The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 191.
The elven woman named Margarita started by sharing small pieces of information, but as time passed, she began to divulge everything, whether it existed or not.
As if afflicted with Stockholm syndrome, she actively confessed information while aligning herself with me.
‘Is this the effect of charm….’
The moment I saw a passionate light begin to swirl in Rita’s eyes towards me, I instantly realized that this shouldn’t be used recklessly.
I hurriedly dispelled the charm.
Usually, when mental magic is dispelled, its effects disappear.
This is especially true for black magic. Since black magic is premised on depriving the subject of their free will, they return to their original state once they regain it.
However, this was different.
“Lord Elaine, is there anything else you’d like to ask?”
Even though I had dispelled the fascination, there was no change in Rita’s attitude.
“Um… I’d like you to guide me on the way.”
“Please speak comfortably. I’m in charge of security and guest reception in the tribe. You’re in a position that could be considered a guest, Lord Elaine, so there’s no need for you to use honorifics with me.”
Me, a guest? It was a mystery how she rationalized it that way, but Rita seemed to have genuinely started thinking so.
“Uh, okay. Then, Rita. I’d like to ask for your guidance.”
“Yes.”
According to the information obtained from Rita, as expected, this was indeed an island inhabited by elves.
Not only pure-blooded elves but also a considerable proportion of half-elves.
The island consists of three parts, with residential areas determined by class.
This was the area for the lowest class among them.
“This is where children of mixed blood with other races reside. Those who are called half or quarter elves in the outside world.”
“Are pure-blooded elves rare here too?”
“Not necessarily. However, there’s a closed-off aspect, so their numbers aren’t increasing rapidly.”
“Hmm. I guess there’s some kind of pure-blood supremacy?”
“It’s a bit complicated…”
According to Rita, the total population is about 300,000. Among them, the number of pure-blooded elves seems to be around 100,000.
“Even among pure-blooded elves, there are those who want to accept mixed-bloods and those who want to reject them.”
“Well, faction fights exist everywhere. Anyway, all mixed-blood elves are here, right?”
“Most of them, yes.”
That means Eonia must be here too.
I asked about Eo again, but Rita tilted her head.
“I’ve never heard of a child named Eonia.”
“You haven’t been living here all along. Hasn’t anyone come from outside in the past few months?”
In a place like this, the reaction to outsiders would be sensitive, so if Eonia had appeared, it would be impossible not to know.
Rita furrowed her brow, fell into thought, and then nodded ambiguously.
“Come to think of it, I’ve heard talk from the guard. That there were people who came from outside. I heard they were investigating… But I haven’t heard anything after that. If it’s a half-elf child as you say, they would have come to this island after the investigation was finished…”
“So they’re not on this island…”
At the point of realizing this, there was no reason to stay on this island.
“Rita, I’m sorry, but could you guide me a bit more?”
Rita expressed reluctance when I said I wanted to take a boat to another island. It seemed that travel between islands was quite strictly managed.
I felt bad about asking for that much, so I was about to just ask for directions, but before that, Rita nodded.
“Alright. Then let’s go to the port.”
Although I felt guilty about her devoted attitude, I wasn’t in a position to be picky right now.
The three islands inhabited by elves were positioned in an inverted triangle shape.
At the bottom vertex was the island where mixed-blood elves lived, and at the top two were where pure-blooded elves resided.
My target was the island on the right among them.
I decided to obtain weapons before crossing.
Fortunately, weapons were placed in a warehouse near the port.
‘This is….’
The pattern engraved on the spear looked familiar. It was identical to the pattern on the spear I had found in the ruins of the Kuravel Holy Kingdom.
I couldn’t compare directly because I had lost that spear in the Forest of Lament, but it was probably correct.
‘I might have to forcibly extract Eo…’
The possibility of a battle was high.
Rita was a great help in the crossing process.
“Lady Margarita!? Are you alright? We heard you were captured by an intruder…”
“I shook off the intruder and escaped.”
“Thank goodness. We’ll organize a search party immediately to scour the island.”
“Do so. And prepare a boat.”
“A boat? For what purpose…”
“I’ll report to the superiors myself.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll prepare it right away.”
Rita seemed to have quite a high rank, at least limited to this place.
After preparing the boat, Rita signaled me and drew the attention of others. Meanwhile, I was able to sneak onto the boat secretly.
* * *
Rita took the initiative to dig out information.
Whether it was the effect of the charm or a strong occurrence of Stockholm syndrome, she was very proactive.
“Rita? It’s been a while. A year? What brings you here? Did something happen on the lower island?”
She was a woman who looked like a pure-blooded elf, just like Rita. They seemed to be of similar rank, as there was no hesitation between them.
Rita glanced towards where I was hiding and continued speaking.
“There’s a bit of a problem. Nothing major.”
“Hmm? You should be careful. I hear there’s someone who broke through the barrier. The Queen Mother took immediate action and had them drowned, but they might have survived and drifted onto the island.”
So that tidal wave was artificial after all.
Rita, seemingly certain that the person the other was talking about was me, licked her lips.
“I’ll be sufficiently careful. By the way, Leon. Do you know someone named Eonia Mirabel?”
“Lady Eonia? How do you, who’ve only been on the lower island, know that name?”
“So you do know.”
“Yes, a half-elf who came through transfer magic several months ago.”
“Transfer magic? She entered our island with something like that?”
“Well, it’s a bit… The story is complicated. You know about the pure-blooded elves who suddenly appeared about 30 years ago, right?”
“What about them?”
“I’ve heard rumors that they came from the Magic Continent.”
“From the Magic Continent!?”
