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

“The rumors spread fast.”
“Did you get a lover?”
“It’s fake.”

“Always fake!”
It was evening. During the festival, I usually ate alone.
But Prince Ellen, who should have been stuck with Princess Hestia, heard the rumors and escaped to find me.

“Did you leave the princess behind?”
“Yeah. She seemed pretty shocked. Said I got wild in the Empire.”
“What did you do to get that kind of reputation?”

“Two-timing.”
“……”
It’s true, but it felt unfair.
Then something unexpected happened.

“Maybe that reputation fits after all.”
“…What did you do in such a short time?!”
“I didn’t do anything.”

That might sound ambiguous, but I wasn’t really living that wild a life.
“I meant the Empire is wild. The two-timing rumor spread, but surprisingly, it’s been quiet.”
I thought maybe the rumors hadn’t spread yet, but since Prince Ellen—held captive by Princess Hestia—heard them, the academy students who love gossip surely knew.

“Hm. That’s true.”
And I could tell from the reaction of someone I met the next morning.
“I heard you broke up with Daisy.”

“…I haven’t heard that the fake lover was dumped yet.”
Prince Esid, whom I met by chance, wore a similar expression to Ellen’s yesterday.
His lips trembled—he looked like he could burst into a big smile any moment!

“…This might be rude, but does Lorelia-senpai still know you’re her fiancé?”
But he looked so pleased saying that.
Isn’t that kind of weird?

“I heard she knows you’re planning to break up anyway.”
Apparently, they had settled things on their side already.
“Still, I’m the poor guy who lost his fiancé. Couldn’t you let me have at least one?”
“I’ll return your fiancé.”

“I’ll refuse.”
The way he said that with a confident laugh made me understand why this guy is the male lead in a romance fantasy novel.
The very first main male lead who kicks off the academy part.

Though, honestly, it was quite troublesome.
“So, don’t worry too much. The royal family and Duke Jayka’s house are preparing everything.”
“……?”

I had a rough idea of what they were preparing.
But I was too scared to ask what exactly.
“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

At that, the prince burst into laughter.
“Just as Ellen said. An interesting guy.”
He patted my shoulder and said we should meet more often.

Watching Prince Esid’s retreating back, I felt like as I pushed the small swordmaster, Esid also started pushing me forward.
“……”
When I arrived at «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the meeting place, I felt the temperature drop sharply around me.

At the center stood Daisy alone, and I had to swallow dryly for a moment.
“Welcome.”
Usually, this place would be crowded, but most people were avoiding us, watching cautiously.

“Hello.”
Exchanging greetings, my eyes couldn’t help but drift to her right hand.
Just the other day, several dark mages had fallen to that fist.
“You’ve been cheating on me?”

Her smiling expression and the words didn’t match at all.
“That’s a misunderstanding.”
“I heard about it. You said it’s fake?”

Boradori had already been sent ahead to gather information.
But Daisy didn’t seem to care much about it.
“Cheating so boldly the day after the date, or even the day before the planned date.”

Honestly, even if it was a fake relationship, it looked a bit like garbage.
But!
“I’m innocent.”

This whole thing was entirely Lorelia-senpai stabbing me in the back.
“They say everyone who cheats says that.”
“That’s what Violet said.”

“Right. How do you know… don’t tell me Violet told you too?!”
At Daisy’s startled reaction, I responded with an even stronger startle.
“As long as the sky doesn’t split, that won’t happen.”

“You mean if the sky splits, it’s possible?”
I meant there’s absolutely no way, but thinking about it, in a fantasy world, maybe it could happen.
After all, the Swordmaster guy is legendary for splitting the sky!

“…So pray hard to the goddess that the sky doesn’t split.”
“So you decided to shamelessly go with it!”
“If you feel wronged, then dump me.”

I only apologized out of decency, but honestly, if she dumped me, it would’ve been my gain.
So when she shamelessly pushed forward, Daisy’s spirit started to waver a bit.
“That’s why the one who confesses first loses. Definitely a good experience!”

“I hope your next lover confesses to you first.”
“Wow. Saw you trying to cut me off just because you got a new girl… no way. Don’t forget you have to play your role properly until the vacation.”
Hmph.

I scoffed shortly and followed Daisy as she walked ahead.
Unlike the last date, this one was all according to her wishes.
So I had two big worries.

One was that, with the power of the romance fantasy female lead, anything could happen.
The other was the cause of this date.
“……”

The brat glaring at me in silence—the Pope—had to be dealt with.
The Pope.
In my previous life, known as the worst lifetime appointment in the world’s biggest religion.

