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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 135

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 135

Luke the Master Artisan.

He was a genius blacksmith and engineer who provided great help to the protagonist’s group.

They were able to win important siege battles through the siege weapons he developed, and the swords and spears he made were comparable to any famous sword or spear.

Such a man died in vain.

“Is, is that true? Caught up in the massacre of the Western people…”

“Yes. The head blacksmith of the workshop only found out recently. At first, they thought he had run away because the blacksmith training was too hard, but it turns out that wasn’t the case.”

Luke was apparently from the western part of Bülang, where the massacre took place this time.

When Svenner and the Western people invaded the west, he returned to his hometown worried about his parents’ safety.

And he ended up dying, caught up in the indiscriminate massacre carried out by the Westerners.

‘How could this be…’

For one of the seven vassals to die so meaninglessly like this. This was similar to when Olaf or Rutger died. Luke was a figure of such importance to Ars.

However, it wasn’t possible to recruit him earlier.

He was too young.

Luke is only 13 years old at this point in time. Just two years ago, he was an 11-year-old child who hadn’t even started blacksmith training.

That’s why I had postponed meeting Luke until this point.

Who would have thought it would lead to this result.

An unexpected accident caused by the butterfly effect.

I felt as if a piece of something had been broken.

A feeling of losing a piece that was absolutely necessary for the future.

“…”

“But why were you interested in such a little kid?”

Gaspar asks curiously. In his heart, there was a protest about why he was made to investigate such an insignificant kid. Well, he would feel that way. Luke appeared to be just an ordinary person on the surface.

“I had my reasons.”

“Whatever the case, it’s meaningless now that he’s dead. If you really want evidence, I could personally search for the body.”

“…Yes. Please investigate. But don’t overdo it.”

“Understood.”

Gaspar accepted without complaint. Recently, he had been in a good mood and was willingly doing even troublesome tasks.

‘I’ll leave the investigation to Gaspar…’

Luke was probably dead. I had that intuition.

‘What’s already happened can’t be undone. It’s better to forget quickly.’

Although Luke’s recruitment failed due to an unexpected accident, I couldn’t just sit around dejected.

We can find another blacksmith somehow. I had to believe that and shake it off.

‘I need to make sure to recruit the remaining six vassals at least.’

Saint Alicia was one thing, but Maisen was another.

If my guess was correct, I could recruit her in one go.

On the evening of the enrollment day.

After wrapping up Rainpol’s business, I called Olaf, who had belatedly joined me in Platon, to my room.

“Phew! What’s the matter? If it’s a long conversation, can’t we do it tomorrow? I’m tired from traveling all day in a carriage.”

“It’ll only take a moment.”

“I hope so.”

I asked straightforwardly.

“Do you know anything about a person named Maisen Roypier?”

“…Why do you ask that?”

“I met her today. She tried to slap me out of nowhere. I thought you might have some idea about this.”

“Ha! She went straight for it, huh? That girl’s got some guts.”

“As I thought. She is related to you. What is she to you?”

“We’ve known each other since childhood. We were briefly engaged before I secluded myself in the mansion.”

This resolved everything.

The reason why Maisen hates me and why she became one of the seven vassals in the game. Both were related to Olaf.

“Europe thinks Wade killed me. Maisen probably thinks the same.”

“Call her in the near future and clear up the misunderstanding. And bring her to our side.”

“Bring her in? Maisen?”

“Yes, I’ll leave the means and methods to you.”

“No, wait. Are you telling me to ask Maisen to betray her kingdom? I can’t…”

“It’s the same in the end, isn’t it? If we end up conquering the continent, we’ll eventually attack Europe too. Even if we merge peacefully, the result of Maisen Roypier becoming one of us doesn’t change. So let’s bring her in from now. Do you have any objections?”

“But she has her own life there…”

“She doesn’t have to defect right away. She’ll need time to prepare mentally too. It’s fine just to get a promise for now.”

“Why are you trying so hard to bring Maisen in? I hate to say this, but she’s not suited for war.”

“We don’t just fight wars, do we? If not that, then what? Is Maisen Roypier lacking in ability?”

“That’s not it. She could handle any internal affairs well enough. She could probably lead a medical unit on the battlefield too.”

“That’s enough.”

“…”

Olaf fell into thought for a moment. He knows that my words are not wrong.

He nodded bitterly, perhaps imagining a situation where he might meet Maisen as an enemy in the future.

