The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 237
The next day, a party was held for Eonia’s childbirth.
While it was meant to celebrate the birth of twins, due to what I confessed yesterday, the party turned into something more like a strategy meeting.
The main topic was dungeon subjugation.
If things happened as expected, we would likely be tasked with dungeon subjugation. As an elite force, no less.
That meant we needed prior coordination.
Ash, with his extensive experience, stepped forward and spoke, “Generally, mages are essential for dungeon subjugation. Some dungeons have terrain that can’t be traversed by normal means, or objects that can only be destroyed by magic. Above all, mages are crucial for properly storing the magic stones that appear after dungeon subjugation.”
“Hmm, but the number of proper mages here is…”
“Not many. So we need to organize groups appropriately. Given the limited number of mages, it’ll probably be about a 1:3 ratio.”
Ash immediately began organizing personnel.
I left Ash to his work and headed to the second floor room.
There, Eonia was nursing the babies in her arms.
Unlike Ryuna, who didn’t need breast milk thanks to her strong beastkin blood, the twins weren’t the same. As such, Eo couldn’t leave the babies’ side.
Yumir was assisting Eo, while Erina and Estelle couldn’t take their eyes off the babies, seemingly there just to watch.
Eo smiled brightly when she saw me.
“Ars, is the meeting alright?”
“Yes, Ash is handling it well. More importantly, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. I feel like I could hold a spear tomorrow. I need to recover quickly to prepare for that upheaval!”
“You can take that slowly.”
I’m not sure if our babies were particularly energetic, but Eo’s expression kept twitching periodically.
“…Does it hurt a lot?”
“Ah, no, it doesn’t hurt!”
“You don’t have to pretend to be fine. Well, with twins it must be twice as hard. Ah right, if necessary, you could get help from Yumir.”
“Huh? How could Yumir help…?”
“While we didn’t need it for Ryuna, Yumir is capable of breastfeeding too.”
“…”
For some reason, silence fell for a moment.
Just as I was wondering why everyone was acting strange, Erina muttered, “Did Yumir tell you that?”
“What?”
“Just curious. Whether Yumir told you that fact directly.”
“Well when you ask like that, Yumir didn’t tell me…”
The atmosphere grew even heavier.
Estelle drove the final nail, “Then… How did you know that?”
“…”
“Ars?”
“Well…”
I glanced at Yumir for help, but she awkwardly avoided my gaze.
Seeing no way out of this situation, I decided to make a quick escape.
“Ahem. Come to think of it, I have some documents that need urgent review. I’ll head to my room.”
I left the room with an awkward cough, but for some reason, Erina and Estelle followed me.
They flanked my sides as if to prevent me from escaping.
“If it’s document organization, we’ll help you.”
“That’s right. We’ll… Help you take your time.”
Sensing that I wouldn’t be able to leave my room for hours if I went back there, I changed direction toward the living room.
Just then, Ash seemed to have finished the organization and was clearing his throat for an announcement.
“Oh, oh! Ash! How’s it going?”
“Huh? Well, it’s going well.”
“How did you arrange it? Let me see.”
“I was about to announce it. So you listen quietly too.”
This was Ash’s organization:
Group A: [Ars, Eonia, Gaspar, Gunther]
Group B: [Erina, Elena, Dorofei, Yumir]
Group C: [Estelle, Ilya, Meissen, Sophia]
Group D: [Rinoa, Anduha, Ash, Lucretia]
Basically, each group consisted of one mage and three warriors.
“This is the basic unit, and depending on the dungeon being subjugated, two groups, three groups might form one team, or all four groups might become one team. Ars will flexibly arrange that part, so don’t worry.”
The balance was quite delicate. If there was a group that seemed slightly weak, it would be Estelle’s Group C.
“Hey, what’s this? Even if Master Ilya is excellent… Sophia can’t use magic or anything in the first place.”
“That’s true. I was going to leave Sophia out, but she insisted on participating.”
“What?”
“Said she’ll find a way somehow. She says she’ll learn magic at the academy once it reopens.”
“Didn’t she have no talent?”
“Right. But that was said by a third-rate teacher at a provincial academy. She says a first-rate institution like the Royal Academy will surely recognize her talent.”
“How could such a thing happen?”
“If that’s what she wants to do, what can we do? We should let her. We can replace her later if Rutger or Lysithea are discovered.”
It seemed Sophia didn’t want to accept that she had no magical talent.
Now that she had become the prime minister, she had power too. It seemed she was trying to force herself to learn magic based on that.
