Once Penny made sure that Emilia had left in Dixie's car along with Koko, she immediately alerted the 'Royal Knights' through the group chat to gather in the basketball court.
The rest of her 'club' had been waiting for her instructions, and crowded the place within minutes.
The two boys who had been practicing hurriedly scampered away in fear when they saw dozens of determined looking students enter the court at once.
The taller boy panted as they finally stopped some distance away from the court. "Holy shit, were they going to fight?"
His friend also looked confounded. "Does our school have like… gangs?"
"Maybe there are two groups of delinquents among the freshmen?"
"Bruh… I think I saw a few of them from my class!"
That only made the tall boy fall deeper into confusion. "Eh? Then… is it an event? Should we go back to ask?"
His friend frantically shook his head. "Hell no, man! I'm not going back there. Though I can wait for you here if you—"
The taller boy coughed. "I-I have a hoop at home, let's go practice there instead."
His friend nodded. "Good idea."
Penny was unaware that her 'Royal Knights' had been mistaken for a bunch of thugs, or she would have surely attacked the two students for daring to besmirch the reputation of her princess's honorable knights.
She cleared her throat before proudly facing the crowd of over a hundred students who had gathered in front of her. "Alright, so as this is our first meeting, I have called over all of you today. But in the future, the honorary members shouldn't come in person, and can keep in touch using the group chat."
Penny had already learned from her mother that she should always provide her subordinates with the reasoning behind her decisions as much as possible, especially since none of them could be considered dumb. "This way, we won't create any trouble for the princess by always going around as one large group!"
This was to make sure that when she did need to make a decision without a proper reason, they would assume that she must have a good one that she just could not tell them.
Moreover, it also allowed room for retrospection, making their club's actions more thorough and their decisions robust.
Dorothy then handed over her notepad to Penny, and she announced the names of all the 'core members'. A total of fifteen students who had performed the 'best' in the earlier clash.
As the selected students cheered while the rest sulked, Penny made sure to keep them inspired and enthusiastic to best serve her princess. "Congratulations to all fifteen of you, for graduating from squires who had been on probation, to official members, henceforth with the rank of 'Knights'!"
Of course, she couldn't make the remaining members feel too left out either. "And the rest of you shall have the honorary membership, with an equally important role of 'Honorary Knight'! Keep in mind that Knights who are injured or unable to continue their service for some time will become honorary knights, and the most meritorious honorary knights will then become knights as their replacements."
The students who hadn't been selected immediately cheered up, while the previously celebrating boys and girls in the group of fifteen turned grim, thinking that as expected, being a devoted Emilia simp wasn't an easy job.
Penny smiled as she saw that they were quite receptive to her 'leadership', not knowing that most of it was only because of how close she appeared to Emilia. "Those of you who perform great meritorious services, or receive personal favor from the princess, shall be promoted to the permanent position of a Knight Captain or Commander."
Of course, Penny was well aware of the importance Emilia placed on her loyal knight, Dixie, and she assumed the same must go for the other girl who was always hanging around her princess. It was important to remain in their good graces as well. "Also, we shall refer to the personal slaves of the princess, such as Dixie and Koko, as 'Royal Commanders' from now on. We don't want them to put in a bad word for us with the princess, after all."
One of the girls raised her hand curiously, and the 'commander' gave her a nod to speak her mind. "Penny! Are you going to be our commander?"
The four-foot-tall girl puffed out her chest arrogantly. "Hmph, of course, do you have any problem with it, Knight?!"
The girl shook her head hesitantly. "N-No, I just thought, having such a cute commander… we won't look very intimidating, right?"
Penny snorted. "What nonsense! Our purpose is not to just look intimidating! Don't forget that our duties include public relations, espionage, sabotage as well as protection! Have you seen the atmosphere in our school? Can we protect the princess by just fighting?!"
The knights looked at each other, realizing that Penny was actually right. They didn't know if someone was manipulating things, but the unsavory rumors surrounding Emilia had sprung up rapidly today, and they were sure to escalate even further tomorrow.
With just brute force, not only would they not be able to suppress such things, they might end up actually making things worse.
Penny smiled. "You guys get it now, right?"
Some of the knights looked a little regretful as they thought it over. "I-I think we shouldn't have fought today, either…"
Since it was her own idea to attack class B, how could Penny allow them to think so? Wouldn't that mean her leadership was bad?!
"Hmph! Do you even know the rewards I—ahem, WE received from the princess for our show of loyalty today? This fight was necessary to prove our determination to her. But we can work more efficiently from now on."
Of course, Penny couldn't let them know that she had actually managed to molest her princess shamelessly while all her knights remained blissfully unaware. Commander or not, she knew she'd be torn to shreds. The only one she could ever brag about this to would be her mother.
Seeing how they didn't have any more 'rebellious' thoughts, Penny continued with the rest of the day's agenda.
After informing them of the positions of the core members, which was just herself as the Commander and Dorothy and Koko as the Knight Captains, Penny started allotting 'work' to her club members.
All these untrained newbies needed proper training to be of use to her princess, after all. She knew Koko was already learning how to fight, and should be able to serve as a part time combat instructor for their club. As for the other things… well, they can probably arrange something later.
To make sure they feel properly rewarded for all this effort, Penny even sacrificed half of the heart shaped chocolate she got from Emilia, cutting it into small pieces and distributing it among the knights.
Thankfully, it was big enough, but every time someone chewed on a piece, Penny felt like they were chewing on a piece of her own heart.
'It's okay, Penny… only you got to molest the princess, and you still have half of the chocolate left too. It's okay!'
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