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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 208

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 208.

Ash, whom I reunited with after about half a year, was wearing a distinctive outfit.

I knew what that unique attire was.

‘The attire of mercenaries.’

Ash looked at me and Eonia alternately, and eventually fixed his gaze on Eo’s belly.

His expression became angry, perhaps thinking that I was just having a romance instead of searching for the missing people.

“You bastard, don’t tell me…!”

“Calm down. The pregnancy happened the day before we were transferred.”

“Before that day or whatever! You lucky bastard!”

It seems that’s what he was angry about.

Ash trembles with rage.

“Sigh, is that all you care about?”

“That’s all I can see, what can I do? Still… I’m glad we could meet again. Ms. Mirabel too.”

Eo tilts her head, wondering who that is. Ash seemed genuinely hurt by this, but when I explained the situation, he sighed in disbelief.

“To lose her memory. Well, anything can happen in this world.”

Muttering that, Ash soon opened his eyes wide as if shocked.

“Th-that means you can have a fresh romance twice with the same person! You sneaky bastard…!”

“You really…” I sighed. “Anyway, can we talk for a moment? I’ll escort Eo to the lodging and come back.”

“Sure, I came out without telling my comrades anyway. Let’s meet here again in an hour.”

“Don’t be late. If you’re even a minute late, I’ll just leave.”

“Ugh. Men’s promises usually involve being at least 30 minutes late.”

“I’ll wait 30 seconds.”

“Fine, fine. See you later.”

It was an unexpected reunion.

After escorting Eo to the lodging, I lightly armed myself and came out to the meeting place.

Conversely, Ash appeared having removed his armor and dressed in civilian clothes.

“What’s with that armor? Are you planning to fight someone?”

“The night is always dangerous.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to be careful. Anyway, follow me, I’ve picked out a place.”

The place Ash guided me to was a gloomy tavern. It was the perfect place for a private conversation.

After sitting down and ordering drinks, I asked him, “How are you here?”

“Rather than that, asking why I’m here would be more accurate. And the reason is obvious, isn’t it? To find people. I thought at least one person might be involved in such a major incident. So I begged Tyraxxo and came here.”

“Tyraxxo?”

“The leader of the mercenary group I belong to.”

“So you really did join a mercenary group.”

“Yeah. I thought it would be perfect for finding people.”

I had similar thoughts before. Mercenary groups travel all over the continent performing various missions. It was an ideal job for gathering information from various places.

“Still, I’m glad. I thought it was a wild goose chase, but to find you, Ars. My comrade said he saw an unlucky blond guy with a beauty, so I thought it might be you.”

“Why am I an unlucky blond guy?”

“Anyway. I’ll say it again, I’m glad.”

Ash lets out a sigh filled with many emotions.

It seems he had been actively moving around to find people. The opposite of my method.

When Ash heard about my method of finding people, he furrowed his brow.

“You’re setting up a base and making people come to you?”

Ash continues, saying it’s ridiculous.

“How can you find people like that in such a vast place, man?”

“It’s precisely because it’s vast that I’m doing it this way.”

“It’s clever in your style, but you probably couldn’t have found many people that way.”

“But Ash, who did you find?”

That’s what I was most curious about.

Ash shrugs and says, “I found Princess Sophia.”

He spoke in an exaggerated voice, as if recounting an epic tale.

It’s a story about how he dramatically rescued Sophia when she was about to be captured by the Alliance’s slave hunters.

“Afterwards, I even got Ms. Sophia to join the mercenary group. She may not have combat skills, but she’s quick-witted. Recently, we’ve become financially comfortable, so she’s studying at an academy now.”

“Academy? Which academy are you talking about?”

“A small academy run by retired mercenaries, why?”

“Ah… You mean a third-tier academy.”

Academies divided by tiers.

First-tier is the Royal Academy I’m attending. And the Alliance Academy where Dorofei is attending.

Second-tier are the academies in major provincial cities. And academies run by famous adventurers.

Below that, third-tier includes academies in small provincial towns. And academies run by mediocre adventurers fall into this category.

The place where Sophia is studying seems to be one of these third-tier academies.

I asked, not understanding, “Why bother going to study at a third-tier academy? She could just go to a first or second-tier one, couldn’t she?”

If she had, she could have met me or Dorofei.

However, Ash seems to not understand my perspective.

“What nonsense are you talking about? How can you just enter a first or second-tier academy out of nowhere? Those places don’t let you in even if you have money, unless you have talent for magic.”

“Oh, don’t tell me…”

“Wait a minute. Now that I look at it, that emblem on your clothes. Is that the Royal Academy emblem?”