“What about Senior Meissen? Are you alright?”
Meissen nodded heavily at my question.
“I’m fine. I’ll also be taking classes at the Academy that’s starting soon. I recently had my magical talent confirmed. They said it wasn’t bad.”
Since Meissen could handle holy magic from the start, it wasn’t surprising that she had talent.
“Anyway, this concludes the assignments. Please discuss and select the leader for each group. Now let’s enjoy the party. Since we’ll be busy again from tomorrow, we should enjoy today.”
At those words, the expressions of the people in charge of Academy interviews darkened.
Gaspar, who was in charge of interviewing and educating the new beast-folk students, was slumped over like a rain-soaked puppy, seeming exhausted.
“Aren’t they working this old man too hard…”
“Mr. Gaspar! Stop moping around and let’s drink!”
“Yeah, damn it! Let’s drink and forget about it!”
“Oh! Senior Gunther, come join us! Ars, let’s drink too!”
Though Erina and Estelle shot laser-like glares at those words, Ash grabbed my arm without noticing and dragged me to where they were drinking.
And so the celebration party for the twins grew livelier.
* * *
With the completion of new student interviews, the Academy’s reopening was also counting down.
I decided to propose several agenda items to Rosa, including matters regarding the Academy.
One of them was to publicly announce the truth about the turbulence to the citizens.
Rosa asked if she had heard wrong.
“What? You want to tell the citizens about that?”
“Yes, I think they have the right to know. What we’re doing now is no different from forcing them along while blindfolding them. I believe citizens should be able to choose their own path.”
At my proposal, not just Rosa but Juras and Sophia also showed disapproving expressions.
Sophia snapped, saying she didn’t understand.
“You must know what could happen if we announce that fact. While the Western Continent under our influence might be manageable, the Southern Continent beyond our reach would declare independence at that point. Various warlords would emerge and many more citizens would suffer.”
She had a point. I had also been concerned about this and that’s why I hadn’t announced the truth.
However, Juras was staring at me intently with narrowed eyes. “Are you trying to play the role of a sage king?”
“Haha, maybe something like that.”
Juras continued speaking with a dry expression. “I already knew you had the qualities of a sage king. However, I thought those were the qualities of a wise ruler who could judge according to circumstances, not an unworldly sage king. Are you saying my assessment was wrong?”
“We’ll certainly lose a lot visibly. I wouldn’t have suggested this if the Alliance’s magic stone storage hadn’t been attacked.”
“The situation has changed?”
“That’s right.”
It’s a given that citizens will be confused. So we should use that.
“Instead, we concentrate our power. If we announce this fact, citizens will split into two factions. Those who still want to believe in the kingdom and those who want to survive on their own. From there, we only embrace the former group firmly.”
“And concentrate power in the Western Continent’s territory with that…?”
“Yes. Based on that strength, we’ll stabilize the home front faster than anyone else and expand our influence. In that process, we should be able to recover our lost influence in the Southern Continent.”
This would have been the worst move if we assumed the Alliance’s magic stone storage hadn’t been attacked.
All citizens would have defected to the Alliance.
This strategy was only possible because the Alliance was also under the crisis of the turbulence.
“Ha, haha. Hahaha!” Juras burst into laughter. “Ars, your proposal could result in many more deaths. You’re saying you’ll abandon those people.”
Referring to those who choose to survive on their own. I essentially said we would abandon them.
In exchange for abandoning them, we can minimize chaos when the turbulence occurs and increase solidarity.
“That’s right. But that’s also the path they chose themselves. They won’t have regrets either.”
“Hmph, you really weren’t an inadequate sage king after all. I’ll agree to this.”
After Juras agreed, next was Sophia.
She seemed to be deep in thought, as if calculating in her head.
“What you say is certainly true. If we only embrace those who decide to believe in the kingdom, we can minimize chaos. The kingdom’s survival will also be more secure. But abandoning everyone else…”
Rosa’s decision was most important here.
Rosa couldn’t easily accept the choice of abandoning about half of the citizens.
Given that, I decided to give her room to back down.
“Even if we announce the truth, I plan to do it at least two months later. We need that time to stockpile food and organize the system. We also need time to train people at the Academy. Rosa, you only need to make your decision by then.”
“…Okay, I understand. I’ll have an answer by then.”
“Any answer is fine. You’re the Monarch here.”
Rosa seemed to want to discuss things with Sophia, who also couldn’t make a decision.
She left with Sophia.
Once we were alone, Juras brought up another matter.
“Ars, do you have a moment?”
