The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 276
Silence filled the room.
I was visiting the house where Olaf and Sister Julia were staying, along with Meissen and my mother, making three of us.
“Auwa!”
The child in sister Julia’s arms was flailing and throwing a tantrum.
I couldn’t help but ask.
“Sister, that child is indeed…”
“Ehehe… That ‘indeed’ is correct. This is the child of me and Olaf.”
“Huh.”
Julia glanced at Meissen, not knowing what to do.
Meissen was frozen like a stone.
Olaf scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
“After relying on each other in a foreign land for two years… Julia is quite an attractive woman.”
“An, an attractive woman?”
Both me and my mother expressed our surprise simultaneously.
Seeing her reaction in front of the man she likes, sister Julia’s face turned bright red and she let out a frustrated cry.
Olaf gave a bitter smile and spoke to Meissen.
“I’m sorry if I disappointed you, Meissen. But I have no regrets about my choice.”
“Uh…”
Meissen bit her lip tightly and then shook her head.
“It’s okay. I’m much happier that Beaolaf is safe.”
“No need to force yourself. I fully understand that I’ve done something unforgivable to you.”
After that, we discussed the events that had occurred.
Listening to the story, this was an island with hundreds of years of history inhabited by beast-people.
Originally a place where humans and beast-people lived together, but because mixed-race individuals have a very high probability of being born in beast-people form, only mixed-race beast-people remain at this point.
“Ha, it must be like a paradise for a beast-people enthusiast like you.”
“Well, I won’t deny that. Especially because there’s no lingering resentment between humans and beast-people here. I think it will be a good role model for future harmony with beast-people.”
“Is this place completely cut off from the outside?”
“I thought so. The elder here said the outside world has already been destroyed. When I tried to leave the island, he told me it’s a place swarming with monsters, so I should just stay here. Ars, is this true?”
“It’s not entirely wrong.”
The adjacent continent is indeed a demonic realm. It’s not strange for people here to have such a misconception.
This island is cleverly hidden among other uninhabited islands, making it even more so. I might not have arrived easily without Elliot’s tracking magic.
It’s hidden in a different sense from the Elves’ Island. To begin with, merchant ships or exploration vessels would never come this way.
“Can you tell me more about the outside situation?”
I explained about this world and the current situation in the central continent.
Upon hearing this, Julia’s eyes widened.
“Our youngest became the king and even received a duke’s title!? I knew he would succeed, but this is too amazing!”
“Julia, don’t make a fuss and be quiet.”
Olaf nodded and listened to my story intently.
“I see. While I was relaxing, all these things happened… I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help.”
“That’s right. From now on, you’ll be busy, so be prepared.”
“Sure, just leave it to me.”
As the conversation was wrapping up, there was a knock at the door.
“Young master, Ryuna keeps looking for you. Could you calm her for a moment?”
“Yes, the conversation is over. Come in.”
Yumir and Eo entered the room, each holding a child.
“Daddy!”
Ryuna rushes to me quickly. When I lift her to eye level, she warily stares at Julia and her child.
Julia also blinks and observes Ryuna.
“That child is definitely Yumir’s, right?”
“Yes, these twins are Eonia’s children.”
“Kyaa! So cute! Can I hold them?”
“The twins are fine, but not Ryuna. She’ll immediately start crying.”
“Ugh… Then at least the twins.”
Julia holds the twins with an excited expression.
Ryuna, seeing her chance, quickly devours the cookies on the table.
“Ryuna! I told you no cookies before mealtime!”
Despite Yumir’s scolding, Ryuna seems to know it’s okay when I’m around.
“Oh, so that’s why you were looking for me.”
She’s quite a smart child.
For the next few hours, family conversations continued. Meissen seemed to have sorted out her feelings and talked openly with Julia.
Afterwards, a men’s party began.
“If the conversation is over, come quickly, Olaf!”
Gaspar shouted loudly, seemingly excited to meet his drinking buddy after a long time.
As a pure-blooded beast-person, he was treated like a legend among the local beast-people residents.
Gaspar was drinking alcohol heartily, apparently enjoying himself.
And so, the day drew to a close.
* * *
The next day.
We decided to use this island as our base and thoroughly explore the mainland of the eastern continent.
As we prepared to leave, the village elder and chief named Bramms brought a young male beast-person.
“Take this child with you. He will serve as a guide.”
“Have you often traveled to the mainland?”
“Yes… We would send him occasionally to obtain herbs or crop seeds. Many times he did return safely, but it was quite rare.”
“Thank you for your consideration. I will ensure we return safely.”
After restocking supplies, we instructed the kingdom’s military ships to map and explore the surrounding areas, and we headed towards the eastern continent.
After about two hours of sailing, land began to appear.
“What is this…?”
“What on earth?”
A suspicious black fog was covering the visible land.
As we docked the ship, the fog could be felt on our skin.
“This will make reconnaissance difficult. I’ll set up a camp here first.”
While the camp was being set up, I asked the beast-person guide named Mondi.
“Have you seen this fog before?”
“Oh, no. Something like this…”
“An unexpected situation. Of all times…”
It was clearly the work of monsters.
I gestured to Mirabel, another monster. She, in turn, signaled me to come over.
“Geez.”
She was staring intently at a specific point.
“Mirabel, do you sense any kind of energy?”
“…The dead, concealment, resentment, protection.”
It seemed that it was not yet at a stage where full sentences could be spoken, so meanings were expressed by listing words.
