The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 216
Two hours before the operation.
As the final briefing ended, Elliot handed over some documents.
“Take these. They’ll be helpful.”
“What are these?”
“Information about persons of interest belonging to Roar. I don’t think they’ll all be in the underground market, but some might be there.”
The documents Elliot handed over were packed with information about individuals. Most of it was criminal history.
“These are terrible people. Not just one or two murders.”
“Half of them are impulse killings for their own pleasure.”
“Hmm.”
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“I’ve seen such people often.”
There are all sorts of people in the world. Even Gaspar here feels pleasure killing enemy soldiers on the battlefield.
“What kind of work have you been doing… Anyway, be careful if you meet them. I asked to minimize casualties, but those guys and their subordinates are exceptions. Kill them if possible.”
“Understood.”
“Good, then I’ll head to the operation point first.”
Elliot had to give a separate briefing since he was going to carry out operations with his Alliance members at another location.
After he left, Sophia carefully asks.
“Elliot… Can we trust him?”
“Well, since our objectives align, we can probably trust him for this operation at least.”
“I looked into ‘Symbol,’ the Alliance he belongs to. They’re a mid-sized Alliance. They had a good public reputation, but there were some shady dealings too.”
“All organizations are like that. Was your Beckavia Kingdom absolutely righteous?”
“No… It wasn’t.”
“But I understand your concerns. We shouldn’t get too deeply involved, right?”
“That’s right. Especially you, who has connections to the kingdom. Isn’t the kingdom investigating everyone connected to the Alliance right now?”
“That’s fine for now. Rather, they’ve agreed to cooperate this time.”
“Agreed to cooperate?”
Just then, Elena, who was keeping watch around the mansion, knocks and enters.
“Elaine, Luc’s person has arrived.”
“Finally. Seems it took quite a while to persuade them. Where are they?”
“In the reception room.”
I left the remaining work to Sophia and headed to the reception room.
In the reception room sat a middle-aged man in drab clothes with a stern expression.
He looked me over with snake-like eyes and nodded silently.
“Elena, please close the door and leave.”
Elena briefly considered whether she should insist on guarding me, but judging the opponent’s level wasn’t high, she nodded and left the reception room.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Wade. You must have heard about me from Lucretia.”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to hear your introduction.”
“I’m Godric Akasha.”
“Akasha…? Are you Lucretia’s brother or something?”
“I belong to a branch family. Me being Lady Lucretia’s brother is absurd.”
This person belonged to an intelligence agency directly under the king, handling shady affairs.
A kind of special operations unit, you could say.
He asked me with cold eyes.
“I heard from Lady Lucretia. That we could get evidence here about who assassinated His Majesty. Is that true?”
“It’s only a possibility.”
“Uland’s underground market…. Indeed, the possibility is sufficient. We tried to dig up information here too, but security was too tight to make it possible.”
“Yes, so the plan is to take advantage when I cause chaos today.”
“Fine. I have no objection to that. But what’s in it for you? You’re not simply trying to find His Majesty’s assassin.”
That seems to be bothering him. I answered smoothly.
“As you know, I’m receiving unnecessary suspicion due to matters related to Rinoa Branford.”
“…”
“Both I and Rinoa want to clear up this misunderstanding. That way we can avoid the flames of purge when the new king ascends.”
He didn’t seem to believe my words, but since the logic made sense, he didn’t nitpick.
“Let me warn you about one thing. If you’re up to something foolish, you’d better be prepared.”
He seems to think this opportunity to investigate the underground market might be a trap to provide false information. That’s probably why he’s giving this warning.
“Minister Ryland, who currently holds power, is burning with revenge. Separate from the succession, he intends to deliver karmic vengeance to everyone involved in the assassination of Prince Proud and His Majesty. And the Alliances are no exception.”
“You mean…?”
“Just as the Alliance manipulates us from behind, we also have a grip on their backs. If Alliance truly crosses the line, we’ll take corresponding measures. I don’t know what those measures will be, but the Minister is serious.”
I wasn’t particularly scared. The Ellan Kingdom seemed like pushovers to me.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Indeed. That’s why I hope today’s information will cleanly resolve everything.”
He then took out 20 Teleportation Scrolls.
This was the reason for cooperating with them.
These extremely expensive Teleportation Scrolls. With these, there’s no risk of potential accidents.
‘Now the preparations are complete.’
There was barely an hour left until the operation.
I declared the start of the operation and ordered everyone to move to their positions.
***
Finally, I’ll find Yumir.
There was anxiety too.
The only information Elliot obtained was that there were several pregnant beast-people who were captured there months ago.
While trivial as information, its credibility increased thanks to Elliot’s tracking magic pointing to this Uland.
“Ars, shall we begin?”
Ash asked me while holding an Explosive Scroll.
The ground had been dug to its limit beforehand, so even a small explosion would create a hole.
“Wait. The external team hasn’t moved yet.”
After about 10 minutes, the surroundings began to get noisy. The external team led by Elena had started causing chaos.
“Now’s the time, let’s enter!”
Elliot was probably using another side path. And the kingdom’s intelligence unit would have entered too.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Bang! When Ash threw the Explosive Scroll infused with magic, an explosion occurred and revealed the bottom of the pre-dug hole.
