I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 14

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈

Chapter 14: Anyway, I'll Serve You Like a King (3)

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The sudden blow that pierced to my very core left me speechless for a moment.

Seriously? The Sword Emperor himself resorting to an ambush?

“I gave it everything I had.”

I meant it.

I had sincerely unleashed Doomed Sword's ultimate form.

Even the Commander would have acknowledged that.

Still, it seemed that even the Sword Emperor, the king of swords himself, had trouble understanding Doomed Sword.

It was a difficult technique, after all.

“To me, it looked like you were trying not to win.”

He had hit the nail right on the head.

But the victory in front of me was not everything.

For my future, the Little Sword Emperor needed to grow.

Hadn't Violet, the novel possessor, said so?

That sword-crazy Princess Hestia gave up the sword in the original story.

I might have said I had no intention of caring about the original, but I could not afford to lose an unpaid slave who would clean up all the disasters waiting to happen.

If you give up, we're doomed.

Seriously doomed.

“I've never tried this hard in my life.”

I meant that too.

And I would continue to mean it.

So our Little Sword Emperor could grow up big and strong, then work his ass off in Ellen's place.

Of course, I wasn't saying this without a plan.

I would draw on every course in the royal instructor curriculum to help him focus even more on the sword instead of losing interest in it.

As a bonus, I would do everything I could to support his romantic prospects.

Prince Ellen?

Once he returned to the Kingdom, countless young ladies would happily come running to him.

There were probably a few at the Academy too, if I looked.

First loves were never meant to work out, so I needed to make sure the romance fantasy heroine remained a wistful first love.

Of course, that was only because this world was a romance fantasy.

It was true that poor Prince Ellen was a secondary male lead caught in romance fantasy's clutches...

From what I'd heard about the future, he even came across as a villain until just before the Academy arc.

But that only accounted for about fifty percent of my reasoning.

Based on what Violet had said, wasn't she afraid the original story might change because the so-called Cheetah, a chronic underachiever who only showed his speed later, had already started running?

Then what was wrong with the other fifty percent?

Common sense.

I mean, Daisy was the daughter of an imperial baronial house.

The Little Sword Emperor, that border margrave's son, and the future merchant house head could marry her without issue.

A match with Prince Essid could be packaged as a romance that transcended status.

But Prince Ellen and that magic-slinging bastard were another matter entirely. It was a problem on the national level.

Dating was one thing, but it was complicated for a prince from another country to marry a noble lady from a different kingdom.

It wasn't impossible, of course.

But the moment the imperial prince who lost in the battle for love, along with the others, refused to accept it and started causing trouble, it would inevitably turn into a diplomatic issue.

That was why Prince Ellen's first love had to be stopped.

This wasn't just my judgment. It was an assignment handed down by the Commander, and beyond that, the royal family.

“...Is that so?”

Had my sincerity reached him?

The Sword Emperor still looked deeply suspicious, but he nodded.

“If you say so, then I suppose that's how it is.”

Honestly, there wasn't much the Sword Emperor could say.

It would be different if I had deliberately lost, but I had won in the end.

To everyone else, it had even looked like a genuinely close duel.

Even Prince Ellen saw it that way, and even someone with the Sword Emperor's discernment had only been left with suspicions.

When it came to Doomed Sword alone, I possessed the talent of a genius who had surpassed even the Commander.

“In that case, I'd like to make you an offer.”

He called it an offer, but it didn't feel like I could refuse.

No, more precisely, he looked certain that I wouldn't refuse.

“I'm taking charge of a club this time.”

“Oh...”

A club with the Sword Emperor as its advisor.

Violet hadn't told me about this.

Had fate changed? Or had she skipped over it because it wasn't important?

“I intend to teach swordsmanship to some of the members there.”

A swordsmanship club.

Honestly, it was a club I had considered joining.

But I had heard that, except for this year, it was considered to be at a lower level than the Kingdom Academy.

I had thought it wouldn't help me much at my level, so instead of club activities, I planned to focus on personal training.

If the Sword Emperor was going to be its advisor, though, that changed things.

“So, I'd like you to join the Flower Arrangement Club.”

“I won't.”

Fuck, I had a bad feeling about this.

Even when the Sword Emperor said he would teach swordsmanship, I thought it had to be a swordsmanship club.

“What?”

Apparently, he had never considered that his request might be rejected. The Sword Emperor's eyes widened in shock.

“I need some time to myself.”

Even if the Sword God himself taught me swordsmanship, I still wouldn't join the Flower Arrangement Club.

No, fuck. Come to think of it, the future Sword God really was in that club.

“Is there anything else you wanted to say?”

“There isn't, but...”

“Then I'll be going.”

“......”

Watching the Sword Emperor stare at me as if he still couldn't believe it, I left his office and headed to the dormitory.

And then...

“Emergency!”

- Was “emergency” the communication orb's code word?

I immediately contacted the homeland.

* * *

The Commander frowned at my cry of emergency and let out several deep sighs.

- No, today's the regular meeting. We could have talked in a little while. Why did you suddenly contact me through the emergency line and start yelling that it's an emergency?

This really can't be good for the Commander's heart.

I wanted to calm down the grumbling Commander.

But life never went the way one wanted.

“The Sword Emperor has become a club advisor and intends to teach swordsmanship to its members.”

- Damn it. I was already afraid the Imperial Academy would steal all our talented people. Now he's landing the finishing blow.

The Kingdom's nobles had only been watching and waiting.

Since Prince Ellen was going to study abroad at the Imperial Academy, the other nobles were apparently considering sending their own children there as well.

And now the Sword Emperor would teach swordsmanship outside his regular classes by becoming a club advisor.

