The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 210.
The process of creating blood stones went smoothly.
Compared to the previous blood transfusion, it didn’t seem to be a difficult task as the old woman Nimus quickly produced three blood stones.
Although I had imagined something ominous when hearing about blood stones, the result was a very beautiful gem.
It was a stone with a seductive red color, which could be mistaken for a high-quality ruby if seen by someone who didn’t know better.
Gaspar smirked as he looked at the blood stone made from his own blood.
“To think this is my blood. It’s nothing but a jewel. It could even be used as a gift.”
At those words, old Nimus laughed heartily.
“In the old days, there were cases where blood stones were exchanged as wedding gifts. That was when blood mages could operate in the open. If you’d like, I could make another blood stone for that young man Ars. I’ll make it big enough to craft about ten rings.”
“Haha… I’ll have to decline.”
Estelle had been looking at me as if she wanted something. She wanted me to entrust her with keeping it.
Well, since it was a blood stone for tracking my location, it would be meaningless for me to keep it.
But somehow it felt a bit creepy to entrust it to her, so I decided to leave it with my mother.
With the blood stone creation finished, there was nothing left for us to do here.
‘This side of things has finally been settled for now.’
The war between the kingdom and Article, the succession struggle between the princes, the alliance working behind the scenes, and so on. The situation felt like it had become more serious, but I had achieved my goal anyway.
I wanted to rest for a while, but I had to return to the academy right away to avoid raising unnecessary suspicion.
However, before that, I decided to send my master and her group to the north.
“For now, please set up a residence in the northern continent and stay there. I’ll contact you when I make an appointment with a mage who can use tracking magic.”
“Hmm, leave it to me.”
I could trust Master Ilya with anything. With Gaspar there too, they should be able to handle most situations on their own.
Estelle seemed disappointed that we had to part ways so soon, but she soon understood and hugged me.
I heard a whisper tickling my ear.
“I’m envious of Erina.”
“Huh?”
“I wanted to support Ars closely too. But instead…”
“I told you not to worry about that.”
Estelle nodded and tightened her arms around me.
“Next time we meet, I’ll make sure I can be of help. I won’t just be a girl with a great father anymore. Please look forward to it.”
“Giving you that kind of pressure makes me even more worried.”
“Hehe, please do. That way, you’ll be even more surprised when you see how I’ve changed later.”
Estelle laughed confidently.
She had unexpectedly bold sides to her.
While Erina seemed composed on the outside but had fragile parts inside, Estelle seemed delicate on the outside but was tough on the inside.
“Then please stay healthy until we meet again.”
Estelle left with Gaspar and Master Ilya.
I watched them for a moment before turning around.
“Well then, shall we depart too?”
However, the gazes looking at me were not friendly.
“That makes two now. I hear there’s one more, right?”
Elena looked at me as if she was looking at trash. She seemed particularly displeased not only about me but also about the fact that her duel with Master Ilya fell through due to the lack of a teleportation scroll.
“…”
“Sigh, how did my son end up like this…”
Eo turned away from my gaze as if upset. Mother sighed heavily as if she couldn’t handle it.
It seemed like I would have to keep quiet in the carriage on the way back.
* * *
When I returned to the academy, I faced changed gazes.
Rumors had spread about how I demonstrated leadership and led a group in this war with the Article.
Some senior students and graduates came to thank me for what I did then and left gifts, and some even applied to join the club I had created for dungeon conquests.
While I usually didn’t get much attention at the academy except for my appearance, now various meaningful gazes were fixed on me.
Amidst all this, a major class reorganization took place.
This was due to the many deaths in this war.
In our class 17 alone, there were 9 deaths.
For the entire academy, there were as many as 561 deaths, with lower, middle, and upper classes all suffering losses.
There was a need to hurry with class reorganization to change this atmosphere.
The academy evaluated the performance in the war and assigned students who showed good results to higher classes.
So it was natural for Erina and me to be assigned to Class 1.
I thought I wouldn’t be assigned to Class 1 because of the incident with Rinoa, but the academy seemed to separate public and private matters and assigned me to Class 1.
Class 1 refers to the class exclusively for high nobles who take lessons in the royal palace.
So it was natural that the gazes looking at a commoner like me were not pleased.
‘They’re openly showing their discomfort.’
Mello, who came to Class 1 with me, was sitting quietly like a dead mouse, unlike his usual bold demeanor.
My situation was relatively better.
“Princess, I’m glad we could be in the same class again.”
Erina greeted Rosa with a bright face.
“Yeah. I’m glad too, Erina.”
However, Princess Rosa seemed cautious as if wary of me.
It seemed the message I sent through Erina was still on her mind.
Moreover, Prince Joseph was here too. He was whispering something to his partner Dayan Kiros while glancing at me.
“Silence!”
The one who shouted that from the podium was Lucretia.
She had been demoted to a mere academy teacher. This was because she failed to protect Prince Proud as a core member of the royal guard.
Well, it was just called a demotion, but considering she was in charge of the class with Princess Rosa and Prince Joseph, she still seemed to hold an important position in the royal guard.
After the chaotic class ended.
As I was about to head to the request office in town to send a letter to Dorofei, a voice stopped me.
“Wade, do you have a moment?”
It was Lucretia with a complicated expression.
“What is it, teacher?”
“Please stop with that ‘teacher’ title. It makes my back itch to hear that from you.”
