I Became a Swordsmanship Instructor in a Romance Novel

The black-haired girl burst through the door of the instructor’s lounge, her first greeting a string of curses.

Even with her name, hair, and eye color changed, her foul temper remained the same.

They had met once in the Lyos Mountains, but back then, she had appeared suddenly, resolved Soi’s crisis, and promptly fainted, leaving no time for a proper conversation.

So, technically, this could be considered their first real encounter.

‘Hmm, did she use magic to dye her hair and eyes? Well, that’s a given. But why such a crude spell?’

One of Zeke’s eyebrows twitched upwards.

The Saintess was a genius mage, even surpassing him in some aspects of magic.

Zeke narrowed his eyes and examined the Saintess’s mana flow.

‘…I had a hunch from Karen, but is her body really that weakened…? Ah, no. No, that’s not it.’

Recalling his own initial arrival in this world, he could roughly guess her condition.

‘Her body was solely reliant on mana manipulation. This place must be hell for her.’

Unlike the Dave Continent, the ambient mana concentration here was incredibly sparse.

The Saintess had never been particularly talented in physical combat.

He’d need to examine the mana circuits in her current body to be sure, but if she could fix it herself, she would have done so already.

She was probably in a similar state as him.

There was no way the Saintess in this condition could acquire mana stones and engrave a filter on her back.

That was a feat that required a certain level of physical resilience.

‘Well, it’s not like anyone could help her…’

Even he, with his relatively trained physique, had struggled to engrave the mana filter on his back.

In the Saintess’s case, the probability of her fainting midway through was extremely high.

And if that happened, the uncontrolled mana would clash and her body would simply explode.

‘And there’s no way she could entrust such a life-threatening procedure to the mages here.’

The answer was clear, considering the Imperial physician Rosnante had summoned earlier.

At best, they were at the level of a toddler just learning to walk in the Dave Continent.

Frankly, when it came to magical knowledge, he might concede, but in terms of mana manipulation, his students could surpass them with one hand tied behind their backs.

Zeke, lost in thought for a moment, broke off his contemplation and asked,

“First of all, let’s set aside the necklace.”

“Why the hell are you setting it aside?! It’s the first priority, you bastard! Give me back my necklace!”

Ignoring her outburst, Zeke continued,

“Let’s start with this. It was you, wasn’t it? You kidnapped me and brought me here.”

“….”

Caught off guard by Zeke’s directness, the Saintess bit her lip, a look of surprise on her face.

“…I can’t tell you.”

She saw the suspicion in Zeke’s eyes, but she couldn’t help it.

‘Who kidnapped who?!’

The Saintess’s eyes filled with indignation.

She was simply creating a new world and living in it, transcending 10,000 years of time.

However, at some point, words she hadn’t written started appearing in her notebook.

These short, sudden sentences would evaluate, express amusement, cheer, or criticize the world she had created.

As if gods were watching over the world she had made.

Of course, most of those words were written in a flippant and blunt manner, but the Saintess considered them all to be the ‘voice of God.’

‘They probably see me this way because I use that kind of language.’

So, she felt grateful that she could at least indirectly hear the voices of the gods who were watching over her.

Then, one day, as the story was approaching its midpoint,

she was destined to be embroiled in various incidents due to her weakened body.

The Emperor of the Back Alleys, Lodren.

Because he had discovered her golden hair, she was about to be captured by the thieves he sent.

Even knowing the whole situation, the Saintess remained calm.

Her actions and words flowed naturally, like a well-crafted puppet show.

─ Kyaaak! Th, Thieves…!

Then, the Empire’s Second Prince, Rosnante, would appear.

─ You pathetic fools.

The Second Prince, who was obsessed with her and even stalked her.

It was the scene where he would intervene in her crisis and slaughter the kidnappers.

The Saintess had observed Zeke’s swordsmanship for 10 years, right by his side.

The direction he swung his sword, how he moved and twisted his body, and what happened to his opponents when he swung his sword.

Of course, Zeke Clayman was the strongest being in her world.

She had described him, taking into account the world’s sparse mana and the balance of power.

She was confident.

This was the most brilliantly depicted part of the world she had created.

But then, in that very scene, the ‘voice of God’ appeared.

And it wasn’t a voice of encouragement or praise, but a sharp criticism.

