The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 152
One day, I had a thought.
If I’m going to have the protagonist enter the game, why not have them enter the body of the protagonist? What’s the problem with that?
Why would I send them into the body of a character who is just a supporting character, whose demise is already predetermined?
That was the right answer.
The hypothesis that I had dismissed as a remote possibility until now was true – the protagonist is Ars.
Unless the protagonist Cassius Lloyd is Prince Arios, that is certain.
After all, the spy of Crossing cannot be the protagonist of the story.
Cassius is a fake. The real protagonist is the only prince, Ars Elaine.
It was only then that I was able to fully understand the full story.
Ars, who was ousted by Cassius or the forces of the West, will learn about the West’s schemes surrounding Cassius. And finally, he will realize the truth about the attempted assassination of Cassius by Yumir and learn that the protagonist is a spy of Crossing and about his past.
‘That much is certain.’
The problem is what happens after that. Whether Ars, knowing this background, will join hands with Crossing.
‘He probably won’t join hands with the West or Svenner either. He’ll either raise his own forces or rebel in the Kingdom of Calliper. There are many ways.’
Ars had a support base of the Seven Vassals at that time. One of them, the Saint Alicia, was a spy, but as the protagonist, he handled it well.
The part after that can now be considered a mystery. There are no more clues beyond this.
“Wh-What is this…!?”
Prince Eldric was pale. He looked as if he was dreaming.
The conference hall was in an uproar at Cassius’ shocking statement.
“Crossing!?”
“What is the meaning of this!”
It was then.
“…Pft!”
A scornful laugh, as if mocking the entire world.
“Hahahahaha─! Ahahahaha─!” Juras laughed madly.
At his sight, the people in the conference hall shuddered, regardless of their position – the domestic administrator or the general. Everyone felt fear towards him.
Juras laughed and shouted. “So I told you, didn’t I? That you would pay the price for daring to insult me! Ahahahaha─!”
His madness was overwhelming. What made him truly terrifying was the meticulous cunning hidden within that madness.
I’ve had such thoughts sometimes.
How fortunate that he is on my side.
If he had been my enemy, what kind of anxiety would I have had to live with?
I felt a sense of sympathy towards Prince Eldric.
Prince Eldric realized who the culprit of all this was and cried out.
“Juras…! You…! You…!!”
The betrayal of the most trusted subordinate is on a different level from the betrayal of Dalmore Sting.
The emotions he felt towards Cassius were evident on his face.
Blood vessels burst in his eyes, and tears of blood streamed down.
“You…! How long…! How long will you…! Gack!?”
He eventually vomited blood. That he would vomit blood from sheer rage was unbelievable.
“Hak! Hak…!”
He vomited blood several times, and eventually lost consciousness, being carried away by his attendants.
Juras turned his gaze to the Alvard side as well, towards Gillias, who had mocked him as a ‘rat’.
“What a pity. I really wanted to see Kaien’s surprised expression.”
“You…!”
“Heh, why don’t you call me a rat again?”
“Ugh!”
It was then.
“I can’t accept this!”
A protest erupted from the Svenner side. The diplomat of Svenner shouted in agitation.
“Suddenly Crossing? This is strange! It’s invalid!”
“Invalid? What nonsense. It was you and Alvard who orchestrated this. It’s all something you did with your own hands.”
The situation was already over.
Due to the cunning trap laid by Juras, they were cornered with no way out.
Balas, who had agreed to be subordinate to Crossing, had made non-aggression treaties with all kingdoms for 5 years. No kingdom could touch it.
To touch it would mean completely disregarding international diplomacy.
That would be inviting isolation.
Even neutral Europe and Tunkai took the position that they had to uphold the treaty, regardless of the situation.
With that, there were attempts to resolve the situation in a different way.
To stir up trouble within Balas again.
The coup forces were still intact. By using those forces to topple Cassius and regain power, it would be possible.
Crossing’s full-scale intervention will still require some time.
Alvard tried to move first, using that time.
However, that rascal, Juras, couldn’t be as naive as to not anticipate that.
Soon, someone who appeared to be a spy approached the Alvard side and whispered something.
“What!?”
Gillias was startled.
Before long, soldiers wearing Crossing’s military uniforms appeared and began to occupy the place.
They were the soldiers Juras had secretly hidden in Platon.
The number was around 30,000.
They occupied the conference hall and the royal palace.
