The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 275
Since the enemy’s leader and their purpose had been revealed, there was a need to respond quickly.
I had already informed Juras, who was returning to the Central Continent, about this matter.
“A past great her o, is that so… Oh my….”
Juras smiled interestingly.
This guy didn’t seem to need any worry. Rather, I felt sorry for a guy named Calvern.
In any case, after requesting war preparations from Juras, I decided to begin a full-scale search for the missing persons.
Elliot had finally agreed to cooperate.
I spread out the belongings of the missing persons brought from the continent and began casting tracking magic on each item.
I started first with my sister Julia’s items.
The unit’s emblem she received when commissioned as an officer. I hoped this would work, because if it didn’t, I would have to use tracking magic on embarrassing items like her underwear.
“Let’s begin.”
Elliot, with a map spread out, was drawing up mana mixed with magic.
When the tracking magic was used, his magical power wrapped around the item and then suddenly flew off at an intense speed somewhere.
With his eyes closed, Elliot calculated the speed and direction, and then pointed precisely at a spot on the map.
“Here…?”
It was the vast ocean between the East and Central Continents.
“Is this correct?”
“As I’ve said several times before, it’s not entirely certain. Even more so with such a long-distance tracking.”
“Hmm.”
Still, they had found the hidden Elf’s island using this method before, so its credibility was relatively high.
“Lucretia, do you have any information about this point?”
“The East Continent is an area that was lost in ancient times… If we search through old maps, we might find some clues.”
The fortunate thing was that it wasn’t the mainland of the East Continent.
An uninhabited island was better than the mainland swarming with monsters.
‘I’m not sure if it’s an uninhabited island or not….’
I only hoped that Olaf and my sister Julia were alive on this island.
“What item will we track next?”
“This one.”
It was Princess Melodie’s turn this time.
It was a comb prepared by King of Parain.
‘Please let this work….’
Melodie, who was discovered on the mainland of the East Continent by Vandalin, had an extremely low survival probability.
If there was no response to the tracking magic, it would be better to assume she was dead.
Therefore, I waited for the tracking magic results as if praying.
Elliot’s magical power wrapped around the item. Soon, a response came.
Ping! The magical power flew in a direction similar to when tracking Julia.
Elliot cautiously pointed to a spot.
Precisely the center of the East Continent, one of the top 10 dungeons, and the most notorious area of the Lake’s Ruler.
“…”
Silence fell among the informed vassals.
As if everyone was thinking the same thing, Gaspar asked Elliot on behalf of the group.
“Hey, I just want to ask one thing.”
“What?”
“Does the tracking magic work if the target is in a drowned state?”
He was asking if the tracking magic would work on a corpse.
Elliot nodded ambiguously.
“If the corpse is in good condition, the tracking magic will be activated. My tracking isn’t specifically limited to tracking living things. As long as it hasn’t been completely torn apart by fish, it should work.”
Gazes soon gathered on me, urging a decision. Though there was a response to the tracking magic, the survival probability was still low.
Should we enter the monster’s lair, the domain of one of the top 10 dungeons, to search for Melodie?
“…Please try tracking Lysithea’s item first.”
Lysithea’s item was, quite directly, underwear.
Ash held out the underwear, as if this was the most definitive method.
At this moment, for some reason, Lucretia discreetly checked her own underwear.
Feeling a strange ‘something’, I asked Luc.
“Luc, don’t tell me….”
“Oh, uh! Please proceed quickly!”
Ash also avoided my gaze, looking embarrassed, and handed the underwear to Elliot.
Elliot cast the tracking magic as casually as if it were nothing unusual.
Ziiing! Ping! Again, the magical power flew in the exact same direction as the previous two.
Elliot furrowed his brow.
“It’s the same this time.”
The same spot as Melodie. The location of the Lake’s Ruler.
The situation was too coincidental to be a mere coincidence.
With two people located in the same place, the survival probability somehow felt increased.
Ash opened his eyes wide and shouted.
“At the time of the past transition, Princess Melodie and Lysithea were close! It’s not strange at all that they were transferred to similar locations!”
“…!”
“Ars, the two are still alive! They’re waiting for us to come find them! We must search immediately!”
“…”
The other vassals seemed to have the same thought.
Before making a decision, I held out the last item.
It was Aggert’s cherished sword and Estelle’s own blood stone.
First, the tracking results for Estelle’s blood stone.
Rutger, still of unknown whereabouts, was again pointing to the East Continent.
“Of all places, Rutger…!”
He, who crossed over to this world with Juras to find his daughter, seemed to have incredibly bad luck. Unlike other Crossing officers, he had fallen in the East Continent.
“Father…”
Estelle darkened her expression, seemingly worried.
Aggert’s result was remarkable.
“Oh?”
Even Elliot tilted his head.
The tracking result was pointing to the Central Continent.
Anton shook his head.
“This might be an incorrect result. It could be pointing to the blacksmith who made the sword.”
