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

Finally, the final exams had arrived.
The previous midterms had come with a foretold event, but this time there was peace predicted in advance. With a light heart, I came to take the exam when Prince Ellen asked me.
"Did you study this time?"
"Same as last time."
"That means you didn’t."

It was an obvious statement. If a foreign student was diligently studying at the Imperial Academy, it would mean one of three things. One is that the student had a problem with their head and genuinely liked studying, another is that their head was so large it caused them to hope to take a graduate course, and the last possibility was that they had betrayed their homeland and were planning to defect to the Empire. I wasn’t someone with a headache, nor was I a patriot overflowing with loyalty to my country. So, like last time, I just needed to not fail. That was more than enough.
"And I was too busy to study."
"Lie…"

Prince Ellen looked at me with a disbelieving expression, but surprisingly, I wasn’t lying. I hadn’t been able to study theory, but the head professor himself had taught us practical lessons. The trick was that the grades for practical exams didn’t really matter, but still…
Was that all? I had also unintentionally studied magic for the exam. Since the two villains I was involved with, who were entangled with the male leads, were students of the magic department, I naturally picked up some knowledge about magic as I helped them. Of course, this had nothing to do with the swordsmanship exam, so it was practically useless, but still, I had been busy!
"Don’t worry, I won’t fail."

"Really?"
"Yes. If I fail, I won’t even be able to return for the summer vacation."
"Uh, well..."

For a moment, Prince Ellen's pupils trembled. It seemed like he was thinking, “Ah, that’s how it is!”
"Even so, if you’re thinking of deliberately failing to stay at the academy, you’d better brace yourself."
You’d think that wouldn’t be the case, but the male leads from romance fantasy novels who were tempted by the golden capybara of evil weren’t exactly sane. Having personally seen and experienced the stories of Prince Esid, who could be considered the representative of such cases, I couldn’t be sure what kind of idiot Prince Ellen might turn into.

"If you don’t return this time, the queen told me to tell you that she’d be the one to prepare herself."
"She said that...?"
Everything that happened here was reported back to the Kingdom. Not just anyone, but I directly reported everything to the Queen.

"You know the Queen’s temperament, right? If you don’t come back, she could really come herself."
"No way…"
The visit of foreign royalty wasn’t an ordinary event. Even Prince Ellen, who had the excuse of studying abroad, couldn’t take it lightly. Let alone, the queen of a kingdom visiting a foreign country wasn’t something that happened casually.
"It’s the Queen, you know?"

"..."
"Do you think she won’t come?"
The queen was, of course, Princess Hestia's mother. She maintained her dignity as queen now, but her past had been quite spectacular. Even when Princess Hestia caused a ruckus, people would still say things like, "She’s the queen’s daughter" or "Considering the queen, she’s relatively well-behaved."

I hadn’t seen the queen in her prime, but both I and Prince Ellen had experienced Hestia’s temper, so we both knew well.
"...I studied hard."
In the end, Prince Ellen had no choice but to surrender.

Unlike the magic department, where theory was important, in the swordsmanship department, most students emphasized practical skills over theory.
What did this mean? It meant that, as long as I participated diligently in class, I could pass midterms with just good luck.
"See? No need to worry."

The morning after all the theory exams were over, Prince Ellen looked at his grades with a frustrated expression.
"Seriously? The gap is so small, and this is all?"
There was a correction period, so the rankings weren’t final, but since the swordsmanship department was mostly filled with commoners who had to stake their lives on scholarships, there probably wouldn’t be many correction requests. Even if the rankings changed, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

"I’ve said it many times. In swordsmanship, practical skills matter more than theory."
Of course, Prince Ellen had already practically secured first place in the practical exam. Unless something unexpected happened, I was confident I’d be second, so I was full of confidence.
However...

"This year. I’m the one."
Standing in the middle of the practical exam arena, the swordmaster, whose mere presence sent chills down my spine, was standing there. Was that crazy old man losing his mind?
"One by one, come out and spar with me."

He made it sound easy, but it wasn’t going to be an easy exam. The strongest swordsman of the current generation was going [N O V E L I G H T] to torment the budding sprouts. What were the other professors and assistants doing? They should stop this before the sprouts get stomped to death!
"…"
I glanced around, but the professors and assistants holding the grading sheets just licked their lips, looking envious.

"Who wants to go first?"
"Ah."
When the swordmaster shouted, I recalled the students raising their hands. I had misunderstood. All the swordsmanship department students who entered this year were here just to meet the swordmaster. There were plenty of people from faraway countries who wanted to face the world’s strongest swordsman even just once.