“Ars, did you know about this?”
It was the query of Duke Hellian.
“No, I didn’t know. That he had hidden troops in Platon…”
He must have disguised them as ordinary civilians and hidden them. But such a troublesome and noisy operation is easily detected by intelligence.
Yet, no one knew about it.
“…!?”
Then I recalled that intelligence.
The information I had obtained through Calliper’s intelligence network.
– There is intense behind-the-scenes activity in Balas. In this year alone, around 60 spies have been eliminated across all kingdoms. There seems to be a force actively eliminating spies.
At the time, I had only focused on the investigation into King Gareth’ incident 17 years ago and hadn’t paid much attention to it. But now I understand.
It was the work of that rascal Juras.
To avoid being detected for infiltrating troops.
In other words, that bastard had anticipated this situation about a year ago.
‘What a monstrous fellow.‘
I couldn’t find a better way to describe him.
* * *
The situation was quickly resolved.
Juras occupied Platon and the capital, and then recruited the coup forces.
Since Crossing’s troops had already infiltrated the territory, the coup forces had no choice but to surrender.
Duke Reginald, who led the coup forces, was executed, and Saint Alicia, whose utility value was recognized, had her life spared.
With this, the struggle for hegemony over Balas in the continent was concluded.
Balas was effectively subordinate to Crossing. Although it could maintain neutrality for 5 years due to the non-aggression treaty, in 5 years it would be inevitably drawn into the continent’s turmoil.
I felt that with this, the continent had entered a period of calm.
There had been too many wars and battles in the past 2 years.
Each kingdom had suffered tremendous attrition in the process.
The downfall of the West, which had boldly proclaimed its continental advance, could be used as an example.
The West had suffered a devastating blow, sustaining a combined loss of 100,000 in the Beckavia expedition and this Balas war.
I heard that the West had come to fear me, probably because I had participated in both battles that had brought them to their knees.
The West had to recover those losses. They had chosen a step back for a step forward.
It wasn’t just them.
Each kingdom had curled up to recover their losses and prepare for the war that would break out in a few years.
“So, what’s the plan going forward?”
I was having a private discussion with that rascal, Juras, to hear the rest of the story.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“I haven’t decided on anything yet.”
“Don’t lie. Surely you can’t have no plan at all, can you?”
“Heh, even if I don’t have a plan, I don’t think it matters much.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Juras replied with a raised corner of his mouth.
“I’ve realized from this incident that if you and I join forces, unifying the continent won’t be a very difficult task. The strategy of inducing plagues through terrain manipulation, was it? Even I couldn’t have thought of that. Well, if I had been one of those West’s generals, I certainly wouldn’t have let that happen.”
I agreed with that part. Such cunning tricks wouldn’t work on this rascal.
To catch this fellow… What method should I use?
“Ars, for now, focus on consolidating your power. In 2 years… No, the situation has changed a bit, so it might be 3 years from now. By then, you should rebel in our southern territory and conquer Bülang.”
“The situation has changed a bit? It’s changed quite a lot, hasn’t it?”
The core of this bipolar world was that my nation and Crossing had to appear to be in an adversarial relationship outwardly. If the collusion with Crossing was exposed, it would invite interference.
But now that Wade’s identity has been revealed, it has become difficult.
If I rebel in the south, other kingdoms will naturally suspect my connection to Crossing.
Juras nodded in agreement. “I’ll do some more research on that part. If you have any good ideas, please share them.”
I see.
Juras intends to devise a new plan for continental unification during this period of calm, which will last about 3 years.
So it’s not strange that he doesn’t have an immediate plan right now.
After discussing the future with Juras, I moved on to the main topic.
“But first, won’t you tell me about Cassius Lloyd?”
“Haha, I was wondering when you’d ask. Well, it’s a simple story.” Juras first spoke about the truth of the incident 17 years ago. “At that time, I was the first to discover your mother. And I couldn’t leave that spot to hide you. By the time I returned, everything was already over.”
“Everything was already over…?”
“Yes, everyone except you and that beastman woman was massacred.”
“I see…!”
Among those massacred was also Prince Arios.
“I was thinking about that. I felt that it wasn’t very fun to end it like this. So I decided to use the information about Prince Arios to create a spy. The forces thirsty for legitimacy, like the Western ethnicities, would surely approach that spy if they came across this information.”
