How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 129

141. Those on the Battlefield (5)

I smiled after saying that much.

“If you need more grounds, I’ll keep talking.”

“…Alright, alright. Fine, Aileen. I admit it.”

The Princess realized there was no point in making excuses and surrendered.

“I was going to bring it up myself when I had the chance anyway. It doesn’t matter if you noticed it first, Aileen.”

So, she was planning to ask me later. But that would have been too late. It’s right that I mentioned it first now.

“As you said, the real artifact is hidden. The Falgentania family has been protecting it for a long time. If the records are accurate, its ability won’t be much different from what you guessed.”

“…It’s a bit of a redundant question, but is it okay to profit so much from protecting it?”

“To protect it, land, money, and soldiers were needed. Even that fake one from earlier can only be handled by the direct line of the Grand Duke’s family. It seems it’s within the scope permitted by the agreement.”

According to tradition, the person who entrusted it allowed some minor private use.

It would be irresponsible to ask them to protect it without giving them anything.

“I see…”

I didn’t know that far.

Because it wasn’t in the original story.

“Anyway, Aileen, keep talking. So, what do you think is the problem we’re facing?”

If I get that right, she’ll believe the rest.

It sounded like she was saying that.

The answer is simple.

I smiled.

“Isn’t the Grand Duke’s family in trouble because they can’t touch the artifact itself, even in this situation?”

Because that’s also an element mentioned in the original story.

“If it’s such an excellent artifact, it’s strange that they haven’t used it until now. No, even if they don’t use it, it’s questionable that they haven’t even used it politically.”

They didn’t just use the artifact to manage the mine.

They can’t use it for anything else.

“The Grand Duke’s family manages the artifact, but they can’t handle it. No, they probably can’t even take it out of the storage location.”

What’s the most perfect way to store a dangerous object?

It’s simple.

Make it so that even the person managing it can’t touch it.

It’s hidden in an extreme way.

“But now the enemy is aiming for it and invading. Putting aside using it, the situation where they can’t even take it out must be annoying.”

One of the unreasonable justifications Marquis Celrond put forward is that the Grand Duke’s family can’t fully handle the treasure, but unfortunately, they won’t be able to prove it.

“You understood that far based on mere speculation?”

“You get a sense for things after doing business for a day or two.”

Real merchants would be angry if they heard this excuse.

Anyway, it’s just an excuse.

The important thing is to let her know that I can solve it.

“So, Aileen, are you going to help?”

“Yes. I will cooperate. I will take out that artifact and give it to you. That’s the new deal I’m proposing.”

The Falgentania Grand Duke’s treasure.

The artifact, .

The event to acquire it.

I’m going to achieve that instead of the protagonist.

‘Since we need to overcome the situation at the end of Volume 4 of the original story anyway, it won’t be too early to prepare in advance.’

The existence of this kind of artifact means there’s a situation where it needs to be used.

The problem is that the protagonist who should do that event isn’t here, so I need to lead it out instead.

Otherwise, it will be too late.

“But I want to ask one thing. Why did you bring up this story? Didn’t you think it was dangerous?”

That’s a very natural question.

“First of all, I believed that you wouldn’t do such a thing.”

I held up two fingers and continued.

“I wanted to solidify my connections with a prestigious noble family. If I can help with that, there’s no reason to refuse.”

“In other words, for your own benefit?”

That’s right.

I nodded without hesitation.

“…Wow. That’s the opposite of what my colleague would say. He would say it’s for the world.”

I’m a little curious about the colleague that Lucel is muttering about, but I’ll hold back for now.

I don’t care about the world or anything like that.

I’m just doing business and working hard for the results.

“Besides, I have experience and talent. It would be a loss if I didn’t use them.”

Above all, I’m confident.

Because I have the original story as a basis.

“If you’re worried, you can think of it as using me.”

And I was already sure of the answer as soon as I saw Princess Elenia’s face.

She will accept this deal.

“…Tell me more. The decision comes after that.”

“As much as you want.”

Let’s have a thorough discussion.

