Chapter 45: School Opening (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 45: School Opening (5)
“Ughhhhh!”
Violet, supporting her entire body weight on nothing but her forehead, let out a stifled scream.
Normally, I would have told her to stop by now, but...
“Does it hurt? It hurts me more, you punk.”
The wounds in my heart weren't shallow enough to be healed by something as trivial as this.
“H-honestly, I don't think this is my fault!” Boradori shouted, her voice thick with a sense of profound injustice.
Does this girl have no conscience?
“If it’s not your fault, then whose is it?”
“Uh, well. That is...”
Boradori trembled as she tried to think of a culprit, but it seemed she couldn't come up with anyone. Feeling a bit sorry for her as she groaned in agony, I placed a simple solution in front of her.
“W-what is this?”
“Can’t you tell? It’s a mirror.”
“I-I can’t see it very well!”
A mirror sat before Boradori, who was still groaning with her forehead pressed against the floor.
“But why is this here...?”
“The culprit.”
“Pardon?”
“The person in front of you is the culprit.”
The reason you can't think of anyone else is because it’s just you, you brat.
“Hey, hey. Say it again.”
“S-say what?”
“That the plan is ruined because of you.”
“Kyaaaak!”
I really was feeling wronged.
“First of all, Prince Ellen has become a different person.”
“S-stop!”
Seriously, what did I even do?
“The previous story is completely shattered!”
“Aaaaah!”
Finally, Boradori, who had been holding the headstand, collapsed. She tumbled to the side, covering her face with both hands and rolling across the floor.
“I-I didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted Daisy to be a little happier!”
“She’s so happy she’s making boyfriends through blackmail now.”
“I-isn’t it good for you too? Even if it’s fake, our Daisy isn’t lacking in any department!”
“She seems a bit lacking in personality.”
“Well, you’re the same, so aren't you two a match made in heaven?”
“A match made in hell, you mean!”
“Gack!”
I kicked the rolling Boradori like a soccer ball. Violet, reading the room, began to roll around even more enthusiastically.
After our little bout of WWE was over, Violet cautiously stood up and spoke.
“Still, one thing is for certain.”
“What is it?”
I frowned instinctively. I couldn't trust the words of someone who claimed they would protect the original work while already smashing it to pieces.
“……”
When I scowled, Violet shrank back. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she carefully shared her thoughts.
“E-even if Daisy has become more perceptive... I don’t think there will be any major changes!”
I nodded at her opinion—not as Violet the original work purist, but as Agent Boradori.
“And why is that?”
“Because even if Daisy changes, the fact that the male leads are all duds remains the same!”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, she was right. For that relationship to change, someone would have to confess to Daisy. No matter how much Daisy changed, as long as those RoFan male leads stayed the same, the status quo wouldn't budge.
“On top of that, I think 'clearing up annoying business' probably includes the male leads too!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Since she has a boyfriend, won't some of them give up?”
“It’s fake, though.”
If they didn't know it was fake, that would be one thing, but we had already agreed to tell the male leads the truth beforehand to prevent any unnecessary trouble. Even if Daisy had been tainted by Boradori and gone a bit astray, her essence as the RoFan heroine and Saintess wouldn't have changed. She might blackmail, but she wasn't the type to lie.
Besides, the moment she lied, I could just terminate the contract.
“Whether it’s fake doesn’t matter. The point is that she chose someone other than them. And even if it’s fake, she chose an 'outsider' rather than one of 'us' to be her lover.”
“Is that important?”
“It’s crucial. Haven't you seen that manga about the key maker? He’s always talking about the 'girl of the promise' and handing out keys like candy, but when the real girl of the promise is revealed, he ends up with the fake lover anyway.”
I hadn't read it, but it was a famous enough series that I’d heard of it. However...
“Don't bring manga logic into reality...”
That’s a manga; this is reality. Projecting manga onto real life is the kind of thinking only a hardcore otaku would do. Does that even make sense?
“What are you talking about? This is a RoFan world.”
...Actually, that makes perfect sense.
I felt a chill run down my spine at Boradori’s—no, Violet’s—sharp point.
“Hey, even so. Daisy was the one who said not to fall for her first.”
“In RoFans, the trope of saying 'don't fall for me' and then falling for them anyway is the tastiest part~!”
“...We already agreed to only meet once a month.”
“The heroine who waits more and more for the date as the month goes by... I can't get enough of that trope~!”
“I’d sooner confess to the Imperial Princess than Daisy, okay?”
“It just so happens that Prince Esid’s half-sibling is enrolling next year! A love triangle—there’s nothing tastier than that in a RoFan!”
“...You think I’m going down alone?”
At Violet’s smirking, I spoke with grim determination.
“W-what?”
Startled by the sudden shift in atmosphere, Violet looked away, her expression saying 'Uh oh.'
“If the Imperial Princess doesn't work, I’ll confess to you just to get her off my back.”
“Hey! If you’re going to die, die alone!”
“You’re the one who should die holding onto Daisy!”
I wasn't joking. The moment I got kidnapped into the RoFan heroine’s fishing pond, we were all going down together.
Various things happened after that.
It didn't take long to realize that Violet’s prediction was spot on.
“Adam.”
In the afternoon, at the Swordsmanship Department training grounds.
The Minor Sword Emperor, looking somehow more serious than usual, spoke as he gripped his sword.
“A round today?”
He always took sparring seriously, but today was different. How should I put it? It felt like he was facing a mortal enemy.
“Sure.”
