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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 167

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 167

While this Royal Academy offers studies in all fields of knowledge, its ultimate goal is to defeat monsters. 

Therefore, the final objective is to succeed as either a magician or a hero.

The term ‘hero’ might sound fairy tale-like, but it’s just a title – it’s more like a state-certified adventurer.

Of course, there are benefits.

If you become a state-recognized hero, you gain noble status and are exempt from all accommodation and food expenses during adventures.

“That’s why transfer students like you try their best to become heroes. After all, you can become a nobility.”

“What’s so great about being nobility…?”

The purpose has been distorted. The reason for becoming a hero is not to defeat monsters and bring peace, but simply to become nobility.

It’s like becoming a doctor just to make money.

“Don’t you want to become nobility?”

“I told you, I’m the last remaining royal from a fallen empire. I’m already a nobility, you know?”

“That joke isn’t funny.” Rinoa continues speaking with a smirk. “You… I might have chosen well after all.”

“That doesn’t sound like a compliment.”

“It’s not meant to be. I tried to choose someone as lacking and unique as possible. Although I chose you impulsively to embarrass Princess Rosa, your personality, your rock-bottom grades, and your delinquent attitude – you’re exactly the kind of person I wanted.” Rinoa ponders for a moment before speaking in a low voice. “Let’s make a deal.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I chose you, didn’t I? So I want you to do me a favor. If you refuse, I might kick you out right away.”

Making a deal at this point.

Well, I don’t have any attachment to the academy, but I decided to hear her out.

“I’ll listen for now.”

“It won’t be difficult. I want you to act as arrogant and insolent as possible from now on. Act in a way that befits the infamous Rinoa Branford.”

Is she asking me to become a henchman for the villain lady?

The fact that she’s making such a request to me means that she too is playing the role of a villain.

“Can I ask why?”

“You’ll naturally find out later. For now… I can’t tell you.”

Act arrogant and insolent.

It didn’t suit me at all.

‘No, is that really true?’

Even before, when I was Wade, I did act arrogantly. Since I decided to call myself Wade at the academy, it shouldn’t be strange.

“…Alright. I’ll do what I can.”

It seemed certain that I had met an unusual partner.

Rinoa nods satisfactorily at my answer.

“Then shall we start right away?”

“Start? Right now?”

“Of course. Follow me.”

Rinoa takes the lead and heads towards the other ladies.

She approaches a lady who had chosen a male transfer student and smiles maliciously.

“My, my. Has the Count Olsen family fallen on hard times? To choose such an uncultured, unrefined servant as a transfer student.”

Rinoa suddenly launches into a personal attack.

It was natural for the other lady to get angry.

“Watch your mouth, Miss Rinoa! A servant? Aren’t you the one lacking manners, calling an academy transfer student a servant!”

“Hmph, who actually believes such superficial pretenses? Transfer students are servants! Everyone thinks so!”

“W-well, some thoughtless people might think that way, but at least I don’t!”

“Is that really so? That man, isn’t he the son of a merchant who leeches off the Count Olsen family? I bet you chose him as a transfer student after receiving money from that merchant. Is that an equal relationship? If not master and servant, then what is it?”

“How did you…!”

Unlike the typical villain lady who picks fights randomly, Rinoa seemed to be the type to fight with facts.

The opponent soon blushed and left the scene.

“Ohohohoho!” Rinoa laughed loudly.

Another lady who hadn’t witnessed this approaches.

“Miss Rinoa, aren’t you being excessively rude?”

“Rude, Miss Rowell? I’m merely stating facts. It’s disgusting to see pure-blooded nobles frolicking with commoners who lack manners. As a pure-blooded noble myself, I find it revolting.”

“What about your own partner then?”

“Oh, he’s excellent beyond compare. What do you think of my eye for talent? He may be a commoner, but he’s splendid. Haven’t you noticed how many ladies have been stealing glances at him since earlier?”

“Um…”

The lady called Rowell looked at me.

As Rinoa said, other ladies were indeed stealing glances at me.

This was exactly the kind of situation I despised, and normally I would have quietly slipped away, but since we made a deal, I decided to play my part.

“Your words are correct. There is no one here who can compare to me, Lady Branford.” I spoke as formally as possible. The ladies seemed to sense a certain dignity in my demeanor.

Even Rinoa blinked in surprise.

“S-see? This is the caliber of my servant.”

I decided to take it a step further. “My lady, if you would allow me, I’d like to demonstrate my skills.”

“…?”

Rinoa opened her fan to cover her face and whispered to me. “What are you doing!”

“Why? You told me to act arrogant and insolent.”

“That’s true, but… What are you going to do?”

“What else is there to do at a party?”

“You don’t mean…? Are you confident?”

“I can hold my own against others.”

“…Alright, let’s see how well you can do.” Rinoa cleared her throat and closed her fan. Then she fell silent, as if leaving it to me.

I approached Miss Rowell, who had been arguing with Rinoa, and politely asked her for a dance. “My lady, would you grant me the honor of a dance?”

“What!? Ah…!”

Attention turned to the man beside Rowell.

Asking a woman with a partner to dance was as good as picking a fight – it was an incredibly rude act.

In such situations, there are two ways for a partner to respond.

One is to angrily reject the dance request. The second is to respond in kind by asking the other person’s partner to dance.

