Sera slowly makes her way into the room after the guard.

She is just about to look past the door, but is forced to stop when a rather strong aura hits her in the face.

Crap on a adamantine rod, that man is Class 4!

The other side of the door opens and a hulking man in pitch black armor walks out.

How do I compete with people like that?!

The other candidate smugly walks out of the room, clearly certain of his acquisition of the position.

They told me I would be competing with a bunch of people from other nations, but they never said I was up against such powerful people! I’m only Class 1!

Sera only manages to un-stick herself from the floor after the guard calls out to her a few times.

Panic swirls in the girl’s head as her feet lag behind her.

Entering the large training hall, Sera sees three people sitting on a couch at the end of the room.

A young looking girl with soft short blue hair and glistening eyes that look like the sky.

She wears light metal armor that seems to blend with scales of wood here and there, a skirt extends from below the chest plate and hangs over her mithril greaves.

Her equipment is immaculate, as though it was alive and a piece of her body.

Perfectly fit for her in every way.

Beside her sits a tall tan woman, her skin similar to that of the elves with its wooden texture.

She wears a dress modified for combat with plates of metal and wood woven into the design to act as armor.

Two cute twig-like antlers poke out of her rich green hair hanging aside her soft smiling face.

Geeze, even the maid is Class 3!

Behind the two women stands a stunning maid wearing a bright flowy uniform that extends down to her knees, bits of purple inlayed into the design complementing her black hair that shines with violet highlights.

Her powerful gaze, whipsing with purple flames, is trained right on Sera.

The politically trained noble girl can feel her nerves skyrocket as she gets to the mark on the floor she was told to stand on.

She is doing her best to not let her nervousness show.

The blue clad Hero speaks up, her voice far too cute for someone who is meant to save the world.

“Hi, it is nice to meet you. I am Lua, the Hero. And beside me is my girlfriend Alice. Behind us is Prim. Let’s not waste any time and get the interview started.”

Lua looks off into the air as if she is reading something, her eyes un-focusing for a second before snapping back into place.

She claps her hands together and leans back into the red plush sofa.

“First question: What is your name?”

“Sera Varas.”

“Where are you from?”

“The kingdom of Alcott.”

Lua grimaces for a moment before correcting her face.

Sera didn’t miss it though.

She had heard about what happened with Lua’s family, so the reaction is justified.

Just… the fact that it may hurt her chances has Sera worried.

The questions continue on from there, mostly benign stuff. Like her age which is 19, and her magic which is Mind Magic.

If anything the questions seem a bit too basic for such an important interview.

“What is your favorite color?”

“Uh.. Yellow?”

“Hm, interesting choice.”

What does that mean?!

Why does that matter?!

As Sera complains in her head at the confusing nature of the interview, the young Hero before her straightens her back a bit.

“An elven slave is being beaten to death by their master in front of you, the execution is in-between you and your target. What do you do?”

“What?”

Even after Lua repeats the question, Sera can’t figure out how to respond.

Why did we suddenly switch gears to a super dark and open ended question?!

Calm down Sera, she wouldn’t be asking if it was not important.

Shuffling back and forth on her feet, Sera’s long auburn ponytail sways with her.

Such a question would normally be answered with: ‘I ignore the beating and chase after the target,’ but Sera is not what most would consider normal.

She does not understand why elves should be treated so harshly when they are not that different from humans.

Is that the reason? To test whether I am like everyone else?

To Sera, a Hero would not support such discrimination.

A childish projection, but ultimately an accurate one.

Sera grew up as part of a ducal family that specializes in raising truth seekers.

She is considered a once in a lifetime prodigy in her family due to her meeting the requirements to unlock the [Detect Lie] skill right after being initialized into the system.

Because of that skill, she has always known when she was being lied to.

A young girl steeped in politics with such an ability is bound to develop particular apprehensions.

If anything, she has developed a hatred for humans rather than elves.

However, those feelings were something she had no choice but to hide.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She has her role in her family, and the one she will one day take in her nation's government.

She hates lying but has no choice but to keep up the facade.

But the look in the Hero’s eyes… Even if she has her features locked down perfectly, Sera thinks that maybe, just maybe, she feels the same.

Speaking the truth is a risk. But lying to the Hero in her first serious question of the interview would only ruin her chances.

“I-I would do my best to put a stop to the slave owner’s actions while keeping my eye on the target.”

Lua just barely widens her eyes, enough that Sera can tell she is surprised, but not unhappy with her answer.

Sera feels proud that she got the answer right, and that the right answer was her own truth.

The interview continues on…

----------------------------------------

I slump down in to the sofa after the Veras girl leaves.

“She answered all the questions honestly and seemed like a good girl. She is even a truth seeker which is very impressive for a Class 1. I think she would be a good choice.”

Alice’s words of praise are not unfounded.

I was honestly surprised she so openly admitted to such a minority opinion, and the rest of her answers to my super convoluted questions were well thought out too.

Having a mind mage on the team would be nice too. Prim won’t always be around to help out as she is the one I will have leading the other demons while I am away on Hero business.

Despite summoning many, many Mid Demons over the course of the last three months, she is still the most serious of them all.