“…That’s how it turned out.”

From my perspective, both Erina and Dorofei were born with rare attributes and naturally attended first-tier academies, and I also enrolled without much difficulty, so I thought others could do the same. But thinking about it coldly, we were the special cases.

It seems that neither Princess Sophia nor Ash had talent for magic.

At least Ash, being skilled enough to handle aura, could immediately be an effective force in the mercenary group, but Princess Sophia was not.

So she worked for a few months to save money and then enrolled in a third-tier academy.

“This is why those with talent… If you knew how much Ms. Sophia is struggling, you’d bow your head in respect.”

“So, is she in the Northern Continent now?”

“That’s right. She’s studying there. Mainly studying history and Alliance administration, and I hear she’s also studying magic on the side. Apparently, the annoying academy teacher there told her to give up on magic studies because she has no talent, but Ms. Sophia is stubborn in her own way.”

“I should talk to her later. And then?”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘and then’?”

“I mean, who else did you find?”

“That’s it! What? You know how amazing it is to find even one person in this situation! It’s only been five months since then!”

“Y-yes. That’s true.”

I knew how grateful I should be that there was someone like Ash who was actively moving around. Still, I was a little disappointed that it was just one person.

Perhaps it showed on my face, because Ash narrowed his eyes and shot back, “How many have you found then? Ah, it seems you’ve found one or two more besides Ms. Mirabel? Is that why you’re so arrogant? Come on, tell me, who?”

I carefully recollected my memories.

“Let’s see… Gunther, Gaspar, Erina, Dorofei, Mother, Meissen, Eo, Bisketa, Master, and Estelle make ten.”

“…”

“If we include you and Princess Sophia, and considering we at least know that Aggert is captured by the Alliance, we could say it’s 13. Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Um, I’m sorry for being presumptuous.”

Ash was bowing his head as if he was genuinely ashamed.

After the atmosphere settled, the topic shifted to how I found these people.

“Is it true… You went to a hidden elf island to save Ms. Mirabel?”

“That was dangerous. I really almost died.”

As I was talking candidly with Ash, it was well past midnight.

He seemed to realize he should return to his group soon, so he downed his drink in one go and spoke in a serious voice.

“…Still no clues about her?”

“If you mean Lysithea, I’m sorry. There’s nothing in the current situation. If you happen to have an important item related to her, we could try putting a tracking spell on it. Do you have anything like that?”

“No. When I was transferred, I was only told we were going on a picnic, so I was just wearing a shirt and pants.”

“I’m sorry.”

When I couldn’t give him a positive answer, Ash patted my shoulder as if to encourage me.

“Don’t make that face. Finding Lysithea is my job. Don’t worry about it unnecessarily. Ars, you’re doing well enough.”

“I never expected to receive such encouragement from you.”

Before we were transferred, we were only superficially friends due to our respective statuses and positions, but here, we could shed those pretenses and talk sincerely.

“Let’s think positively. If we both do our best, won’t we get results somehow?”

“Hmm… About that search, now that we’ve found this many people, staying put and waiting as you suggested might not be efficient anymore. It might be better to actively search now. So I’d like to ask you to continue looking for people for a while. Is that okay?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll find at least one more person, even if it’s out of spite.”

After thinking about future plans, I suggested that he join the Alliance that Gaspar was planning to establish.

“Establishing an Alliance? Do you have that kind of money?”

“We don’t have it now, but Gaspar says we should be able to do it in about 6 months to a year. When that time comes, why don’t you join, along with Princess Sophia?”

“Hmm, I think I’ll have to think about that when the time comes. I have a contract with the mercenary group. I owe them, and it would be sad to leave them abruptly.”

“I guess so. We have time, so you can think about it slowly. And regardless of the Alliance, you can drop by the mansion being built in the Northern Continent anytime. I’ll tell them to make rooms for you and Princess Sophia.”

“That sounds good. Thanks.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

Thump! Our hands clasped firmly.

After shaking hands, we headed our separate ways, promising to meet again.

* * *

It was at dawn that day when Gaspar arrived with the ship.

Gaspar, who docked the ship at a remote port to avoid being caught in the nation’s inspection, suggested that we depart immediately, saying it’s best to strike while the iron is hot.

So the time we departed was around 5 AM.

Although it was still dark and difficult to navigate, we started sailing smoothly as the route itself was simple.

As we reached the middle of our voyage, the sun rose and it started to get bright.

Gaspar, who came out on deck, stretched and yawned. Meanwhile, he expressed doubt to Eo, who was staring at him intently.

Eo says softly,

“Ars, there’s a doggy.”

