The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 270
Ash frowned at the information his subordinate had collected.
“Are you saying Ars plans to plunder Grancel and massacre its citizens?”
“Yes, that’s correct!”
“He would never do such a thing!”
“However, given the circumstances, I think it’s quite possible…”
On the surface, it made sense. The Saleon Duchy was a house that had rebelled. It wouldn’t be strange for their territory to face punishment.
It would be understandable if he wanted to make an example of Grancel by devastating it to warn other nobles.
However, that was only on the surface.
“That’s impossible. They already have overwhelmingly superior numbers. They couldn’t afford to send troops for plundering in such a situation! If anyone would do that, it would be those guys!”
As a prince of Tunkai who was skilled in these political battles, Ash quickly grasped the true intent.
‘The Saleon Duchy is trying to gain justification for usurping the throne!’
Ash wanted to quickly inform Ars of this fact, but at that moment, 3,000 guerrilla troops began moving south from enemy lines. Seeing this, Ash became urgent.
‘That’s it! Those troops are going to plunder Grancel!’
Ash couldn’t decide what to do.
If he let them plunder Grancel, he couldn’t bear the thought of people dying without knowing anything. Above all, he hated the idea of Ars gaining such an evil reputation.
‘But if we leave our position, what happens to the operation?’
For now, since the enemy wasn’t moving, Ash had also remained stationary. In other words, there was nothing appropriate to do at the moment.
Therefore, Ash began to lean towards the option of pursuit.
“All troops prepare to march!”
As Ash gave this order, Lucretia ran over to him.
“Ash! What are you doing! Surely you’re not thinking of charging at an enemy that’s fortified their defenses!?”
“That’s not it. Luc, listen carefully.”
Ash explained the situation to Lucretia.
She offered a different opinion.
“Then shouldn’t we observe the situation? After all, the Commander-in-Chief is Elaine.”
“This isn’t the time for such rigid thinking.”
“From what I know of him, I think he would have prepared for this. Moreover, if you know this fact, there’s no way he wouldn’t know.”
“He might not know. This is information we got from capturing an enemy soldier. Ars hasn’t engaged in battle yet, so he can’t know.”
“Isn’t that captured soldier situation also suspicious? It could be false information from the enemy.”
While Ash had considered that possibility, there were no signs of it.
“Luc, follow my command. Following those troops is the way to help Ars.”
“Alright. This is my first war, and you are the captain… I’ll follow you.”
“Thank you. Good! Everyone, move out!”
Ash was confident.
The difference in troop numbers was only 1,000, and he had cavalry.
While western Calliper had many mountainous areas, the main road to the major city of Grancel was relatively well-maintained, though narrow.
They could utilize the cavalry’s mobility.
He judged that by harassing their rear with guerrilla tactics, they would never reach Grancel.
It was then that Ash began pursuing the Alvard detachment’s rear.
“Foolish one.”
Kaien sneered and struck his staff with a thud, giving the signal to begin operations.
Arrows began raining down from the mountains on both sides of the road, and ambush troops began their attack.
“What…!?”
Ash was shocked and didn’t know what to do.
“When did they set up this ambush…!?”
They should have thoroughly monitored enemy movements. If they had deployed this many troops, they should have noticed.
“Ah, aah…!”
Ash finally realized he had fallen into a trap.
These ambush troops weren’t taken from the enemy’s main force – they had been naturally left behind as Alvard’s army moved up.
This meant they had planned from the beginning for Ash to charge in like this.
‘We’ve been had…!’
Ash’s face turned pale as he realized this was false information and an ambush strategy aimed at him.
“Ash! What are you doing! We need to break through a retreat path quickly!”
“Kuk!”
But creating an escape route in this narrow road wasn’t easy.
“Ash!”
“Damn it! In that case, I’ll break through the front! Everyone follow me!”
Ash and Lucretia broke through the front and retreated toward Grancel.
In the process, his cavalry force of 2,000 was reduced to 500.
***
I felt shocked as if I’d been hit by the sudden report.
