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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 123

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 123

The news of Bülang’s advance reached us at dawn, three days after I had set up camp in Elton.

“Report! Bülang’s large army is advancing south along the border! They are expected to enter the Dalia region by tonight!”

“Dalia…?”

Dalia, the southern district where my fief, Mobrey, which I had been granted, was located. Bülang was marching towards that area.

Brother Ferge, who was by my side, pressed the messenger.

“What’s the enemy’s number? How large is this large army?”

“It’s estimated to be between 70,000 and 90,000!”

“Nearly 70% of their forces to the south…?”

A bold move by Bülang.

“…Ars.”

“Yes, the enemy has made quite a daring choice.”

Initially, our military had judged that Bülang would only plunder the lands near the border for visible gains. Even that alone would have been enough to deal us a significant blow.

“The enemy’s intention is to paralyze the south and prevent Crossing’s army from moving to the Madon area. They’ve judged that this will delay Crossing’s intervention.”

“But wouldn’t that make their supply lines vulnerable?”

Brother Ferge was right. A single-point breakthrough that ignores the flanks is bound to have many weaknesses.

If the army advancing to the south is delayed even slightly, the situation will rapidly tilt in our favor. Our 1st Army in the west would push down and pressure the front lines.

“Yes, so the enemy will try to move quickly to turn the situation in their favor. There are only two ways to do this.”

Either concentrate their forces to attack one key city, or conversely, disperse their forces for large-scale guerrilla operations.

“In this case, Bülang will definitely choose the latter.”

“W-why is that?” Dorofei asks, not understanding.

“If you form many guerrilla units, won’t the supply become unstable? As Officer Ferge just said, Bülang’s weakness is supply, right? Wouldn’t they rather concentrate their forces now to take down a key city?”

“That might have been the case normally. However, Bülang is in a special situation right now.”

“Special?”

“They currently lack unity in their military. I’ve heard that there are over 10 factions within their military alone.”

“Ah…!”

“Imagine trying to conduct a siege with such an army. It would be chaos, wouldn’t it? Siege warfare always requires someone’s sacrifice.”

That’s why this operation becomes a clever move.

The enemy will form guerrilla units with each faction as a unit. They’re using the factions to their advantage to reduce discord within the army.

As for the vulnerable supply, they probably plan to compensate through looting via guerrilla operations.

‘I don’t know who the enemy commander is, but they’re quite good. Moreover, this unnecessarily aggressive method…’

I was certain.

The general who proposed this operation and their faction must be connected to the West.

* * *

The war between Bülang and our Calliper had begun.

I, positioned in the rear, didn’t need to move immediately.

Unless there were other requests, I just needed to defend Elton and Holton, which led to the capital.

After ordering the army to be on alert, I was organizing information from our spies. 

One fact became clear here.

‘So Prince Eldric came up with this operation?’

According to top-secret information from Dalmore Sting, Crossing’s spy, Prince Eldric later held secret meetings with several individuals, including Cassius Lloyd.

Dalmore himself wasn’t able to participate in these meetings.

Regarding this, Dalmore speculated that he might not have been included because he wasn’t associated with the West.

‘That’s frightening.’

The implication of Dalmore’s report was nothing else.

It meant that Juras knew from the beginning that Prince Eldric was in collusion with the West.

“…?”

At that moment, I shuddered with a strange sense of discomfort.

‘Juras already knew Prince Eldric’s secret? If so, since when? Did he know during the Chimera War?’

According to the information Juras gave me, Dalmore infiltrated Bülang 5 years ago.

However, he started to form a close relationship with Prince Eldric during the Chimera War. Along with Cassius, who showed promise in the war, he caught Prince Eldric’s eye and was selected.

Looking at the circumstances, it wouldn’t be strange if his identity was discovered during the Chimera War.

‘But Juras had been wary of the West since the Three Lions War, two years before that. He knew then that the West harbored ambitions for continental expansion.’

Here, two hypotheses can be formed.

The first is that Juras didn’t know about Prince Eldric’s collusion at that time.

In that case, it would be correct to view that he just used Beckavia as bait to lure the Western mainland’s army.

