The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 122
-Haha, who are you going to take as your partner? Hilda? Dairy? Don’t worry, no one will refuse if you ask.
-This is a man’s stubbornness! I will never abandon my friends, no matter what!
-Let’s overcome this difficulty together, friend!
That’s the kind of character he was.
If Ars was the right-hand man in official matters, he was the protagonist’s best friend. You could say he was a frivolous but deep character.
Dalmore Sting.
Like Ars, he was a character given as a starting character, with an SR rating.
With 80 power and 52 intelligence, and no special skills, his performance was just average.
He was a character I often used when I enjoyed handy play.
‘Dalmore was a spy planted by Juras?’
It might not be strange. Juras had enslaved Cassius Lloyd and then sold him to Bülang.
It might be a natural decision to attach a spy to Cassius’ side.
Moreover, if you think about it, there were foreshadowing signs.
Dalmore had a strangely good survival rate. He would miraculously return alive from situations where he was thought to be dead. Or he would persistently hold out against powerful armed opponents that he absolutely couldn’t win against.
At the time, I just thought it was a gag character adjustment and brushed it off lightly, but there was a reason for it.
‘If this guy was a spy, it would make sense that he was hiding his true skills.’
Even so, to think that Dalmore, that loyal character, was a spy.
From my perspective, it feels similar to finding out that Eo was actually a spy.
‘Good grief. Whether it’s the West or Crossing, just how many spies are there?’
I feel sorry for Bülang all of a sudden.
If I were in the protagonist’s position, I might have developed trust issues.
“Haah…!”
As I sigh without realizing it, Eo asks with a worried face.
“Are you alright?”
I was heading towards Alphensard with the vassals I had selected.
As there might be watchful eyes, we decided to move separately in teams, so I was using a carriage alone with Eo, who was on the same team.
“Perhaps I committed some offense yesterday…?”
“Huh? You knew about that?”
“Y-Yumir told me. That I jumped into Sir Ars’ bed and… Wouldn’t let go of the blanket.”
“Well, I was a bit cold. Yumir must have been drunk too, as she didn’t bring a new blanket.”
I could have gotten a blanket from the wardrobe myself, but I didn’t know where it was. Yumir and Eo take care of all such household chores.
I could have found it if I looked, but I was too lazy and just slept without a blanket.
“I-I’m so ashamed! To have acted so disgracefully…!”
“It’s not disgraceful. It was rather cute, actually.”
“Cute!?”
“Ah, we’ve arrived.”
As the first to arrive in Alphensard, I met up with Dorofei and started organizing the troops.
During this, the other teams that had finished preparations in Rainpol arrived.
The first to arrive was brother Ferge’s team.
“Ooh, so this is the capital of Calliper!”
Aggert, one of the team members, was looking around everywhere with shining eyes. Upon seeing him, Dorofei ran over with joyful steps, grabbed both of Aggert’s hands, and shook them vigorously.
“Aggert! It’s been a long time! Have you been well?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s the weakling captain.”
“It’s Dorofei, I tell you. Dorofei Grimwood!”
“Is the weakling captain going to war too? Oh my, you might really die.”
“Well… That’s why I was hoping you’d help me.”
“Hehe, can’t be helped. I’ll protect you!”
Next, brother Ferge took a deep breath and exchanged greetings with Dorofei.
“Nice to meet you, Count Grimwood. I am Ferge Elaine, the third son of the Elaine family and a mid-level officer in the army.”
Although he’s my friend, Dorofei is a current Count.
From brother Ferge’s perspective, he must have been an awkward person to deal with. Moreover, due to his recent promotion, his rank was even higher than his.
“Haha… You can speak comfortably.”
“That wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“Shall we go together for now? I’d like to talk about troop organization.”
“Yes.”
Shortly after Dorofei led brother Ferge’s group away, Olaf arrived.
He immediately started complaining.
“Phew, I thought I was going to die of frustration. No matter what I said, they wouldn’t answer.”
It seems he felt awkward because Yumir and Lysithea didn’t say anything.
He was wearing leather armor dyed purple. Since becoming Olaf, he had barely shaved or cut his hair to hide his identity, so he looked almost like a wild man.
Speaking of Lysithea, she was wearing blue armor. As a person from Tunkai, she was wearing a helmet that covered most of her face, just like Eo does.
‘So Lysithea is Blue. Eonia is White, and Anton is probably Black. And…’
A truly colorful team was being formed. Not a single color overlapped among the vassals. It probably means they all have strong personalities.
* * *
The structure of this war was simple.
Bülang would invade from the southwest direction, which shares the widest border, and advance towards the west and south. Our army had to set up a battle line near the border and repel the enemy.