“Tunkai’s cavalry has been devastated by ambush troops! While they seem to be regrouping in retreat, Alvard’s army is surrounding them and preparing to annihilate them!”
“Tch!”
While I had thought the enemy would target Ash’s cavalry, I was half a step late due to the work of evacuating Grancel’s citizens.
‘Kaien the Strategist…!’
Kaien wasn’t actually targeting Grancel with those 3,000 troops in the detachment.
Grancel was already under attack by the time that detachment departed.
While I was distracted dealing with that response, Kaien had devoured Ash’s cavalry.
Elena clicked her tongue at this ingenious method.
“The enemy commander’s tricks are quite something. Kaien, you said? Kaien… Kaien? Surely you don’t mean Kaien Holstein? The Guardian Spirit of Fensillon!”
As Elena was also from the old days, she seems to have heard of his reputation.
“That’s right. Though now he’s called the Strategist.”
“What will you do now? Ash and Lucretia are in danger.”
“…”
At my silence, Elena made a sad expression.
“I see there’s no way… They’re already dead pieces… We have no choice but to abandon them and take other measures…”
Even to Elena, who wasn’t well-versed in tactics, the situation was clear.
If we went to save Ash, we would be annihilated.
Elena, who was practically Lucretia’s teacher, clenched her fist.
“To think they would use the movement of plundering civilians as a diversion…! Luc…!”
At this point, we could only hope the enemy would show mercy regarding Ash and Lucretia’s lives.
We would have to pay the price later and exchange hostages.
That was the orthodox approach, the only answer, the safe solution.
But was that enough?
‘I can’t give the enemy power over my vassal’s life and death…’
In that case, there was only one way.
If Ash was currently a dead piece, in other words a dead stone, then to save him we needed another decisive dead stone.
In other words, I needed to become a dead piece myself.
* * *
The encirclement was gradually closing in.
Ash was certain there was no way out of this situation.
“This is the end…”
“No, Ash! Don’t give up! There’s still a way out!”
“No, that’s a trap. If I struggle towards where Ars is now, I’ll only end up causing him harm.”
Kaien’ movements were blatantly trying to draw in Ars’ main force.
If Ars moved his troops to save Ash, the trap would be activated and an encirclement would be formed. They would catch Ars’ rescue forces all at once.
“That’s why they haven’t captured us in one go. They’re trying to guide us towards where Ars is as much as possible.”
“No… It can’t be…”
“It’s my mistake. I shouldn’t have underestimated Kaien of the Ten Heroes…!”
Ash had been arrogant. He thought he had the qualities to match shoulders with the warlords.
In reality, Ash did have the qualities to become an excellent general. However, that was the quality of a charging general, not the makings of a successful strategist.
His arrogance in that aspect had created this worst-case scenario.
Swoosh! Ash drew the dagger at his waist.
“Ash!? What are you trying to do!?”
“I am the prince of Tunkai. If word gets out that I moved Tunkai’s army to help Calliper, things would become complicated in many ways. It would be a burden on Ars too. So…”
“Stop! That’s absolutely not a good choice!”
“I’m sorry, Luc. I brought you to my homeland hoping to show you something impressive… You should surrender. You’ll see something unpleasant, but… if you’re lucky, you might be able to save your life.”
Ash raised his dagger. If Lucretia hadn’t stopped him, that dagger would have torn his throat immediately.
But at that moment.
The enemy camp began to grow noisy.
Soon, dust rose as a force of 1,000 troops broke through the enemy lines and rushed towards where Ash was.
At the forefront, Elena was displaying her martial prowess, and right beside her was Ars.
“That idiot…!”
Ash’s eyes widened with bloodshot rage.
Ars coming here was nothing short of suicide.
Ars, who had broken through the enemy forces, smiled seeing the wound-covered Ash.
“You look terrible.”
“You, you…!”
Ash couldn’t easily continue his words.
“Why did you come here! You knew I was already dead!”
“Shut up, there’s no time for such talk now. We need to prepare to escape.”
“Where to!? Where could we possibly escape to!”
“Right here.”
“What…?”
Alvard’s forces were setting up an encirclement as if they had been waiting for this.
