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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 8

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 8

Behind the territory of Grancel, the territory of duke Saleon, there is a mountainous area where many bears lived. It was said that if they didn’t hunt them about once every three months, the bears would come down to the territory and ruin the fields.

As it happened, thanks to master’s efforts, the troublemakers who had committed arson at the salon had been eliminated, so they seemed to be planning to hold a small festival with the bear meat obtained from the hunt.

Duke Saleon decided to have the men receiving butler training carry out this bear hunt. 

Those becoming butlers must be prepared to protect their masters if necessary. Their personal martial prowess was also required, so this bear hunt would serve as a test.

Twelve young men who had distinguished themselves in the butler training were to accompany this bear hunt. They were all men over twenty years old, equipped with sturdy hunting gear and traps, waiting in full readiness.

I was standing among them with a dull expression. 

‘I got roped into this by mistake.’

Being dragged into something I didn’t need to do was so annoying.

The other men must have felt the same way, as a man named Makias spoke to me, “Hey kid, did you come to the wrong place? I heard this is only for adults. Did you insist on coming because you want to become a butler?”

“No way, there were just some circumstances.”

“Hmm, your parents must have forced you to come.” He shrugged and whispered softly, “It’s best if you stay back during the hunt. Everyone is deadly serious today.”

“Deadly serious?”

“It seems this bear hunt will decide who officially becomes a butler-in-training. Some might try to accidentally take others out of the running. Well, everyone will do anything to score points. So you should stay out of it.”

While one might wonder why they’re so bloodthirsty just to become butlers, the Saleon family is one of the top noble families in the Calliper Kingdom.

At least for the noble sons aiming to become butlers, it was a position they couldn’t afford to miss.

“Thanks for the advice.”

“Sure. Say, could you help me out a bit? If I give the signal, throw the trap at the bear. If things go well, I’ll give you some pocket money.”

“I suppose I could do that?”

However, my role had already been decided it seems.

“Ars Elaine. You come over here.”

Just before departing, Erina summoned me to serve as an attendant.

A young boy like me would have trouble participating in the bear hunt, so she seemed to want me to avoid getting unnecessarily involved. But on the other hand, it was like she was getting revenge on me for yesterday.

“Now, read this. What does it say?”

“It says Erina Saleon.”

“Right. Read it out loud three more times.”

She was exacting her cute revenge on me for forgetting her name, which had apparently shocked her quite a bit.

***

Erina skillfully commanded the bear hunt, as if it wasn’t her first time.

After luring the bear cub with sweet bait, the mother bear chased after it with her eyes rolled back and got caught in the trap to be hunted.

Even the clever bears couldn’t notice the trap and rushed in with their paws when their cubs were in danger.

After getting trapped and unable to move, they were caught with nooses and all stabbed to death with spears at once. 

The bear cub cried sadly as its mother took her last breath, but it was soon skinned and slaughtered as well.

The mother bear’s meat was tough and difficult to cook, but the cub’s was not.

The mother bear’s body was given whole to the territory’s people to handle themselves, while the cub was immediately meant for meat consumption at the manor.

“Truly a ruthless method without a drop of blood or tears.”  

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

After hunting six bears this way, they were able to enter the heart of the mountain in the afternoon.

As the sun gradually set, I felt an immense sense of danger.

“Excuse me? I have something to ask.”

“I don’t know who you’re referring to by excuse me.”

“Stop that already, Miss Erina.”

“Heheh, yes, what is it?”

“Isn’t this the final destination? The sun is setting soon.”

“Yes, we’ll wrap things up here and head down the mountain.”

“But why are there traps set up in a place like this?”

“Traps?”

I carefully brushed aside the bushes and dirt to reveal the trap.

It was a vicious trap that would severely injure the ankle and immobilize anyone who stepped on it.

I gently pushed down the center of the trap with a thick branch, and snap! The trap sprung and flung the branch away.

“A trap this size is meant for boars or deer. Looks like it was set up a few hours ago. Seems there are hunters in this territory?”

“There may be, but…”

Erina trailed off, not making sense.

That’s when I finally sensed the crisis behind my vague sense of danger.

