The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 178
Once we decided to scout someone, we couldn’t just settle for anyone mediocre.
That one person could potentially disrupt the overall teamwork.
The important thing was that filling the numbers shouldn’t be the goal.
So we had to persuade someone with real skill to join us.
In that sense, this martial arts tournament was a good stage.
Day 8 of the festival.
I kept a close eye on the special admission students preparing for the tournament.
As expected, the most noticeable were Prince Joseph and his partner, Dayan Kiros.
Dayan, a special admission student, was the one who had scored perfect marks in the previous exam and was one of the few nobles among the transfer students, who were mostly commoners.
I had become familiar with his face when I was talking with Prince Joseph. Well, I hadn’t really had a proper conversation with him.
‘This one won’t do.’
Just looking at that face that seemed full of pride made me uncomfortable.
Noticing my gaze, Kiros glanced sideways at me and whispered something to Joseph.
Prince Joseph soon looked in my direction with meaningful eyes.
I turned my attention to other special admission students, regardless of their actions.
‘Next is…’
A male student named Iven Redi.
He was our opponent in today’s martial arts tournament.
He was preparing for the match with his partner, checking their equipment, but their behavior was cringe-worthy.
“Iven! Where are you touching?”
“What are you talking about? I’m just standing still.”
“Who in the world touches someone’s waist while saying that?”
“I’m sorry, Lisa. You’re just too attractive.”
“Anyway… Save that for the night.”
The duo flaunting their stickiness.
They were an irritating duo.
Rinoa seemed to agree, frowning as she spoke.
“Wade, don’t go easy today.”
“Is that okay? The other side is…”
Hearing this, she was a Duke’s daughter.
This Iven Redi was also the second son of a prominent Marquis family, the highest-ranking among the transfer students.
However, Rinoa didn’t care.
“As long as they’re not royalty, it doesn’t matter. I’m a real Countess, you know. Except for royalty, I have the highest rank here.”
“That’s true.”
And so began the martial arts tournament.
The matches for new students were conducted in 2 vs 2 format, which made it even more challenging in some ways.
Cooperation with your partner was essential to exert maximum combat power.
I could have ended it quickly by taking them out myself, but today I wanted to closely observe the skills of this Iven guy, and considering Rinoa, who had been jumping around like a child excited about participating in the martial arts tournament, I needed to match her pace.
We used the rescue teleportation spell provided by the organizers and faced each other on the stage.
“Booooo!”
Jeers poured towards us.
More precisely, towards Rinoa.
“Unfilial child who killed her parents!”
“Count Branford was a good person!”
“Get lost, murderer!”
Rinoa seemed used to it and didn’t let it shake her mental state, but judging by the twitching of her eyes every time the word ‘unfilial’ was mentioned, it wasn’t completely without impact.
The announcer gave Rinoa, who had become the center of the commotion, a cold look before starting the match.
“Begin!”
With the signal, our opponents moved in perfect unison.
I guess that’s what being a couple means. They clearly had prepared a lot.
First, the woman named Lisa started chanting a fire spell, and Iven stood in front with his shield raised to protect her.
‘So the man is a warrior type?’
Just then, Rinoa finished chanting Wind Cutter and shot those wind blades towards the opponents.
An attack of this level could be blocked with a shield, but because it was a wind magic with a wide range of attack, it could potentially harm the woman chanting spells from behind.
So Iven, while holding his shield upright, started casting a spell.
“Haaah!”
Creak! Tree roots began to form around the shield.
They became a wall that neutralized the wind blades.
“Woah! Amazing!”
“To use earth magic of this level in a place without soil!”
As the attack was nullified, Rinoa’s expression hardened.
She was a one-trick pony with this Wind Cutter, so when this attack was blocked, she had no additional methods.
Originally, there was a higher-level technique of firing compressed air bullets, but this was difficult and even she couldn’t properly use it.
“Wade, this time you…”
“Let’s dodge first!”
“Ah…!”
The opponent’s woman, having finished her chant, fired a spell towards us.
“Take this!”
Whoosh!
Twelve strands of fire scattered.
They chased after us like guided arrows.
‘Not bad…!’
It had enough power to go all-in on the attack, using their partner as a shield.
The fire strands slithered towards us like snakes.
Rinoa hurriedly cast Wind Cutter to neutralize six of them, but couldn’t block the rest.
