The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 173
A Royal Guard knight groans on the ground.
Certain of my victory, I release my hold.
“Ugh!”
The guard who was pinned down gets up hurriedly, blood streaming from his nose.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I apologize. I might have been a bit rough.”
“You, you…!”
The guard, seemingly having grasped the situation, contorts his face in anger. It appears that the humiliation mattered more to him than his defeat.
As if to say he hadn’t used his full strength from the start, he dismissed being pinned down as a fluke, showing no acceptance of his defeat.
He wiped the blood from his nose with his forearm and took his stance again, but the nosebleed wouldn’t stop, possibly due to a broken nose.
I glanced at the man who appeared to be a senior member of the Royal Guard.
He hesitated for a moment but soon nodded in approval. It meant to continue if the examinee was willing.
This was what I had hoped for as well.
The core of the fight here is magic. I wanted to see how strong this Royal Guard knight would be if he used magic.
“Huff…!”
After catching his breath, he forcibly realigned his broken nose bone with a crack! to somehow stop the nosebleed, then glared at me.
‘He’s quite tough.’
He soon raised his wooden sword and rushed at me.
I could sense a faint aura from him. It seems he’s using magic mixed with a small amount of aura.
The main application method is body enhancement.
“Haaaah!”
His charging speed was undoubtedly incomparable to before.
However, that didn’t mean there were no openings.
Unless it was a speed I couldn’t respond to, which it wasn’t, I could simply deflect and strike at the openings.
“You’re full of openings. It’s because your footwork is sloppy.”
“You…!”
At this, Mello, who had received the same advice from this Royal Guard, wore an astonished expression.
“How long do you think you can keep running your mouth!”
The opponent increases the intensity of his body enhancement in anger.
‘So this is the efficiency of magic.’
With this level of physical ability, he’s about the level of a junior officer in Crossing.
Junior officers in Crossing are not to be underestimated, as they also handle aura.
Of course, there’s a difference in martial skill level, so the guy in front of me would be at the bottom among those junior officers.
‘There’s no need to use aura.’
Still, since the opponent used magic, I decided to use magic as well.
I avoided his sword diagonally, drawing him in, and then bam! I kneed him in the solar plexus.
“I told you you’re full of openings.”
“Gah…!”
With this one hit, the opponent’s feet stopped.
He tried to step back to create distance, but I rushed in before he could.
I created a vibration-infused arcane orb in my left hand with a crackle! and slammed it into the opponent’s breastplate as if striking.
Unable to withstand the force of the arcane orb, the opponent rolled on the ground several times with a clatter! before crashing into the wall.
“…”
The Royal Guard knight had fainted.
The steel breastplate was hideously dented, and blood was flowing from his nose again.
“This… Is.”
The commander of the Royal Guard twisted his expression.
Thinking that if this news spread, they would be disgraced, he approached me with glaring eyes.
“There’s a spirited one here…! Very well, then I…”
He seems to want to face me directly, reaching for the sword at his waist.
But at that moment.
“That’s enough. Even if you step in, he’s not an opponent you can win against.”
A blue-haired woman suddenly appeared. Even I, who often forgets people, remembered her immediately.
‘What? It’s that fake Eonia. Why is she here?’
I couldn’t remember her name, but I remembered that she was the spear-wielder I had faced.
As she appeared, the Royal Guards stirred.
“Lady Lucretia!”
“Have you returned to the Royal Guard?”
Lucretia didn’t answer them and stared at me intently as she spoke.
“You… Why are you here?”
“Hm? Who might you be?”
Although I knew, I decided to play dumb for now.
At this, her eyes twitched.
“Don’t you remember me? I’m the spear-wielder who fought you in Larmen in the Northern Continent!”
“Well… I think you might have mistaken me for someone else.”
Since she had been persistent about seeing my martial arts last time, I decided to pretend not to know her for now.
This seemed to have greatly offended her pride.
“Are you saying I wasn’t even worth remembering as an opponent…!” She quickly exhaled, suppressing her anger. “Fine, alright. I’ll make you remember me gradually. More importantly, what are you all doing! Continue with the exam!”
“But, Lady Lucretia.”
“What is it?”
The Royal Guard knight looked hesitant, asking if it was alright to reflect this in the evaluation as is. A question of whether to make the Royal Guard’s crushing defeat official.
