would've knocked most men out.

"Hnnngh...!" The men gradually drew back as Nikola came down on them like

a ton of bricks.

"...Something wrong, curs? I'm just one demi-human, am I not? Are you not

going to stand against me, even when outnumbering me? Or were you all talk?"

Nikola was clad in a mask and black clothing. His foxy ears were all covered up,

but his bushy tail was proudly on display. There was no way the men weren't

aware they were dealing with a beastman.

Nikola was the only beastman in Brunhild with fox-like traits. If they knew

anything about our knight order, they'd know that. If you're wondering what

the point in the Oni costume was if our members could be identified by features

like that, well... Uh... aesthetics.

"S-Surround him, idiots! Swarm him!"

"Heh..." Six of them quickly surrounded Nikola. Baba, Elze, and the other Oni

noticed the attack. None of them moved to interfere. There was no reason to,

after all.

"HAAAAAAH!!!"

"Wastrel!" Nikola outclassed all the men in terms of speed, deftly driving his

stun rod staff into the ground, he used the momentum to propel himself into

the air.

He landed behind the men, outside their circle. Turning in place, he sped to

strike all of them from behind, rendering them unable to fight any longer.

"Ghah!"

"Hughah!" One of the men was hit so hard that he vomited up his dinner in

mid-air, then landed face-first into the splattered gastric mess. It was gross.

Each man fell after the other, and not one landed a single shot on Nikola. He

was truly like a brutal oni in terms of how he handled them. A true oni indeed...

Eventually, Nikola stepped forward, facing the man who had barked orders

before.

"E-Eeek!"

"Brunhild's knight order is an equal-opportunity workplace. The bigoted are

not extended that privilege, however."

"Gaaaaaah!" The examinee charged forward with a sword, but it was fruitless.

Nikola struck him in the neck. The man sank to the ground, a spasming mess.

I looked around and didn't see many more targets, so I headed over to see

Nikola.

"Hey, good work."

"...I let my feelings get the better of me. I apologize for that. It seems I've

much further to go in terms of composure and training..."

"I wouldn't worry so much. We're Oni right now, right? If it was me, I'd have

stripped them naked and strung them up from tree branches." I meant to

comfort Nikola with a little anecdote, but he ended up giving me somewhat of

an awkward, concerned smile in return.

H-Hey, don't take me that seriously...

"I am fairly certain you did that already, Touya-dono... did you not?"

"Don't you remember back when you dealt with those thugs by stringing

them up along the road without their stuff?" Elze and Yae chimed in with a

story from the past.

C-C'mon... That's old news! Those guys weren't even worthy of being called

people, anyway! I was just doing the natural thing.

"All finished here." I turned to Hilde and saw a bunch of fallen contestants

near the fire. The stun rod didn't necessarily rob people of their consciousness,

it just paralyzed them and prevented further motion. It was capable of knocking

people out, though. The effectiveness of the item depended on individual magic

resistance, physical fitness, and so on.

The Oni all took the badges from their fallen targets. We overlooked the

skilled guys, though... Still, there were only around ten good enough people out

of the hundred that had gathered.

They'd wake up in around thirty minutes. Some of the Oni retreated to the

forest and kept an eye on them, making sure that none of them accidentally

lost their badges.

"I'll keep an eye out, Your Highness. Please go and deal with the others."

"You sure? Alright, then."

"We'll return to the castle, as well. I don't want the staff getting worried."

Hilde had a point. I opened up a [Gate] for her and the other girls to get back

through. And after that, I parted with Nikola and left the area.

I jumped from tree to tree, branch to branch. I briefly wondered if my night

vision had always been so good. I could see pretty far if I focused my sight. It

was a strange ability, but I wondered if this was another awakening of my

divinity...

That night, I killed a lot of magical beasts that were threatening the

examinees. I also defeated the examinees that couldn't defeat the monsters,

though. I helped out examinees who got caught in traps, and then promptly

defeated them for getting caught in traps. After a while, morning came.

◇ ◇ ◇

All three days had come and gone. Every badge on the contestants suddenly

rang out with Commander Lain's voice.

"The examination is now over. Congratulations for making it. All of you with

badges have passed the second examination phase. Please remove your badges

now, and you will be teleported to the starting point." All the contestants began

to remove their badges, one by one. I removed mine, too.

