The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 169

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 169

Aware that I had caused trouble, I decided to quietly return to the mansion.

‘I didn’t expect it to be destroyed so easily…’

Either that magic-resistant stone was unexpectedly weak, or my magic’s destructive power was strong. It had to be one of the two.

‘Probably the latter.’

After all, I had put my all into that attack.

It was clear from the lingering exhaustion. An attack that used up all my aura should have that level of power, or it would be problematic otherwise.

‘But still, I didn’t think it would explode.’

Arcane seemed to have the property of attracting other things. Light magic, though I wasn’t sure exactly, seemed to have an explosive nature.

This was the characteristic of magic cast through aura.

Each individual has their own unique properties.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s unconditionally superior. Even a magician who can’t use aura can achieve the same results without necessarily using aura if they have sufficient magical knowledge.

Aura is a kind of shortcut, and the main strength of aura users lies in their martial abilities rather than magic.

So if I were to properly learn magic, I couldn’t rely on aura alone but had to train my magic as well.

‘Still, there was some gain.’

With that destructive power, it could be used as a technique in critical moments.

Moreover, since the spear coated with arcane had the property of attracting other things, it might be able to briefly hold onto an opponent’s weapon during a duel.

It was like gaining a new tactical move.

Feeling that I had made progress, I felt refreshed.

Although I had caused trouble, even if I was caught, Rinoa would take care of it.

The next day, after a good night’s sleep, I was whistling while preparing for school, but somehow the atmosphere in the mansion felt unusual.

During breakfast with Rinoa, the servant Anduha approached with a serious face.

“Miss.”

“…? What is it, Anduha?”

Anduha whispered something to Rinoa.

Rinoa frowned and shouted, making Anduha’s whisper meaningless.

“A terrorist attack!?”

Anduha glanced at me once, sighed, and continued speaking without bothering to whisper.

“Yes, it seems someone destroyed the magic-resistant stone at the magic practice site yesterday and fled.”

“The magic-resistant stone? You mean that one from yesterday…?”

“Come to think of it, you also had practice yesterday, Miss. Yes, it’s that magic-resistant stone.”

“You mean that enormous thing was destroyed? How on earth!?”

“According to the investigation team, traces of magic were found. They suspect it might be a show of force predicting a terrorist attack.”

“That’s… Could they already…?”

“It’s too early to jump to conclusions, but…”

Rinoa’s face turned as white as a sheet.

I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles.

‘A terrorist attack…’

Well, I suppose it might look that way to someone who doesn’t know the truth.

“Ah, ahem! Um, would it be alright if I excused myself now? It seems you’re discussing important matters…”

Anduha nodded, indicating that it was a good idea for me to leave.

I handed my dishes to a maid and hurriedly left the dining room.

“Phew!”

As soon as I left the dining room, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘It seems I wasn’t caught.’

It appears to have been an even bigger incident than I had thought.

If I had some standing, I might have confessed, but it was difficult now.

I had neither the money to compensate nor the means to smooth over the situation.

I decided to apologize later by bringing an even larger magic-resistant stone.

I shook off those thoughts and prepared for school.

As I was waiting after getting ready, Anduha approached with a complicated expression and handed me a lunchbox.

“Hm? It looks like there’s less than usual.”

Anduha sighed softly and replied.

“The young miss plans to take a break from the academy for a while.”

“She didn’t look unwell, though.”

“You don’t need to know.”

“It seems to be because of that terrorist thing from earlier…. Actually, I’m the one who destroyed that magic-resistant stone.”

“Stop talking nonsense and get going.”

He didn’t believe me, as expected.

I shrugged and said, “By the way, Anduha. I might come back a bit late today, is that okay?”

“Are you going to study in the academy library again?”

“It’s a bit different today… But the end result is similar.”

“Do as you please. I don’t need to attend to the young miss today anyway… Just don’t be too late.”

“Yes, sir!”

Anduha gave a bitter smile at my spirited response.

* * *

The Academy was abuzz with talk of terrorism.

Students were chattering away, mentioning all sorts of criminals.

“It must be Mobius, I tell you!”

“The great dark wizard Mobius? No way! That person lived 100 years ago!”

“Still! If there’s anyone who would hold a grudge against the Royal Academy, wouldn’t it be Mobius?”

The great dark wizard, the master of brainwashing Fulrus, and so on. The kids weren’t genuinely worried about terrorism; they were just enjoying a new topic of conversation.

“Hey, Wade.”

“Yeah?”

