I Became the Strategist the Monarchs Obsess Over

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 2

First, let’s get one thing straight.

The character I possessed, Charles Jean Rochefort, was nothing more than a pathetic loser with no combat skills—neither swordsmanship, magic, divine magic, archery, nor any other means of self-defense.

On top of that, his family wasn’t influential, leaving him in a truly desperate situation.

There was no way he could survive at Arcadia Academy, a place filled with nobles and elites from across the continent.

“What are you staring off into space for, you bastard? Can’t you hear me?”

The guys in front of me were no different.

Three guys stood before me. Judging by their unfamiliar faces, they were clearly extras, but they seemed hostile, as if they had some sort of grudge against me.

The problem was that I wasn’t actually Charles Jean Rochefort, so I had no idea who they were.

“Ah, sorry. Who were you again?”

“This bastard…”

Thwack! With a loud sound, the glasses I was wearing flew off.

‘Ah, those are broken now.’

Glasses must be expensive in this era. As I was thinking that, the three of them rushed at me as I lay on the ground and started kicking me.

“What? You don’t know who we are? Are you asking to die today?”

“This bastard, we’ve been going easy on you lately, and now you think we’re pushovers?”

“If you don’t know, we’ll make sure you learn.”

With typical third-rate villain lines, they unleashed a barrage of indiscriminate violence. Even the passing students merely frowned but didn’t step in to help.

‘Judging by the situation, this must not be the first time something like this has happened…’

Never mind the pain—my uniform was dirty now. I needed to go to the library, but at this rate, that seemed unlikely.

Even after that day, the violence continued quite frequently. It seemed Charles Jean Rochefort had been marked as easy prey by these guys, and the beatings only grew more severe. My body—Charles Jean Rochefort’s body—never had a day without bruises.

‘What a bunch of scumbags.’

To think that Arcadia Academy had people like this. I had no idea when I was playing the game. I had thought it was a haven for the Empire’s best and brightest.

‘I was too naive.’

Even in a place filled with elites, there were bound to be relative trash, and with that came violent types. I just hadn’t realized it.

One day, I asked them.

“Why do you guys keep beating me up?”

“What?”

“I’m asking why you’re doing this. It’s not like you gain anything from it.”

At that, they dusted off their clothes and answered.

“Arcadia Academy is a place for those who’ve proven their worth or whose parents are nobles.”

“And?”

“And what? You’re not a noble, are you, you lowly thing?”

One of them said this while grinding his heel into my leg. The pain was excruciating, as if my leg might break, but I barely managed to hold back a scream. That seemed to irritate him even more.

“The Rochefort family is supposed to be a noble house, isn’t it?”

Charles Jean Rochefort was indeed the son of a count’s family. If my information was correct, that is. So why were they saying I wasn’t a noble?

“Hey, are you seriously calling the Rochefort family a noble house?”

They burst into laughter as if they found it hilarious.

“The Rochefort family isn’t a noble house.”

Huh? Was my information wrong? But if they weren’t a noble house, there’s no way Charles Jean Rochefort could have enrolled in the Academy.

“If they’re not a noble house, then what are they?”

“Fallen nobility. They’re just fallen nobles. They might have traces of their noble status, but now they’re no different from commoners. And yet, you dared to pretend to be one of us?”

“Repeat after me: fallen nobility!”

They burst into laughter again, joking amongst themselves. I finally understood why Charles Jean Rochefort, despite being utterly incompetent, was being bullied. He was the son of a fallen noble family.

‘So that’s how it is…’

No wonder. For a noble, he didn’t have any servants, and his clothes and accommodations were pitiful. There was a backstory to it all.

Now that I knew why Charles Jean Rochefort was being bullied, I started to get a sense of how to deal with these three who tormented me.

After their violence ended, a woman passed by, looking at me with disdain.

A cold-looking woman with black hair and red eyes—just like her appearance, she had grown up in the back alleys and was destined to become a Sword Master someday.

“Glasia Ehrenberg.”

