Chapter 20: New colleagues are always welcome (1)

Slap!

I woke up to a crisp sound. Did someone set an alarm?

“Who told you to do that?!”

Violet’s furious voice echoed. I sat up and peeked through the curtains surrounding my bed.

“Oh.”

Daisy, holding her right cheek, stood with her back to me.

“What if you’d died?!”

Violet glared at Daisy, tears welling up in her eyes. I’d woken up to a tearful drama. Normally, Daisy would apologize tearfully, but…

“You started it!”

Whack!

“Ow!”

Daisy retaliated. Wait, was that a punch, not a slap? I hadn’t seen it clearly, but this unexpected entertainment made me miss popcorn from my past life.

“Who jumped in front of the sword first?! Who are you even mad at?!”

Daisy growled, her voice filled with anger. Come to think of it, she had a point.

She’d been willing to get stabbed, and Daisy had interfered. She deserved that punch, if not more. But Violet didn’t seem to think so.

Whack!

“I could have dodged it!”

“Ugh!”

Violet punched Daisy in the side. Fortunately, it was the opposite side from where Silence had stabbed her. The Saint’s healing aura had activated after her awakening, but I still needed more time to recover fully. In a fight, aiming for injuries was a standard tactic, but perhaps Violet still had some conscience.

“Bullshit!”

But conscience was a weakness in a fight. Daisy, tears streaming down her face, roared and threw a punch. It was a solid blow, avoiding the injury, but Daisy powered through the pain and landed a counterpunch!

“Oof!”

Daisy’s fist connected with Violet’s jaw, a picture-perfect uppercut! Violet yelped and collapsed.

“Wow…”

It was a shame. Why was such talent wasted on the Magic Department? Should I recommend a transfer to Swordsmanship? I felt like I’d discovered a hidden gem, someone who could easily defeat Aslan in hand-to-hand combat with a little training.

Well, even now, Aslan wouldn’t be able to defeat Daisy. Even Ellen, one of the strongest in this world, couldn’t defeat her. What could you do?

“Don’t get cocky just because you’re weaker than me.”

Daisy, the victor, glared at the unconscious Violet, then her face crumpled, and tears started to flow.

“Who’s protecting who now…?”

She cradled the unconscious Violet, sobbing, looking like a tragic heroine. But having witnessed their fight, I just thought they were crazy.

“Well…”

The entertainment was over, so I quietly closed the curtains and lay back down, thinking…

“…Wasn’t this a private room?”

I was assigned a private room. Why were these two having a fistfight in my recovery room? I was about to pull back the curtains again when…

“…When did you wake up?”

Daisy, having already pulled back the curtain on her side, looked at me with an awkward expression. Then, I noticed her other fist, still clenched.

“Just now.”

I couldn’t tell her I’d seen everything. That fist looked ready to connect with my face.

“Um, well…”

Daisy’s fist glowed as she hesitated. Was this a Holy Punch? Was she silencing the witness?

“I awakened a healing ability.”

Fortunately, it seemed not. Honestly, I was more nervous now than when I was fighting Aslan.

“Oh, right.”

“When else would I use it?”

Her fist unclenched, and a warm energy flowed from her palm, enveloping me.

“I heard you fought until the very end.”

“It’s my job.”

A royal sparring partner’s duties weren’t limited to being a punching bag. Taking hits for the royal was also part of the job description.

“I heard you were Ellen’s bodyguard or something.”

“Something like that. Being weaker than him is a problem, though.”

It felt strange to think about this while experiencing a miracle of the goddess, but it reminded me of physical therapy from my past life. The warm energy relaxed my muscles.

“But thanks to you, everyone survived.”

My body melted into the warm light, lulled by her gentle voice.

As expected of a ropan heroine. She knew how to make people feel at ease.

“Thank you.”

Her warm voice reached my ears as the healing light faded.

“…”

This was nice, but…

“…?”

Daisy followed my gaze.

“Oh.”

Violet lay sprawled in a corner.

“Sh-She came with me! You weren’t awake yet, so we were waiting, and she was badly injured, so she said she would rest for a bit!”

“I see.”

She was probably too embarrassed to admit that she’d knocked Violet out with a single uppercut. Her flustered excuses were amusing, but who sleeps like that?

“W-Well, I’m done here!”

She hurriedly left.

“…You were supposed to take care of her.”

…Leaving her half-dead best friend behind.

****

“Y-You…”

Alone in the room, Violet, now awake, avoided my gaze, seemingly about to apologize…

“You crazy bastard, this is your fault!”

…and then challenged me to a fight. What the…? She’d just been defeated by Daisy. Did she think she could win against me?

“I had a plan! Couldn’t you have cooperated just this once?!”

