How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 170

170. If You Say, ‘Did I Get Him?’ He Always Comes Back (8)

“Really, Sylvester? You know that monster?!”

I asked, a little too excited.

Sylvester just frowned, looking troubled, and hesitated to answer.

“I’m not sure. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“It doesn’t matter. Tell me. What makes you think so?”

Another Magic Realm creature? Or someone I don’t know?

I can’t ignore this.

I have a feeling I’ll make a serious mistake someday if I do.

“…Master.”

“Huh?”

“I had a master who taught me swordsmanship. I think I saw it once in his study. Sorry, I don’t know more than that.”

A master, huh…

Of course, he must have had someone who taught him the sword.

Sylvester’s master.

And the one who sent Sylvester to this era – he must be referring to that person.

The Sword Emperor, Melas.

“Your master’s study? There’s information there?”

“…I’m not sure. I saw it when I was very young. Or maybe I’m confusing it with another monster.”

The fact that he’s speaking so ambiguously means he’s not very sure.

“Sylvester, if there’s information in your master’s house, you can just check it. Why are you talking like you’ll never see it again?”

Alnix asks, seemingly unaware of the situation, but unfortunately, it’s impossible.

He’s saying that because he doesn’t know that Sylvester’s master was active in the civilization 20,000 years ago.

‘As expected, he didn’t readily reveal himself as in the original story.’

Then there’s no need to mention useless things.

I closed my mouth.

“I don’t even know where my master’s study is. It was lost somehow.”

“Did it get washed away in a flood or something?”

“Something like that.”

To put it metaphorically, it was washed away by time itself.

‘But it’s a shame.’

There’s information in the master’s study.

But even Sylvester doesn’t know where it is.

Because the terrain itself has changed over the millennia.

Even in the original story, Sylvester couldn’t find his master’s residence.

‘…Well, let’s just consider it a possibility.’

I’m not talented enough to search without any leads, and I’m not free either.

Let’s put that problem aside for now.

I slowly clenched and stretched my hands, checking my current condition.

I’ve recovered quite a bit in the meantime.

I can’t do anything about the physical fatigue itself, but my mana is almost a third of the way back.

But it’s better not to show it.

It seems like those guys haven’t recovered yet.

It’s good to match the pace of physical recovery to their condition.

However, I’m starting to feel restless, so I started eyeing something that fell nearby for fun.

“Come to think of it, what’s left is the dragon’s tail and… forefoot?”

I didn’t intend to leave them behind, but somehow I ended up cutting them off.

Fresh pieces are rolling around, with fresh blood dripping from the cut surfaces.

If I preserve that well and put it on the black market, I’d get a crazy amount of gold.

Of course, even if it’s a precious treasure, I don’t intend to sell it rashly.

The medicinal ingredients and equipment that can be obtained from it are also benefits that cannot be ignored.

It’s better for me to use it myself.

As I grinned and approached to check the condition of the forefoot…

*Thwack!*

As if sensing my approach, the dragon’s forefoot flapped wildly and tried to claw at me.

I was lucky to step back quickly, or I would have been clawed.

“Wow, that’s dangerous… that thing is really fresh.”

It’s as if the resentment of its owner is still lingering.

I’m not going to be cursed, am I?

“I should keep that too for now.”

Alnix asked with a bit of curiosity, as if he heard my mutterings.

“Well, I heard that even a single dragon scale is expensive? Is it really that expensive?”

“Of course. It’s very, very expensive!”

I smiled and nodded.

A dragon is a living treasure trove in itself.

The only thing you can’t use from it is its poop.

You can squeeze out its blood, cut out its flesh, and grind its bones into powder or boil them thoroughly, leaving nothing to waste.

The most profitable thing is to hunt it down whole and monopolize everything, but that’s difficult at this stage.

‘If it were a weak species, it would have been overhunted and extinct long ago.’

I wouldn’t complain if even a fragment remained.

Even picking up crumbs is profitable.

“Come to think of it, didn’t quite a few of the dragon’s scales fall off while we were fighting?”

I’m talking about the scales that those two scraped off while beating up the dragon.

“…Hey, you’re not thinking of picking up all of that, are you?”

“I’ll share it with you. And it’s expensive. Can you help me? We have to make a living, you know?”

“…Okay. I’ll help you as soon as I recover my strength.”

In the end, Alnix and Sylvester also gave in to my greed and agreed to cooperate.

After going through the trouble of picking up every single scale that fell around, we gathered the collected materials, put them in a sack, and threw them into the subspace [a pocket dimension or storage space accessible only to the user].

Distribution later~

Just when I thought there was nothing more to collect, Alnix glared into the distance and mentioned the last remaining problem.

“Then the problem is that creepy castle now? What are you going to do with that?”

A demonic ritual site.

Well, to be exact, it should be said that it *used* to be a ritual site.

The demons are all dead, and the summoning circle is unusable.

Moreover, a large hole was made in it because the dragon popped out.

“Don’t worry, that thing will collapse soon.”

At that time, I felt a vibration as if the ground was shaking, and then the damaged castle collapsed.

“Oh, it collapsed. Speak of the devil.”

There’s nothing to be sad about.

I had already scouted out the materials worth recovering.

It’s easier to clean up if it’s smashed at this point.

It’s better if there are no traces of me rummaging through it.

Even if it hadn’t collapsed now, I would have made up some excuse to smash it.

“Well, I think we’ve done enough work, right? Anyone have anything else to do?”

