The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 187
The incident in the Forest of Lament had no small impact.
Lucretia, who went to report to the king, did not show herself for a week, and Rinoa was continuously summoned to the palace for questioning.
Although it was a situation where they got involved in unnecessary trouble, they decided to think it was unavoidable because it was to find Gunther and Meissen.
Still, it wasn’t without benefits.
We were able to accumulate academic achievements through the magic stones obtained from defeating insect-type monsters in the Forest of Lament, and returning alive from the Forest of Lament was also evaluated as an achievement, allowing us to gain some reputation.
Dorofei, having heard through the grapevine, mentioned that part first.
“When I saw it in the letter, I thought you might be joking… You really went to the Forest of Lament. Phew, it’s truly reckless.”
“But thanks to that, we were able to find Senior Meissen.”
“That’s really fortunate.”
“Have you talked to her?”
“Yes, she was worried about Senior Gunther. Is that side really okay?”
“It’s a bit of a dangerous situation. But I think that was the best choice in that situation.”
“Ars, if you say so, it must be… But I think it would be better to wrap things up as quickly as possible.”
“Yeah. It won’t take long.”
With Lucretia’s testimony, the kingdom also started to move. They will soon sweep away the rebels in the southern continent and pacify the Forest of Lament.
The time it takes until then is about two months at the fastest.
“Since we left Gaspar behind, I think he’ll be able to hold out that long.”
“That would be good… Ah, more than that.”
Dorofei brought up the conversation we had yesterday again.
“Have you thought about it? An object that could be used for tracking magic.”
“To some extent.”
I took off the necklace I was wearing and handed it to Dorofei.
It’s my mother’s keepsake and the coming-of-age gift Yumir gave me.
It’s my possession, but Yumir had kept it for over 10 years before giving it to me. So I thought we might be able to use tracking magic with this as a medium.
“Hmm… It’s a bit ambiguous. For tracking magic to be effective, it’s better if the person’s traces remain on the object. If you’ve been using it for years, those traces might have faded.”
“Other than this, if there’s an object that comes to mind…”
There’s the accessory Erina gave as a gift, but that’s meaningless.
Dorofei nodded as if pondering and said, “Let’s try asking anyway. Elliot also said to ask without burden.”
“When is this Elliot person coming?”
“He said he was going to look around near the palace, so he should be here soon…”
Soon, the man called Elliot appeared. He was a man with a grim appearance, with a bushy beard.
He seemed to have no interest in grooming at all; his beard was rough, and his hair was messy. Even an unpleasant odor wafted over, causing Erina to momentarily fail to maintain her expression.
The man snorted at that sight as if displeased and stared at me.
“Are you the guy called Ars? I’ve heard a lot about you from Dorofei.”
“Yes… I’m Ars Elaine.”
“Hmph, Elliot Daig.”
Dorofei gave me a warning look. That look seemed to say, ‘He’s more impressive than he looks, so be careful.’
“Thank you for visiting today. The master of the mansion couldn’t come to greet you due to circumstances, so please don’t mind.”
“I heard. You stirred up the Forest of Lament, didn’t you?”
“…”
“It’s become peculiar. I found out a few days ago, but it seems our Savior Alliance was also taking action. It might escalate into a friction between the kingdom and the alliance. If a war breaks out, you’ll be the cause of that war.”
It’s a gaze that seems to be testing, and also seems to be criticizing. Dorofei hastily intervened.
“Sir Elliot! That’s not what we were going to talk about today!”
“That’s right. My mistake.”
Elliot took out a map from his backpack, spread it on the table, and said, “The object?”
“Here it is.”
When I handed over my necklace, he narrowed his eyes with interest.
“It’s quite an old object. Expensive too. Such objects tend to have deep lingering attachments.”
“Then…!”
“Strong lingering attachments aren’t necessarily good. Let’s try it first.”
Elliot began to cast tracking magic using aura instead of magic. It seemed his aura had characteristics specialized for tracking magic.
His magical power contracted as if squeezing the necklace. After that intense concentration continued for quite a while.
Ping! Magical power shooting in one direction like a bullet being fired.
