The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 264
Ash had said something like this while going to hunt the Seven Deadly Sins.
He said that the method to go to the Central Continent and the existence of Magic Stone, which could be easily obtained due to the Great Chaos, felt artificial.
I now listened to Juras’s words and became convinced.
‘There’s a force moving behind the scenes…!’
And they had clearly caused this Great Chaos intentionally.
“Reviving dungeon monsters… Is that even possible?”
Juras shakes his head side to side.
“I can’t believe it either. But I understood after seeing your example.”
“Do you mean recruiting Mirabel?”
“That’s right. If recruitment is possible, how could revival be impossible?”
“Blood magic….”
The magic that created blood stones and allowed blood transfusion to Estelle.
“Do you not know the specifics about revival?”
“I don’t know well. However, it seems that an enormous number of sacrifices are needed for revival. Sacrifices numbering in the hundreds or thousands.”
“…No way.”
A chilling sensation ran down my spine.
It was about the Upper Alliance’s slave hunting. At the time, it was concluded that they were hunting slaves to make them work in underground mines, but later it was revealed that the numbers didn’t match.
The number of people missing from slave hunting and the number of miners working in underground mines did not align. The number of missing people was much larger.
‘Could all of this have been preparation for sacrifices…?’
If that’s true, it means they have been preparing this for a very long time.
At that moment, Juras sipped tea and spoke.
“Even so, monsters physically reviving is a major incident. Normally, the best approach would be to politically publicize and bury it….”
“That’s impossible during these chaotic times. Juras, right now understanding the opponent’s intention is more important. First, let me ask you this – was this done by that Pax guy and the Upper Alliance he belongs to?”
“That’s correct. Their intention would ultimately be to control the continent’s hegemony. However, I find it hard to believe they could control the continent’s hegemony just by recruiting a few monsters.”
“That’s not necessarily true. Dungeons are historical records, so they can recruit extraordinary figures from the past.”
“Indeed, was that the case?”
“Ah….”
Juras shrugs his shoulders.
“I roughly understood this while looking at the Cradle of the Swamps and Seven Deadly Sins data. That dungeons are historical events from the past. Then there’s one thing I can guess about the opponent’s purpose.”
“What is it?”
“Recruiting war geniuses.”
“…!”
“To control the continent’s hegemony with just a few individuals, you’d need such figures. Reviving past generals to wage war.”
“But….”
I wanted to say something, but no counterargument came to mind.
This also explained the sense of artificiality that Ash mentioned.
“Ash said these series of events have an artificial nature. Someone else besides us might try to go to the Central Continent.”
“Oh… The world’s revived generals going to our continent?”
“What do you think the likelihood is?”
“If they want to, it could happen. Moreover, understanding the revival of physical bodies through blood magic makes sense. Didn’t you say Mirabel’s body is made of magic, making spatial movement impossible?”
“Y-yes, that’s right!”
“If a physical body is created, that becomes possible. We can cross over to our continent.”
But why? Why are they eyeing our Central Continent? I couldn’t yet find an answer to that question.
Right now, this was still just a hypothesis.
All I could conclude was that someone had revived dungeon monsters and was scheming something.
“Juras, please continue monitoring this.”
“Understood. What are your thoughts about Elliot?”
“I want to proceed with a rescue operation immediately….”
“Then, Ars, let’s do this.”
Juras proposed a compromise.
“There’s no need for you to go on the rescue operation. I’ll handle it by borrowing Gaspar and Anton. In the meantime, I want you to return to the Central Continent once.”
“The Central Continent…?”
“Wasn’t there a need to go once to retrieve the belongings of the missing people? I want you to go and check the situation there as well.”
“…Understood. Let’s do that.”
“Oh, and regarding personnel. We can take more people than initially expected. The old man Vandalin supplemented the lacking parts.”
Because of that, the total number of people who could move had increased to five, so they needed to start selecting those individuals.
* * *
When I returned to the mansion, I briefly explained the situation.
People found it hard to accept that dungeon monsters could be revived.
However, Estelle, who was connected to black magic, was different.
“H-how could that….”
“What’s wrong, Estelle?”
“Well, there’s a story. The ultimate goal of our Article is to truly revive the dead. That’s why we practice black magic. I thought it was just about handling undead….”
“It seems everything was planned from the beginning.”
It was already certain that things were not proceeding normally.
“Anyway, we’ll continue to watch this closely. More importantly, I want to select who will return to the Central Continent this time. Anton and Gaspar will remain for special operations, but others can return if they want. Is anyone interested in going?”
Then they started watching each other cautiously. Then Eonia suddenly raised her hand.
“I will stay by Ars’ side!”
However, Bisketa slightly pinched her arm.
“Eo, are you going to leave the twins behind? You’re staying here.”
