The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 249
My head was throbbing with pain.
Along with it came a clear vision.
‘What is this…?’
Although I didn’t know what was happening, my head hurt too much to resist, so I decided to go along with it.
Then, like a slide film being projected, visions flowed through my mind.
It was about the disappearing Orcs.
This was a story from the time when human invasion was intensifying.
The Orcs had already lost consecutive wars against humans and were facing extinction.
Chief Kreal, sensing that destruction was imminent, made a proposal to the human side.
He said he would lead a special Orc force, including himself, and set up camp in this ravine.
-Let’s have a great duel that will go down in history! If you defeat our seven heroes, we will accept defeat and surrender!
Although humans were now destroying other races, this was only due to overlapping mistrust and misunderstandings, and there was a belief that humans would eventually accept other races.
Kreal believed in and wanted to confirm the honor and nobility possessed by humans.
That’s why he proposed a duel to the death.
The human side was also interested since they would only need to defeat seven opponents instead of facing an army of tens of thousands.
At first, they sent in famous martial artists and officers to take on the challenge.
However, they all failed. To defeat the selected Orc heroes, the human side needed to send their top generals or mages.
Kreal was hoping for a battle with them.
He expected those in leadership positions to possess nobility.
But what came back was a cruel strategy of cutting off food supplies and poisoning the wells.
Among the Orcs who were slowly falling from poison, Kreal smiled grimly.
Because he knew this was also one of humanity’s forms of greatness.
They would use any means necessary to achieve their goals. They could even throw away honor.
Some might call this cowardly behavior, but in some ways, there could be nothing greater than this.
-But humans, this path leads only to self-destruction in your future. After you devour all other races, you’ll begin killing yourselves.
Kreal shouted to the human commander who arrived only after all Orcs had fallen.
-Learn nobility! Have your own honor! That is the path that you humans, who have become the rulers of the continent, must follow!
The human general coldly cut off Kreal’s head.
But the vision didn’t end there.
This was when the Life and Death Match dungeon first appeared.
Kreal realized he had been revived as a dungeon. He also felt someone’s urging to kill all humans.
However, he didn’t yield. Although he could have released tens of thousands of Orcs to start a massacre, he insisted on the Life and Death Match to test human nobility.
This time was also a failure.
Seven skilled warriors visited, but when their lives were in danger, they launched a simultaneous attack and killed Kreal.
And this continues to today.
“Ugh!”
When the vision ended, I collapsed right there. My head felt like it would split from the sudden influx of massive information.
“Huff! Huff!”
“Lord Ars! Are you alright!?”
Eo quickly came over to support me.
With her support, I stood up and looked at the disappearing Kreal.
He was smiling as if satisfied. Soon his body completely disappeared and turned into a stone.
However, it wasn’t a magic stone containing a dungeon.
“This is…!?”
Usually, magic stones containing dungeons emit various ominous lights. If not sealed quickly, that ominous magic evaporates and appears again as a dungeon.
But what appeared now was different.
A blue glowing stone. It was a magic stone containing pure magic.
Moreover, the amount of magic it contained was immense. With just this one stone, one could use magic for several months.
The fortress gradually disappeared. As the stones of the training ground also began to disappear, we had to move to ground that wouldn’t vanish.
Gunther sighed in relief and said.
“Is it somehow over?”
Soon Luc, Elena, and Ash, who had been watching the situation from outside, came running.
Ash, who knew dungeons well, was puzzled by the sight of the dungeon that had turned into a magic stone.
“What’s this? It’s just a magic stone? This doesn’t even need to be sealed. The form is very stable.”
“Ash, have you heard of cases like this?”
“Um… Well, come to think of it, I did hear a similar story from a senior mercenary.”
“What kind of story?”
“Just that they got lucky when they defeated a monster and got one of those precious magic stones.”
“I see…”
Now things were somewhat making sense. About the true meaning of dungeons, that is.
There were still things I didn’t understand.
It was about the vision that had just appeared in my head.