That magical power passed through the wall and disappeared somewhere. Elliot stared in the direction the magical power flew for about 10 minutes.
Then he nodded.
“My tracking magic is simple. I calculate the direction and speed at which the magical power flew to roughly determine where it is.”
Calculating direction and speed, it seemed more like science.
Elliot circled our location on the map and then drew a line to a point with a swoosh!
It’s the direction the magical power flew. And he marked the endpoint by roughly calculating the momentary speed at which the magical power was visible.
The central magic continent.
“…What is this?”
Even Elliot frowned at this.
“Why in the magic continent… Damn, I guess even I fail sometimes.”
Elliot was embarrassed, but Dorofei and I could only hold our breath.
Since it’s my mother’s keepsake, in terms of lingering attachments contained in the object, it would naturally be stronger for my mother than for me or Yumir.
‘But my mother passed away long ago. Why is there someone with a strong lingering attachment to this object remaining in our continent?’
This part was puzzling, but for now, there was no way to know.
* * *
After the first tracking magic failed, Elliot, as if trying to restore his honor, demanded the next object.
“I won’t fail this time. …And if possible, please use a simpler object. Objects with too strong lingering attachments, like that necklace, produce uncertain results as we just saw.”
“As for other objects…”
Nothing suitable came to mind. I was about to ask Mother if she had any objects from Yumir or sister Julia, but before that, Erina interjected.
“How about this?”
What she pulled out was a dagger with a blade about 10cm long. Moreover, it wasn’t just a regular dagger; the blade was jagged.
It’s the kind of thing that could inflict a fatal wound with a single stab.
“Erina… Are you carrying around something like that? Well, I guess it’s good for self-defense, but…”
“Ah, no! I didn’t buy it, Estelle gave it to me as a gift!”
“Estelle did?”
“Yes. Remember when we briefly stopped by the Kingdom of Crossing on our way to Kuravel? That’s when Estelle gave it to me as a gift, saying there might be times when I’d need it.”
“Ah…”
Estelle did tend to give such peculiar gifts. She had given me a survival knife as a gift too.
It seemed worth trying to track.
Elliot whistled at the ominous-looking knife and cast the tracking magic.
Just like before, the magical power enveloping the knife flew off in one direction at a fierce speed.
Elliot calculated the direction and speed of that magical power and pointed to a spot on the map.
Right at the Forest of Lament.
“The Forest of Lament…!?”
It was the most unexpected result.
To think that Estelle was in the Forest of Lament where I had been staying until just a week ago.
Although the forest was vast and I hadn’t explored much of it, so there was a high possibility we hadn’t met, still, the Forest of Lament…
“Why would Estelle be there… Is the result wrong? Or perhaps the calculation was slightly off?”
“That could be the case. But if you’re going to take it that way, let’s stop here. If you’re only going to believe what you want to believe, what’s the point of me being here?”
“…You’re right. I’m sorry. I think I was a bit shocked.”
Still, since we got a result, we had to keep it in mind as one of the possibilities.
“Are there no more objects? With the power of my Weapon Spell, this will be the last one.”
It seemed to be a magic that consumed quite a lot, surprisingly. Or maybe he just got tired of it.
Whatever the case, since it was the last one, I had to present a definite object.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be an object. As long as there are traces or lingering attachments of that person, it’s fine.”
“…Traces?”
Thinking about it that way, something came to mind.
“Can you track the magic cast on me?”
“If traces remain.”
I had a semi-permanent tracking magic cast on me.
It’s the magic that Eonia cast while talking about the Valkyrie’s oath or something.
Although it wasn’t effective due to the distance between us, that magic hadn’t disappeared.
“If it’s something like that, it would be easier than tracking those objects. Want to do it?”
“Please do.”
“Alright. Stand there.”
Elliot’s magical power enveloped my body. For a moment, I felt a pressure as if I was squeezed into a packed subway train, and then with a ping! the magical power shot off in one direction.
Elliot hesitated for a moment, then circled a point on the map.
Right above the northern continent, in the vast ocean.
“…How should we interpret this result? Are you saying they became fish food?”
