Chapter 54: Two-Timing (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54: Two-Timing (3)
Rumors certainly travel fast.
“I heard you got a lover!”
“It’s fake.”
“You always say it’s fake!”
Usually, I ate alone during the festival’s dinner hours. However, Prince Ellen, who should have been tied down by Princess Hestia, had escaped after hearing the rumors and sought me out.
“Did you just abandon the Princess?”
“Yeah. She seemed pretty shocked. She said I’ve become quite the degenerate since coming to the Empire.”
“What exactly did I do to earn a reputation for being degenerate?”
“You’re two-timing, aren’t you?”
“……”
He wasn't wrong, but it still felt incredibly unfair. Then, something unexpected happened.
“Actually, that assessment might be surprisingly accurate.”
“…What did you do in the meantime?!”
“I didn’t do anything.”
It was a statement that could be misunderstood, but I hadn't lived a life degenerate enough for him to jump to that conclusion so quickly.
“I meant the Empire is degenerate. The rumors of me two-timing have spread, but things are surprisingly quiet, don’t you think?”
I wondered if it was because the rumors hadn't fully circulated yet, but if they had reached the ears of Prince Ellen while he was stuck with Princess Hestia, there was no way the gossip-loving Academy students didn't know.
“Hmm. You have a point.”
And that fact was confirmed by the reaction of the person I met the following morning.
“I heard you and Daisy broke up.”
“…I haven't heard anything about being fired as her fake lover yet.”
Prince Esid, whom I happened to run into, wore an expression similar to Prince Ellen’s yesterday. His lips were twitching as if he might burst into a broad grin at any moment!
“…I hate to be the one to say this, but are you aware that Senior Loreliya is still technically your fiancée?”
And yet, he was making such a delighted face. Wasn't this a bit much?
“I heard she already knows you two are planning to break up anyway.”
It seemed things had already been settled on that end.
“Even so, for now, I’m just a poor soul who had his fiancée snatched away. For the sake of a pitiful man, couldn't you let one of them go?”
“I’ll return your fiancée to you.”
“I decline.”
Seeing him laugh so refreshingly while saying that, I could see why this guy was a RoFan male lead—specifically, the main male lead candidate who takes the lead in the first part of the story, the Academy arc.
However, there was one thing that was a little—no, very—troubling.
“So, don't worry too much. The Imperial Family and House Jeyka are already making preparations.”
“……?”
I could roughly guess what they were preparing for. I was too terrified to even ask what it was.
“I don't think that will be necessary, though?”
At my words, the Prince burst into a loud laugh.
“Just as Ellen said. You’re an interesting fellow.”
He patted my shoulder and told me he’d be seeing me often before walking away. Watching Prince Esid’s retreating back, I could feel it. Just as I was pushing the Minor Sword Emperor, Prince Esid had begun to push me as well.
“……”
As soon as I arrived at the meeting place, I felt the surrounding temperature drop sharply. Standing at the center of that chill was Daisy, all alone. I couldn't help but swallow hard.
“Welcome.”
Normally, the area would have been crowded with people, but most were avoiding the spot, sensing the atmosphere.
“Hello.”
As I greeted her, my eyes naturally drifted to her right hand. Just the day before yesterday, several dark mages had been laid low by that very fist.
“I heard you were cheating?”
Her beaming smile and the content of her words didn't match at all.
“There’s been a misunderstanding.”
“I heard the explanation. It’s fake, right?”
I had already dispatched Boradori to deliver the information in advance, but Daisy didn't seem to care much about that.
“Cheating so boldly the day after our date and the day before our next scheduled one.”
To be honest, even if it was a fake relationship, I did look like a bit of a scumbag. But!
“This is unfair.”
In this instance, I had simply been backstabbed by Senior Loreliya.
“I’m told that’s what everyone who cheats says.”
“Violet told you that, didn't she?”
“That’s right. How did you kn— Wait, don't tell me you’re after Violet too?!”
Seeing Daisy’s horrified reaction, I responded with an even more intense look of horror.
“Unless the sky splits open, that will never happen.”
“So you’re saying it is possible if the sky splits open!”
I meant it as a way of saying it was impossible, but come to think of it, that was a plausible event in a fantasy world. There was even a legend that the Sword Emperor himself had split the sky!
“…Then you’d better pray hard to the Goddess that it doesn't split.”
“So you’ve decided to just be completely shameless!”
“If you’re so upset, then dump me.”
I had only apologized out of basic human decency; frankly, being dumped would be a win for me. As I took a blatantly shameless stance, Daisy’s momentum began to falter.
“So this is why they say the person who confesses first loses. This is certainly a good learning experience!”
“I hope your next lover is the one to confess first.”
“Wow. Look at him trying to cut ties the moment he gets a new woman… Not a chance. Don't forget you have to play your role properly until the break starts.”
Hmph.
With a short snort, Daisy marched forward, and I followed right behind her. Unlike our last date, this one followed a course entirely of her choosing. Because of that, I had two major concerns.
One was that, given the power of a RoFan female lead, it wouldn't be strange for anything to happen. The other was the reason for this date in the first place.
“……”
I had to deal with the brat glaring at me in silence—the Pope.
The Pope.
In my past life, I remembered it as a brutal profession where you were essentially the "permanent admin" of Earth’s largest religion; once elected, you couldn't retire until the moment you died. Because of that, I recalled the last Pope being the youngest among the cardinals who had been stuck with the job.
