The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 223
The next morning after the party.
As I was getting ready to go to the academy, a spirited yell came from outside the mansion. Peeking out the window, I saw Lucretia and Elena training together in the morning.
“They’re really diligent,” I murmured admiringly as I left the room and headed to the dining room. With Eonia regaining her memories, the food quality had improved, so I was looking forward to the meal. However, what awaited me were the healthy green dishes.
“Please have some,” Yumir said.
“Uh, I think I’ll skip breakfast today. I ate too much yesterday.”
“Young master, you shouldn’t be picky about your diet.”
“Well, then at least let me have some of the dishes Eonia made!”
Even Yumir couldn’t force her diet on the homeowner Rinoa or the guest Ash, so there were indeed some of Eonia’s dishes available as well. Rinoa was savoring Eonia’s cooking.
“It’s amazing! Would you consider working in our kitchen?”
“That’s too much praise.”
“No, it’s not an exaggeration at all. The food at the royal palace parties isn’t as delicious as this.”
“Haha, thank you.”
“Let me get you another plate.”
I don’t think I’ve ever been as envious of Rinoa as I was at that moment.
Of course, it’s not that Yumir’s healthy dishes tasted bad. They were quite palatable for healthy food. The problem was Eonia’s cooking skill. It made even ordinary people want to be picky eaters.
Yumir let out a small sigh. “You can have Eonia’s food for dinner. But for breakfast, I’d like you to have something healthy.”
“Ugh… I guess I have no choice.”
As I was eating, a loud yell suddenly rang out.
“Woooooo!”
Ash burst through the dining room door.
“Ah, Ars… Is it true that you all slept in the same bed?!”
“Well, yes, that’s how it ended up.”
“Woooooo! You scoundrel! I’m so jealous!”
Angry Ash was met with icy glares.
“Come out right now! I won’t be satisfied until I beat you down!”
It seemed he wanted to spar or fight. Since I did want to work out, I finished my meal and followed Ash outside.
However, as I had seen earlier, there were already guests training in the courtyard outside.
“Haaah!”
“Your hips need to come forward more!”
Lucretia was kicking the ground and letting out cries, while Elena was lightly deflecting her attacks and giving advice.
Ash’s earlier ferocity seemed to have disappeared as he just chuckled in awe.
“Wow, watching the ladies spar is like watching a work of art! After seeing senior Gunther and Gaspar’s sweaty sparring, this is so refreshing!”
Just then, as their training session seemed to have ended, Luc gestured for us to come over.
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Let’s switch. Go have something to eat first.”
“Ah, it’s already time. Thank you for sparring with me, Lady Elena.”
The two of them started cleaning up the training equipment. That’s when Ash offhandedly muttered, “Though, Lucretia and Elena – they have a lot of wasted motion in their movements.”
It was natural that the arrogant Luc reacted to this.
Elena also frowned and interrogated Ash.
“Did you just say that my movements are wasteful?”
Realizing that he had misspoken, Ash waved his hands.
“Ah, no! Ms. Elena’s skills are excellent! It’s just, well, how should I put it.”
Ash, searching for an excuse, ended up making the worst choice.
“Compared to Ms. Ilya, that is. Ms. Ilya is, well, frighteningly flawless, isn’t she?”
The atmosphere suddenly froze.
“Are you saying I’m inferior to Ilya Anfei…?!”
“Huh?”
Ash, unaware of the relationship between Elena and my master, could only be flustered.
“Draw your weapon! I’ll confirm if you have the right to say that! You too, Elaine!”
“Why me?!”
Elena, who was not satisfied even with her disciple, urged them to draw their weapons.
I made an excuse about going to the academy to somehow escape, but Ash, who was at fault, was not so lucky.
Even so, Lucretia was ready, in case Elena herself intended to do something.
The boy seemed puzzled by how the situation had turned out this way, but he seemed to think it was for the better.
“Anyway, I was planning to move around to cure my hangover, so I don’t mind. Is Aunty Lucretia over there going to be my opponent?”
“Who are you calling ‘aunty’?”
“Well, because you’re older than me, right? I heard it from Ars. He said you’re the same age as Princess Sophia.”
Ash picked up a wooden spear placed on the side of the training ground.
Seeing this, a light flashed in Luc’s eyes.
“Are you also a spearman?”
“It’s different from what you’re thinking. What I’ve trained in is cavalry spearmanship, so I originally use a sword in close combat.”
“Then draw your sword.”
“Not really… I don’t think that level of opponent is necessary.”
“What did you say?!”
Ash grinned mischievously as he aimed the spear.
“If you’re that dissatisfied, then come and try me.”
“You weird people and you too… Magic Continent people are all so arrogant without exception!”
“Well, when I see such sloppy spearmanship, anyone would think that.”
I became a spectator and decided to add more firewood.
“At least it’s gotten a lot better than before! It was even worse at first!”
“Really?”
Provoked by this, Luc furiously swung the spear, but Ash easily parried the attacks and started to match the rhythm.
Even though Ash looked that way, his combat ability was terrifyingly high.
Compared to me, Ash was one step ahead in cavalry combat. This was partly because I was weak in cavalry combat, but also because Ash was frighteningly skilled in it.
At least in close combat, I could take the upper hand, but that didn’t mean I could easily subdue him.
Ash nonchalantly parried all of Luc’s attacks, and as Luc’s spear tip became blunt from exhaustion, Ash readied himself.