“You’re right. If it’s someone I don’t want to turn into an enemy, it’s not a bad idea to make them an ally early on. Alright. Leave it to me.”

With this, the recruitment of Maisen was settled. Instead of losing her like Luke, I decided to finish Maisen’s recruitment quickly and decisively.

* * *

I decided to try to forget Luke’s death and focus on life at the academy.

The Fensillon Academy curriculum had officially begun.

Unlike existing secondary and high academies, Fensillon Academy allowed students to choose their own courses. It’s identical to the university system.

I was racking my brain over course registration.

“I didn’t know there would be so many subjects.”

Literature, music, social etiquette, agriculture, architecture, culture, swordsmanship, archery, and so on. If you add up all the minor subjects, it exceeds 40.

For the military science classes that cadets must take, I roughly decided to take Military Science 8, which had a low competition rate. Apparently, an active officer from Beckavia would be teaching the class. It made sense that the competition rate would be low, as Beckavia is currently rated as the weakest.

I could have been given priority placement in Military Science 7 class, taught by an officer from the Kingdom of Calliper, regardless of the competition rate, but I had no desire to face those hopeless peers even here.

For martial arts classes, I thought about taking spear or archery classes, but there was a chance of unnecessary conflicts arising, so I chose the swordsmanship class taught by an instructor from Crossing.

In fact, these subjects weren’t that important.

My focus was on liberal arts and general subjects, which were actually considered the most important at the academy.

While competition among cadets is primarily based on inter-national relationships, and methods to determine superiority between them are limited due to the risk of serious injury, this wasn’t the case for other subjects.

Liberal arts subjects allowed free competition without risk of injury, and general subjects had exams.

Thus, these two subjects were where the fiercest rivalry among students took place.

‘First, to make contact with Alicia, I should approach through the arts.’

In the game, the protagonist met Alicia in music class. Alicia became interested in the protagonist’s beautiful tone and struck up a conversation.

‘First, music. Then add one each of literature and painting. Also chess. The rest… Yes, social dance.’

It’s a liberal arts subject that Ash is taking. Information I extracted from Lysithea.

I wasn’t interested in dance or music, but this was all for recruiting talent.

Fensillon Academy doesn’t hold a separate entrance ceremony, instead combining it with the spring festival held in Platon as an entrance celebration party, so we had to start classes right away without any special event.

Fensillon Academy jumped straight into the class schedule.

Being the first day, everyone looked visibly flustered. The seniors were sneering at the freshmen as if this too was all tradition.

I was also in a pretty awkward situation.

‘I didn’t hear anything about needing supplies.’

It was for the painting class this afternoon. There was apparently a custom of bringing either your own work or your master’s work to this first painting class.

To assess the level of the new students and the level of the masters teaching them, or something like that.

Most of the participants in this class had taken painting classes at their previous academies, so they were well prepared for this custom, unlike me.

I only found out about this on the day of the class.

In the past, I might have played dumb and brazened it out, but now I had to be prepared for these things due to external perceptions.

It was okay to fail in military science classes, but I couldn’t afford to be humiliated in liberal arts classes. The rumors that spread are quite different, you could say.

In military science classes, you could smooth things over by saying there was just a difference of opinion, but if you messed up in liberal arts classes, you’d be undervalued as a person for lacking refinement. I wanted to avoid that.

‘Is there no solution?’

As I was pondering this, Eo, who was guarding me, tilted her head and asked, “Do you have something worrying you?”

“…That’s right! Eo, do you know how to paint by any chance?”

“I’ve never tried.”

“But I’m sure you’d be good at it. You have amazing dexterity. I’ve never seen anyone with better manual skills than you.”

“Do, do you mean I’m the best?”

“Of course!”

“Hehehe, you flatter me.”

As expected, she was quickly won over when I buttered her up.

“In that sense, would you like to try painting something?”

“You mean right now?”

“Yes. Any picture will do. You can even paint that scenery over there.”

“…”

Eo hesitated for a moment before sayingz “If that’s the case… May I paint you, Ars? If it’s you, I think I could manage even if it’s my first time.”

“Me? Hmm… Alright.”

But a problem arose here. For her to paint, I needed to be the model, but I had to attend the military science class scheduled for this morning.

“Since it’s come to this, I’ll have to cause a scene and come out quickly. Eo, bring the painting supplies and wait here.”

I hurried to Military Science 8 classroom.

Students were already sitting in their seats in the classroom.

