The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 170
After parting ways with Princess Rosa, I headed to the Mercenary Guild located in Baien.
The Mercenary Guild here also operated a tavern, so as soon as I opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol wafted out.
Not wanting to stay in such a place for long, I immediately headed to where the guild staff was.
The guild staff member recognized my face and gave a small snort.
From that reaction, I instantly knew today was another failure.
Still, I decided to ask formally.
“Do you have any search information on the individuals I requested?”
“No.”
The brief answer implied a lot.
It was as if telling me not to expect anything from the start.
The staff member says, “Do you know how many missing persons there are in this world?”
“Well, how many are there?”
“Just those reported to our guild alone are 1 million! 1 million! Do you understand?”
In this world, where we are at war with monsters, there are far too many missing persons.
If someone is devoured by monsters, their body can’t be found. As all of them are added to the list of missing persons, the numbers have grown exponentially.
The problem was that because of this, people weren’t very proactive in searching for missing persons.
Even if there’s a missing person report, they won’t even pretend to look unless you slip them some money under the table.
‘Tch, so it does come down to money after all.’
I was waiting for news from Gaspar and Gunther, but while Gaspar entering the Lost Lands was one thing, even Gunther had gone out of contact.
‘How frustrating.’
Now I had to take action on my side as well.
The first step was publishing this book.
A strategy to kill two birds with one stone – earn money and find people.
Leaving the guild, I moved to where the publishing house was located and had a private meeting with the dwarf man I had made an appointment with beforehand.
“Are you Wade?”
“Yes, pleased to meet you.”
The dwarf’s name was Makson.
Makson was examining the cover of the book I handed him. Then, as if suddenly noticing my gaze, he furrowed his brow and asked, “What are you looking at?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just a bit interesting.”
“…?”
Dwarves were a race that didn’t exist on our continent, so they were very intriguing. Dwarves and halflings, famous for their craftsmanship.
For me, who had lost Luke, one of the Seven Vassals and a master craftsman, their existence couldn’t help but be interesting.
“Hmm, I’ll read it for now. Come back later.”
“No, please read it now.”
“What?”
“I’d like you to read it here and now.”
I thought if I left it like this, he wouldn’t read it. Even if he did read it, who knows when that would be. So I decided to force him to read it right now, even if I had to be pushy.
Makson scratched his head saying, ‘What a troublesome fellow’, then turned his head and shouted loudly.
“Ukon! Come out here!”
Then a boy who looked like a halfling came running with quick steps.
“What is it?”
“Our usual customer is here. You deal with him.”
“Ah…”
Ukon’s expression darkened as if understanding the situation. Then he started to deal with me instead of Makson.
“So… You want to publish this novel you wrote yourself, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Ah, you can speak casually to me.”
“O-okay?”
He’s strangely friendly.
The kid looked over my book that he received from Makson and said, “Then, shall I read it?” and started reading the book quietly.
Soon, he started showing reactions.
“Hmm, hmm. A pure love story about a love triangle… No, with the female knight added, would it be a love square?”
After reading the whole book, Ukon nodded saying it wasn’t bad.
“It’s good. I especially liked the part where there was no magic at all. There are also parts that strangely stimulate a woman’s heart. Not bad.”
“Really? Then…”
“Yes, we’ll publish it on our end.”
“Uh… Are you allowed to decide that?”
“Of course. After all, I’m the owner of this publishing house.”
I couldn’t believe such a young kid was the owner of a publishing house, but when he introduced himself again and revealed his age, I was momentarily speechless.
“40 years old…?”
“That’s right. It’s been almost 20 years since I started working here. This is my intuition as someone in the industry, but your book… It might do well.”
To think that someone who looks less than 10 years old externally is that age.
Ukon skillfully led the contract negotiations. By the time we finished the contract, night had already fallen.
* * *
It had been a month since entering the academy.
By this time, the academy was buzzing with talk about exams.
The goal of the transfer students who entered the academy was to achieve good grades and receive the title of hero (noble rank), so this exam was extremely important.
Even the nobles were serious about the exam as they had their pride to maintain.
Rinoa also didn’t take the exam lightly.
In her words, “If your grades are bad on top of that behavior, you’re just a good-for-nothing, right?”
It seems she doesn’t mind being called the villain princess, but she doesn’t want to be a good-for-nothing.
So Rinoa was concentrating on studying for the exam except during meal times.
Seeing her enthusiasm, I decided to ask casually.
“What? Can you say that again?” Rinoa asked with furrowed brows in response to my question.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m asking if it’s okay for me to get first place. If you tell me to do moderately this time too, I’ll do so.”
“…Pfft!” Rinoa burst into laughter as if she finally understood. “Really, where does this confidence come from? Have you forgotten your entrance exam scores?”
“That’s because I didn’t study then.”
“You think it’ll be different if you study? Enough to get first place?”
“Of course.”
“Hehe, there’s never a dull moment with you. I look forward to what amusing things you’ll say next.” Rinoa gave a sign of permission with a smirk. “Do it if you can. I won’t mind much.”
