The Strategist Knows Everything - Volume 3 Chapter 1

Part III: The Imperial State Edition

Chapter 1: The Front Line 3

Translated by: Hiro02

Edited by: SevenTails

 When I arrived in Ferrenor, I let some of my escorts lurk in the city as I decided to walk around with Mikana. I didn’t tell Ferrenor that I was coming, so I put on my hat, took off my coat and disguised myself.

 Beside me, Mikana was walking around in a similar outfit as a town girl. I only had the impression of her wearing armour or military uniforms, so to say that it was different was an understatement.

“Am I dressed funny?”

“No, it looks good on you. Well, I don’t like the idea of my casual look being the norm.”

 All I usually saw was Mikana in military uniform or armour, which meant she was closer to battle.

 The reality that a girl younger than me was fighting hit me with an indescribable sense of helplessness. And that girl was my bodyguard too, so I was shocked in two ways.

“I’m a knight. Being suited in armour is my true self, and besides, it’s what I wanted to do.”

 Mikana could tell from the look on my face about what I was thinking.

 Maybe it was because she had been my second-in-command for so long, but… she was good at reading my thoughts from my facial expressions. I didn’t mean to make them that obvious but she read them easily.

”Well… You choose your own path after all…”

“That’s right, so it’s not something for you to worry about, Yukito-sama. Now, just focus on what you have to accomplish,” Mikana said and sharply glanced around.

 We were being followed. It was a poor tail because even I could tell. Due to the distance, I couldn’t see their figure, but I guess they were a complete amateur in terms of movement skills.

 I came a little closed and was able to catch the glimpse of a figure at the edge of my field of vision, so I could somewhat discern their appearance. The one following us was a boy in his early teens. Mikana looked at me for instructions as to how to deal with it with her gaze.

 I shook my head slightly. We shouldn’t deal with it until we know if it’s harmful to us. Nevertheless, we should take advantage of it.

 Whoever it was, they were interested in us. If they were on Ferrenor’s side, they should have been able to talk to us openly, and besides, they wouldn’t be using a child to follow us.

 Thus, when it happened, the one’s being followed would be interested in the person trailing them.

 I didn’t tell Ferrenor that I was coming because I wanted to meet with Fiona Albright personally, but maybe we were going to meet in an unexpected way.

“Didn’t you say you were looking for someone?”

“Yes. I thought that it would be best to use a local.”

 Mikana and I didn’t know where Fiona Albright was. All we knew was that she wasn’t in Taijiya, in Ferrenor, and she was being more receptive to refugees from the front lines.

 She wasn’t on the frontlines herself but was being friendly to the refugees. Maybe we were being a bit skeptical. So with that in mind, I followed Mikana into the crowd.

 Mikana successfully moved into the boy’s blindspots and easily took us away from his sight. 

 We looked from the blindspot to see what the boy was doing. After scurrying around because he lost sight of us, he scampered around and realized he had been left behind, leaving him frustrated.

 Perhaps the boy was going to go back to the person who ordered him to follow us to report.

 Thus, we were going to follow him. When looking for a specific someone, the most efficient way was to ask a local to show you around. Whether or not the person was going to show us the way, well… it didn’t matter at this point.

 Usually, I wouldn’t necessarily go after the one tailing me, but if there is one, it meant that someone knew either who I was or had circumstances that required them to be wary of any stranger in this town, it was important to know who it was.

 With that in mind, I followed the boy at a distance behind Mikana.

■■■

 We heard that the city of Ferrenor was safe, but due to the chaos of hosting the refugees, some of the places were no longer safe.

 The boy we were chasing got tangled up with three gang-like men. If we didn’t help him, we might not be able to reach the person who ordered him to follow us.

 I hesitated to give the order to Mikana.

 In the meantime, the boy refused to give them anything, saying something that irritated the men and they grabbed the boy by the chest.

 He was a young boy, not older than I was, and he was being tangled up with adults. You usually wouldn’t need a reason to save him, but I was hesitant to do so because I was thinking about this or that. I wasn’t going to be able to get the best out of it.

 With that, Mikana agreed with me and picked up some pebbles that were lying around and threw them at the men who were about to strike the boy.