Fensillon Academy’s military science classes range from 1 to 8.

Students choose one of these classes each month, with lower numbers being more difficult to enroll in.

This is due to the difference in instructors.

These military science classes are conducted by high-level instructors dispatched from each kingdom. For example, Military Science 1 is taught by Ushis Goldray, a general from the Kingdom of Alvard. Or very rarely, it’s said that Grand General Kaien sometimes takes charge of the class.

Therefore, the cadets engage in a war of course registration every time to learn under skilled instructors.

While I was in a position to have free access anywhere using my status, that’s why I signed up for Beckavia’s Military Science class number 8. In other places, there’s a high chance of unnecessary trouble.

Beckavia is currently an indirect ally, and they won’t bother me.

That’s why I went with a comfortable mindset, but standing at the podium was a face I knew. Sophia Veron.

“What is it? Don’t just stand there shamelessly after coming in late. Sit down quickly. We’re about to start the class.”

As I stood there dumbfounded, Sophia spoke with a smirk.

The students began to buzz wildly at my appearance.

“Why is Wade here…?”

“Could it be that Wade is conducting the Military Science class?”

“That would be amazing! To be able to receive Wade’s teachings! It would certainly be better than Sophia Veron!”

Sophia glared at the cadet who made the last comment, then coolly started the class.

‘What should I do.’

It was an awkward situation for me, who had planned to cause trouble on some pretext and leave early.

Because Sophia’s class was quite solid.

As I was trying to find a loophole somehow, I finally discovered a gap I could barely exploit.

“Officer Sophia. Isn’t that part a bit unreasonable no matter how you look at it? Surprise attacks using cavalry are only effective when there’s visibility. In the field, even cavalry’s efficiency drastically decreases. Yet you’re saying you’ll gain the initiative through a night raid by cavalry?”

Sophia narrowed her eyes as if to ask why I was nitpicking. Then she grinned.

“This is it. This is it. So the great Wade isn’t all that great after all. The operation I’m explaining now is the tactic used by the Fensillon Empire in the Battle of Botzun. They had 2,000 cavalry bypass in the middle of the night to surprise attack the enemy camp before dawn. And at the break of dawn, the main force pushed in, while the cavalry that had infiltrated once retreated, regrouped, and attacked again. As a result, the soldiers of the Miras Principality, who suffered sudden massive damage, were forced to retreat. Do you understand now?”

“I do understand. But it seems you don’t know, Officer.”

“What did you say?”

“The Battle of Botzun shouldn’t be interpreted so simply. As you said, the soldiers of the Miras Principality retreated, but afterward, they lured the pursuing Fensillon forces into a trap and annihilated them. So it’s more accurate to say that even that retreat was part of the plan.”

“Are you saying they intentionally allowed the cavalry’s night raid to lure them in?”

“If you look at the documents of the time, it’s clear. Look at it yourself. The route the cavalry took to bypass. Would there really have been no intelligence network there? What would you have done?”

All the cadets in the classroom looked at the map in the materials.

Sophia was momentarily speechless.

“We-well, although it is within the range of the intelligence network, there’s a possibility they missed it for some reason.”

“Come on. Are you saying they relied on such a slim possibility and carried out a night raid with cavalry? Doesn’t that mean it was a failed operation from the start? It just succeeded because of luck.”

“Bu-but in the Battle of Ponrei that took place 10 years later, a similar pattern…”

“There were more cases of losses. In the Battle of Kaking that took place a year before the Battle of Ponrei…”

In fact, there was much to discuss about the efficiency of cavalry night raids. It was a tactic that could be used sufficiently if the situation was right.

However, as it wasn’t a commonly adopted tactic, Sophia soon ran out of counterarguments.

‘It took a bit longer than expected.’

Success in causing trouble.

“This won’t do anymore. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wh-where are you going!”

“If I stay here any longer, I’ll only be a hindrance to you. If I’m here, the students won’t take your words seriously. Am I wrong?”

“That’s not true. The students are enjoying it because you’re joining in the discussion.”

The students were nodding their heads like chicks. They had expressions of having enjoyed an auditory treat.

“…Ah, just let me go.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Somehow, I noticed she had masochistic tendencies before.

Despite my continuous nitpicking and attempts to embarrass her, Sophia seemed happy and wanted to talk more.

Disgusted by this sight, I had no choice but to wait until the Military Science class was completely over.


TL NOTE:

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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.

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