How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 133

146. Treasures are Always Hidden Underground (4)

“A path has opened. Please, enter first.”

“…Why didn’t you do that sooner?”

“Eyy~ It’s actually quite a hassle, you know.”

Even though it looks simple, it requires precise adjustments.

If you apply the wrong force, it could collapse.

Here, the wall itself acts as a pillar.

So, you have to choose a point that doesn’t cause the most damage and carefully carve out the wall to create a passage.

It’s a surprisingly delicate trick.

“Originally, the way to pass through a maze has always been simple, both now and in the past.”

You can just force a path through.

“Alright! Let’s move on.”

The magician who created this path would probably cry if he saw this scene.

He might shout, ‘I didn’t make this labyrinth for that!’

Who cares?

I scoffed and continued to carve out the path.

“But Aileon? Does that mean this facility can’t be used after this?”

“I hope you’ll consider that an unavoidable consequence.”

Repairing after breaking things isn’t included in my job description.

* * *

After carving out paths and ignoring the maze, we finally arrived at a room that looked like a vault.

I’ve never seen anything like this door before.

We must have reached the end.

“Is this room definitely the vault you mentioned?”

“It’s definitely it! It’s my first time seeing it too, but it matches the records I read!”

The Princess Elenia, happy to have finally arrived, approached with a light step and caressed the firmly closed door.

It seems certain. Good for her.

“How do we open it? Surely that wasn’t forgotten too, was it?”

“Of course not. You underestimate me too much.”

“Considering the intentions of those who built this place, it’s only natural.”

“…Is that sharp tongue your true nature, by any chance?”

“I’m rather tired from using quite a bit of strength, so please forgive my rudeness.”

“Yes, yes. I’m sure you are.”

Well, she wouldn’t rebuke me now, so I’m just acting according to my personality.

It’s more comfortable this way.

The Princess soon took out a square plate from her possession.

“Is this perhaps the key to this place?”

“That’s right. Although they didn’t leave anything about the path to get here, they did properly leave the key to unlock the vault’s seal.”

Then your ancestors should have properly left a good way to get here too.

Well, there’s no reason to say unnecessary things and jinx it.

It’s meaningless.

I just clapped my hands.

“Now, behold!”

Is she happy that it’s finally her turn after not being able to do anything until now?

Princess Elenia proudly held the key item to the door.

“Alright, that’s far enough~.”

I immediately grabbed her wrist and activated space transition, retreating as far back as possible.

“What? Aileon, what are you suddenly doing… Huh?!”

The reason the Princess was about to complain but was instead surprised was because she understood what had happened in the spot she had been standing just a moment ago.

White spheres poured down from the ceiling, bombarding and incinerating the spot where she had been standing.

To make matters worse, this time a red beam of light was chasing after us.

“…What was that just now?”

“Logically speaking, the security system up until now has been surprisingly weak, unlike what we were worried about.”

“What do you mean?”

“In other words, it was too easy.”

I said, continuously skipping through space while dodging the continuous barrage of bullets.

“They wouldn’t protect valuable treasures with just a maze, traps, and monsters that can be eliminated with just that, would they?”

Above all, it’s suspicious that an ancestor who didn’t even trust his descendants would leave the key so carelessly.

More than anything, this development will happen in the original story, so I already knew it.

I was half expecting it.

The paranoia of the Falzentaia Archduke’s ancestors is even more thorough.

From the moment you enter this maze, there is no way to pass through it normally.

They never intended to let anyone in from the start.

Even the key is fake.

“What do you mean?”

“It means there’s no way to get in from the start… Well, that’s just my guess.”

“…Ugh, I see. Is that so.”

The Princess seemed to realize her mistake and bit her lip.

“I’m sorry. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have asked you.”

“It doesn’t really matter? I told you, I guessed it would happen.”

“Huh?”

“I was prepared from the start, since we had to break through a place that couldn’t be entered in the first place.”

To be exact, I already knew it.

Because in the original story, the protagonist had to suffer because of this guy at the end.

I accepted it knowing that, so there’s no reason to be dissatisfied.

“So, there’s no need for you to feel responsible. Even solving this is part of the request. That’s how I see it.”

Saying something plausible, I looked up.

“Ah, is it there?”

I immediately sent the Shadow Blades to continuously pierce the ceiling with precision.

“Come out, you were caught.”

It, which had been ambushing us from inside, avoided the blades attacking through the ceiling, and the top rumbled.

It seems like it dodged it.

Is the passage inside quite wide?

“I said come out, you bastard. Who’s hiding and sniping?”

That kind of sneaky position is only allowed for me.

The Shadow Blades that were stabbing and scratching the ceiling moved with a rattling sound! As a part of the ceiling collapsed, it fell.

“Haha. It’s so nice to see you in person, isn’t it?”

What fell was a bizarre magic tool made by weaving together several strange shapes.

It was constantly moving the shapes that made up its body.

-Kyarararararararak!

The bizarre sound every time it moved was a bonus.

It’s more like a machine than a monster.

“That is…”

“It’s probably a security measure left by the installer of this place. They must have been uneasy with just living monsters. It’s only natural to have guards with unchanging performance for a long time.”

However, it’s common to have automatons, but this one is different.

“It feels more like a magic tool with the performance to guard the place rather than a guard.”

Should I call it an ‘Object’ for convenience?

That’s what the protagonist called it in the original story.

As the complex collection of shapes, the so-called Object, moved, spheres of light poured towards us again.

