The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 82
The state of affairs on the continent had entered a lull after experiencing the Chimera War.
People were predicting that at least this year, another war wouldn’t break out.
Unless Bülang recklessly charged into Svenner out of anger, there wasn’t really any justification for a war to occur.
Even if a war did break out, they thought it would be a small-scale local conflict at most.
However, something happened that completely overturned those expectations.
The Western tribes began marching towards Beckavia via Svenner and Tunkai.
Their scale was 130,000. On top of this, Tunkai, wanting to get some leftovers, formed a temporary alliance with the West and was attempting to invade Beckavia together with an army of 60,000.
A total force of 190,000. For Beckavia, which was on the path to national ruin, this was a formidable army that would be difficult to withstand.
This topic has also become a hot potato in our academy.
“They say the foreign tribes are trying to invade Beckavia!”
“To think that barbarians would enter the continent…”
While the cadets seemed scared by the major war that broke out just a month after the end of the Chimera War, they soon found amusement in it as it wasn’t their problem.
They jokingly say to Casper, “Beckavia must be trembling. Hey, Casper. Don’t you think you might get a request?”
“Hahaha! That would be really funny. How about it, Casper? Teaching those barbarians a lesson. You never know. If you save Beckavia, they might even give you that genius princess as a concubine.”
At this flattery, for some reason, Casper glanced at me and laughed arrogantly. “Heh, if an offer comes, I might consider it.”
“Ooh! The Beckavian diplomat should hear this!”
“To be honest, I’m disappointed. If the Western barbarians had invaded our Calliper instead of Beckavia, I could have become the army’s commander-in-chief.”
“That’s right! The vacancy left by General Dunan hasn’t been filled yet. It’s only natural that you, who led us to victory in the Chimera War, would become the commander-in-chief!”
What kind of crazy talk are these guys spouting?
‘They wish the West had invaded us?’
Impersonation was one thing, but this was crossing the line.
‘Is this also the influence of factions….’
With everyone in the faction fawning over him, Casper was acting as if he really were Wade.
At this point, I wondered if he had gone into method acting.
‘Or maybe he’s just blurting out whatever he wants, confident that no blame will fall on him.’
From our Calliper’s perspective, this war was merely a spectacle to watch from afar. Since Beckavia was essentially a hostile nation, it wouldn’t matter even if the foreign tribes won and Beckavia was destroyed.
However, diplomacy between nations can change overnight.
Already, a strange current was flowing within Calliper.
The catalyst was Beckavia’s request for support to their ally, Alvard.
Beckavia requested military support, but Alvard expressed reluctance.
This was understandable as Alvard, located in the central region, had too many fronts to deploy troops.
To the east were their historical rival Crossing and Calliper, with whom they had just ended a ceasefire agreement.
To the south was Bülang, which had been frantically increasing its military strength under the pretext of civil war. To the west was Svenner. To the northwest were Tunkai and Europe.
Given the situation where they couldn’t show any weakness, Alvard couldn’t send support.
Greatly disappointed by this, Beckavia criticized Alvard and began seeking new alliances.
It was at this time that Crossing approached them.
Crossing proposed to defeat the West on the condition of receiving 1/3 of Beckavia’s territory.
Although it was an outrageous condition, Beckavia readily agreed. This was because Crossing could annex the territory if they wanted to anyway.
Rationalizing that the territory should have been lost during the Three Lions War in the first place, Beckavia accepted the proposal. Crossing organized an army of 100,000 with Juras as the commander-in-chief.
This also affected Calliper.
Originally, the hostile relationship between Calliper and Beckavia was mediated through Crossing. So when Beckavia reconciled with Crossing, their relationship with Calliper naturally improved as well.
Beckavia, wanting to solidify this change, tried to draw in Calliper too.
Beckavia’s diplomat persuaded Calliper’s king by bringing up the keyword ‘revenge’.
They proposed taking revenge against Tunkai, who had killed General Commander Dunan. Along with this, they offered substantial compensation, which eventually led the king to promise 20,000 support troops.
And here, a situation that no one had anticipated unfolded. Or rather, the grand picture the king had been envisioning revealed itself early.
The reason why Delbadoba, the royal family’s direct general, became the educator of the cadets, and the reason for accepting this support for Beckavia.
The king, who had been craving military talent since Dunan’s death, decided to entrust the actual command of the army to the cadets, known as the Golden Generation, through a major promotion.
