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

I had just let it grow, but when asked why the Colosseum was being held here, Daisy muttered with a deeply wronged expression.
“No, I was just trying to promote friendship and meetings between the tribes…”

“What kind of nonsense is that…”
No, why was she the one saying that?
Or maybe? Since she’s a saint, it makes sense for her to seek friendship and harmony between tribes?
But still.
“What does that have to do with this?”

From where I stood, it looked less like friendship and harmony between tribes and more like sorting out hierarchies.
“Well, you were the one who first challenged to a duel. I just accepted…”
Daisy herself seemed to realize her excuse made no sense, as she gradually started to frown while speaking.

“I didn’t expect it to be this moving.”
“Huh?”
The one who helped her was, surprisingly, Arang, the war chief of the Individual Tribe.
“To respect our culture and not avoid the coming fight.”
I thought maybe he was just saying that for Daisy’s sake, but looking at his expression, that wasn’t it.
That was a truly moved expression.
…Even moved the Individual Tribe.
Should I admire the capacity of the saint?
Or should I admire her qualities for moving even the wild-hearted Individual Tribe?
Or maybe…

“Lastly, fight me.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, it has to be settled.”
Following Arang’s chuckling gaze, I looked at Daisy’s magic sword, which still boasted a magnificent size.
It was slowly shrinking over time, but to restore it fully, it would take half a day of waiting.
“I’ll take care of it.”

Or maybe because she had to use all of it.
“Yes…”
Daisy, with tears in her eyes, could do nothing but accept.

In truth, though humans lumped the beastkin together, the beastkin were not one tribe but so different that each tribe could be classified as a separate species.
That meant a big difference in combat power depending on the tribe.
The Individual Tribe was considered relatively aggressive, but by human standards, their combat talent was lower compared to the Wolf Tribe.
Of course, Arang, the war chief of the Individual Tribe, whose name ends with “rang,” was said to have more Wolf Tribe blood than Individual Tribe.
I was curious about his actual strength.
“This is almost at the commander level.”

Just from his presence, my whole body tingled.
It was the aura of a Swordmaster I had felt a few times.
Since it was a fist, was the proper term “Fist Master”?
Among humans, weapons are common, but there were almost no beasts who fight with just fists.
If one appeared in a generation, it was considered a high level, often called a “Fist Emperor.”
“Can’t you recognize such an opponent?”
That was Violet’s voice beside me.
Maybe because I said last time I wasn’t sure what would happen if I fought the war chief?

“I said I didn’t know well back then.”
To hide that much power so well that I don’t even feel like I could lose to him.
It meant he had perfect control over his strength.
In other words, he was a master incomparable to me.
“But what’s that?”

I asked because he was eating something.
“Popcorn.”
Unexpected culture popped out.

“Why is that here?”
“They were selling it in the village.”
Popcorn not even sold in the Leon Kingdom was sold here?
Damn, felt like we were losing again in technology.
“Give me some.”
“You get paid more than me…”
Grumbling, he handed me a bag of popcorn.
Then he took out another bag, so he must have bought several.

“How many did you buy?”
“Ten? The pocket of the pocket dimension is convenient.”
That wasn’t what the supplies were meant for.
“Begin!”
“…When did this kid get here again?”

I was dumbfounded seeing Bell sitting down with two cartoon-like pieces of meat instead of popcorn in his hands.
But the following shock ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ forced me to immediately look away.
“When did this start?”
“I said we would do it.”

It was a moment’s instant.
The movement of a strong man who could infuse aura into his fists was hard even for me to grasp properly.
How Daisy could block such attacks?

“…It feels less like wielding a sword and more like swinging a pillar?”
“Uh, yeah.”
It was thanks to the absurdly large magic power lump that swept the whole front just with slight movement.
“Still, her magic power is decreasing.”

As Arang’s fists clashed with Daisy’s sword, Daisy’s magic power began vanishing in chunks.
“Can’t he steal aura?”
“He probably can? But losing it is worse than stealing.”
“Would it change if Daisy knew how to use aura?”
“Probably?”
It was a fight with the winner decided even before starting.
What was left was how long Daisy could hold out against Arang.

“But she’s holding out longer than expected?”
“I don’t know why, but uncle is holding back.”
“Helping her control her strength?”
“Looks like he really likes her.”
Compared to me, a benefactor of the Wolf Tribe, and Violet, the shaman, she seemed to get better treatment.
Was this the power of the romance fantasy heroine?
Or just Daisy’s power?
…Looking at that massive magic power lump, maybe just power itself.
“It’s over.”

The fight ended about three minutes later.
That huge magic pillar finally disappeared completely from Arang’s fingertips.
“Amazing… Uncle is a bit weaker than dad.”
Bell’s eyes shone brightly after devouring two huge pieces of meat in that short time.
Did the romance fantasy heroine’s beast charm even subdue girls?

“Hmm…”
Leaving Bell with his rare thinking face, I approached Daisy, who collapsed to the floor, gasping.
“Tired?”
“…Can’t you tell just by looking?”
“Like yesterday, you’re fighting every day.”

I thought about it yesterday too, but now I couldn’t bear it anymore.
“Why don’t you switch to the knight department?”
Even the war chief of the Individual Tribe admitted it: don’t try to hide the blood of a warrior, Daisy!
With your talent, you might even beat Swordmaster Sososo, if not Prince Ellen!

