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

"Ugh!"

Inside the storage room where the shadows of the academy were gathered, I kicked the door open and, ignoring the people who were in the middle of discussing creating a fake club for this meeting, immediately delivered a sidekick to Aeun Uncle.
It was extremely rude to suddenly barge in and kick a foreign agent like this.
"What? Did you get robbed again?"
"Where this time?"
"How shameful for someone from the Empire."

Instead of blaming me, who suddenly barged in and caused a commotion, the people around me were criticizing Aeun Uncle. This was the power of trust. The problem was that it wasn't that my trust was high, but that the Empire's trust had hit rock bottom.
We hadn't even passed the midterm event yet, and I had no idea how to get through the final exams and summer vacation.
"What? What's going on?"

Even Aeun Uncle himself looked up at me with an uneasy gaze. He looked like he was wondering what had happened now. What had happened? Something indeed had happened. Just now...
"This man leaked personal information."
It was the leak of internal personnel's personal information. Just earlier, it had been Laurelia Senior’s personal information exposed. I was shocked by the fact that my personal data had been thoroughly dug out, but upon reflecting on it calmly, there were many strange things.

My information being exposed? That could happen. The Empire's academy had been so breached recently that it looked like a mess, but the Empire was the strongest nation on the continent. Although this wouldn't usually happen, even if Leon and Dale combined all their strength, the Empire had a much higher chance of winning. The strength of the Duke of Jeyka, the most powerful family in the Empire, wouldn't even fall short when compared to the military forces of small nations. If they really set their mind to it, they could easily acquire my personal information.
However, even if the Duke of Jeyka could do that, Laurelia Senior wouldn’t. If she had been that type of person, she wouldn’t have asked me to spy and gather information about Daisy. Moreover, before Daisy awakened as a saint, she could have been transformed into Daisy already.
So, I honestly asked. How did she know so much?

Then, Laurelia Senior calmly revealed the truth with a nonchalant expression.
"Aeun told me."
And that's why I had come to kick Aeun Uncle.

"Wait!"
After learning the whole story, Aeun Uncle asked for a moment to explain, looking like he was feeling wronged.
"What?"
I had listened to whatever nonsense he was about to say.

"Do you know where I was born?"
Out of the blue, he asked about his hometown.
"Why would I need to know that?"
"It’s the Jeyka Territory."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"My roots are in the Duke of Jeyka’s family."
He continued to explain, but to sum it up, it was like this.
"Is Prince Esid really insane?"

It seemed like all the male leads in romance fantasy novels were a bit out of their minds.
"...Even so, he’s the Empire’s prince. Be careful."
I had just insulted the prince in front of him, and even Aeun Uncle, the one responsible, couldn’t argue against me. Even the foreign agents around us were looking at us in disbelief.
"No, then most of the subordinates are from the Duke of Jeyka's family. How is he interested in another woman?"
"Did he give up on the throne?"
"By the way, Aeun, you were two-timing."

To put it simply, the Duke of Jeyka was supporting Prince Esid to become emperor. That part was obvious. So, it must be that he had arranged the engagement between Prince Esid and his daughter.
However, it turned out that the Duke of Jeyka was supporting Prince Esid more than we knew. Most of the people serving Prince Esid, including Aeun Uncle, were dispatched from the Duke of Jeyka's family. In essence, Prince Esid’s power came from the Duke of Jeyka. Yet, he was looking at another woman. What a remarkable person he was.
"So if Young Lady requests it, we must help."

Officially, Prince Esid was my direct superior, but in reality, it was Laurelia who could be considered my true superior. Therefore, when Laurelia requested something, Aeun Uncle had no choice but to help, as long as it didn’t involve the imperial family.
"However, we don’t know any information about Daisy."
It wasn’t the massive intelligence network of Daisy’s family at play. In fact, before entering the academy, there had been no need to collect any information on her. Even if they did try to look it up, most of the information could be easily obtained through open sources.
"Well, I told Young Lady that you would probably know the most about Daisy, but I didn’t think she would come looking for you."

It seemed like they had sold me out.
"Why me?"
"Because you’re the only one who knows about the academy terror, knows the dark wizard’s hideout, is closest to the people she’s with, and is friends with Daisy’s surrounding individuals."
Ignoring the casual remark that the Empire’s intelligence agency might kidnap me, I couldn’t help but think, ‘If I were them, I’d have done the same.’

"Especially you, you’ve been getting close to Violet recently, haven’t you?"
They didn’t say outright that I was using Violet as my subordinate. If I said that wrong, Violet could end up in the Empire’s dungeons.
"For information gathering, of course."
It wasn’t a ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) lie, so I could confidently answer.