When this news reached the classroom, there was a moment of silence.
Even the officer, seemingly quite surprised, swallowed dryly and spoke, “By His Majesty’s order, some of you will be promoted to infantry commanders. Each of you will command 2,000 troops. First, Ars Elaine!”
The reason my name was called first was that I had already been promoted.
“You will lead 2,000 soldiers while maintaining your current rank. You can compose your troops with private soldiers or organize them as royal direct troops. What will you do?”
“…I’ll go with private soldiers.”
“Good. Next, Casper Millias!”
Called upon, Casper turned pale and didn’t know what to do. Where was his arrogance from before? Now that the responsibility had actually fallen on him, he was scared.
“You will also lead 2,000 troops. Will you go with private soldiers?”
“Uh… Y-yes, sir!”
Additionally, from the Saleon faction, Ruan Chase and Denian Geglish were chosen as commanders. From the Hellian faction, Joshua Herald and Dorofei Grimwood were selected.
They had selected three from each faction.
“W-what about us?”
These were the cadets who hadn’t been called.
The officer nodded and said, “You may join under the infantry commander of your choice. The selection is left to your discretion.”
At this, most of the cadets looked towards Casper. Not only those from his faction but also others hoped to join Casper’s unit, thinking this was their chance to get in the faction’s good graces.
As most of the cadets flocked to either Casper or Joshua Herald from the Hellian faction, Dorofei and I became isolated islands.
This was because I was a loner, and while Dorofei came from a good family, no cadets followed him due to doubts about his war capabilities.
“W-what should I do?” Dorofei was at a loss. He knew he couldn’t properly command soldiers.
“Why on earth was I chosen as a commander…” Dorofei whimpered.
It was a pitiful situation. He had been selected simply because he is Dunan’s son, as there was no suitable person in the Hellian faction.
What are friends for? I decided to help.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll help you if things get tough. Us isolated islands should help each other out.”
“Really, Ars? Can you really do that for me!?”
“Yes. You helped me with the fertilizer development, after all.”
“Well, I haven’t developed the fertilizer yet… But thank you! I’ll be counting on you.”
This war that we were joining in such a peculiar way.
The thought of directly confronting the Western tribes, who were the behind-the-scenes forces, stabbed my chest with a persistent anxiety, but at the same time, I felt curious.
* * *
I, who became indirectly involved in the war, gathered my close associates before recruiting soldiers.
“Since it has come to this, I’m thinking of selecting people to go together. Given the nature of the army, there’s a high possibility that no battle will occur, so we need someone to stay behind and take care of internal affairs this time as well.”
Although I said that, everyone was tense, considering that even during the last Chimera War, I ended up commanding a large army.
The vassals gazed at each other, observing each other’s expressions.
‘Eo is unusually quiet today?’
Normally, she would be the first to volunteer to go together.
Speaking of Eo, she was glancing at me, trying to gauge my reaction.
“You’ve been doing that a lot lately. What’s the matter?”
“It’s… Nothing!”
“That’s not like you. What’s going on? Tell me.”
“It’s, it’s fine. It’s not a suitable topic for a place like this…”
“If you say that, I won’t be able to sleep tonight. It doesn’t matter, so tell me.”
“If you insist…” Eo cautiously opened her mouth. The content was truly trivial.
“That… About the novel Their Circumstances that you wrote, Ars. In the end, did the protagonist end up with the female knight?”
“…Huh?”
“No! I mean. Didn’t abandon the other women and left with the female knight, right? I was wondering if they really ended up together in the end.”
I couldn’t believe it was about the novel.
The other vassals were also dumbfounded.
“Well, I suppose it’s up to interpretation? If that’s how you see it, then that’s what it is.”
That’s the charm and the downside of an open ending. However, Eo innocently accepted her interpretation as the true ending.
“I see! So he did end up with the female knight! Hehe.” Seemingly in a better mood, she smiled and asked with a tilt of her head. “By the way, what were we talking about?”
“You weren’t listening… We were discussing who would go with me in this war.”
“Oh that…! I will go with you, Ars!”
“I thought you’d say that.”
I was thinking of taking these three: Eonia, Rutger, and Gaspar.
Gaspar was a good choice to bring along due to his excellent capabilities as a spy, and Rutger, being from Alvard, was familiar with the geography of the Beckavia region.
