The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road 328

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 328

The fifth and last day of the festival.

I was in an atmosphere far removed from the festival’s final day.

I was in the underground prison of the Imperial Palace.

There, Pax, the Viscount who was a close relative and confidant of the mother goddess, also known as Feis Lancost, was imprisoned.

I was meeting him with Calvern, hearing that his life was hanging by a thread.

He had been living in hiding after the unification war and was captured a few months ago.

Considering that he was captured because he had infiltrated Platon’s Imperial Palace, it was clear that he was scheming something, so they had imprisoned him and interrogating him using various methods.

Just yesterday, in commemoration of the festival, even prisoners were provided with a good meal and utensils, but he used the provided fork to stab his own vital area and self-harm.

Although treatment was rushed, the bleeding was too severe, and his basic physical strength seemed to have deteriorated significantly, so he was on the brink of death.

“Answer before you die. Why did you infiltrate the Imperial Palace? I’m also curious about the mother goddess. Why did you side with the mother goddess?”

“Do you think I’ll tell you…?”

He let out a bitter laugh with a dying voice.

“Ars Elaine… Your despair is just beginning… Don’t forget…!”

Feis closed his eyes as his breath was cut off. The priests who had been trying to breathe life into him shook their heads.

Calvern stared at his corpse for a long time before speaking to me.

“Don’t worry about it. I heard he infiltrated the Imperial Palace for a brief moment. He probably couldn’t do anything.”

“That’s what makes me even more anxious.”

If he was targeting me or my family, I might have brushed it off, but he wasn’t attempting to assassinate anyone.

Even when he was discovered and captured by Anton, he was just laughing maniacally without any regrets.

Such actions deeply irritated me.

“I’m telling you again, worrying is a disadvantage. That’s exactly what he wants.”

“I suppose that’s the right way to think…”

I tried to let it go, but my heart was pounding with anxiety.

As if I was already sinking into a swamp.

‘What the hell did this guy do?’

Now, I would never know.

“Ah, I don’t know.”

I shook my head and tried to shake it off.

It was almost time for the tea party hosted by the women.

I bid farewell to Calvern and got dressed to head to the Imperial Palace’s garden.

The garden was set up like a party venue.

After the tea party, it seemed they would invite the men to join the party.

As I appeared, Erina approached me with quick steps.

“Where did you go, Ars?”

“Just for a moment, I had an urgent matter.”

I decided to keep this matter to myself. I didn’t want to instill unnecessary anxiety.

“I see, please sit here first.”

“First…?”

“You need to make a full round.”

Her words seemed to have a significant meaning.

The tea party had already started, and everyone was sitting at tables, chatting.

Children were running and playing in the garden.

At the table where I first sat were Rinoa, Rosa, Leiten, Lucretia, and Erina.

Erina cleared her throat and continued.

“Let’s start giving love advice to Rinoa.”

“…!?”

Rinoa, who seemed to hear this for the first time, widened her eyes.

“I don’t need such advice!”

“I’m sorry, but Leiten revealed that Rinoa has been feeling lonely.”

“That’s just…!”

“Anyway, let’s start with Lucretia.”

This table was something else.

It had become a platform for boasting.

Under the guise of giving love advice to Rinoa, they started praising their husbands.

What was surprising was how exaggerated Lucretia was. Luc went on about Ash for 10 minutes.

I couldn’t help but speak up.

“You should tell Ash this. He only talks about being scolded.”

“Hmm! Can’t be helped. Ash becomes overconfident when praised.”

“Oh, come on.”

After Lucretia’s husband boasting ended, it was Erina’s turn.

Erina started her story from the moment we first met and unfolded a tale that lasted 30 minutes.

Rosa followed with her story about meeting me, and Leiten shared her love story with Anduha.

Rinoa trembled, seemingly sick of this salt-rubbing.

This was her friends’ strategy to stimulate Rinoa and get her to meet a man.

It seemed to work quite effectively, as Rinoa boldly declared she would definitely bring a man to the next tea party.

After the first table’s chatter ended.

The next table had Lysithea, Ilya, Elena, and Mirabel.

Given their backgrounds, all their conversations were about martial arts.

Elena, showing competitive spirit, provoked master Ilya.

“Ilya, shall we have a duel after the tea party? I’ve trained somewhat myself.”

“Sure, or we could go to the martial arts hall right now?”

Lysithea also seemed itchy to move and showed enthusiasm.

The three agreed the tea party wasn’t suitable and headed to the martial arts hall. Mirabel also left, saying she would play with the children.

Erina, the organizer, gave a wry smile.

The third table.

Here sat Bisketa, sister Julia, Meissen, Estelle, and my mother.

The atmosphere here was uncomfortably warm.

Perhaps because of older people like my mother and Bisketa, they directly asked about married life.

Even Erina, who was accompanying me, was greatly flustered.

In contrast, Estelle spoke without hesitation.

Estelle’s atmosphere had changed significantly compared to before. She had become particularly close with sister Julia and my mother.