And almost simultaneously –

Ping! An arrow flew and pierced the arm of a man guarding the flank of our group. 

“Gah! What is this!”

“An ambush!? Stay alert!”

Rustle rustle! As if waiting for this moment, movements emerged from the bushes.

“Tch!”

I unconsciously clicked my tongue. The fact that I hadn’t noticed them until now meant they were quite skilled.

‘Could they be the ones my master was chasing? Then the arson at that salon was a trap!’

The malcontents my master claimed to have eliminated were merely bait.

Their true goal was here all along, to kidnap the feudal duke’s daughter who had casually gone on a bear hunt.

‘Dangerous. They revealed themselves because they were confident they could capture us. We have no chance here.’

My head began rapidly calculating possibilities. 

The only talent I, the so-called fake genius, possessed was an exceptionally fast calculation speed.

While I couldn’t fully utilize it in Go due to lack of diligent study, this talent shone in the simpler game of chess – to the point of reaching the world’s top level in speed chess.

‘The escape route is…’

Considering their objective, the direction of the arrow, the rustling sounds, the terrain, obstacles, and trap locations…

After finishing my calculations, I swiftly scooped up Erina.

“Kyaa!?”

“Hold on tight!”

Dash! I bolted towards a specific point.

It was a weakness that arose when the enemy tried to completely surround us.

A perfect encirclement requires vastly outnumbering the opponent – if they had prepared that many people, I would have noticed beforehand, so that wasn’t likely.

‘Their plan is to take advantage of our confusion.’

So if I swiftly escape without getting flustered, I can easily foil it.

“What…! They’re getting away!”  

“Who is that guy!? Catch him! Don’t let the woman escape!”

The enemies gave chase in a panic.

As expected, their target was Erina.

As I carried Erina and burst through the gap, their encirclement easily crumbled.

In that disorganized state, if they stubbornly chase me, their paths will intersect with other escorts and they’ll get tangled up.

Soon the sounds of clanging weapons erupted behind me as clashes broke out.

“No…! Those people…!”

Erina was at a loss, but there was nothing to be done.

To be honest, the option of joining forces and breaking through by force existed, but I didn’t want to take that level of risk.

As someone who had never killed before, I couldn’t predict what kind of turmoil I might fall into.

Dash! Dash! I swiftly retraced our path down the mountain. 

The terrain was fresh in my mind from the ascent.

The mountain survival tips I learned from Master Ilya were proving useful.

However, the enemy’s skills weren’t to be trifled with either.

“Found them! Over here!”

“Kill the man! Just capture the woman!”

Two men lying in ambush charged out with swords drawn.

I tossed Erina into the bushes behind me, then drew the short spear I had strapped to my back just in case.

“Damn brat!”

“Don’t be reckless and just…gurk!?”

Thwack thwack! The moment they entered my range, I pierced through their necks and heads, killing them instantly.

Despite being my first kill, I felt utterly no emotion.

“Surprisingly, not a shred of feeling…”

Was it because Master had me practice killing captured animals to prepare for this? Or was it because they were evil men?

Whoosh! I brushed off the blood clinging to the spear frame and then scooped up Erina again.

“You, you… How could you…”

“These days, butlers are capable of at least this much.” 

In the subculture I was exposed to, it was common for butlers to be among the strongest in their world’s setting.

I threw out that light joke to ease the tension so she wouldn’t be afraid, but I soon reached my limit.

“…!”

A murderous aura that sent chills down my spine.

I hastily threw Erina aside and turned the spear horizontally.

Bam! A heavy blow that felt like it was bearing down on my body.  

“Oho. So you managed to block this one strike of mine? Not bad.”

It was a man wearing a mask.

“Haaah!”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh! I thrust with blinding four consecutive strikes aimed at his vitals, trying to push him back, but clang! He blocked with force, maintaining the distance.

‘Tch! If it was my master, she could have landed a stylish thirteen strikes at least.’

I haven’t reached that level yet.  

And that meant there was a difference in skill between me and this guy who blocked my earnest four strikes.

‘Clearly weaker than my master. But compared to my current self…’

It seemed I could run away if I was alone, but I couldn’t with my baggage.