Usually, the latter option is rarely chosen.

Typically, when a man and woman are paired, the man has more say, so in most cases, the man simply shuts down the situation by rejecting the request.

However, in this case, the women have much more influence.

Rowell looked at her partner as if testing him, wondering what he would do.

If he just got angry at me here, it would diffuse the situation, but it would give the impression of avoiding a challenge.

The man glared at me and then, in turn, asked Rinoa to dance.

The party venue buzzed with murmurs.

It was a battle of wills between the infamous lady Rinoa and the marchioness lady Rowell.

As both were notable figures among the new students, people watched the situation with great interest.

***

“Swapping partners for a dance? That’s rare.”

Prince Joseph, who was on the first floor, tilted his head curiously.

Princess Rosa, who was beside him, gasped.

“That person…!”

She had been discreetly searching for Ars with her eyes even at the party, and when Ars came down to the ballroom on the first floor, she didn’t know what to do.

Rosa took a few steps closer to watch the dance from the nearest possible distance.

Soon, the music started. It was a lively tune, with a rhythm that was quite challenging to follow.

The man leading Rinoa broke into a cold sweat.

He had practiced dancing in preparation for such occasions, but this was his first time in a real situation. Perhaps due to nervousness, he kept missing the rhythm, and his movements were stiff.

Unable to bear it any longer, Rinoa began to lead instead.

For a man to yield the lead to a woman was an extremely embarrassing situation, so the man’s face turned bright red, and snickers could be heard from various corners.

Many people thought this would be the same for Ars, but Ars matched the music without much difficulty.

While he might have been tone-deaf, he wasn’t beat-deaf, and moreover, his experience was on a different level.

Ars finished calculating how to move in sync with Rowell’ movements and slowly began to lead.

By the end of the song, he had completely found his pace and was leading his partner as smoothly as flowing water.

“He’s good. Quite impressive, isn’t he?”

Even Prince Joseph offered genuine praise.

Rosa was watching as if entranced.

When the song completely ended, Rowell, who had been Ars’ partner, was breathing heavily with an enraptured expression.

“Haa…! Haa…!”

Ars knelt on one knee, kissed the back of her hand, and returned to his place.

His expression was gentle, but his inner thoughts were different.

‘Ugh.’

Ars rubbed his goosebump-covered arm.

‘This is why I hate balls.’

While dancing with someone he knew might have been fine, for Ars, the very act of dancing with a complete stranger and pretending to be refined was a torment.

‘But this should be enough, right?’

Ars glanced at Rinoa.

Rinoa nodded with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Not bad’.

Rowell, who had initiated the confrontation, withdrew without a word. The outcome had been that clear.

Princess Rosa followed them, hoping she might get a chance to dance too, but Rinoa, having achieved her goal, had already left the party venue.

* * *

After the party, which also served as a welcome event.

I decided to stay at Rinoa’s mansion in Baien.

In return for agreeing to this deal, Rinoa promised to pay me a monthly salary, which was quite substantial.

Since I needed to save money now, I decided to go along with Rinoa’s villain act for the time being.

The full-fledged academy education curriculum began.

The education at this academy lacked autonomy.

It was a format where they crammed a fixed curriculum into students through rote learning, which was perfect for me as I needed this kind of intensive education.[1]

The culture, history, mythology, and academic knowledge of this world – while other students were listening in boredom, I was absorbing everything into my mind without missing a bit.

This academic education continued until noon.

After that, it was time for lunch, which I resolved with a packed lunch prepared by Rinoa’s maid, Anduha.

“What’s with that expression?”

“Nothing, just… The cooking isn’t quite satisfactory.”

“Anduha’s cooking skills shouldn’t be bad though.”

“Sigh…!”

I suddenly missed Eo.

Still, as Rinoa said, the food wasn’t bad, so I could eat it adequately.

When afternoon came, the magic classes began in earnest.

What was unexpected was that the magical level of the students wasn’t very high.

Or rather, among the nobles, there were many who had no talent at all.

In comparison, most of the commoner transfer students knew how to handle magic.

I see.’

Now I understood why the nobles personally selected transfer students.

While they receive respect for being nobles, not all nobles are born with magical talent. In fact, the majority lack talent.

So, to cover up this incompetence, they keep capable transfer students under their command and use them for their own honor.

I could now understand why Rinoa had called the transfer students servants.

‘Whatever the case, it’s a good environment for learning magic.’

Not only were the teacher’s lessons easy to understand, but here we could also access high-level books for free.

‘Magic is divided into five major ranks, they said…’

Just as the Salvation Alliance used levels to determine ranks, Ellan Kingdom had a similar system.

It’s a 5-step system: Beginner – User – Expert – Master – Grand Master.

Reaching Expert level is considered a successful magician, and from Master level, one is called an archmage.

In other words, even being an Expert means you’re considered talented.

‘With Ars’ talent, couldn’t he reach at least Master level?’

Well, he is the protagonist after all.

However, it felt odd to say that, as Ars didn’t have particularly outstanding talent in martial arts.

‘For now, I should aim to qualify as a Beginner.’

To qualify as a Beginner, one needed to be able to use three different types of magic.

For this, I decided to deeply research the elemental magics I was born with.

 

Footnotes:

1] Rote learning is the process of memorizing information based on repetition.


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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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