“If not, does that mean Aggert has already returned to the our homeland?”
“Eh? But that can’t be….”
“Now it can be.”
Aggert is likely being held captive by the Alliance as a slave. If it was a higher-tier Alliance and they, having noticed Aggert’s martial arts skills, sent him to the Central Continent with Calvern, that wouldn’t be strange.
In any case, we now have a rough idea of the locations of all the missing persons.
Why we couldn’t find them until now.
‘As expected, it was the East Continent….’
A lair where demon and human boundaries are blurred.
We began preparing to head there.
* * *
For this Eastern Continent expedition, everyone except Erina and Estelle decided to go together.
We even decided to bring the babies. We were planning to travel by a sturdy warship, and also because Mirabel didn’t want to leave her twin children behind.
Ryuna also cried out for her father and wanted to follow, so we just decided to take her along.
The journey itself was not dangerous.
We first docked at the Elves’ Island on our warship.
We decided to stay there for a day and exchange information with Dragon Altron.
“What did you say?”
Altron showed strong displeasure at my words.
“Is that true? Did Vandalin say that?”
“Yes. He seems to think that you did something irresponsible. He said he would meet you once if you apologize.”
“That guy…!”
Altron revealed his anger.
Soon, as if she had given up, she shook her head.
“I understand the feelings of the one blaming me, but I have no intention of apologizing.”
“You’re quite stubborn.”
“Hmph!”
Nevertheless, I had obtained some information from him.
First, about the great hero Calvern.
“Calvern has been resurrected…”
“Do you know anything about him?”
“Well, at that time, I was busy moving the Elves to the island. Calvern bought time so that the Elves could migrate unnoticed. He deliberately started a war. And he died in that war.”
“…!”
“There was no mercy in numbers. The human troops were as many as 200,000, while Calvern’s troops were only 20,000 elite soldiers. Despite that, he managed to hold out for half a year.”
“Didn’t you think of helping him in the war?”
“Calvern said the same thing, but the Elves were already exhausted. They decided to retreat with Mirabel’s child.”
“I see…”
“Anyway, be careful. Calvern’s abilities are undoubtable.”
“Do you know anything about the Lake’s Ruler in the Eastern Continent?”
“Olkin would know the most about that…”
“You mean the Hopeful Olkin?”
“Yes, he created that lake. He bestowed the blessing of water to the residents suffering from drought. The lake was structured so that it would never dry up. So the village prospered around the lake, and a kingdom was born.”
But after Olkin became corrupted, he became a monster that would eat the people around him.
“The lake flooded greatly and drowned people. Because of that infamy, he entered the 10th dungeon.”
“From what I heard, it sounds like a simple lake. Why did it become a dungeon if there’s no monster?”
“That’s exactly it. In reality, it’s not a dungeon.”
“…?”
“A dungeon is the history of resistance. For that history to appear as a dungeon, it must be conquered once. But this lake has never been conquered.”
“Oh…!”
“Yes, the original history continues to this day. So now, it’s not a dungeon made of magic. It actually exists.”
“Do you happen to know what’s there?”
Altron ambiguously shook her head.
“I’ve heard stories that spirits exist there…”
“Spirits? Do such things exist?”
A spirit is a magical creature born from nature. But it was so fantastical that it was only passed down as a legend in this world.
“I don’t know either. Spirits are beings born from nature, in other words, born from mother goddess. At least I know nothing about spirits, I’m sorry.”
“No, this is enough.”
Whatever it was, the ruler of this lake seemed to hold many secrets.
We left after resupplying at the Elves’ Island.
Our top priority was to search the uninhabited island in the western part of the Eastern Continent to find my sister Julia and Olaf.
* * *
We divided our warships into three for the search.
One warship with me and my vassals. The other two were assisted by the kingdom’s navy.
The search did not take long.
That’s because Elliot was on our warship.
Elliot was continuously casting tracking magic on Julia’s belongings and searching for her location.
“It’s that direction. Considering the magic power’s decreased speed, we’re almost there.”
As we continued in the direction Elliot pointed, an island finally began to appear.
It was an island not marked on the map.
The size was about 1/4 of the Elves’ Island.
Judging from the forest formed on the island, food seemed abundant.
“We will dock at the island!”
We dropped anchor and stepped onto the island. After checking the sandy beach, I had a sure feeling.
There were artificial traces of fish being processed everywhere on the sandy beach. Some traces of campfires were also visible.
“Ars, it seems there are quite a few signs of life on the island. It’s best to be careful,” Gaspar coldly warned.
In case Julia and Olaf were being held as slaves and living a hard life, we were prepared to fight, and we entered the island.
But what greeted us was truly an unexpected sight.
“Oh! Ars! And Gaspar too! You’ve finally come!”
“Oh! My youngest!”
Sister Julia and Olaf greeted us with carefree smiles.
I was so surprised that I could only stand frozen.
Because sister Julia was holding a newborn baby.
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