In fact, if we were to defend efficiently, it would have been correct to defend from further inside, but since the enemy’s purpose was to plunder resources and seize territory near the border, it couldn’t be helped.
In that sense, I was very comfortable.
As the primary purpose of the royal family’s direct army was to defend the capital, we just had to defend key points behind the border.
Those three places are Grancel in the west, and Elton and Holton in the south.
This is because these are the widest routes to the capital. To get to the capital through other routes, one must cross rugged mountainous terrain, which gives ample response time, and the enemies also face difficulties with supplies.
I decided to deploy Olaf to Grancel in the west and defend Elton and Holton together with Dorofei’s unit.
Since Elton and Holton were so close they were called brother cities, I decided to set up the main headquarters in Elton rather than dividing the command.
It was when we entered Elton like that.
“Welcome!”
A man welcoming us with both hands raised.
It was Viscount Molson Feland who ruled Elton.
Next to Molson stood a girl with her hair in a ponytail.
‘Who was she?’
Such a question arose, but compared to Erina’s case, it was a recent event, so I recalled quickly.
“Lynette, it’s been a while.”
“Hehe, it hasn’t even been two weeks. Have you been well, Elaine?”
As Lynette greeted with a bright smile, the officers stirred. Aggert was even staring in a daze.
I said to Viscount Molson, “I’m thinking of setting up headquarters in Elton for a while and preparing operations. I’d like the Viscount to help a little with supplies.”
“Of course, I’ll do that.”
While talking to me, Viscount Molson kept stealing glances at Dorofei.
It seems he’s more interested in Dorofei, the current Count, than in me who could be demoted at any time.
‘This works out well.’
Cooperation with local nobles was essential in a defensive war, but this was very troublesome. Because there weren’t many nobles who were cooperative. They would nitpick at every little thing, saying this can’t be done, that can’t be done.
I thought Dorofei, who excelled at mediation, was the right person for the job.
Dorofei nodded readily when he heard my suggestion.
I guess he knows he’s more suited for administration than combat.
‘Well, now the preparations are done. Let’s see how they move.’
How Bülang… No, the West moves.
‘Currently, the power struggle in Bülang is largely divided into the 1st Prince faction, 2nd Prince faction, and 3rd Prince faction. Which of them is the West’s puppet? I need to find that out.’
That was my current interest.
***
In the military council chamber of Bülang, about to advance.
Jean Hysack, the grand general of Bülang, sighed inwardly.
‘With such lack of unity…’
Before King Wilfred’s death, military discipline wasn’t this bad. As long as there was a common enemy like Svenner, they could unite when necessary.
But now they’ve become enemies to each other.
The military has split into dozens of factions, and it has come to the point where they only think about their own gain.
This war was the same. They were fighting to be assigned to the easiest front lines with the most to plunder.
Even he, as the grand general, couldn’t stop this.
“Enough! That’s it!”
Hysack, unable to bear it anymore, shouted. The meeting room finally quieted down.
He shook his head and signaled to a man nearby.
“Prince Eldric, you need to actively mediate.”
3rd Prince Eldric Schwarzer. He was one of the Ten Heroes, known by the epithet of the Wandering Prince.
His rank in the Bülang military was the 3rd General and the Royal Family’s Direct General.
The Grand General Jean Hysack belonged to the Twenty Heroes, which was below the Ten Heroes, so Eldric’s external reputation was higher.
However, being one of the Ten Heroes wasn’t particularly praised.
Because Juras was already in the same generation.
In Eldric’s case, it was even openly rumored that Bülang had bribed connoisseurs to make him one of the Ten Heroes.
“Hmph, Hysack. You’ve been ignoring someone like me until now, but now that you’re in a tight spot, you’re asking for help?”
“That’s…”
Eldric was a political opponent to Hysack, who supported the 1st Prince. That’s why he had intentionally excluded Eldric from military affairs until now.
That has now changed as Eldric has built his own power base.
Eldric quickly co-opted surrounding forces using his position as one of the Ten Heroes, and is now counted as one of the three influential forces in Bülang.
“I think the Prince will understand about the past matters.”
“Of course I understand. I would have done the same if I were in your position. But that doesn’t mean I can just say, yes, I see and let it go. We need to conclude this in some form, don’t you think?”
“What do you mean by conclusion?”
“From now on, hand over all military authority to me. Then there’s nothing we can’t cooperate on.”
“Hmm!”
Hysack let out an uncomfortable cough.
He too was ultimately one of the factions fighting for power.
If the Commander-in-Chief was in such a state, how could the military be united?