The problem is the second case. If he already knew everything at that time, or even before that. If he knew that Prince Eldric intended to raise the kingdom through a proxy and hand it over to the West?

It completely changes the impression of a certain individual.

“No, that can’t be…!”

My head started to throb.

“Lord Ars, are you alright?”

As I held my forehead, Eo asked worriedly.

“Should I bring you some honey water?”

“Yes… Could you?”

I decided to read the book where I had written down the story, to clear my head while drinking the honey water Eo prepared for me.

I decided to focus on the characters currently in the Bülang camp. If I looked carefully, I could get hints on how to recruit that talent to my side.

My gaze stopped at the description of a character named Riserl Haldras.

– Riserl, who was looking for someone stronger than himself. He hears about the protagonist’s heroic deeds and seeks him out. In the ensuing duel, he injures his knee by misstepping on sunken ground, but doesn’t give up and achieves a draw. Later, realizing that the protagonist had been considerate of his injury, he is deeply moved. After his knee heals, he engages in a fair fight with the protagonist, loses, and joins his ranks.

Riserl was a talent I had my eye on too, but didn’t recruit due to difficult conditions.

Riserl’s combat power was 93, on par with Eo. It was impossible for me to subdue him in a one-on-one battle.

It made sense that the protagonist, with an official combat power of 97, defeated Riserl, but the issue was the timing.

The protagonist’s heroic deeds occur after the Academy Martial Arts Tournament. In other words, it’s a story from after the first year at Fensillon Academy.

‘What’s this? The timing of the event has… Been moved up?’

The cause is obvious. The detailed story has changed.

Unlike in the game, the Cassius of this world already had a high reputation at this point. As a young warrior of Bülang’s Third Prince faction.

I checked other parts as well.

‘As expected. While some events didn’t occur at all, several events happened earlier than scheduled. The Chimera War is the same. It started slightly earlier than in the game.’

I thought the story had completely fallen apart after Juras assassinated the King of Bülang.

But what if even that couldn’t destroy the foundation of the story?

For example, take the Chimera War.

Beckavia, which should have self-destructed after the Three Lions War, somehow maintained its existence. Conversely, Madon, which shouldn’t have fallen, perished because of me.

Despite such significant butterfly effects, the Chimera War still broke out.

Riserl Haldras’ case is similar. Behind his goal of finding someone stronger than himself was a desire to serve a young lord who could bring about new changes.

That plausibility made him seek out Cassius in this world as well.

This means that events with inevitability, or plausibility, still occur even if the details change.

Reaching this conclusion, I began to see a new board.

The future story. The timing that started to advance. Events with plausibility.

There was only one thing that came to mind.

* * *

Day 6 of the war.

Gilbert Saleon was waiting for someone with an anxious face.

He kept glancing around nervously, afraid that someone might harm him at any moment.

It was understandable, given that he was in the royal palace of Bülang.

‘Bülang probably won’t kill me, but…’

If what Ars said was true, Bülang intends to end the war on good terms. They wouldn’t choose to kill Gilbert, who was sent as a diplomat.

‘I’m in a difficult situation in many ways.’

Currently, bad rumors about him were spreading within Calliper.

There were stories circulating that he had instigated Casper to kill George.

Suspicions were amplified by the fact that Gilbert had conveniently caught Casper at the murder scene.

It looked as if he had used Casper and then discarded him.

‘I did intend to swallow up the capital of the Marquis Millias’ family, but not in this way…’

In such a situation, he had also made a big mistake, so his position was bound to be shaken.

Therefore, he had to make up for it somehow in this diplomatic mission.

“Hmm, I’ve kept you waiting.”

“Prince Oscar!”

Oscar Schwarzer, the first prince of Bülang, raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at Gilbert.

“So, what brings the de facto head of the Saleon family all the way here?”

“Don’t pretend. We need to clear up the misunderstanding.”

“Huh. What misunderstanding?”

“The one about us assassinating King Wilfred. Such a groundless accusation is extremely unpleasant and infuriating for us. However, we know well that you, Bülang, are not the target of that anger. The same goes for you. There are others we should be hostile towards.”