“Shh! Don’t shout so loudly. Anyway, it seems there’s some kind of transfer magic circle on that Magic Continent. Lady Eonia came here through that transfer magic too.”
“I see. Where is this Eonia person now?”
“She should be in the central district now? There’s an engagement ceremony with Lord Cailum in a few days.”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard.
‘Eo is engaged…?’
Perhaps my presence wavered due to the shocking news, as the elf named Leon furrowed her brow and stared in my direction.
“What’s that? Is someone there?”
“Wh-what are you talking about, Leon? There’s no one there.”
While Rita was covering for me, I quickly concealed my presence.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t mentally shocked.
Eo engaged to someone else? I wondered if it could be someone with the same name.
If Eo had truly fallen for another guy, I was prepared to accept it even if it hurt, but I didn’t think that would happen under normal circumstances.
‘There must be some circumstance behind this.’
First, I planned to meet Eo and hear about the situation.
If those circumstances involved coercion and oppression, I would take her away by force if necessary. Even if it meant killing a few people in the process.
It was an adventurous decision, but I couldn’t see a way to resolve this through dialogue. Given the current numerical disadvantage, engaging in dialogue would mean surrendering to them.
Rita said that if a human who invaded without permission was caught, they would most likely be executed, so I had no other choice.
Having made my decision, I decided to leave Rita behind at this point.
If she got involved with me unnecessarily, Rita’s life would be in danger too.
It was enough to get just the map to the central district from Rita.
Rita said she wanted to come along, but as someone who had made her follow me through the underhanded method of fascination, I felt bad about asking that much.
Asking her to come along here would be the same as asking her to die for me.
Moreover, it was more efficient for me to move alone right now.
Rita made a regretful expression and then spoke with a serious face.
“Lord Elaine, please be careful. There will be experts residing in the central district who are far beyond my level.”
“That sounds scary.”
I wasn’t really scared. That’s because the level of the so-called national experts I had met so far had been below expectations.
Just look at Lucretia, who was said to be the best in the Ellan Kingdom’s Royal Guard.
I’m not sure about the level of the Savior Alliance, but since they mainly focus on monster subjugation, they probably won’t excel in human combat.
Seeing my relaxed attitude, Rita continued speaking with concern.
“You should be careful of all members of the Guardian Squad, but especially be wary of Guardian Captain Elena, Pion, and Galoan. You probably won’t realize the gravity of this even if I say so, but…”
“Yeah, I don’t know who they are even if you tell me. But I’ll be careful. Thanks.”
“…! Yes! Please be careful!”
Having decided to move at night, I spent my time memorizing the map.
* * *
When night fell on the island, the tall trees blocked the moonlight, making it so dark that it was difficult to see even a step ahead.
Thanks to this, I was able to approach the central district without much difficulty, and before me stood a majestic building.
Could it be a royal palace? It was on a different level from the buildings I had seen so far.
‘This is unexpected.’
I had the impression that elves lived in harmony with nature, but the buildings before my eyes were all stone structures.
‘Well, stone buildings don’t necessarily harm nature.’
Light leaked from various parts of the buildings.
My destination was the upper floors of the tallest building.
The infiltration was more difficult than I had anticipated.
I thought the level of internal security would be low since it was an environment isolated from the outside, but that wasn’t the case.
‘Are they having some kind of internal strife? The security level is quite high.’
Because of this, I had to subdue and knock out one of the patrolling guards.
The problem came after infiltrating the building.
The map didn’t include the internal structure of the building, so from here on, I had to search at my own discretion.
I moved while hiding my body. During this, two pure-blood elves who looked like maids passed by.
“How could Lord Cailum be engaged to a mixed-blood? How could such a thing happen?”
“That Mirabel or whatever. Even though she’s a half-elf, I hear she’s of noble lineage.”
“Hmph, she’s still just a mixed-blood after all.”
The two passed in front of where I was hiding.
From what I could gather, this Cailum person seemed to be a pure-blood elf.
‘That doesn’t matter either way.’
Once I retrieved Eo and escaped from this place, that would be the end of it.
There was the issue of breaking through the barrier to get to the sea, but I had thought about that part too.
I quickly made my way up to the upper floors.
And then, an incident occurred.
“…!?”
A chilling sensation ran up my spine.
As I was looking for stairs to go up one more floor, a man’s voice came from behind me.
“Oh ho. What’s this? I was thinking of getting some night air… But there’s an interesting fellow here.”
Now that I had been discovered, there was no choice. I had to subdue him and silence him.
I quickly drew my sword and swung it at the opponent.
It was my best move.
However, with a ‘ting!’, the opponent easily deflected it and created distance between us.
The opponent spoke with an excited face, seemingly thrilled.
“What’s this, you really want to fight? Haha! You really are an interesting fellow!”
The opponent’s skill was beyond what I had expected.
I sensed that I had stepped on a landmine.
‘Tch, if I can’t deal with this quickly, it’s meaningless.’
If this guy calls for reinforcements, I won’t be able to escape anymore.
I hurriedly looked for an escape route. If I could just get away for now, I could plan for the next time. I had also gained some understanding of the building’s structure, so it wasn’t without results.
However, as if reading my thoughts.
“Hey, don’t worry. I won’t call for reinforcements.”
“…”
“It’s been a while since an opponent worth playing with has appeared. You think I’d call for reinforcements? Come on, bring it on.”
“You’ll regret this. At this point, I’m going to kill you.”
“Hahaha! You’re going to kill me? The great Pion?”
One of the Guardian Squad captains Rita had mentioned.
His skill seemed to easily surpass that of Lucretia.
‘There’s no other choice.’
Whether I tried to escape or force my way through, I had to deal with this guy.
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