I Became a Swordsmanship Instructor in a Romance Novel

“Hero-nim. What should I do?”

It had only been thirty minutes since Julie had returned.

Though she spoke with a voice filled with determination, as if she had etched a noble resolve, her green eyes, gleaming with madness, held only obsession and desire.

Zeke lifted the corners of his lips.

“Introduce us as the slaves you brought.”

“!”

Julie’s eyes widened.

“The Adventurer’s Guild Master probably wasn’t that important to you guys either. They wouldn’t find it strange if you said you just killed him because you didn’t like him. To those who consider the lives of humans who don’t serve the Demon King less than flies, the Adventurer’s Guild Master, who had served his purpose as a sacrifice carrier, would have been destined to become a sacrifice anyway, wouldn’t he?”

Goosebumps erupted on Julie’s skin.

‘How did he know that…?’

Just because she had given him all the information didn’t mean he could figure out their ideology and way of thinking.

However, contrary to his obsessive efforts to hide his identity, Zeke knew more about Lost Hope than anyone else.

But soon, a question arose in her mind.

“…Um.”

“Hmm?”

“Well, it’s a bit awkward for me to say this, but… why, why don’t you take care of it yourself, Hero-nim…? To be honest, even a Bishop-level wouldn’t stand a chance against you, would they…?”

Zeke stared intently at Julie.

“Eek—!”

She immediately lowered her gaze to the floor.

“…Hmm. I thought it was strange, but do you really not know?”

“…Huh?”

“No, never mind. Just think of it as my preference. It’ll be easier on your mind.”

Zeke shook his head.

He wondered if she would be convinced by those words, but in truth, such things didn’t matter to Julie at all, so she nodded.

“However, your task doesn’t end there.”

“Then what else should I do…?”

“You need to finish off at least one of them yourself. And it has to be a Bishop-level.”

Zeke spoke as if it were nothing, but Julie couldn’t help but be flustered as she took in his words.

“W-wait a minute! I, I haven’t been a Bishop for that long. Maybe a Faith Bishop, but I’m the weakest among the Combat Bishops!”

“Are you giving up before you even try…? Hmm. Then let’s do this. I’ll give you three loaves of bread for each Bishop-level Lost Hope member you kill.”

Zeke’s words contradicted his previous statement about having no bread left, but such a minor discrepancy wouldn’t register with her.

“…Th-three…? Th-then if I kill them all… how many would that be…?”

Julie gulped, counting on her fingers.

There were a total of ten Bishops in Lost Hope.

With the death of the Faith Bishop, Hollyburn, there were now nine.

So, assuming she killed everyone except herself,

She would receive a total of twenty-four loaves of bread.

Wouldn’t that be worth risking her life for?

Despite being tasked with betraying Lost Hope and killing her spiritual leaders, the Bishops, her eyes were already glazed over, lost in calculations.

“…Oh, my goodness. The Bishops attending this time… there are only seven!”

In the end, there were only six, excluding herself.

Julie deeply regretted the two who weren’t attending this time.

“Eighteen…”

“If you take care of all six of them, I’ll give you twenty-four.”

“…Twenty-four!”

Zeke didn’t think Julie could kill all six of them, but he said it to boost her motivation.

“I’ll try.”

As expected, Julie bit her lip and nodded.

Her green eyes, filled with obsession and madness, gleamed brightly.

“Then, I need a little preparation. Would it be alright if I take a moment?”

“Yes. But don’t take too long. We’ll be leaving soon.”

“Ah, yes, it’s fine. It won’t take long.”

Julie said so and left.

Zeke muttered to himself.

“Why don’t I do it myself…? Maybe they didn’t tell her because she hasn’t been a Bishop for long.”

Frankly, it wouldn’t be difficult for Zeke to personally take care of the Lost Hope bastards without anyone knowing.

As the saying goes, if there are no witnesses, it’s an assassination. If he just eliminated them one by one like ants, they would be thrown into chaos without even realizing what was attacking them.

Perhaps by the time they came to their senses, there would only be a handful left.

“But, that bastard’s power is bothersome.”

The Demon King these guys worship has a power called the 《Scales of Causality》.

When he descends, he designates the one who has killed the most Lost Hope members as the ‘Arch-enemy’ and gains additional power accordingly.

The moment I become the Arch-enemy, it becomes more difficult to deal with him than I thought.

That’s why I shouldn’t kill too many with my own hands.

Especially since I’ve already taken care of one Bishop myself, it’s even more bothersome.

If I recklessly step in and strengthen that bastard’s power, not only will dealing with the Demon King become a problem, but a living hell will unfold in this fragile world, like the Primordial Village.