Lucretia frowned at this.
“A defeat is a defeat! We can’t deny the facts!”
Lucretia snatched the scoring sheet and wrote down the evaluation for me.
Since our group was the last, the exam ended with that.
I decided to return to the mansion with Rinoa, leaving behind Lucretia’s burning gaze.
***
Rinoa was dazed the entire way back.
Then, with a serious expression, she says, “Wade, you… Did you approach me on someone’s orders?”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who suddenly recruited me.”
“That’s… But… Then what on earth was that!?”
“You said I didn’t need to hold back this time. So I just did it, you know?”
“You were serious about that!?”
Rinoa clutches her forehead as if she has a headache.
She soon asks as if something has occurred to her.
“You said before. That you were a famous general, and the last bloodline of the imperial family. Don’t tell me that was serious too?”
“I may evade things, but I rarely lie outright.”
“General of where? What empire?”
Rinoa now seems interested and presses for details.
“I’m a general of a royal palace called Calliper. The empire is… The Fensillon Empire.”
“I’ve never heard of it. Which continent is it on?”
“The demon continent.”
“The demon continent…?”
There was no reason to hide it. I had intended to get Rinoa’s help with searching for the missing people from the beginning, so I decided to speak frankly.
“Tell me in detail.”
On the way back to the mansion, I briefly explained what had happened so far.
“So, so that’s how it is? You were a famous general in the demon continent, and due to an unexpected accident, you ended up crossing over to this continent with your subordinates?”
“That’s correct.”
“But how…? Isn’t the demon continent a place teeming with all sorts of monsters?”
“It’s the opposite. There’s not even a single monster, let alone dungeons. Instead, though I’m not sure if it’s a trade-off, no magic exists other than some holy magic.”
“That’s a lie…”
This must be the right reaction.
In the perception of people here, the demon continent is the den of the demon king after all.
I decided to take this opportunity to tell Rinoa, “Miss Rinoa Branford. Would you like to make a deal?”
“A deal?”
“I want to find my vassals as soon as possible. If you help me, I’ll help you as much as I can afterwards.”
“Help me? In what way?”
“I can help you in whatever way you want. Putting myself aside, my vassals are excellent. They should be able to help with most things.”
“…”
After pondering for a moment, Rinoa smiles bitterly and continues, “I’ll help you.”
“Then the deal is sealed. Once I find all my vassals, I’ll also…”
“The deal is unnecessary. I’ve already accomplished everything I needed to.”
“…?”
“So I’ll just help you. I also want to see if you’re just boasting, or if you really have such vassals.”
“Hmm…”
It seemed like there was some circumstance, but she didn’t seem likely to explain it.
Whatever the case, it was appreciated that she said she would help.
Meanwhile, in the training ground that Ars had left, Lucretia was tidying up the situation.
She was somewhat controlling the spread of information about Ars knocking down the royal guard member.
This wasn’t for the honor of the royal guard.
Originally, it wasn’t uncommon in the academy’s history for a royal guard member to be defeated in a practical exam.
Even this year, six royal guard members had already been defeated by nobles and special transfer students.
Of course, they weren’t pulverized like Ars did today, but still, a royal guard member losing wasn’t strange in itself.
Nevertheless, there was another reason for controlling the information.
‘There must be a reason why he entered the Royal Academy using the alias Wade. Or maybe the name Ars Elaine that he called himself might be the alias.’
Whatever the case, it’s suspicious.
Lucretia thought that Ars might be a spy from the Salvation Alliance. He was also partnered with that dangerous-looking beastman in Larmen.
Moreover, his partner being that Rinoa Branford made it even more suspicious.
‘However, if that’s the case, His Majesty couldn’t possibly be unaware of this fact. After dealing with the Branford family like that, there’s no way he would allow an Alliance spy to approach Rinoa…’
There must be some circumstance. So until she knew that circumstance, she decided to keep Ars under close watch as a person of interest.
She soon turned her gaze to a certain point and walked over.
“Princess Rosa.”
“…!?”
Rosa, who had been watching the situation while holding her breath, flinched. She immediately tried to run away, but Lucretia was one step faster.
“Where are you trying to go?”
“Lu, Lucretia…”
“It’s been a while since I greeted you. Princess, could we talk for a moment?”
“Yes…”
Lucretia had noticed that Rosa was closely observing Ars’ every move.
