WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈
Chapter 32: The Romance Fantasy Heroine Is Strong (2)
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“If someone asked me what I left behind in this world, I’d confidently say that I created my masterpiece, Daisy.”
Had she gotten hit in the head with magic during the practical exam?
Watching Violet suddenly spew nonsense, I asked a single question.
“You lost too?”
“How am I supposed to win against that?!”
So she had lost.
Was this bastard really only good at sorcery?
“No, how is that a Saintess? Give her a Holy Sword, and she could change classes to Hero on the spot!”
Even setting that aside, Daisy’s performance had been insane.
“Are there even Heroes or Holy Swords?”
“No. Maybe the Goddess is too incompetent to make anything like that.”
Every word out of this bastard’s mouth was begging for divine punishment.
Still, seeing her alive and moving around, perhaps the Goddess really was incompetent.
“What a mess.”
I’d heard that, after losing face during the terrorist attack, the Magic Department had been shouting about taking down the Swordsmanship Department.
This time, though, they had suffered a complete defeat.
Even my “I held out against the Sword Emperor” bragging rights had crumbled before Daisy’s fifty-two-win streak.
“How did she seriously do that?”
I honestly didn’t think even Ellen could pull that off.
The winner didn’t choose the next challenger, either. Challengers stepped forward voluntarily after seeing the winner’s condition.
Apparently, many top-ranking students had gotten fired up by Daisy’s win streak, challenged her, and been crushed.
“Divine power is ridiculously overpowered.”
Violet, one of the defeated, muttered as if making excuses.
She wasn’t wrong.
It was an ability meant to support others, yet Daisy fought while healing herself.
And because that ability was no joke, she had become an overpowered character who could deal damage, tank hits, and provide utility all by herself.
“How did the Demon King even kidnap Daisy in the original story?”
He kidnapped someone like Daisy.
The Demon King, who had yet to even appear, rose sharply in my estimation.
“Original Daisy was weaker, but he’s also the final boss and the strongest being in the setting.”
Even as a leading member of the anti-Demon King camp, Violet only frowned and answered that the Demon King was naturally that strong.
“You said he was weaker than Ellen.”
“Only with a sword. In overall combat ability, the Demon King is stronger.”
“Then why does he run away?”
“His overall ability might be higher, but if they actually fight, it’s close enough that nobody knows who’ll die. Out of ten fights, the Demon King would win seven, but he could lose three.”
Fair enough. In the original story, Ellen was humanity’s strongest swordsman, but his position was still only that of a prince of Leon.
Considering the current Sword Emperor, Ellen would have enormous influence over humanity. But if he and the Demon King destroyed each other, it would be a profitable trade for the humans.
“And then there’s the power of love, friendship, and justice.”
What kind of bullshit was that now?
“If Ellen holds out, the protagonist’s party comes to gang up on him.”
“Ah.”
Well, ganging up was the protagonist party’s privilege.
Talking about justice while a group attacked one final boss was only common sense!
“But wouldn’t the Demonkin do the same?”
The Demon King was their king.
Would the other Demonkin really sit still while their king was being ganged up on?
“Humans have greater numbers.”
Thanks to the effects of romance-fantasy turn-based combat, all the useful Demonkin apparently got killed by the protagonist’s party before the Demon King even appeared.
The Demonkin Grand General and a few other powerful figures remained, of course.
“By then, the nonhuman races send reinforcements too.”
The nonhuman races that had lived peacefully among themselves under treaties with the Empire would realize the world was screwed and eventually join the Demonkin subjugation.
It seemed they could keep the Demonkin in check to some extent with their help.
“There aren’t any male lead candidates among the nonhuman races, right?”
“There was one elf the author was testing the waters with, but people didn’t like him, so a fiancée suddenly appeared.”
Considering Prince Essid, having a fiancée didn’t necessarily stop someone from becoming a male lead. But this fiancée had appeared while the author was testing the waters, so I trusted it.