It was Mello, a classmate from the same year.

He speaks with a face full of mischief.

“I heard you took a different route after practice yesterday? Did you happen to see the culprit?”

“I didn’t see anyone.”

“You didn’t? Or maybe you did see something but were too scared and just trembling?”

He burst out laughing with a ‘Puha-ha!’ The group that sided with him also laughed along.

There were guys like this here.

He’s the type who dislikes that I get attention from the female students.

In the previous academy, since I was a noble and there were hardly any women in the military department, this kind of thing didn’t happen. But in this place where the gender ratio was evenly distributed, there were guys full of such jealousy.

These guys seemed to want to steal the attention of the girls away from me by humiliating me.

‘Really, what foolish guys.’

Normally, I would have just ignored it, but right now, I needed to be arrogant and insolent.

I grinned and said to him, “Are you picking a fight with me right now?”

“What if I am?”

“You… You do know who’s behind me, right? It’s Countess Rinoa Branford. Unlike the lady you serve, she holds a real title of high nobility. Do you understand what that means?”

“Ha, ha! You must know what kind of reputation that Rinoa Branford has, right? A demon who killed her parents and siblings! To proudly talk about serving such a woman. You’re quite the amusing fellow too.”

“What did you just say? Calling the Countess a demon? ‘Such a woman’? You, a commoner?”

When I caught onto his slip-up, he visibly panicked. He spoke confidently, but he seemed to realize he had made a mistake.

“I should call the guards. The crime of a commoner insulting a noble is severe, you know? Especially insulting a high noble with the title of a Count.”

“W-Wait! I just…!”

“Don’t explain it to me, save it for the guards.”

“I said wait!”

He tried to stop me as if he was going to hit me.

I used his gesture to pull him towards me and struck his solar plexus with my knee.

“Guhk!? Kuh…”

Mello fell down and started vomiting. The female students recoiled in shock and distanced themselves from him.

“Kyaa! Get away!”

“Disgusting!”

They didn’t seem to notice that I had subtly kneed him; they thought he suddenly started vomiting on his own.

I left him there and headed towards the academy garden.

Due to the incident I caused yesterday, today’s afternoon magic classes were canceled.

Thanks to that, I had some free time and decided to finish the work I had been doing all along.

Gaspar’s idea.

Publishing ‘Their Circumstances’, a novel that was a hit among the noble ladies of our continent, in this world.

For that, I first had to transcribe the book.

Until now, I couldn’t make progress because I didn’t fully understand this world’s writing system. Although I knew the basic characters, I hadn’t mastered various words and expressions.

Now that I’ve become somewhat proficient, I can at least transcribe the book.

The content was still fresh in my memory, so it was just a matter of writing it down.

However, I needed to hide clues about myself in this book, so I had to make some modifications.

“I hope this works out well…”

I thought it would be fortunate if I could find even one person with this book. That’s how little progress there had been in the search for the missing people.

To the extent that I was eagerly waiting for news from Gaspar, who had entered the Lost Lands.

“Alright, the first volume is done.”

Since I had been working on it continuously, transcribing the first volume only took an hour.

I took a break, eating some bread that Anduha had packed for me.

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, I felt gazes around me.

This place is the academy garden, but since the academy itself is like a city, it’s essentially just a park within the city.

Nevertheless, for some reason, the surroundings were full of academy students. Their afternoon schedules were also canceled, so it seems they came out for a picnic.

They were enjoying tea time on what looked like picnic blankets.

That alone wouldn’t have been a problem, but the issue was that several young ladies were glancing in my direction. It wasn’t just one or two, so I couldn’t help but notice their gazes.

The young ladies who didn’t know me were asking who I was, while those who knew me were explaining who I was.

‘How blatant.’

This was another difference from our continent.

This kind of attention was always there, but it was never this obvious.

‘Maybe it’s because I’m a commoner now.’

Before, I was a noble and an army officer, so I was difficult to approach, but now there’s no such barrier, so they might feel more comfortable.

I was about to start writing the second volume regardless of all this.

That’s when it happened.

“Excuse me… Do you have a moment?”

“…?”

It was a familiar woman.

“The-There aren’t many tables available, so I was wondering if I could join you, if that’s alright.”

I was about to firmly refuse, but before that, I realized who the woman in front of me was.

‘Princess Rosa Divine…!’

I barely remembered her because I had encountered her once before, and I had been hearing her name continuously since then.

‘Tch.’

* * *

Suddenly, everyone was focusing on us.