‘This swordsmanship is terrible, flawed, and nonsensical.’

A sentence filled with that meaning was written densely, filling an entire page.

She tried to understand it by reading it over and over again, but she couldn’t accept it at face value.

How long does this voice of God think I’ve been watching him wield his sword in real life?

Even a god couldn’t know everything about her, she thought, and at the same time,

“Don’t fuck with me….”

She felt a strong resistance to those words, spoken so lightly without knowing anything.

Mixed within were the experiences of countless battles and bloodshed she had endured for 10 years.

The emotions she felt for those she had desperately tried to protect.

All of it surged up and boiled over.

“Don’t you dare make fun of me!!!!”

She bit her lip and, without realizing it, wrote below it in her usual way,

[ Fuck, if you’re so good, why don’t you do it yourself! ]

And then, the world went dark.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back at the beginning of the story she had written.

【 ━ Due to an error in causality, the world will be reorganized. ━ 】

***

Today was a day without swordsmanship class.

However, the original members who had attended Zeke’s class gathered at a teahouse.

Selena, Iriel, Soi Spoon, Yuri Gilbert, and even Rosnante.

Given their status, they had rented out the entire teahouse.

“…Now that we’re all here, tell me, Flower Field. Why did you suddenly call us all together?”

Iriel clicked her tongue and spoke to Selena with a displeased expression.

Originally, they had planned to go to Soi’s bakery and spend the whole day enjoying tea time with her and trying out her new pastries.

However, Selena’s next words were enough to dispel any regret about that lost time.

“…The Instructor is acting suspicious.”

“…Zeke is acting suspicious?”

“Yes, you know how the Instructor usually goes to the training grounds on days he doesn’t have academy classes, or just sleeps at home all day.”

Iriel, Yuri, and Soi Spoon nodded in agreement.

“…Huh? How do you guys know what the Instructor does on his days off…?”

Rosnante looked around, bewildered.

But no one answered his question.

“But today, the Instructor wasn’t at the academy training grounds, and I received a message from his home saying he was heading to the academy.”

Everyone’s faces hardened.

They remembered the time he had suddenly disappeared like the wind, saying he was going somewhere for two weeks.

This was especially true for Soi Spoon.

The hardships and near-death experiences she had endured after foolishly following him to the Lyos Mountains.

Her body trembled.

“…N, no. I’m not going there this time. Don’t tell me… this time too…”

Selena shook her head.

“No, it’s not that. I’m sure he went to the academy. So, I asked someone at the academy. They said he went to the instructors’ lounge.”

“…So, it’s nothing, then, Flower Field. He just went to catch up on some work, right? If you wasted my time for something like that…”

“I’m not finished. Listen to the end.”

Selena glared at Iriel and continued,

“But, a black-haired woman went there too.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Yuri Gilbert.

“…It wasn’t me.”

Unaccustomed to the attention, Yuri flinched and mumbled.

“I know it wasn’t you, Yuri. You have short hair, but they said the woman had long hair.”

“Oh…!?”

Suddenly, Soi let out a surprised gasp.

She quickly covered her mouth.

“What is it, Soi? Did you know something?”

Iriel pressed her, and everyone stared intently at her.

Soi’s eyes darted around before she finally confessed.

At least, these were the children Zeke had chosen.

She might have to keep Lost Hope a secret, but it should be okay to talk about that woman.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to reveal that the woman’s original hair color was golden.

“…That’s, uh, probably… Lady Ira, the Princess of the North.”

“What!? How do you know that?”

“The North…?”

“Why the North…?”

“Is she pretty?”

Soi gulped and spoke in a cautious voice.

“W-well, Lady Ira visited our bakery yesterday. She said she came to make a request to Instructor Zeke…”

“The North? To Zeke? What kind of request?”

Everyone except Soi was unaware of the situation.

She couldn’t say anything more.

In the end, she had no choice but to pretend she didn’t know.

“I don’t know… She just came yesterday and bought some bread. That’s all.”

“…The Ira Dukedom of the North.”

“Why is the Dukedom, which has been silent all this time…”

Iriel and Selena’s faces hardened with a newfound seriousness.

As the Princesses of Eustia and Yohaiden, the name carried a different weight for them.

“So, is she pretty?”

Rosnante continued to ask cluelessly, but no one answered him.