I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 15

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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

Chapter 15: Anyway, I'll Serve You Like a King (4)

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Dinner had become familiar by now.

Maybe Daisy's cooldown still hadn't reset, because Prince Ellen, who was eating with me instead, was still talking about club activities with sparkling eyes.

"So, the Sword Emperor..."

The difference from before was that Daisy's share of the conversation, which had taken up ninety percent of it, had dropped slightly.

No matter how much of a romance-fantasy male lead he was, a swordsman was still a swordsman.

Talk about the Sword Emperor, who had agreed to become their club advisor, now made up around ten percent of it.

"So anyway!"

"I'm not going."

"...I haven't even asked yet."

Prince Ellen looked hurt, but there was no chance of that happening.

Unless someone planted a few flowers in my head, I had no intention of joining the Flower Arrangement Club.

"But, Prince."

"Ellen."

"Prince Ellen."

"I told you to drop the prince part."

He looked even more hurt than before, but I had spent over half my life calling him Prince Ellen.

I'd known Prince Ellen since before he even knew I existed.

"It's a royal command."

Ellen even brought out a royal command.

"Did you start a rebellion without telling me?"

"I can contact Father and have him send one."

"No, that's a bit..."

"It's been over a month since we entered the academy! Even Essid, the Imperial prince, gets called Essid!"

He wasn't wrong.

According to academy rules, even commoners were supposed to call Essid by name.

The rule had even been made by the emperor who reigned around the time the academy was founded.

As royalty, Essid had an even greater duty to uphold his predecessor's will.

"But that's Imperial business."

"We're the ones who came to the Empire's academy."

"That's true."

After hesitating for a long time, I barely forced out the word that refused to leave my mouth.

"Ellen."

"Yeah?"

The oddly pleased look on his face was irritating, but what could I do?

This romance-fantasy male lead was my liege.

"Why is the Flower Arrangement Club learning swordsmanship instead of flower arranging?"

"Uh, um... We do learn flower arranging?"

"That's what you're supposed to learn."

"Wouldn't it be fine to do a little during break time? Everyone likes it!"

"Really?"

Even if they didn't like it as much as Prince Ellen or the Little Sword Emperor, the Border Margrave's second son was bound to enjoy it.

I'd heard that the prince and the merchant heir had also learned swordsmanship for self-defense, so there was no reason not to learn if the Sword Emperor was teaching.

Still.

"Not the magic-slinger and the club president, right?"

Magic-slingers had no reason to pick up swords instead of wands.

And if that slit-eyed president enjoyed it, I was going to assume he was the hidden villain no matter what the possessor who had read the original said.

"Th-that's true, but..."

"Our club president worked hard to keep the Flower Arrangement Club going throughout academy life."

"Since when were they your club president?"

"Then these idiots rolled in, took over the clubroom, and started swinging swords around..."

"When you say it like that, we sound like bad guys! The president said it was fine too!"

"Ellen. If an imperial prince and a prince barged in and asked whether it was fine..."

"...Why are you like this?"

Why? If he learned from the Sword Emperor and became a Sword Master...

The people above me might order me to become one too...

"Don't bother people trying to do club activities. If you want to learn swordsmanship, join a Swordsmanship Club."

"Um..."

Perhaps he had nothing to say to that, because he stirred the salad on his plate with his fork.

"I-I'll do it after club hours from tomorrow on."

"You aren't saying you'll quit."

"Yeah, I'm absolutely going."

It was an unusually firm statement from Prince Ellen.

The romance-fantasy heroine was terrifying. To think she could make Ellen this resolute.

"Is it because of Daisy?"

"Y-yeah..."

I'd never seen Prince Ellen this fixated on something.

Was this the charm of a romance-fantasy heroine?

Damn it, Ellen won't stab me if he finds out I'm backing someone else, right?

If that kid came after me with a sword, I'd probably just die.

"So, have you made any progress?"

"Yeah!"

...What?

Wasn't he supposed to act frustrating as hell, like a proper romance-fantasy male lead?

I was momentarily at a loss for words at the unexpected answer.

"We decided to study together at the library to prepare for midterms."

"When?"

"Tomorrow!"

"Just the two of you?"

"That would've been nice, but Arwen, Hedrick, the club president, and Violet are coming too."

Arwen was the magic-slinger, and Hedrick was the merchant heir.

Along with the romance-fantasy heroine, her friend who was a possessor, and the slit-eyed club president.

That was a textbook slice-of-life lineup.

So...

"How about a quick match?"

After dinner, I approached the Little Sword Emperor, who was swinging his sword alone at the training grounds.

"...Sounds good!"

The Little Sword Emperor smiled brightly as if he had been waiting with a sword in hand. I raised mine.

"Argh!"

Then I forcibly shoved the loser who had failed to get into that slice-of-life scene into it.

* * *

After sneaking into the library, I spotted the romance-fantasy crew drawing everyone's attention in the center.

"There he is."

Seeing the Little Sword Emperor, who hadn't been part of the plan, I let out a relieved sigh.

The Sword Emperor was overseeing a Swordsmanship Club, and when the Little Sword Emperor tried to join it and skip the slice-of-life scene, I had broken his right hand.

I had wondered whether I should break both hands next time if he still joined, but it looked like that wouldn't be necessary.

"Nothing will happen, right?"

Even if something did happen, it would just be romance nonsense. This was still the early part of a romance fantasy, so it would probably be nothing more than a simple event.

