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 co-ordinate 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 vice-commanders 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 high-spirited.
“...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!”
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 11 Premium Page 3