On the day of the third test.

The venue selected was a vast forest area near the capital.

Participants were given the same color in groups of 50 and dispersed to various points in the forest, while dozens of spirits roamed the sky above, watching over them.

These were spirits controlled by court mages who weren’t participating in the competition.

Some argued that it was unfair for court mages to act as judges when Algind, who could be considered the face of the court mages, was participating in the competition, but when asked who else could watch over and manage such a large number of people, they couldn’t provide an alternative.

From the start, given that this grand banquet was a test to select the “Emperor’s Sword”, and that the Imperial Family and the Witch of the South were on the same team, the playing field would inevitably be somewhat titled.

However, the Imperial side also wanted to minimize the possibility of backbiting, so they installed magic tools for video recording throughout the forest to function as “eyes” separate from the spirits.

Moreover, the first thing the participants did when placed in their respective positions was… what could be called establishing a hierarchy.

“Everyone, listen to me! Instead of rushing into the test blindly, shouldn’t we select a leader among us?”

“What leader?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“This test is a group battle! If the group wins, individuals win, and if the group loses, individuals fail. Then naturally, shouldn’t we coordinate with each other instead of acting separately?”

In a way, it was a natural conclusion.

After all, 50 people moving individually and 50 people moving in unison under a single command were completely different entities.

Moreover, there was another advantage to stepping up as a leader.

In the end, only 1,000 will be assigned to the Imperial Guard. In contrast, only 200 can pass this time, 50 from each of the four teams. This means that some of those who fail this test will inevitably be selected for the Imperial Guard. No, there are rumors that some who failed the second test have already received standby orders because they seemed skilled.

Passing the test is important, but how one performs within the test is also important. Naturally, a leader who shows the ability to lead other participants would be evaluated higher than a warrior who is simply strong.

If you lead others to victory, a commander position in the Imperial Guard is practically guaranteed, and even if you lose, you’ll still get bonus points. You must take the initiative no matter what!

However, other participants had also noticed this logic, and since there were always plenty of people vying for the driver’s seat, those who wanted to become leaders had to somehow prove their worth.

“I am Finn Farend, the rightful heir to the Farend Count family! Warriors, follow me! Let us together become the sword of His Majesty the great Emperor!”

Selling the family name.

“You all, won’t you act with me? Regardless of whether you pass or not, I’ll give you a hefty reward. This is just the advance payment.”

Buying with money.

“You, don’t you know who I am? Even seeing this red helmet?”

“Ah, Red Gold’s Garond!”

“One of the three strongest in the Adventurers’ Guild!”

Getting somewhat martial arts-like reactions through fame, and so on.

And in the midst of this fierce competition for leadership, how was the Tin Knight’s party doing?

“P-please just give us orders.”

“Whether it’s scouting or charging, we’ll do anything!”

“Are your legs not tired? I’ve prepared a modest resting space over here, please ease your fatigue for a moment!”

“…”

Seeing the surrounding people fawning over her without her even saying she wanted to be a leader, Adelaide felt perplexed.

She approached Sophia, who was nearby, and whispered.

“Why is everyone acting like this?”

“Well, those who have made it this far must have either information, skill, or at least some intuition or luck. Isn’t it natural?”

While not to the extent of the Tin Knight’s party, who received all sorts of information as they were practically on the organizers’ side, other participants also had eyes and ears.

A branch family girl of the Lennart family brought down the Tower of Control for family revenge.

At first, people laughed it off as just a baseless rumor, but as time passed and more detailed circumstances began to spread across the continent, they had to take the story seriously.

Of course, the Lennart family side tried to deny the content, saying that the story spread by the Tower of Control was just a rumor, but due to the interference from the Empress’ faction, the information blocking work wasn’t very effective.

Even if they couldn’t openly talk about it, it became information that could be easily found out if those with some power decided to investigate.

According to that information, there was still a grudge to be settled between the branch family girl and the main family.

This recruitment test was held not long after the tower’s collapse.

Furthermore, there was a masked golden-haired girl who was suspiciously focused on smashing the Lion Duke’s bloodline members in that recruitment test.

Honestly, connecting these two wasn’t a very difficult task.

To begin with, Adelaide herself wore the mask as a kind of emotion control switch, not seriously trying to hide her identity.

Even if the masked woman before them wasn’t exactly the same person as the avenger in the stories, there were plenty of reasons for participants to grovel before Adelaide.

Her skill was undeniable as she had beaten down the famously powerful Lion Duke’s bloodline members like flies, and there were rumors that she was staying at the villa of Algind Goodwitch, one of the Empire’s top power holders, so there was nothing to fault in terms of power.

However, this was troublesome for Adelaide and Sophia.

“I don’t know how to do that command thing, what should we do? Sophia, perhaps you…?”