Even one direct hit from the remaining six strands would be the end.
This was also why fire magic was highly rated.
Unlike water or earth magic, which lack destructive power on their own, fire inherently possesses formidable strength.
Contact wouldn’t end with just a small burn.
Lightning magic was highly rated for similar reasons.
“Wade, isn’t there any way?”
Rinoa asked while barely dodging the fire strands.
The missed fire strands changed direction and targeted Rinoa again.
I pulled Rinoa towards me just before a fire strand was about to hit the back of her head and answered.
“Which method should we use? We could overwhelm them with force together, or we could do something a bit smarter!”
Rinoa chose the former.
“If we can, let’s try to crush them with force!”
“As fiery as ever.”
Having received permission, there was no need to hesitate.
I first swung my spear to easily eliminate the fire strands.
Rinoa, who had been struggling to avoid them, made a blank expression.
“If you could do that, why didn’t you do it earlier?”
“Then you wouldn’t have had a chance to shine.”
“Sigh… Whatever. You have a way to break that shield, right?”
“Let’s give it a try.”
Crackle! I generated an arcane spear.
The magic formed into a javelin vibrated fiercely.
But even this wasn’t enough.
The opponent’s defense was much stronger than the resistance magic on the scarecrow.
To break that, some arrangement was necessary.
Rinoa instinctively provided support.
She overlapped several Wind Cutters and concentrated them on the tip of my spear.
Then, as the wind blades vibrated, a buzzing sound like thousands of bees flying started.
The opponents’ complexion changed at this ominous destructive power.
“Iven! Strengthen the defense!”
Iven’s shield became even more solid.
It seems they have no intention of dodging.
“Haaah!”
Whoosh!
The arcane spear flew to pierce the shield.
They shot fire strands towards the spear to neutralize it, but it was too much to handle.
The fire strands with their individually small destructive power couldn’t block it.
Crack!
The spear that hit the wooden shield penetrated through and aimed at the two behind it.
That was the end.
As the rescue teleportation activated, the two were removed from the arena.
The magic spear that penetrated the shield stuck into the wall and then dissipated.
“……”
The arena became as quiet as a library.
The announcer shouted with a displeased look.
“Winners! Rinoa Branford, Wade!”
A clean victory. However, there was almost no cheering from the audience.
* * *
After the victory, Rinoa jumped around with joy.
It seems she was quite moved by her performance in the martial arts tournament she had dreamed of.
Although the audience’s reaction was lukewarm, she didn’t seem to mind much, as if she was used to it.
After chattering for a while, Rinoa, in high spirits, instructed the butler Anduha to prepare a splendid dinner.
Anduha smiled warmly seeing Rinoa genuinely happy.
Anduha whispered to me in a voice inaudible to Rinoa.
“I don’t know how long it’s been since the young lady enjoyed herself so comfortably. It’s thanks to you.”
“I didn’t do anything in particular.”
“Ha! That insolent attitude of yours must have helped. Since the young lady inherited the title of Countess, there hasn’t been anyone who acted as casually as you. Only enemies or those trying to forcibly flatter her.”
“I’ve been curious about something. How did Rinoa come to inherit the title of count? Did she really poison her parents?”
“……”
Anduha’s expression hardened at that.
“Don’t try to dig too deep into that matter.”
Anduha warned, as if telling me not to cross the line.
Until now, I hadn’t been particularly interested, but his reaction made me want to know even more.
‘Asking directly seems pointless… Maybe I should ask Lucretia.’
As a high-ranking member of the royal guard, she might know something.
I was thinking this as we were returning to the mansion.
“…?”
A group was blocking the entrance to the mansion.
Judging by their attire, they seemed to be from the royal guard.
The presence of the royal guard meant that either a member of the royal family had come directly or they were visiting with a royal decree.
Rinoa turned pale as soon as she saw them.
Her expression was as if something inevitable had happened.
“…Anduha. Did we have any appointments scheduled for today?”
“No, we didn’t. I’ll go right away and find out what’s going on.”
Anduha hurried over with quick steps and began talking to the royal guards.
Watching this, Rinoa was trembling slightly.
Soon, Anduha returned.
“Miss, Prince Joseph has come to visit.”
“For what reason did he visit?”
“I think we’ll have to hear him out to know that.”
“…Alright. Anduha, please prepare some tea.”
“Yes.”