This was something I would need to think about slowly.
* * *
After finishing the Life and Death Match subjugation, we returned to be welcomed by the people waiting at the mansion.
Curious about what had happened, they started asking questions in detail.
Everyone focused their attention on Ash, thinking he would blurt out everything whether it happened or not, but Ash just scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed expression.
In place of Ash, Gunther began telling the story.
“The opponents were incredible warriors. Each one was strong enough to make your eyes pop open. At first, Lucretia stepped forward…”
The expressions of those who had been defeated darkened.
“After Lucretia was defeated, Ash shouted at the monsters. He said Lucretia was the weakest among the seven, so don’t get too cocky.”
Laughter erupted in the mansion. Luc bit her lip in humiliation.
Then she pinched Ash’s side hard, saying he was mean.
“After I and Eonia won, Ash stepped up, but he lost ridiculously. The monsters laughed so much. Then Ars shouted, ‘That guy is the second weakest among our seven! He’s just here to make up the numbers!’“
Hearing this for the first time, Ash stared at me with indignation. Luc found it satisfying, saying it served him right.
“The highlight was Lady Ilya. When she went to face the leader who had defeated Elena, she said this: A master becomes several times stronger in front of their disciple! Kha! Even I trembled!”
“That’s enough, Gunther. It’s embarrassing.”
Master Ilya had a bitter smile but didn’t seem to mind.
However, that seemed to provoke Elena. After all, she had lost in front of her disciple Eonia.
“Ilya! Was that comment meant to mock me!?”
“…What? No, that’s not it.”
“It certainly seems that way!”
Completely sulking, Elena took Lucretia out to spar, declaring she wouldn’t lose next time.
This competitive nature was identical to Eonia’s. To the point of being creepy.
However, Eo actually muttered, “We don’t need to be competitive among ourselves, really Master. You still have such childish sides.”
“……”
A deadly silence followed this comment. All the vassals looked at her in disbelief.
Eo was puzzled, wondering why they were looking at her that way.
I asked experimentally, “Eo, I’m thinking of bringing Anton as our main force when travel to the Magic Continent becomes possible, and having you stay at the mansion to guard it since we have children. What do you think?”
“That’s…!? I can do better! Please reconsider!”
“Why, didn’t you just say we don’t need to be competitive among ourselves?”
“T-That’s…! Anyway, no! You can’t!”
Feeling genuinely threatened, she came to me with cute complaints.
That’s when Sophia approached, telling us to stop rubbing salt in the wound.
“So where’s the magic stone from the Life and Death Match? Give it to me quickly, we need to seal it urgently.”
“About that, something’s a bit strange.”
After hearing the situation, Sophia tilted her head.
“The dungeon vanished by itself…?”
“Yes. And instead of a corrupted magic stone, it became a pure magic stone. This one.”
Seeing the ma stone containing enormous magic, Sophia’s eyes widened.
“I-I’ve never seen a magic stone of this quality before. What is this!?”
“It’s not even trying to evaporate and disappear. Meaning it doesn’t need to be sealed.”
“That’s…”
Sophia licked her lips and looked up at me pleadingly.
“Wade, couldn’t you give this to me?”
“What?”
“With this, I could use magic freely!”
“Ah…”
Come to think of it, Sophia was trying to use magic with magic stones.
However, magic stones available in the market quickly lose their power after just a few uses of magic. But this one was different.
“Please!”
“…Alright. But first after we research it at the Academy. And we need to report to Rosa too.”
I decided to just give it to her since Sophia would likely try to claim it using her authority as prime minister anyway. Besides, I didn’t need it.
“I’ll conduct the research at the Academy!”
Sophia headed to the Academy, gleefully holding the magic stone.
I stopped Leitin who was trying to follow her out.
“Leitin, could you stay for a moment?”
“Do you have some business with me?”
“Could you come to my room for a bit? There’s something important I’d like to discuss with you alone.”
“Y-Your room, just the two of us…!?”
For some reason, a sharp tension suddenly surged.
