I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 41

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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

Chapter 41: New Semester (1)

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“We’re ba...ck!”

Sniff.

Violet shed tears of emotion as she looked at the Academy walls in the distance.

They were just a pile of rocks.

Sure, they were big and imposing, but they weren’t as impressive as Daisy’s sword of light in the Holy Kingdom.

Even with those walls, the Imperial Academy was destined to be breached as easily as an automatic door.

‘Still, I’m happy.’

A whole mountain of incidents awaited them, but at least they were incidents she remembered.

Of course, the Violet from back then would have had something else to say.

For now, though, Violet was so moved by her return to the Academy that she cried at the sight of its walls.

“Haah.”

After shedding tears for a while, Violet wiped them away with her sleeve and thought,

‘At least the Holy Kingdom business is over.’

It felt like she had suffered three times, no, five times as much as she was originally meant to.

Thanks to that, every crisis in the Holy Kingdom arc had been resolved.

In other words, she just had to think of it as suffering through future pain early.

‘Of course, I’ll have to deal with the aftermath.’

That was Daisy’s problem, not hers.

The original story had already been wrecked, and there was nothing Violet could do about it.

Instead, Daisy had grown as much as the original story had been wrecked, so she could handle everything herself.

Having witnessed the great and beautiful miracle that had made the people of the Leon Kingdom’s hearts race, Violet decided to let go of her lingering attachment.

The villains who appeared from now on... Daisy would somehow cut them down.

Maybe Daisy could even deal with the Demon King somehow.

Since returning from the Holy Kingdom, Violet’s faith in Daisy had been steadily growing in place of faith in the Goddess.

She decided to report everything that had happened and complain to her boss, who had been leisurely enjoying the good life somewhere safe.

A fucking lot had happened.

I’m fucking exhausted!

This wasn’t just whining. I’d really suffered like hell!

So if they had any conscience, they’d do something for me!

With that thought, she waited for Adam to return from the Leon Kingdom.

But then...

“...Did you get deployed somewhere during the break?”

She was the one who had been dropped into the middle of a battlefield, so why did Adam look like the patient?

What was more...

“A fucking lot happened... I’m so tired.”

“...”

Violet had no choice but to listen to Adam’s complaints with a tearful face after Adam stole the very line she had planned to say.

* * *

It was supposedly a tradition handed down from A Certain Magical Index that a correction punch meant decking someone in the face.

That was the modern world. This was a class-based fantasy world.

You could punch an enemy in the face, but not royalty.

So instead of Ellen, I swung at the sword he was holding.

Apparently, that had been the wrong choice.

That crazy bastard Ellen somehow drew out mana even in that situation and tried to block it.

If we had collided head-on, it could’ve caused a real disaster, so I directed the impact toward myself rather than Prince Ellen.

“So that’s how you got injured?”

“Yeah.”

Tinky Winky narrowed her eyes after hearing the full explanation.

Was this why people said sharp kids were annoying?

“You’re leaving it untreated on purpose?”

“Of course.”

My arm was a little broken, and the external injuries looked serious.

Still, I had no internal injuries or anything else.

In other words, the visible wounds were all I had.

And in a fantasy world, injuries like these were very easy to heal.

There were two reasons I was still pretending to be critically ill instead of getting treated.

The first was to avoid being dragged off by the Sword Emperor under the excuse that I was a patient.

“What did Prince Ellen say?”

“He feels guilty every time he sees me.”

The other was to make our precious prince feel emotionally indebted.

“So make sure you keep an eye on Daisy.”

Daisy could heal these injuries with one tap of a healing spell.

On top of that, if Daisy healed me, Ellen’s guilt over my wounds could turn into gratitude toward Daisy.

A terrifying thought.

A romance-fantasy heroine could seduce a romance-fantasy male lead just by breathing.

I had to stay careful. Always careful.

“Don’t worry. Daisy’s being dragged all over the place as soon as she returned to the Academy, so she’s busy. It’s not like she can do anything even if I’m not around.”

Right. Both the Empire and the Academy had to be thrown into confusion by Daisy’s shocking actions.

It had only been a few months since a low-ranking noblewoman from their own country suddenly awakened as the Saintess.

Before they could even clean up that mess, she purged the Holy Kingdom’s corruption and returned as its de facto highest religious leader.

“It’s not just the Empire.”

“Well, considering the Holy Kingdom’s influence, it must affect the whole continent.”

“That too, but there were people who followed her, remember?”

“Ah.”

I had forgotten because of the sudden event, but everyone from the Flower Arrangement Club except the squinty club president and Prince Ellen had followed her all the way to the Holy Kingdom.

“It’s lucky things worked out. Otherwise, it would’ve become an international problem.”

I imagined it.

Prince Ellen went to the Holy Kingdom because he said he wanted to follow Daisy.

Then the Leon Kingdom received word that he had started a revolution there.

The thought alone sent chills through my whole body and made my hands and feet shake.

Being mentally controlled by dark magic felt preferable by comparison.

“Ah.”

Once I realized that, I remembered one more thing.

“What is it?”

“I remembered something I need to do.”

“In that condition?”

“This is nothing. Even if both my legs were broken, I couldn’t hold myself back.”

I meant it.

There was something I needed to see, even if both my legs were broken and I had to crawl across the floor.

“What the hell is it?”