Once elected, you can’t retire until death.
Because of that, the last Pope I remember was the youngest among cardinals.
Unlike the old man in my past life, this world entrusted the papacy to a ten-year-old kid as if squeezing every last drop.

“The Pope, this is the person.”
I guess that means this is my fake lover.
But depending on how you hear it, it sounded like they were saying this bastard is the cheater.

“This is the one?”
Likewise, meaning this is the Saint’s fake lover.
But it also felt like the answer was this bastard is double-dating the Saint despite dating her!

…Or not?
Seeing the Pope glaring at me so fiercely, maybe it’s not a misunderstanding but the Pope just hopes it is.
“Hello, I’m Adam Smith from the Kingdom of Leon.”

But what could I do?
The other party was the Pope, a figure close to the power of a king.
Her influence on the continent was even stronger than our king’s.

It would be best to leave a good impression.
“Leon… I see.”
I felt I was already doomed.

I couldn’t help but feel strong pressure from the Pope’s silent, piercing gaze.
“Maybe you should visit Leon sometime later.”
Was it just my feeling, or did it sound ominous?

When visiting the Leon Kingdom and talking with the royal family, hopefully no one says, “By the way, this Adam from here is two-timing the Saint…”
Maybe I should send Boradori in advance just in case.
“It’s an honor.”

“……”
So the party, led by Daisy, began touring the academy and watching the Founding Festival events.
“Tastes good.”

“Yes. It’s the food I introduced to my lover the day before yesterday.”
“I see!”
“But now with another woman too…”

“Hmm……”
At first, we stopped by a nearby food stall and ate food offered by stall owners eager to get the Pope’s attention, subtly attacking me.
“I often saw the Holy Knights’ training, but this is the first time I’m seeing a tournament!”

“The winner is in my club. He’s the grandson of the famous Swordmaster and inherited the name Small Swordmaster.”
“Thirty-two consecutive wins aren’t for just anyone!”
We watched the remaining matches of Aslan’s fencing tournament.

“One, two, three.”
“Violet! Fighting!”
“Fighting!”

As soon as I realized the date course included a magic tournament, I sent Boradori to successfully divert their attention.
“Saint, there’s a strange person.”
“Ah, those are dark mages you can see often during the Founding Festival.”

“I see…”
Before the Pope even noticed something was off, Daisy threw a punch.
I could tell the real date had finally begun.

Jack, the dark mage who infiltrated the Imperial Academy, could only curse.
“These bastards got away.”
In any case, no dark mage really does their job properly.

The reason he thought so was simple.
“Here too. Here too. Seriously, there’s no properly drawn magic circle.”
To others, all dark mages looked the same.

But dark mages were divided into factions depending on magic type, ideology, and reasons for becoming dark mages.
The faction Jack belonged to, Dawn, was one that sought normalization of dark magic.
Same magic, yet in other magic towers they pretended not to and did human experiments!

Why should only we dark mages be oppressed?
It was all the Empire’s suppression and conspiracy claiming to be the continent’s ruler!
Because of such claims, many members were connected to revolutionaries or anti-Imperial groups.

Several powerful factions united to show themselves at this Founding Festival.
Jack planned to ignite a massive fire at the academy—the so-called future of the Empire—as a signal of their activity.
But—

“Not here either?”
At the promised time, he tried to activate magic but got no response.
Checking for damage, he found all places where magic circles should have been were completely missing.

No wonder the magic wouldn’t activate!
“Did they all get caught?”
Jack was close to the truth but shook his head.

“That’s nonsense.”
Even if infiltration had failed, he confirmed how many succeeded inside before starting.
Thirteen dark mages infiltrated.

Though many were killed outside by strong Empire resistance, almost half succeeded and entered the academy.
Since the event was in full swing, it was nearly impossible to detect the dark mages moving stealthily inside.
They even prepared so magic would activate if half the circles were engraved.

Yet, it still didn’t activate.
Either the infiltrated dark mages were slacking off or something happened.
“Damn, this is just the beginning.”

At that moment, flame magic circles prepared around the academy ignited.
The academy was turning into a sea of fire.
The flames would consume those celebrating the Empire’s founding and signal the Empire’s end.

But… why?!
“Ah, here it is. Here~”
Then came a light female voice.

Like someone telling a friend they found a good spot for cherry blossom viewing and reserved it early.
“Ah, there’s more?”
Not far away, a man’s voice replied.

Like a boyfriend rushing to his girlfriend who saved a spot.
“Ford, Crake?!”
When I realized it, the man carried his fallen comrades like corpses in both hands.

“Number and position of the comrades?”
The monster who defeated them had already come right up to me.