“No, I’m busy with Academy work.”
“Just a short while will do. One day is enough.”
“That’s not exactly what I’d call a short while… What is it?”
“It’s about what I mentioned before. I found out which organization Pax belongs to. I’ve already made contact. I’m planning to meet him now, would you like to come along?”
“You found out his affiliation…?”
Even our only lead, the interrogation of Prince Paris, was proceeding slowly.
Considering that Lucretia, who had gone to the imprisoned Prince Paris, still hadn’t returned, that said it all.
Yet Juras says he’s already figured it out.
“How did you…?”
“I deduced it by combining information from the former prime minister Railand’s special forces and the information you brought from the underground market. When we subtly probed the relevant Alliance, there was a response. So it must be correct.”
“Geez. Luc went through all that trouble for nothing. I should tell her to come back right away.”
“Luc? Who’s that?”
“Lucretia, our Captain of the Royal Guard. You haven’t met her yet.”
“Hmm. Anyway, will you come along?”
“I’ll come. When are we moving?”
“In two days. Keep your schedule clear.”
Juras had described the reunion with Pax as a reverse declaration of war.
He said he would turn around the situation where I had been overwhelmed by hesitating.
I was curious to see how Juras would handle that guy.
* * *
Using Juras’s request to keep time free in two days as an excuse, I decided to take both days off completely.
It would be painful later, but that’s a problem for future me.
Right now, I was desperately wanting to spend time with the newborn babies.
Having declared my vacation, I decided to stay home and look after the babies rather than going out.
“So, you tie the knot like this here.”
I was teaching Eo how to put on diapers.
Thanks to becoming skilled at changing Ryuna’s diapers, teaching wasn’t difficult either.
“I see, doing it that way prevents urine from leaking.”
“…”
“Then I’ll try changing Erni’s diaper.”
“…”
“Um… Lord Ars? Is there a problem?”
“That’s my line. Why are you using formal speech when it’s just us two?”
“Eh!? Well, that’s…”
Eo was flustered. It seems she had gotten used to speaking formally again and couldn’t easily switch back to casual speech.
While the current situation wasn’t bad, I did miss the old Eo, so I insisted on casual speech.
“U-um. Okay Ars, I’ll try changing Erni’s diaper, so watch me.”
After spending about 4 hours like this with Eo and the babies, it seems someone had developed a small complaint.
Knock knock! With a calm knocking sound, Yumir appeared. In her arms was Ryuna, whose face looked ready to cry.
“Yumir? What’s wrong?”
“Well… It seems this child also realized you were home.”
Beast-folk have particularly keen noses. The same goes for their children.
Ryuna seemed to have detected that I was home with that nose of hers.
“And?”
“She seems upset that you haven’t come to see her even though you’re in the mansion. Could you hold her for a moment?”
“I was too indifferent. Come here, Ryuna.”
I took Ryuna in my arms and carefully approached the twins.
“These are your siblings. This is Erni, and this is Edward. Aren’t they cute?”
“…Uu!”
Slap! Ryuna stretched out her short arm and hit Edward’s forehead with her palm as he was staring blankly.
“Ryuna!?”
“Uu!”
As Ryuna struggled trying to land another hit, I quickly had to hold her tight.
“Waaahh!”
Edward burst into tears. Eo was startled and began comforting the child.
Yumir also seemed surprised and hurriedly came to take Ryuna away.
“Ryuna! What are you doing!”
At her mother’s harsh scolding, Ryuna also started crying loudly, and Erni, who had been quiet until then, also burst into tears.
Yumir took Ryuna out, but her crying could still be heard all the way to the room. As if she wouldn’t stop crying unless I came along too.
‘Could she be jealous?’
Come to think of it, Gaspar had mentioned that beast-folk babies grow noticeably faster in infancy to adapt to their environment.
Indeed, although Ryuna was only about 2 months old, her body was like that of a one-year-old. She looked like she could start walking any day now.
If her intelligence was also developing quickly, then this incident wasn’t so strange.
“Oh boy.”
I’d heard that jealousy between children was no small matter in child-rearing, but I never thought I’d face this situation myself.
“I have been spending too much time here. Sorry Eo, can I step out for a bit?”
“Of course. Please go to Ryuna.”
“You’re using formal speech again.”
“Ah…!”
Anyway, I went to comfort Ryuna.
Ryuna, who had been crying loudly, mysteriously stopped as soon as I appeared and snuggled into my arms.
As if she knew exactly how long I had spent with the twins, she stayed in my arms for the same 4 hours.
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