Chapter 253

# Episode 253: Tin Knight and the Empire’s Banquet (3)

After the proclamation spread in the name of the Empress…

The reaction of the Empire’s citizens was nothing short of explosive.

“Wait, we can become soldiers directly affiliated with the royal family, not just some fiefdom? And a battalion that only takes orders from the new Emperor? This is insane!”

“Hahaha! Finally, I have a chance to make a name for myself! No more dreary mercenary life after this!”

“I’m not even aiming for a commander position. Just getting a simple soldier job would be enough!”

It’s the undeniable truth of human society that even a mutt from a noble household is better fed and warmer than a king among beggars.

If one could become a directly-affiliated soldier of the Empire, the mightiest nation on the continent, and even be a commander of those soldiers, how sweet would that power be? How high would that honor and fame soar? And what riches would come along?

Typically, such “special” positions are divvied up among the highborn while the rest of us are left to pick up the crumbs. But this recruitment exam shockingly had no such restrictions.

The eldest son of a noble family and the youngest of a peasant household had to take the exam under the same conditions—such an outrageous situation was hard to believe.

Conversely, this also meant it was a rather uncomfortable affair for the nobility.

“We’re dealing with soldiers serving the Emperor, for heaven’s sake! It’s one thing for a mere enlisted soldier, but giving a chance to those clueless commoners to become commanders? That’s absurd!”

“This is an act that will greatly tarnish the Empire’s honor! We all need to unite and stop Her Majesty the Empress at once!”

However, despite the backlash, the Empress remained unmoved.

No, not just the Empress; most upper nobility who could influence central politics kept quiet or displayed a surprisingly proactive and positive attitude toward the recruitment test.

The only ones grumbling were a few lower nobility or those in the pro-Lenart camp.

“The Empress is dead serious about this.”

“Looks like the preliminary arrangements have already been made. She’s truly a frightening woman.”

Some who caught on realized this incident was a massive political struggle for the Empire’s control, and they admired the Empress’s meticulousness and boldness, but not everyone was concerned with such background drama.

If the highborn have their own circumstances, so do the lowborn.

“You lot, go participate in that test or whatever.”

“…Senior. It’s hard to understand if you just cut straight to the point like that.”

“What are you clueless about? You’ve all probably figured it out already.”

The gold-ranked adventurer, Peter, spoke with a casual tone reminiscent of a neighborhood hoodlum or a barfly, causing his fellow silver-ranked adventurers—Kumara, Magia, and Sitarr—to let out deep sighs.

This industry senior, whose actual age seemed to diverge from his appearance, felt increasingly frivolous as time went on.

You could see that it was a vibe of familiarity towards the Kumara party, but normally a senior’s friendliness doesn’t always bring joy to their juniors.

The expressions of the three adventurers quickly exchanged glances.

‘You say something.’

‘Isn’t it the leader’s turn to step up here?’

‘Damn it, he’s only the leader during times like this.’

Selected as the reluctant figure to carry the responsibility, Kumara cautiously questioned Peter.

“But this is an exam to select royal soldiers, right? What would adventurers like us do there?”

“Just because you pass the exam doesn’t mean you have to enlist as a soldier. You could get injured and just back out. The stakes are high, after all.”

“Sure, that’s the official stance, but what if we end up on the bad side of the highborn?”

“That won’t happen, so don’t worry. We’ve got everything covered.”

“So why are we doing this?”

“It’s about time you lot earned your gold rank.”

At Peter’s words, the eyes of the three adventurers widened.

“Are you serious?”

“You guys are stronger than me in a straightforward matchup. As adventurers, you have plenty of experience, and your adaptability isn’t bad either. To be honest, you’re more skilled than a lot of those who claim to be gold-ranked. You’re just short on convincing results.”

“Eh, that sounds a bit too much.”

Kumara waved his hands in objection, prompting Peter to chuckle.

“Hey, then let me ask you this. After facing that knight who knocked you out in the last tournament and that astounding ‘Red and Blue’ guy, who do you think is scarier?”

“…Well, that’s a given.”

Though Kumara trailed off, the answer was essentially predetermined.

The overwhelming skill difference they felt when they engaged in battle directly.

And the divine presence displayed in the final rounds that felt unlike anything from this world.

In comparison, even the best adventurers seemed to pale in significance.

Among the three gold-ranked adventurer parties, only Peter achieved a solo gold rank, while the others rose as a party.

“If you’ve managed to survive after facing that guy, why would you fear a bunch of wolves?”

Out of words, Kumara tried to find a different excuse.

“Well, we’ve been almost exclusively employed by the Halder Trading Company lately, and it might be worth inquiring about their sponsorship…”

“I’m already done talking with Lorenz Halder. That guy’s eyes are lit with greed, wanting to take a solid cut from this opportunity. They’ve agreed to support you with gear marked with their brand, so wear it when you go out.”

“But this time, contestants from all over the Empire are competing. The scale is nothing like a mere martial arts tournament! I hear the Lion Duke’s Bloodline is up to participate!”

“Oh, those guys? They’re nothing you can’t handle with your skills, so don’t worry. The only real threat is one guy around my age, but he’s stuck at a border fortress, so you probably won’t run into him.”

Peter patted Kumara on the shoulder.

“You don’t even have to make it to the end. Since that ‘Blue and Red’ guy is also joining, all you need to do is outlast them even a bit, and you’ll be gold-ranked adventurers.”

Kumara turned his gaze to his comrades.

It was a silent message saying he had done enough.

Magia and Sitarr let out resigned sighs as if there was no other option.

***

The preliminaries of the recruitment exam were held throughout the Empire.