She gets the inheritance rights to the artifact.

I get help from the Grand Duke’s family and promise to receive rights.

Taking this opportunity to receive the favor of the Grand Duke’s family wouldn’t be bad for my life plan.

‘No matter how hard you try, you usually can’t gain the trust of a reliable noble.’

That’s more important to me than the artifact.

* * *

After roughly finishing the consultation.

Princess Elenia suggested moving, saying she would show me the ‘vault’ where the treasure was stored.

I have no reason to refuse.

So, we headed to the basement of the Grand Duke’s castle.

“Our ancestors first buried the ‘vault’ in this land and built the current castle on top of it.”

“And they buried it so carefully that even the members of the Grand Duke’s family can’t touch the treasure~.”

“…”

“I’m just kidding?”

“Even if it’s a joke, it hurts my heart.”

What I mean is.

The problem is that even their descendants can’t touch the vault.

Even if they have the artifact, they can’t use it when they need to.

It’s truly ironic.

“Hmm! Here it is.”

After passing through the deepest corridor in the deepest part of the basement and slowly descending for several minutes, I barely saw the door.

It is tightly sealed with a thick iron door.

That must be the entrance to the Falgentania Grand Duke’s ‘vault’.

“This is it? It’s just a normal iron door. I think I can open it?”

Lucel struggles to push the door.

Princess Elenia stopped the idiot elf, saying that wasn’t it.

“To be precise, it’s just the way to go. The vault is still far away.”

“In other words, you built even deeper security facilities below this and placed it at the end?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

What should we do to prevent anyone from reaching it, even if something happens to the descendants of the Falgentania Grand Duke?

Her ancestors are said to have pondered over it quite a bit.

The idea they arrived at as a result.

“Our ancestors mobilized everything they could at the time to build this place.”

“Hee? What’s inside?”

When Lucel asked curiously, Princess Elenia continued to explain.

“It seems they’ve set up traps, mazes, and even made monsters grow inside.”

It’s truly a comprehensive gift set for hiding things.

They built a labyrinth inside just to protect one artifact.

So that no one can enter.

“Ew… did they go that far?”

“That’s how important it is.”

In fact, there were mercenaries who secretly sneaked in after hearing rumors about the treasure.

The only one who barely escaped alive, barely muttered as he died in a dying state.

There are monsters swarming inside.

“…Are you raising a monster den in the basement of the castle?”

I know, but it’s still absurd to hear it directly.

On the other hand, Princess Elenia is making a face that she doesn’t think that’s a big deal.

“I don’t think it’s that strange?”

She’s not kidding, she really thinks so.

“I heard that a noble in the Selbas Kingdom drops children who are born into underground caves where monsters are locked up when they reach a certain age in order to raise them strongly, and leaves them there for several years.”

Nobles are scary!

The darkness is deep.

For reference, what’s even scarier is that it’s real.

“Anyway, what’s inside is a maze and monsters… it’s almost a dungeon.”

“In fact, our ancestors may have borrowed ideas from dungeons.”

“So, you can’t get through here.”

“Even if you’re a descendant who protects it, you just settle down and rule this land. In reality, neither I nor my grandfather can take anything out of here.”

They never left a way to break through this place, even to their direct descendants.

“They didn’t trust their descendants.”

However, there is no feeling of pessimism in Princess Elenia’s tone.

There is a part where she sympathizes with the intention.

Even if the ancestors are noble, there is no guarantee that the descendants will be noble.

“I think they made it so that no one could enter even if the family collapsed someday.”

The ancestor who settled here is said to have said this.

If you want the artifact. You can have it. But only if you can take it out.

What a nasty personality.

“Hasn’t the family tried to break through? It’s not entirely impossible, is it?”

“We’re not idle either.”

Unlike the ancestors, the top priority of the current Falgentania Grand Duke’s family is the well-being of the territory and its people.

“No matter how important the artifact is, we can’t just hold on to this.”

The territory people who are living now would be a priority over the requests of ancestors they don’t even know.

