The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 53
Erina’s carriage was easily twice the size of the one I had ridden in.
Fortunately, this allowed space for me to lay out the flower bouquets, but Erina began to probe about them.
“What lovely flowers. I wonder who gave you so many?”
“I received them from acquaintances,” I replied briefly while reading a book.
“When you say acquaintances…?”
“There are several. There’s the little kid next door I usually chat with. The young lady at the bookstore I frequently visit. And there’s also a child who occasionally sends me letters.”
“Letters? That’s quite devoted. What does this person do?”
“It’s just a little kid, only 7 years old. Speaking of letters… Do you not read letters carefully?”
Pointing out her disregard for my request not to act familiar in front of others, Erina pouted.
“I do read them carefully, but I tend not to dwell on unreasonable things.”
“Unreasonable things?”
“Well, you can’t pretend not to know someone you clearly know, right?”
“Sigh…”
If that’s how it is, I decided to draw a clear line publicly.
“I don’t want to be close with people from the Saleon faction. Please don’t speak to me casually from now on.”
“Ah…!”
Misunderstanding that I was angry because the Saleon faction had impersonated Wade and stolen credit, she looked upset and couldn’t say anything.
Bannings, who was beside her, was flustered by this attitude, but I knew it would only get noisier if I went along with the conversation.
As the atmosphere grew heavy, Dorofei tried to lighten the mood with a forced smile.
“Come now. There’s no need for us to frown over adult matters.”
Dorofei took the lead in steering the conversation.
I tried to ignore it and spend time reading my book, but an unexpected topic bloomed.
Dorofei, noticing the cover of my book, couldn’t hide his interest and chimed in.
“Ars, didn’t you say you were a cadet? Why are you reading an agriculture textbook?”
“I’ve recently become interested in it.”
I have been contemplating my future direction after experiencing various events recently.
The reasons for the fall of the Fensillon Empire, the secrets of my birth, the stories of Gaspar and Baeolaf, and so on. I learned a lot, but there’s still much I don’t know.
One thing is certain though, I’ll be involved in governing the kingdom in the future. Even if not, I’m already indirectly managing a territory.
As such, I needed to acquire knowledge about food production. Especially considering that the Fensillion Empire fell due to population increase.
To keep up with that population growth, the primary industry needs to be robust above all else.
So, in the past year, I’ve been studying a lot about agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and other food-related subjects.
“You’re interested in agriculture? Wow. I’m glad.”
“Glad?”
“Yes, it’s like I’ve found a comrade. I’m also studying agriculture.”
Dorofei says he was originally interested in horticulture and agriculture.
However, his family is such a traditional military family that he was forced to attend military academy.
“Father said that if I insisted, I should think of ways to apply agriculture to warfare. So I agreed.”
“Agriculture in warfare… You mean military farm settlements? Do you think that’s possible?”
“Well, I’m still a novice. But I have some ideas about increasing agricultural efficiency.”
“Efficiency, you say? I’m curious. Can you tell me?”
Dorofei wasn’t just casually interested in agriculture. He had broader and deeper knowledge than me, who had only been studying for a year.
I listened intently to his words, as if being drawn in.
Erina, who had become a bystander, was just tormenting her innocent fan with sharp snaps.
“So you’re talking about increasing yield by adjusting crop rotation.”
“That’s right. It’s very basic. The farming directed by nobles is too rigid and inefficient, you could say. They insist on growing a single crop regardless of weather or region, or force the cultivation of crops they personally like. If we reduce such inefficiencies, we can increase yields. Soil management would become easier too.”
“Well, changing crops according to season and region is common sense. The problem is that many nobles lack this common sense.”
“Right? Ars, you get it. Oh, I wish my fiancée was as understanding as you. She doesn’t listen to me at all and only talks about parties or how she bullied others. It’s such a headache.”
“You have a fiancée?”
“Yes, she’s two years older than me and is the second daughter of Viscount Linhart. But we don’t get along. What about you? Looking at you, I’d guess you get a lot of marriage proposals.”
“What do you mean by looking at me?”
“Just what I said. Those flower bouquets there, for instance.”
“Hmm… There have been marriage talks, actually. Though they were unrealistic.”
“Unrealistic? Ah, I see. Someone past marriageable age proposed, right? That happens sometimes.”
“Well, recently I’ve been exchanging letters with someone. It’s not serious, but the other person turns out to be quite interesting, so I’ve been enjoying our correspondence lately.”
At this, Erina chuckled.
“Oh, Ars. You’re quite the jokester. As far as I know, you don’t have such a person.”
“It’s not a joke, though?”
“…Then you’re saying you really do have someone you’re in marriage talks with?”
“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
Snap, thud! Snap, thud! The fan-waving intensifies.
“Who is it?”
“Don’t you think it’s rude to pry that far?”
“…”
The atmosphere grew heavy again.
Bannings, the fool, was wondering why the mood had soured once more, completely clueless.
* * *
Those of us who entered Alpensard split into two groups at the academy entrance.
General course students learning academics and liberal arts headed straight for the classrooms, while cadets like myself had to go to the drill grounds specially prepared in the center of the academy.
“Place your luggage in front of your feet!”
At the escorting officer’s shout, each person’s servants began moving the luggage. For me, since I only had one bag’s worth of luggage, it didn’t take long, but the bouquet was a problem.