“Did the author pay that much attention to feedback?”
“If that were true, would we have suddenly gotten the ‘The Demon King kidnapped the heroine!’ plot? He was just a character who got discarded, so the author only tested the waters a little.”
The resentment Violet held toward the author showed in the way she ground her teeth.
Maybe that was why they said fans becoming anti-fans was the scariest thing.
“Anyway, unless there’s a variable, there won’t be any romance that transcends species.”
And that variable meant the two of us. As long as we didn’t create one, the nonhuman races could rest easy.
“So love that transcends nations exists.”
“Isn’t it already everywhere?”
In the end, people themselves were the problem.
“Though this incident probably cut down on it quite a lot.”
“What are you talking about now?”
“Other than her family, Daisy has the best possible qualifications. She’s kind, she’s pretty, she’s a Saintess, and she has lots of impressive men around her.”
She had everything needed to become the flower on a cliff that romance fantasies so often talked about.
“Her family lowered the height of that cliff considerably.”
Daisy’s family was only a baronial house.
It was even located somewhere that might as well have been a remote rural backwater.
That was why plenty of people thought, Maybe I have a chance?
There were also countless people who simply wanted to become acquainted with her.
“There’s nothing to lose if it doesn’t work out. If it does, you can get close to not only the Saintess, but major figures across the continent.”
It would be nice if it worked, and no big deal if it didn’t.
Young idiots who didn’t know how dangerous a romance-fantasy heroine could be had approached her that way.
Our Tinky Winky seemed to have been diligently filtering out those idiots because she wanted to save people.
“You’ve been busy.”
“The scariest part is that this is the least busy I’ll ever be.”
Now that I thought about it, this was still the opening of the romance fantasy.
A major early incident had occurred, but the things that happened during their first year were minor compared to what lay ahead.
“Anyway, lots of annoying people had been clinging to her. But thanks to Daisy going wild this time, the atmosphere has changed.”
The reason so many people had casually thrown themselves at Daisy was largely because of her personality.
She was naturally kind and the type to make friends with everyone without caring about status.
It might not have been strange for a noble from the countryside to pay little attention to the divide between nobles and commoners.
But Daisy treated Imperial royalty, foreign royalty, and high-ranking nobles no differently from commoners.
“But a kind grasshopper and a kind champion strongman feel different.”
“That comparison gets the point across perfectly!”
After these final exams, Daisy was no longer seen as a kind, fragile Saintess. She was now seen as a monster who could take on a platoon’s worth of fighters by herself if necessary.
Daisy herself had not changed, but those who had seen it with their own eyes found it difficult to treat her as usual.
“The problem is that Essid feels that way too!”
Violet looked like she was about to cry.
Her boss was pushing the Little Sword Emperor, but Violet had stubbornly kept investing in Essid stock.
Then Prince Essid had voluntarily challenged Daisy, gotten beaten like a dog, and now Violet was worried about her ship crashing.
“Why did he challenge her in the first place?”
“He probably wanted to show her a cool side of himself.”
Seeing Violet complain that he had done something pointless, I got the rough picture.
Asran was the same, and so was Essid.
Seeing how the first person to make a move always suffered, these bastards probably had the highest chance of taking the best position if they just stayed still.
In fact, Arwen, the prince of those spell-slingers, only started challenging people after Daisy finally lost. Arwen then appeared much later, defeated everyone who remained, and achieved a respectable seventeen-win streak.
“His score goes up just by sitting still. Should we make Prince Ellen do something too?”
“Perfect timing, since it’s summer vacation!”
“Good luck with that.”
I shut down Violet’s blatant attempt to shove Prince Ellen into the Holy Kingdom travel party, then thought about the schedule ahead.
Finals were over, so classes would become easier.
The Sword Emperor also seemed busy with something, so I wouldn’t have to serve as a punching bag for a while.
“Usually, something happens when you say that.”
“Shut up.”
Violet, who was scheduled to work herself ragged in the Holy Kingdom, spat out a curse, but I ignored her.