Lucretia gestured towards a place without any presence, saying she wanted to talk privately.
Even after the surroundings became quiet, Lucretia hesitated silently, but eventually spoke as if she had made up her mind.
“I have a favor to ask you.”
“I’m sure it’s about the royal palace.”
“You’re probably aware of the situation to some extent, right?”
“Well, the information I can access is limited.”
“Princess Rosa told me what you said to her.”
“…That woman. She’s unexpectedly loose-lipped.”
Luc continued, licking her lips.
“Why did you say such things to Princess Rosa? What’s your intention?”
“It’s to protect myself.”
“Can’t you just leave the kingdom if things get rough? So why are you trying to get involved in the succession struggle?”
Luc was wary. Someone with my level of skill, someone who commands incredibly powerful vassals, trying to get involved in the succession struggle – of course she would be.
“If you ask like that, there are a few more reasons. To secure Rinoa’s safety, for instance. Or to make it easier to unify the continent in the future.”
“Unify the continent…?”
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m from the Magic Continent.”
“You’re making such jokes in this situation?”
“It’s not a joke. The Elena you revere is also from the Magic Continent. If you’d like, we could have a three-way conversation with Elena to explain.”
“W-wait a moment.”
Luc nodded, finding it difficult to accept the situation. She wanted to hear from Elena as well.
So we moved to Lucretia’s mansion to continue the conversation.
Fortunately, Elena was also in the mansion’s ballroom, so we didn’t waste much time.
“That’s right. I’m from the Magic Continent, Luc.”
At Elena’s confirmation, Luc couldn’t find words to respond.
“And this Elaine was said to be one of the top generals even on that continent.”
“A general…? Someone this young?”
“I found it hard to believe too, but Bisketa said it was a fact without exaggeration, so it must be true. Besides, just looking at the skills and dispositions of his vassals, you can tell they’re suited for the military.”
“You mean Ilya Anfei?”
Grrr! Elena gritted her teeth at the mention of my master’s name. She really has a strong competitive spirit.
Anyway, now that Elena had vouched for me, I decided to speak.
“Luc, I held considerable power in the Magic Continent. To the extent that I had plans to unify the continent within 10 years.”
Well, it was Juras who made those plans, but still.
“I intend to expand that unification to this world. Breaking the suspicious barrier surrounding the Magic Continent and integrating all continents into one nation. That’s why I’m trying to get involved in this succession struggle.”
“You mean to get our kingdom in your grasp…!”
“Eventually, yes. To put it mildly, it’s about integrating smoothly.”
“Do you think we’ll just sit back and watch that happen?”
“What else then? Are you suggesting we go to war?”
“If it’s to protect our kingdom, of course we will.”
“Give it up. Neither you nor the Savior Alliance could hope to defeat me in war.”
“…!”
It wasn’t an empty boast. There’s the difficulty of crossing the sea for invasion, but there are quite a few islands that could serve as bases, so the invasion itself wouldn’t be difficult.
After that, it would be instant. We might struggle a bit with magic, but in the end, we’d achieve a great victory in war and succeed in conquest.
This place has almost no experience with war, after all.
That became clear in this battle with the Article.
Putting me aside, any of the Ten Heroes from the Magic Continent could become an unrivaled general if they came here.
“Rather than spilling meaningless blood, I’m trying to resolve this through dialogue.”
Elena chimed in.
“Luc, you can think about that part later. Even though Elaine is saying this, he’s not trying to do anything outrageous. He doesn’t want to install a puppet king he can control, but a king with whom he can maintain a good relationship. Whether you choose war or harmony with the Magic Continent in the future, you’ll be able to decide for yourselves.”
“So that’s why you’re trying to make Princess Rosa the ruler…”
Luc bit her lip tightly.
“Wade, as you predicted, Princess Rosa has received a succession ranking. She’s third in line after Prince Landis and Prince Joseph.”
In fact, there are more princesses besides Rosa. There are three older sisters above her, but they’re in a position where it’s difficult for them to succeed to the throne.
This is because they’re already married to other influential nobles.
If they were given succession rankings, the nobles associated with them would gain power as well.
If a queen were to emerge from that side, those nobles would seize power, greatly weakening royal authority.
So among the princesses, Rosa’s succession ranking had to be the highest.
“Well, even aside from that, Princess Rosa is the best in terms of character. As for political ability, that’s something her advisors can assist with.”
Luc seemed to agree with this point, nodding heavily.
“I’d like to ask while we’re at it. Lucretia, who do you and your family support?”
“The Royal Guard always follows the crown prince. That would be Prince Landis, first in the line of succession.”
“You seem to hesitate for someone saying that.”
Luc couldn’t answer.
“I understand your intention. I’m not in a position to support you, but I don’t intend to interfere either.”
“It’s fine if you interfere. If someone of your caliber interfering could stop this, it means it was impossible from the start.”
“You’re overflowing with confidence.”
Luc shook her head and stood up.
“This might be unnecessary advice for you, but… It would be good to strengthen Princess Rosa’s guard. From the moment she received her succession ranking, the number of people targeting her life has increased. It would be best not to take your eyes off her for a moment. Even at the academy.”
“…Don’t tell me you’re the one who put Erina and me in Class 1?”
“Who knows? You’re free to think what you like.”
Despite everything, Luc was also looking out for our convenience.
I was able to leave the mansion with the confidence that she would eventually support us.
Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked “I killed the Demon King. It was a mistake.”
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