How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 117

128. Meeting and Grace as Planned (9)

The important thing is the product I want to sell.

“Besides that, there are quite a few ordinary food ingredients, so I don’t think there’s anything you can’t use.”

“Certainly, I understand that Aileen’s proposal is useful. …However.”

“However?”

“To be honest… it would be difficult to purchase all the supplies Aileen has brought… um….”

“Ah, you mean you don’t have enough money?”

“…Could you be a little more delicate?”

As always, the problem is the price tag.

Silver coins 20 for one jar of preserves. I brought 300,000 of those on the ship.

And there are other products besides.

Princess Elenia frowned as if she had been stabbed in the heart and lowered her head slightly, looking apologetic.

“In that case, it doesn’t matter if we trade only a portion of it first. Or we could put it on credit under the Archduke’s name.”

I should be able to purchase at least half… no, a third.

At least that line wouldn’t be a loss.

‘I need to break even first and then think about it.’

If her mind changes after that, or if I contact Archduke Nilpas himself, I’ll have an excuse to dispose of the rest.

“…No, let’s buy it all. I can’t put my benefactor on credit.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“It’s difficult with my personal assets… but what the heck, I can open my grandfather’s vault.”

Wow, you’re so generous.

“Wow! …Um? No, no, that’s the Archduke’s vault. Is that okay?”

Archduke Nilpas’s vault is, in other words, the official budget of the Falzante Principality.

Is this lady openly trying to dip into the budget right now?

Even that traitor Nelvis didn’t dare to think of touching the Archduke’s vault.

“Hehehehe. It’s okay.”

However, Princess Elenia somehow let out a low laugh.

“I can just explain it well to my grandfather later.”

“Ah…”

Well, a ticking time bomb that might betray you at any moment and a granddaughter you cherish so much are different.

She knows her position very well.

“More than anything, I think my grandfather would have made the same decision even if he were here.”

With a refreshing conviction, the Princess once again stated her intention.

“So, Aileen, won’t you please deliver what you’ve brought… to those fighting on the front lines? I’ll pay any price.”

“…Of course. More than anything, that’s what I want to ask for.”

Rather, I’m the one who would suffer a huge loss if I couldn’t hand it over.

I bowed politely and answered.

“I will definitely deliver those items as you ordered.”

The deal was made.

I cheered inwardly at that fact.

* * *

Princess Elenia sent Aileen back with someone to handle the transaction.

There wasn’t really anything else to talk about, at least not now.

The Princess has a personal interest, but it’s still too early to bring it up here.

After sending him back.

The Princess and Lussel did not get up from their seats.

Because they had separate opinions to share.

Lussel first glanced at the seat where Aileen had been and spoke softly.

“Princess? Are you really sure about that decision?”

“What do you mean, Lussel?”

“Even if you’re a granddaughter, you’ll get scolded if you decide to open the vault without permission, right?”

In any family, if you touch the vault, you’ll get your butt kicked the next day.

It’s really a new concern.

Elenia just gave a light, bitter smile.

“Hmph, it’s an unnecessary worry. I told you, if my grandfather were here, he would have made the same decision.”

“Was that just a cover story… not true?”

“I don’t say such irresponsible things. I was serious.”

More than anything, now that the Archduke himself is on the battlefield, she, as his direct granddaughter, has some decision-making power.

There’s no problem in name either.

She just skipped some procedures.

That’s all.

“But he’s going to be noisy, isn’t he?”

Again, there’s no need to ask who she’s talking about.

There’s only one person that elf calls a noisy human.

“Well, nothing will happen to you, Lussel, so don’t worry about it.”

“Then I don’t care.”

The elf girl guarding her sighed and nodded.

Nothing else matters at all.

She can deal with anyone who challenges her.

More than that, the problem for Elenia was something else.

‘Why did Uncle Nelvis interfere with that boy’s deal? I don’t understand that.’

Unless you’re an idiot, you can guess the intention as soon as you hear the whole story.

The Archduke’s nephew, Nelvis, didn’t like the deal with that boy for some reason.

It seemed like he was even thinking of chasing him away.

‘Normally, he would accept it, right? It’s also necessary. Could it be that he didn’t know the situation on the front lines? No, that can’t be…’

It’s also true that there’s a problem with the food to be distributed to the soldiers.

Few people know that the reason for this is that someone set fire to each supply warehouse two months ago.

For now, the incident has been determined to be arson committed by an imperial spy.

The problem is that the aftermath was significant.

Even now, the soldiers are suffering from a lack of food.

It was difficult because merchants were reluctant to trade at that time.

‘More than anything, Nelvis ordered the pursuit and execution of the culprit. He must know.’

She doesn’t suspect him, but there’s something fishy.

However, she has no intention of questioning him.

She can’t interfere with internal thugs when external enemies are already annoying.

Instead, she just subtly interferes with the food, which was the problem, for other reasons.

‘He can’t really say anything about that.’

Princess Elenia was convinced that she would not reverse this conclusion for the time being.

There is another reason why she rushed the deal.

Interest in Aileen personally.

