After the proclamation spread in the Empress’ name.

The reaction of the imperial citizens was truly heated.

“You’re saying we can become soldiers belonging to the Imperial Family, not just some domain? And a direct corps that only takes orders from the new Emperor? I, I must do this!”

“Hahaha! Finally, a chance for me to make a name for myself! This will end my miserable mercenary life!”

“I don’t even hope for a commander-level position. Just getting a single soldier’s position is enough!”

It was almost a truth of the human world that a dog in a noble’s house was better fed and warmer than a king among beggars.

If one could become a direct soldier of the Emperor in the Empire, the continent’s strongest nation, and if one could become a commander leading such soldiers, how sweet would that power be? How high would that honor and fame be? And the wealth that would come with it?

Usually, such “special” positions would naturally be divided among the high-ranking people, with only crumbs falling to those below, but this recruitment test surprisingly lacked such restrictions.

It was a level of innovation that made one doubt their eyes, where the firstborn son of a noble family and the youngest child of a farmer’s family had to take the test under the same conditions.

Conversely, this meant it was a very uncomfortable event from the nobles’ perspective.

“We’re talking about the army serving His Majesty the Emperor! I can understand giving common soldiers a chance, but giving those ignorant masses an opportunity to become commanders? It’s absurd!”

“This action greatly lowers the Empire’s honor! We must all unite and quickly stop Her Majesty the Empress!”

But despite these objections, the Empress remained unmoved.

No, not just the Empress, but most of the upper nobility who could influence central politics either kept their mouths shut or showed suspiciously active and positive attitudes towards this recruitment test.

Only lower-ranking nobles or some pro-Lennart nobles were grumbling.

“Her Majesty the Empress has really drawn her sword with determination.”

“Does this mean prior coordination has already been completed? Truly a fearsome person.”

Some sharp-eyed individuals noticed that this event was a massive political offensive for control of the Empire and marveled at the Empress’ meticulous planning and boldness, but not everyone cared about these behind-the-scenes matters.

If the high-ranking people had their circumstances, the lower ranks had their own circumstances as well.

“You guys, participate in that test or whatever it is.”

“…Senior, if you cut off the context and speak so abruptly, we can’t understand.”

“What am I leaving out? With your perception, you should have already understood everything.”

With a carefree and loose attitude.

In a tone like a neighborhood delinquent or a regular at a bar, the gold-rank adventurer Peter spoke, and the silver-rank adventurer trio of Kumara, Magia, and Sitar heaved deep sighs.

This industry senior, whose face value and actual age were different, seemed to be getting more and more frivolous in his speech and behavior as days passed.

One could think he was feeling more friendly towards Kumara’s party, but a senior’s friendliness wasn’t always entirely welcome to juniors.

The gazes of the three adventurers quickly crossed.

You say something.

Shouldn’t the leader step up at times like this?

Damn you guys. Only at times like this am I the leader.

Kumara, who was selected to take the lead as a result of a strict and serious majority vote, cautiously argued, “But this is a test to recruit soldiers directly under the Imperial Family, isn’t it? What are we, as adventurers, supposed to do by participating?”

“You don’t have to volunteer as soldiers just because you pass the test. You can just take the consolation prize and leave. The amount is quite large too.”

“That might be the case nominally, but what if we really do that and get marked by the higher-ups?”

“That absolutely won’t happen, so don’t worry. I’m telling you this after checking everything.”

“So why?”

“It’s about time for you guys to aim for gold rank.”

At Peter’s words, the trio’s eyes widened.

“Are you serious?”

“You guys are already stronger than me in a direct confrontation. You have plenty of experience as adventurers, and your adaptability isn’t bad either. To be honest, in terms of skill, you’re higher than those who currently call themselves gold rank. All you lack is an impressive achievement.”

“Come on, that seems like too much praise.”

Seeing Kumara waving his hands, Peter smirked.

“Alright, let me ask you this then, which is scarier: that knight who beat you guys in the last tournament or those so-called white gold and blue gold guys?”