In her words, it was due to receiving a blood transfusion with my blood through hemomancy, though there was no magical basis for this.

“So Mr. Olaf brought flowers that night.”

“Oh, yes! That’s right!”

Julia and Meissen were busy bragging about their husbands.

Mother was also enthusiastically talking about her pride in Max becoming a first-grade administrative official, Miller becoming a third-grade administrative official, and Ferge becoming a general in the Liande army.

Since I was talking as if I didn’t exist, I quietly stepped back and headed to the last table.

There, Yumir, Eonia, and Sophia were having a conversation.

It was a slightly unexpected combination, so I was curious about what they were talking about.

“We were talking about a child named Seres.”

It seemed Sophia was seeking advice from the two about teaching Seres.

Since Seres was still a young child, it was essentially the same as child-rearing.

“Wasn’t it difficult for Ms. Yumir to take care of Ryuna? If it were me, I think it would have been really hard.”

As soon as Ryuna’s name came up, Yumir automatically sighed.

“It’s still difficult. Perhaps because she takes after the young master, she’s incredibly intelligent. I wish she would use that intelligence for academic or martial arts training….”

“You’re going through a lot. How about you, Ms. Eonia? Wouldn’t it be even more challenging since they’re twins?”

Eonia also showed a gloomy expression.

Recently, Ed and Ernie have been fighting more often.

You could say it’s about isolating the male child, Ed.

I also had something to say about this part.

“Eonia, it’s your fault. It’s because you favor Ed.”

“W-well….”

Eonia insisted that Valkyrie martial arts must be passed down by women, forcing strong martial arts training on Ernie, while teaching Ed to study.

As a result, Ernie became dissatisfied.

Eonia is just touching her teacup, seemingly without a counterargument. It appears she has no intention of changing her educational approach.

While discussing child-rearing.

Ryuna, who was leading and playing with the children, ran towards us.

“Dad! I want to eat snacks!”

“Anyway… When will that appetite of hers decrease.”

The other children seemed hungry too, and they were about to be given snacks, but for some reason, Edward was nowhere to be seen.

“Ryuna, where is Ed?”

“Playing with Mirabel.”

“Why, everyone should play together. Bring Ed too. Then I’ll give you snacks.”

“Okay!”

The tea party was gradually coming to an end.

Soon the men would join, and preparations for a grand party were underway.

* * *

During such a tea party.

On one side, a dark conspiracy was stirring.

A seedling planted in the garden.

The spirit of the mother goddess was contained within this seedling.

Feis Lancost’ reason for infiltrating the imperial palace was precisely this.

Planting a seedling containing the mother goddess’ spirit inside the imperial palace.

If they could do just that, they could overturn everything.

If this tree grew and the mother goddess could exert her influence, the imperial palace would be in her grasp.

With that influence, driving people mad would be simple.

The mother goddess intended to drive Ars and all his vassals insane.

She was confident in turning Ars into a tyrant and corrupting his vassals into beings no different from demons.

If she could do that, this unified nation would surely crumble like a sand castle.

‘Ars Elaine…. You are now left only to writhe in despair…!‘

In fact, this was a massive gamble even from the mother goddess’s perspective.

If discovered, she could truly be annihilated. Her remaining spiritual power was that weak.

Originally, she should have established a safe base and slowly recovered her strength, a period of at least 500 years.

The mother goddess had given advance instructions to Feis Lancost to bring her body to the imperial palace to exact direct revenge on Ars.

‘Just you wait. Definitely…!’

As she was plotting this, a young child approached the mother goddess’ body.

It was Edward Elaine, Eonia’s son.

The mother goddess instinctively knew.

‘The bloodline of Mirabel…!’

Ed crouched in front of the seedling and whimpered.

“I also want to play with my older sisters….”

His older sisters Ryuna and Ernie were doing sword fights among themselves, excluding him.

Edward, who did not receive martial arts training, could not join their play.

“If I had a wooden sword, would you play with me?”

Ed fell into deep thought looking at the seedling.

The seedling was exactly the length of a wooden sword.

Ed tried to grab and pull out the seedling.

‘Oh, no!’

The mother goddess screamed a soundless scream.

She used her remaining abilities to somehow stop Ed’s action.

Consequently, Edward gave up pulling out the seedling.

At that moment, Ryuna, who heard Ars’ words, came running.

“Ed! Come eat snacks!”

“Sister!”

“What are you doing?”

“I want to have a wooden sword too.”

Ed grabbed the seedling again, feeling frustrated.

Ryuna shook her head.

“If you want a wooden sword, ask Grandfather Gaspar.”

“Really?”

“Ed, you can also ask Mirabel.”

“Then will you do sword fights with me?”

“….”

Ryuna pouted.

From Ryuna’s perspective, she was jealous of Ed, who received affection without doing hard martial arts training and just studying.

In Ed’s case, because he was short-spoken, adults constantly tried to feed him, which Ryuna was also jealous of.