"Please take care of it."
"Just with my words?"
"...Didn’t I already give you a lot before?"
"That was payment for cooperating with the terror and capturing the dark wizard. If it’s about the Young Lady, there’s a separate fee. Doesn’t the Duke’s family cover it?"
"That department is different..."
It wasn’t that it wasn’t coming out, it was just a bit tricky. Ah, the Empire. With this kind of situation, I felt like I could earn more this year than the Kingdom.
As compensation for regularly reporting to Laurelia Senior, I could make a simple contract with Aeun, who was the temporary supervisor of the Duke of Jeyka's estate. Hah. Even after leaving the Kingdom, I was still earning foreign currency. Where else could I find such a loyal retainer?

As I lived my life with barely enough hours in the day...
"Finally, it’s here."
The final exams had come close.

"Well, Violet said that the final exam would be internal to the academy."
According to Violet, the final exam wasn’t about external conflicts but internal rivalries—basically, the romance novel male leads would fight for Daisy’s affection and compete with each other in a healthy competition. The external conflicts would happen during the summer vacation, so this would be a bit of a break.
"So I can relax a bit."

"I’ll have to have a good match with Prince Ellen in this exam."
Then, suddenly, the swordmaster came in and dragged me along. No, shouldn’t he be taking care of his grandson right now? Swordmaster that bastard, he had beaten me badly yesterday!
"Alright, let’s spar lightly today."
"......"

I tried to resist the swordmaster’s tyranny, but it was useless. The swordsmanship class was filled with his followers, and even in the academy, people were wary of the swordmaster. Even though I had been humiliated during the last terror incident, in the end, because of the ruined magic and the head professor, the balance between the swordsmanship and magic departments had become slightly off. In other words, my actions had strengthened the swordmaster’s influence, and I had to pay the price.
"Hahahaha!"
The swordmaster laughed joyfully and pounded on the punching bag. The punching bag's name was Adam Smith. That’s right, it was me. It was so unfair.

And then.
"In this final exam, I’ll prove myself."
The final exam event wasn’t just about the swordmaster. Laurelia Senior, with her cold expression, looked at me with burning eyes. Those passionate eyes, she should have directed them at the prince, not me. Maybe that would have eased the tension a bit.

When I honestly told her this...
"...It’s a bit embarrassing."
Unlike me, a third party, it seemed like she felt a little shy about doing that to her fiancé.

"They said that this year, the magic department will combine the second years together."
This was part of today’s exam news, but I had already been spoiled by Violet about it a month ago. First and second years, third and fourth years would compete in mock battles. Naturally, it was expected that seniors would win against juniors.
First and second years would see more victories for the first years. It would showcase the talents of the students who entered this year and signal a new era for the Imperial Academy.

"In that place, I want to face Daisy."
And the main male lead of the academy, Prince Esid, and the villainous Young Lady, Laurelia’s, paths seemed to be proceeding just as in the original story. This was where Daisy would defeat Laurelia Senior with pure magical power, not the Saint’s powers.
Afterward, Laurelia Senior would continue to lose until she recognized Daisy in the midterm of her fourth year.

"I want to win."
But, seeing her speak so earnestly like that, I couldn’t refuse to help. The Duke of Jeyka’s family had given me more than I expected, so how could I ignore it?
"First, Daisy..."

I recalled Daisy’s specs. According to Violet, she was a cheat character with talent in all elements of magic. She was so talented that even in dark magic, she had immense potential, which made the Demon King want to kidnap her as a companion.
"She has talent in all attributes."
"......"
I couldn’t help but feel that Laurelia Senior’s expression grew a little gloomy. Her affinity was for water and wind, wasn’t it?

"Uh, well. And."
I tried to recall the bits and pieces of what I knew. Although sacred magic was forbidden in the exam, the Saint’s passive skills would activate automatically.
"Low-level magic will be nullified by the blessing of the gods, and even higher-level magic will have some resistance."

Additionally, she could break shamanic links, naturally weaken curses, and had immunity to various curses, as well as a cleansing area. Moreover, she had high healing powers, so small wounds would heal instantly.
What the hell? Even Prince Esid didn’t seem this much of a cheat!
Even worse.

"She’s strong."
"...I can tell she’s strong just from the explanation."
"No, that’s not it..."
What came to mind was after my battle with Silence. When I woke up to the sound of Daisy slapping her cheek, I remembered that moment.

"Her basic hand-to-hand combat... is extraordinary."
The image of Daisy ruthlessly beating Violet, who had struck her first, was still vivid in my mind.
"Honestly, I think she should be transferred to the knight department."
"...Is it that bad?"
I nodded seriously.

I was being sincere. The next time the swordmaster took me for training, I was planning to suggest it quietly. It would be a waste for such a talent to be stuck living as a mage.
Think about it. Immunity to low-level magic, resistance to higher-level magic, immunity to shamanism and curses, a buff for allies when nearby, and being a front-line knight with instant healing abilities.
Even Joan of Arc wasn’t this strong. In terms of individual influence, she would be more impressive than Prince Esid, who became a swordmaster. But...

"......"
Since Laurelia Senior’s expression turned visibly gloomy, I had no choice but to do my best to care for her mentally until we parted ways.