The result was that the capital was thrown into an uproar by columns of cavalrymen pouring in from all over the duchy, whether they were unemployed locals or men chasing greater ambition. Rough cavalrymen flocking to the capital was no small matter, and we got fierce protests from the Judicial Department, which eventually led to duchy troops being deployed for crowd control.

I never imagined this many cavalrymen would gather.

It was proof of just how large my reputation had grown, but it doubled my headaches.

"My thanks to all of you for the zeal and dedication that brought you here to apply to this newly formed order."

It was a businesslike, formal greeting, but the more than 60 riders were focused on me with frightening intensity. Setting aside disposition, the sight was deeply gratifying. A man really does need to be at the top of his game.

When I’d first said I wanted to recruit talent from across the duchy, my father-in-law had voiced concerns, but he’d heard me out. In the past, he would have just steamrolled ahead with his own preference, but now that his son-in-law was a heavyweight in his own right, he tended to grant my requests. This was the kind of generational shift I loved.

So lately, I heard less about how lucky I was to have married into the family, and more about how the War Minister’s family had done well by bringing in Hilda’s husband. As a result, Hilda was being envied by every unmarried noblewoman around.

A capable man reborn as the Knight of the Gale and a war hero, a lord with a fief of his own, and on top of that, a famously devoted husband who absolutely adored his wife. Plus, a man with all the financial resources he could need.

For young noblewomen who still harbored romantic notions about marriage, you couldn’t ask for a more attractive prospect.

It might sound full of myself, but I could practically hear the sighs of the noblewomen who had missed their chance.

Noblewomen would sneak longing glances at me in droves whenever I walked through the streets.

When Hilda and I first got engaged, noble circles had subtly looked down on her for marrying far below her station. Now it had flipped completely, and she was being called the lucky woman who had landed the best husband around. But I saw it differently. I was the lucky one for marrying Hilda.

"However, our order does not accept just any rabble. First, you will pass the test set by Vice Commander Steinhof. Those who pass by giving their best will be granted the chance to interview with me directly. Good luck to you all."

Tension hung over the parade ground.

Vice Commander Fiel stepped forward with dignified bearing.

"The test begins now. From the first row, move to your positions!"

No matter how positive their disposition, anyone whose basic skill fell short would have to be cut. As cavalrymen, combat ability was a must, so anyone with enough skill to keep up, even if not exceptional, would have no real trouble passing. It was the bare minimum cutoff.

I appointed Fiel as the test supervisor.

The reason I had handpicked five veteran cavalrymen from Steinhof to join the order was to support Fiel. Of course, I had screened them for positive dispositions. Fiel had clicked his tongue, saying he couldn’t figure out my criteria, but once he saw that the men I’d selected were all easy to keep in line, he was convinced.

The reason I obsessed over disposition this much was that I wanted the order I led to uphold justice. There were plenty of bad examples close at hand. The arrogant and cunning Imperial Knights, or the Beren Lance Cavalry led by that Saxon who personally embodied "love for widows," supposedly representing Beren’s elite forces.

It was embarrassing just hearing about it.

If anything, the Grand Duke’s Guard had the best reputation.

"Once you’ve finished picking your knights, let’s run a mock battle against my men."

"So we can thrash you again? No thanks."

"What are you talking about! This time, I’ll show you the real strength of the Lance Cavalry."

One of my regular tasks was weeding out unsuitable candidates in advance from among the applicants who moved in lockstep under Fiel’s commands. Even with the cavalry commander pestering me from the side, my eyes stayed locked on the parade ground.

There were two with lust, three with violence, and one with cruelty.

Beyond those, several applicants with various other negative dispositions stood out.

If not for procedure, I’d have already cut them, but since that wasn’t an option, I dutifully sat through every interview. If I just admitted everyone who passed the test without an interview, the integrity of my order would be ruined. Why else would I keep the Manager Scouter running constantly?

Every time I cut a man with a negative disposition in the interview, he’d throw a fit. That was why Ted and Oscar were always at my side. With candidates like that, you had no choice but to remove them by force. It might seem unfair, but that’s how the world works. I only pick good men.

And among the applicants were people from the Finance Minister’s faction.

These bastards apparently didn’t know the meaning of the words "give up."

The reason the Administrative and Finance Departments had wanted personnel authority was to plant their own people in the order, turn me into a puppet, and seize control. They must have thought I was a greenhorn with no experience running an order.

But fat chance. Now that personnel authority was in my hands, the thing I guarded against most was spies sent by outside factions. No matter how cleverly they tried to plant their people, I filtered every one of them out with the Manager Scouter.

I’d weeded out about ten of them.