For a swordsman, there could be no more tempting bait.

Normally, anyway.

“But Commander, the club's name is the Flower Arrangement Club.”

- Is the Empire's swordsmanship club called Flower Arrangement?

“Don't run away from reality. You know better than anyone what kind of club it is.”

- Why?!

The fact that his first response hadn't been “fuck” reminded me once again that this was a fantasy world.

No, wait, it was a romance fantasy world. Maybe the platform's censorship was so strict that the author couldn't write “fuck.”

“I don't know.”

I wanted to say, That's the fate of a romance fantasy world.

But it hadn't been long since I told Violet that I was going to live in reality.

So I had to realistically say that I didn't know.

Honestly, if I tried to think of a normal reason the Sword Emperor would join the Flower Arrangement Club instead of a swordsmanship club...

“Isn't it because of his grandson?”

- He said he had abandoned even his family. Is he still looking after the boy because he's his grandson?

Maybe it sounded plausible enough, because the Commander began to consider it seriously.

- Isn't this all because of you? You should have taken it easier. Why did you win like that?

“He's the Little Sword Emperor. He's supposed to be a genius who will inherit the Sword Emperor's name. I panicked because he was so weak.”

This tragedy happened because the Commander had done a poor job investigating.

When I argued that point, he scowled and muttered.

- How was I supposed to know he'd be that weak? I thought he'd at least be around your level.

Apparently, we had not expected the monster we created to hold its own in the wider world.

Come to think of it, Violet had said that if Prince Ellen was a hydrogen bomb, I was at least an atomic bomb.

Damn it. It felt like only yesterday that my wooden sword had exploded instead of my talent.

The talent that hadn't exploded back then was now exploding away in earnest!

“So I've started an operation.”

- An operation? On whom?

“The Little Sword Emperor.”

- Do you really have to?

The Commander had said “do you really have to” too, but unlike Violet, he was my superior.

“The reason is this.”

Since this was a fantasy world, I couldn't give a PowerPoint presentation.

But I could at least ramble on out loud.

“That's why I thought the best way to turn Prince Ellen's first love into a memory was to pair Daisy with someone else.”

- Why the Little Sword Emperor?

“Even if this is a matchmaking project, a prince of Leon cannot lose to Dale.”

- Of course not.

No matter how much we worked on it, Leon losing to Dale was unthinkable.

“And it wouldn't be good to create a situation that causes trouble with Ilias.”

- That's right.

Ilias, one of the Three Major Merchant Houses of the Continent.

There was no reason for the Kingdom to make enemies with them.

“And the second son of House Rias has no hope.”

- Why?

“He's doing nothing but digging holes.”

Gerard, the border margrave's second son, was the Cheetah Violet had personally acknowledged.

Put another way, it meant that during the Academy arc, he was only going to run around doing useless things.

“That's why I thought the best matches for Daisy would be Prince Essid and Little Sword Emperor Asran.”

- The Empire's prince is difficult to interfere with?

“That's part of it, but it was easier to create a connection with the Little Sword Emperor.”

We were going to keep getting involved through swords anyway, which made it easy to start working on it.

“But I think Prince Essid has someone else helping him.”

I could tell from talking with her.

Violet... that bastard was on the imperial prince's side.

Male-oriented novels might not be as bad as female-oriented ones, but I had often seen comments fighting over who the true main wife was.

From my conversation with Violet, I could roughly guess which male lead she supported.

“Even if this fails, there would be no problem if Daisy ends up with Prince Essid. So I've decided to support the Little Sword Emperor.”

Little Sword Emperor Asran.

He wasn't as good as me, but he was still an outstanding swordsman.

He was excitable, but he was handsome, and his character was very good.

When it came to anyone studying the sword, he shared what he knew regardless of their status.

At the Academy, he even had the positive influence to make other students naturally follow the rule that no one should be divided by status, a rule that otherwise existed in name only.

He was acting like a romance fantasy male lead candidate, and his growth potential was guaranteed.

“Please approve it.”

- ...Are you confident?

“Is there anyone among the royal instructors better at their job than me?”

The Commander immediately answered my confident declaration.

- Daniel.

Damn it, that was a cheat code.

In a romance fantasy world, I could say I did more work because I served Prince Ellen, a male lead candidate.

But in reality, I couldn't beat Senior Daniel, who served the Crown Prince of the Leon Kingdom and handled every kind of task.

“...After Senior Daniel, then?”

- That would be you.

So even within the Kingdom, they treated me like the second-in-command.

For some reason, I felt like I had thought that twice, but it was probably my imagination.

I seemed to be sinking deeper into the Kong Line, but its leader had always said it.

Second place was still good.

- So we should trust the judgment of the person on the ground.

Perhaps the Commander agreed, because he decided to support the number two's judgment.

- So what do you need us to help with?

“Ah, then first...”

I recalled the information Violet had told me.

For a moment, I imagined her throwing a fit about how I was taking only her information without cooperating, then casually raised my middle finger and made that thought get lost.

“Until the midterms, first...”

The real events would begin with the fateful midterms.

So until then...

“Have the available royal instructors crack open dictionaries and begin by learning about flowers.”

- Flowers?

“It's the Flower Arrangement Club.”

Daisy liked flowers, so I intended to have even flowers native only to the Kingdom delivered straight from where they grew.

“And have the Intelligence Division secure tickets first.”

“What tickets?”

“Plays and performances. Everything happening around the Academy.”

Thus spake the possessor: all the male leads were worthless husks.

For the Little Sword Emperor, one of the hopeless cases who could not even manage a proper kiss before graduating from the Academy.