The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 175
Festival Day 5.
Today was the day when the crowd reached its peak due to people gathering from various places, and it was also the first day of the Martial Arts Tournament.
We freshmen were scheduled to compete on the 5th, 8th, 11th, and 15th days, so we had to prepare.
The format was an easy-to-understand tournament style.
The top 16 nobles who performed well in this test and their transfer student partners would participate.
Since the participation qualification was determined by the nobles’ rankings, the level of transfer students varied, but all the specially admitted students managed to qualify.
“Wade, do you understand? We need to climb as high as possible. We can’t lose until we face royalty!”
“I get it. So, lower your enthusiasm a bit.”
Rinoa was eagerly anticipating the competition, even puffing out air from her nose at the thought of participating in the Martial Arts Tournament she had longed for.
However, when the match-ups were announced, her excitement faded.
This was because her first-round opponent was Princess Rosa.
“This is…”
“What’s wrong? We just need to win and that’s it. Let’s give the princess a good beating, royal or not.”
“Ah, no. No matter what, we can’t win against royalty…”
“There’s no such thing.”
But I understood. It would be awkward for others to see a noble defeating royalty, and above all, Rinoa disliked it.
Even while playing the role of a villain, she was strangely cautious when it came to royalty.
Thinking about it now, I wondered if she chose me as her partner because Princess Rosa had shown deep interest in me.
Perhaps she wasn’t trying to humiliate Princess Rosa, but rather preventing strange rumors about Princess Rosa from spreading.
‘Am I overthinking this?’
Anyway, Rinoa seemed to intend to lose this match appropriately.
I wasn’t pleased with this. I had planned to win here and make a name for myself. So that vassals would come looking for me after hearing of my fame.
‘But if Rinoa doesn’t want to do it, there’s nothing I can do.’
I headed towards the central training ground where the Martial Arts Tournament was taking place with a relaxed mind.
The place was filled not only with academy students but also with older individuals. Some of them possessed an aura that made me nervous.
‘Is this the aura of high-level mages?’
It’s different from the small fry I’ve been dealing with until now. These are the ones who pioneer dungeons on the frontlines. They symbolize the strength of this continent.
I wouldn’t have to face them this time.
Since we’re in different divisions.
Rinoa and I, participating in the freshman division, were waiting for our match.
‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I’m meeting this person called Erina.’
If Lucretia is the fake Eonia, is this one the fake Erina?
Strangely, I never had the chance to meet this woman. It’s as if someone was interfering in between.
But today, since she’s my opponent, I should be able to face her.
While I was thinking this, unexpected news came in.
Rinoa was also startled and asked again.
“What? Forfeited? You mean Princess Rosa?”
“That’s correct. Therefore, Countess Branford, you will advance directly to the next round. The next match is scheduled for the 8th day of the festival, so you can prepare until then.”
“Why did the Princess…”
“I heard it was due to health issues. I don’t know anything beyond that.”
“I see.”
Rinoa sighed in relief at the thought of being able to continue the Martial Arts Tournament, even while worrying.
It was fortunate for me too, as I was aiming for victory.
‘But… In the end, I didn’t get to meet the fake Erina this time either.’
At this point, there really might be someone interfering.
I couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
* * *
Erina was getting used to life in this world.
Coincidentally, she had fallen into the royal garden of Baien after being involved in a transfer accident with Ars and his group.
If she had just transferred near the palace, there wouldn’t have been a problem, but because she fell inside the palace grounds, she was mistaken for a spy.
At first, Erina thought it might be the palace of Crossing. It was that difficult for her to accept the situation.
Only when the guards restrained her and began interrogating her in a language hard to understand did she realize she had come to a different world.
She despaired. She hoped Ars would appear and save her.
But that didn’t last long.
She was too bold and clever to just wallow in despair.
Erina somehow interpreted their words and defended herself. Quickly grasping that this was a palace, she made up a story about coming as a maid.
When she said this, the guards had to move to verify the situation.
If she was someone who came as a maid for the royalty, it would be a different story.
So they released her from prison and confined her to a separate room in the palace while they investigated the facts.
During that short time, Erina learned as much of the language as possible while considering her next move.
It must have been fortunate for her. Princess Rosa, who came to meet Erina out of curiosity, heard Erina’s story about looking for her lover and decided to make her her maid.
Of course, there was fierce opposition, but Princess Rosa insisted that Erina was her friend from 10 years ago and that she had called her to the palace.
It was just a forced story, but when her twin brother, Prince Joseph Divine, also falsely testified that Rosa’s words were true, Erina was able to officially establish herself as a maid.
Since then, Erina had been studying about this world and preparing to find Ars.
Becoming a magician was unexpected for her as well.
Princess Rosa, who was just entering as a freshman, had pulled Erina in.
Moreover, Erina had talent as a magician.
She had an innate affinity for magic, allowing her to accumulate it quickly, and her innate lightning attribute was one of the rare ones.
Given the situation, Erina decided to change her plan.
Instead of leaving immediately to find Ars, she decided to build up her skills sufficiently before setting out to find him.
She thought she would only be a burden if she joined Ars now.
She was also pessimistic, thinking that Ars would prioritize finding his mother, sister, and family members like Yumir anyway.
So Erina, who entered the academy, was steadily studying magic.
It was during this time.
“Wade…”
At the words Princess Rosa let slip, Erina jumped up from her seat.
“Princess? What did you just say?”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Didn’t you just say Wade?”
“Yes, I did?”
“Have you perhaps met someone named Wade?”
To Erina’s question, Rosa answered with an ambiguous smile.
“There’s someone like that among the transfer students.”
“What does he look like? How does he speak? Why is he in a place like this?”
