The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 281
There was no light at all inside the castle.
Apparently, since they were the deceased, they seemed to have no need for light at all.
Mirabel furrows her brow and says,
“Ninia, it’s dark.”
“Oh!?”
At that, the Lich and the Death Knights hurriedly began searching for candles.
Sophia lets out a hollow laugh, saying it’s absurd.
“What are these people even doing?”
“It seems they’ve been living without light for a long time. Leitin, please cast an illumination spell.”
Following my instruction, Leitin shot an illumination sphere onto the ceiling.
Only then did the Lich Ninia nod her skull, saying “Oh, there was such a method!”
Something began to feel more familiar.
Only after the situation calmed down could we share our circumstances.
First, about the Lich and the eight Death Knights.
“We were subordinates of lady Mirabel.”
They had already perfectly learned the current human language. Ninia turns her empty eye sockets towards me.
“We fought numerous wars while supporting lady Mirabel. During a rebellion in the north, lady Mirabel sacrificed herself to evacuate civilians.”
That incident became a 10th-level dungeon known as the Demon Realm’s Empress.
“However, we foolishly could not accept lady Mirabel’s noble death. We took her remains and came to the Eastern Continent.”
“No way…”
“Yes, to resurrect lady Mirabel, we began our research.”
Ninia, who had an aptitude for black magic, began researching blood magic, turning eight knights who shared her intention into Death Knight to gather research materials, and continued research for thousands of years.
“During that time, a black magic colleague named Article began to doubt the research and left alone. I only recently found out that he has established his own power in the Southern Continent. Apparently, he was eventually expelled after committing an act of insubordination.”
“Article…!”
The black magic group in the Forest of Lament. So this was how it was connected.
“In the end, you failed to resurrect Mirabel.”
“Yes, we couldn’t understand the reason… Oh, so that was it. Lady Mirabel’s soul had been trapped there all this time.”
Their purpose was relatively pure.
The ultimate goal was Mirabel’s resurrection, but they also wanted to provide bodies to different races to revive their civilizations.
The Goldian race was a prime example.
“We’re also giving new life to races wanting to coexist with humans. We don’t know if humans will accept this, but anyway, the Eastern Continent is a place humans don’t want to come to. We thought it didn’t matter if humans didn’t accept it.”
I decided to ask something that was on my mind.
“Have you recently resurrected any humans?”
“…!”
Ninia reacts sensitively.
“Are you talking about Calvern?”
“Yes. Calvern, the great hero of different races. Did you resurrect him?”
“No, that wasn’t us. It was the work of Article’s magicians.”
“Then how do you know about it?”
“Because it’s a blood magic I developed. Using it also affects me.”
“…! Can you tell me the location where this blood magic was used?”
Then I could immediately send an extermination team to destroy that place.
But Ninia shakes their head.
“I don’t know the geographical location. But I can tell you what kind of space it is.”
“That’s enough for me.”
For now, we decided to track that separately.
Next, we discussed the lake.
Ninia explained it plainly.
“That place is Olkin’s final stronghold.”
“…Pardon?”
Olkin of Hope. It seemed this dragon’s name had been mentioned the most so far.
“It was created to trap the mother goddess. Think of that lake that way. Get the detailed story from Olkin who is there.”
“…!? Olkin is there?”
“Yes, I’ll tell you the secret passage to enter the lake, so go take a look.”
With this new clue, we immediately began preparing to depart.
* * *
Mirabel said goodbye to them with a sad expression.
Although Ninia offered to provide her a new body and resurrect her, she refused.
She was acknowledging that she was one of the dead.
Seeing Lich Ninia looking discouraged, Mirabel issued them a new command.
“Keep resurrecting good races! I’m leaving it to you, Ninia!”
“…Huh, you remain the same. I will carry out that order even if these bones turn to dust.”
The Death Knights also knelt on one knee, accepting Mirabel’s command.
Ash stuck out his tongue.
“Wow, that’s impressive. Is this loyalty preserved for thousands of years?”
“Right, I wish I had such vassals too.”
Then Eonia and Anton jump in at the right moment.
“I will serve Lord Ars even if I become a skeleton!”
“I feel the same. Loyalty continued for thousands of years is truly admirable.”
Certainly, these two seemed like they would do exactly that.
“Still, about resurrection… Just feel sad when I die.”
“What! Letting your master die first is a disgrace for a vassal! Such a thing is unacceptable!”
Eonia also nods vigorously and strongly agrees.
It was surprising that these two’s opinions could align.
“Ars, it’s over.”
Mirabel, who finished her goodbyes, came towards us. She seemed overwhelmed with emotion, not knowing her vassals were living this kind of life.
Soon, she hugged Elena and shed tears.
“P-Please calm down, ancestor.”
Elena is left in charge of calming things down, and we set sail towards the secret passage that Ninia had told us about.
That secret passage was located in the mountainous region in the northeastern part of the lake.
