WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈
Chapter 74: While Everyone Sleeps (4)
──────
I had not read the original story of this world like Tinky Winky had.
Still, I had spent quite a long time reading web novels.
And I had not merely read them for a long time. I had read them consistently.
Even if I did not know what my opponent was, I could roughly tell what kind of creature it was from its appearance.
That was probably one of the Demonkin Violet had said would appear in the latter half of the story.
It had first appeared as nothing but an eyeball, and even in human form, it only had one eye...
That eye had to be the source of his power, or his weakness.
That was why I was focusing all my attacks on it.
This was not an issue of character. It was strategy!
“You damned human! Is there something wrong with people’s character these days?!”
So everything that Demonkin bastard said was simply slander.
I was only using an efficient method to deal with an evil Demonkin.
“Ghk!”
Was it restricted because it still could not maintain its form in this world?
Or could it not exert its strength because I had attacked first?
It was not very Demonkin-like for him to do nothing but run away, so I happily continued my assault.
But it was harder than expected to land a proper hit.
As expected of a Demonkin.
Should I use divine power now?
“Hmm.”
As I considered that for a moment, I noticed something strange.
How should I put it?
This was somewhere I had not seen before.
“I see.”
I realized what the core of the barrier was.
And apparently, when the core moved, the barrier’s area moved with it.
In that case...
“Give me that eye!”
“Gaaaah!”
The Demonkin screamed when I struck it with divine power as well.
“How do you possess the power of that cursed bitch?!”
“Because I’m the boyfriend of the Goddess’s daughter!”
“That damned Goddess! Of all people, she chose someone like you?!”
It was the Saintess who had chosen me, not the Goddess.
But there was no need to correct it.
Once it misunderstood that I was connected to the Goddess, it began fleeing with even more desperation.
“I’ll kill you!”
“Gaaaah!”
Smack!
As my extended mana struck the Demonkin like a whip, it accelerated even more.
And I chased after him.
If I kept going like this, I would eventually run into someone.
So I kept whipping the Demonkin and pushed the barrier along as though driving a running carriage.
* * *
#Daisy - He’s Not My Boyfriend.
From the moment the reinforcements from the Rias Territory joined us, our overwhelming victory had been expected.
Our club members had merely been flustered. There were many strong people among us.
Asran’s dignity from when he had first enrolled had steadily been chipped away.
He had now become something of an icon of defeat.
But that was only because Ellen and Mr. Adam were absurd monsters. It was not because Asran was weak.
No, Asran, who had never known defeat, had grown stronger after learning what it was.
As though proving that, enemies fell easily before Asran’s unhesitating sword.
That was fortunate.
When we first met, he had said that inheriting the Sword Emperor’s name from his grandfather made its weight far too heavy.
But now, it seemed to have become rather lighter.
“Wow.”
Still, it was unfortunate that even the grown Asran did not seem capable of catching up to Ellen as he was now.
Even I, who had not properly learned swordsmanship, could tell that his movements were on an entirely different level.
If I had been a swordswoman, I might have fallen for him after seeing that dance-like movement.
But a promise was a promise.
The conditions of my fake relationship with Mr. Adam included not dating Prince Ellen.
I could not cheat on him.
“...”
...Thinking about it, that was unfair.
He was the one cheating while making it a condition that I could not!
Had he planned even this? Maybe this was why Violet said I needed to read contracts carefully before signing them.
“Waves, swallow your enemies.”
As we fought hard at the front, Arwen supported us with magic.
As a fellow Magic Department student, I could not help admiring that clean control of mana.
Using water magic of that magnitude in a place with no water at all.
That alone was impressive, but the surging waves accurately swallowed only our enemies.
“Do not let a single one escape!”
At Gerard’s shout from behind us, the knights of Rias charged forward.
I had mistaken them for enemies and attacked them, but they were also skilled enough to block my attacks.
“Ghk!”
As the offensive continued, the people said to be the remnants of the Dark Mages gradually dwindled.
Then someone tried to flee.
“Do not run!”
“Lord Bellon will arrive soon!”
“Use your lives to hasten Lord Bellon’s descent!”
“Death is not the end!”
Suddenly shouting Bellon’s name, several Dark Mages stabbed daggers into the backs of those trying to flee.
“Argh!”
“I don’t want to die!”
Their injuries did not seem fatal.
They said fear was contagious. Had they simply made an example of them to stop the others from fleeing?
“Ah.”
I should not have let my guard down.
Violet had said that Dark Mages were madmen who would offer even their own souls as sacrifices if necessary.
And because of that, they used other people’s souls without the slightest hesitation.
Violet had been right after all.
“What is that...?”
It was Asran, standing at the very front, who muttered those words.
Ellen did not say anything, but his expression was no different.
Of course it was not.
A person who had been fighting only moments ago had suddenly been stabbed by an ally, then begun turning into a monster.
Their bodies began turning either violet or deep blood-red. Their muscles swelled grotesquely, and their frames began growing to twice, no, more than three times their original size.
“Aaaaooi!”
The human who had screamed while shedding tears became something no longer human, their expression unchanged.
It was horrifying.
I could understand, at least a little, why Violet had said Dark Mages did not need to be treated as human.
So I swung my sword without hesitation.
I poured divine power into the immense mana gathered around it.
“Aaaaargh!”
The monster screamed under the blow from an enormous sword of divine power. No, it was closer to a club than a sword.
It was not being cut. Instead, I could smell something burning, so it seemed the divine power was purifying it.