Ash and I jumped into that hole together. Master Ilya would install the escape rope outside the hole and follow us down.
The inside was pitch black. Ash took out a prepared torch and said, “Tsk, seems like an unused passage?”
“That might be fortunate. It means there’s no security.”
I examined the walls and floor while searching for the direction to proceed.
“Looking at the traces on the floor and walls, it seems this was a passage for moving construction materials.”
Based on that information, I decided on the direction.
“Let’s go down this way. Master, please install markers for the escape route as you follow.”
“Leave it to me.”
In an emergency, we could have used a teleportation scroll while committing suicide, but we didn’t know what variables might exist here.
The best scenario would be retreating along the planned route without activating the teleportation scroll.
After walking for about 20 minutes, we started hearing strange sounds. From that point on, finding the way wasn’t difficult.
Ash frowned.
“What’s this vibration? Is there a war going on or something?”
It was that kind of pulsing sensation.
Finally, we saw the passage leading to the underground market.
A guard was sitting there picking his nose. Seeming like a mere formality guard, his face showed no sense of crisis. He didn’t seem to know about the commotion outside either.
“Huh?”
As we approached, his eyes widened in surprise, then thud! He collapsed without even screaming from my single strike.
Ash used a sleep spell from his backpack on him.
“Good, this will keep him sleeping for at least 10 hours. Still, let’s tie him up just in case.”
Slightly curious, I asked while helping Ash tie up the guard.
“Seems quite useful.”
“You mean these sleep spells? They’re basic for mercenaries. Most mercenaries can’t use magic, and even those who can often lack magic. So we usually use things like these. Though they’re a bit expensive.”
“Not bad. Maybe I should make one too.”
“You mentioned arcane and light magic, right? Hmm, I don’t think there were any commonly used spellbooks among arcane magic spells. If you’re going to make one, it would be better to make a light spellbook. Since it’s sometimes used for temporary lighting.”
While we were having such casual conversation, master put her index finger to her nose.
“Shh.”
Master was listening at the door, exploring what was on the other side.
“…There’s a short corridor on the other side. Two guards. And it seems our destination starts after that.”
“Whew!”
Ash, who had finished restraining, whistles.
“As expected, can’t beat a real mercenary. Detecting without even using magic.”
We burst through the door at Master Ilya’s signal.
Just as master said, there was a short corridor beyond the door with two guards watching it.
“What…!?”
“Who are you!”
After quickly subduing the two who cried out in shock, we opened the door and entered the underground market.
With that, a different world from the gloomy underground passage appeared.
It was a huge space, like three dome baseball stadiums combined.
In the center was a stage stained with blood here and there, and around it, the outer area was packed with people like stadium seats.
“Ugh!”
Maybe because we came through the dark underground passage, the strong lights temporarily blinded me.
“W-what is this?”
Ash muttered blankly.
“To think there’s an underground space this big…. Is this possible?”
It was not just luxurious but overwhelmingly large.
If this were modern times, it seemed like a sinkhole could form and the ground could collapse at any moment.
The reason Ash was surprised was how they managed to build this.
“This is impossible…. Most citizens of Uland don’t know about this place despite such a space existing.”
He soon mutters as if realizing something.
“Of course…. This wasn’t made by humans.”
“What do you mean?”
“Monsters made it. There’s no other explanation.”
That wasn’t important right now. With a space this big, finding our destination would be more difficult.
“According to Elliot…”
This was supposed to be the area handling the underground market’s logistics.
I identified one location while observing Elliot’s information and people’s movements.
“There it is.”
A place where goods constantly moved in and out. The lowest underground level.
Once the target was set, we needed to act quickly.
We rushed down and began infiltrating the underground level.
Since Ars’ raid operation wasn’t particularly stealthy, we were discovered quickly.
The Alliance’s response was swift.
Clancy, the head of security for the underground market, laughed with a chuckle.
“So the rats have come in. I thought it was about time!”
With the royal succession dispute in the Ellan Kingdom, and discontent rising among lower and middle-ranked Alliances due to indiscriminate slave hunting by higher-ranked Alliances.
There was enough possibility that this underground market would become a target.
That’s why the quality and quantity of security was higher than ever.
“They’re likely using teleportation scrolls! Neutralize them so they can’t activate teleportation and capture them alive! Don’t let them commit suicide either!”
He had complete confidence in rounding them all up. However, the news that came was different.
“The security going to the lowest level has been breached! The enemies have entered the lowest level!”
“What?! How many enemies are there to break through so quickly?”
“Currently there are about forty enemies causing chaos! However, only twenty of them headed to the lowest level!”
“Multiple objectives? Anyway, that number isn’t a problem. Security should eliminate those stirring up trouble inside first!”
“What should we do about those who headed to the lowest level?”
“Leave them be. That’s Roar’s territory. Besides, today is the day of the assembly. If we go in carelessly, we’ll get hurt too.”
He licked his lips.
“They really picked the wrong day. Of all days, they chose when all of Roar’s madmen are gathered.”
Clancy shuddered as if getting goosebumps.
He began the internal sweep operation while rather pitying the intruders who headed to the lowest level.
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