“Olaf, please take care of internal affairs as usual. Yumir, you stay by Master Ilya’s side.”
Just as I was about to finalize the personnel selection…
“…Wait a moment, please.”
It was my master, who had been silent all along.
“I have a suggestion to make.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“It might be difficult for everyone to accept, but… How about you go alone this time, Ars?” My master continued with a pained expression. “I think it might be good for your growth to do it this way this time.”
“For my growth?”
“Don’t you feel it too? That your growth in martial arts has stagnated.”
“…!”
It was a spot-on remark.
I had been training in martial arts every day, sparring with Yumir, Eo, and occasionally Anton, but at some point, I had fallen into a rut.
The training method also had an effect. For one thing, when sparring with me, the three of them were too lenient. They were worried about hurting me. As a result, I didn’t feel a sense of urgency in my sparring with them.
The sparring with my master was somewhat rewarding, but even that stopped after her pregnancy.
“I believe you can grow more. You haven’t yet fully bloomed your potential.”
She was accurate.
Looking at Ars’ stats in the game would provide the answer.
In the game, Ars’ base military power was 88. If you clear the hidden enhancement quest, you can change the main weapon to a spear and get a military power of 92.
On the other hand, my current self, when using only a spear, is at best around 80. Even if I use Chester-style weapons, it’s about 85.
When it comes to using a spear alone, there’s a big difference.
Of course, Ars in the game is about 3 years from now, so there’s still time.
“What are you saying, Ilya! What if Ars gets hurt! What if he… Loses his life!”
“I object as well.”
Eo and Yumir immediately expressed their opposition.
Gaspar, Olaf, and Rutger also showed their opposition, though to varying degrees.
“The kid isn’t a warrior. I think it’s enough for him to fulfill his role as a strategist, there’s no need to risk his life.”
“I agree.”
“Hmm. It’s scary to even imagine how my daughter would react if he gets hurt.”
The opposing opinions were the overwhelming majority. If Anton were here, he would have opposed it too.
Despite this, my master didn’t back down.
“That may be true for now. But you’re in a position where you’ll have to walk through extremely dangerous situations in the future. What if a similar crisis comes later and you lose your life because you weren’t prepared for the situation? As a master, I would curse my own complacency for not teaching you in advance. It would be the same as if I had killed you myself.”
“Master…”
“A bird in a cage cannot fly far. Please understand my intention.”
Just as others were worried about my life, so was my master. She meant that as the stage grows larger later on, it becomes more difficult to stand alone, so I should gain experience now while I can.
“No!” Yumir shouted, unusually agitated. “We can protect the young master. Forever! There’s no need to expose him to danger!”
Eo chimed in. “That’s right! How will you take responsibility if Ars really gets hurt!”
My master nodded at those words. “If Ars gets hurt, I’ll pay the same price.”
“Wh-what do you mean by the same?”
“If Ars loses an arm, cut off my arm in the same way. If he dies… You strike my neck, Eonia.”
“Ugh…!”
Overwhelmed by my master’s resolve, Eo was at a loss for words.
Gaspar, Olaf, and Rutger seemed to have been persuaded by my master and were looking at me to make the decision.
‘Master’s words do have a point.’
I had a similar experience in the recent war.
The battle with Lexit. At that time, I was powerless. Even with Yumir and Eonia by my side, due to my lack of skill, I couldn’t finish him off and instead found myself in mortal danger.
Luckily, Anton rushed in and I was able to survive, but there’s no guarantee that luck will be on my side next time.
To not rely on luck, the only way is to improve my skills.
After long deliberation, I nodded.
“Alright. I’ll go alone in this war.”
“Young master!” Yumir still couldn’t accept it and strongly tried to dissuade me, but I had already made up my mind.
TL NOTE:
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Thats the most stupid decision ever
what makes it stupid? care to explain?
Wow Ilya’s character really got ruined the moment she got married and got pregnant in a flash. Such a selfish person. If she truly meant what she said she wouldnt have gotten pregnant. Same goes for Anton. If he truly waa devoted to Ars he wouldnt be looking to build a family. Now both become liabilities for MC. Since Ilya and their baby become antons weakness and viceversa which means they also become Ars weakness.
Nah it doesnt work like that in fiction stories, mc and friends have plot armor, unless the author willed it