“No taking it back later.”
With Rinoa’s permission, there was nothing holding me back.
First, I focused on studying the exam material to prepare for the written test.
In the past, I could ace tests just with my usual knowledge, so I never specifically studied for exams, but here I lacked that general knowledge, so I had to cram within the given scope.
‘Let’s assume this is enough for the written test.’
Next was the practical exam.
The practical evaluation was in two parts: magic and martial arts.
To get a perfect score, one had to be proficient in both.
I searched the archives to investigate how practical exams had been conducted so far.
The martial arts practical exam was conducted as a sparring match, so I wasn’t worried, but the magic practical was the problem.
For magic, they test three things: power, restraining force, and casting speed.
‘Using aura as magic would be enough, but…’
That would defeat the purpose. If possible, I wanted to pass the test using pure magic.
‘First, let’s focus on power.’
I headed to the training ground that was always open.
There were targets set up there with simple magic resistance treatment.
Apparently, if you break through this magic resistance barrier and destroy the target, you can get a perfect score in the power section.
First, as a test, I created and threw a sphere of arcane energy.
Since I cast it using only magic, it was just a simple energy mass without any attractive properties.
Zap! The arcane sphere resisted the barrier for a moment when it made contact, but soon exhausted its power and disappeared.
“As expected, this isn’t enough.”
Next, I decided to add properties to the sphere.
This is where magic application came in.
I applied vibration, one of the applications.
When the sphere hit the magic resistance barrier, it violently vibrated, shaking the barrier strongly.
However, even this wasn’t enough, as it failed to penetrate the barrier and disappeared.
“Tch, this is troublesome.”
This was the largest sphere I could create.
If I made it any larger, it would be beyond my control.
“Is there no other way…”
Then suddenly, the shape of a spear flashed in my mind.
‘The arcane spear I threw before broke through the barrier a bit more easily.’
Although a direct comparison was difficult because the amount of magical power was different, I thought it was worth a try.
I thinned out the sphere-shaped arcane energy as if kneading it. Then I stretched it out like a stick.
This process required tremendous concentration.
“Phew!”
The arcane spear was finally created. I added the vibration property to it and threw it towards the target.
Swoosh! The magic spear cut through the air towards the target.
Soon, a double-layered magic barrier activated to block the spear, but zap! The spear vibrated and shattered the barrier.
Thud! The spear pierced through the target and slowly disappeared.
“Great!”
That took care of power.
“Next is restraining force…”
This was the problem. Unlike power magic where you just need to increase destructive force, restraining magic had depth to it.
The only thing I could quickly learn was the chains of light, a type of light magic, but this was not only difficult but also required a considerable amount of magic.
In arcane magic, there was a restraining spell called static field that used magnetism, but this was quite high-level magic.
“Hmm, there’s no solution.”
It was still beyond my reach.
“Can’t be helped. I’ll have to mix in some aura here.”
After finishing practice for power and restraining force, I entered repetitive training to increase the last remaining casting speed.
It’s practice to form and throw arcane spheres as quickly as possible.
While doing such practice, suddenly a voice came from behind.
“Working hard, I see.”
The man who appeared with a dry clap smiled at me. Behind him stood a man with sharp features.
“Who are you?”
At my innocent question, the man momentarily looked blank.
But only for a moment. He started laughing heartily.
“Hahaha! I never expected to hear such words. You really are an interesting fellow. I can understand why Rosa is interested in you.”
“…?”
As I was still confused, the sharp-featured man behind him urged me.
“Bow your head! This is Prince Joseph Divine, the prince of this country!”
I had heard something about this.
That there was a royal who had enrolled as a new student along with Princess Rosa.
‘Tch, I’ve run into a troublesome fellow.’
That was all I thought about it.
I was just hoping he would leave soon.
However, Joseph seemed to have something to say to me.
“Would you mind talking for a moment?”
“I can’t imagine what His Highness would want to talk about with me…”
“Just a bit. I think I need to give you a word of caution.”
“…Is it because I talked with Princess Rosa?”
Joseph readily admitted it.
“Yes, there were many eyes watching, so various rumors are spreading. Especially since you’re also Lady Rinoa’s partner.”
I understood why he was doing this.
“If that’s the case, you don’t need to worry. Someone like me wouldn’t dare to harbor feelings or act on them towards the princess. You’ve misunderstood.”
Joseph added, saying not to misunderstand.
“No, I’m not blaming you. From what I’ve heard about that time, it seems Rosa acted rashly first. I want to talk about that incident and future matters. To prevent similar incidents from happening again. So, do you mind sparing a moment?”
He probably wants to tell me not to cause any more scandals with the princess, that sort of thing.
“Yes… I understand.”
It was a proposal that didn’t allow for refusal in the first place.
I followed Prince Joseph, feeling as if I was being dragged, towards the garden near the royal palace.
There, as if she had been waiting, Princess Rosa was sitting restlessly.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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