“Ugh….”
Bisketa was right. For that reason, Eonia and Yumir were excluded.
“Regarding that matter,”
Lucrecia steps forward and speaks.
“Queen Rosa told me to accompany you.”
“Rosa?”
“Yes, because it would be troublesome if you do not return from the Central Continent. Consider me a monitoring agent. Moreover, I was also curious. What kind of place is the Central Continent where chaos is unfolding?”
“If you go there, you might really die. There’s no teleportation scroll. Are you still okay with that?”
“It’s exactly what I desire.”
Luc seemed to have some kind of strange illusion about war.
Anyway, since Rosa had arranged the accompaniment, I decided to take her.
“Now there are three remaining.”
I glanced at my mother.
But my mother shook her head.
“I’m fine. I’ve heard from Anton that my husband and sons are doing well. I’m worried about Elsie and Chelsea, but… Now is the time to do more important things.”
“Thank you, mother. I’ll convey regards to father and my brothers.”
At that moment, tapping his fingers and lost in thought, Ash finally made a decision and nodded.
“I’ll go too. I want to see the situation in Tunkai. Will you come too, Ms. Sophia?”
“…”
However, unexpectedly, Sophia shook her head.
“I’m busy with this side of things. Besides, if I suddenly appear, I’ll only increase confusion. Beckavia… Has already been destroyed.”
Although she said that, it seemed she wanted to see the situation in her heart.
Anyway, since she refused, I would take someone else.
At that moment, an unexpected person raised their hand.
“If there’s no one particularly wanting to go, can I go?”
It was Elena. She smiled faintly with a somewhat distant look.
“I want to visit my husband’s grave. I’m not even sure if it still exists….”
“Very well. This is the last one.”
The most likely candidate, Master Ilya, decided to stay behind. Although she was worried about the baby Gawain she left behind, she seemed more concerned about Anton, who hasn’t yet adapted to this world.
Thus, she says she will accompany him to Dorofei rescue operation.
Meissen needed to create a curse removal scroll for any possible contingencies, so she was excluded. Gunther also refused, saying there was no need for him to go.
With that, only Erina and Estelle remained.
However, in Estelle’s case, her only family Rutger had already crossed over to this world, so Erina was the only one with a reason to return.
“Erina, you go.”
“Yes… That’s what I’ll do.”
Encouraged by Estelle, Erina nodded.
Thus, with Luc, Erina, Ash, and Elena as the four companions determined, I began preparing to return to the Central Continent.
* * *
Since I would be staying in the Central Continent for about a month, I decided to play with the children until the last day.
Shaking toys to lure them, the twin babies were crawling around excitedly without knowing anything, but Ryuna was different.
The clever Ryuna seemed to have instinctively sensed that I would be going far away and was in a bad mood.
Eventually, she started crying loudly, telling me not to go.
“Oh, it’s a problem when a child is too smart.”
My chest was wet with Ryuna’s tears and runny nose.
“Young master, it might be better to keep some distance from Ryuna until you depart.”
“No, that would only hurt her more. I’d rather stay together until I leave.”
“Is that so….”
“More importantly, Yumir, are you okay?”
“To be honest, I’m quite anxious. Especially since Eo and Ilya are not coming along….”
“But Elena is here.”
“She’s somewhat… I’m worried about her capabilities.”
“Never say that in front of her.”
This time, I decided to give instructions about matters during my absence by going around to people.
I chose Bisketa as the person in charge of command.
Looking at Ryuna, who was clinging tightly to me, Bisketa smiled and then nodded.
“Leave it to me. I’ll utilize people appropriately.”
“Please don’t push them too hard.”
“By the way, Elaine. Is it true that you received the title of Duke?”
“Oh, yes. That’s correct.”
“Then you must have been granted territory as well?”
“Not yet. Since the territory is not yet normalized, they say they will grant it later.”
“If you have the right to choose, request that Layad be granted. It’s the second-largest city after Baien.”
“Haha, you have quite the ambition. I’ll keep that in mind for now.”
As I was handing over responsibilities like this, three days passed in an instant, and departure was imminent.
At that moment, I encountered an unexpected joy.
Suddenly, Estelle’s pregnancy was revealed.
“Ah…”
Having anticipated many possibilities, I was at a loss for words.
The other vassals were all offering congratulations.
“Congratulations, Lady Estelle.”
“Congratulations, Estelle!”
Estelle was smiling radiantly, unable to contain her happiness.
Stroking her still-flat belly, she gave me and Erina a smiling glance.
In contrast, Erina seemed to have complicated feelings about Estelle becoming pregnant first.
This was probably also because she was about to meet her family soon.
That day, they celebrated Estelle’s pregnancy, and the next day at noon, our group boarded the magic circle heading to the Central Continent.
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