“Shall I start counterattacking now?”
“Tch…!”
Switching to the offensive, Ash displayed a fierce spearmanship. It wasn’t flashy, but it was direct and had no waste.
That’s what cavalry spearmanship was like.
When handling a spear on horseback, there must be no waste at all. Even a single wrong thrust could make it difficult to retrieve the spear due to the speed of the horse’s gallop. That’s why it had to be direct and efficient.
Additionally, it was common to thrust the spear with one arm while riding, so the arm strength of the spear-wielding arm had to be trained.
Clang! Luc raised the spear shaft horizontally to block Ash’s downward thrust.
She tried to shake off the spear and counterattack, but Ash’s spear wouldn’t budge.
Ash, gripping the spear with one hand, pressed down on Luc with sheer strength alone.
“Ugh!”
Overpowered by the unexpected strength, Luc was forced to kneel. She tried to repel it with her Aura, but when Ash used his Aura as well, they canceled each other out.
Pressed down, Luc. At this rate, she might end up kneeling.
“Luc! Get out of there!”
It was Elena’s cry to twist her body and step back. It was an admission of defeat in the battle of strength, but it was better than kneeling.
However, the proud Lucretia intended to win by strength no matter what.
It was only natural. While she was supporting the spear with both arms, Ash was only pressing down with one arm. If she was pushed back in that state, her pride would be shattered.
“Aaaaargh!”
Straining with all her might to push back, Ash. Ash just scoffed and tried to force Luc to kneel.
At that moment, Ash’s spear broke with a thud, and Lucretia was freed.
Ash clicked his tongue, saying he knew it would happen.
“Tsk, using a wooden spear for this is just too hard.”
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Luc was panting heavily. Ash cheerfully smiled, saying it was a good sparring session.
“You’ve learned about this kind of spearmanship, haven’t you? Spearmanship isn’t good just because it’s flashy, like what you or Ars do. It has to be fast and have no waste for the lethal thrusts to come out. Well, Ars is an exception since he doesn’t just handle one spear, but you and Elena are not exceptions. There’s waste in your thrusts. I just wanted to point that out. If it’s presumptuous, please forgive me.”
Even Elena, who seemed to feel something, did not get angry this time.
Ash threw the broken spear away and turned his back.
Then he whispered to me.
“Wasn’t I cool just now? Do you think Lucretia might have fallen for me?”
“No, that’s not going to happen.”
But it seems to have had some effect, as Luc requested a sparring session with Ash even before leaving for the palace for lunch.
***
The atmosphere at the academy, which had returned after 5 days, had become even more grim.
Joseph, a classmate, was under tight guard even during class. His classmates were not even allowed to approach him.
As a result, the area around him had become like a remote island.
‘The insignia of those bodyguards…’
It was the insignia of the Kiros family, which was considered a peer of the Akasha family along with the Budo family.
Seeing that Dayan Kiros, Joseph’s partner transfer student, was the one holding the power, it seemed that the Kiros family had bet on Joseph.
“That’s enough. Don’t come any closer than that.”
“Eh? I-I’m sorry.”
Their excessive vigilance was making passing students uncomfortable.
Joseph was already ruling like a king within it.
Princess Rosa watched this worriedly.
At the secret meeting held after school, they brought up the topic of Joseph.
“I heard the story from Prime Minister Railand. They say Joseph… Has colluded with the Alliance.”
“He had no choice in that part. If Prince Landis had ascended the throne, Prince Joseph would have had a high chance of being purged.”
“I see… But the forces that have attached themselves to Joseph are the same ones that were attached to your brother Proud. That’s strange, because Proud hated the Alliance a lot.”
“Hating something and ascending the throne are separate matters. It’s similar to you not trusting me much, but still asking for my help.”
“…No, I trust you, Wade. I trust Erina and Lucretia more, but… Anyway, I decided to trust you, who led those two.”
“So you don’t trust me, but you trust my vassals…”
At that, Luc protested, “Who are you calling your vassal?!” and Erina happily said, “I’m Sir Ars’ vassal…!”
“Well, in that case, I’d like to hear the princess’s determination. What will you do after ascending the throne?”
“I’ll purge them all. The crime of assassinating my father and brother Proud is not small. I’ll purge all the nobles who have a close relationship with the Alliance and instigated the power struggle.”
“That’s a given. And your brothers?”
“…I’ll imprison them.”
“You’re still naïve. Your own brothers should be the first ones to be purged.”
“I’ll do that part my own way. The rest is fine, so don’t argue about that.”
Regardless, Princess Rosa didn’t seem likely to imprison them that harshly.
“Wade, succeeding the operation is more important than what happens afterwards.”
Lucretia turns the topic to help Princess Rosa.
“The Prime Minister also agreed with your operation. If we make various adjustments, the operation can start in 6 days. Can you complete all the preparations by then? Even with the Prime Minister’s help, infiltrating 1,000 troops into the palace is not as easy as it sounds.”
“Don’t worry. The preparations are already done.”
Before going to Uland, I had already had Bisketa make the preparations. The Akasha family’s troops had recently been reinforced, but the system was already in place, so there was no major problem.
“You can start the operation right away.”
“…I’ll convey that to the Prime Minister as well. Is that okay with you, Princess?”
With the operation looming before them, Princess Rosa nodded resolutely.
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