“Let’s go too!”
“...Right.”
Ellen came to his senses and faced another monster alongside Asran.
Arwen and Gerard also began using magic in earnest, driving the monsters back.
But the monsters appeared highly resistant to magic.
“This thing is too tough.”
And perhaps because of their naturally enormous build, effective attacks with swords were impossible as well.
Only my divine power could land a meaningful blow.
After burning one monster away, I was about to share divine power with Ellen and Asran as I had with Mr. Adam.
“Oh! Great One!”
“Descendant of the great God, come here...!”
I had heard cultists were mixed in with the Dark Mages.
It seemed there was no longer any need to search for them.
The problem was...
“That is...”
Something ominous was approaching.
I could clearly feel something unsettling approaching, something I had never felt in my life.
“Stop!”
I did not know what it was, but I could not let it come here.
So I attacked the cultists with mana and divine power, but they used the monsters they had created as walls to shield themselves.
And then...
“Oh!”
That unsettling presence finally came into view.
Its body, radiating a crimson aura, appeared to be made not of flesh but blood.
And the two horns on its head proved that it belonged to the legendary race.
“A Demonkin!”
It was said that, in the distant past, the Goddess had defeated an evil god that had sought to destroy the world.
The Demonkin had been sealed away in a corner of the world alongside their defeated god!
“You fools! The moment Lord Bellon descends upon this land, your fate will be decided!”
The Demonkin named Bellon was approaching faster and faster.
Blood tears dripped from its eye, and its twisted face was exactly what one would expect of the Demonkin described in myths.
“...Huh?”
But as he drew nearer, I began to feel something was strange.
The closer he came, the more oddities I saw in his appearance.
“...”
Apparently, our enemies felt the same way, because even the cultists who worshipped the Demonkin fell silent.
How should I say this?
“Am I imagining it, or does that thing look like it’s running away?”
“...”
Ellen’s words and Asran’s silence cleared up my doubts.
Yes, that was it.
That thing really did seem to be fleeing.
“Ah.”
Then I heard a familiar voice.
But I shook my head and denied it.
It was not because I felt embarrassed at suddenly hearing my fake boyfriend’s voice.
No. To be exact, I was embarrassed.
Just for an entirely different reason.
After all...
“You don’t know anything! Covering both eyes with bandages is cooler than covering one with an eyepatch!”
“I don’t need that!”
“I’ll make you need it, so let’s pluck out one eye!”
Even though he was only my fake boyfriend, he was saying things horrifying enough to make even a Demonkin recoil.
A person who could make even a Demonkin flee was my boyfriend, fake though he might be.
“Goddess... Was that unsettling presence actually over there?”
Could the ominous feeling I had sensed earlier have come not from the Demonkin, but from Mr. Adam?
-...
I sincerely asked the Goddess, but the Goddess remained silent as well, so I could not know.
* * *
“Huh?”
After racing a Demonkin through the night for quite a while, I finally reached the finish line.
“Uncle!”
I waved to Uncle Aryn, who was staring at me from afar with his mouth hanging open.
“What are you doing?”
Since he still looked out of it, I squeezed out mana and divine power before charging at the Demonkin.
“Get to work.”
“Gah!”
Black smoke rose from the long wound on its back instead of blood.
Perhaps that was because its body had been formed from the blood flowing from its eye.
It seemed to take damage, but its wounds healed too quickly, making it less satisfying to cut.
“You humans!”
But I was not the only one who had found allies.
“Get this mosquito-like human off me!”
“Demonkin hate mosquitoes too?”
“Gaaaah!”
As expected of mosquitoes. Even the great Demonkin could not stand them.
“Lord Bellon?!”
When I stabbed the Demonkin in the side again like a mosquito, the black-clad bastards in front began freaking out.
“Save Lord Bellon!”
So his name was Bellon.
“How can a Demonkin be named Melon?”
“It’s Bellon, not Melon!”
Melon or Bellon, they were equally bad.
Besides, there was a much cooler name.
“How about Lee Sin?”
All you’d need to do is pluck out one eye and shave your head.
“I don’t need that!”
Perhaps because he had found his allies, the bastard who had only fled suddenly stopped and looked at me.
“I know the Goddess’s power inside you has weakened!”
That was true.
“But I don’t think I’ll lose to you.”
“Foolish human. I am restricted because of that damned Goddess. If those restrictions are lifted, an insect like you will...”
Bellon gritted its teeth and delivered a typical villain’s line, then seemed to notice something strange and turned around.
“...What is that now?!”
Bellon stared in shock at the very big and beautiful sword approaching from behind.
“Just die already!”
Without the slightest hesitation, the sword came down, and before divine power that could not even be compared to what I had used...
“Gaaaah!”
Bellon could only be smashed into the ground like a gnat.
Author’s Note
A crown daisy sticker set came out, but I did not buy it.
Because I only had one coin left.
Those Novelpia bastards, I knew they would run an event the moment I bought coins.
So I waited instead of buying them. Just as expected, they immediately started a coin event.
I bought coins right away and inflicted a loss of six coins upon Novelpia.
P.S. Tomorrow marks the start of the hundred-pull campaign, so I’ll collect the ten-pull and casually do just a hundred pulls.
If a sudden hiatus notice goes up tomorrow, assume I got completely wrecked.
Footnotes:
Lee Sin is a blind martial-artist champion from League of Legends. Adam’s joke targets Bellon’s single eye and hair.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