“More than that, about that boy… Lussel, is that boy really at the level you said last time? Are you sure?”

“Ah~ that?”

The topic shifts back to Aileen.

“That boy…”

Lussel was about to speak but groaned as if she was dissatisfied with something.

She seemed to be a little uncomfortable with Aileen.

Is it because of her competitive spirit as a fellow spiritist [one who can communicate with spirits]?

“It’s true that that boy is no ordinary person. Honestly, if we had continued to fight there…”

“If you had continued to fight, even Lussel might have been in trouble?”

Elenia read the elf’s true feelings, who was muttering as if she was resentful, and preemptively said.

“As a spiritist, is that boy stronger than Lussel?”

She deliberately chose words that would provoke the elf girl.

At least Elenia thought their skills were almost equal.

Of course, the Princess herself is not a spiritist and does not know the theory of spirits.

So she may have been wrong.

Lussel pouted her lips as if she was resentful.

“…If we had kept fighting then, I would have subdued him? …I was being lenient then.”

“Oh? That’s great. At least I thought you were both considerable.”

At that time, the fight between the two was so splendid that it seemed as if the world was on fire in Princess Elenia’s eyes.

She wanted to stop them, but there was no room to intervene.

The only one who felt clearly superior to them was the silver-haired boy who was Lussel’s companion.

His name was Sylvester, wasn’t it?

That was the only one.

“…Haa. Yeah, I’ll be honest. That human boy named Aileen. He’s strong.”

“Is that so?”

“He might be stronger than me.”

Lussel honestly admitted and began to reveal her evaluation of Aileen.

“I didn’t summon all the spirits, but I think that Aileen guy is the same…”

“What’s the basis?”

“Because he had 余裕 [yoyuu – leeway, margin, room to spare] then.”

“That’s a great story.”

She admired her willingly.

And she had a strong conviction.

‘It’s as I guessed.’

Then this deal is even more valuable.

A means of connecting people.

There is always enough gain and loss just from that.

‘Not all value is in monetary wealth.’

She understands that well.

‘More than anything, someone with the same qualifications as that elf… or even more. If he’s a ‘spiritist’, he’s even more necessary. Just in case…’

One of the purposes of this deal is certainly to provide relief to the suffering soldiers.

But there is also something to think about after that.

The current crisis.

What is most needed to overcome it?

The answer is simple. Reliable talent.

‘I want to secure as much talent as possible that I can ask for.’

At least Aileen’s character has no major flaws.

That’s why she wanted to secure the boy so that he could stay here for a long time.

It was really fortunate that she was able to make a deal.

It became a great excuse.

At least until the current deal is over, that boy will not leave this place on his own.

Elenia thought that far and looked somewhere.

What’s there is just a flower decorated in the garden.

But what she’s thinking of is not the flower in front of her.

But the underground below.

The underground of this castle.

What’s there is a secret vault known only to the direct line of the Archduke’s family.

A treasure sleeping inside…

But a treasure that even they cannot touch.

‘…I have to get it in my generation just in case.’

That thought alone remains unchanged.

Even the Archduke, who accepts most of her childishness.

Surely he wouldn’t approve of that, saying it’s the family’s law.

She has no intention of bending her will either.

‘That’s the only way to solve the current crisis and the future disputes.’

She is considering ways to more reliably win over the boy named Aileen.

First, she will understand the boy, and if she is convinced that he is a more trustworthy person.

Then she will try to win him over.

She is prepared to reveal some information first for that purpose.

There is only one purpose.

‘To end the current war. And to shut those bastards’ mouths.’

She is not just talking about Marquis Celond’s scheme.

A firm plan to resolve all the threats that have become the root of this conflict beyond that.

She is thinking about a way to realize it.

129. I Just Did Business (1)

A fortress where the Celond Marquisate’s army is stationed.

“…Did you fail to secure the Princess?”

There, as soon as Marquis Celond heard the report, he frowned at the content that did not meet his expectations.

Several days have passed since he ordered the kidnapping to secure Elenia, the successor to the Falzante Principality.

But all that came back was a report that it had failed…

“I can’t believe it failed like that…”

If it had failed completely, such as being exposed, there would be no need to even smack his lips.

But the reason for the failure was the intervention of an unexpected intruder…

‘There shouldn’t have been such information?’

He had identified those who could be a hindrance.

He also knew that there was an elf with considerable skills near the Princess.

That’s why he ordered them to attract attention and isolate her.

At that time, the communication artifact on the desk began to react.

This artifact is the latest magic tool developed by the Empire, and it has the advantage that it is difficult to detect the contents.

He had given a pair connected to this to an informant in the Falzante Principality.

“…Is that him? That’s good.”

Because it was time to start questioning.

Marquis Celond activated the communication artifact.

He didn’t feel like saying any unnecessary formalities, so he threw everything away and only asked about the main point.

“There was something I wanted to ask.”

[…Are you asking about the failure of the Elenia securing operation?]

A slightly trembling, nervous voice was heard.

The person he is talking to now is Nelvis, the nephew of Archduke Nilpas.

And an informant who promised assistance in this war.