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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 47

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 47

Upon returning to Rainpol, I had to deal with the overwhelming work of the refugee problem.

As Calliper was busy with the treaty issues and couldn’t provide proper care, I had to stand on Crossing’s side and directly help the refugees settle.

Around that time, news of the ceasefire agreement between Alvard and Calliper came.

In this agreement, Alvard and Madon sides coughed up a total of 2 billion sillan in reparations, making Calliper smile.

It was effective that Calliper captured about 10,000 more prisoners. Since they were all regular soldiers, not conscripts, their value as prisoners was quite high.

In addition, as Alvard demanded an additional year-long ceasefire period, the scale of reparations grew larger.

‘They must have been afraid of Crossing.’

If Crossing and Calliper were to push in together at this point, Alvard would be in a life-or-death crisis.

To prevent this in advance, they signed a one-year ceasefire agreement with Calliper. If they do that, at least they won’t have to deal with Calliper.

And a few days after this agreement was concluded, news came that a party hosted by the royal family would be held to reward merits from this war.

“Lord Ars, this has arrived for you.”

A letter that came via Anton. It was a party invitation from Duke Hellian.

“Are you thinking of attending?”

“No, I’d be crazy to go to this.”

I’d just be a spectacle if I went. Even if I could eat food, I can’t do that because of the helmet.

I sent a message to Duke Hellian saying he could take all the credit for the war if he would hurry up with the administrative work for Rainpol.

After ignoring the royal family’s party for a few days like that, I heard shocking rumors.

– Wade appeared at the victory party!

– Wade appeared together with Gilbert Saleon!

That was the rumor.

‘Oh?’

This was all the reaction I could show.

Could it be that they impersonated again?’

Is it that they have nothing to lose since they’ve already done it once?

Whatever it was, this was a big incident. The party venue was buzzing with this shocking event.

It looked as if it was the Saleon ducal family that had recruited Wade and led the war to victory.

‘The situation is turning strangely.’

A few days later, Duke Hellian himself came to see me, as I wanted to know the details of that party. He came with the appointment letter for the lord of Rainpol.

The face of Duke Hellian, whom I met after a long time, was steeped in fatigue.

“You seem to be having a hard time with post-war processing.”

“It’s not the post-war processing, but because of those idiots from Saleon…”

“It seems things are turning out quite interestingly. How is it progressing?”

“Before we talk about that… First, take this.”

It was the appointment letter for the lord of Rainpol. Brother Max, who was with me, froze like a robot when he saw the appointment letter with the royal family’s seal.

Then, with creaky, stiff movements, he knelt on one knee.

With this, our family officially enters the ranks of middle-class nobility. Currently, the population of Rainpol, including refugees, is 220,000.

Of this, Calliper’s population excluding Crossing was 80,000, which wasn’t exceptionally large, but due to its characteristics as an intermediary between Crossing and Calliper, the profit from trade was quite high.

If we pay taxes from that income to the state for many years, a rise in rank wasn’t just a dream.

“It’s an honor! I will dedicate myself to contributing to the development of Calliper!” Brother Max shouted loudly enough to shake the room while receiving the appointment letter. Duke Hellian blinked, probably because his ears were ringing.

“Originally, it would have been right to have a formal appointment ceremony in Alpensard, but even the royal palace is busy. Please understand this point.”

“Not at all! I don’t know how to express my gratitude just for the fact that you came in person, Duke.”

“There’s no need to unnecessarily take a lowly stance. You are the brother of Wade, after all.”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

The only family members who knew I was Wade were my father, brother Ferge, and brother Max. I decided not to tell anyone else yet to avoid causing unnecessary worry.

Brother Max, who had received his appointment letter, gave me a look that said ‘What do we do now?’.

“Shouldn’t we discuss future plans with Father?”

“Yes, we should. I’ll excuse myself first then. Your Grace, please make yourself comfortable.”

Max left the room with excited steps.

Duke Hellian says that now we’re getting to the main point.

“Let’s get back to our conversation. You’ve heard about the victory party, haven’t you?”

“I’ve heard the general outline. I haven’t heard the specifics. What exactly happened?”

“Those bastards made a desperate attempt. And it strangely worked out well.”

Due to this war, the Saleon faction was on the verge of collapse. There were even opinions within the faction about forming a new independent faction.

“Feeling the crisis, that Gilbert fellow made up his mind. He brought a fake Wade and announced that it was his achievement that Wade came to the battlefield.”

“With what confidence?”

“He deliberately brought a fake. If the real one was at the party, it would naturally cause a dispute.”

“…No way.”

“Yes, if a dispute broke out, he was planning to use that opportunity to instigate the king. To suggest that they both remove their helmets. He intended to confirm Wade’s identity with that.”

It was a clever move. At a party hosted by the royal family, one couldn’t refuse a royal order.

“What merit is there for them? It would also be revealed that they brought a fake.”

“It seems he guessed that Wade was from Crossing. If the identity of Wade who showed his face turned out to be someone from Crossing, they planned to create a fuss by raising conspiracy theories about our Hellian faction colluding with Crossing, trying to distract from the main issue.”

“They used their heads quite well.”