What else could it be?

“Watching a burning house.”

I was going to watch someone else’s house burn down.

* * *

Ignoring Tinky Winky, who said there was still plenty to ask and confirm, I ordered a coffee at the shop and headed straight for the warehouse where the Shadows gathered.

Sadly, no one was there.

Since I visited every day and saw people come and go, though, I sat in the warehouse every day without fail, holding a cup of coffee and waiting for them.

“Y-you put water in coffee...?”

I drank an iced Americano while looking at the Flame-Slinger, who spoke like an Italian from my past life.

As expected of someone from a country of magic casters filled with prejudice, she couldn’t accept an iced Americano.

“It’s good.”

It was sweet.

Even without sugar, a sweetness rose along with the deep flavor.

That was why I came to the warehouse every day.

A smile naturally spread across my lips.

“Y-you...”

The Flame-Slinger glared at me resentfully at that faint smile.

“I don’t even have the strength to get mad...”

Apparently, she didn’t even have the energy to open her eyes wide. She collapsed face-first onto the desk.

“Is nobody else coming?”

At least the Flame-Slinger had it relatively easy.

That was probably why she could take refuge here and rest.

The others were in such bad shape that they couldn’t even show their faces here. As for Uncle Aryn, no one had seen him since the romance-fantasy group returned to the Academy.

A face like his would stand out if he walked around in a school uniform, yet there had been no news of him.

He might have been dragged to the imperial capital the moment he returned to the Academy.

“You should’ve stopped them better.”

“Y-you...”

I muttered quietly, but only the Flame-Slinger and I were left in the clubroom.

Besides, I’d said it for her to hear.

“Your prince, too...”

“He was only attacked by an evil Dark Mage while trying to save people.”

“...”

It had been a miserable situation from my perspective, but to an outsider, it could look somewhat heroic.

If I, the victim, defended him, the Flame-Slinger couldn’t say anything.

“O-our prince, too. He dealt with the corrupt Holy Kingdom...”

The Flame-Slinger tried to defend her prince despite looking like she was about to cry.

“So that means he gets to join a revolution in another country? If something happens in the Empire later, will he join an imperial revolution too?”

“N-no!”

Tinky Winky said their trip to the Holy Kingdom could be compared to Silence’s terror attack, or even worse, in a different sense.

Perhaps that was true. The Flame-Slinger, who had been slumped weakly in her chair, shot upright and shouted.

“But if Daisy is there, it could happen.”

“Ah...”

Maybe she had really lost her mind. The Flame-Slinger couldn’t even argue like usual and only looked close to tears.

At this rate, I could probably make her cry for real.

“Even if there isn’t a revolution, Daisy is going back to the Holy Kingdom during winter break, right? Your prince will follow her there too.”

“W-why are you doing this to me...?”

I couldn’t tell whether she meant herself or her prince.

In the end, the tears gathered in the Flame-Slinger’s eyes fell to the floor.

“Sweet.”

They said tears were salty.

Yet my coffee somehow tasted sweeter.

“You bastard!”

Unable to endure it any longer, fireballs rose around the Flame-Slinger.

Fire magic cast without an incantation, with no spark in sight.

She truly was the Protector of Dale royalty.

Still, I knew magic that could nullify her spell with a single sentence.

“That’s why you should confess already.”

“Wha?”

As if she had swallowed the vanished flames, the Flame-Slinger’s face flushed red.

“This winter break... is already too late.”

“Is he really going...?”

“If you aren’t planning to follow Daisy next year, you need to confess already.”

“B-but what if he rejects me...?”

The Flame-Slinger looked close to tears for another reason, and it was incredibly frustrating.

“Does getting rejected mean you stop being his Protector? You’re his Protector anyway, so the royal family will force you to stay by his side.”

“T-that’s true, but...”

“Magic cas... no, Prince Arwen doesn’t see you as a woman. So confess first and make him see you that way. Even if you get rejected, keep hovering around him and work on his affection meter.”

“R-really?”

“It’s not my analysis. It came from a romance expert. At least it should be a better judgment than anything we could come up with.”

I remembered it being a method from some comic or webtoon I had read in my previous life...

And I seemed to remember it ending with the male lead dating the heroine who advised the other heroine to confess first, not the heroine who actually confessed...

“Oh...”

I decided not to tell her that, since I needed to boost the Flame-Slinger’s confidence.

“I told you I’d help.”

I meant it.

Honestly, things were a little dangerous.

From the moment our king took an interest in Daisy’s great and beautiful sword.

Even aside from that, from the moment the royal family began calculating that Daisy becoming Prince Ellen’s partner would not be a loss because her value had risen.

It probably wouldn’t happen, but if a prince of Dale stayed near Daisy...

I could already hear it.

-Leon cannot lose to Dale!

Before, it had been a possibility. Now, it was starting to feel certain.

That was why it would be better to remove the Dale royal, the magic caster, as quickly as possible.

“R-really?”

Even apart from that...

My desire to protect the Flame-Slinger’s devoted love wasn’t a lie.

“Of course. We’re allies, aren’t we?”

The Flame-Slinger, Lady Lorellia, and I were allied on the anti-Daisy romance front.

“R-right!”

To keep our oath to support each other’s love lives, I had an obligation to protect the Flame-Slinger’s and Senior Lorellia’s love lives...