The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 251
The elders who appeared began arguing fiercely after confirming Ed was male.
“Unbelievable! A male actually born from Mirabel’s bloodline!”
“Could there be some mistake? Or perhaps it’s because they’re twins?”
“There must be a reason! It might be because the human blood has become stronger. Since it’s a child between a half-elf and human, it makes sense if Mirabel’s blood has become diluted!”
The elders were making all sorts of fuss.
I quietly asked Cailum.
“Is it really that surprising for a male child to be born from Mirabel’s bloodline?”
Cailum nods without hesitation.
“Yes. While I don’t know the details since it’s from the distant past, there’s a story that a male child born from Mirabel’s bloodline will lead the elves to the path of salvation.”
“Isn’t that just a baseless rumor?”
“It could be. I think so too. But in reality, no male children were ever born in the Mirabel family. Such facts made that rumor seem true and greatly exaggerated it.”
“Well, even elves are swayed by superstition, I see.”
“We’re not particularly noble or enlightened beings either. More importantly, an audience with the Queen Mother has been granted. Would you like to go right away?”
“Let’s go, I feel suffocated staying here.”
I decided to take the troubled-looking Eonia along.
Yumir and Estelle also followed behind me, seemingly uncomfortable among the elders. Perhaps they secretly wanted to see the dragon who told me to have 83 children.
At the end of a long tunnel-like passage, the pure white dragon Altron was waiting for us.
“Welcome, Ars Elaine. You had something urgent to discuss with me?”
The other three looked up at that pure white massive body with astonished expressions.
Ryuna too was scared and buried her face in Yumir’s chest.
“I have many things I want to ask, but first. Could you explain about Mirabel’s bloodline?”
“…?”
It seemed this matter hadn’t been reported to her yet.
I explained briefly.
“They’re making all sorts of fuss just because a male child was born between Eonia and me.”
“A male child…? Could it be that a male child was actually born from Mirabel’s bloodline?”
It seemed even Altron was quite surprised.
“What kind of child is it? I’d like to see.”
I took Edward from Eo and showed him briefly.
Altron stared intently at Ed and then seemed to comprehend something.
“I see, so this is what it meant about someone who will achieve great things appearing among your children.”
“What…!? Then are you saying Ed is the child of prophecy?”
“…”
Altron maintained a meaningful silence. Then speaks.
“I don’t know. I don’t know the details about the Mirabel side either.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even I only heard it as a story. I don’t know who left such a prophecy. So I have nothing I can tell you. However, seeing how strongly the elves believe in it, there must be some circumstance behind it.”
To think even Altron only heard it as a rumor.
“Well, fine. That’s not what I came to ask about anyway.”
I had no particular intention of believing in elven legends.
“What I wanted to ask you about was regarding Vindalin.”
“Vindalin?”
I told him about my encounter with Vindalin and how I became able to read dungeon history presumably due to magic he cast.
At this, Altron was lost for words.
“Vindalin….”
“Do you have any thoughts about this?”
“I just thought it was typical of him. Magic that reads the past, it’s definitely the kind of magic he would develop.”
That’s true. Teleportation Skill, which is said to have been devised by Vindalin, reads the future to influence the present.
Reading dungeon history is the opposite – reading the past to leave messages in the present.
“The fact that he cast it on you means he too knew you were a person of prophecy. He’s also a subordinate of the same god as me, so it’s not strange.”
“What do you think his intentions are? What does he want me to do by having me read the dungeons’ past?”
“This is just my guess… But he might want you to expel the Mother Goddess and her subordinates.”
“The Mother Goddess and her subordinates…?”
Altron continues in a serious voice.
“Dungeons are this world’s history. They are the manifestation of conflicts between humans and other races. However, there are always circumstances behind such conflicts. There are certain circumstances that led to such conflicts.”
“That must be due to human’s desire for conquest.”
“I think so too, but there are aspects that are difficult to explain with just that. While humans are certainly an ambitious and selfish species, they also understand harmony and coexistence. When I think about it now, it’s strange that such humans moved solely for destruction and killing.”
“Someone was instigating from behind…?”
“I think that might be possible. After all, the Ancient God’s purpose was to exterminate all races.”
“All races? Weren’t the humans that the Ancient God herself brought were an exception?”
“She probably plans to discard even the humans once their usefulness ends. Otherwise, the current turbulence wouldn’t make sense.”
“W-wait a minute. Are you saying the Ancient God and her followers are still operating in secret?”
“That’s what I think. The series of events where all the sealed dungeons were unleashed feels artificial to me. For this to happen during a period of peace, even if it was incomplete…”
In other words, it’s like this. The current turbulence was also instigated by the Ancient God’s followers from behind.
The reason Vindalin cast the magic of reading the past on me was to find clues from traces of the past and eliminate those followers.
“Sigh, isn’t this too heavy a burden to place on me?”
“Heh, you should be happy. You’re doing something that no hero in history has accomplished.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Ah, and one more thing. If you happen to meet Vindalin again, would you tell him to come see me?”
“If by chance I meet him, I’ll pass on the message.”
Afterwards, I asked if we could track Rutger using Estelle’s blood stone, but Altron didn’t seem to have any leads.
Anyway, having achieved our primary objective, we immediately prepared to return to the kingdom.
* * *
When I returned after the audience, it seemed the Elven elders had also reached a conclusion.