That is Cassius Lloyd.
“Special Forces Unit No. 1 Nightingale. Ars, do you know how a cuckoo lays its eggs?”
“It’s a parasite, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. They lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. The cuckoo chicks hatched in the other birds’ nests then push out the other chicks and become the masters of the nest. That was the mission given to Cassius.”
“But he was very young back then. There was also the possibility that he would betray you later on. There were many variables, weren’t there?”
“That’s right. That’s why we’ve been holding his mother and younger sister hostage. Even at this moment.”
“…”
“Why do you have that expression on your face?”
“… I at least hope you’ve guaranteed the lives of those hostages. For my sake, if nothing else.”
The hostages are already dead. If that’s the resolution, how tragic Cassius’ life must be.
“Haha, Ars. Do you remember a girl named Lilia?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Looks like you haven’t met her. She’s a friend of Princess Melodie and Estelle Diante.”
Hearing that, it did seem vaguely familiar. I think one of the girls who came to play at Estelle’s house was named Lilia, but I’m not sure.
“So you’re saying she’s Cassius’ younger sister?”
“That’s right. And his mother is also living comfortably. Most of the Special Forces members are like that. Without such welfare, the Special Forces wouldn’t follow me, you know.”
That makes sense.
“But let me return to the story. The Cassius who infiltrated the West showed results beyond my expectations. He had talents in martial arts and scholarship.”
Thanks to that, he was able to infiltrate deep into the core.
He even obtained the rank of Commander of the Three kingdoms and became a close aide to Prince Eldric.
“However, there was a slight miscalculation there. Prince Eldric was trying to have Cassius infiltrate me.”
“So that’s why you had Cassius as your slave!”
“That’s right. It was laughable. The spy I had infiltrated was trying to infiltrate me in return.”
Since Cassius being under Juras had no meaning, Juras was trying to sell him off as a slave to another kingdom.
If I had won Cassius in the chess match, Cassius would have been monitoring me.
“When I took that action, Prince Eldric hurriedly bought him himself, fearing that Cassius might end up in a worse situation if he was sold to another kingdom. That’s how he was adopted as Marquis Lloyd of Bülang.”
The rest is the same as what’s happening now.
Cassius finally succeeded in parasitism and took the nest of Balas, offering it to Crossing.
A strategy spanning 17 years. Juras invested that much, so it’s understandable that the target ended up suffering.
* * *
To be honest, the conversation with Juras was enjoyable.
I was impressed by the height of his perspective, so to speak.
The only thing that felt unsettling was his unique way of speaking.
As if he knows everything.
If it was just the way of speaking, I could let it slide, but the fact that he actually knows is the problem.
He sipped his tea and said, “Ars, I have something I want to give you.”
“A gift from you? That’s a rare occurrence.”
“Isn’t it nothing special between us?”
“Between us…? Don’t say such strange things.”
“Haha, anyway. Here, take this.”
Juras then handed me a book, the fourth volume of the Magic Research Journal.
“This is…!?”
“Isn’t this what you’ve been searching for?”
How did he know that? My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Juras gave a slight smile. “I surmised that you’re interested in magic after hearing the information that you visited the ruins of the Kuravel Kingdom. And you’ve also gained the support of King Gareth of Calliper, who was at the forefront of magic development in the Fensillon Empire era. It was easy to deduce that you must have obtained some information about magic from him.”
“Most ordinary people wouldn’t think that far. So where did this book come from?”
“It was in the possession of the King of Balas. Cassius handed it over to me. Seeing this, I thought that the King of Calliper must have had something similar. Am I wrong?”
“Geez! Don’t talk as if you know everything!”
The four volumes of the books owned by the kings of different kingdoms. Anyway, the fourth volume was in the possession of Balas.
I decided to take this opportunity to ask Juras about the part where he destroyed the Kuravel Kingdom.
When I mentioned the barrier guarding the Kuravel Kingdom, Juras nodded.
“So it was magic after all. I thought there was something strange about it.”
“How did you break through it?”
“Nothing special. The soldiers just thoroughly investigated the points where the anomalies were occurring and destroyed those locations.”
I was certain that it was not an easy task.
“What do you think about magic?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s particularly necessary. We’ve been living just fine without grandiose magic, after all.”
“I see.”
I also held the position that magic was not particularly necessary.
Still, since I’ve obtained the book, I decided to read it through.
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