 The man screamed in agony as the pebbles hit him, just above his elbow. No, it definitely hit it. The reason why she didn’t hit his joint was probably that she didn’t want the man to get hurt.

“You! What the hell are you doing?!”

“That’s our line! Why would you do such shameful things such as raising your hands at a child?”

 Saying it as if it was a matter of fact, Mikana approached the men in what seemed like a careless manner, and perhaps mistaking her for a town girl with a strong sense of justice, the men yelled and tried to attack her. Facing the men’s punches, Mikana threw pebbles with the snap of her wrist.

 The men, with faces contorted from pain as the pebbles hit their arms, moved to surround Mikana. 

 Mikana did nothing, letting them surround her as if they were nothing.

 She had successfully pulled the men away from the boy, while I kept an eye on him.

 The boy had a look of relief at first, but when he saw Mikana’s face, he was surprised and then puzzled as he realized she was the one he had followed earlier.

 There was nothing remarkable about the boy’s status. His combat prowess was also low, and while his combat points might drop a bit, they never increased. The drop was probably due to being upset, so it was not like the boy was hiding his powers or anything. It would be a completely different story if the child was a soldier on par with Admiral Arnold and could restrain himself to the point that his powers wouldn’t be exposed. I didn’t think there was a kid like that and there was no reason his status would be as low as it was.

 Judging from that, I looked at Mikana, who kicked the men away with her bare hands. Naturally, there wasn’t a single scratch on her, or rather, she wasn’t even sweating. It was a piece of cake for her.

 I walked towards the boy, thinking about it, and stopped when we got close. The boy had a frightened look on his face.

“Are you okay?”

“…”

 The boy nodded a bit in silence and I nodded back in response, asking quietly.

“Do you know me?”

“I don’t know you guys… but there have been a lot of strange faces like you guys coming into town lately.”

“So you followed us?”

“… I was asked to show you around if you noticed and contacted me.”

 Then the question came to mind, and that was, of course, ‘‘who?’’

 The one who asked the kid to follow us… I don’t understand the order to lead him away. If it was someone who wasn’t supposed to be noticed, then there was no need to see them, but if that was the point, then you would have needed someone who was a little better at following, or else what was the point? Even I could notice the kid following us.

 Nevertheless, we followed this kid to see who it was.

“Who sent you?”

“She’s our big sister. Our big sister.”

 Since he called her sister, then she was a woman, that’s for sure… Unless it was a guy who had a hobby of being called ‘big sister’ or didn’t have any gender difficulties.

 You wouldn’t see that kind of person often.

 Fiona Albright was supposed to be the one who was the most careful about newcomers in the city. As long as she was confirmed to be an imperial princess, she didn’t have to meet anyone who she felt was evil.

 So, I asked the boy to guide us to her.

■■■

“Usually, we would get someone who looks a bit more brawny.” A person who was sitting on a chair at the back of a large house I was led to, sat up.

 Looking at him, his combat status was over ninety, and his job, which seemed to be related to combat, was high across the board.

 I couldn’t help but straighten up. It wasn’t because of his status, but simply the authority that was felt in his voice, or rather, a sense of dignity.

“… This boy followed me.”

“I told him to.”

“Why?” 

 Mikana, who was standing diagonally behind me, to my right, had been waiting all this time for anything to happen. Her status didn’t lie. If I were to be defeated in combat, Mikana would not be able to defeat the enemy before. Unless, of course, I set up a trap or restrict them, which would lower their combat power.

 In other words, combat power didn’t lie. So, if the person in front of me were to be displeased, Mikana and I would probably suffer poorly. I didn’t expect someone to have such high combat power.

 I thought that he was someone on the intellectual side, who thought of strategies like me.

“There are three types of people who come to this city. The first were those for business, like merchants. You can tell from the way they dress. The second is frontline refugees, which I can tell apart from a glance. They were constantly fleeing and they had fleeting eyes, so their behaviour was suspicious. And the last type was people who weren’t escaping but came here with a purpose. A lot of them were the refugee’s families, so we have this place to help them, but sometimes there are people like you, who are different.”

 He slowly made his way to us, circling us and appraising us. They still didn’t know who I was.

“… We’re here to find someone too. Her name is Fiona Albright.”

“I know, but it’s just that wouldn’t you have a declaration on you?”

“… I’m not from this country.”

