Chapter 34: The RoFan Female Lead is Strong (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 34: The RoFan Female Lead is Strong (4)
Life after returning to the kingdom wasn't much different from how it had been before I entered the Academy.
If there was one difference, it was that I actually heard from my family for the first time in a while.
I thought they were treating me like an estranged child since I started this job, but it turned out they were just being considerate, not wanting to bother their "working son."
"Your skills have improved significantly."
Because of that, I had intended to report my survival to the family estate after all this time, but I ended up being a bad son after getting caught by the bored Commander.
This man officially belongs to the Royal Guard, so he has absolutely nothing to do.
The only times the Royal Guard actually has work is when the King moves or is in danger. But for the King of Leon—a military powerhouse—to be in danger, the kingdom would either have to be on the brink of ruin or Daisy would have to be coming over for a visit.
Now that I think about it, that RoFan female lead is terrifying.
It seemed necessary to prepare an entry ban for Daisy, no matter what it took.
"I've been living diligently."
Since I was using my sword with full effort for the first time in a while, I could truly feel my growth.
With Prince Ellen, if I don't see a path to victory, I end things at a reasonable point.
As for that man, the Sword Emperor, the moment he sees even a hint of growth, he tries to beat me down even harder, so I had to be very careful with my adjustments.
Thanks to that, my proficiency with the Defeat Sword has increased quite a bit.
By now, even the Sword Emperor gets fooled seven times out of ten.
"…Surely not right now too?"
"Would I?"
When I said that, the Commander gave me a suspicious look.
However, this was the only place where the instructors, including myself, could go all out.
I might aim to be an office worker rather than a swordsman, but if I didn't relieve stress like this occasionally, burnout was inevitable.
"I suppose. If you were holding back even now, you should have beaten Prince Ellen for real."
"I told you, I won the final exam."
"Don't win through an exam; win in a one-on-one duel."
He says that, but apparently, a bonus is scheduled to be paid out.
"Still, you did well. He didn't say it, but Prince Ellen seemed quite frustrated."
From what I heard, after returning to the kingdom and getting thoroughly scolded by the Queen, the Prince had been requesting duels with the King or the Commander.
"Please go easy on him. It's exhausting."
"It's hard for even me to go easy on Prince Ellen."
For a Sword Master to say something so irresponsible…
The horror was that he was being sincere.
"Should I get you some more Elixirs?"
"They won't have any effect even if I take them now."
They say the more Elixirs the better, but there's a limit to what a human body can endure.
If you're not careful, your body's balance will break; even if it doesn't, the mana from the Elixir won't be absorbed and will just be expelled.
"I'm telling you, hurry up and move to the next stage."
"It's not as easy as it sounds."
If it were, I would have hit Sword Master rank already.
"I think Prince Ellen will make it, though."
"I'm resigning."
I said it as a joke, but having heard about Prince Ellen's potential from Boradori, it didn't feel like a joke to me.
Didn't she even say his growth seemed faster because of me?
He was a monster in the original work, and that wasn't even his peak?
I seriously want to quit.
"Commander, are you finished?"
Just then, I spotted Senior Lucia peeking her head in.
At the sudden intrusion, the Commander and I looked at each other simultaneously, and that alone was answer enough.
"Why are you here?"
"Why did you come?"
Since neither of us knew, we had to ask the person herself.
At that, Senior Lucia let out a deep sigh and pointed directly at me.
"To celebrate your return from the business trip, the seniors have prepared a party."
Apparently, everyone except me was idle.
"You went through a lot."
"It's only the beginning."
Senior Kavilan, the instructor in charge of the 2nd Prince, said as he handed me a glass.
Usually, the leader of these gatherings is Senior Daniel, who handles the Crown Prince, but since he's currently touring the country with the Crown Prince, it seems Senior Kavilan, the next in line in terms of seniority, took charge of my welcome party.
As I accepted the glass Senior Kavilan offered and took a sip, someone pushed him aside and shoved their face forward.
"How's the Empire?"
It was Senior Rain, the instructor for the 1st Princess, Hestia's older sister.
As a bit of TMI, you'd think being the instructor for Princess Hestia's older sister would involve a lot of suffering.
Unfortunately, the other princesses' personalities were the exact opposite of Princess Hestia's, so among the instructors for the princesses, Senior Lucia was the only one suffering.
"It's damn big."
As an instructor, I had already inspected the Royal Academy several times, so I knew.
The Leon Kingdom's Royal Academy wouldn't lose to any other nation, but the Empire was, after all, the Empire.
"How much?"
"More than five times the size of the Royal Academy?"
"…Seriously?"
She had a look of disbelief, but I simply nodded.
Honestly, it might be even larger, certainly not smaller.
"That's truly amazing."
"What's the point of being big? I heard they got hit by a terror attack because they couldn't manage it properly."
Senior Meles, the instructor for the 3rd Prince—who rivaled Princess Hestia in terms of trouble—muttered crankily.
He seemed to be under considerable work stress as well, but fortunately, the 3rd Prince had no interest in the sword, so he wasn't the type to suffer like me or Senior Lucia.
"That's true."
Knowing that the place was scheduled to be breached repeatedly in the future, I couldn't help but answer crankily as well.
"I heard the stories too. You fought Silence and won?"
"Ah, right. I came to hear about that."
"How did you win?"
Starting with Senior Kavilan, everyone threw a question at me following my answer.
It seemed Silence was quite famous.
"Ah, well, that is..."
Just as I was about to explain the deceased's legendary exploits, Senior Lucia cut me off, parting the other seniors like the Red Sea with a fierce look in her eyes.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Yeeees?"
At her cold voice, the other seniors cleared their throats and backed away.
Well, even so, the space was cramped, so they all just ended up huddled in the corners.
"…When did the power dynamic change?"