After teleporting back, they had to report their full name and badge number.

The interview was scheduled to take place two days later.

I paid attention to the long line of applicants who had succeeded, and I saw

the ninja guy, the commander guy, and the plant guy. I was surprised the plant

guy survived... He looked pretty battered though, so I figured he found a place

to hide and stayed there for the whole three days.

I noticed the lioness woman, the winged man, the wardog, and the arachne.

They'd passed too, apparently. I was glad to see that.

I used my search magic to make sure there wasn't anyone left in the forest.

Thankfully, there was not.

Tsubaki, still disguised as a contestant, approached me and covertly informed

me of how many people succeeded.

"There are four-hundred-and-sixteen successful applicants. The interview

portion should reduce this number to a hundred-and-fifty or so."

"Yumina's helping, so she'll be able to knock any suspicious or questionable

guys out of the running... but I wonder if we'll end up having enough guys after

all of that... Well, even if it leaves us understaffed, I'd rather that than have bad

guys in my knight order."

The real tests began here. We'd carefully analyze every last member and

make sure we knew what kind of person they were.

The doctor provided me with a polygraph test, as well. A pretty accurate one,

too. Alongside Yumina's Mystic Eye, I was pretty confident we'd be fine.

When I showed the polygraph test to my fiancees, they hooked me up to the

damn thing and started firing questions at me. I didn't wanna answer their

cursed questions, though! It was a powerful artifact that could tell true from

false, so it wouldn't react if you didn't reply! I had the right to remain silent,

after all!

They asked me terrible things, like my preference on breast size, and which

color underwear I preferred... That was terrifying! They couldn't ask me

questions like that... Though they did make me answer whether or not I truly

loved them, and they were happy with the result.

"Wasn't there a ninja amongst the successful applicants? Was he one of your

guys?" I asked every high-ranking member of the knight order to tell any

talented people they knew to try out for the test. If they were talented, then

they'd have no trouble joining up, and we'd have reliable and powerful people

swelling our ranks. The interview phase would go much more smoothly, too.

"That is possible, yes. I reached out to many shinobi from Eashen. The recent

incident with Hideyooshi caused several smaller clans to collapse, leading to a

lot of wandering soldiers. I called out particularly talented ones and invited

them here."

"Hm? Several people? I only saw one... Are they all ninjas?"

"Yes, they are. One from the Kouga clan, one from Iga, and one from Fuma."

Kouga, Iga, and Fuma, huh...? They're pretty different ninja schools. If I

remember my history right, weren't Iga and Kouga on bad terms in general?

I posed the question to Tsubaki, but she said no such thing was true in this

world. They had somewhat of a rivalry and were of similar levels, but there

wasn't any bad blood. They originally served the same clan and began drifting in

service after it collapsed. It seemed like the clan they served was closely

connected to the Hashiba clan.

"Hmm... I ended up causing that indirectly, didn't I...? I have mixed feelings..."

"The two of them left the Sanada clan and decided that Brunhild was the best

option to continue their service. I don't think you need to worry, it's simply the

natural course of life and war."

"I guess so, but... wait, Sanada?" Sanada...? The Sanada Clan? Wait, the

Kouga and Iga ninjas in the service of Sanada... No way...

"Th-Those two ninja... They aren't called Sarutobi and Kirigakure, are they...?"

"Hm...? Why, yes... But how did you know?"

Oh sweet lord.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Alright, then. Results will be posted outside the castle, the day after

tomorrow. You may leave now."

"Yes ma'am!" We'd just finished an interview with five people, and they left

the room at Commander Lain's order. And once they all filtered out, Yumina

began talking.

"Those three on the left were no good at all. Their intentions were clear to

me, at least. Two of them planned to rise through the ranks until they could

push people around. The third one had far too much of a rebellious streak. It

didn't seem like he'd listen to orders well. He'd be the kind of person to disobey

a commander he had a personal problem with. We can't allow people like that

into the knight order, as it would throw us into disarray."

"I think I understand where you're coming from, I felt similarly based on my

gut instinct. Every word they spoke was laced with arrogance, as well. There

were some lies, too." Lain replied to Yumina, and I gave a little shrug as I

crossed out the names of those three individuals. That was it for them.

"And the other two?"

