WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈
Chapter 40: Side Quest (4)
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Seeing Prince Ellen robbed of his senses, my first thought was, What a shame.
Ah. I should’ve been the one who got mind-controlled.
Then I could’ve legally beaten him up!
There was the official side of things, and personally, I still had some reluctance to hit someone of his status.
Still, Prince Ellen thought of me as a friend.
With his personality, he probably wouldn’t mercilessly beat up a friend being controlled by evil dark magic.
It would’ve been a very entertaining situation where I got to attack him one-sidedly.
Maybe this was why I needed to live a good life.
“That’s not kindness. There’s something wrong with his brain.”
Throwing himself into danger for someone he’d never met, no, a beastkin, was definitely an intelligence problem.
The kid could be a bit of a pushover, but he hadn’t always been like this.
This was probably Daisy’s fault too, the romance-fantasy heroine who was the root of all evil.
The one good thing was that if he acted like this for a stranger, wouldn’t he also do his best if I were in danger?
“Ha.”
I considered that, then sighed at the fact that he had created this dangerous situation himself.
“How am I supposed to stop that?”
Tears clouded my vision.
Being a prince was already enough to make me sigh, but according to Tinky Winky, he was destined to become the strongest swordsman in the setting.
On top of that, thanks to Tinky Winky’s early education, he had skipped several years of the original story and even gone into closed-door training so he could be worthy of Daisy.
I’d been dragged into that training and used as a punching bag, so I knew Prince Ellen’s growth better than anyone.
“I seriously need to quit.”
Of course, that was all talk.
The class system in this medieval fantasy world wasn’t something you could escape that easily.
Could an Instructor who knew countless royal secrets freely retire just because they wanted to?
Unless I was prepared to throw away everything I’d built and truly become a runaway ninja, retirement was nearly impossible.
The retirement jokes I made with the Commander were just WWE. A demand for compensation because things were fucking hard.
Among people like us, Senior Lucia was probably the only one who talked about retirement like it was UFC.
“Should I ask the Royal Magic Tower to make some anesthetic?”
I’d packed a ton of things before leaving for the Academy in preparation for what lay ahead.
But there wasn’t a single thing I could use in this situation.
I’d prepared them for the romance-fantasy world, for villains like the Dark Mages who would appear in the future.
I’d tried all the potions, but they had no effect, and I couldn’t exactly use poison on a prince.
There was the stim pack I’d used against Silence, but that had a cooldown too. I’d heard it was healthier to save it until the last possible moment.
“So all I’ve got left is my sword and body? Guess I really am a swordsman.”
People often said a swordsman had nothing but themself and a single sword.
And now, against my will, I had to stop the strongest person in the setting with just a sword.
“I’ll have to hold out.”
I ran through the scenario several times in my head, but I got crushed all fifteen times.
My attacks couldn’t break through Prince Ellen’s solid defense right now.
The one fortunate thing was that perhaps all the Dark Mages who needed to issue commands were dead.
Even after facing each other for over a minute, Prince Ellen hadn’t moved.
It would be nice if he could just stay still until experts arrived from the kingdom.
“Prince Ellen!”
At that moment, the voices of Royal Guard knights rushing toward us made Prince Ellen move.
“Ha.”
In the end, I had no choice but to move to stop Prince Ellen.
* * *
The Doomed Sword was a swordsmanship created for the Leon royal family.
Paradoxically, it could also be called a counter to Leon Royal Swordsmanship.
The Doomed Sword had been designed with royal swordsmanship as its foundation from the start.
The more swords clashed, the more threatened a royal would feel. As a result, the opening form of the Doomed Sword naturally devoured Leon Royal Swordsmanship.
Of course, the drawback was that the further the fight went, the more the Doomed Sword would be devoured by Leon Royal Swordsmanship.
But since it was a swordsmanship born to lose, that wasn’t really a flaw. It had perfectly achieved its purpose.
At least, that had been true until Senior Lucia and me.
Ellen and Hestia.
The appearance of two geniuses who surpassed the royal family’s expectations forced their Instructors to seek victory rather than defeat.