While she had to whine to barely get snacks, Edward would get them just by sitting still.

When Ed was young, she was worried that if he became good at martial arts, he might monopolize the love of adults.

“No, I won’t let you do sword fighting.”

“Aw, I want to play with my older sisters too.”

“No!”

Ed was about to pull out a seedling, seemingly wanting to show his sword. 

Suddenly, Mirabel, who appeared out of nowhere, lifted Ed’s body.

Crunch! Because Ed was holding the seedling so strongly, the seedling was eventually pulled out.

It was the moment when the prophecy of Mirabel’s bloodline becoming unified, and the prophecy that one of Ars’ children would accomplish a great feat, were simultaneously fulfilled.

“Ed, let’s go eat a snack.”

“Mirabel… I want to do sword fighting.”

Ed swinging the seedling around. Mirabel gently smiled and snatched the seedling from him.

“This is useless. I’ll give you a good wooden sword.”

Swoosh! Mirabel carelessly threw the seedling over the garden wall.

The seedling fell down the garden wall and rolled around randomly.

“Ah! What is this?”

It hit Ash’s head, who was just heading towards the garden.

Ash kicked the seedling away in annoyance, but Gunther shook his head.

“Hey, don’t create unnecessary work that makes the servants tired.”

Gunther snapped the wood in half, then broke it in half again and threw it into the incinerator.

Since the incinerator was already full, Gunther directly set it on fire.

Whoosh! Fiercely burning flames.

This did not eliminate the mother goddess completely.

The mother goddess was an entity that formed the foundation of the world. It was an inevitable being that would someday be reborn.

However, the current self was definitely gone. The small soul had already been scattered by the fire.

In the distant future, perhaps hundreds of years later, a being close to the mother goddess would appear, but that entity would be a pure being with no memories.

“No, why are you burning it yourself? The gardeners would have taken care of it.”

“It’s better if I do it myself. Let’s go quickly.”

And so the mother goddess was extinguished.

Considering the boastful claim of providing despair, it was a futile extinction.[TL/N: LOL]

* * *

After the tea party, the garden transformed into a party venue.

“Dad! I brought Ed, give me cookies.”

“Cookies are good, but you should eat a meal now.”

“Meal!? I want to eat!”

Ryuna jumped up excitedly.

Perhaps because of seeing such a pure moment.

The anxiety that had been squeezing my heart since morning had completely disappeared.

‘Yes, it was probably just bluster.’

I decided to completely forget about matters related to the mother goddess. I would solve any problems as they arose.

“Oh! No joke? Did you really decorate it like a real party venue?”

The male protagonist revealed himself.

Ash smiled looking at the glamorous party venue.

When Lysithea and Lucretia started nagging about his disheveled and swaying appearance, Ash broke into a cold sweat.

Before the party started.

“Lord Ars.”

Erina approached and whispered.

“It would be good if you could give a congratulatory speech.”

“A speech? I can’t do such things.”

“You can say anything.”

Erina grabbed my arm and forcibly led me to the podium.

When I stepped onto the podium, everyone looked at me with smiles.

“Umm… Everyone has worked hard until now. Although there will be difficult times ahead, I believe that if we all work together, we can overcome them. Please enjoy today to the fullest.”

Though I thought it was a cliché and uninteresting speech, everyone gave me wholehearted applause.

I etched the faces of my vassals one by one in my memory as I came down from the podium.

Afterward, music started playing, and our own relaxed ball began.

Ash was struggling to decide his dance order between Lysithea and Lucretia, while Olaf was harmoniously arranging dance turns with Julia and Meissen.

Anton started dancing first with master Ilya, and Dorofei carefully danced with his lover.

Gunther danced with Sophia, and Rutger matched rhythms with his daughter Estelle.

Mirabel even grabbed Elena, another woman, to dance, causing laughter around them.

As I watched this scene, Yumir approached.

“Young master, would you dance one song with me?”

“Haha…”

Behind Yumir, Eonia, Erina, and Rosa were sitting at the table, waiting their turn as if in a queue.

“Shall I have the honor of dancing with you, my lady?”

“I will gladly accept.”

I took Yumir’s hand and went to the center of the garden.

The other dancers naturally made way for us.

Whoosh! The wind blew, scattering red flower petals.

As I was dancing with Yumir, intoxicated by the atmosphere, Ryuna suddenly burst in.

“I want to dance with Mom too!”

Yumir and I naturally burst into laughter.

Trying to dance while holding Ryuna in one arm didn’t go well. We lost our balance and tumbled onto the grass.

“Hahaha!”

“What kind of dance is the Emperor doing?”

Laughter filled the party venue. Everyone was purely enjoying the party.

‘Yes, this is it.’

I didn’t need grand achievements or fame that would be remembered in history.

No matter what secrets the world held, it was enough to enjoy this moment without any worries.

This was exactly what I truly wanted.

This was the destination of my Royal Road.

<The End> Concludes here.

 

TL Note: That is a nicely tied bow.

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