The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road 291

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 291

The holiday of over a year ended with a heavy atmosphere.

We had already collected enough Magic Stones to travel back and forth across the continent during that year.

This was because during the past year, military officials who had no tasks due to focusing on internal affairs randomly conquered dungeons as a way to pass time and maintain their battle skills.

Here, we received cooperation from Lich Ninia in the Eastern Continent.

Ninia, who knew the languages of all races, induced the natural dissolution of dungeons and provided a massive amount of Magic Stones.

Moreover, the dragon trio of Olkin, Vandallin, and Altron increased the efficiency of the transfer magic circle, making travel relatively easier now.

I first dispatched Ash to carry out operations in the Tunkai direction.

Ash, along with master Ilya, Lysithea, Gaspar, and Gunther, first headed towards the Central Continent.

It was my turn next.

The day after, I crossed over to the Central Continent and immediately went to the royal palace to meet Sophia.

Sophia, who was supposed to go to the Beckavia region with Ash, greets me with a tired face.

“This is too much. Assigning a mission to someone already suffering from heavy workload.”

“If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. Well, I doubt you won’t go.”

“…Hmph.”

As a princess of Beckavia, she must have been concerned about the local situation.

Sophia made a bitter expression and then sighed, handing over the work she had processed.

The documents were filled with military movements of various kingdoms.

Svenner had mobilized its entire national power and raised an army of 200,000, and the West was preparing an army of 100,000.

In response, we had Crossing with 140,000, our Liande with 80,000, and Alvard with 80,000, making the number of soldiers quite even.

However, in terms of national power, we were far superior.

While we had spent the past year focusing on internal affairs, Svenner had just finished a war with Tunkai.

We were in a situation where we could mobilize over 100,000 additional troops if necessary.

This was the reason why the enemy side was continuously pushing for war.

As time passed, the difference in national power would only widen.

‘Even so, they are being reckless.’

If I were the king of Svenner, instead of immediately starting a war, I would have first attempted to create discord to break the alliance between Crossing, Alvard, and Liande.

Or I would have firmly brought the neutral kingdom of Europe to our side.

However, the opponent ignored all these small processes and immediately entered a full-scale war posture.

This was clearly unnatural. It was as if they were being instigated by someone.

‘From our perspective, this is actually good.’

This was exactly what we were hoping for – a short, decisive battle.

We were completely prepared.

Therefore, doubts were inevitable.

Why would the opponent want to fight a disadvantageous war?

‘Why did they invade Tunkai in the first place? It would have been better to incorporate Tunkai and build power for our war.’

By fighting an unnecessary war with Tunkai, they significantly widened the power gap with us.

If they weren’t stupid, they must have calculated that conquering Tunkai would be beneficial despite such losses.

“I just can’t understand the reason.”

Unable to resolve that doubt, I headed to the lounge to clear my mind.

There, Eonia and Ryuna were making snacks.

Ryuna was staring intently at Eonia. Her gaze was clearly asking for cookies.

But she didn’t say it out loud. This was because she had previously promised not to beg for cookies.

So she changed her strategy to silently stare until she was given cookies. In Ryuna’s mind, this wasn’t begging for cookies.

She would just be given cookies arbitrarily.

When Eonia deliberately ignored her, Ryuna began to sniffle and tear up.

“Uh… Is this a secret from Yumir?”

“Yes!”

Ryuna eagerly eats the cookies Eonia gave her. Then she notices me and quickly runs over.

“Dad, are you done working?”

“Just taking a break. Eonia, why are you making so many cookies?”

“We’re having a tea party before Ash’s group departs. Ars, you should go to the garden too. Everyone’s gathering there now.”

“When I have time. Isn’t it hard doing this alone?”

“Growth is helping me.”

“What about Bisketa?”

As soon as I finished speaking, Bisketa appeared from the kitchen side with a maid.

“Eonia, are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Oh, Elaine, you’re here too. Would you like to come along?”

I had nothing else to do, so I followed Bisketa to the garden.

The garden was filled with women chatting. Babies were playing on the lawn.

I sat next to Yumir, holding Ryuna.

Yumir sniffed once and narrowed her eyes, looking at Ryuna.

“Ryuna, did you eat cookies again?”

Ryuna breaks out in a cold sweat and escapes from my arms to where the babies are playing.

Yumir, unusually complains.

“Haaa… How can she have such an appetite?”

Lysithea smiles wryly and says.

“It reminds me of when Ash was a baby.”

“When Ash was a baby?”

“Ash was a child born between the Tunkai king and his political rival’s daughter, so she couldn’t be revealed externally. Thus, she was essentially abandoned to our Florand tribe right after birth. I was seven years old at the time.”

Lysithea smiled softly, as if reminiscing about those days.

In contrast, Ash is horrified.

“Listen, Lysithea! Don’t tell that story! What good story are you talking about?”

But Lysithea continues to chatter about Ash’s childhood.

“How much of a troublemaker he was… He would freely enter places where elders told him not to go.”

As I was listening to her words, suddenly something caught my attention.