“Now, now, calm down. Why are you acting like this? Wasn’t the person you were looking for named Ars?”
“Ah, yes… That’s true, but… Anyway, please tell me more about that person.”
Rosa didn’t like Erina’s interest in Wade, but she answered anyway.
The more she heard, the more Erina’s interest waned.
“Frivolous… And a failing student on top of that…”
“Yes, I heard he was acquainted with Countess Rinoa Branford. That’s probably why he was chosen as a transfer student despite his grades.”
“Isn’t Rinoa Branford that infamous young lady?”
“That’s right.”
Erina couldn’t believe that Ars would be serving such a person.
Moreover, being described as frivolous and arrogant didn’t suit Ars at all.
The name Wade was also relatively common, so she had to think it was just someone with the same name.
Rather, she was worried that Rosa was showing interest in such a person.
Then the academy held exams.
Erina noticed that Wade’s name was not far from her own in the rankings.
‘Wasn’t he supposed to be a failing student?’
Now his grades were comparable to the specially admitted students.
Just as she received full marks in martial arts practical, which she wasn’t good at, specially admitted students often received bonus points, so Wade’s grades might even be better than theirs.
Moreover, she heard people whispering that he had blonde hair like her.
Erina couldn’t help but think of Ars.
Even knowing it wasn’t him, she wanted to see his face at least once.
Erina remembered that Rosa often brought up stories about Wade, so she tried to talk about him to be a conversation partner.
“Oh, oh!?”
However, Princess Rosa was visibly flustered.
“W-Wade, you see… No, he’s not cool at all. He’s frivolous and has no manners!”
“Is that so? Didn’t you say before that contrary to rumors, he was polite and cool?”
“When I looked again, he wasn’t like that at all!”
“I see…”
Erina, sensing that Roza was reluctant to talk about Wade, tactfully kept her mouth shut.
Then Roza bit her lip tightly and said carefully.
“Erina, you said the name of the person you’re looking for is Ars. What was it? Ars Gilaim? Ars Dylan?”
“It’s Ars Elaine, Princess. Elaine.”
“…Having a separate surname makes him sound like a nobleman.”
“He was a nobleman. Though he’d be a commoner now.”
“…”
Roza’s face gradually turned pale.
Finally, she asked in a trembling voice.
“Y-you’re not actually married to that person, right? Strictly speaking, you weren’t even proper lovers!”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
“Then you don’t know how things will turn out.”
“That’s… True.”
Erina wasn’t confident about that part either.
“Yes, I see. For now…”
Roza nodded as if rationalizing to herself.
And after that, Erina couldn’t meet with Roza often.
She frequently received suggestions that since Roza would be going out, wouldn’t it be good for Erina to study in the library? As this was exactly what Erina had been hoping for, she continued her magic studies in the library and the palace training grounds.
Still, Erina had to participate in the martial arts tournament, so she tried to go out with Roza, but Roza withdrew due to health issues.
Princess Roza sat at the bedside with a gloomy face. Her complexion looked so bad that Erina was watching her worriedly.
Roza couldn’t hide her complex feelings under such a gaze. Feeling guilty, she soon averted her eyes.
Erina, not grasping these inner feelings, stroked Roza’s back.
Her gaze was filled with affection and gratitude towards Roza.
‘It’s all thanks to the Princess that I’ve been able to get used to life here.’
Thinking about how she could be of help, Erina decided to bring a book that Roza could read while lying in bed.
‘A novel would be good.’
She wanted to buy a suitable novel if possible, but Roza had told her not to go outside the palace, so it couldn’t be helped.
Erina decided to write a novel herself to give to Roza.
It would be about their circumstances, which she had co-authored with Ars.
She remembered the entire content of that book from reading it many times, so it wouldn’t be difficult to transfer it to a book.
* * *
Having gained free time due to my opponent’s withdrawal, I headed to the central square to check on the sales status of the book.
There, the dwarf Makson had set up a stall and was hawking with stacks of books.
The number of stacked books was as many as 300. In this world, the printing of books through magic was well developed, so the speed of printing books was far superior to our continent.
As a result, the competition was also fierce.
There were as many as 30 book selling stalls set up in the square, and the number of new titles in circulation reached 100.
“Whew…”
The enthusiasm was beyond expectation. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if my book didn’t become a hit.
‘Can’t be helped.’
I had no choice but to use the sales method I had used in Rainpol once again.
“Mr. Makson. Let me help too.”
“Huh?”
Makson looked at me and seemed to think it was a good idea, but soon shook his head.
“No need to be hasty. Don’t worry, I’ll sell them all somehow during the festival period. More importantly, you should go to the publishing house right now.”
“Why the publishing house?”
“There’s someone looking for you. Seems to be from the Salvation Alliance.”
My eyes lit up at the mention of someone looking for me, but I was puzzled by the mention of the Salvation Alliance.
The only Salvation Alliance people I knew were Kelly and his group that I met on that island.
‘There’s no way they would come looking for me. Who could it be?’
Thinking it would be faster to check directly, I headed to the publishing house.
There, the owner Ukon was serving tea to someone.
A man in Salvation Alliance attire.
‘That’s…?’
Although I had only seen it briefly, it was clear.
It was the uniform of the Alliance Academy, the top academy of the Salvation Alliance.
The badge on his chest indicated his rank.
“Ah, you’re here.”
Ukon brightened up upon seeing me.
The Salvation Alliance man also lifted his hat and looked at me.
Seeing his face, I couldn’t help but pause.
The other person smiled brightly and said, “It really is Ars!”
“Dorofei!?”
Dorofei Grimwood. My closest friend had come to Baien wearing Salvation Alliance attire.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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