At the summit of this place, where half of the mountainous region was submerged in water, there was a secret passage leading down to the lake.
They had hidden it so well that Gaspar could only discover it after searching for an hour.
“This seems to be the place. Should we go down right away?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
The underground passage seemed to stretch endlessly.
The more we went, the more a sense of déjà vu grew within me.
‘Could this be…?’
It seemed others felt the same way.
Those who had participated in the Yumir reclamation operation.
“Hey, Ars.”
Ash speaks with a look of surprise.
“This passage… Isn’t it similar to the underground market that was in the Alliance?”
“Do you feel the same way?”
“Completely similar.”
Sophia nodded in agreement.
“From what I know, that underground facility was originally an ancient facility. The Alliance discovered it and developed it.”
Elliot continued the conversation.
“I heard it was quite poor initially. They had to do renovation construction countless times to prevent it from collapsing. If it was built thousands of years ago, that would make sense.”
The conviction was growing stronger.
Just as expected.
The scene unfolding at the end of the passage was no different from that underground market back then.
* * *
The bottom of the lake.
More precisely, an enormous underground facility with its ceiling serving as the lake’s bottom.
Countless monsters were gambling there.
What they were betting on was Magic Stone.
At that moment, I recalled the first goblins and ogre groups I encountered in the Eastern Continent.
‘So those monsters were keeping the Magic Stones!’
Precisely to use in this gambling den.
The purpose of collecting Magic Stones was also clear.
Ninia had said that to use resurrection blood magic, one needs either a human sacrifice or Magic Stones.
Article’s group used humans as sacrifices, but here in the Eastern Continent, there are no humans to sacrifice. So the only way to resurrect is through Magic Stones.
‘They’re collecting Magic Stones to obtain a body….’
It meant that these monsters also lived with purpose and will.
That was when it happened.
Guards rushed over with a warning sound.
They seemed to be saying, ‘An intruder! A human has invaded!’
Immediately, an emergency was declared everywhere, and everyone began to grab their weapons.
With numbers reaching tens of thousands, a direct confrontation would absolutely be impossible to win.
At this point, Mirabel stepped forward.
She tried to persuade the guards by presenting an introduction letter written by Ninia.
The guards carefully examined the letter and then lifted the emergency.
“Phew! I thought we’d die here. Everyone, it’s okay, so lower your guard.”
My vassals were already forming a formation to help me escape. Their murderous appearance was actually making the vassals feel intimidated.
Soon a lizardman, seemingly the guard captain, approached.
Gaspar whispered beside me.
“What’s that? It looks incredibly strong.”
“Indeed….”
Sophia seems to have something in mind and rustles through her books.
Then she shouts.
“The ruler of the lake! It’s in the history books! The lizardman leader killed all the kingdom’s warriors who were trying to drain the lake!”
In other words, this was the master of the 10th dungeon.
We heightened our vigilance just in case, but it wasn’t necessary.
Mirabel clapped her hands in welcome.
“Grisham!”
“Mirabel…?”
The lizardman wrinkles his expression upon seeing Mirabel.
He soon shakes his head and gestures for them to follow.
At that moment.
“Lysithea! Are you here!? Lysithea-!”
Ash calling out Lysithea’s name at the top of his lungs.
The loud-voiced Gunther also joined in.
“Ms. Lysithea! Princess Melodie! Are you here!?”
When Gunther shouted, it seemed the underground facility was vibrating.
Even the monsters were cowering.
After a moment.
“Ash!?”
Lysithea peeked her face from what seemed to be a room. Melodie was behind her.
“Is it really Ash!?”
Lysithea leaps and runs over. Though her appearance was a bit disheveled from what seemed like hardship, she was still recognizable.
“Ash!”
Lysithea tries to throw herself into Ash’s arms.
Lucretia blocked her.
“Please wait a moment. We should verify in case it’s someone else.”
“…Who are you?”
Though Lysithea spoke in the Central Continent’s language, Luc seemed to have learned it during their previous journey and understood.
“Ahem! I’m Ash’s colleague. Please step back.”
“Oh, I see. Hmm… I didn’t know Ash could be so savvy.”
Sparks seemed to fly from her eyes. Ash was fidgeting.
Eventually, he asks me for help.
“Ars, help me!”
“I’ll pray for your soul.”
“You!”
I ignored Ash and greeted Melodie.
“Oh my, how have you been? Looks like you’ve been doing well.”
Melodie responds in her characteristic strong woman’s voice.
“It was quite an interesting experience. I wondered what it feels like to be trapped in a strange world.”
“Juras is worried. Let’s go back now.”
“The Elder is worried about me? How unusual. I should return and reassure him.”
Finally, all the missing people have gathered.
I felt a sense of relief in my heart.
‘It was really long.’
Aggert, who was kidnapped by the Alliance, was still missing, but… Since there were no other clues, I decided to assume he had already returned to the Central Continent.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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