"They stammered a bit, but I didn't feel any malice and they weren't lying. I'd

be fine with them. They seemed fine."

"Indeed. They had a very serious demeanor, but they passed as far as

character goes in my eyes." Those guys ended up passing just fine.

We'd been interviewing people for two days at this point.

The people conducting the interview were me, Commander Lain, and Yumina.

I'd changed my appearance with [Mirage], though.

We conducted interviews in groups of five. It took around ten minutes to

interview a group, so that meant there were around eighty interviews to be

held in total. Even after splitting it across two days, it was pretty intensive work.

I couldn't afford to be lazy about this matter, though. If we let any bad eggs

through the cracks, the people of Brunhild would suffer for our negligence.

That was really the key feature I was looking for in a knight. I wanted knights

who would readily be champions of the people rather than champions of the

nation. I didn't need people who were fighting for me or fighting for honor. I

needed true defenders.

I wanted knights who would readily fight against me if my reign became

corrupt. Not that such a situation would actually come about, though...

"Alrighty then. Bring in the next five."

"Of course." Spica the dark elf was minding the door, and she called out to

the next group of examinees. The lamia siblings, Mulette and Charette, were

standing nearby as well.

I felt a little bad for using them, but they were important for the test, too.

The moment the next five entered, I saw three of them adopt a sour

expression in the direction of the three demonkin. The other two seemed

surprised, but didn't seem offended or angry. They seemed more interested

than anything. Spica was a beautiful woman, while the lamias had half-snake

bodies, after all.

We pretty much knew off the bat that the judgmental three were no good.

We'd still ask them the standard questions, though. The questions were

engineered to get a good grasp of their attitudes and personalities, and we had

the polygraph in place to tell if they were lying, too.

We had liars come in, and honest people as well. I didn't really expect any

candidate to be a hundred percent honest, either. A few lies now and then was

something normal in life, after all. People might be hesitant in divulging certain

details; they barely knew the interviewers. We'd fairly judge them based on the

lies and truths they decide to mix together.

After the five left, Yumina and Lain began to talk about them. We pretty much

agreed we didn't want the trio. Yumina said she could sense their

overabundance of pride and their self-righteousness. Of the two others, one of

them told a lot of lies, including about where he was born. I didn't really wanna

employ a guy like that, since it was a little shady. And so, I crossed off four of

the five and allowed the one regular guy to pass.

Spica ushered in the next fivesome. It was time to go again...

I was pleased to see that, of the next five, one was the plant guy and another

was the commander guy.

They both expressed curiosity and surprise at the demonkin as they walked in,

but nothing beyond that. The plant guy's demeanor got a little stiffer. He

seemed nervous in their presence, which wasn't entirely unreasonable.

They sat next to each other on the left, which meant they must've had similar

entry numbers.

Hmm... So the blonde in the armor is Lanz Tempest, and the plant guy is

Charon...

Lanz Tempest. Born in the Knight Kingdom of Lestia. Third son of a renowned

knight. His elder brothers were Lestian knights.

"Why Brunhild?"

"Ah, well. I've been hearing stories about the grand duke and his knight order

for quite some time now. The stories of the grand duke and his valiant knights

fighting against a horde of dragons moved me. I decided there and then that I

wanted to commit my power, however meager, to such a valiant order." He

wasn't aware that the grand duke was sitting right in front of him, which I found

amusing. I had a follow-up question.

"You want to become a knight of Brunhild, then... But is it alright to leave

your home behind and not become a Lestian knight?"

"The grand duke of Brunhild is engaged to our venerable princess, Hildegard,

which means that Brunhild is as honorable to me as my homeland. I have

decided that my sword will be another link in the chain that binds our two

glorious nations." He wasn't lying. The guy was extremely serious, if not a little

wooden. But he was from a knight family, so that was to be expected.

The next guy was Charon, the plant guy.

Charon. Born in the Kingdom of Belfast.

"...According to the Oni report, you gathered various edible plants and herbs

in the forest. Where did you learn this set of skills?"

"I-I, uh... I-It's not e-exactly a set of skills, b-but, uhm... I-I come f-from a

family of herbalists, s-so I've been g-g-gathering such things since I w-was

little..." He was jittery. His words were a little interesting, too.

Having a pharmaceutical background was good, though. He probably knew a

lot about plants and remedies. That'd be a good asset.

