How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 248

276. The Spirit Master’s Leader (4)

“Well, I didn’t actually hear much. But when I said I was bringing the Elder, they didn’t object.”

He seemed taken aback, swallowing the words he was about to say.

“…Really? Not even a little… any words of resentment?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Now, make up your mind.”

I urged him.

“What will you do?”

“…I understand.”

In the end, Elmeroth seemed resigned, agreeing with a voice even more drained of strength.

“…I understand, so listen to this old man’s story first.”

He finally seemed willing to tell me what had happened.

I needed to hear it directly, as some things I knew might differ from his account.

So, I began to listen quietly.

The story of how he knew that Guild Master.

…And why he had been avoiding her, wasting his days until now.

* * *

About 100 years ago.

At the time, the alchemist Elmeroth was exploring the remote borders of a distant continent in search of a certain material.

Not all alchemists are like him, but Elmeroth was the type who wasn’t satisfied unless he tested and contemplated everything.

Therefore, instead of settling in one place, he wandered around, adventuring to encounter various materials.

Naturally, adventure involves danger, and there were countless times when he felt his life was threatened.

Still, he thought he had toughened up, overcoming those dangers.

But even Elmeroth thought this time was the end.

“…Lost.”

He had gotten lost in the forest while searching for a rare material.

The forest, however, boasted a vast scale, about the size of a large territory.

There were no roads because humans didn’t live there, and it was teeming with unidentified plants and beasts.

He felt unlucky.

Of course, he had done his research and made preparations.

He had no intention of going deep into the forest.

He had hired a local resident from a village outside the forest to guide him.

He also hired mercenaries as escorts.

However, the schedule was disrupted due to an unexpected attack by a powerful monster.

The mercenaries were defeated first, and then the guide.

He barely escaped, but he lost most of his belongings, so he was practically stranded.

“…I’d rather face bandits.”

Nature doesn’t communicate.

You can’t negotiate or threaten it.

If things go wrong, you can only die.

Elmeroth felt despair and tried desperately to find his way, but he realized it was futile.

What good is the skill to disguise iron as gold, or to coax foolish nobles?

He could barely distinguish poisonous plants.

Thanks to that knowledge, he could at least maintain minimal strength.

There was no hope beyond that.

Eventually, how much time had passed?

Elmeroth, whose little remaining strength had reached its limit, collapsed.

He slipped and fell into a mud puddle, and as his consciousness faded in that faint sensation, not even feeling the unpleasant touch.

Elmeroth realized that a strange wind was blowing.

A wind that seemed to wash away the unpleasantness of the mud puddle.

Reflexively, he raised his head and saw a spirit in the form of a woman commanding the wind.

“…A spirit?”

That was Elmeroth’s accidental encounter with the Spirit King Senillaina.

It was by chance that Senillaina discovered and rescued Elmeroth.

Originally, she had set up a base here and secluded herself.

Most spirits mainly stay in the spirit realm unless they have business, but Senillaina was unique compared to other spirits.

She spends most of her time materialized.

While doing so, she sensed a human wandering around and had been watching his movements.

And she noticed that the human was dying, and after much deliberation, she chose to help him.

-Business. Leave when done.

Senillaina said that as if she had no interest in Elmeroth.

She planned to drop him off at a suitable place outside the forest whenever he regained his strength.

Elmeroth also didn’t get involved any further.

He just needed to obtain the material he was after, and he could tell that she was no ordinary being.

However, ironically, it was Senillaina who spoke first in that atmosphere.

Whether she found it strange that he was risking death in a harsh forest just to obtain a rare material, or whether it was a whim.

She became interested in what Elmeroth was doing and initially just watched, but soon began to interfere in various ways.

Since he couldn’t ignore her, Elmeroth answered her questions one by one and showed her his sincerity.

He showed her his knowledge and skills, and also answered her questions about humans.

Senillaina was interested in the social structure of humans.

And he also heard about her.

“…You’re saying you founded a guild?”

-Yes. Guild. Right. Call it a guild.

It was then that he heard that she was the Guild Master of the Spirit Master Guild.

From the general background of the guild’s establishment to how much she was involved.

In fact, he heard all the core information of the Spirit Master Guild at this time.

However, the spirit herself still seemed to lack understanding of humans.

So, she asked Elmeroth.

Because it was a rare opportunity to directly encounter a human who had nothing to do with the guild.

-Elmeroth. What is the nature of humans?

“Humans… are greedy beings.”

Elmeroth honestly told her about the human image he had seen and experienced.

Fortunately, there were many examples to cite.

He had seen many humans as an alchemist.

There were many nobles who approached him coveting his skills, and there were also many humans who simply needed help.

