The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 308
After ending the short festival and returning to work, I had to prepare for the war.
There is a perception that war is more complicated in its aftermath, but in reality, the preparation process is much more exhausting.
Because one must prepare by anticipating what moves the opponent might make, it becomes mentally more draining.
To prepare for this, I had work to do in the Ellan Kingdom, so I set up an office in the royal palace and moved busily.
“Absolutely do not take your eyes off the northern developments. Report even the smallest details.”
“Understood!”
Liande spies were already active here.
The spies from Crossing who had been operating earlier were in charge of training, and now over 200 spies were moving around as my hands and feet.
Knock knock! Along with the knock, Ash poked his head in.
“Ars, I’ve finished clearing the dungeons in the southern continent.”
“Good job. Nothing unusual happened?”
“Well, since Ilya and Anton went together. Should I say it was a challenge if watching those two flirting was a challenge?”
After handing me some documents, Ash stretched and said he was going to have a drink.
While reviewing the documents he left behind, I heard another knock.
This time it was master Ilya.
“Since Ash has already reported, you could just rest, master.”
“That’s impossible. I was the person in charge, after all.”
Master began reporting with a relieved expression, but I could easily read the worry beneath the surface.
“Is there something bothering you?”
“…You can tell? Anton said the same thing.”
“If you’re worried, please tell me.”
“It’s about… My master.”
“Guderian?”
“When we met on the battlefield last time… He was trying to kill me. That look in his eyes was serious.”
“That’s just war…”
“I thought so too, but he didn’t seem to have much attachment to the war.”
“Was killing his disciple more important…?”
“That’s the feeling I got.”
So he was apparently worrying if he had done something wrong.
I found it difficult to give a definitive answer, so I could only offer some consolation.
“For problems without answers, don’t think too deeply. Just forget and spend time with your husband and child.”
“Whew! That sounds right. Where is Gawain now?”
“I think he’s probably playing with the children in the royal garden.”
At that moment, a cute knock knock knock sound was heard. Knowing who it was, I called toward the door.
“Ryuna?”
“Yes!”
Ryuna, who recently learned how to open doors, jumped and grabbed the doorknob, opening the door herself.
Behind Ryuna, who entered the office, Gawain was also present.
Gawain looked anxious, holding cookies and an empty teapot in his arms.
It seemed Ryuna had made him do a cookie shuttle.
Ryuna smiled brightly and said, “Dad! Eat cookies!”
She apparently got cookies from the servant under the pretext of bringing cookies and tea to me.
Though it seemed cute at first glance, in reality, she was doing this because she wanted to eat them herself, so it was quite a clever move.
She had now learned a legitimate way to get cookies.
She even made Gawain do it, thinking Eonia would catch on if she did it herself.
Gawain was fidgeting.
“Ryuna, what if you get scolded by Yumir later?”
“Won’t get scolded! Even if I get scolded, it’s okay!”
“Ugh…”
Gawain, making a bitter face, froze when he saw his mother.
Master Ilya was also trembling at the fingertips, watching her son who was doing a cookie shuttle for Ryuna.
Ryuna, regardless of all that, set up the snacks on the table with my help and began munching away.
Meanwhile, Gawain was being scolded by master Ilya.
“My son! You should say when you don’t want to do something!”
“But Dad said I should listen to whatever Ryuna says!”
“Keu!”
It wasn’t strange that Anton thought of Ryuna as a princess & ‘lord that Gawain must serve’.
Master Ilya was about to give Anton a piece of her mind.
Feeling sorry that my child might have caused family discord, I decided to change the subject.
“By the way, Ryuna, didn’t you say you were going to practice martial arts in the garden today? To lose weight.”
When I pinched her belly fat, Ryuna grimaced and squirmed. Even as I continued to knead it, she started to whimper. She was a child, after all.
This seemed to comfort master Ilya, who softened her expression.
But Ryuna’s next words became a bomb.
“Gawain was weak, so it ended quickly! Don’t touch my belly!”
“Gawain is weak? You trained together?”
“Yes. But Gawain cried.”
Trembling! Master Ilya shakes her fist.
Eventually, calling it special training, she took Gawain somewhere and left.
“Oh, come on. Ryuna? Be a bit gentler with Gawain. He’s your only peer friend.”
“What’s a peer friend?”
While disciplining Ryuna like this, Yumir comes to visit.
“Young master, is Ryuna here by any chance…”
She saw her daughter with cookie crumbs around her mouth and furrowed her brow.
Ryuna was trying to play innocent, but it was useless.
“Ryuna, didn’t we promise not to eat snacks outside of designated times? What did I say would happen if you break the promise?”
“Hmm… I ate it together with Dad.”
“No, you can’t.”
Yumir lifted Ryuna and started slapping her bottom with a ‘Clap! Clap!’ Although it didn’t seem particularly painful, Ryuna began to wail loudly.
After the two left, Eo appears holding the twins.
It seemed something had happened, as Ernie was crying hard.
“Waaah! Dad…!”
Ernie moves into my embrace and wipes away tears. When I ask what’s wrong, Eo sighs.
“While practicing martial arts, she got hit on the head by the toy sword Ed was swinging.”
“That’s why I said martial arts training is bad for the kids.”
“But…”
Eo was full of enthusiasm about passing down Valkyrie martial arts to the children.
The bloodline of Mirabel was born with martial arts talent, and now there was the strongest ancestor Mirabel.
Since Mirabel, an unstable being, could disappear at any time, she was trying to start martial arts training as soon as possible.
Moreover, Ryuna’s outstanding martial arts talent further amplified that anxiety.
I asked, bewildered, “Is Ryuna that great?”