“What!? Who are you calling a doggy!”

“The doggy can even talk!”

“What are you saying!”

Eo seems to have found it fascinating to see a purebred beastkin.

Gaspar frowned as if displeased, but when told that Eo had lost her memory, he snorted incredulously and then ignored it.

Nevertheless, Eo couldn’t take her interest off Gaspar, wondering, ‘Wouldn’t he like it if I gave him a bone?’

And one more thing, Elena was also watching Gaspar with interest.

“If it’s Gaspar, he was famous as a gladiator and mercenary during the Fensillon Empire era. Could it be the same person?”

“That’s right. You remember well.”

“So that’s why he has such an experienced aura… Well, even so, he seems to have aged now.”

Judging that there was no need to compete with him, Elena shrugged. Her attention seemed to be focused on meeting Master Ilya soon.

“We’ve arrived!”

It took about 2 hours to reach the other side.

Freyja, the base port of the Forest of Lament, was currently occupied by the Article, so we had to disembark outside the city.

The captain, after receiving a hefty payment from Gaspar, shared a map of the local terrain as if it were a service.

As we got on land, Gaspar asked, “Where’s the point we’re supposed to meet Ilya?”

“We didn’t set a specific place. We weren’t sure about the situation on their side.”

“Hmm, should we cause a bit of commotion?”

However, that wasn’t necessary.

As if they had somehow noticed our arrival, master came out to greet us not long after.

“Ars, welcome. Hmm, Claire and Eonia are here too. Nice to see you, Gaspar. And that person is…”

Master looks at me questioningly upon seeing Elena.

Before I could introduce her, Elena steps forward.

“You dare to inflict such humiliation on me, Ilya Anfei.”

As Elena revealed her anger, the surroundings seemed to heat up. Master Ilya seems to have figured out Elena’s identity from that energy.

“You’re that spear user from back then.”

“I am Elenia Mirabel. You may call me Elena.”

“I’m Ilya Anfei. …Does the fact that you’re not withdrawing your fighting spirit even after greetings mean you don’t have good feelings towards me?”

“Of course. I assume you haven’t forgotten what you did to me back then.”

“Huh.”

Master Ilya chuckled and continued.

“Is it a warrior’s pride? It might be presumptuous to say, but it seems Elena hasn’t experienced much war. On the battlefield, the strong are just. Whatever humiliation you felt after being subdued, that’s something you have to accept as the weaker party, and from the stronger party’s perspective, there’s no need to care about it at all.”

This was the good point about Master Ilya.

Although she herself was unrivaled when it came to a warrior’s pride, she didn’t bring that to the battlefield. She had realized long ago that the battlefield was not a place to consider a warrior’s pride.

“Are you calling me weak right now…!”

“The loser is the weak. You can’t deny that. Especially if it’s on the battlefield. There’s a saying among mercenaries: if you don’t like it, then win. That’s what war is.”

“Ugh…!?”

“It seems you understand. Then, shall we move?”

Although the atmosphere had become tense, Elena didn’t make any further rebuttals as master’s words were facts. She was just grinding her teeth, waiting for the sparring that would happen later.

Well, Master Ilya would think that sparring is just sparring, and fighting on the battlefield is a separate matter, so it would be impossible for Elena to get true revenge.

“Ars.”

Master, who was walking ahead, called me and whispered.

“I heard from you last time that Eonia had lost her memory… But I hadn’t heard about that belly.”

“Ah, I didn’t mention that, did I?”

“Is it your child? For that, her belly is…”

“It is my child. The reason her belly is bigger is because it’s twins, she says.”

“Well, well. It’s a double celebration then. Congratulations.”

As master said this, there was a hint of bitterness in her eyes. She must have thought of her newborn child in the Central Continent.

I quickly changed the subject to prevent the atmosphere from becoming awkward.

“By the way, what about Estelle? Has she regained consciousness?”

I was concerned that Estelle hadn’t come out to greet us.

However, master nodded with a smile.

“She has regained consciousness. The reason she didn’t come out to greet is because of you.”

“Because of me?”

“It seems she needs to prepare herself mentally to meet you. She’s over there.”

What master pointed to was a wooden building that looked like it had been used as a mountain lodge and then abandoned.

“Ars, you go alone. We’ll come in about 20 minutes later.”

“Huh.”

Master pushes my back, telling me to go and resolve the awkward relationship.

I took a deep breath and started walking towards the mountain lodge.


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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

Score 9.2
Status: Completed Type: Author: Released: 2022 Native Language: Korean
I ended up possessing Ars Elaine, a supporting character in the game. Struggling to prevent my death, I pave my way.

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