So I think it's time for me to start the Order.

　As I spoke, Mr. Kosaka stood up from the round table in the conference room and said, "As far as the national interest requires, I'd like to start with thirty applicants for the former Takeda.

Mr. Kosaka stood up and said, "If I may begin by saying that it's in our current national interest to do so, we have thirty applicants from the former Takeda. These are our former employees, so their identities are clear. Fifteen of them will be assigned to Baba and Yamak Prefecture, respectively. And there will be about 10 members of the former Takeda ninja clandestine unit led by Tsubaki. And the new recruits will be around 60 people. I think we'll start with a total of about 100.

　Sixty new people, huh? Well, that's about right at the beginning. It's not like we're in a big town.
　In the meeting room, besides me and Kosaka-san, there were Baba, Yamakata, Naito's ex-Takeda Four Heavenly Kings, the ninja-headed Tsubaki-san, and the other three knights, Rain-san, Norn-san, and Nicola-san, all of whom were present. Of these, Kosaka-san, Naito's old man, and Tsubaki-san aren't exactly knights. But it would be better to have them there when making decisions about these things.

''What about recruiting qualifications and such?''

　I answer the old Baba's question as he opens his mouth.

'Well first of all, of course, criminals and wanted persons are dismissed. Any man or woman. Any race. No matter what your status or age.
I mean, if you put out a call like that, aren't they gonna come in droves?

　What the old man in Yamagata may be right, but we don't know where the best people are, and I don't think it's a bad idea to recruit a lot of people anyway.
　It's our job to find a ball in that jumble of stones.

'By the way, what about the Commander and others?

　The old man from Naito lightly raises his hand to speak. The leader of the Order? I glanced at old Baba's old man and old man Yamak Prefecture.

We don't want any trouble. It's not worth the trouble. I'm a captain.
Me too. I don't like it.

　I knew it. You've been saying this for a while now. If you were a general in Takeda, you could have done it. Does that mean he's learned his lesson already? If that's the case....

You mean we get to choose one of the three?
Us?

　Rain-san stood up with her bunny ears pinned up. Norn-san and Nicola-san both rolled their eyes. These three, the rabbit, wolf and fox beastmen, are officially our knights at the moment.

''Well, there's no one else,''
But we're not ready for the Commander's position!

　Rain waved her hands in a hurry. The two men beside her were nodding their heads in agreement.

It's a good idea to have a team of about a hundred people, so each of us can form our own team and I can lead them in case of an emergency. But even so, I think it's still necessary when I'm not around.
But...

　Anyway, we need a leader. Even if it's a small number of people, it's still a knightly order. The problem is how to decide..... All three of us have our strengths and weaknesses.
　Nicolas is serious but inflexible, Norn is good-natured but sketchy, and Rain is able to do everything smoothly but is a bit shy.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that there are a lot of people in the world who are not interested in this kind of thing.

　As I said this, Nicola raised her hand.

'I'm recommending Rain for the Commander.
Me too. I think you're better off with Rain.
What?

　Mr. Lane has been betrayed! I stare at them with a look like that. If the two of them recommend me, I won't have to struggle, and for us, it's wishful thinking.

'Huh, what are you two saying? You'd be better suited to Nicola than me!
'No, I'd rather have you in a cooler frame of mind. Norn is sketchy, which is somewhat of a problem for a Commander. He also has a tendency to slack off. I wouldn't be able to be flexible and probably treat my subordinates too harshly. As a Commander, that's a bad idea. They often say it's candy and a whip to make people follow you, but I'm definitely the whip. The leader of a knight's order should be the candy one if at all possible.

　Hmmm, you're looking at it objectively. That's my image of Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi. He's the "demon deputy chief" of the Shinsengumi. He stands up to the chief, Isamu Kondo, and at his side, he disciplines the troops to a cold-blooded degree. It would certainly be better to have someone like that, though.

''Then Rain-san will be the leader. ''That's why.''
"No objection.
'What? Wait a minute!

　For the past few months, the three of them have been trained daily by Baba's old man and old man Yamak Prefecture, and they have also crossed swords with the fierce men of the Belfast Kingdom and the Regulus Empire, begging them to teach them, and the three of them have been gaining strength by mecha. The qualities were pretty good, and since they were originally beastmen, their basic physical abilities were outstanding.
　And in a way, this might be the perfect choice for that. If Rain-san, who is a beastman and a woman, is the leader of the group, I think people will understand that in this country, neither race nor gender matters.

''Well, well, even though she's the leader of the group, she's still a platoon leader class in other countries, so don't get too worked up about it. The other two will support you as deputy commanders.
Ha!
I'll take care of it.

