The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 211.
The new academy life begins in a new class.
I thought the classes would be more difficult since I was in Class 1 with only elites, but that wasn’t the case.
The academy, considering the low morale of the students, canceled all the schedules for the latter half and granted individual research time.
They figured that if they conducted high-intensity education like exams in the current situation, various problems would arise, such as factions forming among students, people giving up on their studies, or people taking their own lives due to post-war mental stress.
Above all, what they were concerned about was the factions that could form among the students.
The royal family was especially wary of this part.
This war was declared as a victory for the kingdom, but in reality, it was a devastating defeat.
The kingdom lost 30% of its forces and two princes, while all the opponents lost were the undead soldiers they had brought as consumables.
While the citizens don’t know these facts, those who participated in the war and influential nobles were well aware of the kingdom’s failure.
The royal family, who took responsibility for this failure, couldn’t help but be sensitive. They were extremely cautious about nobles forming factions, presuming that they might plot something dirty.
This caution extended to student factions as well.
Because children’s factions could lead to adults’, or adults might use children to avoid the royal family’s surveillance.
Therefore, measures were taken to prevent private gatherings after the basic academy classes were over.
Ironically, at this point, news of a victory party was announced.
It was a party hosted by the royal family, with all nobles participating.
The purpose was to conduct internal control and imprint the new heir to the throne on the nobles through this party.
As students were also to attend this party in large numbers, the academy was buzzing with talk about the party.
“Sir Ars, let’s return to the mansion.”
Erina urged as soon as the class ended. She meant to leave the palace where there were watchful eyes everywhere.
“Okay, but did you say goodbye to Princess Rosa?”
“No, she seems to be avoiding me lately.”
“Haha, it’s because of me, isn’t it? It’s okay. I’ve conveyed what I needed to her. The rest depends on her will.”
“Is it really okay? Princess Rosa…”
Erina looked around cautiously and closed her mouth. I nodded and left school with Erina.
Only after the watchful eyes disappeared did Erina continue speaking.
“I’m worried we might have put too much pressure on the princess.”
“It’s a burden that royalty should naturally bear. Especially if it’s someone who has received the order of succession to the throne.”
It’s a kind of duty, you could say. Having lived and enjoyed life as royalty, they should willingly shoulder that much.
“You, Erina, as a daughter of a duke’s family, know what that’s like, right?”
“Yes… I know.”
Erina sighed lightly and changed the subject.
“More importantly, what are you planning to do about the party? We’ve been invited.”
“I’d like to attend if possible.”
The key points of that party are whether Prince Landis will be announced as the first in line for succession to the throne.
And whether the king, who has been bedridden due to the shock of the princes’ deaths & disappearances, can come to the forefront.
If both of these things happen simultaneously, Prince Landis will be able to wield influence comparable to the king.
As it was such an important party, I wanted to see it with my own eyes, but the schedule was ambiguous.
“I wish Dorofei would send a reply soon.”
“Could it be that it got caught in the inspection?”
“We can’t rule out that possibility. The letter I sent might not have arrived in the first place.”
The Savior Alliance would thoroughly inspect things coming into the kingdom.
If that’s the case, we should send a person instead of a letter, but I had no idea how to do that.
“It’s already been ten days. The fact that there’s been no reply until now means that something must have gone wrong…”
I trailed off.
It was because of the carriage standing in front of the mansion.
At first, I thought it might be Rinoa, who was in seclusion at the Branford main house, returning, but she travels in a luxurious carriage engraved with the family crest.
However, this carriage was very practical and simple. The kind that mercenaries might use.
“No way.”
I strode towards the reception room of the mansion.
There, Sophia Veron, once called the genius princess of Beckavia, was having tea with my mother, Bisketa, and Eo.
“Princess Sophia…!”
Sophia saw me and gave a bitter smile.
“I was thinking of giving you a stern talking-to when we met… But seeing your face, I’m just glad. It’s been a while, Wade.”
“Did Ash come with you?”
“Yes, he’s sleeping in the guest room. He’s accumulated fatigue from playing the role of a coachman for several days.”
“Anyway… It’s nice to see you. I’m glad you seem to be safe.”
“You too. It’s nice to see you too, Erina.”
Sophia was in a different position from us.
Because her home kingdom, Beckavia, was in a precarious situation.
I had no big worries as I had left the affairs to Anton and Rutger, and there was also that guy Juras, but Sophia knows none of that.
Beckavia could have completely fallen while she was away.
Sophia seemed to have already shaken off that part, as her expression was peaceful.
Rather, she showed emotion when she saw mine and Erina’s attire.
“It’s as Ash said. You enrolled in the Royal Academy?”
“Yes, luckily.”
“If I may ask, what are your attributes?”
My attribute was relatively ordinary so she just let it pass, but when she heard Erina’s attribute, her fingertips trembled.
“A lightning mage, which is said to be rare! Of course, with that, you could naturally enroll in the Royal Academy… Phew…!”
Erina, who didn’t know what kind of hardships Sophia, who had no magical talent, was going through, was puzzled as to why she reacted like that.
“Well, well. First, calm down. More importantly, could you tell me how you came here?”
“There’s also the purpose of seeing your face, but above all, I came because I have something to deliver.”
“Something to deliver?”
“This.”
What she held out was a letter written by Dorofei.
* * *
Ash, who shared information with me in Iswakan, returned to his base in the Northern Continent and told Sophia about it.
Sophia then coolly assessed the situation.
With her ability to read political situations, she was convinced that the Alliance was involved in the Article and the kingdom’s war.
As soon as she reached that conclusion, she anticipated at that point that the communication network between the Alliance and the kingdom would be cut off.