“It’s probably a magic bullet. It’ll hurt quite a bit if you get hit by that. Would you like to try it?”

“Don’t joke around! Avoid it at all costs!”

“Yes sir! As you command.”

Using the power of the Gnome [an earth spirit], I made walls rise from the floor to guard, but they were instantly destroyed.

It blocked the bullet-shaped light, but a laser-like light was emitted from the inside.

It must have judged that the bullets were meaningless and attacked with a different pattern.

‘Oh, it can penetrate too?’

I activated Space Fixation, put up a transparent wall in front, and slightly adjusted the angle to bounce it off the floor.

In the original story, when the protagonist openly guarded against it with Aura, the light scattered in all directions and flew towards his companions, causing even more confusion.

The light, refracted downwards, penetrated deep into the ground.

What a terrifying penetration power.

It would have been a disaster if it had been blown upwards.

I have to be careful when defending.

“Aileon, what are you going to do?”

“If we were to follow the standard approach, it would be safer to drag it out into a long battle and respond carefully.”

For a stable strategy, it’s better to respond carefully, but time is precious, and above all, there’s no need to.

“Since time is precious, let’s end it all at once.”

As I gestured, hundreds of Water Spears appeared from all directions and flew towards it.

-Kyarararak!

However, before they could reach it, the wave that the monster emitted with a strange noise erased them.

‘A high level of magic resistance wave.’

Well, I already knew about that level of defense performance.

‘In the original story, was the emission interval of that resistance wave about 1 second?’

That’s not a problem either.

In fact, it’s easier to deal with tools with patterns like that than monsters with some intelligence.

‘It’s just a strangely moving turret.’

I just have to smash it according to the strategy I know.

It’s annoying that I have to hit it within 1-second intervals, but it’s an area that I can do enough.

Even if it’s a difficult interval to hit with a human hand, a spirit can show comma-level precision depending on the spirit power of the spirit master.

I’ve practiced so much!

The moment the Water Spears collided with the defense wall and were annihilated.

A stone spear soared up from below and struck the Object’s body as it was.

‘Surprisingly, physical blows are more effective against this kind of opponent.’

The Object’s body soared without withstanding the impact.

-Kyarak?!

A noise that sounded like it was panicking.

‘I won’t give you time to recover.’

And as it was, I stretched out the Shadow Blades between the gaps in the body that was shaking from the impact and stabbed them in all directions.

I continued to inflict damage by running electricity through it.

…The finish.

“…Destroy it all at once with a powerful blow.”

Activating Gravity Control, I created a heavy gravity field in front and slammed it down.

Kwaang!

The Object’s body flew as if it had been shot and slammed into the vault door.

“And with such a strong impact, even the door is smashed.”

With this, the gatekeeper who was interfering, as well as the door, have been perfectly dealt with.

I politely bowed and told the Princess, who was watching with admiration, that the request had been resolved.

“Well, it’s over. As a bonus, I’ve perfectly opened the door.”

“…I’ve been wondering since before. Aileon, why are you doing merchant work? Wouldn’t it be a path to success if you did something else?”

“Who knows~.”

…Well, I don’t want to succeed and work normally.

Success is not necessarily a happy life.

Great success comes with a lot of hard work.

So I avoid that.

That’s all.

In fact, Princess Elenia only works usually!

I hate that!

“Rather than that, it would be better to go in quickly. Now that we’ve opened the door, it would be better to secure the target.”

“Yes, that would be good.”

The Princess nodded blankly and hurriedly ran inside the door.

I don’t think there will be anything more threatening.

At least the defense measures described in the original story were the last ones I smashed just now.

‘…Come to think of it, this was a magic tool with quite advanced technology applied to it, wasn’t it?’

The production cost would have been quite high because they used only the most expensive materials possible.

I broke it, but the materials aren’t going anywhere.

I opened a subspace and stored the wreckage of the Object I had broken inside.

It may be useful, and if not, I can just dispose of it and my pockets will be full.

‘And this is quite a good income~.’

As expected, the events that the protagonist has to do are quite lucrative.

While I was feeling pleased, the Princess, who had gone ahead, exclaimed as if she had found the target.

“It’s here!”

How far did she go in the meantime?

She’s so fearless.

“…Princess, I think it’s dangerous to go ahead so recklessly, even if it’s you.”

“It’s okay. I’m not a child, so I can tell that much. More than that, Aileon! This is what I’m looking for! It’s here!”

Rarely acting like herself, Princess Elenia pointed to a place with a fuss, like a child who came out for sightseeing.

There, an artifact in the shape of a disc was placed in a wide, transparent panel.

“Is it definitely it?”

“Yes, it’s definitely it! It’s exactly like the picture my grandfather showed me before!”

That means that what is there is the main body of the treasure that they have been hiding and protecting here since their ancestors, the Falzentaia Archdukes.

‘Well, in the original story, it was said to be a disc-shaped artifact.’

And if she recognizes it, it won’t be wrong.

“What would you like to do? Shall we take it out right away?”

“It’s uneasy to leave it as it is. Let’s take it out.”

“I understand. Then please step back for a moment.”

That transparent panel seems to be metal, even though it looks like that.

When I tapped it lightly, it felt like tapping iron.

It seems that they used transparent iron for aesthetic purposes.

I don’t know who designed this place, but it’s very pretentious.

‘Transparent metal… Geez, there’s everything in this world. I like that.’

Admiring these little things, I put my hand on one corner of the storage box.

“Can you open it?”