“That bastard was born with such cunning.”

However, Gilbert Saleon’s scheme was meaningless. Because I didn’t go to the party.

“So that’s why this commotion happened.”

“That must have been a miscalculation for Gilbert too. So he had no choice but to make the fake he brought pretend to be the real one. On our side, we could only raise questions. Because you weren’t there. That’s how the fake brought by the Saleon ducal family was treated as real, and stole the credit for this war.”

“Ha! So that’s what you meant by, strangely working out well.”

“I never dreamed things would unfold like this either.”

“But isn’t it still dangerous if it’s revealed to be fake later?”

“At that time, they probably plan to cut ties by branding that fake as a con artist and claiming they were victims too.”

“Hmm, the situation has become ambiguous.”

“Yes, to decisively corner them, Ars Elaine, you need to reveal your identity and appear. But that’s…”

“Yes, there’s no way I would do such a thing.”

I was relieved anew that I didn’t go to the party. If I had gone to that party, I would have been inevitably caught by the royal order and had to reveal my identity.

“Tsk! We’ve cut off our nose to spite our face.”[1]

“Did you come all the way here today to ask me to reveal my identity?”

“Is it possible?”

“No.”

Duke HelLian heaves a deep sigh.

“I knew you’d say that. The reason I came here is for something else. It’s because of the gold mine in Rainpol.”

“Gold mine… You mean the one on the outskirts of Rainpol?”

“Yes, it’s also the cause of the border dispute with Crossing.”

That gold mine couldn’t be developed due to the border dispute.

“Now that you’ve gained all rights to Rainpol, I thought we might be able to push forward with the development.”

“…Alright. Let’s do this then. We’ll have Crossing take the lead in developing that gold mine entirely.”

“You want us to accept that quietly?”

“Listen till the end. We’ll distribute 40% of the profits from the gold mine developed by Crossing to the Calliper side. If you consider that about 15% of the profit goes to development costs and labor costs for mining, it’s almost a 50-50 condition.”

“That’s… unexpected. I was sure you’d say your family would develop it directly.”

“It’s too overwhelming for that. Brother Max isn’t experienced enough to manage that gold mine wisely. Probably… He’d be swayed by many people and succumb to power and greed. I don’t want to see my family change like that. You should understand what I’m talking about, Your Grace.”

“I know it painfully well. I see. If that’s the case, I can understand. Alright. I’ll talk to Prime Minister Pamilion about that part. Please discuss it on your end as well.”

“I will.”

“That’s all I came for. I’ll be going now. It seems I’ll be busy because of those Saleon faction bastards.”

Duke Hellian leaves with a tired expression.

‘The gold mine, huh…’

Even though development became easier because I held the initiative in Rainpol, they moved faster than I expected.

‘Are they trying to gather as much war funds as possible?’

I had such a premonition.

A sharp feeling that they were preparing for a war to come.

* * *

From the moment I received the lordship of Rainpol from Duke Hellian, the settlement of refugees gained momentum.

Brother Max and Brother Miller, along with Father, joined forces to dive into the settlement work of the territory’s people, and the refugees from Rosbel who came together also lent their strength.

The Milstein baronial family and Viscount Serpia family, who ruled Rosbel, also settled in the plains located below the city after being granted land.

Just as the refugees’ settlement was completed, the people I had requested from King Parain arrived in Rainpol.

They were 100,000 slaves from the Holy Kingdom of Kuravel.

Bisketa Cren, who stood at the forefront, smiled and said, “It’s been a while, Wade. I heard the news of your victory. Our returning officers all say the same thing. That an unparalleled strategist has appeared.”

“It’s all thanks to Eo’s help.”

“Heh, you should be careful even with empty words. Eo is the type to become more and more arrogant the more you praise her.”

“Haha…. First of all, welcome. As I mentioned earlier, I plan to continue accepting people from the Holy Kingdom of Kuravel into Rainpol. Have them live here until they can return to their homeland after escaping their slave status. I’ll provide as much convenience as possible.”

“We express our gratitude for your kindness. Especially regarding the gold mine excavation, it’s difficult to express our thanks in words.”

The gold mine excavation work is all entrusted to the slaves from Kuravel.

That was what I had asked of King Parain. Given that the mining wages were quite high, it would be a great help to them.

I thought it was quite a difficult request, but King Parain went even further and suggested this to me.

─Then how about relocating all the citizens of Kuravel origin to Rainpol? They will become your strength in the future.

I decided to initially accept 100,000 and then additional ones as space becomes available, to relocate all of them to Rainpol.

If we combine all the people of Kuravel origin, it’s about 700,000. If they all join Rainpol, it will become a huge region with a local population of 900,000, comparable to any decent capital.

At this rate, the city’s population will soon approach 220,000.

King Parain showed no wariness at all about me ruling such a large city. Rather, he seemed to really want me to do just that.

‘King Parain is sincerely supporting me.’

I know the underlying reason lies in my hidden bloodline, but even King Parain wouldn’t tell me why he’s so fixated on that bloodline.

‘Anton said the reason he swore allegiance to me also lies in that bloodline.’