"So, why a knight order?"

"U-Uhm, well... I heard that Brunhild's knight order d-does farm work, too... II thought I'd b-be able to help in that r-regard, I-I can farm, a-and I can clear out

areas. M-My combat pr-proficiency isn't t-terrible. I-I can k-kill bears and

stuff..."

Huh, kind of reminds me of the matagi, the winter hunters of northern Japan.

He passed the survival game, so I'm sure he'll be just fine. I get the feeling he'd

do well with a nata machete.

He wasn't lying, either, so I felt he and Lanz were a good fit for the order.

After they left, I asked Yumina and Lain for their opinions on the men. They

seemed to agree with me.

"We'll have Lanz assigned to the castle guard patrol. Charon should be fielded

under Naito to help tame the eastern territory for farmland." Lain suggested

exactly what I was thinking. The two of them were recruited right away.

Next up were the people I saw being driven away from the fire during the

forest trial. The lioness beastwoman, the winged beastman, the wardog guy,

and the arachne girl. The fifth member of this interview group was a leatherclad man. He looked like a generic adventurer, and I immediately lost all

interest in him on account of the haughty way he was looking at his demihuman companions.

The lioness woman was named Ashley.

The winged man was named Baris.

The wardog was called Dingo.

Lastly, the arachne girl was named Lifon.

Apparently, they headed straight for Brunhild after hearing rumors that we

recruited anyone for the order. They were in two groups originally, Baris with

Ashley and Dingo with Lifon, but they ended up meeting on the way.

I reminded them that we didn't offer a high wage, but they didn't seem to

mind. They weren't lying, either... Those wages were seriously low, so they

must've been easily satisfied. I shamefully made a mental note to get the rates

increased somehow.

I asked a few more questions, and I was pretty satisfied with the result. I was

more than happy with them working for us.

After they left, I turned to Yumina to get her opinion. She didn't have an issue.

All four of them passed. The leather-clad guy did not.

Our interviews carried on throughout the second day. The number of people

was immense, way more than I expected at the beginning. We couldn't afford

to slack off, so we just kept pushing onward.

After a hard day, we ended up recruiting a lot of talented people. And

eventually, we came to the last three...

"Sarutobi Homura... Kirigakure Shizuku, and Fuma Nagi..." They were three

girls clad in ninja gear sitting down in front of me. They were the trio that

Tsubaki had recommended to me.

They were the daughters of Sarutobi Sasuke, Kirigakure Saizou, and Fuuma

Kotarou, respectively.

Daughters... Honestly, I was expecting their parents. I asked them about their

old men, and they said they were very elderly and retired some time ago.

The girls were all fifteen years old, around two years younger than me. They

were in the same age bracket as Elze and Linze, though. Homura was bright and

energetic and seemed to be in high spirits. Shizuku was a cool, calm, and

collected kind of girl. Nagi, on the other hand, barely had any presence to her at

all.

Homura had short hair, while Shizuku's was long. Nagi's was around shoulder

length. They each had different specialties, as well. Homura was an

accomplished martial artist, Nagi was an expert of ranged weapons, and

Shizuku had a talent for concealing herself. They all had the basics of ninjutsu

down, as well.

It was Homura who saw me standing on top of that tree, but I thought she

was a guy due to her outfit...

"It may be a little difficult for you to understand, but I bear a Mystic Eye. I can

see things at a long distance, and I have the ability to see through relatively

small obstacles." Homura's eye was a slightly different, light brown color. It was

hard to tell at a glance, though. She named this ability her "Second Sight." It

was similar to my [Long Sense], but only used the sense of sight. It would be a

useful skill, nonetheless.

I felt they'd be a good fit for Tsubaki's intel corps. I asked them if they had a

problem with that, and they didn't seem to mind.

"I am proficient in concealing myself, so I believe I would do well in such a

group. Private investigation or simple surveillance is nothing to me," said

Shizuku.

"I'm toootally faaast... I outran aaall the Oniii..." said Nagi. It seemed that her

fast footwork helped her pass the exam.

Nagi kind of reminded me of someone... Cecile, a maid of ours. The way she

spoke was kind of similar, and if I recalled correctly, Cecile was talented with

throwing knives. She had been employed by Belfast's intel division, after all.

