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

"If someone asks me what I left in this world, I would confidently say, 'I created my masterpiece, Daisy.'"
Had someone hit her on the head with magic during the practical exam?

Watching Violet suddenly blurt out strange words, I couldn't help but say something.
"Did you lose too?"
"How could I possibly win that?!"

Seems like she lost.
Was this guy really a master of curses?
"Seriously, what’s so saintly about that? If she holds the holy sword, she might as well change into a hero right now!"

Of course, aside from that, Daisy’s performance was insane.
"Does she have a hero or the holy sword?"
"No. The goddess must be too incompetent to make something like that."

This guy says stuff that could earn him divine punishment with every word, yet seeing him still alive and moving, maybe the goddess really is incapable.
"What a mess."
After the terrorist incident, the magic department was calling for the fall of the swordsmanship department.

This time, they were completely defeated.
My swordsmanship, Vermuthador, was shattered by Daisy’s 52 consecutive victories.
"How did she do it?"

Honestly, even Ellen couldn’t have pulled that off.
It wasn’t even a situation where the winner was chosen; rather, the challengers participated voluntarily after seeing the winner’s condition.
In that process, many upper-level students, who were eager to challenge Daisy’s winning streak, joined in and were promptly defeated.

"The divine power is ridiculously overpowered."
One of the losers, Violet, muttered as though making an excuse.
Honestly, it was overpowered.
Using the ability given for support, she healed herself while fighting.

Even more ridiculously, the ability was so powerful that it made her a perfect character capable of DPS, tanking, and healing all at once.
"How did the Demon King deal with Daisy in the original?"
Even with her, the Demon King must have been something else.

Though the Demon King had not even appeared yet, their evaluation was already rising high.
"The original Daisy was weak, but the Demon King is the final boss, the strongest being in the world."
Daisy, the lead contender for the anti-Demon King faction, frowned but only offered the answer that the Demon King had always been that strong.

"You said she was weaker than Ellen?"
"That’s just looking at the sword. If you count overall battle strength, the Demon King is stronger."
"So why did he run away?"

"Overall ability might be better, but when it comes to fighting, you never know who’ll die. If they fought ten times, seven times the Demon King would win, but there’s a chance the other side could win three times."
Well, to be fair, if you look at it coldly, Ellen in the original story was the strongest swordsman in humanity, but his title was just the prince of Leon.
Given the current swordsmanship, he would have a huge influence on humanity.

But in the end, if the Demon King, the leader and core of the demon race, goes down with him, it’s still a trade worth making.
"And love, friendship, and the power of justice, of course."
What nonsense was that?

"If Ellen can endure, the main character party will come to gang up on him."
"Aha."
Well, ganging up is indeed a privilege of the main character party.

Attacking the final boss with a sense of justice is the norm!
"But isn’t that the same for the demon race?"
But the Demon King is the king of the demons.

If the king is being ganged up on, wouldn’t the other demons just stand by and watch?
"The numbers are on the humans' side."
Thanks to turn-based battle mechanics, useful demons tend to act before the Demon King shows up, and most of them meet their end at the hands of the main party.

Though, there are still some powerful generals and strong demons left.
"At that point, even the non-human races start showing up."
Thanks to treaties with the Empire, the non-human races that had been living in peace among themselves began to feel the world's pressure and eventually joined the demon subjugation.

Using them, the demons were somewhat suppressed.
"Non-human races don’t have any male lead candidates, right?"
"There was an elf testing the waters, but when the response was bad, the fiancée showed up."

When thinking about Prince Acid, even though he has a fiancée, no one said the male lead couldn’t lose his mind, but it was believable since it was just a fiancée who came after testing the waters.
"Did the author pay attention to that?"
"Wouldn’t it be a complete mess if the Demon King suddenly attacked the heroine? The character was just abandoned, so the fiancée’s appearance was all there was to it."

There seemed to be some resentment towards the author in Violet’s words.
That’s why the "anti" phase is the scariest, it seems.
"Anyway, unless there’s a variable, inter-racial romance is impossible."

And that variable must be us, so as long as we don’t create one, the non-human races can be at ease.
"So you’re saying there’s inter-country love?"
"It’s already overflowing."

In the end, it’s people who are the problem.
"Though, after this incident, it should be reduced a lot."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Daisy is the best woman after excluding her family. She’s kind, pretty, a saint, and surrounded by capable men."
In the world of romance fantasy novels, she had the perfect conditions to become the flower on the cliff.
"The family lowered the height of the cliff, though."

Daisy’s family was just a baron family.
In a remote town, no different than a rural village.
So there were quite a few people thinking, "Maybe I should try?"

And some people approached her just for connections, not just out of genuine interest.
"No harm done. If it works out, she can become a saint and get close to the top leaders of the country, right?"
If it works, great. If not, then whatever.

The naive idiots who didn’t understand the risks of a romance fantasy heroine tried to approach her like that.
It seems like our Violet was tirelessly clearing out those fools, with the mindset of saving them.
"You’ve been busy."

"The scariest thing is that this is actually the calmest time."
True, when you think about it, it’s still the early part of the romance ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) fantasy novel.
An incident that happened in the first year seemed trivial compared to what would happen in the future.