I couldn’t help but respond sharply.
The worst hypothesis that I had been trying to deny until now. The hypothesis that they had been transferred not to land but to the sea and died helplessly came to mind.
However, Elliot shook his head.
“If that were the case, the tracking magic itself would likely not have activated. If they had become fish food, there would be no form left at all. Rather, it would be more correct to assume there’s an island not marked on the map. The sea hasn’t been perfectly surveyed yet. Islands can form due to monster dungeons, so there’s no need to take the map at face value.”
This meant that at the point Elliot indicated, there could be an unsurveyed uninhabited island or a dungeon terrain not shown on the map.
If so, it made sense why we couldn’t find Eonia at all.
If it’s an area not even marked on maps, there obviously wouldn’t be any ship routes. Although Eo, being good with her hands, might be able to build a boat, setting out to sea unprepared would be perfect for drifting and dying.
“Well, I’ve done all I can.”
Elliot sighed with fatigue and held out his palm as if asking for money.
“It’s 1 million rilangs in total.”
“1 million…!?”
“Haha, I’m joking. Normally, I would have charged at least 100,000 rilangs, but well, since you’re Dorofei’s friend. I’d be happy if I could just get a dinner out of it.”
“Of course, that’s no problem.”
Just then, Rinoa returned from finishing her investigation at the royal palace. Rinoa frowned at the mention of someone from the Savior Alliance, but she wasn’t unskilled in treating guests.
Elliot devoured the food voraciously, belched, and left the mansion.
After he left, Dorofei cautiously asked, “Ars, what are you going to do now?”
“Well…”
Although I didn’t know how reliable Elliot’s tracking magic was, it was sufficient as a possibility.
Originally, we were completely in the dark, so even these clues were helpful.
There were two options.
Eonia located in the middle of the sea above the northern continent, and Estelle located in the Forest of Lament.
If we were to judge who was in a more urgent situation, it would be Estelle, but coincidentally, the Forest of Lament had become difficult to enter because of me.
Currently, the Forest of Lament is sealed off and inaccessible except to kingdom officials.
Given that Rinoa’s position had already become awkward, it would be difficult to enter once more.
On the other hand, searching for Eonia would be challenging. We would have to navigate a ship ourselves to search the sea, making it difficult to predict how long it would take.
‘In that case, there’s only one choice.’
Since the Forest of Lament was inaccessible, I decided to try to contact Gaspar somehow and focus on searching for Eonia for now.
* * *
The Purple City located in the eastern part of the Forest of Lament.
This was a village of people with a history of over 200 years.
It had survived steadfastly even when monsters overran the area, even when the entire southern continent was dominated by monsters.
Its leaders had been black magicians for generations.
The witch who protected the village became the leader, and trained successors to build power.
The village population reached as many as 10,000, and the number of battle-capable magicians was in the hundreds.
The man named Kieran, who held the position of leader, was deep in thought.
This was because the true nature of the forest had recently been revealed to the kingdom due to some incident.
‘Filthy outsiders…’
They had just been living quietly in the forest. But the situation changed when someone called Viscount Pax tried to use the forest’s monsters.
Black magicians from the outside began to run rampant, and they had to coexist uncomfortably with them. Still, that part was bearable.
Rather, thanks to them, even the kingdom stopped approaching the Forest of Lament.
Now, the kingdom was trying to actively intervene.
‘The kingdom will try to eliminate us. We must protect the village somehow.’
To them, who had no sense of belonging to the kingdom, the Ellan Kingdom was merely a foreign enemy.
‘There’s no choice.’
The reason why there had been a battle of nerves between various factions over the monsters in the Forest of Lament until now was because they had not actively intervened.
If they put their minds to it, they could push out Viscount Pax or any other faction in one go.
‘We need to intimidate them.’
So that those who are frightened will never approach the Forest of Lament again.
‘First, we need to control the forest monsters and bring that Gramper guy’s undead soldiers under our command. Since their scale is in the tens of thousands, if we use that, we might be able to overwhelm the kingdom’s forces for a short while.’
The plan had become essentially close to war.
Having made his decision, he immediately took action.
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