“Sir Ars?”
“What kind of discussion are you two planning to have…?”
Somehow Erina and Estelle had appeared on either side of me.
Yumir and Eo had also approached.
“Young master, let’s have a chat.”
“Ars, come here.”
Only then realizing my verbal mistake, I had to hurriedly try to smooth things over.
* * *
Inevitably, Leitin and four others joined me in my room.
Leitin answered my question with a bitter smile.
“You say you saw the dungeon’s history?”
“Yes. The history flowed like photographs.”
“Photographs? What are photographs?”
“Ah, this might be hard to understand. Anyway, let’s say I saw past situations. Through that, I felt and learned why those Orcs were acting that way. Do you know anything about this?”
Leitin shook her head. Even she, the court mage, didn’t know anything about it.
“I’m not entirely sure, but what’s certain is that it must be the power of magic. Otherwise, such a mysterious event cannot be explained. Reading the dungeon’s history, it’s unprecedented.”
“Is that so…”
There was one thing I could guess.
The guiding dragon Altron. He must have planted something in me.
However, Leitin tilted her head and said, “But if that’s the case, it’s strange that someone of Lord Wade’s caliber wouldn’t detect it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Magic that interferes with mind and soul is difficult without mutual consent. If you don’t agree, it creates dissonance and the magic won’t function.”
At that moment, Eonia raised her hand and spoke.
“But I’ve used magic to connect souls with Lord Ars without permission?”
She was referring to the magic used to track my location. Eo had mistakenly thought it was a noble magic that connected souls, which is why she said that.
The other three’s expressions changed at Eo’s shocking statement.
“Eo, connecting souls with magic, what did you do to the young master?”
“Miss Eonia, please explain to us too!”
Eo realized belatedly that she had spoken rashly and became restless. The three strongly pressed her for answers.
Anyway, according to Leitin, it was strange.
‘I have to give consent? Then it wasn’t Altron. Who could have done it?’
I couldn’t think of anyone who had cast magic on me with my consent.
If anything, there was only the blood transfusion with Estelle and the old black witch who cast blood magic to create my blood stone.
I asked Estelle just in case, but she dismissed it, saying she was just an ordinary black witch.
Therefore, I still couldn’t get a grasp on this matter.
That’s when it happened.
When I went to report to Rosa about the successful subjugation of the Life and Death Match.
After the subjugation report was over, Rosa dismissed the surrounding vassals and said to me.
“Wade, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Did something happen in another dungeon?”
“No, it’s not that… You’ve recently exercised influence in political affairs, right? And even before that, you helped me from behind. Because of that, it seems many people have become interested in you.”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
“Maybe because of that, it seems some people have been investigating your background.”
“Sigh, if they’re curious, they should just come ask directly. There’s nothing to find in investigating my background.”
“That’s not entirely true.”
“…?”
Rosa handed me a document.
“Do you remember what this is?”
“Hmm…?”
It looked like an academy document.
“I’m not sure? What is this?”
“It’s a letter of recommendation requesting your admission to the Royal Academy.”
Come to think of it, there was such a thing. Since I ultimately entered thanks to Rinoa, regardless of the recommendation letter, I had completely forgotten about its existence.
Thinking about it now, even the person managing admissions didn’t seem to treat the recommendation letter as very important.
“Who did you get this recommendation letter from?”
“I got it from a third-rate academy in Ramdamen in the Northern Continent. An old wizard there wrote it for me.”
“…”
Rosa furrowed her brow.
“Do you know that old man’s name?”
“I can’t quite remember now. Isn’t it written on the recommendation letter?”
“Yes, it is. It says Hibert Crosnel.”
“Right! That was the name! But why?”
“You… You don’t feel anything hearing the name Hibert Crosnel?”
“Is he someone extraordinary?”
“Of course he’s extraordinary! That’s because…”
With the following words, I finally learned the identity of the person who cast that strange magic that allowed me to read the dungeon’s history.
“It’s the name that the Great Sage Vindalin used.”
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