“I see. Reinforcements from Veris… the rumoured Nox? Is that who you are?”

 I had already taken my hat off. If you say Nox with black hair and dark eyes, it should be me, its commander in chief, right away.

 I’m some sort of a hero who has defended his country many times against demonic beasts. No, I knew I wasn’t Fiona Albright, but I didn’t point it out because she seemed to be acting like it somehow.

 No, that wasn’t true either, but I didn’t want to point it out. I didn’t want to get involved as much as possible.

“My name is Kurei Yukito, I’m the Commander-in-Chief of Nox… and I’d like to meet Princess Fiona…?”

“But I’m Fiona?”

“But you are a guy.” Mikana blurted out from behind me what I was about to say.

 That’s right, the person before us was male, and his actual name was Charlotte. That was what appeared on the status screen, so it was his real name, but it didn’t seem to be the case if he believed that.

 Perhaps this person really thinks his name is Charlotte, or his parents were very prescient in naming him.

 But whatever was the case, I would like to know more about who this person was.

 He was around 180 cm tall, actually closer to 190 cm. I was curious, and interested, in such an exotic being, but I didn’t want to see any more. Even if he was a maiden at heart, I didn’t want to know how much he weighed.

 He had a stern beard on his face, but his gestures were just like a maiden, twisting her body. I’m sorry, but it was very comfortable. It was so bad that the moment I saw her, Mikana was about to leave the house without me, so his destructive power was overwhelming. Of course, that’s when I grabbed Micana with my right hand, which caused her to ask directly.

“He’s a woman?”

“Physically a man, and if possible, would you please not touch my superior?”

 Mikana cautioned against Charlotte, who put her hand on my shoulder, with a somewhat sullen face and voice.

 I was honestly grateful. I was just going around, but I didn’t want her to touch me or have our bodies close together.

“Oh? Your boyfriend? A dull guy for a pretty like you, isn’t he?”

 Apart from me being brilliant or dull, it was just that I wasn’t that buff. That’s the problem. This kind of person was the kind who would stand along with me at work.

“You buy a lot, don’t you? You don’t look that great. You don’t look strong, and that doesn’t make you smart… What’s so great about you?”

 The moment Charlotte said that, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I was suddenly grabbed by a half-hearted grip. That was both shoulders. It hurt so much that I couldn’t even stand up, but I also couldn’t fall because my shoulders were being held in place.

 At that instant, Mikana approached me.

“Mikana!”

 I slashed at Charlotte’s arm with a dagger I took out.

 Charlotte immediately noticed and released my shoulders, so there was no blood, but it was only because Charlotte had a high combat power. She was fine. If the other party were a normal person, the sharp taiyouji1 could have taken her arm away.

“My mission is to protect you. It doesn’t matter who it is, I won’t show any mercy to anyone that harms Yukito-sama.”

 Anger was evident in Mikana’s eyes, but Charlotte laughed in response.

“That was a close call. I see. It seems that there is a strong bond between the two of you. But just so you know, I like pretty boys.”

“Am I out of your range?”

“Yeah, but I like something even more.”

“What?”

“A pretty girl.”

 I could see Mikana’s spine shiver. It must have definitely been a scare. Still, I’m grateful that she backed down, but Charlotte’s eyes were different from the ones she had when looking at me earlier. They were the eyes of a hunter looking at their prey.

“Wow, I guess I’m out of her range too.”

 I was within his striking distance and I couldn’t help but feel a chill run down my spine as Charlotte winked at me, but direct eye contact with Micana would be more than just that.

 I didn’t expect to run into such an enemy, even though I only came to talk to Fiona Albright.

 Wondering how this happened, I tried to think of a way out of this situation. I thought about it, but it all made no sense.

 I was almost incapacitated by Charlotte.

‘’Char! You’re getting into a fight with a customer again!”

“No, no! I won’t let a bad bug go near Fiona.”

“It’s not different at all! I’m sorry! Did Charu bother you?”

 With that, a girl came down from the second floor and after bowing to me once, she quickly looked up and stared at my appearance.

”Could it be that you are… Veris’s military strategist?”

‘Yes… Are you perhaps… Princess Fiona?”

 When I asked with a tired look on my face, she smiled and shook her head.

(1) A dagger.