The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 36 – Part 2.
Holding the spear with my right hand, I tried to endure as much as possible, but the opponent’s strength exceeded my expectations.
“Tch!”
I quickly let go of the spear and ducked my head to avoid the spear the opponent swung, then aimed for the groin with my elbow. Since I had given up the spear, I had to aim for a vital point more critical than the solar plexus.
The opponent lightly sneered and swiftly stepped back, avoiding it without difficulty.
“Heh.”
“Haa! Haa!”
As the distance widened, the situation became clear.
It’s over once you’ve lost your weapon.
The moderator seemed to think so too and was about to make a judgment, but the opponent returned the spear he had just taken from me.
‘There’s a difference in skill…! And that laugh just now. Could it be…!’
As I gripped the spear, the guy revealed his true colors.
A rising black aura. Like a demon revealing its aura. That aura enveloped the opponent’s entire body and surged.
The audience stirred at this sight.
Soon, the guy leaned forward.
‘Here he comes!’
Clang!! I had to block the guy’s sword, which came rushing at an incredible speed, with the shaft of my spear.
‘Impossibly fast!’
It was a speed where I couldn’t even tell when he had approached.
A blue aura was already surging on my spear, sensing the instinctive danger, but it was devoured by the opponent’s black aura and couldn’t shine.
Because of this, no one even noticed that I had used an aura.
“Wh-what is that aura!”
“To use an aura of that level!?”
Everyone versed in martial arts was staring wide-eyed in shock. Even Hubert’s brother had a dumbfounded expression.
However, I didn’t have time to confirm such things one by one.
‘This guy too!’
Clang! After deflecting the guy’s sword, I thrust three consecutive strikes at his vital points to drive him away, but he avoided them all with feather-like movements while simultaneously closing the distance.
‘I’ve been…!’
Thud! A straight punch to my stomach.
“Kuhek!?”
Whether it was a punch imbued with aura or not, I momentarily lost my breath and had to roll on the ground.
“Lord Ars──!!”
Estelle screams.
I quickly got up to prepare for additional attacks, but it was too late.
A pitch-black aura longsword falling over my head. The level of that aura was beyond my understanding.
‘I’m going to die!’
It was already beyond the question of whether I could dodge it or not. Even if I avoided this, it would be meaningless. I’d die from the next attack. The difference in our abilities was that clear.
But then.
“…!”
Ting! Ting! Ting!
He had to abandon his attack on me to deflect the daggers flying from near the audience seats.
In the audience, Yumir was glaring at him with a fierce expression, having thrown the daggers.
Because of this, he hesitated.
“Heeyah!”
Clang!! A strike of crimson aura that had suddenly intervened pushed the guy far away.
“Anton…!”
Anton, who had rushed in to protect me, sternly declared.
“Enough! The match is decided! The duel ends here!”
At this, the officer in charge of proceedings frowned.
“Who are you? Suddenly intervening and stopping the duel…”
“Are you saying you can’t hear a superior’s order?”
As Anton took off the helmet covering his face, the officer who had reprimanded him stood at attention.
“Ah, Lord Anton!? The duel is over! It’s over!”
However, the opponent spoke.
“What’s this? The real superior hasn’t said anything, yet you’re saying it’s over?”
Anton sighed deeply, as if he had expected this.
“Lord Juras. Please stop the joke here.”
“Heh.”
Click! The opponent removed his helmet. As expected, it was Juras.
He looked down at me and smiled maliciously.
“Not bad, Ars. Your spear tip was quite fierce. If possible, I wanted to see the Chester-style you’re about to use. Well, shall we leave it at this for today?”
“Ha!”
I sighed deeply in my heart.
‘This madman!’
It was clear that he was an unpredictable guy, as always.
***
The circumstances of Juras’ intrusion into the officer training were simple.
“I apologise, Lord Ars. It seems my measures have also reached Lord Juras’ ears.”
The measures Anton took were simple. To change my opponent, and have that opponent use a weapon without a sharp edge.
To ensure there would be no injuries even in the worst case scenario.
Juras, having learned of this in advance, inserted himself instead.
“It’s not your fault, so it’s fine. The crazy one is someone else.”
That crazy one had been laughing since earlier, finding something so amusing.
“I was trying to teach you a lesson, you know?”
“What great lesson were you trying to teach by barging into children’s play?”
“To be wary of arrogance. Ars, you agreed to that match without any tension or caution. Thinking your opponent would clearly be weaker than you.”
“That’s…”
“If you were a master worthy of harbouring that level of arrogance, I’d let it slide, but look. You couldn’t even properly receive my first strike, could you?”
“Well, who would have known someone as strong as you would be in such a child’s play?”
“From my perspective, your martial arts level is the same as child’s play, though?”
“Tch.”
Master Ilya, who had been silently listening to this, shakes her head and speaks to me.
“He’s not wrong, Ars. I’ve told you many times. You should be cautious in any confrontation, thinking your life is at stake. Even if the outcome of today’s match was unavoidable, if there was arrogance in your heart, that must be corrected.”
“Haah…. Yes, I admit it. I wasn’t careful enough.”
In truth, I could have just not agreed to such a childish match and had Anton dismiss the match beforehand, or even cancel the training itself.
If not doing so and rashly agreeing to the match is called arrogance, then maybe that’s the case. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean Juras isn’t a madman.
“So? Do you have some business here? You didn’t come all this way just to humiliate me, did you?”
“What if I did?”
“Get out right now.”
“Hahaha! No, I do have business. If not for that, I wouldn’t have come here personally.”
With that, Juras handed over an appointment letter he had been carrying to Anton.
“Lord Juras. This is…?”
“Anton, I hereby appoint you as the highest administrator of Rainpol, effective immediately.”
“…!”
“You know well what the position of highest administrator means, right?”
“Delegating full authority over the city…”
“Exactly right.”
He continued speaking while looking at me.
“This is all Godfather’s arrangement. He’s taken measures to make it easier for you to operate in Rainpol.”
“King Parain…”
Since Anton was following my orders, it effectively meant that I would be ruling Rainpol.
Of course, since there’s a separate territory for the Calliper Kingdom, I wouldn’t be ruling everything.
“You must have thoughts on that part too, right? You wouldn’t have chosen Rainpol as your base for no reason.”
“No comment. Is that all your business?”
“There’s one more thing. This is actually the main point.”
What Juras handed me was a war situation report on the war between the Calliper and Alvard kingdoms.
As the supreme commander of Crossing, Juras was receiving those reports quickly.
“Look carefully at the last part. This happened just this morning.”
It was written like this,
— The southern Calliper army has defeated the Alvard army. They are pursuing, riding the momentum.
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
“This is…!”
“As expected, you realize. That’s right.”
Juras smiled coldly. As if he genuinely found this situation amusing.
“At this rate, Caliper might be destroyed.”
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