‘I should move it to a vase before it wilts.’
As everyone piled their luggage in front, the training officers appeared.
“Ooh!”
The students exclaimed as they confirmed their identities.
“It’s General Ironheart!”
“A general from the military is here in person…”
Ironheart Ranvers, one of Calliper’s five generals.
He appeared on the drill grounds leading dozens of officers under his command.
Ironheart narrowed his eyes as if estimating the number of students.
“About 300… Much more than I thought.”
After muttering that, he nodded to a close officer beside him to start.
The officer then cleared his throat and roared.
“Everyone in formation! Line up in rows and columns!”
However, it was impossible to line up properly with the luggage piled up. Immediately, a stern reprimand followed.
“Do you think you’re on a picnic! You are now proper military officers! Do you think you can survive in the army with that mindset! And what’s with those mountains of luggage! Do you plan to do this when you go to war too! If you think someone will take care of you, you’re gravely mistaken!”
As soon as those words ended, other officers who were waiting rushed to the students and began inspecting their luggage.
The officers rummaged through the cadets’ belongings, scolding them harshly.
Evening dress suits fit for parties, chess sets brought to pass time, novels, and so on. They pulled these out and threw them away like trash, as if to shame the owners.
“W-wait! This is my…!”
“Wait? You bastard, are you trying to defy your superiors?”
“Ugh…!”
Chaos ensued, especially among the many noble children with strong pride.
‘I knew this would happen. Stupid fools.’
Those who diligently followed the cadet course like me knew how to behave, but those who switched to becoming cadets at the end of middle academy or during high academy were having a hard time.
As the importance of the military grew due to war, many had switched under parental pressure. So they ignorantly packed their luggage like that.
‘Well, if I had brought what Eo packed for me, I would have met the same fate.’
Soon, an officer approached me.
“Name?”
“Ars Elaine. Rank is junior officer.”
“If you’re a junior officer, you must have been in the cadet program since childhood.”
“Yes.”
He frowned as he looked at my luggage.
“What’s this? These flowers.”
“They’re congratulatory gifts from acquaintances.”
“Did you come here to receive an award!”
“I didn’t think it would be a problem. If it is, I’ll correct it.”
“How dare you talk back! This kind of thing…!”
He raised his knee as if to trample the bouquet, but then…
“Dudley──!!”
It was a shout that momentarily silenced the entire drill ground.
“Yes, sir! General!”
The officer who was about to scold me turned pale and ran to General Ironheart, who had called out.
Ironheart brought his face close, almost touching foreheads, and began to berate him in hushed tones.
After a moment, the officer returned to me with a sour expression and said, “I’m sorry. I seem to have misunderstood. If it’s a congratulatory gift from acquaintances, there’s no problem. They were encouraging your entry into the military. Our military is always grateful for such support. However, you can’t keep carrying it around, so I’ll take these flowers.”
“Are you going to throw them away?”
“No, I’ll put them in a vase. You can come check on them later if you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
His attitude changed completely, like flipping a hand.
It was probably because General Ironheart knew my identity… Or maybe Duke Hellian had taken care of it.
***
The official cadet training began.
We were issued two sets of uniforms and had to live with just those. It was quite uncomfortable as we weren’t allowed to take off our uniforms even when sleeping.
I was relatively fine. I had military experience from the modern world, and above all, I could do laundry by myself.
On the other hand, most of the noble kids couldn’t do their own laundry. As Eonia said, some just rinsed their clothes in water, while many didn’t do laundry at all.
Such kids often pawned off their laundry to those from weaker families or commoners.
I was one of those from a weaker family, but seeing that I was close to Dorothy, they refrained from bothering me unnecessarily.
A week passed like that.
By then, the dormitory was filled with a stench due to those who had done their laundry carelessly.
‘I can’t take it anymore!’
I declared my surrender.
It wasn’t because of the smell. It was simply because the food tasted terribly bad.
This training camp had an insane curriculum where all three meals a day for two weeks were replaced with combat rations.
Combat rations, already famous for being unpalatable in modern armies, were even worse in this world.
I had eaten combat rations when I went to the battlefield as Wade, but back then, as a top officer, my meals were somewhat satisfactory.
In contrast, what was being distributed now was rations for common soldiers. And these were the kind given out when supplies were low.
Bread so hard it hurt your teeth and soup that seemed to contain rotten eggs.
It was torture for me, who is used to the delicacies Eo usually prepared.
It seemed others felt the same, as there were secret imports coming in. The officers either didn’t notice or chose to ignore this, not cracking down on it.
‘I acted rashly.’
It was a mistake to leave both Yumir and Eo in Rainpol, thinking nothing would happen.
I tried to ask Beryl, who was commuting from Rainpol, for help, but I was too late as Beryl had already left.
‘No choice. I’ll have to endure for two more days.’
As I was walking through the academy garden with slumped shoulders, a sweet smell of food wafted from somewhere.
‘This is the smell of tea and sweets!’
Drawn by the scent, I headed towards its source where someone was enjoying refreshments.
‘I’ll get a taste by any means necessary.’
As I got closer, I realized the faces were familiar.
The fake Wade Casper, along with Erina and her father Gilbert Saleon, were enjoying teatime.
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