They decided to formally recognize Ed. They tried to assign one unit of the Guardian Force as Ed’s escort, but I declined citing inconvenience.
Nevertheless, the elders persisted and arranged for the Guardian Force to accompany our party back to the kingdom.
Meanwhile, the babies received nature’s blessing.
They say those who receive this blessing are loved by nature, but I couldn’t know the exact effects.
Still, since they said it was good, I sneakily had Ryuna receive the blessing too.
Afterwards, we boarded a ship heading back to the kingdom.
One side of the ship was loaded with teleportation scrolls and various weapons received as aid from the elves.
‘Not a bad haul, Sophia will be pleased.’
Especially the teleportation scrolls will be like rain in a drought.
‘That aside… The Ancient God and her followers, huh.’
I had some suspicions. Lord Pax, who operated secretly in the kingdom, Feis Lancoast.
I recalled when I confronted that guy with Juras last time.
‘That guy didn’t raise any issues about the Alliance’s magic stone storage being attacked at that time.’
Despite it being something that would anger anyone from the Alliance, he didn’t dwell on that point.
That means it wasn’t an issue for him. Or perhaps that was the situation he wanted.
‘Or maybe he just got caught up in Juras’s pace and couldn’t pay attention to it.’
Anyway, that guy was suspicious.
But I didn’t think that guy was the mastermind behind everything. There must be more besides him.
‘Having to deal with gods, what a real headache.’
My head starts throbbing.
Next to me, Eonia approaches quietly while holding Ed.
“Ars, are you okay?”
“What wouldn’t be okay. More importantly, how can you bring Ed to the deck? What if you accidentally drop him?”
“Drop him? There’s no way that would happen. Ars, you worry too much.”
She says while feeling the sea breeze.
“They say Ed is the child of prophecy.”
“No need to take it seriously.”
“No, I want to believe that.”
Eo seems secretly pleased that they’re saying her child will be someone who accomplishes great things.
And there was one more reason.
“Since Ed is the child of prophecy… Ars, you don’t need to have many children, right?”
“…Huh?”
“That means you don’t need to take many wives.”
“Isn’t that a different matter from this? Let’s put that part on hold…”
“…”
Eo’s gaze turns cold.
“Ahaha…”
Yumir and Estelle had somehow approached and were also pressuring me to elaborate further, so I decided to quietly surrender.
* * *
Upon returning to the continent, I immediately entered the palace and delivered the teleportation scrolls received as aid to Sophia.
Seeing the 2,000 teleportation scrolls, Sophia’s legs seemed to give out as she slumped into her chair.
“Thanks to you, I can breathe a huge sigh of relief. Just for bringing these, Wade, you deserve to be called a hero who saved the kingdom.”
“How’s the situation?”
“It’s the worst.”
“I was only gone to the elves’ island for 4 days? And it’s already the worst?”
“Several unfortunate events overlapped.”
First, King Rosa collapsed with a high fever. This caused great turmoil within the palace. Rumors spread that Rosa would die from illness.
Since the turbulence that defied common sense actually occurred, even such false rumors were taken seriously.
“Those rumors spread outside. The lower-ranked adventurers who had been accumulating discontent formed groups and deserted.”
These were groups who had to risk their lives clearing dungeons without receiving the benefits of teleportation scrolls.
“They caused an uproar claiming that the turbulence occurring in the world was orchestrated by the state, that it was just a weapon to control citizens, and wasn’t actually a real threat.”
“They said that even after seeing those Griffons attacks?”
“They claimed even that was orchestrated by the state. More than that, they seemed to feel skeptical about how the elite adventurers who receive teleportation scrolls benefits weren’t accomplishing anything. They claimed the elite adventurers were just pretending to clear dungeons and coming back without results. Claiming this, they left the capital.”
“Left the capital!? What’s the scale?”
“About 600 people. And coincidentally, where they headed is where the Seven Deadly Sins is located.”
The Seven Deadly Sins, one of the top 10 dungeons. It was known as the most vicious dungeon.
“Surely not…”
“Yes, that ‘surely’ is probably right. Even looking through historical records, it’s written that the Seven Deadly Sins causes distrust among people and instigates discord. We believe this incident occurred due to the influence of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“To think its influence reaches even here to the capital… Isn’t it quite far from here?”
“The area around the Seven Deadly Sins is much worse than here.”
Then Sophia shared one piece of information.
“The shelter located in the Spella area where the Seven Deadly Sins is located is already completely wiped out.”
“Wiped out!? The shelter should have skilled guards though?”
“I don’t know the details but… According to information brought by our informant, it was self-destruction.”
“Self-destruction?”
“Yes, the people in the shelter killed each other.”
“…!”
Now I understood why the Seven Deadly Sins was counted as the most vicious dungeon.
That dungeon drives people around it insane.
So there’s no way to respond except to clear it urgently.
“If it’s that serious, we need to deploy elite forces immediately.”
“We did. And that’s why the situation is the worst.”
Sophia handed over a document.
It read like this,
‘Five groups of elite forces simultaneously entered the Seven Deadly Sins and were annihilated.’
“Annihilated? What does this mean?”
“It means exactly what it says.”
“You mean they lost their lives? Even with teleportation scrolls?”
“…”
Sophia silently affirmed.
I too was at a loss for words. What we feared most had happened.
A dungeon that neutralizes teleportation scrolls had finally appeared.
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