I knew the rumors had started circulating since the afternoon, so I wondered if he had heard them without getting a chance to meet Daisy.
“Urgh!”
After he suffered a dog-like defeat, I asked the Minor-Minor Sword Emperor, who was wallowing in several times his usual amount of despair:
“Did you hear it from Daisy?”
“I heard you two are dating.”
“And that it’s fake?”
“I heard that too.”
Wait, the second part is more important than the first. Why are you treating the second part like it’s nothing?
“I’m... so... jealous...”
The reason became clear from his muttered words through gritted teeth. He was just jealous. Poor guy.
If it weren't for Daisy’s plot, I was planning to run a lecture on the Leon Royal Family’s dating courses starting from the second semester...
...Come to think of it, Daisy was fully prepared to kick anyone who confessed to the curb. So, did he actually dodge being the first fish released from the pond?
In that case...
“Adam!”
Perhaps because he was royalty and not just a commoner, Ellen popped up the moment I thought of him. Seeing the faint but clear hostility in his eyes, he seemed to be in a similar state as the Minor-Minor-Minor Sword Emperor.
“Ah, the injury I got during the break flared up during the last fight...”
I clutched my left side and faked being in pain. No matter how petty a RoFan male lead might be, surely he wouldn't ask to fight someone who was injured because of him?
“I heard everything.”
But it seemed Ellen was a typical fantasy world royal who repaid grace with enmity.
“I heard Daisy healed all those wounds for you.”
“Ah.”
Never mind. His intuition had just spiked because it involved the RoFan heroine.
“And the wound was on your right side, not your left.”
“Was it?”
“I don't know, I just took a guess.”
...Did the male leads get a buff because the heroine’s intuition went up?
It can't be helped.
The Secret Art of the Defeat Sword.
“Oh, Daisy?”
Fake Summoning Technique. Summon RoFan Heroine.
“Huh?”
“Why is Daisy here?”
The moment I saw the RoFan male leads whip their heads around at lightning speed...
“Adam!”
Ignoring the words of my 'owner' coming from behind, I ran away at full speed.
And so, the next day.
“It’s fake?”
As soon as Daisy—who had suddenly appeared to brag that I was her boyfriend—left, the Fire Spammer grabbed me by the collar and shook me. Naturally, I revealed all the secrets. We had agreed to keep it a secret, but our alliance wasn't exactly made of strangers.
“Yeah. They know it’s fake too, but their reactions are unusual.”
“……”
A myriad of concerns flashed across the Fire Spammer’s face before vanishing. Then:
“C-couldn't you just date her for real?”
“I hear your declaration to break the alliance loud and clear. Deal with the consequences yourself.”
“It was a joke! My bad!”
Even as a joke, there are things you say and things you don't. How dare he try to sacrifice the person helping him for the sake of his own love life? There’s a reason Dark Mages are treated as public enemies across the continent just for having one sacrifice.
“What are you going to do, Senior?”
“……”
At my question, Senior Loreliya frowned.
“If you’re going to date, you should have done it sooner.”
Her family had already set a direction toward breaking the engagement, but a sudden variable had appeared.
“Do you have a plan?”
“It’s not the mainstream opinion of the family, but there are those pushing for the engagement.”
“I thought you said there was no need to get on the bad side of the Imperial Family and the Saintess.”
“They claim to have a brilliant solution.”
“There’s such a thing?”
“...There’s a member of a collateral branch scheduled to enroll in the Academy next year. His looks are quite famous... The plan is to link me with Esid, and link Daisy with that collateral member, thereby creating a powerful bond with both factions...”
Knowing how ridiculous the plan sounded, Senior Loreliya blushed and looked away.
“Ah.”
I understood the gist of it. So the villainous noble role coming in next year was a collateral member of House Jeyka. I had wondered why Senior Loreliya—who surpassed all the RoFan male leads in personality—was treated as a villainess in the original work. It seemed the sidekicks coming in were the ones causing trouble, and the story just lumped them all under House Jeyka. A cocky junior acting out with a Duke’s house at his back is a classic RoFan villain, after all.
Of course, a single villain wouldn't be enough to earn Senior Loreliya the villainess title.
“Is it just that one person?”
“...The plans differ, but it seems there are others making similar arguments.”
As I thought. Regardless of Senior Loreliya, it seemed wise to keep an eye on the House Jeyka faction. Of course, most of them would be cut off by Agent Boradori. Boradori wasn't the only secret agent embedded in the Academy.
“Adam, you punk! What’s this about dating the Saintess?!”
Uncle Aeryun—who didn't look like an Academy student in the past, and now looked like someone nine out of ten students would mistake for a head professor of another department—opened the window and climbed into the dormitory.
“The Academy’s security has been breached again!”
“Shut up, you brat!”
The moment I opened my mouth, he immediately cast a silence spell on my room. His skill was exactly what you’d expect from an agent entrusted with the Imperial family. Even if he knew the dormitory’s magic circuits, casting it that fast required repeated practice beyond mere talent.
“How far has the rumor spread?”
“The Imperial Capital and the Holy Kingdom are already buzzing. Your name hadn't reached me when I first heard it, but who knows by now.”
For a world without smartphones, news traveled incredibly fast. I was already starting to dread the start of the term. So...
“If you want to know more, how about some cooperation?”
“...Can't you see what I look like?”
Uh, well. It was a bit pitiful, but...
“I’ve become the Saintess’s lover, you know?”
“...Fair point.”
Seeing Uncle Aeryun nod immediately, I couldn't help but think that talking to people in the same line of work was always the easiest.