She was curious about the reason behind it.
“What kind of relationship do you have with that Ars Elaine person, Princess?”
“What…!?”
Rosa could only blink her wide-open eyes.
“Princess? What’s wrong?”
“Wh, what did you just say?”
“Pardon?”
“Ars… Elaine?”
“Ah, it must have been hard for you to understand when I said it like that. I’m talking about that Wade fellow. I’m not sure which is his real name, but it seems right to call him Wade here.”
“Why did you call Wade, Ars Elaine!”
“It’s the name that person called himself when I confronted him in the past. There’s no need for you to particularly worry about it.”
“Ah…”
Rosa was at a loss for words, dumbfounded.
Lucretia could only tilt her head in confusion, not understanding what was going on.
***
The exam schedule that lasted for 6 days has ended.
As it was the first exam for freshmen after their admission, the level of interest was extraordinary.
For transfer students, it was also a kind of ranking, so when the results were announced, everyone headed to where the bulletin was posted.
“Mello! Let’s go look!”
“O-okay.”
Mello glanced at me and left with the group.
I decided to stay in the classroom for a while as I had something to do.
Since Rinoa agreed to help, I was contemplating how to conduct the search.
‘Since Rinoa’s family home is in the southern continent, I guess we should focus on searching there first.’
Given that contact with Gunther, who went to the southern continent, was lost, clarifying Gunther’s whereabouts was the priority.
I thought there must be a reason for Gunther’s disappearance. He might have gotten involved in some incident while trying to find clues about the missing person and bring them back.
‘More than that, the power of the Branford family… It’s more than I thought.’
According to the information, they had wealth belonging to the high nobility. Before Rinoa inherited the title, they might have truly been high nobles.
‘They said Rinoa poisoned her parents and older brother…’
She didn’t seem like the type to do that, but oddly enough, when she said it, it didn’t seem like she was lying.
‘I’ll have to look into the circumstances gradually.’
If Rinoa really helps with the search for the missing people, I intended to repay the favor.
‘Alright, first I should start gathering information from the point where we lost contact with Gunther.’
By the time I had made my plan, the students who had already seen the bulletin were returning to the classroom.
As the crowd should have thinned out by now, I decided to check the results myself.
As I was about to leave the classroom, the returning classmates gave me strange looks.
“To think he’d be on par with the special admissions student…”
“What’s the deal with him?”
Judging from the atmosphere, it seemed the results were good.
As expected, when I arrived a bit late, the crowd around the bulletin with the results had thinned.
I first looked at the top ranks.
The top ranks were occupied by nobles.
There were no commoners there.
It was unavoidable. The nobles had an additional written subject called court etiquette.
If the total score for transfer students was 800 points, the total for nobles was 900 points.
It was a structure where commoners couldn’t take the overall first place.
‘Such blatant discrimination.’
Even the Calliper Academy I attended had privileges for nobles, but not to this extent.
Anyway, given this situation, the section I needed to check was the 800-point range.
I lowered my gaze to check the 800-point range.
The rankings there were as follows:
—–
174th. Dayan Kiros 800 points
175th. Iven Redi 798 points
176th. Erina 797 points
176th. Haxen Rokeil 797 points
.
.
192nd. Wade 772 points
—–
192nd overall, and 10th among commoners.
It wasn’t a bad result, but it wasn’t a score I was satisfied with.
‘As expected, was the magic test the stumbling block?’
While power and restraining force were secondary, the casting speed was ordinary. Or maybe the royal guard harbored a grudge and deducted points.
‘Can’t be helped.’
It was an embarrassing result for someone who confidently said it would be fine to take first place, but I decided to be satisfied with ranking in the upper tier.
As I was about to return to the classroom, the academy teacher in charge of our class approached me and said, “Surprising, did you do the transfer exam halfheartedly? Because it was already decided that Miss Rinoa would recruit you?”
“Haha… Well, yes.”
“Hmm, I didn’t expect a student from Class 17 to be on par with a special admissions student. Still, it’s fortunate that you can match your partner’s grades. At least you won’t be holding your partner back.”
Rinoa’s score was 889 points, ranking 9th overall.
I wondered why that was fortunate, but it seemed to have quite an important meaning.
It was related to the Academy Martial Arts Tournament to be held at the upcoming summer festival.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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