That was only to be expected. No matter how large and vast the capital of the Empire is, it would be chaotic if they just accepted applicants from across the Empire indiscriminately.

The issue was that even after dividing things up, the number of applicants was still overwhelming.

Crowd gathered. Swelled.

Faced with a throng that easily exceeded three digits, Kumara mumbled.

“What a drag… Guess we’ll have to deal with some hardships from the start, huh?”

Sitarr looked puzzled.

“What do you mean? We don’t even know the details of the test yet?”

“Sure, we don’t know, but we can roughly guess. From the examiners’ perspective, the most annoying situation is having a bunch of incompetent folks lingering around, eating up administrative resources. Conversely, that means the test will focus more on ‘getting rid of the incompetent’ than ‘selecting the capable’.”

“Then that means we’re in the clear, right?”

“Think about it. With so many people, do you think it’ll be easy to set fair standards? During times like this, they usually just throw together some clumsy way of checking basic endurance or rely heavily on luck.”

Magia grimaced.

“I absolutely hate running.”

Being an adventurer means you need a certain level of stamina even as a mage, but compared to warriors like Sitarr or rangers like Kumara, her physical abilities were relatively lacking.

Some summoned beasts can carry their masters on their backs, but for Magia, who pours everything into her own abilities, that was a conversation she would never have.

“Well, if it comes to that, I could just carry you on my back with Sitarr taking turns.”

“Will that even be allowed?”

“If they don’t plan to disqualify all mages, they’re likely to accommodate something like that. Otherwise, they’ll probably just exclude mages from the outset.”

As they chatted, Kumara surveyed the participants.

‘… I suppose because this is a testing ground near the capital, it seems there are definitely a lot of nobility around.’

You could spot them easily just by looking at their flashy and expensive gear; they mingled among commoners with that unmistakable air of superiority.

Among them, a particularly striking group of about twenty with blonde hair caught his eye.

‘Could it be the Lenart Family? They’ve definitely split up their numbers.’

If you only consider brute strength, clustering as many of the same lineage as possible would be the strong point. However, that could lead to accumulating surplus numbers over the required admissions and would force them to fight against each other, so they seemed to have judiciously distributed their numbers across various testing grounds.

It seemed the reputation of the Lion Duke’s Bloodline could not be ignored, as not only commoners but even fellow nobility subtly warily regarded them or, conversely, seemed eager to gain their favor.

‘Tch. My senior said that, but it’s best to avoid getting involved unless it’s absolutely necessary. There’s really nothing good to be gained by meddling in politics.’

At that moment, Magia poked Kumara in the side.

“What?”

“Look over there.”

At her words, Kumara turned to the direction she was pointing, and instinctively exclaimed.

“What is that?”

A dog? A bear? A mouse?

It was a creature whose appearance was hard to describe, a shaggy beast flailing its short limbs while taking up the middle of the testing ground.

Even the participants, who were already tense and excited about the upcoming examination, seemed eager to avoid getting entangled with such a bizarre creature, keeping their distance.

“Surely that can’t be a monster, right?”

“I’ve never seen a bizarre monster like that even in the books. Is that some kind of costume? I can’t possibly fathom why someone would show up in such a getup here.”

“Well, if their goal is to make others think ‘I don’t want to get involved with that crazy guy,’ then it’s a brilliant strategy.”

“Both of you, let’s leave that analysis there. It looks like the test is about to start.”

An examiner stood on a makeshift podium set up in front of the testing ground, holding a magical amplification device and announcing the details.

“Before we begin the first test, this is the last warning. This test is specifically designed to select the elite from within the Empire and thus consists of extremely dangerous and harsh content. Participants may be subjected to permanent disabilities or even life-threatening situations, so if you lack the resolve, please step outside the line now.”

Initially, the participants murmured, refusing to give up, but when the examiner repeated the same content insistently five times, several appeared defeated and drifted outside the line.

After observing this, the examiner continued.

“Now, I will announce the details of the first test. Any participant who meets one of the following conditions will be treated as passing.”

“First: Please reach the tree at the top of that hill I’m currently pointing to. The first 70 to arrive will pass.”

“Second: In the forest adjacent to the testing ground, return with a ‘token’ identical to what I am currently holding. The first 20 to return will pass.”

“Third: Defeat another participant and incapacitate them. The top 10 with the most defeated will pass.”

“Additionally, the total number of final passers may be less than 100.”

Upon hearing these rules, the expressions of the participants changed.

Most prepared to race, while hunters or magic users eyed the nearby forest, and those confident in their skills—especially the Lion Duke’s Bloodline—studied other contestants as if pondering what to eat 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 anyone who tries to overtake us with wind magic.”

“I’d like to fight against the prestigious Lion Duke’s Bloodline, but with that many of them together, it seems best not to, so I guess that’s our best option.”

As everyone finalized their preparations, the moment the examiner blew the whistle to start…

WHOOSH!

The costumed figure’s drop kick nailed a member of the Lion Duke’s Bloodline right in the face before they could even draw their sword.

Before they hit the ground, the short-legged beast kicked two more of its fellow bloodline members with a flurry of airborne kicks.

Everyone froze at the sight of the creature effortlessly taking down three members of the Lion Duke’s Bloodline in seconds.

And the trio demonstrated why adventurers often outlive knights.

“Run!!”

“Ahhh!”

“Please, please let us not get caught up in this!!”

As the wise three adventurers sprinted away without looking back (even Magia leaping on two feet!), the creature in the costume—the Tin Knight—let out a roar that no one else could hear.

[‘The Tin Knight’ declares that for the hunter exam, not using seed rights from the preliminaries is the rule of the game!]