They were caught like fish in a net.

The Administrative and Finance Departments went without saying, and even the Judicial Department, which had made friendly gestures toward me, had slipped people in. Beyond that, there were petty court noble factions, all of them linked to the ministers’ families. The most surprising part was that even the Altringen royal family had tried to plant a watcher.

The world was full of people trying to keep tabs on me or keep my power in check.

In short, you couldn’t trust anyone.

Even if I tried to make an issue of it, they’d just play dumb.

The factions that had sent spies must have been baffled to see me weed out every last one. I’d caught them all without missing a single one. It would be hard to hold them accountable, but by the same token, they couldn’t ask me how I’d known. The game of reading each other had already begun.

After forcibly chasing the cavalry commander out, I returned to my office at the order’s headquarters. The headquarters were located on the western side of Breisburg, near the Main River. Originally, this place had been the base of the Crusader Order, which had survived through Grand Duke Karlus’s days as Crown Prince.

I knew it had been founded out of religious zeal, but it had effectively become a hollow shell, and like the historical Knights Templar, it had drifted into the banking business, corrupting its original purpose. After their Commander was assassinated, the members scattered, and the place had been abandoned ever since, breeding all sorts of ominous rumors.

Ominous rumors?

My own house wasn’t exactly tame either.

Rosengarden, my home, had a reputation as a cursed mansion thanks to the extinction of the Lorden and Constance families, but I brushed off rumors like that easily. Besides, the location was simply too good geographically to pass up over a few superstitions. For someone like me who needed a base close to Feuzen, it was the optimal choice.

After diligent renovation, it was reborn as a respectably sized headquarters for the order. Naturally, I’d pulled the funds from the Finance Department, and thanks to Adelbert lending a hand, there had been no real friction.

In return, I’d extended privileges to the financial bureaucrat Adelbert had dispatched.

That way, taxes from the order’s members and laborers could be collected easily.

The sign read "Gale Knights," but not every member was a knight. The Imperial Knights were a special case. In organizations bearing the name "knightly order," most of the actual knights were commanders, making them a small minority. So recruiting commoner members was easy, but finding knight commanders I could trust to lead a squad was another matter entirely.

And that was my biggest worry.

August was currently managing my fief. The 13 cavalrymen from the duchy army were already vetted riders, and I planned to induct them all into the order eventually. As a decurion, Fiel was filling the role of Vice Commander overseeing multiple squads. So what I urgently needed were commanders capable of leading a single squad.

"This old man knows a fine knight. Would you mind if I recommended him to you?"

"I was wondering what brought you all the way out here. So it was a favor you were after."

"Heh heh heh. I just stepped out beyond the castle for a bit of fresh air."

Old Marquis Bertheim was as hale as ever. Göring was always at his side. Watching those two really showed you what kindred spirits looked like. I’d love it if Daniel served me as a butler the way Göring served the Marquis. But then I corrected myself.

It wasn’t right to compare your own retainer to someone else’s.

I hated being compared myself.

"So who is this fine knight?"

"You know that this place was the old base of the Crusader Order, don’t you?"

"Of course I do. I hired laborers to renovate this place, and half of them ran off. They said if they stayed too long, they’d be cursed and the Crusader Commander’s ghost would come to take their heads."

I’d lived here for about a week, and it was all nonsense.

So now I was using the place quite happily as the order’s headquarters.

The knight the Marquis recommended was Viktor Ritter von Falkenheim, formerly of the Crusader Order. Naturally, I’d never heard the name, and on top of that, the Crusader Order had been a horrid hybrid of religion and usury, which immediately put me off.

"Marquis, I have to say, a former Crusader doesn’t sit well with me."

"He was a model knight, full of righteous spirit and a champion of chivalry. Fifteen years ago, in the Great War, he led the Crusaders and earned distinction. But what was most remarkable was that he took in the children orphaned by the battlefield and built the Cross Shelter. Could there be a knight more worthy of the Crusader Order’s holy cross?"

Just hearing this told me he was clearly a fine knight.

If he had earned distinction in the Burgundian Great War, his military ability sounded solid too.

This Cross Shelter—was that the building with the cross on it?

I was using it as the caretakers’ lodgings now.

"But after the Crusader Order fell into corruption, a major rift broke out within, and that was when his membership was stripped. That was ten years ago. After that, he steadily took part in border battles. And five years ago, when Baron Constance fell in battle, by sheer chance Viktor was one of the few survivors who had been at his side at the end."

"...You don’t mean—"

"I mean he is the only person who witnessed your father’s final moments. Son of Aseldorf."

Aseldorf. It had been a long time since I’d heard my father’s name.