“Lysithea, what exactly is this Florand tribe?”

“Huh? Well… I don’t know much about it. Although I was the tribe’s warrior chief, our tribe was already in decline at that time. After Ash and I went missing, it seems the tribe was scattered everywhere.”

“Florand tribe….”

As I was repeating that name, Bisketa interrupts.

“If you’re curious about the Florand tribe, I can provide some answers.”

“Bisketa…!”

Come to think of it, Bisketa seemed to know something about the Florand tribe.

“Shall I tell you what I know?”

“Please do.”

She sipped her tea and continued speaking.

“The roots of the Florand tribe’s elves are from the elves of Kuravel. If I recall correctly, they might have spoken about it in passing before.”

“Yes… The elves who wanted to coexist with humans left Kuravel and came outside. So, can I consider them a faction that broke away from the Kuravel kingdom?”

“It’s not quite that simple.”

* * *

Bisketa closed and opened her eyes as if searching her memories.

“Although I heard this from the king himself, in fact, the Florand tribe existed from the very beginning.”

“By ‘from the beginning’, do you mean they already existed at the same time as the founding of the Kuravel kingdom?”

“I initially thought so too, but that wasn’t the case.”

“…?”

“I only understood after seeing the outside world, Elaine, Kuravel kingdom was a nation established by elves and humans who came before the continent was separated, following the dragon who divided the Central Continent.”

“So strictly speaking, even the elves of Kuravel are outsiders from a continental perspective. In contrast, the Florand tribe is different.”

“No way…”

“Yes, the Florand tribe was a tribe that originally lived on this continent. The elves of our Kuravel later joined that tribe, and the elves of the Florand tribe appeared. The elves, with their fundamentally long lifespans, eventually became the tribe’s leaders over time.”

“The original roots of the Florand tribe were not elven…?”

“Perhaps. Well, this is about all I know.”

It was just seemingly trivial information, neither more nor less.

However, my intuition was telling me this was not just simple information.

I urgently asked Lysithea, “Lysithea, what were the Florand tribe doing there?”

“Well, to live, of course.”

“Is that all? Didn’t you say earlier that Ash entered a place where elders should not go?”

“Ah… There are indeed such places. Though I don’t know much about them. Ash, do you remember?”

Ash shrugs.

“When I was about five years old? I discovered a mysterious cave and tried to enter, but the elder was furiously angry. I wondered what delicious thing they were hiding, and I tried to go back another time, but for some reason, I couldn’t find it.”

“…..”

Gulp! Suddenly, an emerging hypothesis made me involuntarily swallow a dry throat.

“Ash, the Florand tribe was living in the center of a massive mountain range, right?”

“That’s right, a rugged mountain.”

“Is there a possibility of a large space inside that mountain?”

“What… That can’t be….”

Ash’s words trailed off. Until now, we had seen two large underground spaces.

The first was the Alliance’s underground market, and the second was the underground space below the lake used by Olkin and the monsters.

Ash speaks, “Are you saying that what our tribe was guarding was the space inside? Then what? What’s inside that space?”

At this point, I had reached the truth.

I cursed my own incompetence for only realizing this now.

The key was the elves of Kuravel.

The elves of Kuravel came to this continent with the dragon Omeron, who wanted to separate the Central Continent.

The only ones they interacted with was the Florand tribe. They even dispatched elves to support the Florand tribe.

Why? When you think about it, it was simple.

“The dragon Omeron who separated this continent is inside that mountain…!”

“What!?”

Then everything fits together.

Eonia shook her head in disbelief. 

“Ars, if that were the case, our Kuravel elves would have known about it.”

“Someone might have known. But it would have been extremely few. Right, Bisketa?”

Bisketa’s gaze also became serious, as if something struck her.

“The king….”

“What about the king?”

“The king said the royal library must never be surrendered to intruders. That’s why when the Crossing army invaded, the king personally set it on fire.”

Eonia had also thrown herself into those flames and suffered serious burns.

“Honestly, I couldn’t understand why the king did that, but if the library contained information related to this….”

My conviction grew stronger. I might not know why the remaining Kuravel elves didn’t know, but somehow this information had been passed down in Kuravel.

Information about Omeron’s location, who divided this continent.

“Ugh…!”

I unknowingly felt dizzy.

Now I understood why Svenner was focused on conquering Tunkai.

“I’ve been completely played…!”

Everyone looked worried at my gloomy expression.

“Ars, are you okay?”

“Wh-what’s happening?”

I gritted my teeth and shouted, “I’m immediately convening a military council! Inform Crossing and Alvard that this is an emergency situation!”

Although the opponent was one step ahead, there might still be a chance to recover.

I began the military council to take back the territory of Tunkai, precisely the homeland of the Florand tribe in the Elrich mountain range.

Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”

TL NOTE:

Schedule: Everyday

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read up to 50 chapters ahead of two novels with one sub, you can do so via patreon.com/ChibiGiant. OR by unlocking chapters.

You can also Rate this series in your free time @NovelUpdate.