“The dead…? Could you possibly be talking about the undead?”
A nod. Then speaking softly.
“Death Knights, exist.”
Death Knights were beings controlled by high-ranking black magicians.
‘It seems to smell dangerous.’
However, if the conversation went well, they could be of great help.
At least the other party was an intelligent being.
Using Elliot’s tracking magic, Rutger’s energy was headed southeast, while Melodie and Lysithea’s energies were headed northeast.
“I’ll divide the team and explore the surroundings! Everyone please prepare the Teleportation Scroll!”
My team consisted of Mirabel, Dorofei, Beato, and Anton.
We spread out in four eastern directions and began our exploration.
A lost land where people no longer set foot, an outer demon realm.
However, this didn’t mean there were no traces of civilization.
Along the way, traces of villages or roads were visible. And the gazes of monsters watching us.
“Sir Ars, a group filled with killing intent is surrounding us. Should I handle them before their numbers increase?”
“No, let’s observe the situation a bit more. If they really attack, we can just repel them.”
With this current strength, they could clear even an upper-level dungeon.
Not just Anton, but because of Mirabel’s presence.
She was walking while humming a song.
‘Come to think of it…’
Mirabel knew the situation before the Eastern Continent became a demon realm.
When I asked her about it, Mirabel nodded.
“The largest human kingdom. Division, war, destruction.”
“Hmm….”
Similar stories existed in ancient historical records.
Long ago, a kingdom prospered on this eastern continent beside a lake, but was suddenly destroyed by the lake’s flooding.
‘Seeing her mention division and war, it seems there’s something more to the story.’
Though I didn’t know what connection this might have with the missing persons.
It was at that moment.
Rustle! The monsters revealed themselves, seemingly judging that their forces were prepared.
Among them was an ogre standing 4 meters tall.
“An ogre!? I’ve never seen one before!”
Dorofei exclaimed in shock.
Anton also had a stunned expression at its massive size.
Around the ogre, goblin soldiers swarmed.
“Mirabel, is communication possible?”
Mirabel nodded and spoke to the goblins in a strange language.
This was Mirabel’s true value. The reason Vandalin attached her to me.
She was an ancient being fluent in numerous tribal languages.
When she spoke, the goblins began muttering something.
Mirabel reported the situation to me.
“Collecting treasure. Looting other lives for that… These bastards, it’s better to kill them all.”
“What?”
Mirabel didn’t even listen to my instructions and made her move.
Slash! She charged in with a single stroke, piercing the ogre’s head with her spear.
Grrrr….
The ogre collapsed while letting out a death cry.
The goblins simultaneously fired crossbows with high-pitched screams.
Beato defended with a protective shield.
Anton also rushed in with Mirabel and swept away the enemies.
“Wow… That’s incredible.”
Dorofei was letting out a dazed exclamation.
Afterwards, Mirabel quickly went somewhere and brought back the ‘treasure’ the goblins had been guarding.
“This is…!?”
It was a pouch filled with magic stones.
Though its value was lower compared to magic stones from upper-level dungeons, in the current situation, even a few magic stones would be helpful, so they decided to gladly collect them.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the Central Continent where Juras returned, a chaotic situation was unfolding.
The war that started in the west was spreading across the entire continent.
Bülang in the south, where the princes’ power struggles had calmed, was mobilizing its troops and targeting the newly established nation of Liande that Ars had created.
Although Bülang had signed non-aggression treaties with all kingdoms due to continental treaties, the newly formed Liande was an exception to those treaties.
From Bülang’s perspective, it was the only kingdom they could start a war with.
“Anyway… The aftermath isn’t clean.”
Juras dispatched 50,000 troops to the southern territory to check Bülang’s movements.
Meanwhile, he stationed all of Crossing’s regular army troops in the Beckavia region to pressure Tunkai.
Tunkai, which was under invasion by Svenner and Europe and had its homeland in danger, stopped its occupation of the Beckavia region out of concern for friction with Crossing and withdrew.
Crossing’s army then entered the Beckavia region bloodlessly, occupied the land, and began constructing military fortresses for war.
Juras, who had easily taken the opportunistic advantage, decided to form a frontline in conjunction with Alvard.
During the discussions, a tense atmosphere flowed.
“It’s been a while, teacher.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me teacher?”
“Huh.”
Kaien and Juras were engaged in a battle of gazes.
Anger was lingering in Kaien’s eyes.
“So it was you who annihilated the Fencillon restoration faction. I should have anticipated this…”
“It can’t be helped. I was only 15 at the time. It would be hard to think I would have been involved in such a grim affair.”
“…Was Rizna, my daughter, directly killed by you?”
“No, she took her own life. Well, I won’t deny that I created that atmosphere.”
“You…!!”
“I don’t understand why you’re angry. Thanks to me, your grandson could remain safe.”
“How dare you say that! Especially after trying to trap me using that as a pretext…!”
“I’m still disappointed about that. I wanted to see teacher’s defeated expression. Well, shall we talk about future matters rather than past events? Wouldn’t you also want to make your grandson Ars the continent’s leader?”
“I won’t deny that. But what about you. Juras, why are you helping that child?”
“Well, isn’t that unimportant at this point?”
Kaien sighed and let it go.
“Yeah, we’ll talk about that later. Right now, handling the current situation comes first.”
A strategic meeting between the two considered the top among the ten heroes.
As these two put their heads together, the path to continental unification was instantly created.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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