After confirming that the Little Sword Emperor was participating, I left the library and went to carry out my scheduled work.

"Is this the place?"

Classes had ended, and most students had headed to the Old School Building used for clubrooms.

That meant the new school building, which was used for classes, had fewer people around.

"You're late."

In a corner of that new school building was a small storage room.

Several people had gathered in the nameless room.

"I went to check something."

Since I seemed to be the last one there, I tossed out an excuse.

"Check what?"

"The Flower Arrangement Club."

"I heard they weren't meeting today."

Your information is late.

"Since it's a club rest day, a few of them decided to meet in the library and study for midterms."

I answered as though it were obvious, and everyone's faces darkened.

"Who participated?"

"You and your master."

I jerked my chin toward the magic-slinger and the merchant heir's attendant.

That was right.

Everyone gathered here was in a position similar to mine.

It was a meeting of shadows who, as students, attended to imperial princes, princes, and romance-fantasy male leads of comparable status.

"Lord Arwen never told me anything like that."

Dale's fire-slinger looked at me suspiciously.

"He was telling you not to butt in without reading the room."

"Then how did you know?"

"It's a matter of trust. Prince Ellen told me."

"Ghk!"

Their magic-matching hair shook wildly.

They wore the expression of a tragic heroine betrayed by someone they trusted, but why would I care about a mage?

"I see."

Unlike them, the Ilias attendant immediately accepted it and nodded.

"Just those two?"

"The Little Sword Emperor, the club president, and Daisy's friend tagged along too."

There was no one here connected to any of those three anyway.

"What are they doing?"

"What do you think people do in a library? They're studying."

They were drawing every eye around them, of course, but nothing would happen.

"Ghk. Why didn't you stop them? We agreed not to join the fray."

Dale's fire-slinger, whose circumstances were much the same as Leon's, growled.

Their side had also decided to do their best to stop their prince's love life.

"Do you think you can stop them just by trying? Then why didn't you stop yours?"

"Ghk!"

"Someone who didn't even know about the meeting has no room to talk."

"..."

"This is why you mages..."

"Coming from a sword-swinger..."

They grumbled with truly aggrieved expressions, but they had already accepted their defeat.

Unlike mages, who would tear into someone like hyenas at the first opportunity, I was an elegant swordsman.

I should be generous to a loser.

"Your prince was sitting right beside Daisy."

"Ghk!"

"His eyes were practically shooting hearts. Seeing it made me..."

"Waaah!"

I generously told them what I had seen, but the fire-slinger burst into tears and ran away.

"...Wasn't that too harsh?"

"That's how Leon and Dale get along."

"Is that so?"

Since the person involved said so, the others simply nodded and let it go. There was a certain maturity in that reaction.

No, was it just because of that face?

Claiming to be the same age as us with that face was ridiculous.

Even if the Imperial Academy was an Imperial institution, this felt excessive.

"Let's get down to business."

Aerin Cleed, Prince Essid's shadow, looked at me and kicked things off.

Judging by his face alone, he was clearly over thirty, but he claimed he had developed an aged appearance after mistakenly taking a restorative elixir as a child. He also claimed to be nineteen.

"You were right. We sent out informants, and several traces were found near the academy."

I hadn't said anything special.

All I had done was tell the Imperial side that there seemed to be a group planning to attack the academy around midterms, an incredibly standard academy-story development.

"See?"

I had worried that the Empire's Intelligence Division might be incompetent and fail to find any traces for the sake of the plot.

But an empire was still an empire, apparently.

"What a relief. Guests from every nation have come here to study abroad. We nearly made a mistake."

Even as he said that, his eyes seemed to ask, "These bastards know things we don't. How many people have they planted here?"

"That's fortunate."

I curved my eyes sweetly at Uncle Aryn and tried to imitate the Flower Arrangement Club president.

At this point, narrowing my eyes probably gave the same impression as saying, "Suspicious as hell, aren't I? But what are you going to do about it?"

"Thank you, thank you. I'd like to reward those who helped the Empire."

"It was nothing. I think you can just give everything to me."

With a smile, I brushed it off as though it were one of those scams from my previous life that said, "Congratulations! You've won our customer event! Now please give us your address!"

In truth, I had done all the work anyway.

Our Intelligence Division was busy planning the Little Sword Emperor's date itinerary.

"In that case, I'll prepare an appropriate gift set later."

As he spoke, Aerin took several sheets of paper from his bag and handed them out like worksheets.

"After following the traces, it appears to be the hardline faction of the Eres Liberation Front."

Eres was the name of a former kingdom whose territory was now within the Empire, a kingdom that had fallen over two hundred years ago.

"Did Eres have elves living there or something?"

They were attacking an academy to liberate a kingdom that had fallen two hundred years ago.

They really seemed to have nothing better to do, but according to the original story Violet had told me about, this was basically part of a linked quest chain.

The early villains were actually backed by Dark Mages.

The Dark Mages were actually backed by Cultists who worshiped Evil Gods.

Behind them were Demonkin who had escaped from the Demon Realm.

And later, the gate to the Demon Realm would open, and the Demon King would appear. Was that how it went?

"So, who wants to take down Eres with me?"

"..."

Why would we do that?

Under that silent pressure, Aryn sighed and nodded.

"We'll handle this ourselves."

Could Uncle Aryn, so confidently making that claim, truly stand up to the god of this romance fantasy?

"An attack!"

Apparently, that was too much to ask.