Aware of this, he says, “If you ditch her now, I’ll let you go. My target is just that young lady of yours. Don’t worry, I have no intention of taking that lady’s life… For now.”

“Instead of pointless thinking, how about you just come at me?”

“Heh.”

I had no choice. If I abandoned Erina and fled, the duke Saleon would eventually come after me.

“Don’t regret this, brat!”  

“You’re the one who will.”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Three strikes aiming for the neck, heart and abdomen.

He approached while deflecting the attacks with the small shield on his left hand, then swung his sword imbued with force.

A red aura was swirling around that sword, causing Erina to let out a cry of dismay.

“An aura…!”

That ominous, bright red aura.

“I’ll split you in two, weapon and all!”

But then, a blue aura began swirling around my spear too.

“Haah!”

“Uoh…?”

Clang clang clang! The blue aura pushed back his sword.

The man’s expression instantly changed when he saw this.

“You brat, you can use aura…! Dammit, did the Saleons already assign you a guard? I thought I had them fooled…!”

“Haah! Haah!” 

The aura realm, said to be attainable only through an innate martial talent.

Or so it’s said, but in games anyone could use it.

In games, any armed fighter above power level 70 could use aura by default. Ars’s personal combat power in the game was around 87. It could even increase to 91 after completing certain hidden quests.

Putting aside the actual performance, I certainly had the martial talent required.

“Want to keep going? Next time, it might be your neck getting pierced.”

“Don’t get cocky, brat. If you think I’m afraid to fight an aura user, you’re mistaken.”

“Then come at me already.”

“Why bother? Time isn’t on your side, is it?”

“…”

So it comes to this after all.

He was using the fact that he had reinforcements that could rush here to his advantage. Time was on his side.

I could indeed sense the signs of people approaching this place.

‘Tch, I need to force a quick resolution!’

Having finished my calculations, I gripped my spear tightly and charged at him.

“Haaah!”

“You fool, inviting death!”

Clang! A shower of sparks.

Stab stab stab! I launched a flurry of thrusting strikes from mid-range, trying to create an opening.

Each thrust targeted a vital area. Landing just one could be fatal.

Because of this, he couldn’t easily close the distance and focused only on deflecting.

Finally, clang! Seemingly unable to keep deflecting, he forcefully batted my spear aside to create some space.

Our fierce bout of forty-some exchanges ended in a stalemate.

“Hahaha! I don’t know who taught you, but it doesn’t seem to be some amateur. What was the name of the master who trained you?”

“How about you tell me your name first?”

“Heh, once I’ve half-killed you, you’ll answer even if you don’t want to. So? No intention of charging again? Time is against you, you know.”

He speaks leisurely.

If his reinforcements arrive, I’ll be overwhelmed.

Right now it’s one-on-one, allowing me to fight without worrying about Erina. But if another shows up, that becomes impossible.

‘This unexpected situation is tripping me up.’

I had thought the undesirables were wiped out cleanly thanks to my master’s efforts, but that assumption was wrong.

If not for that, I would have been properly prepared.

I did have some insurance prepared for such a scenario, but I never expected an incident this big, so I doubted it would be effective in time.

‘As risky as it is, I have no choice but to go to Plan B.’

Ting! I kicked one of the swords lying at my feet, launching it into the air.

It was a sword I had taken from the men I killed earlier.

Swish swish swish! The sword spun viciously in the air.

Tang! I batted it with my spear shaft, shooting it at him while charging again.

“Using such a dirty trick, you cheeky brat!”

He backstep-dodged it nimbly and prepared to meet my attack.

Thunk! The sword embedded itself in front of him.

“Haaaah!”

I gripped my right-hand spear tightly and thrust with heavy force – an attack he couldn’t simply bat away.

But my motion was too big. The man sneered at me.

“You idiot! Die!”

Closing the gap to avoid my spear, he swung his sword aiming to cleave from my collarbone down to my right hip.

“No–!!”

Erina’s scream rang out.

To my eyes, it was an unavoidable lethal strike.

And it was then that I played my trump card.

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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. arthur says:

    she’s the duke’s daughter, she’s not mentioned as a genius, so where are the duke’s family guards? what idiot would let his daughter hunt when he knows someone is targeting his family.

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