It made it difficult to refuse her joining me.

“Yes, please have a seat.”

“Thank you.”

Rosa sat down with a lady who seemed to be her friend.

After brief introductions, I tried to leave, but Princess Rosa forcibly brought up a topic to keep me there.

“I see. So Rinoa is having health issues…”

“You don’t need to worry too much. She’ll recover in a few days.”

“Yes… By the way, sir Wade, how are you finding your stay at Rinoa’s mansion?”

“Please speak less formally. Using such honorifics for someone like me… I’m embarrassed.”

“Th-Then… Wade?”

“That’s fine.”

Rosa smiled broadly.

‘I should get out of here soon.’

If this continued, unnecessary gossip might start. I decided to leave, even if I had to force it.

I got up when Princess Rosa was talking to the lady next to her.

“Oh my, it seems I’m interrupting your conversation. How inconsiderate of me. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Ah…! There’s no need for that, Wade.”

“No, please don’t worry about me, Princess.”

“Uh… That’s not it… I need someone to talk to. So… Just stay.”

She’s being more clingy than I expected. I gave a meaningful look to the lady sitting next to Rosa. She seemed to understand my intention and said to Rosa, “Then Princess, why don’t we call Erina? She would be a good conversation partner.”

“…!?”

A name that came up suddenly.

I stretched my upper body towards that lady and said, “Did you just say Erina?”

“Yes!? Ah, yes… What about it?”

“Who is she? What’s her full name? What does she look like? What color is her hair?”

I must have brought my face too close because the lady didn’t know how to react.

“W-Wait a minute! You’re too close!”

Rosa pulled her friend towards her as if to protect her.

Belatedly realizing I had gotten excited, I cleared my throat.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… So, about this Erina person? Could you tell me more?”

“…”

Rosa furrowed her brow, seemingly displeased about something.

“Wade, you… You’re interested in Erina.”

“No, it’s just a little…”

“Erina is my partner transfer student.”

“…!”

A transfer student just like me. The timing was coincidental.

I urged her with my eyes to continue talking. The more I did, the more uncomfortable Princess Rosa seemed to become.

As if trying to put up a wall from the start, she blurted out the key information.

“Erina is already married! A-And, she’s also been my friend for 10 years! I won’t allow you to ask about her with that kind of interest!”

“Married… is she.”

And she’s known Princess Rosa for 10 years. Then there’s no possibility that she’s the Erina I knew.

Well, Erina is a common name, so there could be many people with the same name.

“I apologize. If I’ve offended you, I sincerely apologize.”

To get excited over something like this. Even though I was pretending to be calm on the outside, I must have been quite anxious inside.

“I’m ashamed to have shown such unseemly behavior. Then, I’ll be going now.”

My heart felt uneasy for no reason.

On my way back, I decided to check if there had been any progress in the search for the missing people.

* * *

Rosa bit her lip as she watched Ars’ retreating back.

Perceptive as she was, she knew. That Ars didn’t have even a speck of interest in her.

Still, it was fine. He hadn’t shown any interest in the friend who came with her either.

She thought he was just naturally friendly with everyone.

That’s why she was displeased with Ars’ change in attitude when Erina was mentioned.

“What’s this! Really…”

As Rosa grumbled, her friend next to her said with an awkward smile, “Ahaha… Well, he is a commoner after all. Isn’t it natural for him to show interest in another commoner?”

“We didn’t even say whether Erina was a commoner or a noble!”

“W-Well… Maybe he guessed somehow…?”

What bothered Rosa the most was that she felt Ars might develop feelings for Erina when he actually met her. That’s because Erina had the grace and beauty that didn’t seem like a commoner at all.

“A-Anyway! Whatever the case, I think it would be good to call Erina here.”

The friend, feeling uncomfortable, tried to use Erina as a scapegoat to escape, but Rosa stopped her.

“Erina is studying in the library. There’s no need to call her unnecessarily.”

Erina, who hadn’t fully mastered the writing system yet, was cooped up in the library learning the common knowledge and general information of this world.

“I see… Oh, right! Come to think of it, I heard! They discovered that Erina has a talent for magic?”

“Yes. Both her innate attributes and other factors… They say she has great potential.”

“That’s wonderful news. If she succeeds as a magician, she could become a noble too. She’ll surely be a good friend who will stay by your side for life, Princess.”

“Yeah, I hope it turns out that way.”

Rosa’s response was lukewarm.

The lady with her was making all sorts of fuss to cheer her up.

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