Unlike the Knights, the instructors were said to have a more relaxed atmosphere.
Still, it was a group of knights, so I remembered there being a hierarchy.
In the time I hadn't seen her, it looked like Senior Lucia had taken control of the other seniors' discipline.
"What power dynamic? The seniors are just giving us some space."
I didn't think so, but I kept my mouth shut, sensing that if I said one more word, she would either burst into tears or throw a punch.
"Why did you call for me?"
"Why? Do you have no conscience?! You turned Princess Hestia upside down the moment you arrived!"
See? She immediately put on a tearful face, ready to cry at the slightest touch.
I wasn't the only one who felt it; the seniors huddled in the corners were stealthily creeping toward the exit.
These people... they invited me and now they're trying to abandon me.
"I'm being framed!"
However, I stood my ground.
To Senior Lucia, I might look like the perpetrator.
"For what!"
"Princess Hestia was waiting at the Magic Tower to pick a fight the moment I arrived! What was I supposed to do?"
I am strictly the victim.
I finally returned to my hometown, and the Princess was camping out to challenge me to a fight.
In a society where rank is everything, I had no choice but to fight Princess Hestia, like an NPC dealing with someone who suddenly forces a Pok*mon battle.
"Still, you could have gone easy on her."
As she recalled that fact, Senior Lucia's momentum weakened slightly.
Seeing the other seniors, who had been attempting to escape, cautiously moving back to the corners, I decided to tease her a bit.
"But I had to at least beat Princess Hestia. I'm always getting crushed by Prince Ellen, so my confidence is down."
"Then who's going to boost my confidence?!"
In the end, Senior Lucia burst into tears, causing the other seniors to freeze in place.
It seemed Princess Hestia had taken her frustration out on Senior Lucia after getting beaten by me.
"You can just duel the other seniors."
At that, the frozen seniors creaked as they glared at me.
Their expressions asked if I was serious, but since they all seemed idle, shouldn't they play with Senior Lucia for a bit?
Just as I was about to provoke Senior Lucia a little more, with the mindset of 'let's all die together'—
—BEEEEEEEEEP! EMERGENCY!
"What's that?"
At the sudden sound erupting from my pocket, everyone looked at me with bewildered expressions.
"It's an emergency contact notification."
"It certainly sounds like a real emergency!"
They looked like they had a lot to say, but they signaled for me to check the content first. I pulled the communication device from my pocket.
And then.
—Save me!
Hearing the voice of Violet—no, Boradori—which vanished after that single sentence...
"I don't think it's anything important."
"…It sounds like a huge deal?!"
I lightly ignored it.
*
#3 Holy Kingdom Correspondent, Codename Boradori.
I had never once thought a trip to the Holy Kingdom would be easy.
The Holy Kingdom arc was the growth arc for Daisy, the protagonist, and no one else.
Even if it wasn't a male-oriented fantasy novel where the protagonist's narrative is the absolute core...
And even if people don't scream "Kill the heroine!" the moment a mediocre heroine arc appears...
In a RoFan, the protagonist's narrative and growth were naturally the most essential parts.
So, I came to the Holy Kingdom fully prepared.
I didn't just prepare mentally; I prepared thoroughly.
I took an advance on my salary and scoured both official and unofficial routes to gather necessary items.
I placed restriction upon restriction upon restriction so that I could use the sorcery I'd gathered for about 20 seconds.
It brings tears to my eyes that months of gathering only yielded 20 seconds, and I want to wail at the fact that it'll disappear even if I don't use it this time.
But I thought it was better to be prepared than to get caught off guard and die.
So I scraped together everything down to my very soul to prepare.
To think even that would be insufficient.
"Sister, are you okay?"
No, I'm not okay.
I barely managed to swallow the words that almost burst out of my throat.
"Uh-huh."
"……"
At my awkward reply, the Pope nodded awkwardly.
To think this small, timid girl, who flinches just from being looked at, is the Pope.
I wanted to say something to her pitiful self, but...
"The Pope has been kidnapped!"
The shouts of the Holy Knights echoed behind us.
Somehow, I had become a criminal who kidnapped the Pope.
Of course, I didn't actually kidnap her.
If anything, you could say I rescued the Pope, who was being abused and gaslighted by the Cardinals.
This, too, was something that happened in the original work.
…The problem was just that the timing had been moved forward by about two years.
Originally, the scenario involved recruiting devout individuals one by one through the Holy Kingdom's factional infighting.
Then, after the secret struggle between the Saintess faction and the Cardinal faction, the Pope, who was locked in a secret room, would be rescued and the corrupt would be purged.
For some reason, Daisy, whose personality had undergone a massive change, beat them down one by one until she reached the final boss of the Holy Kingdom arc.
In the process, I ended up securing custody of the Pope.
If you ask why I took on this role, surprisingly, it was because it was the easiest task.
Daisy and the RoFan male leads were busy taking down the corrupt clergy and working with the reformers who wanted to change the Holy Kingdom!
With the Holy Kingdom arc progressing two years early, I also snatched the Pope two years early.
"There she is!"
"……!"
The problem was that I had to deliver this Pope safely to Daisy.
The number of Holy Knights following as pursuers was higher than expected.
"Ugh!"
I threw the items I had prepared in advance.
Smoke bombs, magic firebombs, caltrops, and so on.
While emptying the subspace pouch I'd received after joining the black company Leon, my hand caught a crystal ball.
"……."
The emergency contact magic orb given to me to report immediately if anything happened.
I caught my breath for a moment, clutching the crystal ball to make contact just in case—
"Found you!"
"Give me a break!"
But at the voice of a Holy Knight who had caught up immediately, I hurriedly blurted out a single sentence and started running again with the Pope in my arms.
—Save me!
It was the only message I could leave.