Unlike my past life where even the "youngest" was an old man, this world seemed intent on milking every last drop of labor by entrusting the papacy to a ten-year-old kid.
“Your Holiness, this is the man.”
She probably meant "this is my fake boyfriend," but depending on how you heard it, it sounded like "this is the scumbag who cheated."
“So it’s this man?”
Similarly, he probably meant "so this is the Saintess’s fake boyfriend," but it felt like he was saying, "so this is the bastard who two-timed her even while dating the Saintess!"
…Wait. Is that actually what he’s thinking?
Seeing the Pope glaring at me with such heat, perhaps it wasn't a misunderstanding, and I was just hoping it was.
“Hello. I am Adam Smith from the Leon Kingdom.”
But what could I do? My opponent was the Pope, whose status was roughly equal to that of a king. His influence across the continent was arguably stronger than even our own King’s. It would be best to leave a good impression on such a figure.
“Leon… I see.”
It seemed I had already blown it. I felt a heavy pressure from the Pope’s gaze as he stared at me in silence for a long time.
“It might be good to visit Leon sometime in the future.”
Was it just my imagination, or did that sound ominous? Surely he wouldn't visit the Leon Kingdom, have a chat with the royal family, and say something like, "By the way, a man named Adam from here two-timed the Saintess and abandoned her…"
…Just in case, I thought it might be a good idea to deploy Boradori in advance.
“It would be an honor.”
“……”
With Daisy leading the way, our group began to tour various parts of the Academy, taking in the Founding Festival events.
“This is delicious.”
“Yes. It’s a dish my lover introduced to me the day before yesterday.”
“I see!”
“But now he’s eating it with another woman…”
“Hmm……”
At first, we stopped by nearby stalls, where Daisy would subtly attack me while eating food offered by vendors who were desperate for even a touch from the Pope.
“I’ve seen the Holy Knights train often, but this is my first time seeing a tournament like this!”
“The person who just won is a member of my club. He’s a swordsman who inherited the name 'Minor Sword Emperor' as the grandson of the famous Sword Emperor.”
“I see 32 consecutive wins isn't something just anyone can do!”
We also watched a match featuring Asran, who was still surviving in the swordsmanship tournament.
“One. Two. Three.”
“Violet! Go for it!”
“Good luck!”
As soon as I realized the date course included the magic tournament, I successfully diverted their attention by dispatching Boradori.
“Saintess, there’s a strange person over there.”
“Ah, those. Those are things called dark mages that you can easily find during the Founding Festival events.”
“I see… wait, what?”
Before the Pope could even realize something was wrong, I watched Daisy throw a punch. I felt that the date had finally begun in earnest.
Jack, a dark mage who had infiltrated the Imperial Academy, couldn't help but curse.
“These lazy bastards.”
Seriously, no one among these dark mages ever did their job properly. There was a reason he thought that.
“Here too. And here. Seriously, there isn't a single place where the magic circle was drawn correctly.”
To outsiders, they were all just dark mages, but even among them, factions were divided based on the magic they used, their ideologies, and their motives for becoming dark mages. The faction he belonged to, "Dawn," was a group that aimed for the "normalization" of dark magic.
It was all just magic, and even other Magic Towers performed human experiments while pretending they didn't! Why were only dark mages persecuted? This was all the persecution and conspiracy of the Empire, which claimed to be the master of the continent!
Because they made such claims, many members were naturally associated with self-proclaimed revolutionaries or anti-Imperial organizations. Several of their most powerful forces had joined together to make an appearance during this Founding Festival.
As the signal for their activities, Jack intended to start a massive fire at the Academy, which was called the future of the Empire. However…
“Not here either?”
At the appointed time, he tried to activate the magic, but there was no response. He checked to see if the magic circles had been damaged somewhere… but in every spot where a magic circle should have been, there was nothing at all. No wonder the magic wouldn't trigger!
“Did they seriously all get caught?!”
Jack was close to the truth, but he soon shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
It would be one thing if they had failed to infiltrate the Academy, but he had confirmed how many people had successfully snuck in before starting the operation. Thirteen dark mages.
Because the Empire’s surveillance was stronger than expected, more than ten comrades had been killed outside the Academy. But thanks to their sacrifice, nearly half had succeeded in infiltrating. With so many outsiders present for the festival, it should have been nearly impossible to find dark mages operating in secret.
They had even prepared so that the magic would trigger even if only half of the magic circle was drawn, just in case. And yet, it wasn't working. This meant the infiltrated dark mages were either slacking off or something had happened.
“Damn it, we’re supposed to be the start.”
The plan was for the Hellfire magic circles prepared throughout the Academy to explode, turning the Academy into a sea of fire as the signal for the revolution. Those flames were meant to swallow those celebrating the Empire’s founding and serve as the signal announcing the Empire’s end.
But… but why!
“Ah, it’s here. Over here~”
Just then, he heard a light female voice. It sounded like someone telling a friend they had found and reserved a good spot for flower viewing.
“Ah, there’s another one?”
Then, a man’s voice drifted from not too far away. It sounded like a boyfriend running toward his girlfriend after she said she’d found a spot.
“Ford, Krek?!”
By the time he realized his comrades were being carried in the man’s hands like corpses, it was already too late.
“What are the numbers and locations of your other comrades?”
The monster who had taken down his allies was already right in front of him.