“Great? Her movements are innate. Even Master Elena and the ancestor purely praised her. If she doesn’t neglect her efforts, she’ll become a top-level martial artist.”
“Hmm, to know that from the movements of a three-year-old child. No matter how I look at it, it seems suspicious.”
“Anyway! My children can’t be left behind!”
“But what if the children cry like this? Oh my, my daughter, did it hurt?”
Ernie was clinging to me and refusing to let go.
Edward also seemed like he wanted to come to me, so I held them both in my arms until they fell asleep while handling my work.
Eo began helping me with my paperwork with skillful hands. The education received from Bisketa was not in vain and was a great help.
After the twins fell asleep, she left the office holding them.
Just as I thought I could catch my breath, Gaspar, who was on a northern reconnaissance mission, arrived.
Erina and Estelle, also came with their children.
Even Rosa came to check the situation.
There was no end to the foot traffic in my office.
* * *
After finishing work until night, I headed to Juras’s office.
I had a consultation about war preparations.
His office was in the most isolated place in the royal palace. As I got closer to the office, the atmosphere changed.
Those who seemed to be his subordinates were looking with stark eyes, and the servants he personally selected were moving with discipline.
Because of this, the maids in the palace called this place a ‘demon’s den’ and were terrified.
Due to his previous purge of spies within the palace, a rumor had spread that if you approached this place, you would never leave again.
Knock knock! When I knocked on the office door, a flat, emotionless voice said to come in.
As I entered his office, I felt a chill. Even though the indoor temperature was the same as my office.
He was leisurely reviewing documents stacked like a mountain.
The teapot on the reception table was cold, indicating no guests had visited all day.
“Anyway, did you eat?”
“I ate appropriately.”
Since he truly looked like he hadn’t eaten just enough, I ordered an outside servant to bring a well-prepared meal.
I checked a few documents that the guy was processing.
“Isn’t this something I could ask the special forces subordinates to handle?”
“Because I’m certain I’ll do it directly.”
Looking at his appearance, I suddenly felt that he was in a position opposite to mine.
My office, where people constantly come and go, and his office, where not a single guest visits.
Yet, we had some similarities. I was feeling that sense of commonality.
When the meal was prepared, I pulled him to the reception table. Juras shrugged his shoulders and sat across from me.
“Did you come because of war preparations?”
“That was the case… But now I’m just here to have a meal.”
“…?”
“Because I find your appearance somewhat pitiful.”
“Hm, are you showing sympathy?”
“Something like that. If you continue like this, nothing will be left. Princess Melodie might even lose her affection and abandon you.”
“Nothing will be left… That’s incorrect, Ars.”
“Incorrect?”
“I already have nothing.”
Juras smiled slightly and continued speaking.
“Shall we talk about the old days for a moment?”
“If it’s about the time you killed my parents, I’m not interested in hearing it.”
“It’s from even earlier than that.”
Juras began to tell about his childhood.
He said he started showing fragments of his talent from the age of 4.
Born as the eldest son of a noble family that collapsed due to the abolition of the nobility system in Crossing, he claims he was used by his parents.
His parents planned to elevate Juras to a national high-ranking official to restore their family’s prosperity, and showed his abilities to many people.
His talent was genuine, so becoming famous was quick.
“At that time, I was a plaything for adults. You could say I was a box of hope?”
“……”
“Everyone had their own expectations of me. ‘You will reunite the continent. You are a talent sent by heaven…‘”
This seemed to be the foundation of the sense of commonality I felt towards him.
I had experienced exactly the same thing in my previous life.
A fake genius praised as a prodigy just because I was somewhat good at Go.
After my downfall, I could escape the adults’ grasp, but Juras could not.
Because he was truly a genius. A genius of a level that would remain in history.
“By the time I was ten, people were actually afraid of me. Around that time, I could do most things by myself. I knew how my parents would act and used that to create situations I wanted.”
“Oh my…”
“Because of this, my parents tried to sell me to another influential person, fearing me. Well, I had already spoken with the king about the situation.”
“So King Parain became your godfather?”
“That’s correct.”
“Still, you eventually gained your freedom, which is fortunate, right?”
“Freedom… There was no such thing. I had already forgotten about it.”
Knowledge accumulated by the pressure of adults. Philosophy, beliefs. That was everything Juras was.
A well-made genius could no longer return to the past.
Just a moving puppet driven by injected things.
That’s why he says he has nothing.
“After entering the Seven Deadly Sins, I was certain. I don’t have even a fragment of emotion. I’m completely empty.”
“……”
“So you don’t need to worry about me. I’m just a capable puppet that will move until my life ends.”
“I don’t think so.”
“…?”
“If you were just such a puppet, you wouldn’t have needed to tell me all this.”
“It’s merely a whim.”
“I’ve never heard of a puppet as whimsical as you.”
“……”
“You can slowly find yourself. Aren’t there people to help you with that? Princess Melodie, Anton, and King Parain will gladly help you if you reach out. I’ll stay with you to the end as long as you don’t betray us.”
Juras made a bitter smile as if he couldn’t stand it.
“Huh, I’ll wait without expecting anything.”
While he had been mechanically eating the predetermined side dishes, he shifted his gaze to the meat side dish I was eating.
“It’s a roast seasoned with spices from the Elves’ island. Try it.”
Juras smiled faintly and shook his head, standing up.
“Since the meal is over, let’s now talk about the war.”
After instructing the attendant to clear the meal, Juras spread out a map.
This map was not limited to the Central Continent.
It was drawn with the Central Continent and the continents located in the east, west, north, and south.
This meant that the entire world would move in this war.
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.