“I’ve read related books, but even so, it seems difficult to suddenly take command based just on that.”

Dorothea, who controlled masses of undead like limbs, or the Tin Knight, who could do bizarrely many things related to combat, might have had an aptitude for command, but the two were in different teams from Adelaide.

Given that the top four teams were predetermined to pass, it was better to secure victory while dispersed across several teams rather than all being in one team and winning.

As Adelaide was pondering whether to just let everyone act on their own or select a commander from among those offering support, something strange caught her eye.

There, in the corner, were three shadows trying suspiciously hard to avoid Adelaide’s gaze.

They seemed to be trying their best to suppress their presence in their own way, but it wasn’t enough to escape Adelaide’s notice, whose senses had reached a level beyond mere sharpness, almost like a biological radar.

More precisely, while others were trying to look good to Adelaide, only these three were acting oppositely, making them stand out more.

It was a truly sad proof of the saying that if one stayed still, one would at least be in the middle.

“You three over there!”

At Adelaide’s call, the shoulders of the three idiots—no, the silver-rank adventurer trio, twitched.

A quick exchange of glances passed between them, and Kumara, poked in the side by Magia, quickly ran up to Adelaide.

“D-did you call, Miss? Perhaps you have something you want us to do…?”

“Could you perhaps be our commander? I’m not very confident in this sort of thing, but since judgment and leadership are important for adventurers originally, I thought Kumara might be able to do it.”

What fresh nonsense is this?

Kumara’s self-control in suppressing the words that almost leaked out involuntarily was truly worthy of high praise.

In fact, this was a problem created by Adelaide’s prejudice.

In the adventure novels Adelaide occasionally borrowed from her brother, there were often scenes where the protagonist led many allies with brilliant command to defeat enemies.

Reality and stories in novels should be distinguished, but unfortunately, the “adventures” Adelaide had experienced not only matched but often overwhelmed those of the protagonists in the novels she had read.

If real adventurers were to read such novels, they would laugh it off saying it was unrealistic, but Adelaide tended to treat the content of novels as “things that could happen, even if there might be some exaggeration or distortion”.

Since Kumara is high-ranked among adventurers, and Sir Knight evaluated their skills as good, it should be better than me doing it at least. If he refuses, there’s nothing I can do.

“Ah, if it’s an unreasonable request, you can refuse.”

“…”

There were few weirdos who could answer, “Yes, it’s an unreasonable request. Why did you ask knowing that?” when someone with power over their life and death, be it through force or authority, spoke like that, and Kumara was not one of those rare individuals.

His answer was as good as decided.

“I-I may be lacking, but if you entrust it to me, I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you. I’ll be counting on you.”

While cursing the industry senior who had thrown him into such a predicament, Kumara faithfully fulfilled his assigned role.

“First, let’s divide the roles within the team. Knights in heavy equipment and mages, please wait here while hiding your bodies, and those who are light on their feet, please scout.”

“We just have to wait? How about making traps or strongholds?”

“Simple ones are fine, but we might have to abandon them and move if necessary, so nothing too elaborate is needed.”

“According to the rules of this test, wouldn’t it be better to preserve our strength as much as possible and wait for other participants to mutually destroy each other, rather than going around looking for enemies?”

“That’s true if we only consider the rules of this third test, but you shouldn’t forget that all these tests have the common premise of ‘selecting participants who show outstanding performance’. The higher-ups will be watching and evaluating our actions, so if we move too sneakily, we might win but fail to enter the Imperial Guard.”

While Kumara’s speech was basically casual, like an adventurer, he had experience taking requests from higher-ups, so being careful with his speech and attitude wasn’t too difficult.

Kumara’s instructions were simple and rational, like, “Prioritize survival rather than trying to finish things recklessly,” and “I won’t give complicated orders, so hit when I say hit, and run when I say run,” so the participants followed his instructions without much complaint.

With the addition of Adelaide’s almost extraordinary level of force and Sophia as a healer, their orange team was able to crush three other teams smoothly without any particular damage.

As they were progressing through the test smoothly like this, the reconnaissance team reported strange news.

“It looks like there was a battle ahead. There are lots of fallen people, but… they seem to be from the Lennart family?”

Following his words as they moved forward, they indeed saw several warriors with golden hair lying unconscious.

Although they didn’t seem to have fatal injuries and all appeared to be alive, the marks tied to their shoulders had all been torn off, meaning they had already lost their qualification to participate.

Did Sir Knight take them down? Or was it another team?

While feeling doubtful, Adelaide and her team continued to advance.

Next.

“H-here too, there are lots of fallen people. They seem to be from the Lennart family?”

And then again.

“It’s the same this time too! It looks like they were one-sidedly defeated without being able to put up proper resistance!”

“…”

Adelaide’s face was tinged with doubt and perplexity.

***

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