Her tearful outburst was baffling.

“You’re the one who ruined your plan.”

“That’s…!”

I might have delivered the final blow, but she was the one who engaged Silence in a curse battle. From what I’d seen, it would have been impossible to restrain him without knowledge of curses. He could have easily escaped the academy using the power that neutralized even the head professor of the Magic Department.

The Mage Slayer, Silence. Despite his title, he was also a formidable opponent for swordsmen. That’s why he remained a threat even with Prince Ellen and Aslan present, and continued to be active until the later parts of the story. Fine, I admit it. This ropan world was a dangerous place.

“So… what?”

Tap. Tap.

I patted the spot next to me on the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“Let’s talk.”

I knew the general outline of the plot, but I needed more details. More information was always better.

“What if I refuse?”

She looked like she would agree if I threatened her again, but I was still mentally exhausted. So, I stood up and walked towards the door. And then…

Click.

“W-What are you doing?”

I locked the door, just in case.

“Interrogation.”

“Huh?”

She’d already challenged me to a fight; there was no need to avoid it. I wondered if she’d seen that movie.

“Say hello to our kingdom’s legal advisor, former attorney.”

Crackle.

A small spark of lightning flashed, and Violet’s face paled.

“H-Hey!”

A blockbuster movie, it seemed. She’d definitely seen it.

****

“…That’s basically what’s going to happen.”

After a few more sparks, Violet gave up on resisting. I could have just treated her like another troublesome royal, but I was too tired to be an emotional punching bag.

“I see.”

After hearing her explanation, I understood her obsession with the original plot.

“The continent is doomed.”

Apparently, around the time they graduated from the academy, the demon realm would explode, distorting space. This would expand the demon realm’s territory, bringing it into contact with several kingdoms, including ours.

“It will be doomed.”

Violet muttered, her lips in a pout.

Crackle.

“Eek!”

Our legal advisor promptly silenced her.

“There’s no way to stop it?”

“No. It’s described as a natural disaster.”

If dark mages had opened a portal or something, we could stop it by eliminating them. But the explosion of the demon realm was a natural phenomenon, a consequence of this world’s inherent instability. Something unavoidable, even for a transmigrator. The problem was that several kingdoms would be destroyed in the process, and the resulting power vacuum, filled by monsters and demons, would throw the continent into chaos.

“I thought I knew ropan, but I don’t remember any stories like this.”

“I haven’t read many either, but it’s not completely unheard of.”

So, it wasn’t a unique scenario. Ropan, what a terrifying world.

“If it’s a romance, they should focus on the romance.”

“The romance progresses even amidst the chaos.”

“What’s the point if she ends up with the demon king anyway?”

“…I have a plan for that, so don’t worry.”

I had to admit, I’d trained her well.

“And you die in the process?”

“In the original story.”

“Why not just give up?”

From what I’d heard, she wouldn’t die if she didn’t follow Daisy.

“Abandon Daisy? It’s too late for that.”

Her casual, almost flippant reply made me narrow my eyes.

“GL subplot?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re just friends.”

They were friends who took sword strikes for each other, but after witnessing their fight, I could believe it.

“So, you’re on Team Esid?”

“…How did you know?”

“I read ropan too.”

She’d been subtly praising Prince Esid, so it was obvious.

“You’re supporting Ellen?”

“Are you crazy? The entire kingdom is trying to prevent that. Dale too.”

“They were doing that anyway.”

“Speaking of which, what happens now?”

Silence was supposed to be a recurring villain with significant influence in the later arcs.

“We’re screwed, obviously.”

Despite her words, she looked… relieved.

“I don’t know anymore. My plans are ruined.”

“You didn’t have a backup plan?”

“I had several. But none of them accounted for this.”

She described her plans, ranging from ridiculously idealistic scenarios that might actually work in a ropan to more realistic ones that considered potential failures.

“But I used up almost ten years’ worth of accumulated power. I’m completely drained.”

The curse she used against Silence was a one-time ability, accumulated over nearly ten years. It would take another ten years to use something similar.

“Truly useless.”

“Yeah. So now I’m just going to sit back and watch the show from the front row.”

“But you said you would die.”

“I don’t know. It’s all your fault. You deal with it.”

It was nonsense, but I had an idea. She was being unusually emotional, even for a transmigrator who was also the heroine’s friend. I could play along.

“Fine, I’ll take responsibility.”

“…Really?”

She was skeptical.

“Well, it’s a bit complicated since I’m employed by the kingdom…”

It was tiring, but I humored her, listening to her woes and offering empty consolations.

“Say hello to our Commander.”

“-Hello! You’re our new agent!”

“….”

And just like that, I’d acquired a new field agent.