After hearing that Gaspar and his group were building a mansion in the Northern Continent, she judged that she and Ash, who were relatively free, should become the communication network.
So after meeting Dorofei, they came south to where I was.
“As expected of the genius princess.”
“Would you stop with that already? I’m neither a princess nor a genius here. Rather, I’m just a dropout who can’t even properly use basic magic.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic.”
“Anyway, that’s how it is. From now on, please rely on our mercenary group for communication. Of course, we’ll charge a fee.”
“Thank you. Then, may I read the letter for a moment?”
“Yes, of course.”
Opening the letter, Dorofei’s calm handwriting caught my eye.
The beginning asked if the first letter he sent had arrived. It seems it was indeed caught in the inspection.
Worried about attracting watchful eyes, we had decided to leave it at the request office without writing my name as the recipient, but that might have been the problem in the first place, that there was no recipient written.
Getting to the main point, it said it was difficult.
-Elliot may not look like it, but he’s a first-class adventurer. He’s in an executive position in the Alliance. If someone like that goes to the kingdom in the current situation, countless watchful eyes will be on him.
That was also true.
-And asking Elliot to go to the kingdom while hiding his identity would be too much to ask from our position. Ars, is there no way for you to come to the Alliance side?
That would be good, but I also had watchful eyes on me, so it was a headache.
For now, Rinoa was in seclusion at the main house, and it wasn’t a situation where they would be monitoring someone like me in detail, so I was free outside the academy.
However, that was only because they knew my activities at the academy, but if my whereabouts became unclear, the surveillance and suspicion would intensify.
‘If there’s a chance, it’s only during the party period…’
At that time, they won’t have the leisure to monitor someone like me.
If I influence Lucretia, I could utilize the party preparation period as well.
Then I could get about 10 days.
‘That should be enough.’
I made my decision and wrote a reply to Dorofei.
Only my mother would accompany me on the journey to the Alliance.
At the point when the party preparation period began in earnest, I used health issues as an excuse to take a break from the academy and secretly slipped away to the Alliance.
Thanks to Lucretia’s help, who knew the situation, I was able to find out the locations of the checkpoints in advance, so I could slip through the gaps and cross the border.
I had been around the Alliance territory once before when coming to Baien from the Northern Continent, so I didn’t particularly get lost.
The place Dorofei designated as the meeting place was the big city of Uland, where the Alliance Academy was located.
There, I met up with Gaspar, who had heard the story from Sophia’s group who had returned earlier.
Gaspar had been staying here for a few days gathering information, and he smoothly guided me so that I wouldn’t get caught in the Alliance’s inspection.
“The inspection is quite strict. I can understand for the kingdom, but why even the Alliance…?”
“They must have something to be guilty about too. Besides, the Alliance doesn’t have that high of a unity. They’re always strict with inspections to guard against other alliances’ schemes.”
“I heard from Ash. That it’s a sand-like organization.”
“It’s not quite that bad, but the system itself is set up for alliances to compete with each other, so they can’t be on good terms.”
“Hmm, so if there are forces in the Alliance aiming for the kingdom, there must also be forces that don’t like that idea.”
“Well, that’s debatable. From the alliances’ standpoint, the kingdom’s collapse would be something to welcome with open arms. It might be something everyone desires.”
We soon arrived at the meeting place.
It seemed to be an empty mansion that hadn’t been used for months.
Dorofei and Elliot, the tracking specialist mage, were waiting there.
Elliot, who had looked no different from a beggar when we met before, greeted us in a neat appearance.
“Hah, I said it as a joke, but I can’t believe you actually brought the blood stone.”
“It would be troublesome if you say it can’t be done now.”
“I don’t know if it will work or not. But since I said it, I’ll at least try, Wade.”
For some reason, the look in his eyes when he saw me was different from before.
Elliot continued with a smirk.
“Do you know a guy named Cuthbert?”
“…!”
“Looks like you do know. Yeah, he’s the guy you faced. That guy who joined the Alliance briefed all the alliance leaders and their executives about that battle. Said you were an extremely dangerous guy.”
“…So? What are you trying to say?”
“I don’t care much. Just saying it might be good for you to be careful from now on. More importantly, let’s get started. I’m not a person with lots of free time either. Especially busy now. Because of the party happening in the kingdom.”
A meaningful statement as if he knew something.
I decided to just finish my business since it didn’t seem like he would answer even if I asked.
First, we were going to track my mother’s blood stone.
Elliot looked at the blood stone with interest and soon used his unique tracking magic.
He cast magic on the blood stone and analyzed the magical wavelength coming from it to determine its location.
Soon, a powerful magical wavelength emanated from my mother’s blood stone and flew off somewhere.
Elliot analyzed its speed and direction, then frowned and pointed to a spot on the map.
The Central Continent, that is.
“The Magic Continent? Tch, sorry. This doesn’t seem to work.”
Elliot shook his head saying it was a failure, but what we felt was different.
Although tracking sister Julia had failed, it seemed certain that the tracking was working properly.
This didn’t seem like a failure either, but rather it seemed to have tracked other children in the Central Continent.
If so, there was a high possibility that Gaspar’s blood stone would properly track Yumir.
“I’m telling you it doesn’t work. It might point to the Central Continent again, which we can’t go to.”
“Stop talking and just do it, please.”
Elliot shrugged and cast the tracking magic on Gaspar’s blood stone without much expectation.
Again, the flow of magical wavelength.
After analyzing that wavelength, Elliot eventually frowned deeply. Instead of pointing at the map, he stared at where the magical wavelength had flowed.
“…It’s here.”
“Pardon?”
“The person you’re looking for is right here in Uland.”
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