WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈
Chapter 22: A New Companion Is Always Welcome (3)
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After recruiting Codename Tinky Winky, we held meetings every day to prepare for the original story we had already ruined.
“Our goals are twofold.”
With that, we began making plans around two major objectives.
The first was the Imperial Academy Romance Manipulation Squad.
If romance fantasy was the foundation of this world, romance was what mattered most.
As long as we matched the right couples, we could steer the events to come.
Of course, that wouldn’t be easy.
“So, what are the odds?”
“Based on the first-year academy arc, they’re as follows!”
We had a capable informant who knew the future, Codename Tinky Winky.
- Prince Essid: 55%
- Little Sword Emperor Asran: 25%
- Prince Arwen of Dale: 15%
- Everyone else: 5%
So Prince Essid was overwhelmingly ahead?
“…Leave out your personal bias.”
“Tch.”
This bastard was trying to pull something even a beginner wouldn’t fall for.
Sure, there was supposed to be a main male lead in this romance fantasy, but if someone had held such a clear lead, there was no way the later plot could have turned into such a complete mess.
Violet did say it had become a total disaster.
Apparently, quite a few readers had suddenly emerged as Demon King Faction supporters.
In other words, the author of that Dry Whatever had masterfully balanced the market value of the male-lead stocks.
Enough that when the upstart Demon King stock appeared, people were shouting, “To the moon!” instead of, “Delist it!”
- Prince Essid: 45%
- Little Sword Emperor Asran: 35%
Once Tinky Winky’s personal bias was removed, Prince Essid’s share dropped slightly.
Little Sword Emperor Asran’s rose slightly.
“Is that for real?”
“I’d bet my annual salary on it.”
Hmm. She really meant it.
This was different from what I’d expected.
“The difference is that big?”
“There are various incidents, but most of the major events happen within the Empire. The main plot is a chaotic academy politics arc with Prince Essid. The combat arc is mostly about taking down Ellen alongside Asran, the eternal runner-up.”
The magic-slinger prince handled a few magic-related parts, but apparently had almost no presence in the first-year arc.
Arwen didn’t truly stand out until the third-year arc, when the Dark Mages began appearing in earnest.
In other words, if flame-slinger wanted to make a move, she had to do it before third year.
“She’s doomed.”
In countless works of fiction, childhood friends were portrayed as symbols of defeat.
Yet if you only considered the circumstances, there was no one less likely to lose than a childhood friend.
They had the immense advantage of meeting the protagonist first.
They shared more time and memories than any other heroine.
Their families were close enough to treat each other’s children like family, so it seemed impossible for them to lose in the battle to become the heroine.
But looking at it the other way around...
Despite all those conditions, they had still failed to start dating before a new woman appeared.
They had known each other since long ago.
They had a mountain of shared memories.
Both families treated the other’s child like their own, yet they were at risk of being stolen away by a woman who had suddenly appeared!
“What the hell do you even have to do to win?”
At that point, wasn’t losing simply the right outcome?
Damn it, flame-slinger.
Before practicing how to burn the world down, she should’ve thought about setting her prince’s heart on fire.
“Mm. That part is kind of frustrating.”
Tinky Winky, growing increasingly casual in her speech, nodded at my anguish and erased the male-lead shares.
Then she wrote Arwen and Marie’s names side by side.
“Until Prince Arwen came to the academy, he lived a life devoted entirely to magic. Marie respected the prince’s wishes and helped him focus on magic!”
I understood it all, even from that rough explanation.
It wasn’t someone else’s problem.
Prince Ellen had also seemed as though the sword came first before entering the academy.
Flame-slinger must have felt as though she’d been stabbed in the back.
“Then the romance-fantasy heroine appears.”
“Hah. Our Daisy is just that charming.”
Our Daisy? It sounded disgustingly intimate, but it was true, so I let it slide.
“But Marie is a shadow of the royal family. She can’t step forward herself.”
Dale’s Protectors and Leon’s Instructors were broadly similar organizations.
Both protected the royal bloodline and worked for its growth.
Yet when you looked closer, the two groups had completely different natures.
We were Instructors, teachers who worked to educate royalty.
Dale’s Protectors were shadows who moved in secret to protect royalty.
For example, if Ellen died due to unforeseen circumstances.
I would be dismissed from my position as a royal Instructor and could face severe punishment.
But if there had been an unavoidable reason on my end, it could be treated as an unfortunate but unavoidable incident.
Of course, disgraceful rumors would follow me.
Still, at least I wouldn’t die.
Dale’s Protectors were different.
According to the information, they were practically extra lives for the royal family.
If the person a Protector guarded died, the Protector had to die as well, regardless of the circumstances.
It didn’t even require a decision from the royal family.
The contract made before becoming a Protector activated automatically when the royal they protected died.
Such a harsh restriction gave Protectors immense authority and influence unlike that of Instructors, but...
“She won’t use that, right?”
“Yeah. She’s trying to solve everything through magic alone...”
If I became a better mage, the prince would look at me.
All I had to do was become stronger so the prince would look at me!