“…Well, that’s…”

Kumara trailed off, but the answer was pretty much set.

The overwhelming difference in skill they felt while fighting directly.

And the divine feat shown in the final that seemed not of this world.

Compared to that, even the top-skilled among adventurers somehow paled in comparison, even if they were the best of the best.

Among the three gold-rank adventurer parties—white, red, and blue—only Peter had achieved gold rank individually, while the others had reached gold rank as a party, which made it even more so.

“Your level has risen steadily because your spirit wasn’t broken even after facing that guy. After surviving against a lion, would you be afraid of wolves?”

Running out of arguments, Kumara tried to find another reason.

“W-we’ve been frequently employed by the Halder Company lately, almost like exclusive contractors, so we should check our sponsor’s opinion…”

“I’ve already talked with Lorentz Halder. That guy is also fired up to grab a big piece of the pie in this opportunity. He agreed to support you with equipment bearing their brand, so wear it when you go.”

“This time, it’s a competition where all the big shots from all over the Empire are jumping in, isn’t it? The scale is different from the martial arts tournament, right? I heard even the Lion Duke’s bloodline is participating in droves.”

“Ah, those guys? With your skills, you can handle most of them, so don’t worry. There’s just one guy around my age who’s hopeless, but he’s stuck in a border fortress, so you probably won’t see his face.”

Peter patted Kumara’s shoulder.

“You don’t need to remain until the end. Blue Gold and Red Gold, those guys are participating too, so if you survive even a little longer than them, that’s enough for you to be gold-rank adventurers.”

Kumara turned his gaze to his companions.

It was a silent message saying he had done his part.

Magia and Sitar also heaved deep sighs as if there was no helping it.

***

The preliminary round of the recruitment test was held in various parts of the Empire.

This was only natural if one thought about it. No matter how big and wide the imperial capital was, if they unconditionally accepted applicants gathering from all over the Empire, it would quickly burst.

The problem was that even after splitting it up like this, there were still too many applicants.

Buzz, buzz. Swarm, swarm.

Facing a crowd that easily exceeded three digits at a glance, Kumara grumbled, “If we’re unlucky, we might have to struggle from the start.”

Sitar showed a puzzled look.

“What do you mean? We don’t know the content of the test yet, right?”

“We don’t know, but we can roughly guess. The most annoying situation for the test organizers is when incompetent riffraff remain for a long time, consuming administrative power. Conversely, this means that at first, the test will focus on ‘weeding out those without skill’ rather than ‘selecting skilled individuals’.”

“Then isn’t that no problem for us?”

“Hey, hey, think about it. With this many people, do you think it’s easy to set fair standards? In these cases, they usually either make people run in circles claiming to test basic physical fitness, or the test content ends up being heavily influenced by luck.”

Magia frowned.

“I hate running.”

Due to the nature of the adventurer profession, even mages needed a certain level of physical fitness, but compared to Sitar the warrior or Kumara the ranger, Magia was relatively inferior in physical abilities.

Some familiars could move while carrying their masters on their backs, but for Magia, who focused entirely on her own skills without a separate familiar, this was irrelevant.

“Well, if worst comes to worst, Sitar or I can take turns carrying you.”

“Will that be allowed?”

“If they don’t intend to fail all the mage-types, they’ll probably allow such conveniences. Or they might start by separating the mages from the beginning.”

While having this conversation, Kumara observed the faces of the participants.

…Since this is a test site near the capital, there certainly seem to be more nobles.

Their flashy and luxurious equipment and appearance were noticeable enough, but they were impossible to miss as they formed several groups among themselves, frowning as if mingling with commoners was unpleasant.

Among them, the most noticeable was a group of about twenty people with golden hair and violet eyes.

The Lennart family? As expected, they’ve divided their numbers.

