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

“Boradori, this bastard always says everything.”
Every time something happens, something else keeps popping out.
Of course, I know it’s not as easy as just telling everything you know, so I’ve been letting it slide.
But judging by the reaction earlier, it seems like this time he just outright hid something.

And the reason is…
Is this bastard already raising his price?
I’d been letting my guard down all this time, but now that it’s nearing the end of the year, he’s showing his true colors.
He looked at Violet with eyes full of suspicion.
But Violet was busy talking with the Individual Tribe beside him.
“I thought the power of the curse was weak compared to the cultivation accumulated. You say time was used as the cost. Indeed, that method could unleash tremendous power momentarily.”
Delia, the Individual Tribe shaman, nodded with admiration.
She seemed to have reached maximum affection for Silence Jabdador, the bait Violet threw out.
That just showed how famous Silence was in the shaman world…
The more time passed, the more mysterious it became how he managed to defeat Silence that day.

“The problem is, there’s a limitation on how much can be accumulated again.”
“But isn’t that an incredible insurance for long-lived races like elves?”
“Oh, that’s because the method referenced was an elf’s failed attempt. This isn’t just normal time, it’s soul time. To achieve power comparable to the roughly ten years I accumulated, elves have to build up more than a hundred years.”
“I see. But elves mainly use magic rather than shamanism, so what about their records related to shamanism?”
“There are traces of an ancient elf tribe near our territory…”
“A fortunate coincidence!”
Yeah, a coincidence it must be.
Though it’s not an ancient elf tribe but probably possession or a reincarnation perk.
That territory he lives in is a farming backwater village.
Unless it’s the neighboring Lopian noblewoman’s fief, there’s no way there’d be traces of an ancient elf tribe.
“Hmph.”

But Delia wasn’t the only one reacting to the phrase “traces of an ancient elf tribe.”
The original owner of the seat Delia occupied, none other than Violet’s childhood friend, the Lopian noblewoman, was watching them with a meaningful expression.
“This is interesting.”
Cold. It feels like a dagger flying into my chest.
But it’s fine.
It’s not my chest.
“The method of using old spirits is also interesting to me, but humans might see it as similar to the black magician’s human sacrifices…”
“That’s right. But the souls residing within our beastkin race are ancestors passed down through generations…”

That stupid purple-haired idiot was babbling, unaware that a dagger was stabbing his chest.
What can I do?
Thanks to his effort, I can freely roam the beastkin village.
…Honestly, it feels more like a dungeon than a village.
I still can’t get used to the artificial traces visible here and there.
“The place matching Violet’s words is here.”
The place we arrived at was a giant wall with nothing around it.
It was so empty I wondered if the Individual Tribe had cleared it for city development.

“This place is scheduled for development in the future as part of a village plan…”
Why does this feel real?
“Well, it’ll take dwarves several more decades to add time anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

Delia said that as she stepped back, and Daisy stepped forward, beginning to tap various parts of the wall.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Like tapping a watermelon in summer, she tapped quite a distance but heard no hollow sounds like there was an empty space.
Is this not the place?
Just as others started wondering the same,
“Is it here?”

Violet tilted his head curiously, lightly cutting his finger with magic, then began drawing something on the rock.
“That’s supposed to be the thumb biting method…”
Though a little detail was lacking, the speed at which he drew something like a magic circle was impressive.

“Of course!”
The shaman’s eyes sparkled in admiration; it seems he really was good at it.
“Roughly like this. Daisy?”
“Hmm.”

“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing.”
“Why again...”

Violet frowned but led Daisy to the shaman’s drawing.
“You just need to put some divine power into this.”
“Amazing. Is this shamanism?”
“Yes.”
“Amazing… It’s my first time seeing this…”
Between us, the brief muttering made the surrounding temperature feel colder.
If suddenly a GL drift unfolds, I should just accept it’s what’s coming.

“Hmm.”
But maybe she’s listening after all — as Daisy’s hand touched the shamanism, a sacred light began to fill the space.
Then—
“Is this going to collapse?”
“No, it’s normal, so don’t be scared!”
“You look like you’re the most scared one.”
The cave shook, and the huge wall started cracking.

“We had a place like this in our village?”
“The huge wall cracked naturally? Amazing.”
Though those statements were strange coming from people who carved the huge wall into a village and even installed elevators, escalators, lighting, and ventilation to live comfortably,
It was less strange than the fact their tribe name was Individual Tribe, so I decided to let it slide.
“As expected, Violet.”

The Individual Tribe shaman’s admiring voice made the expressions of the Individual Tribe warriors also turn respectful.
This bastard might win the first human election if he ran for the head of the Individual Tribe.
“Oh, as expected, amazing Violet.”
Clap. Clap. Clap.
But Violet himself was only watching awkwardly as Daisy clapped loudly.

“Violet!”
“You’re amazing!”
“You’re the best, Violet!”
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
But our individualists, true to their name, seemed oblivious.
They followed Daisy’s clapping and started chanting Violet’s name.
Clap. Clap. Clap.