There were clearly more hidden stories. Until I knew them, it was difficult to fully trust Crossing as well.

With even the people of the Holy Kingdom of Kuravel settling in Rainpol, my workload was exploding. Overwhelmed, I just wanted to quit everything.

‘I should start recruiting civil officials soon.’

All the vassals I’ve gained so far were military officials.

Although Rutger has administrative abilities, it’s difficult to entrust him with such administrative work because his status makes it hard for him to take the forefront.

Anton has basic administrative processing skills, but he makes many mistakes in detailed aspects.

Eonia is out of the question.

‘Among the seven vassals, those who could handle internal affairs are….’

The Saint, Wyvern, Rescue Squad, Master Artisan. These four were unparalleled talents for internal affairs.

‘Geez. I’ve gathered everyone except those capable of internal affairs.’

And among those seven vassals, the one who seemed to have no knowledge of internal affairs came to see me.

Gaspar, Rabid. He visited Rainpol as I requested.

As it was just around sunset, I decided to gather all my companions to greet him.

When Gaspar faced our group, he smiled, lifting both corners of his mouth.

“Kuhahah!”

…….

A murderous atmosphere quickly filled the surrounding area.

“Ooh.”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. It was like a scene from a movie.

Master Ilya standing with arms folded and Anton in full armor. Even Rutger, who was looking at Gaspar as if appraising him. These three were exuding an aura like the three great generals of a kingdom.

Even Eo, who usually only shows a dazed appearance, was glaring at Gaspar with gravity, creating an impressive pressure.

“This is amazing. I can tell at a glance. This feeling of hair standing on end. You’re all nothing but monsters, aren’t you?” After saying that, he suddenly burst into laughter. “Kuhahahaha! This is interesting! I can understand why you, Wade, dared to try and tame me. With such beings under your command, you must have thought someone like me would be easy, right?”

“I didn’t really think that way, though?”

“Well, fine! Either way, it’s good! There’s nothing better than being able to enjoy it. But you’d better be prepared. You never know when I might bite off your necks. Let’s both hope it doesn’t come to that.”

An attitude far from loyalty. He was openly premising betrayal from the start.

Eo explicitly expressed her disapproval.  “Lord Wade. Are you really going to have someone like him under your command? I object.”

“Huh? Oh ho. Are you that last Valkyrie of Kuravel or whatever? Hah, I thought you might be something since they said you were the captain of the royal guard of that strange kingdom, but you’re just a fine girl. How about it, I could make a woman out of you. If you’re interested, come to my bed.”

“Nonsense! My body and heart belong to my lord for all eternity!”

“Kuhahahah! That’s exactly the kind of attitude that makes me call you a fine girl.”

“You bastard!” Eo looked ready to draw her spear at any moment. I was getting a headache.

‘He doesn’t seem like he’ll get along with the others at all. Maybe recruiting Gaspar wasn’t a good choice after all.’

How on earth did the Ars in the game get this guy to follow him?

‘Or maybe he didn’t get him to follow at all. It would make sense if Gaspar was a traitor who infiltrated with a different purpose.’

A traitor among the seven vassals. If Gaspar was that traitor, it would actually be clearer.

“Sniff, sniff! Is this the smell of those Alvard gentlemen? Those guys are so narrow-minded, it’s annoying. Let’s hope we don’t have to work together.”

“I’m Rutger Rosenberg. I don’t want to work with you either.”

“Jade Rosenberg! So you were under Wade! Are you also a guest?”

“No, I’ve pledged my loyalty to him.”

“A chick of Kaien pledging loyalty to someone else? That’s interesting!”

Gaspar was picking fights one by one. He soon turned his gaze to Yumir.

“Oh, there’s even a beastkin? Oh, she’s a good woman. How about you…”

As Gaspar approached Yumir, my patience was about to snap, and I was about to stop him when suddenly.

Sniff. Sniff sniff! Sniff sniff sniff sniff!

Gaspar stopped abruptly and started sniffing frantically.

His expression gradually turned to shock. His fur became damp as he started sweating profusely.

“Uh, ah…?”

He was making a surprised face at Yumir that you’d only see in cartoons.

Then he quickly turned his body awkwardly and looked at me.

“W-Wade. Let’s talk alone for a moment.”

When Eo warned that the two of us alone wasn’t allowed, he pointed to Master Ilya.

In that setting with master, Gaspar spoke with a face like a dejected frog. “Hey, what’s the name of that female beastkin?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

Could it be that he fell in love at first sight and wants to ask for Yumir?

‘If that’s the case, I’ll bury this guy in the mountains right now.’

But that wasn’t it.

“That’s probably… No, definitely…”

Gaspar stammered, as if he couldn’t believe it himself. He painfully opened his mouth. “She’s my daughter.”

 

Footnotes:

1] Cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive overreaction to a problem.


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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

Score 9.2
Status: Completed Type: Author: Released: 2022 Native Language: Korean
I ended up possessing Ars Elaine, a supporting character in the game. Struggling to prevent my death, I pave my way.

Comment

  1. Jay Crowler says:

    Well that explains why Gaspar was loyal to Ars in the game. His options were either be loyal or get beat up by his daughter.

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