“No.”

“I want to go back quickly too. My whole body aches.”

Neither Sylvester nor Alnix seem to have any other opinions.

“Okay, then let’s go back as soon as possible.”

“…Wait a minute? Aileen, you’re not going to use that creepy teleport again on the way back, are you?”

“Creepy teleport? Am I crying?”

Alnix frowned, remembering that he had motion sickness.

“No, can’t we just walk back slowly?”

He can tolerate it if it’s a short distance, but he probably doesn’t want to endure that ordeal again for a long distance.

More than that, what do you mean by walking slowly?

Hiking? I wouldn’t do it even if you paid me.

“I don’t want to. I’m going to use teleport. We don’t have time, and…”

I sighed and then added,

“Either way, I don’t have enough mana to go to the central city of the principality from here.”

I’m thinking of going to a nearby village, resting there for a while, and then moving again.

“You can handle that much, right?”

“Ugh…”

“I’ll treat you when we arrive at any city or town. Or would you rather starve here and grill bugs?”

If we walk, we’ll have to camp out.

There’s nothing but fresh forest cockroaches in a place like this.

Of course, I have plenty of emergency food, but I don’t bother to show it off.

Above all, camping is a hassle.

Sylvester put his hand on my shoulder without hesitation.

“I’ll go back with Aileen. That’s definitely the fastest way.”

“Hey, Sylvester.”

“This is the most rational thing to do.”

If you want to walk, go walk by yourself.

There’s no friendship in the face of convenience and food.

Alnix doesn’t seem to like that either, so he hesitated for a long time before putting his hand on my shoulder.

“…Please.”

“Then I’ll take you safely~.”

All that’s left is to go back.

Let’s leave the rest of the cleanup to others as planned.

‘And including the information I got here. It’s better to use it for checks and balances.’

I’ve already thought about it to some extent.

* * *

A long line of carriages was running tirelessly towards its destination.

Flying the flag with the emblem of the Forellos Empire, a large number of soldiers were marching alongside it for escort.

In each carriage, skilled knights were on standby to take action in case of an emergency.

They were directly escorting two humans, enough to annihilate a single city.

“We’ll be arriving as scheduled soon, Brother Aleus.”

Among the escort procession, a young woman in her late teens quietly spoke to her brother in the carriage that was receiving the most strict escort.

The young man, who was sitting across from her and silently watching outside the carriage, let out a soft sigh and replied.

“…Fortunately, nothing happened on the way.”

“You’re too worried.”

“Isn’t it a situation where I should be overly worried?”

Considering their destination and purpose, he thought that anything could happen.

“To the people here, we are just hateful imperial royals. Isn’t it something to worry about?”

Aleus Rupalette Gelunaos, the second prince of the Forellos Empire.

And likewise, Resilia Rupalette Gelunaos, the third princess.

Both of them are royals who inherited the blood of the imperial family.

“Resilia, this is not something to be taken lightly. We are going to cover up Selond’s foolish mistake. Anything could happen.”

“I’ve never taken it lightly. It’s just… I don’t quite understand why you have to go this long way.”

Resilia sighed deeply.

The place they are heading to now is the Falzente Principality.

And the cause of it was Marquis Selond’s rampage.

He started a war on his own and lost on his own.

Then who should take responsibility?

Originally, the imperial family would not step in for an individual marquis’s misbehavior.

He would either take responsibility himself, or an agent would step in to resolve the situation.

But things have gotten out of hand.

Summoning demons has become a target of condemnation.

Inside the imperial family, nobles are wasting time arguing over who is responsible for Marquis Selond’s rampage.

“But we have to go…”

“It can’t be helped. His Majesty ordered it directly.”

The emperor opened his heavy mouth directly regarding the matter of responsibility.

He directly summoned the two of them and ordered them to take on the role of negotiating.

“To be honest, I think someone else should be doing this, not us.”

He knows who Resilia is referring to.

The third prince, Abil.

Even though there is no evidence, most of the royals already sense that Abil was the one who started it.

“His Majesty must know too.”

But he still ordered it.

Then there’s no choice but to follow.

“How about thinking that we’ve put him in debt with this?”

“Debt… but I doubt he’ll see it that way.”

And even if he sees it as a debt, it’s only a valid argument if the negotiation goes smoothly.

If it fails, the instigator will slip away, and only they will receive the glares of the nobles.

Frankly, isn’t it a thankless job?

So they can’t have bright expressions.

It’s like they’ve been saddled with someone else’s burden.

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to lead the negotiation smoothly. Negotiation is what they want too.”

“…Do you think they’ll accept it easily?”

Will Nilpas, the Archduke of Falzente, the negotiating party, be an easy opponent to accept?

They won’t be convinced without sufficient compensation.

“At least we can meet their demands without damaging their reputation.”

They also want to declare the end of the war as soon as possible.

If we can draw out an agreement by pretending to accommodate their wishes as much as possible, there won’t be any problems.

“His Majesty has already approved the negotiation materials.”

Even a child wouldn’t think that they could pay the price for summoning demons with just words.

At least we need to make concessions to the extent that they are satisfied and declare that we will not pay more than that.

“That’s why His Majesty sent two of us, right?”

It’s absurd for the emperor to step in directly.

However, if two royals are sent to agree to negotiate, at least it will be a gesture of sincerity to them.

“…I hope it goes that way.”

Resilia sighed deeply once again.