If thinking purely about military power, it would be stronger for those of the same bloodline to gather as much as possible, but that could lead to a situation where they might have to fight among themselves if their numbers exceeded the passing quota, so it seemed they had split into appropriate sizes and distributed to various test sites.

The reputation of the Lion Duke’s bloodline was indeed not to be ignored, as not only commoners but even other nobles were subtly wary of them, or conversely, showed signs of trying to curry favor as if to somehow ride their coattails.

Tsk, Senior might have said that, but it’s best not to get involved unless absolutely necessary. There’s nothing good about getting mixed up in political affairs unnecessarily.

It was then that Magia, who was with him, poked Kumara in the side.

“What?”

“Look over there.”

At Magia’s words, Kumara turned his head in the direction she was pointing, and immediately blurted out.

“What is that now?”

Dog? Bear? Mouse?

A strange life form with a fluffy coat and an appearance difficult to describe was flapping its short limbs, which were small compared to its body, and occupying the center of the test site.

Even the participants who were on edge with tension and excitement before the test, engaging in psychological warfare with their surroundings, kept their distance as if they wanted to avoid getting involved with such a strange creature.

“It can’t be a magic beast, can it?”

“I’ve never seen such a bizarre magic beast like that even in books. Isn’t it a mascot costume? I have no idea why someone would wear such a thing in a place like this, though.”

“Well. If it’s a strategy to make people around think, ‘I don’t want to be associated with such a crazy guy,’ I can only say it’s brilliant.”

“Both of you, stop your analysis there. The test seems to be about to start.”

On the temporary platform set up at the front of the test site. The examiner who stood on it held a magic tool for amplification in one hand and announced the notice.

《Before starting the first test, I will warn you one last time. As this test is to select specially chosen elites even within the Empire, it consists of very dangerous and harsh content. You may suffer permanent disabilities or face life-threatening dangers during participation, so if you lack determination, please leave outside the line over there even now.》

At first, the participants just murmured a bit without easily giving up, but after the examiner persistently repeated the same content five times, some who seemed to have lost their spirit slipped out beyond the line.

After seeing this, the examiner announced:

《Then I will tell you the content of the first test. From now on, if you meet any one of the several conditions I mention, you will be considered as passing.》

《One. That hill I’m pointing to now. Please reach the tree at the top of that hill. First 70 people.》

《Two. The forest next to the test site now. Please secure a ‘token’ that looks exactly like what I’m showing you now from that forest and return. First 20 people.》

《Three. Fight with other participants and render your opponent unable to fight. Top 10 people with the most opponents taken down.》

《Additionally, the final number of successful candidates may be less than 100.》

The moment they heard the rules, the expressions of the participants changed.

Most participants prepared to run, those with hunting or magic skills gazed at the forest, and those confident in their abilities, especially the Lion Duke’s bloodline, looked around at nearby participants with faces like they were deciding what to pick at a buffet.

Kumara’s party quickly exchanged opinions.

“What should we do?”

“Just have one of you carry me and run. I’ll blow away the ones running ahead with wind magic.”

“I feel like I want to fight the famous Lion Duke’s bloodline, but it seems difficult to take down nearly twenty gathered together, so that seems best.”

Just as they finished their preparations and the examiner finally blew the whistle to start the test.

Boom!

The dropkick of the mascot costume, soaring through the air, struck the face of one of the Lion Duke’s bloodline members who was about to draw his sword.

Before even falling to the ground, it swung its short doll legs to deliver a double air kick to two other bloodline members nearby.

Everyone froze at the sight of the strange creature that had crushed three Lion Duke’s bloodline members in an instant.

And then, the trio demonstrated why adventurers lived longer than knights.

“Run!!”

“Uwaaa!”

“Please, please, please don’t let us get involved!”

As the three wise adventurers ran away at full speed without looking back—even Magia ran on two feet—the strange person in the mascot costume—no, the Tin Knight let out a roar that only he could hear.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ shouts that it’s an unwritten rule to run from the preliminaries in the Hunter Exam without using seeded rights!]

***

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