Although Kaien didn’t think Ars would come personally, he decided to devour the rescue forces since they had been sent.
Twenty thousand Alvard troops were closing in while maintaining their encirclement.
Ars looked at the army and received a helmet from his subordinate to put on.
It was the gray helmet that covered the face, the trademark of the mercenary Wade.
This was the only way to break through this difficult situation.
Kaien, who had established the encirclement, appeared directly at Ars’ location, leading his subordinates Gillias and Ushis.
“That gray helmet…!?”
Gillias narrows his eyes.
“Are they planning to execute a diversionary operation?”
He didn’t believe the Ars before him was real. If it were the real one, he wouldn’t have come in so foolishly.
Therefore, he thought it was just a stand-in wearing the helmet.
While Kaien shared this thought, Ars speaks to him.
“It’s been a while, Lord Kaien.”
“…?”
Kaien frowned. That voice was identical to Wade’s voice he had heard during the Chimera War.
Moreover, he sensed something unsettling in the expressions of the soldiers and officers guarding Ars.
“…Could it be, is it really you? Mercenary Wade… Ars Elaine, heir to the throne of Calliper!”
“That’s correct. I’m glad you haven’t forgotten my voice.”
“Huh! Walking straight into death’s door. Perhaps Juras is making his move?”
“Strictly speaking, that would be correct. This is all part of Juras’s scheme.”
At this, Gillias and Ushis’s expressions hardened.
“Scout the surroundings immediately!”
“The Crossing army might be here! Spread out the scouts!”
The two send out scouts, worried about possible intervention from the Crossing army. Ars smirks.
“There are no other armies. Right now, there’s only my unit, like a candle in the wind, and your mighty army here.”
“What are you plotting? No, even if you have a plan, you won’t escape from here. You will certainly die.”
A deadly silence fell. Expressions of frustration and determination appeared on Ash, Luc, and Elena’s faces.
The three were prepared to risk their lives to help Ars escape somehow.
Then Ars broke the silence.
“Before we discuss that, I want to talk about your atrocities.”
“Atrocities?”
“I’m talking about plundering Grancel and killing its citizens. Kaien the Strategist, will you use any means necessary to win?”
“What childish nonsense are you spouting?”
“Answer the question. I asked if you believe any method is acceptable as long as you win, as long as you survive!”
To this, Gillias answers instead.
“Of course! War means nothing if you don’t win! The words of losers are nothing but ugly excuses! While your actions to help Grancel’s citizens and risk your life to save your subordinates deserve praise, it only has meaning if you win! Your current action isn’t heroic wisdom but a fool’s suicide!”
“I wasn’t asking you. Kaien Holstein, I’m asking you.”
Kaien smiled faintly.
“Huh, how long has it been since I heard my family name…”
He nods.
“Yes, there’s something I always tell my disciples. Justice belongs to those who survive and win. For that justice, one shouldn’t be picky about means and methods.”
“…That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“If you have no regrets, let’s end this.”
Thump! Alvard’s forces approach.
Then Ars swiftly puts the dagger he took from Ash against his chin.
“If you come any closer, I’ll take my own life.”
To this, Kaien laughs heartily.
“Hahaha! Are you claiming value as a hostage? Then you’re mistaken. Taking your head is enough. No, just killing you is sufficient. If you want to end your life, go ahead!”
“Hmm, I hope you can keep maintaining that attitude.”
“What?”
Ars removed his helmet with his free hand. Seeing Ars’ face for the first time, Kaien furrowed his brow.
Gillias, who knew Ars’ face, cheers.
“It’s him! That’s definitely Wade! Capture him immediately!”
As Alvard’s officers and soldiers move…
That’s when it happened.
“…Wait!!”
Kaien’s shout echoed thunderously. It was an echo unbelievable from an old man.
Kaien’s fingertips trembled. His lips also shook.
“Y-you, could it be…!”
Ars nodded with a bitter expression.
“You’re sharp. Even sharper than King Gareth. Then you’ll recognize this too?”
I revealed the sapphire necklace hidden under my leather armor.
Kaien could no longer hide his shock.
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