That was what flame-slinger believed, but then the massive wall known as the romance-fantasy heroine blocked her path.
“But then, the Saintess awakens! A miracle beyond the laws of magic manifests! At the same time, her magical talent blossoms too!”
And thinking back to the punches from the other day, Daisy overwhelmingly surpassed her in close combat as well.
Damn it. No matter how I looked at it, there was no way flame-slinger could win.
“Even if she wins in magic, it’s a battle she can’t win.”
That was... romance fantasy.
The magic-slinger prince hadn’t fallen for Daisy because of her magical ability in the first place. From the moment flame-slinger thought she could make the prince look at her by becoming a better mage, her defeat was guaranteed.
“…How do the magic-slinger’s shares look in third year?”
“The realm is divided three ways.”
So Prince Essid had thirty percent. Little Sword Emperor Asran had thirty percent. The magic-slinger had thirty percent.
And the remaining hangers-on had ten percent?
“That’s right, but by then another junior character is added, so the number of hangers-on goes up a little.”
I’d thought only the girls got junior characters, but another male lead appeared too.
“This won’t do.”
For the peace of the world, anyone we could eliminate needed to be eliminated quickly.
So we needed to change our approach.
“...No, there’s no need for that.”
Flame-slinger blushed and said she didn’t need our help, so I told her the truth.
“Shut up, loser.”
“What...?”
“Shut up and join us.”
It looked like she wouldn’t be able to eat even if we set the table for her, so I’d have to force it down her throat.
* * *
I made flame-slinger cry about three times while helping her face reality.
Still, she’d spend the rest of her academy life chewing over defeat and tearing up, so making her cry three times was a bargain.
After recruiting a new member for the Imperial Academy Romance Manipulation Squad and finalizing plans to carefully approach the girls destined to become villainesses as well, I was handling my second objective at the academy.
“So, everything is ready?”
“Of course.”
If the Imperial Academy Romance Manipulation Squad was the first objective.
The next objective was the Kasukabe Defense Force.
No, the Imperial Academy Neighborhood Watch.
This damned academy was going to keep getting attacked in the future!
“From there to there, we reinforced all the visible defenses.”
That was why Aryn, the man in charge, was showing me the academy’s security systems added after the recent incident.
Aryn knew I wasn’t simply a student, but effectively an unofficial representative of the Leon Kingdom, so he was doing his best to explain everything.
Still...
“Can those obvious things really stop anyone?”
The more I listened, the less reassuring it became.
I knew little about magic, but even I could spot the problems.
No wonder the academy would keep getting breached like an automatic door in the future.
“They’re for intimidation. That’s only what’s visible. It’s meant to say, ‘Don’t even try if you aren’t confident.’”
My voice was full of doubt, so Aryn hurriedly said there were hidden measures as well.
Even so, the academy would be breached again. This was an academy in a romance fantasy, after all!
“The real defenses are hidden somewhere else? Then you should tell me.”
“That’s classified.”
“Classified information between us? That hurts.”
“I’m sorry too, but there’s nothing I can do if the higher-ups say no. If you defect to the Empire, I can reveal everything. Want to come?”
Apparently, the Empire wanted my abilities too.
He said he absolutely couldn’t tell me, but he could secretly fill me in if I came over to their side.
Ha, this popularity of mine.
It wasn’t bad, though.
If I mentioned it to the Commander at the next meeting, I could gain the upper hand in salary negotiations.
The more cards I had to play, the better.
“I don’t think the Empire can offer me more than my current salary.”
“Come on, this is the Empire. How much are you making?”
“About this much?”
“...What?”
Even the vast Empire seemed shocked by the Leon royal family’s overwhelming generosity.
“Do you have any openings there?”
“Sadly, they closed recently.”
We had spent the remaining budget recruiting Tinky Winky, so further recruitment would be difficult for a while.
“That’s a shame.”
It was probably an act, but the fact that he looked genuinely disappointed was strange.
Was the Empire stingy with salaries too, like Dale?
The Empire governed several times the territory of our kingdom.
That meant it had many more specialized personnel to maintain.
Even the Empire would have trouble covering all those costs.
“So the academy lets terrorists come visit because it has no money.”
“No, this time was an exceptional case. Nothing like that will happen again.”
“...”
Silence might have been exceptional, but similar bastards would keep knocking on the academy’s doors.
And the academy would keep letting them in as if welcoming them.
Of course, I’d do what I could to stop that.
But even the Empire, the first line of defense, had this rotten mindset.
“No, what’s with that expression?”
“Uh, um. It’s nothing. I just picked up some information.”
“What is it?”
“Well...”
It was nothing much. Just a minor incident at the academy.
“The Swordsmanship Department is going to the Adrian Mountains for practical training this time, right?”
“...How did you know that?”
Aryn’s expression hardened when I brought up the training location, which had not yet been announced.
But Codename Tinky Winky knew something even more important.
“I heard there are Dark Mages there.”
“...Really?”
“...Please deal with them properly.”
“...”
“...”
They called it a minor incident, so they’d handle this much, right?
“Fuck.”
It was my fault for trusting Aryn.
Footnotes:
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