When I called her name, she looked surprised, as if shocked that I knew it.

“Why didn’t you help me when you witnessed their violence? With your swordsmanship, you could’ve dealt with those small fries in no time.”

At my words, she smirked.

“Why should I help you? Their parents are wealthy and might hire me someday, but you don’t hold any value as a connection, do you?”

She was right. I was weak, and they were strong. That’s why she didn’t help. It was the law of the jungle.

“Glasia Ehrenberg. A genius of the sword who grew up in the back alleys of Kruzenstein and taught herself swordsmanship to become a Mana User.”

“You seem to have some information. So what?”

“You were able to enroll in the Academy because a patron knighted you. But you’re paying your tuition yourself. Despite being poor, you’re not bullied like me because of your exceptional swordsmanship. Isn’t that right?”

She asked back, as if amused.

“And if so?”

“You’re not being bullied, but you do need money, don’t you?”

From what I knew, Glasia Ehrenberg would eventually drop out of Arcadia Academy in the storyline to earn money. And now was about the time she’d run out of funds.

“Starting next month, I’ll cover your tuition in full. In return, protect me from those pests. It’s a bodyguard request.”

“…”

She looked surprised. Then her surprise turned into a sneer.

“How is a fallen noble going to pay 250 ducats a year for tuition? You’re probably struggling to pay your own tuition as it is.”

“I’ll have the money by next month.”

“How?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

She smirked again.

“Then come find me after you’ve got the money.”

With that, she disappeared from my sight. It seemed the first step to clearing this game would be securing the tragic genius, whose lowly origins had kept her from spreading her wings.

—–

Here’s a question: where were penguins first discovered?

Most people would answer Antarctica. After all, modern penguins live there. But the ‘original penguins’ first discovered by Europeans actually lived in the Arctic, not Antarctica.

The Arctic and Antarctica—two places at opposite ends of the Earth. How could the same creature live in both?

The secret lies in ‘convergent evolution.’ In fact, the penguins in Antarctica and those in the Arctic are entirely different species that have never met. Yet they evolved to have the same appearance and habits.

The reason? The environments of the Arctic and Antarctica are similar! Even completely different species will evolve similarly if their environments are alike. This is called convergent evolution.

Why am I suddenly talking about this? Because the strategy and tactics of the Arcadia Continent resembled those of Earth.

Both Earth and the Arcadia Continent had humans. And humanity’s greatest enemy was, as always, other humans.

As a result, the same weapons were developed, and the same tactics evolved. This, too, could be called convergent evolution.

However, the Arcadia Continent’s development was far slower than Earth’s. If I had to compare, it was roughly equivalent to the late 15th to early 16th century on Earth.

Simply put, their civilization was at a medieval-to-early-modern level.

The same went for their strategies and tactics. They were comparable to Earth’s during the medieval period.

What kind of strategies and tactics? The answer was simple: overwhelming the enemy with incredibly powerful cavalry.

In fact, this was also the representative tactic of Earth during the medieval era. Infantry took a backseat to cavalry on the battlefield, and in regions rich in iron, charging with heavily armored cavalry was the most efficient strategy.

So, what came next? The answer was firearms.

In Earth’s history, after the Battle of Pavia in 1525, firearms began to massacre knights indiscriminately. One renowned knight lamented, “The age has come where the bravest are killed by the lowliest.”

Just as Earth’s history transitioned from cavalry to firearms, so too would the history of this world shift from cavalry to firearms.

Yet, the reason no ruler had properly utilized firearms yet was simple.

‘They haven’t invented the tactics to deploy firearms effectively.’

Guns had been invented, but the tactics to use them hadn’t. That was the secret behind why firearms hadn’t yet made an impact in this world.

‘In this world, the tactics for using firearms won’t be fully developed for another 15 years. There’s still 15 years to go.’

Which meant I had 15 years to monopolize this technology.

‘I know someone who would eagerly scour the world for strategies and tactics involving firearms.’

With that thought, I submitted a small thesis to the Academy.