“…”
Caught up in the sudden congratulatory atmosphere, I just followed along quietly.
Violet shot me a resentful glare, grinding his teeth and wagging his finger at me.
“What? Why?”

I’m definitely the easiest target here.
“Lead the way. There’s something a bit dangerous.”
“Why should I lead if it’s dangerous?”
“You’re the strongest among us.”
“I don’t know about that. There’s the war chief too.”
I was serious.
I didn’t feel like I was going to lose, but on the other hand, I wasn’t confident I would win either.
Usually when I feel like this, I end up losing.

“But the war chief will take care of his own shaman first anyway.”
In other words, take care of their own.
“What’s dangerous?”
“A sword said to be sealed by the goddess.”

Oh, now this is a pretty fantasy-like development.
“A sacred sword because it’s the goddess’s sword? So there’s a guardian protecting it, and Daisy has to defeat that guardian to get the sword?”
“A sword?”
Maybe because I was a man and a bit excited at the grand development,
Daisy, who was watching Violet drowsily a little away, came over at the mention of the sword.

—Ah, no, it’s not that.
Violet looked somewhat displeased,
and conveyed via magic something completely different from what I thought.
—It’s not Daisy’s sword, but a magic sword used by the Demon King.

“...?”
No, damn it.
Why is that here?
Walking at the front of the group, I received the information from Violet.

—I told you before, there’s no hero here. Normally, Daisy wouldn’t use a sword.
Thinking back, the original Daisy from the novel was a typical saint in a novel.
Not showing any sign of a ruler like now, but just healing and buffing from behind.
Later, she even gets kidnapped by the Demon King.
—The sealed sword here is a magic sword. Simply put, it’s like Silence turned into a sword.

Silence, is that you again?
You’re really everywhere. If you’re dead, please just stay dead.
—Unlike Silence, when activating shamanism, it doesn’t suppress surrounding magic or those who use magic. Instead, it absorbs the opponent’s magic and lets the wielder use it.
In other words, the more you fight, the more magic power you lose.

—That’s why the Lopian male lead party’s gang attacks don’t bring down the Demon King. If the fight drags on, it’s actually an insanely broken magic sword that can even push back the Lopian male leads.
I heard the Demon King owns as many of these broken items as the number of Lopian male lead candidates.
Is this the original author’s balance patch?
—So we need to get rid of the magic swords in advance to weaken the Demon King’s power!

This has to be done!
I looked back and glared at Violet, pressing why he hadn’t told me something so important.
—Ah, it’s unfair! Originally, there was no way into the Individual Tribe village. I planned to proceed step by step when the event to meet the beastkin opened. But suddenly you appeared with the mid-boss Bell. You were even invited to the Individual Tribe village. Things unfolded too suddenly, so I couldn’t tell you!
Unlike the shaman treatment in the previous beastkin world, this time he really sounded aggrieved, so I believed him.
Of course, believing and scolding later are different things.

“There really is nothing here.”
After walking for quite some time, a shrine-like space appeared suddenly.
In the center, a magnificent black sword was stuck in the middle of a sacred light.
“A holy sword?!”

It was a shout from the Individual Tribe warrior squad.
Honestly, aside from the color, anyone could tell it was a holy sword by its impact.
“Who’s going to pull that out?”
Should I, a swordsman, pull it out?
I’ve handled fake magic swords before; didn’t get mind-controlled or anything.
But that sword isn’t a fake made by black magicians—it’s a masterpiece magic sword wielded by the Demon King.
If I picked it up carelessly and ended up with my eyes rolling like Prince Ellen, it’d be dangerous.
Even though he’s my cousin’s savior, in the worst case, I could get ganged up and killed by the Individual Tribe warriors.

“Well, obviously…”
Violet’s gaze shifted to Daisy.
Surely, the only one who can break the goddess’s seal and control the magic sword is Daisy!
“Are you sure?”
—If things go south… we can just subdue it!

Is this really the Violet I know?
The one who was willing to get stabbed in the belly helping the Lopian noblewoman?
Now he’s trying to use her as bait.
“This, this is necessary.”
Maybe unable to hide his expression, Violet suddenly blurted out an excuse and rushed to Daisy to start talking.

“Um, so… do we just catch it and pull it out?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Then first, we need to ask the goddess for permission.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Yes. She said if we act first and ask forgiveness later, she’ll forgive us. But she said it’s better to ask permission first if possible.”
“...Wait, so basically, we can just do whatever we want?”
“The goddess is pretty free-spirited.”
Seems like only you think so.
What on earth is Daisy to the goddess?
And before that, if you say so, does asking for permission even mean anything?
“Yes, she said take it.”

After that pointless prayer, Daisy received the goddess’s permission to retrieve the magic sword and approached it.
“Oh…”
As she walked, the seal of light split apart.
Like loyal subjects bowing before their rightful king, the goddess’s light guided her to the sword.
Daisy calmly grabbed the sword—

“Hey. Are you sure that thing’s okay?”
“Uh, huh?!”
Ah, Boradori-shichi! Your hair’s going to turn black!