“And who might that be?”

“Those who deceived us, of course.”

“Who deceived us? Ha ha, this is the first I’m hearing of it.”

Gilbert gritted his teeth at that annoying act.

“The barbarians from the West. The circumstances clearly point to them.”

Gilbert recited exactly what Ars had said. At this, Prince Oscar narrowed his eyes.

“That’s quite convincing.”

“Then…!”

“I understand. We’ll verify it carefully. Until then, wait patiently.”

“No, that won’t do! At least until then, a ceasefire…!”

“As you know, we’ve been lacking in unity recently. I don’t think they’ll take my words kindly. I’ll pass on the message to proceed cautiously.”

“…!”

From the beginning, Bülang also knew that Calliper wasn’t the main culprit in the king’s assassination.

They just needed a punching bag to relieve their itching bodies and a justification to punch that bag.

Prince Oscar stood up, saying he had nothing more to say.

“Please wait a moment! Just a little more conversation…!”

“I don’t think there’s any point in talking further. If there’s any progress in the conversation, I’ll come find you.”

Oscar turned his back coldly despite Gilbert’s pleas. At that moment, a man who looked like the Minister of Military Affairs rushed to his side.

As the sound of military boots echoed rudely, Oscar frowned.

“How discourteous. Don’t you know how to distinguish between places?”

“I-I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s an urgent matter.”

The Minister of Military Affairs led Prince Oscar away to a place where Gilbert couldn’t hear.

Gilbert stuck his head out, wondering what had happened.

Oscar was talking not far away. His expression was hardened when he finished talking. The relaxed expression from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Then he returned to Gilbert with hurried steps.

“Gilbert, let’s continue the conversation we had earlier. A ceasefire between the two sides, was it? Good, let’s do that.”

“…Pardon?”

The suddenly changed attitude.

Gilbert, who was at the highest level when it came to political acumen, was able to catch something from that behavior.

‘The war situation has changed!’

For whatever reason, it was clear that an event had occurred that would make Bülang anxious.

Gilbert immediately changed his expression. “Aren’t you being too hasty?”

“What did you say?”

“Wasn’t it you, Your Highness, who said we should verify carefully? I’ve decided to do so. Let’s… Talk slowly.”

“You…!”

“I’ll withdraw for now. Let’s talk again later.”

Gilbert, who had left the place, immediately began gathering information. What kind of event could have occurred to make that annoying guy make such an expression?

‘Did father win a battle? Or was it the Hellian faction? Whatever it is, seeing him like that means we must have won a victory.’

However, there was no news of Calliper winning a victory.

Gilbert’s thoughts froze for a moment when he received the report from the spy.

“S-Say that again.”

“Y-Yes, the Kingdom of Europe has invaded the Kingdom of Tunkai! And following that…”

A war between Europe and Tunkai, historical arch-enemies.

It didn’t end there.

Beckavia, who had held a grudge against Tunkai from the last war, seized the opportunity and invaded Tunkai.

In response, Svenner invaded Europe to help their ally Tunkai.

The Western nations, cheering at this unexpected situation, quickly gathered their troops and invaded the western part of Bülang along with Svenner.

Finally, even Alvard made an agreement with Europe and started attacking the northern part of Svenner via Europe, and chaos began to unfold.

The Tail War.

This major event, which should have occurred a year later according to the story, had happened at this point.


TL NOTE:

Schedule: Everyday

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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

Score 9.2
Status: Completed Type: Author: Released: 2022 Native Language: Korean
I ended up possessing Ars Elaine, a supporting character in the game. Struggling to prevent my death, I pave my way.

Comment

  1. Azel says:

    Juras seem to be seen as ‘Omniscent’. As if he could see the future

    Or maybe read about it

    Author suspiciously make MC seem to be dumb enough not to figure this out

  2. Jj says:

    It seems the story will stagnate for quite a while. Maybe until something about magic is explored. Doesn’t also look like another continent would be introduced.

    At this point, no further character would prove to be interesting enough because Juras basically plans both the path of the story and MCs actions. No one seems to be able to balance this Juras masterplot. Everything can be attributed as his orchestration

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