"Hey theeere. My naaame's Cecile."

"I'm Naaagiii... It's niiice to meet youuu..."

"Ufufuuu..."

"Eheheee..." I tried imagining a scenario in which they met. It was scary. Both

of them had a... very particular air about them. I wondered if they were

somehow long-lost sisters or something...

We finished up the rest of the questioning and ended the interview. They

hadn't lied, and Yumina didn't have an issue either. Tsubaki's recommendation

was the final nail in the positive coffin, so they passed.

Thus, the interview phase was complete. There were around four-hundred

candidates that passed the second trial, and the interview phase narrowed that

further down to a hundred-and-thirty-one. It was slightly less than we'd

expected, so we had Kousaka prepare a separate interview event later on for

people to fill up the civil service spots.

Now, all we had to do was assign people to the roles of spies, patrollers, and

castle guardsmen. We assigned some on the spot, but the rest weren't sorted.

Either way, all the successful candidates had been selected, so we just needed

to formally enroll them with a ceremony.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Congratulations to all of you. As grand duke, it's my pleasure to induct you

all into Brunhild's knight order." I stood atop the stage and greeted the crowd

of successful applicants. Those that were meeting me for the first time were

taken aback. After all, I was known the world over as a heroic adventurer who

defeated crystal monsters, inherited the Frame Gears from an ancient

civilization, killed Dragons, and solved political disputes solo.

It was natural for them to be shocked at discovering the fabled hero was a

young man. They didn't seem to be taking me lightly, though. That only meant

that Yumina's assessment of them was right.

"Now, you've passed the formal examination and you're in... but I want to see

your skills first-hand. I would like you all to fight me." The crowd just kind of

stared blankly as my request sank in. They looked around to each other and

murmured in disbelief.

"So we're doing that, then..."

"Wanna bet how many of them last?"

"We shouldn't be betting..."

"Let's hope none of them come out traumatized..." We all moved to one of

the practice fields outside and decided the one-versus-one-hundred-and-thirtyone battle would commence. All the new recruits wielded wooden training

weapons. I would've been fine if they used their regular weapons, but they

probably would've been too unnerved to fight me seriously in that case. Either

way, I wasn't planning on letting them lay a finger on me.

I decided I'd use this battle to judge where to assign the candidates. All the

senior members of the knight order were watching carefully, after all.

"We ready? [Accel]..." I used my acceleration spell and charged headlong

toward the newbies.

It took twenty minutes for the battle to come to a close, and all of the new

recruits were on the ground. Not a single one of them had been able to remain

standing.

I quickly cast [Mega Heal] and [Refresh] on them, restoring them to the state

they were in before the battle. I didn't want to leave them rolling around on the

floor, after all.

A lot of them thanked me for healing me, but I felt a bit guilty. After all, I was

the one who put them in that situation, and... it wasn't over.

"Alright, my turn... Ain't it?" Moroha walked out on to the field and swapped

places with me.

That's a hell of a grin you're sporting... Make sure you don't treat them too

badly...

"Listen up, new blood! I'm Mochizuki Moroha, Moroha's my given name! I'm

an adviser to Brunhild's knight order and their primary swordplay instructor!

Good job on joining the family, now I'm gonna whip your asses into shape!" And

so it began, the grueling week-long training session we'd planned in advance.

Moroha was angry at me for refusing to let her join in as an Oni in the second

test, so this was the compromise I came up with for her.

"Alright, let's start by running around the castle. Fifty laps."

The newcomers grumbled and groaned. The perimeter of the castle was

around two kilometers. If it was fifty laps, then they'd be running about a

hundred kilometers... I felt sorry for them. Moroha was some kind of monster.

I prayed to the heavens for their safety, but it felt a little bit futile... After all,

the one so harshly chasing after them was sent by the heavens themselves...

Moroha and the other gods weren't allowed to interfere with the mortal

realm using their divinity, but they were still allowed to operate within the

parameters of a mortal. The only issue was that they tended to be mortals at

the apex of skill.

They were the kind of "humans" that reached a level of skill one could achieve

after a thousand years. They weren't taking lifespan into account at all... Well,

then again... elves, fairies, and other demi-humans could probably reach that

level given enough time.

Either way, the hellish crucible would make our newbies stronger. They had

to persevere for the sake of a brighter future.