Rinoa was pretending to be calm in front of the royal guards, but her legs were trembling slightly.
I was about to return to my room while silently cheering her on, but it seemed there was business for me as well.
Prince Joseph, waiting in the mansion’s reception room, calls me with piercing eyes.
“Wade, you come along too.”
As if it were his own house, Joseph moved to the VIP room.
Seated at the table in the VIP room, he glared at both of us silently with his chin resting on his hand.
Behind him stood his partner student, Dayan Kiros, as if guarding him.
Rinoa waited for Joseph’s next words while breaking out in a cold sweat.
Finally, Joseph speaks.
“Aren’t you being too rash?”
It was far from the gentlemanly attitude he had shown me before.
An almost contemptuous attitude.
It was a bit strange that he treated Rinoa, a Countess, this way, let alone me, a commoner.
Rinoa speaks as if making an excuse.
“Rash? Was there something about my previous behavior that displeased you?”
“Be quiet. Don’t babble on your own.”
“…I apologize.”
“What I want to talk about is you. Wade.”
The arrow suddenly turned to me.
“I told you, didn’t I? To make sure there were no more incidents related to Rosa.”
“I believe I acted according to that promise.”
When I talked back, Dayan glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.
Prince Joseph continues.
“That also meant to behave well so that Rosa wouldn’t have to worry about you.”
“…”
“I was certain when I saw Rosa forfeit the martial arts tournament. That she’s still concerned about you. A royal forfeiting a martial arts tournament in the first place. Such a shameful thing happened because of you!”
I don’t understand why he’s blaming me for that.
Rinoa seemed to find it hard to comprehend as well.
She rebutted on my behalf.
“Regarding the princess’s forfeit, wasn’t it announced that there were health issues?”
“The problem was that there were no issues at all. The maids in the palace started whispering. That the princess forfeited because she was blinded by love.”
Closed spaces like the royal palace are sensitive to rumors.
It seems that rumors about me had already spread, as Rosa hadn’t tried to hide such aspects from the beginning.
That the princess liked a handsome but failing student.
In this situation, when I scored well on the exam and showed a good performance in today’s martial arts tournament, those baseless rumors gained some credibility.
It transformed into a rumor that the princess was really going to marry a commoner.
Prince Joseph was indignant about this.
“Well, I…”
I had nothing to say.
He reacted on his own, went on a rampage on his own, and then shifted the blame to me.
Rinoa, feeling the same way, protests to Prince Joseph.
She sharply retorted.
“Speaking of which, Your Highness, there are rumors going around that you’re in love with a commoner maid. What do you think about this?”
“My situation is different from Rosa’s.”
“How is it different?”
“I truly love Erina. On the other hand, Rosa is just mistaken, seeing only the superficial.”
While this was a typical case of double standards, it was also true that Rosa had fallen into a futile love, so there was nothing to refute.
Rinoa seemed to want to argue further, but she must have thought that pushing it any more would only make things worse.
Joseph speaks as if summarizing the conversation.
“That’s all I wanted to say today. If something like this happens one more time, it won’t end with just a warning. Keep that in mind.”
Rinoa, who was already heated up by this unreasonable warning, stood up abruptly and shouted.
“What do you mean! Are you saying we should live like dead mice from now on? When he’s done nothing wrong!”
“Nothing wrong? Hahaha!”
Prince Joseph, who burst into laughter, soon turned serious.
“I didn’t expect you to say such a thing. You should know better than anyone that there can be no innocence when it comes to the Branford County.”
“…!”
“Do you think I don’t know?”
Rinoa froze as if struck at a vital point.
“H-How do you know about that…?”
“I heard it from Father a few days ago. Father said it was a finished matter, but I don’t think so. Rinoa Branford, you are a traitor! A traitor who deserves to be executed immediately! Don’t forget that!”
“…”
It seemed that the reason Prince Joseph was overreacting to me was also due to hidden circumstances related to Rinoa.
He disliked me, who was associated with Rinoa, being involved with Princess Rosa.
“Hmph. Dayan, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Joseph let out a firm snort and left the mansion.
Left alone in the VIP room, Rinoa hung her head as if in despair.
Her mental state seemed shaken, and tears were even welling up in her eyes.
‘I feel sorry, but…’
Since it seemed like she might tell the story now, I decided to press her for information rather than comfort her.
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