　Nicola-san replies sincerely and Norn-san replies with a kerfuffle and a laugh. The person in question, Rain-san, sits down in her chair without any effort, "Eeeee........ The bunny ears were also hanging down in a huff.
　It's a bit awkward, but you have no choice but to do your best here. I'll support you as much as I can.
　Now we just need to make some flyers and post them in various places. If we put them in the Adventurer's Guild in Belfast and Regulus, that should be enough to get some attention.
　After that, we talked it over and decided that the selection committee would meet in a month.



　And a month later.

''Huh?''
'So. There were more than 1,000 applicants for a capacity of 60. This was unexpected.

　I couldn't help but listen back to the number of people Takasaka-san had told me. I did put out some recruitment flyers in various places, but I didn't expect this many people to come. That's obviously more than the people of this country.

How could it be...
''Your Majesty is the only rank silver adventurer in Belfast, the hero who put down the coup in Regulus, and the dragon slayer in Mismid. He must have been drawn to that fame. Of course, there may be chillers and agents from other countries, too.

　I see. Well, is it not too much? It's nice to have a group of different types of people around to help me deal with some flexibility.

So how is His Majesty going to make the selection?
Ummm, what do you think I should do? Actually, I haven't decided yet.

　I have no idea what criteria I should use to select them.

It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what kind of person you think is suitable for the Brünnhilde Order. It's a good idea to have all of them fight for the top 60.

　That's a very simple statement. I don't want someone who is simply violent, no matter how talented he is. Given that, the ideal candidate is someone who can think of the people of this country first. I'm sure they came to us for a variety of reasons, but I'm not going to compromise on that.
　However, it would take too much time to interview each person individually. What should I do?



If you want to join the Brünnhilde Order, please come this way. In order, one by one, please.

　At the reception desk set up in front of the castle gates, applicants write their name, gender, race, age, hometown and self-promotion on a form and receive a badge with a numbered tag from the receptionist, Mr. Lapidus. After that, they receive a stamp with the same number on the back of their hand, and that's it for today. The selection process will be the day after tomorrow.
　When you go out today or tomorrow, you will be asked to wear your badge on your chest or somewhere easy to find.
　In fact, this is already the first round of judging. The people have already been informed that they will be asked to write down the number of the bad impressions they made during their stay. They will also write down the contents of their bad impressions, so if they do something like roughing up a store or hitting a female clerk, for example, it will be written down in the report as soon as they do so.
　If you're smart, you might be able to figure out what this means when you're given a badge.
　This is not a "how to find the right person" for our knights. This is "How to find the unworthy". Who would not think about the meaning of a badge and cause trouble for those who might be the ones they are supposed to protect?
　Furthermore, Tsubaki-san has the shinobi under her command cast a 'mirage' and turn into beastmen or demons to wander around the town. We don't need people who look at these people and discriminate against them. One-third of the recruits are those sub-humans, so if they are hired, they will naturally become colleagues with those people. If you discriminate against them, such as "you're a beastman" or "you're a demon race", you'll do yourself no harm.
　I also called a hundred or so cat messengers and let them loose on the town. Any information they obtain will be reported to me.

I'll keep you posted on what they learn. Number 685.
There's a group of people drinking and making a lot of noise in the store. Even though the staff warned them, they wouldn't stop. Number 812 to 815.
"A rock was thrown at me out of the blue.... Number 258.

　So they came out right away. But this is a lot of work for me to keep track of on my own... Shall I ask Ember to help me? Since he's the king of beasts, he can receive the telepathic messages from the cats, so we should ask Rene and Lime to write them down.
　As expected, with more than 1,000 people, it would be impossible to make it with just the inn at Mika-san's place. Most of them camp out outside the town. There are no dangerous animals in the area, so there is no need to worry about that.
　But there are a lot of people here. I also disguised myself in the "Mirage", I inspected the whole town. There are a lot of female adventurers as well, since both men and women are welcome. As expected, the beastmen and demons seem to have formed groups of their own.
　We don't allow people who discriminate against beastmen and demons, but conversely, we also don't allow beastmen and demons who are hostile towards humans. People may have their own reasons, but they're not necessary for our company.
　Well, I think the lowest level people will disappear with this, but we still need to sift through them.
　By the way, I suggested that we put a "paralize" on everyone, and those with high magic resistance that were safe would pass, but everyone rejected the idea. It had little to do with the qualification of a knight. Well, there's no one involved, good guys or bad guys.
　That part is dependent on Yumina's magic eye. It's also a good idea to have a few of them help you out when your numbers are down to a certain extent.
　Oh dear, it's going to be busy.