The demonic energy that bastard spreads upon his descent transforms the land into an environment where living beings can hardly survive, like a plague.

“This is the best option after all.”

So, the method Zeke came up with was internal betrayal.

They are a cult that relies solely on brainwashing and gaslighting, so they can’t even imagine a traitor emerging from within.

‘Since it’s a group of people with such twisted minds, they’ll probably just think Julie’s gone crazy from withdrawal symptoms, even if she stabs them in the heart.’

Originally, he had planned to use Soi to take care of them, but wouldn’t it be much sharper to be torn apart by an internal blade?

‘But I can’t let them just relax.’

* * *

“Who’s relaxing?”

“Haven’t you been taking it easy so far?”

Soi stared at Zeke with a dumbfounded look, her mouth agape.

‘How can he say that after all the work I’ve done like a cow…?’

Her arms wouldn’t even go above her shoulders anymore.

She hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep lately because of the throbbing pain in her arms at night.

She had baked and discarded so many loaves of bread that she couldn’t even count them anymore!

Especially lately, the bread she baked was judged much more strictly, with only one out of a hundred being deemed acceptable.

Zeke twitched an eyebrow and replied,

“Are you here to bake bread?”

“Yes.”

Soi nodded confidently without a hint of shame at Zeke’s question.

He had even given her mother gold coins and hired her as a baker, so what was he talking about now?

“No, you need to fight now.”

“…?”

‘What? Fight?’

She had thought it was strange when they went with the Yohaiden Knights, but she had baked so much bread that she didn’t even want to look at it for a while.

Anyway, since he had hired her as a baker, Soi was shocked by his words.

“Uh, uh…? W-wait a minute! Fight? Wh-who am I supposed to fight?”

“The villains of this world.”

“…”

Zeke replied calmly.

Soi gave up trying to understand.

Why on earth would she, an ordinary baker’s daughter from a commoner’s family, have to fight against such grandly named villains?

No, she had to ask this.

“Why me?”

“Because your bread has become truly dangerous. If you don’t learn how to control it properly, you won’t be able to bake bread ever again. Are you okay with that?”

“That’s all because of Instructor-nim…!”

“No. Your bread would have awakened on its own eventually, and if you hadn’t learned how to control it like you are now… well, you know what would have happened, right?”

“I don’t know…?”

Ah,

Zeke realized a blind spot.

He had always stopped her from baking, so Soi hadn’t actually seen how dangerous her bread could be.

She had only seen it heal people, so she thought it would be a good thing if it awakened, and that thought was clearly visible on her face.

Zeke recalled that and nodded, thinking that it was certainly possible.

‘It’ll be a bit of a shock, but it can’t be helped.’

Zeke called out to Julie.

“Julie.”

Julie came running, her eyes sparkling and drool dripping from the corners of her mouth.

“I-I’m ready! I’ll kill them all!!!! Where are they!?”

She gulped, withdrawal symptoms seemingly setting in.

“Yes, you’re reliable. But I can’t make you work without any reward.”

“!”

It was as if starlight was pouring from her eyes.

“Get down.”

“Yes!!!!”

“Get on all fours and spin around.”

“Yes, sir!!!!!”

“Hmm, would you like to dance?”

“Huh? D-dance? W-wait a minute, the only dance I can do is…”

Julie racked her brain and then awkwardly swayed her body in a bizarre dance.

It was so awkward that it was hard to watch.

Zeke looked at her with a cold gaze.

“Stop. Alright, I’ll give you some bread. It’s different from what you used to eat, but be content with this for now. I’ll give you the rest after the job is done.”

Zeke broke off the end of the baguette he was holding and gave it to her.

“Th-thank youuuu!!!!”

Julie sniffed the bread and tilted her head with a puzzled look.

“Hmm… something’s missing… but the scent is right…”

Julie opened her mouth wide and munched on the bread.

“Th-this isn’t it… but it seems right… hmm. I-I’m happy, but…”

For Julie, whose happiness threshold had already been raised too high, it wasn’t satisfying at all.

She glared at Zeke with a dissatisfied look.

“Be content with that for now. If you take care of them, I’ll let you taste something even more heavenly than what you used to eat.”

“H-heavenly taste!?”

At those words, Julie’s dissatisfied expression vanished, replaced by a wide grin as she nodded vigorously.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!”

“Soi.”

Zeke turned to Soi.

She was frozen stiff, as if she would crack if touched.

“…This is scary…”

The first taste of madness Soi experienced was more intense than she had expected.