At that moment, a general from the Second Prince’s faction intervened.
“At this rate, we’re only meaninglessly delaying the advance. It’s said that the Calliper army has already entered the front line, secured supply routes, and established positions. We need to make a decision as quickly as possible.”
In the end, it was Hysack who made the concession.
“Prince Eldric. Please tell us your strategy.”
He had indirectly handed over operational control.
To this, Eldric grinned and pointed to the battle map as he spoke.
“Hysack, what do you think is the key to this war?”
“It’s the time limit. Once Crossing intervenes, we can’t keep attacking indefinitely.”
“That’s right. With that in mind, the direction of our strategy naturally emerges.”
“Naturally…?”
“The way of the world. It doesn’t start from ten. Everyone starts from one and goes to ten. We’ve seen ten in the form of Crossing’s intervention. So the strategy we should take is to delay that ten. In simple terms, we make it fifteen instead of ten.”
Saying this, Eldric pushed 70% of the chess pieces on the battle map towards the south.
The military leaders started murmuring.
“Are you suggesting we concentrate our forces in the south!?”
“Yes, we’ll focus our attack on southern Calliper and paralyze the region.”
In that case, even Crossing’s forces heading south would be tied down. After that, they’d have no choice but to use sea routes instead of land routes.
This would ultimately delay the time for Crossing to intervene.
“But in that case, it will be extremely difficult to create supply routes. Calliper’s forces stationed in the west and southwest will try to cut off our waist. Moreover, if Crossing realizes that the land route is blocked, they might change their mind and intervene immediately! We might end up isolated!”
“As for Calliper, Hysack, you block them with the remaining forces. And Crossing will never intervene.”
“Where does such confidence come from?”
“Juras Pamilion. I know him best. He won’t move rashly. He’ll consider Calliper’s losses as a small sacrifice for his bigger picture. That’s the kind of man he is.”
“Hmm…!”
“We’ll concentrate our forces in the south to achieve significant short-term results. If possible, we might even aim for Alphensard further north. If that happens, the forces in the west and southwest will rush back to the mainland as if their feet were on fire.”
It was a good form of warfare.
Eldric gave detailed instructions for the military formation for this strategy, and when the military meeting ended, he rushed out as if escaping.
Then he walked quickly to a place with no people around.
“Uweeek!”
Eldric vomited out what was inside. He muttered as if cursing.
“Disgusting bastards! How can such disgusting bastards be at the core of the military…!”
People who move only for their own benefit. Cold-blooded individuals who would do anything for their own gain, for the prosperity of their faction.
Eldric thought all of this was because of the form of the kingdom called Bülang, because of his father.
‘I will bring it down. I will rebuild Bülang!’
After emptying his stomach, he took rough breaths.
Two figures approached him.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
“Ah, Cassius… And even Dalmore.”
“You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine. It was just a momentary upset stomach.”
Eldric’s eyes overflowed with affection as he looked at the two.
He smiled unconsciously and patted their shoulders.
“You two must always keep that purity. Don’t forget. When everyone works together with one heart, there’s nothing we can’t achieve. We can overcome any adversity, defeat any powerful enemy. We can rebuild Bülang and bring down Crossing. We can finish off that vicious monster… Juras Pamilion!”
To this, Dalmore struck a comical muscleman pose and replied.
“Of course, Your Highness! We’ve done so until now, and we will continue to do so! Please trust and rely on us!”
“Hah, Dalmore. Your cheerfulness always heals me.”
“It’s all I can do. Supporting Your Highness and Cassius! That’s all I have!”
Eldric, seemingly in a much better mood, let out a sigh of relief.
“Cassius, let’s talk for a moment. I have something to say about this operation.”
“Eh!? Are we going to eat something delicious!? If so, please include me too!”
“Hahaha, it’s not like that. You rest.”
Left alone, Dalmore drooped his shoulders dejectedly. Some soldiers who knew him snickered, saying, ‘There he goes again’.
Dalmore exaggerated his anger at those soldiers and headed towards his tent.
On the way, he noticed some kind of mark and moved to a certain point of the tent.
There was a man in a Bülang military uniform.
Dalmore grinned broadly. “Hehe, what are you doing in a place like this? If you’re going to eat some private food, include me too.”
“…Wasp. Lord Juras wants your contribution.”
“…”
To this, Dalmore looked around once and said in a low voice. “Special Officer No. 16 Bowell. I’m ready to answer any questions.”
His words no longer showed any frivolity.
TL NOTE:
Schedule: Everyday
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Ars’s vassals are looking like the Power Rangers. Which means he should be worried about whoever wears green.