“Even so, they can’t just leave it alone, so it seems my grandfather directly asked the Green Tower to solve it…” [The Green Tower is likely a reference to a group specializing in magical facilities and architecture].

“Well. I’ve heard rumors that the Green Tower specializes in magical facilities and architecture.”

Or Grand Duke Nilfas may have been planning to break through himself.

Maybe after Princess Elenia takes over the position in the future, she would try to solve it as a pastime after retirement.

“Before that, Marquis Celrond demanded it and started a war with unreasonable justification.”

“That’s right.”

The Princess frowned as if she was fed up with it.

Marquis Celrond’s claim at the time was that the ownership of the treasure originally belonged to the founder of the Empire.

He pushed forward with fabricated grounds and coercion.

The problem is that even if they try to refute it, or try to use it to counterattack, they can’t take out the treasure, so it’s difficult.

“So, Aileen? Can you solve it?”

The Princess asks with a bit of expectation.

Then, it’s a professional’s attitude to give her the answer she wants.

“In other words, the point is to break through this troublesome place and safely reach the vault. …Like a dungeon.”

“In that regard, your experience, Aileen, was really unexpected. And it was lucky.”

It means that the dungeon breakthrough experience I appealed to earned me a lot of points.

“Certainly, it would be impossible for an ordinary mercenary to do it. Within my knowledge, there are probably less than twenty people who can do this.”

“There are more than I thought…”

“The world is wide.”

If you include the strong people I don’t know, there will be more.

‘It’s not an easy task, but.’

What’s inside that door is the culmination of the Falgentania Duke’s ancestors racking their brains to prevent intruders.

And the fact that it’s full of traps and monsters is annoying.

“Is it possible?”

“It will be possible.”

Originally, it’s a task that the protagonist should do.

That means I already know the difficulty of this place.

Of course, I’ve already calculated that it’s possible.

‘And if I drag Lucel in, it will be much easier, right?’

If I put the spiritist Lucel, whose abilities are equal to mine now… no, more than that, in front and make her suffer, it will be easy.

As I was making plans like that, Lucel shuddered as if she felt something creepy and tilted her head.

Tsk, she has a good sense.

“Anyway, Aileen, if possible, I’d like you to solve it right away.”

“Knowing you would say that, I’ve already made all the preparations.”

“Yes, but I’ll have to go in with you, is that okay?”

“No problem.”

It’s okay. I know that too.

Putting aside the process of going, it’s desirable for the successor, the Princess, to check directly after reaching the vault.

‘And it wouldn’t make sense to leave it entirely to me.’

She probably also has the purpose of monitoring directly.

So, it’s okay.

Anyway, I can put Lucel in front.

“…Huh?”

Lucel is looking around again as if she felt another chill, but who cares.

However, what ruined my perfect plan was the Princess’s next statement.

“And Lucel, I’m sorry, but while Aileen and I are in the basement, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Huh? I’m not going in?”

Lucel seemed puzzled.

I was quite surprised too.

I didn’t expect her to bring up the proposal to accompany me alone first.

“I think it’s a waste for three people to go in. And… in case of an emergency, I’d like Lucel to watch outside for a while.”

That makes sense.

It would be good to leave one reliable person behind in case of an emergency.

‘Maybe it’s because of the influence of enjoying power by using artifacts, but the people of the Grand Duke’s family have a good sense.’

Maybe she’s worried about something.

Then it’s better not to object.

142. Those on the Battlefield (6)

‘According to the original story I know, there seems to be nothing special at this time, except that Marquis Celrond, who is cornered, summons a demon as if he is being chased by something.’

Is that really all?

I didn’t object because I was suspicious.

“Umm… I don’t mind, but are you really okay with that?”

“It’s okay. Isn’t it, Aileen?”

“I don’t think it will take even a day anyway. Yes. There will be no problem.”

Even as I said this, I couldn’t hide the slightly uneasy feeling.

It feels like a flag [A flag is a foreshadowing of something bad to happen].

Let’s solve this as quickly as possible and come back.