So they forcibly tore apart a swordsmanship that naturally lost in the latter half and remade it into one that could win.
In other words, the Doomed Sword I knew was a complete counter to Leon Royal Swordsmanship from beginning to end.
From the moment I learned it, I knew the royal family would have a leash around my neck for the rest of my life.
Still, I’d accepted that in exchange for getting ahead.
“So this is why fantasy protagonists throw a fit about wanting to rest whenever something happens.”
The moment our swords first collided, I understood.
Ah, I’d thought he might be easier to handle because he was being controlled by dark magic.
Then I remembered. These bastards made magic swords that could draw out their user’s full potential.
Fortunately, unlike that Little Sword Emperor wannabe, Prince Ellen seemed able to draw out his full potential even normally. He didn’t power up just because he had become an enemy.
But if he was at his usual level, that only meant I could barely win once after fighting him dozens of times, so it wasn’t exactly good news.
“I really don’t want to go to school.”
I’d said those words dozens of times in my previous life, and now I said them again in this one.
More precisely, it wasn’t school but the Academy.
And it wasn’t even the Academy itself, but the trip there.
Something that hadn’t even happened in the original story was already this much trouble.
According to our Tinky Winky, how annoying would the second semester be, when proper romance-fantasy Academy life was supposed to begin?
I deflected Ellen’s sword, dodged it, and sometimes counterattacked.
As I fought this sparring match that had become half WWE to me, not all that different from usual, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“I can actually hold out.”
Ellen wasn’t the only one who had improved over break.
My skills as a punching bag had improved just as visibly as Ellen had.
“……”
As I held out, a thought abruptly raised its head from deep inside me.
Could this actually work?
Even now, every simulation in my head ended with me getting beaten like a dog.
But simulations were simulations. Reality could be different.
Carefully, I changed the direction of my sword.
The feet that had smoothly dodged Ellen’s attacks turned toward him.
I read the flow.
Whether in theory or real combat, I already understood royal swordsmanship perfectly.
At this timing, he’d make this attack, then it would develop like this.
I knew every move he could make if the attack succeeded, and every move he could make if it failed.
I also knew which options Ellen preferred.
On top of that, my physical abilities and raw amount of mana were greater than his.
Losing even with all that was the difference in talent.
“But if you’re not in your right mind, it’s worth a try.”
I thrust into the opening.
Was it because I attacked at a timing when I normally would have defended?
I felt Prince Ellen flinch through the tip of my sword.
“……”
But he immediately counterattacked. Truly a cheating character sent down by heaven.
Normally, I would defend again here, but I thrust in once more.
Attack, attack, then more attack.
The extreme aggressiveness at the heart of the Doomed Sword.
Ellen had made me more defensive.
But what I’d learned before hadn’t disappeared, so I could bring it out whenever I wanted.
Still, perhaps my proficiency had dropped.
Or perhaps it was Prince Ellen’s talent.
My offensive stalled, and Ellen’s attacks gradually began to reach me.
“Still not enough?”
Normally, I would stop here.
Well, I couldn’t stop like I did during sparring because of the situation.
If I returned to defense here, I could hold out a little longer.
And if I used the Royal Guard knights waiting after hearing a rough explanation, I thought I could somehow resolve this incident.
But it was frustrating.
It felt like being blocked right before the finish line.
Normally, I would’ve played it safe and defended with an office worker’s mindset.
But Ellen kept causing trouble, and I was the one cleaning it up.
“So I can cause a little trouble too.”
The anger buried deep in my heart slowly raised its head.
“The Royal Anti-Dark-Magic Unit will arrive soon!”
The timing was perfect. Hearing that I wouldn’t have to deal with the aftermath, I decided to just go for it.
* * *
Royal Guard knight Geric thought, So these are the greatest geniuses of this generation.
Geric was also someone who had been called a genius.
A genius in the arms of their family.
A genius in the eyes of their teacher.
After leaving their family and teacher behind to enter the world, they had still been called a genius.
Even at the Royal Academy, where geniuses gathered, they had been recognized as one.
Naturally.
The Royal Guard was where such shining talents gathered.
