The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 30
Returning home after the party, I felt the sense that time has stopped flowing again.
It was unexpected even for me to be involved in national affairs in this way at the age of 15.
Fortunately, the main story didn’t get twisted.
The Three Lions War ended with Crossing’s victory, dealing a severe blow to Beckavia.
I was somewhat anxious because I didn’t know how much larger the scale of victory was compared to the original game story.
‘There’s one big event coming up.’
A war symbolizing the hegemonic struggle of the continent and serving as a prologue to the game.[1]
It was the Chimera War.
I originally thought I wouldn’t be related to that war, but now that the identity of Wade had emerged, I thought there would be some kind of influence.
‘I don’t know the exact year, but at least the timing of the Chimera War was spring.’
Whether it would be next spring or the spring after next, I had to prepare.
Knock knock! A calm knocking sound.
“Young master, it’s Yumir. I’ve returned.”
“That was quite fast. You may come in.”
Upon returning to the mansion, I had immediately given Yumir one instruction.
It was to look into secondary academies for transfer.
As the Julia Academy I’m currently attending is located in the Hellian Duchy, I was planning to move to a different place even if it took a little more time.
“So how was it? Rainpol?”
“Yes, as you said, it is a city with complicated circumstances.”
Rainpol is a medium-sized city located in the border region between Crossing and Calliper.
It had the peculiar quality of having a national border within the city, which made the city’s form unique.
Until Calliper and Crossing formed an alliance, there were up to 10,000 soldiers stationed within the city.
It started developing from the point of the alliance, and the academy was also being operated jointly by Crossing and Calliper.
“However, there seems to be a set time for transferring to the academy.”
“I know. I’ll have to attend Julia until this year. That’s enough. Thank you, Yumir.”
This was sufficient regarding the academy matter.
“Come to think of it, isn’t my master around that area? Did you meet her?”
“No, she seemed to be busy, so I couldn’t meet her.”
“Hmm. I guess she’s busy after all. I was hoping to receive martial arts lessons if time allowed. Doesn’t seem possible.”
“If it’s martial arts guidance, aren’t you receiving it from Eonia…?”
“Well, Eo is too lenient with me. You’re the same, Yumir.”
While Master Ilya pushes relentlessly, Eo is, how should I put it? She only praises me like she’s dealing with her superior, so there’s no tension in learning.
“Well, it’s not that she can’t teach, so I guess it can’t be helped. How’s Eo doing? Is she good with housework? I know she’s working hard.”
Eo, who had come under Yumir after that party incident, was truly dedicating herself to housework as if she was serving a penance.
“She’s doing well. To the extent that I dare say there’s nothing left for me to teach.”
“Haha, to that degree?”
She seemed to have some exceptional dexterity as she learned tasks very quickly. Since she took charge of housework, not a speck of dust existed in the mansion, and the garden boasted artistry that rivaled any high-ranking noble’s.
‘Speaking of dexterity…’
There was one thing that bothered me.
To verify that aspect, I asked Yumir to prepare one piece of training equipment.
* * *
I was thinking of equipping myself with one more weapon in preparation for what was to come.
‘If I learn archery, I’ll be able to use it in various ways.’
For example, tying different colored cloths to arrows and shooting them to send signals to officers far away at once.
In my case, I preferred to give detailed and specific instructions through a dense information network, even if it took time.
Otherwise, units that didn’t properly understand tactical instructions would move in unintended directions.
‘At that time, I was able to command because they were elite officers under Juras, but…’
I doubted whether ordinary officers would have such tactical execution abilities.
For instance, Eonia was quite good at simple charging, but her tactical execution ability was terrible. You could say she had no autonomous judgment at all.
If left alone, she’d end up singing the second, third, and fourth verses by herself and become isolated.
As such, in Eo’s case, I decided to command her directly through arrow signals.
For that training, I set up a bow and arrows from the warehouse, along with a practice target, in the open space outside the mansion.
After finishing all the territory work until lunch, I headed to the training ground, but there was already a visitor there.
“Hmph! A bow, of all things. It’s a weapon used by cowards. I bet Ilya brought it here.”
Eo was grumbling while looking at the bow and target board.
She was criticizing it harshly, not thinking that I had brought it to learn archery.
This was also the perception of archery among people in the eastern part of the continent.
While archery was respected in Beckavia and kingdoms in the west, it wasn’t in eastern kingdoms like Calliper.
For Eo, who was like the embodiment of chivalry, archery was indeed something only cowards would do.
“Who are you calling a coward?”
“…Pardon?”
“I brought this to learn. Want to say that again?”
“Gasp!?” Eo broke into a cold sweat and said as if making excuses.
“A-a bow is a weapon that maximizes efficiency!”
“Well, it’s the first time I’ve heard that a bow is an efficient weapon.”
On the contrary, it’s an inefficient weapon.
It’s easily blocked by shields, costly, and its lethality drops sharply if it doesn’t hit vital points.
“This is punishment for speaking carelessly. You’ll learn it too.”
“Yes, yes! Of course!”
To tell the truth, I was just planning to learn how to shoot, and it was Eo I intended to have learn it seriously.
“Eo, is this your first time with a bow too?”
“Yes, it is.”
“That’s strange. Didn’t you say Valkyrie martial arts cover all weapons?”
Eo said she could handle not only swords and shields, spears, halberds, but also blunt weapons like maces.
It was strange that the bow wasn’t among those weapons.
“My master said there was no need to learn the bow. I think it might be because the bow goes against chivalry.”