“…I’m conflicted. It’s more fun than I thought.”
Daisy had started enjoying wielding the sword.
Who could stop this?
“With this sword, I think Adam could win too.”

…Should I try to stop her?
From Daisy’s smirk, I felt like I was witnessing the birth of a new Demon Lord.
I hope it’s just my imagination.
On the morning of the third day, we had no choice but to return to the Lias fief.
The reason was simple.
“We got a message saying they’ll be a bit late.”
“That much we can wait.”
“A mistake. They said they’ll be very late.”

When we heard the reason, the Wolf Tribe warriors had safely arrived at the academy, but…
“They got lost on the way.”
Hearing they headed toward the Lias fief, we ran with all our strength…
But they had run the exact opposite direction and only barely returned to the academy yesterday.
They were very tired physically and said they’d rest for a day and run again.

“It’ll take some time.”
Since we came by flying ship, but the beastkin had to run themselves.
Therefore, we couldn’t keep waiting in the beastkin village because of the academy schedule, so we returned.
“Why are you following?”
“Dad’s coming to say thanks.”

Bell, who went fully into dog mode again, naturally took my head.
Hmph.
I tried to shake Bell off who yawned as if sleepy, but he held on with a calm expression.
“Take good care of my nephew.”
“Let’s go.”
“The kid’s rude and doesn’t listen to uncle.”
In short, he wasn’t taking him.

“……”
I turned my gaze to other Individual Tribe members.
“Come visit again.”

“I wonder how strong you’ll be next time!”

Gyaran, who was treated like a grandma, was seeing off Violet with another Individual Tribe shaman.
“……”
As for the other Individual Tribe members…

“We don’t avoid fights… Daisy’s will made me drop my prejudice against humans.”
“We’ll try to win next time!”
They were seeing off Daisy, who probably became a legend for knocking out half the escort warriors.
What was this? Wasn’t I the benefactor?
“Well then, take care.”

Leaving behind Arang, the only one seeing me off, we left the Individual Tribe village and arrived at the Lias fief.
And as soon as we returned, news came.
“Ah, Prince Ellen got trapped in a dungeon because of the dark mages’ trap?”
The news said the Lias fief, like the academy, had also been broken through by the dark mages.

Feeling the surprisingly soft chair, I asked the Flame Mage.
“Is the prince of Dale safe?”
“Uh, yeah. The prince noticed it first…”
Glancing.
The Flame Mage’s eyes briefly shifted to my chair, but quickly returned.

“Uncle Aerin. Isn’t this a bit too much? We left a good impression on the Individual Tribe in the empire! But Leon’s prince is trapped in a dungeon!”
“…I have no words.”
Uncle Aerin couldn’t even make an excuse.
At this point, I suspected a conspiracy by the empire, but since Prince Esid of the empire was in the same situation as Prince Ellen, I kept quiet.
“The chair.”

I asked the soft chair.
“You said it wouldn’t be breached!”
“Ugh!”
The chair named Tyler groaned.

“Lias is different from the academy!”
“I-I have no words.”
“At least the academy held out for months!”
In truth, for story progression, the author didn’t start the invasion early on.
Anyway, the academy wasn’t breached until the midterms.
But Lias was breached in three days, no, the incident happened yesterday, so breached in two days!
“Ugh…”

This could be called a romance fantasy development, but going to the Lias fief wasn’t in the original.
Even Boradori, who had been active until now, was very surprised to hear this incident.
Of course, since the romance fantasy male leads trapped in dungeons weren’t nobodies, no big problems would arise…
But if the prince’s body got even a scratch, it would be a major disciplinary issue.
Was that all?
The hyenas from the finance department aiming for my salary would never miss this opportunity.
“So, have you finished analyzing the magic circle blocking the dungeon?”
“Ah, about that…”

Though I asked Uncle Aerin, maybe because the magic users here were experts on this, the Flame Mage explained clearly even to the swordsman why Lias and the academy couldn’t easily solve the problem.
“They constructed the magic circle using the dungeon core as a medium. The massive magic power at the entrance makes access nearly impossible.”
“To open it, the dungeon core inside must be destroyed, but experts judge that means defeating the dungeon boss.”
“…You mean we can’t approach because of the dungeon’s magic power?”
What was that?
The perfect solution came to mind instantly.

“That should work.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to me.
At this point, it felt like they suspected I was the culprit.
What I could say was:
“I’m innocent.”

I expressed my protest sincerely.
“We have no choice. Let’s challenge the dungeon boss.”
At Ellen’s words, the other students nodded heavily.
Since they came lightly into the dungeon, their prepared food was already all gone.
They heard the cause of the problem in their first and last contact.
Rather than recklessly waiting for outside support, they judged it best to challenge the dungeon boss while in peak condition.
So, the moment they decided to challenge the dungeon boss—

“Wh-what’s that?”
Everyone’s attention focused on the suddenly shaking dungeon entrance.
“Is it a trap?”

Someone murmured doubtfully at the suddenly opening dungeon entrance.
“Why bother?”
However, the dark mages had no reason to open the dungeon entrance.
Prince Esid and Ellen led the students carefully escaping outside the dungeon.
And when they first faced what awaited—

“……”
“……”
“……”
“……”
That day, the swordsmen and students recalled the overwhelming fear of the sky-reaching magic power.
The humiliation of being overwhelmed by magic while wielding swords.