"I’ll do it!"
"I’ll go first!"
"No, I’ll go first!"
These crazy sword enthusiasts. Rather than being intimidated, they were all fighting to be the first to face him.
"No, I’m the first in the midterm exams, so I should go first!"

Apparently, Prince Ellen thought the same, as he also started waving his midterm grades around and causing a commotion.
"Okay, that’s enough."
The swordmaster, looking satisfied, pointed at Prince Ellen.

"Adam Smith."
...It wasn’t Ellen.
"Me?"

No, seriously?
"Yes, you."
I hadn’t even raised my hand...

"Come on, you go first."
Despite my expression that seemed like the world was collapsing, the professors just forcibly dragged me onto the stage.
"How long will he last?"

On the prepared stage, the students discussed their opinions as they watched the two swordsmen prepare.
"It’s Adam, right? He’s the second-best in our department, so he should last at least 2 minutes, right?"
"How many pages?"
"Three."
With their opinions, the meal tickets piled up as well.

"Under a minute, three pages. Still, it’s the first challenger, so to seize the initiative, the swordmaster will probably knock him out quickly."
"I’d bet five pages under a minute. It’s customary to give extra points to the first challenger, right?"
Most of the students were betting on whether Adam Smith would last more than a minute. It wasn’t because he was weak; everyone here knew his skill.
It was just that his opponent was the swordmaster.

There was no one here who could last more than three minutes against the swordmaster.
"Ellen, what do you think?"
The sword of Leon, I was sure only Prince Ellen could do it.

"More than 3 minutes, ten pages."
Ellen confidently bet ten meal tickets with a serious expression.
"What?"
"Ten?"

In truth, meal tickets didn’t mean much to the aristocratic students. They were a decent source of income for commoners, but the academy’s meals were kept cheap by the academy for the poor commoners. However, the number of meal tickets in these small wagers represented one’s pride. The more you wagered, the more you were showing that you had confidence in your bet. Betting ten meal tickets, the maximum allowed, meant Ellen was sure he was right!
"Is that so?"
Even Aslan, who had fought Adam the most recently, was surprised because he had only bet five meal tickets for three minutes.

"Is it really that much?"
With his confident tone, Aslan frowned.
"I fought him just the other day, didn’t I?"

Although they had fought, it wasn’t quite like this.
"I’ve known Adam the longest."
With that confident voice, Ellen explained with a smile, as he thought back to the past.

"What do you mean by that?"
Aslan still couldn’t understand, but Ellen explained further.
"When we were younger, Adam was much stronger than anyone else."

He smiled as he recalled his past with Adam. They used to be quite a pair, and Ellen recalled his younger sister taking Adam away from him frequently when they were children.
One day, feeling so wronged, Ellen had asked his sister, "Why not Lucia or me? Why is it always Adam?"
His sister had answered, "Because he’s more fun."

"What does that even mean?"
Aslan couldn’t understand after hearing the full story.
"Even back then, and now, my sister had no equals among her peers."

Ellen softly laughed as he explained why he had been called a monster. He thought of his sister and smiled warmly.
"When we were kids, Adam and I were weaker than her. It was always better to fight someone who was a little stronger, right?"
"What does that mean?"

It was hard to understand, but when Ellen had grown stronger, and he realized that his sister was always taking Adam with her, it became clear to him why.
"Adam is strong against the strong."
"…?"

Everyone’s expressions changed similarly. They looked confused.
"I know what you’re thinking."
Ellen, who had also been in the same position, knew exactly how they felt. He also knew when their thoughts would change.

"You’ll understand once you get stronger than Adam."
"No, this guy?"
"Talking like only the first-place guy can say that."

"I have to beat Adam, even if it’s out of frustration."
"You?"
"I don’t think so."

"At least beat the perpetual third-place swordmaster first."
"Hey, who called me a third-rate swordsman?!"
"That’s right. Aslan is the little-swordsman, not the third-rate one."

"These guys?"
For some reason, Aslan seemed to be getting beaten up more than the one who had started talking.
"Adam can endure longer than I can."

With Ellen’s confidence and the fact that he had fought Adam more, he could confidently say this.
"First challenger, Adam Smith. Let the exam begin."
And as time passed, Ellen’s words were naturally proven true.

One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes.
"See, Ellen was right!"
The students marveled at Adam, who had lasted three minutes, and when five minutes passed...

"...I didn’t expect I could last this long."
Watching his friends silently, Ellen quietly gathered all the meal tickets.