Surely nothing would happen here like it did in a novel.
“I didn’t know it then. Before vacation, something would... Aagh!”
I smacked Violet on the crown of her head for trying to narrate like that, but I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
* * *
The day of the end-of-term ceremony.
Fortunately, nothing had happened up to today.
Still, I didn’t let my guard down.
In romance fantasies, something always happened at the last moment.
For example, Prince Ellen could get so obsessed with the romance-fantasy heroine that he ran away on the day of the ceremony to join her party.
“Then I’ll stop by the Flower Arrangement Club to say goodbye...”
Watching Ellen say he would go see his club friends after the ceremony ended...
“Proceed.”
“Yes!”
“Who are you?”
I put the plan I had prepared into action.
Operation Return.
“Wait, hold on!”
“Please don’t move. You could lose a body part if something goes wrong.”
As light enveloped our bodies, Ellen looked flustered.
“You said we were going back by carriage!”
“The dispatched knights will return by carriage. They’ll bring our luggage too.”
Teleportation.
Casting it without preparation cost a lot, but we could reduce the expense as much as possible by using short-range teleportation.
“...Where are we now?”
“The Magic Tower.”
“So we can’t do it in one go...”
“Did you think we could?”
Magic might feel all-powerful, but that was why teleportation countermeasures had been placed throughout the Empire.
Could we really teleport directly from the academy, the heart of the Empire, all the way to Leon?
“We need to transfer five more times.”
“If that’s the case, we should’ve just taken a carriage...”
Not a chance.
It cost quite a bit, but wasn’t that exactly what teleportation was for?
“That’s how much Her Majesty the Queen is waiting for you.”
“Now I want to go even less...”
“Tell me if you get motion sick.”
After struggling for quite some time while taking Prince Ellen from Magic Tower to Magic Tower, my head had become slightly foggy from the repeated mana interference.
“Fight me!”
The moment we arrived at the Royal Magic Tower, Princess Hestia declared battle as though she had been waiting for us.
That was when I truly felt we had returned home.
* * *
#1 Holy Kingdom Correspondent, Codename Tinky Winky.
This damned black company had terrible support.
Of course... they paid my salary properly.
They even paid performance bonuses properly!
Still, sometimes I wished they would send people instead of money.
“It’s my first time going to the Holy Kingdom.”
Daisy’s bright eyes were full of anticipation.
The Holy Kingdom.
The Goddess’s nation, which influenced countless countries.
It held numerous religious relics, including holy sites.
Every year, countless pilgrims and tourists visited it.
It was also the heart of religion, where the Pope, cardinals, and Holy Knights lived.
That was why most people thought of the Holy Kingdom as a sacred place.
To some extent, that was true.
The place might have been sacred, but the people were not.
It was filled with trash who put a young Pope at the front and used religion for politics.
“I’m excited!”
I knew those pure eyes would soon be filled with disappointment.
Even so, I couldn’t stop Daisy.
Even though I knew the original story had already gone to hell, I couldn’t allow the Holy Kingdom to become even worse.
And that damned boss, Mr. Adam, was telling me to work my ass off if I wanted to get paid.
“Yeah...”
Knowing I would be worked like a dog, I still had no choice but to leave for an overseas business trip with tears in my eyes.
Author’s Note
I’ve never taken a hiatus before, but the moment I tried to work, my body suddenly stopped cooperating, so I had no choice...
I debated making an announcement until after nine, but it really seemed impossible, so I barely wrote one on my phone.
So let’s say I moved tomorrow’s scheduled hiatus up to today... Tomorrow’s hiatus has been canceled.
Dobby is... a slave...
P.S. After hearing that Mr. Baldy bought the anime Blu-ray, I guess I managed to pull through this time.
Arona gave me blue envelopes twice like a jerk,
but Plana slipped cards from the bottom and turned them pink twice in a row.
So I got all the current pickup characters at 140 and 150.
Footnotes:
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