"Anyway, because Daisy’s causing a fuss, the atmosphere has changed."
The reason so many people were sticking to Daisy, saying "If not her, then what?", was largely because of her personality.
She was kind by nature and the type to socialize without worrying about status.

Though it wasn’t strange that she, coming from a rural noble family, didn’t care about the class difference with commoners, she treated even royalty and high nobles from other countries like they were no different from commoners.
"But being kind to good-natured people and good-natured powerful people feels different."
"That comparison really works!"

After the final exam, however, Daisy wasn’t seen as the kind and weak saint anymore, but as a monster who could take on a platoon-level force on her own.
Though nothing about her had changed, those who had seen her like that found it hard to treat her the same way.
"The problem is that Acid feels that way too!"

Violet grimaced.
Her superior was pushing for the sword exam, but after Acid’s challenge, Daisy defeated him so badly that the prince’s reputation took a hit.
"Why did he even challenge her?"

"Maybe he wanted to show off."
Seeing him complaining about doing something unnecessary, I had a rough idea.
Aslan was the same, and Acid too.

The ones who move first always end up losing, and the ones who stay quiet tend to take the advantage.
In fact, after Daisy’s loss, Prince Arwen, who had waited to challenge her, appeared late, defeating all those left behind and securing an impressive 17 consecutive wins.
"Just staying still makes your score go up. Shouldn’t Prince Ellen be doing something?"

"Perfect timing for summer break!"
"Good luck with that."
Violet, who was blatantly trying to send Prince Ellen to the royal palace in the Holy Kingdom, was shut down, and I thought about the remaining schedule.

With finals over, classes would be lighter, and I could see that the swordsmanship department was busy, so I wouldn’t have much to do for a while.
"Normally, something would happen then."
"Shut up."

Violet, who was preparing for the royal trip, grumbled but I easily ignored it.
No way something dramatic would happen here, like in the novel.
"I didn’t know back then. I never thought it would happen before the vacation…! Ugh!"

I swatted at Violet, who was narrating nonsense, but a lingering unease remained.
Vacation day.
Thankfully, nothing had happened until today.

But I wasn't letting my guard down.
It was always at the last moment that something happened—it's the rule of romance fantasy novels.
For example, Prince Ellen, who had fallen for the heroine, might run away on the day of the vacation ceremony and join her party.

 
"Then, just a quick greeting to the flower arranging club..."
After the vacation ceremony ended, I watched as Ellen, about to leave, said he was going to check in with the club members.

"Proceed."
"Got it!"
"Who are you?"

I implemented the plan I had prepared.
Operation Return.
"No, wait!"

"Don't move. If you do, some of your body parts might fly off."
Seeing the light wrapping around our bodies, Ellen looked completely flustered.
"We're supposed to return by carriage!"

"The dispatched knights are planning to return by carriage. They'll bring the luggage too."
Fateleport.
Executing this without prior preparation was expensive, but using short-range fateleport helped minimize the cost.

"...Where are we now?"
"The magic tower."
"I can't do it all at once..."

"Is that alright?"
It feels like magic should be all-powerful, but it’s because of this that the Empire has prepared countermeasures for fateleport everywhere.
Could we really fateleport from the Academy, the heart of the Empire, directly to Leon?

"You’ll have to change five times."
"If that’s the case, why not just take a carriage?"
Impossible.

It’s expensive, but isn't fateleport here for situations like this?
"That means the Queen is waiting for us."
"Now I really don’t want to go anymore..."

"Let me know if you get carsick."
Dragging a sulking Prince Ellen with me, we endured the continuous magical interference as we moved from one magic tower to the next.
By the time my head was starting to feel fuzzy from the continued magic, we finally arrived.

"Let’s fight!"
As soon as we arrived at the royal magic tower, Princess Hestia, as if she had been waiting for us, declared a battle.
#1 Holy Kingdom Special Correspondent, Codename: Violet.

This damn BL company is terrible at providing support.
Of course… the salary is excellent, and the bonuses are decent too!
But sometimes, rather than money, I just wish they’d send some manpower.

"I’m going to the Holy Kingdom for the first time."
Beside me, there were bright eyes full of anticipation.
The Holy Kingdom.

A place that holds influence over numerous countries, the land of the goddess.
It’s home to numerous sacred sites and religious relics.
Every year, countless pilgrims and tourists visit, and it’s where the Pope, cardinals, and holy knights live — the heart of the religion.

Most people think of the Holy Kingdom as a sacred place.
In reality, it’s partly true.
The place might be holy, but the people, not so much.

In fact, it was full of trash who use the young Pope to exploit religion for political gain.
"I’m excited!"
I knew that look would soon turn into disappointment.

Even though I knew, I couldn’t stop Daisy from doing her thing.
I knew the original story was ruined, but I couldn’t just let the Holy Kingdom be destroyed either.
Plus, the damn boss, Adam, was making me go on this business trip to collect my salary.

"Yeah..."
Even though I knew I’d be stuck working like a dog, I still had to go on this overseas business trip, fighting back tears.