Even in the knightly kingdom of Leon, these were knights granted the most glorious duty.
And yet those knights watched the two young swordsmen fight with their mouths hanging open.
“Is this all right?”
At the rookie’s words, Geric answered without even turning away.
“What is?”
“That kind of fight against a prince of the kingdom…”
Though called a rookie, one needed corresponding accomplishments and loyalty to enter the Royal Guard.
To a knight who had belonged to several orders and participated in many battles, the fight between Ellen and Adam looked dangerous.
“It isn’t all right.”
Geric, who had spent a long time as a Royal Guard knight, felt the same.
But.
“What can we do about it?”
“Pardon?”
“Will you get between them and stop them? If suicide is your hobby, I won’t stop you.”
“……”
At that, the rookie knight thought.
How many exchanges could they withstand if they entered that fight?
Five? Ten? Perhaps they wouldn’t even last one.
“How precise.”
At Geric’s mutter, the rookie unconsciously nodded.
It didn’t look particularly flashy on the surface.
But the precision within it was enough to make any swordsman exclaim in admiration.
Whether it was Prince Ellen, countering attacks with incredibly delicate mana control.
Or Adam, controlling his mana while setting feints to break through that delicate control.
Both were incredible, but Prince Ellen continued to win.
Was that why?
“Huh?”
Adam started forcing things.
It was as though Ellen had beaten his rock with paper, and Adam had decided that if the rock was heavy enough, it could tear through the paper. He pushed forward just like that.
“Isn’t that seriously dangerous?”
The amount of mana erupting in an instant was no joke.
The rookie looked at Geric, but Geric could only admire it.
“Watch the tip of his sword.”
The mana contained in Adam’s sword was extremely powerful, but compared to the force it gave off, it felt far weaker.
It was precisely the maximum amount of mana Prince Ellen could draw out.
As if proving it, when Ellen and Adam’s swords collided, a powerful gust of sword wind burst out and the energy in both swords vanished.
A perfect draw.
But Adam took another step forward from there.
He threw away his sword, drew out mana with brute force, and packed it into his fist.
“This is the Holy Punch I learned from Daisy, whom you like so much, you bastard!”
With those incomprehensible words, he struck down Prince Ellen’s sword, which was somehow trying to counterattack, with his bare fist.
“……”
A brutal sound brushed past Geric’s ears.
It was so loud that no other sound could be heard.
When the ringing in their ears finally stopped, Prince Ellen was lying unconscious amid a cloud of dust.
Fortunately, he didn’t appear to be badly injured.
If only injuries were considered, the winner looked more seriously hurt.
But Adam had undeniably beaten a royal, so as a Royal Guard knight, Geric couldn’t just stand there and watch.
Then again, Prince Ellen had been affected by dark magic.
“It was the Dark Mages.”
“Pardon?”
“Prince Ellen was attacked by the Dark Mages.”
“…Ah, well.”
The rookie, who had been about to object, realized that wasn’t exactly wrong.
“Ah, understood.”
They had no choice but to nod at the words of such a senior knight.
And this is actually the main point.
The finished artwork of Daisy with a crown daisy in her mouth.
Seeing as the person who drew it treated readers like ignorant fools for asking what kind of crown daisy it was, I’m convinced the artist knows nothing about drawing.
Also, they asked me to make it clear that they absolutely are not Daisy’s official artist, so I’m writing this. But if you all think they’re official, then they’re official.
Author’s Note
PS1.
The schedule keeps getting pushed back, so instead of a 9 PM novel, it is gradually becoming a 10 PM novel.
Still, big data says that if I announce it for 10 PM, it becomes an 11 PM novel, so I’ll announce it as around 9 PM.
PS2.
I plan to take a break tomorrow.
Along with finally dealing with the aftermath of my wisdom tooth extraction and root canal treatment, I have dental treatment scheduled that will take away a substantial portion of my contest prize money.
They said it would take at least two hours, so I booked it for the morning.
If I’m okay afterward, I plan to publish. If not, I’ll be taking a break, so I’ll just mark it as a break for now.
Footnotes:
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