The others are all too weird for me to trust handing over any big responsibilities to.

Another benefit to adding Sera would be that her mind magic has no effect on my side.

Though… I never did figure out why Alice is immune as well.

Not that I know why I am immune in the first place. I assume it has something to do with that cube god thing.

“Also, if you don’t choose anyone, the nations of the world will be upset.”

“Urk. W-Well, it is not my fault all the candidates so far have been utter trash.”

I can see a wry smile on Alice’s lips.

Even she can’t argue with that point.

The last guy was so self assured and arrogant that it gave me a headache.

His answer to the elf question was to just cut the head off the elf and push the slaver out of the way!

What the hell kind of person thinks that is an acceptable answer?!

I am sure that he thought that, because he was Class 4, that he was impressive to me.

I am just a young girl who only reached Class 3 thanks to the benefits of being a Hero after all.

Or at least, that is what most of the world seems to believe.

“I am so glad that I told Drask to limit the number of candidates from each nation to only one. If I didn’t, this would be a hell worse than that shitty murder forest.”

I sigh again as I add the first name to the Passing List.

“How many more do I have to interview today?”

“Eight more.”

I groan as Alice reminds me of my impending future.

Then Prim pulls up the schedule I copied to the shared light network.

I just groan louder as Prim breaks down my schedule for the next week.

…

A tall man in shining white armor strolls into the room.

Randall Lowe.

A 48 year old earth mage from the Divine Theocracy.

The Divine Theocracy is the only other nation that borders the entrance to The Sea of Trees.

A very religious nation that believes in a pantheon of rather unique gods that watch over the mortal plane.

I am sure they are champing at the bit to get someone into my party.

The Hero is historically someone from another world, general meaning someone who has met a god.

A fact that they are no doubt aware of.

Randall steps onto the marker I placed on the floor and begins his interview.

“I would remove the slaver’s head and continue after the target.”

What?

Now that is an unexpected answer.

Did the theocracy know that was this guy’s opinion when they sent him?

Prim has not learned to replicate the [Detect Lie] skill yet, so we have one of the Emperor’s personal truth seekers hiding in the room.

Seeing as the truth seeker has not given any indication, that must mean that the man is telling the truth.

Frankly, I never learned much about the theocracy.

What cult loving parent would ever teach their child about other religions?

I really should look into them more after this, especially if one of their own is so brazenly able to speak of his stance on discrimination.

Though… I mean I would do the same, but… “cutting off the slaver's head” is really going to be your answer?

Really dude?

I keep asking more and more of my preset questions until we finally get to the combat test.

Sera was kind of useless during this test, as I didn’t plan for testing mind mages, and her magic had no effect on my golems.

Poor girl looked utterly depressed after her interview was over.

Randall’s stony hair bristles as a shield of rock rises from the ground to block the golem’s attack.

Interesting. He really blocked it.

The guy was quite skilled and even a Class 3 to boot.

His evolution had clearly been a unique one as his hands and eyes seem to almost be entirely made of stone.

Blocking my golem’s charge is no easy feat when they are made of Class 3 spirit wood, a very rare material you don't see often.

Their weapons can pierce through most metals, so whatever skill he is using must drastically increase the durability of the rock he blocked with.

Eventually I see everything I need and call things to a close.

After his test ends, Randall bows to us and takes his leave.

“Back to back, huh? Didn’t expect any more good candidates to be honest.”

“Well, you are cynic through and through.”

I grumble and glare at Alice.

“Nevermind my cynicism… I think he can take up a tank and attacker position, and I really liked how readily he answered that he would choose doing the right thing over doing what his country wants.”

“Well, at least we managed to get a guy on the team. Drask had a point that we would get too much trouble from sexist pigs if we couldn’t find one.”

I snort at that.

Even in a fantasy world with magic and other powers that allows women to be just as strong as men, you can still find crappy people of all sorts.

In the end, Randall was the last candidate to get a pass, even after another week of interviews.

Drask bugged me saying that we needed more people, so I said screw it and reached out to Agera from the Steadfast Shield Clan.

The guy seemed like a decent person so I thought he would make a good fit.

I still ran him through the same interview process though, just to be safe.

…

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Tiny streamers fly out into the air and slowly float to the ground.

Why this world had the time to invent party poppers, I have no idea, but I couldn't not use them.

“Welcome to team Hero everyone!”

I look around the room and see Sera, Agera, and Randall looking amused at my little display.

“In front of you you will find two little charms. One blocks divination and the other prevents your mind from being read. Please wear them at all times.”

I grin a bit as I remember the emperor’s explanation for giving them to me.

Apparently he throws around anti-divination charms just to screw with The Oracle.

And considering how Sera was sent here by said Oracle, her feed on this meeting is about to be instantly cut off.

I can almost hear The Emperor laughing from here.

After everyone settles in and equips their new charms I decide to break the ice by announcing something that normally would never be said out loud.

“I am glad you all can be a part of the team, and in the interest of transparency I will say this: Everyone here is opposed to racial discrimination!”

They all look at each other in shock.

And then they can’t help but smile as that hint of tension leaves the room.