“Hmm? I’ll say it again, but we’re going to learn it from now on, right? So are you saying I’m acting against chivalry right now?”
“Th-that’s not…”
“Well, fine. Let’s give it a try.”
I faced the target with the quiver on my back.
Yumir took on the role of instructing us.
“Take your stance like this… Then draw the bowstring, aim at the target, and release the string according to your own senses.”
Yumir shot an arrow calmly.
Whoosh! Thunk! The arrow hit the outer edge of the target.
It was an unexpected result, as I had thought she would naturally hit the center.
When asked like that, Yumir says, “I’m confident in throwing, but I’ve never handled a bow as my main weapon.”
Then, with invisible speed, she threw daggers in quick succession – whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!
The daggers kept sticking into the target’s center, forming a circle. Then thwack! The last dagger thrown pierced the center of the circle, embedding itself right in the middle of the target.
It was unbelievably precise, but what I found harder to understand was where all those daggers came from in that slender body.
“Excuse me for a moment, Yumir.”
“Y-Young master…!?”
I patted and felt around her waist, but no daggers came out.
It’s truly mysterious.
Anyway, I started learning the bow in earnest.
‘The results are okay.’
Thwack! Thwack! Perhaps because I had experience with martial arts, I was able to form a striking force in an hour, but the results were inconsistent depending on the wind conditions, and I didn’t have the skill to aim for the exact center.
If this were a moving target, it didn’t seem like I could hit it easily.
‘I was planning to learn the bow for efficient delivery of tactics anyway, so maybe this is enough for now.’
If I learn bit by bit, I should be able to have decent skills within a year.
I heard that you can learn archery if you choose to at the advanced academy, so I decided to take that course at least.
More importantly.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Eo’s arrows keep piercing the center.
Eo was hitting the target with perfect accuracy, as if it were nothing difficult.
“That’s amazing…”
A remarkable talent visible at a glance.
I recalled the ancient book I had read when I went to take butler lessons for the Saleon family in the past.
‘The Kuravel Holy Kingdom was said to be related to High Elves. And when it comes to Valkyries…’
I heard that half-elves are chosen for generations as a token of friendship built between humans and elves.
Elves gradually disappeared after the fall of the Fensillon Empire, and now they can no longer be seen. Therefore, Eonia, being a true half-elf, could be considered the last Valkyrie in the true sense.
So it might not be surprising that she handles the bow to this extent.
After all, even in this world, elves were counted among the best archers.
‘So that’s why.’
Now I understood why Eo’s martial arts master said there was no need to learn the bow.
It’s because she could handle it well naturally without having to learn.
“You’re really good. You could even teach me.”
“Is that so? Hehehe…!”
Eo, delighted by the praise, kept shooting arrows with elevated spirits.
One might think accuracy would decrease with excessive tension, but she’s actually becoming more accurate.
A little later, she even started infusing aura and shattering the targets.
‘Earlier she said it was something only cowards use. Now she’s really enjoying it.’
Now, as if asking for more praise, she’s showing off techniques like sitting shots, running shots, curved shots, long-distance shots, and so on.
I was seriously considering using Eo as the commander of an archery unit.
* * *
Four more months passed since the party incident, and it was the year I turned 16.
The twins were born safely, bringing vitality to the household.
Along with that, my workload had also increased, as my father had officially begun preparing for retirement.
It must have been significant that Max finally found a marriage partner and got engaged at the Duke of Hellian’s party.
Max’s fiancée was the fourth daughter of Count Felton.
The engagement with a family two ranks higher than ours was no small burden.
When it comes to noble engagements, matching the quality of engagement gifts is of utmost importance.
Failure to match gifts equally often led to broken engagements.
That’s why it’s said that engagements are practically impossible when there’s too much difference in status.
“I’m really sorry, little brother! I’ll definitely repay this debt later!”
Max bowed his head and apologized to me.
I had to lend him money because even after using up his personal savings and our parents’ savings, he couldn’t match the quality of the engagement gifts.
“It’s okay. More importantly, have you found the servants?”
“I’ve found a mansion… But not the servants yet.”
Normally, retired parents would hand over the territory and the eldest son would move in, but because the twins were just born, Max decided to move out separately.
Therefore, we needed to find new servants to work in the mansion, and that was proving difficult.
“They want at least six servants… I’m at a loss as to how to find them.”
Surprisingly, the cost of employing servants was not insignificant.
While finding them wasn’t difficult, the maintenance costs were burdensome.
“I’ve heard that these days, people are finding servants at slave auctions. Have you considered that? They say that while there’s a purchase cost, the maintenance isn’t as expensive.”
“You mean the one that Juras Pamilion set up in Alpensard. But the entrance fee for that auction is expensive, as it’s considered a donation. If I’m serious about using a slave auction, I’d have to go all the way to Crossing, but I’m not sure if I have the time for that.”
“Hmm….”
At that moment, I suddenly remembered the two letters I received from my master.
One was from Juras, saying he would arrange an audience with the king and asking me to visit the capital soon. The other mentioned that someone was insisting on meeting Wade.
That someone would undoubtedly be Rutger Rosenberg.
I decided to stop by Rainpol where the academy is located and instructed Rutger to wait for me there.
‘It might be good to visit the slave auction while I’m at it.’
As I had some free time, I decided to head to Crossing, taking Yumir and Eonia with me.
Footnotes:
1] Hegemony here means a battle for the dominance of the continent.
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