WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈
Chapter 5: The World Is Wide, and There Are Many Masters (1)
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Five years had passed.
As expected, Prince Ellen had become a monster, and I worked tirelessly to keep up with him.
And as a result...
“Princess Hestia.”
“...”
“You really suck at this.”
“Hey, asshole!”
As Princess Hestia, on the verge of tears, exploded in rage, I ran for it.
My recent record was four wins and one loss out of five.
There were no handicaps like before. These were purely contests of skill.
The fall of Princess Hestia, who had prided herself on being the strongest among her peers.
Of course, it wasn’t because her skills had declined.
If anything, her ability was growing rapidly in line with her talent, and she was still called a swordsmanship prodigy.
She was simply losing to her monstrous younger brother and to me, who was being forced to become a monster because of him!
She was still a powerful swordswoman with few rivals her age.
“So this is why people dope.”
Even she had lost to a manufactured monster like me.
The commander hadn’t lied.
With that level of wholehearted support, I was able to grow at an absurd rate every day.
“I do wonder whether it’s all right for me to receive this much support.”
Even if being the prince’s instructor was an important role, there was no reason I should receive more support than Princess Hestia.
Yet Prince Ellen, the fifth prince, made it possible.
Prince Ellen improved at a frightening pace. Three years ago, he and Princess Hestia had begun splitting their full-force matches evenly. Now, his win rate against her had reached ninety percent.
Naturally, I got swept aside in the process as well.
I was beaten so thoroughly that I couldn’t even feel wronged about it.
That was why a project was launched to help me cling to Prince Ellen’s coattails.
The kingdom’s finest elite swordsmen, including the Sword Master commander, took turns training me.
Restorative elixirs were the bare minimum. To build me the perfect body, royal chefs tailored everything from my meals to every snack.
The other instructors even wondered whether I was a secret illegitimate child of the royal family.
I didn’t need to disprove that nonsense.
One spar with Prince Ellen would settle it.
“I’m scared already.”
I had to face Prince Ellen again today, even though he casually crushed the senior instructors assigned to the other princes.
I already didn’t want to do it, but that was how work was.
Still, thinking about the money deposited into my account every month made my steps lighter again.
In five years, I’d bought two buildings near the royal capital, where land prices were famously high.
One was a mansion, and the other was a commercial building. My retirement plans were already complete.
On top of that, I was beginning to make a name for myself as a rising star throughout the kingdom, so I wouldn’t be treated poorly anywhere.
“A business trip?”
I’d focused on domestic investments, only to suddenly hear that I might have to leave on an assignment.
And it would be a long one, scheduled to last at least four years.
When I asked what that meant...
“His Highness is too strong.”
He was stating the obvious now.
“That’s common knowledge.”
“Yes. That’s why it’s a problem.”
The commander’s explanation went like this.
It was about time for Prince Ellen to attend an academy, and the standard choice was naturally the Royal Academy within the kingdom.
The academy in the neighboring Empire was stronger overall, but when it came to training knights, the two were at least evenly matched.
Even by a cold assessment, our kingdom held a slight advantage.
So there was no need to study abroad, but...
“A variable appeared.”
The Empire prided itself on being the best on the continent, but it lagged behind our kingdom in swordsmanship and the Dale Kingdom in magic.
The gap wasn’t all that large, but apparently the Empire, which couldn’t stand being anything but number one, found that intolerable.
“The Sword Emperor has joined the Imperial Academy faculty.”
They had recruited the Sword Emperor as a professor in the Swordsmanship Department and the White Tower’s former Magic Tower Master for the Magic Department next year.
“How?”
He was the idol of every swordsman, a man who had influenced countless renowned swordsmen of the current era, whether directly or indirectly.
There was no need to look far for examples. Even our king and the commander had connections to the Sword Emperor from their younger days.
They had repeatedly asked him through those connections to lend his support to the Royal Academy, only to be refused.
“We offered him the position of chairman before, and he turned us down.”
“That’s right.”
“Didn’t he say back then that he had no intention of associating himself with any particular country?”
“He did.”
And now that man was suddenly appearing in the Empire.
“What, did his only granddaughter fall ill or something?”
“...How did you know?”
The commander looked surprised, but I’d read plenty of web novels.
A reclusive master leaving seclusion to save his granddaughter was an incredibly common trope.
“Strictly speaking, she isn’t his only granddaughter. His youngest granddaughter fell ill, and the Empire offered him a teaching post in exchange for treatment. That alone would cause an uproar, but...”
“What else is there?”
“His grandson is also expected to enroll next year.”
“The Little Sword Emperor?”
Whether commoners or royalty, no one could raise children exactly as they wanted.
A scoundrel could emerge from a famous house, while the child of a lowborn drunkard who committed violence every day could become a hero. That was how the world worked.
Still, bloodlines were hard to disregard.
And the passing down of techniques through those bloodlines was something that could never be ignored.
The Sword Emperor’s bloodline itself wasn’t special.
He had been born a commoner, and even now that he was called the Sword Emperor, he remained one.
He was an eccentric man who had rejected every offer from the countless nations that tried to tempt him with titles.
That made him all the more worthy of respect.
His reputation had been built with nothing but a sword, and anyone in his bloodline who wanted to learn his swordsmanship could do so without conditions.
Of course, inheriting the Sword Emperor’s sword was no easy path.
In truth, none of the Sword Emperor’s children were said to have inherited his sword.
Yet people said that if anyone did inherit it...
It would be the Sword Emperor’s grandson, Asran.
Asran, the Little Sword Emperor.
Already called a little Sword Emperor, he was one of the continent’s famed swordsmen and one of the few swordsmen the commander believed could contend with Ellen.
“Yes.”
That swordsman would enroll at the Imperial Academy next year as a package deal with the Sword Emperor.
The royal family had no choice but to consider it carefully.
“Well, a naturally gifted rival is better than a manufactured punching bag.”
“It’s not that you’re lacking.”
“I know. I told you, I just wiped the floor with Princess Hestia.”
“...Again?”
I couldn’t believe the way he narrowed his eyes at me.
“You’re the one who told me not to go easy on her.”
The commander himself had told me not to throw the match for the princess, but to beat her properly.
“No, that was because you broke down two years ago.”
That was true.
I had grown so accustomed to the Doomed Sword that losing had become second nature.
After the shocking incident where I even lost to a new instructor assigned to the youngest princess, I struggled for a while to correct myself.
I had to lose only to royalty. I couldn’t become a pushover who lost to anyone.
Being called Prince Ellen’s rival meant I couldn’t lose to anyone except Prince Ellen.
That was why I had to learn how to win with the Doomed Sword, and beating Princess Hestia became part of the process.
Once Prince Ellen began beating Princess Hestia every time, the person recognized as his rival had to beat Princess Hestia thoroughly as well.
“Princess Hestia is royalty too. Go easy on her sometimes.”
“That’s why I let her win once every five matches.”
“It’s not about winning or losing! I hear you taunt her every time you win! Lucia comes to see me with a resignation letter every time!”
“Senior Lucia still hasn’t given up...”
I had to respect the persistence of someone whose resignation letters were torn up three times a week, yet wrote one every time.
“Ahem. Back to the point. After a meeting between the royal family and the instructors, we concluded that studying in the Empire would be more beneficial to His Highness’s growth.”
“So for one reason or another, my study abroad is confirmed too?”
“That’s right. If Prince Ellen is alone in a distant empire, he’ll get lonely. He needs at least one friend from home.”
As I said before, our kingdom held a slight advantage in anything related to knights.
I could become the finest knight by attending the Royal Academy alone, without any need to study abroad.
Of course, the other departments, including magic, were weaker. Still, since most citizens aspired to become knights in a country known as the kingdom of knights, that wasn’t a serious problem.
That was why there were hardly any students from our kingdom at the Imperial Academy, the continent’s greatest educational institution.
“Even if there are, they study education or administration. There isn’t a single one in the Knight Department.”
“Don’t other nobles go?”
“They’re only watching for now. The Sword Emperor’s name carries weight, but nobles have their pride too.”
“I see.”
The kingdom of knights.
That name was a source of pride and self-respect not only for ordinary citizens, but for the nobility as well.
Even with the Sword Emperor becoming a professor, they seemed to think the Royal Academy’s education would be enough.
“That could be true. We have to make it true.”
The royal family and the commander intended to work toward that.
But...
“Prince Ellen is different.”
His potential was too vast to be contained by pride.
Honestly, the kingdom’s educational institutions couldn’t fill Prince Ellen’s enormous capacity.
“To be honest, we had considered sending Prince Ellen to study in the Empire even before news broke that the Sword Emperor would become a professor. We judged that it might benefit him more to see a larger world and meet many different people than to receive more sword instruction.”
Then the Sword Emperor entered the picture.
And the Sword Emperor’s grandson would be his classmate.
“That’s not all. The White Tower’s former Magic Tower Master will give mages something to consider as well.”
Unlike knights, mages could travel abroad whenever they needed knowledge.
Unlike our kingdom’s nobles, a considerable number of the magical nobility of the Dale Kingdom would likely consider studying in the Empire.
“As a knight, you can’t spend your whole life fighting only opponents with swords.”
“That’s true.”
In that sense, the Empire was a good choice too.
Our kingdom was slightly ahead of the Empire in swordsmanship, while the Dale Kingdom was slightly ahead in magic.
Put another way, the Empire’s magic overwhelmed us, and the Empire’s swordsmanship overwhelmed Dale.
No matter how much our kingdom encouraged magic, the young mages I could meet here weren’t particularly skilled.
Going to the Empire wasn’t a bad choice for Prince Ellen’s magical experience either.
“Hmm, and one more thing.”
“Wait.”
I could roughly guess the rest.
And I also understood why he had spent so long explaining the reasons for studying in the Empire.
Honestly, he only needed to tell me that the Sword Emperor and his grandson were going to the Imperial Academy.
“I have an appointment with Prince Ellen this afternoon.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“So don’t drag this out. Get it over with.”
“...Urgh.”
At my firm words, the commander’s face crumpled as he pulled a sheet of paper from his robe.
It was a new contract, with the overseas assignment as a condition.
“It’s about money more than justification.”
I casually raised the first digit on the contract by one.
“Damn it, then your annual salary will be higher than mine.”
“If you don’t like it, you should go yourself, Commander.”
“Can’t you shave it down a little?”
“I’m giving up four years of investments here. I need at least this much.”
“It’s real estate! Property values in the capital will go up, not down!”
“It’s a chance to expand my investments, but I won’t be able to.”
After thirty minutes of our usual WWE routine, I finally lowered it a little.
Even so, I finished the negotiation with a higher annual salary than the commander.
“Adam, you’re here!”
“...”
Prince Ellen smiled brightly, and I was able to walk in and get thrashed with a lighter heart.
Footnotes:
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