Elmeroth told her everything about them.

Of course, there was also a reward for that action.

Senillaina would help Elmeroth find the materials he wanted, or teach him things he didn’t even know.

At least, the information he heard from her played a significant role in why he was able to achieve great success as an alchemist in the future.

However, all those actions didn’t mean it was a simple transaction.

He wasn’t oblivious either.

The most important thing to be a competent alchemist is to be perceptive.

Second is knowledge and skill.

Only a perceptive alchemist can open the vault of a greedy patron.

Elmeroth gradually realized that Senillaina’s interest was not just curiosity.

But Elmeroth left it alone, even though he knew.

He didn’t think of using her favor for free.

He showed his sincerity in his own way.

He taught her about humans, or showed her various skills.

From the unit of currency to the technique of deceiving it.

It was also Elmeroth who created various things in that originally desolate cave.

Human furniture or objects may not be necessary for a spirit, but they would be necessary for her to understand humans.

Of course, he realized that he had gone too far only later.

That’s how he belatedly had to admit it.

That his appearance of sincerely responding to that favor was not just pretense.

Of course, Elmeroth didn’t say it out loud either.

The Spirit King didn’t say it either.

He was not mature enough to readily say his inner thoughts at the time.

And she was not in a period where she understood the human image enough to understand it.

Time passed, and finally, the time came for Elmeroth to leave the cave.

-Are you leaving?

“I have no choice.”

In the first place, Elmeroth’s departure to find materials was not simply because of his desire to improve his knowledge.

“I can’t abandon an important request.”

The real reason he came to this forest in the first place.

There was a city suffering from an epidemic.

He had come because he was asked to find a solution to it.

He couldn’t abandon the request, and above all, the lord there was a good person.

He couldn’t turn a blind eye.

Until now, he had no choice but to stay to recover his strength, but he had to leave to complete the request.

“Don’t worry. If I finish the request, I’ll come back. I’m not so ungrateful as to forget the favor you’ve done me.”

Originally, he could have said it more sincerely, but he could only vaguely gloss over it.

He thought that would be enough at the time.

Senillaina acknowledged Elmeroth’s will and readily sent him off.

Above all, she also believed the promise to return.

She urged that if he needed help, he would come at any time, and the spirit masters under her command would also cooperate.

…Originally, it should have been like that.

But Elmeroth at that time was immature.

He thought naively.

That the world doesn’t work so easily.

The request was successfully completed.

The lord shed tears and expressed his gratitude.

Elmeroth half-listened to the gratitude and the offer he was saying and left his castle.

He kept his promise, so it was his turn to keep his promise.

But to put it simply.

Elmeroth did not keep his promise to Senillaina.

He didn’t return.

Not even once until now, about 100 years later.

* * *

“I broke my promise, so it’s this old man’s fault.”

Elmeroth, who had explained up to that point, sighed self-deprecatingly.

“It’s all this old man’s fault.”

“You’re leaving out the most important reason.”

I know.

That he wouldn’t say it on purpose.

It seemed he intended to deny it to the end unless I pointed it out.

That not keeping that promise was not his intention.

“This is just my personal investigation. But it seems there was a problem between the Spirit Master Guild and the Alchemist Guild at the time.”

I don’t know the reason, but there was a conflict between the two groups.

As a result, it seemed that considerable damage was done to both sides.

“Were there even deaths?”

The problem was that Elmeroth happened to belong to the Alchemist Guild at that time.

He’s causing accidents here and there now, so he’s free, but at that time, he was still bound by the group, so it’s not strange.

In the meantime, rumors spread.

That a human belonging to the Alchemist Guild and the Master of the Spirit Master Guild were colluding.

Unfortunately, that story began to circulate in a fierce atmosphere.

The reason for that was that spirit power was detected in the material Elmeroth brought.

It’s not an ordinary power either.

Naturally, the spirit masters thought of the Guild Master.

Her identity is only known to some executives within the guild, but even so, they thought that only the Master had that much power.

“If we’re not careful, we might even go to war with each other due to distrust. People are so narrow-minded.”

“……”

“I heard that the Vice Guild Master at the time negotiated with someone.”

It seemed that he had asked the person who was the source of the scandal to maintain internal control of the guild.

To not cause confusion.

When I said that, Elmeroth couldn’t keep his mouth shut either.

He let out a long, sigh-like sound and glared at me.

“…Really, you’re a terrible guy. What on earth do you do usually?”

“Well, I’m just very interested and skilled at digging into other people’s affairs.”

To be exact, I’m just saying it while recalling the contents of the original work.

“Anyway, it seems that the guild members who didn’t know anything at the time had doubts about the Guild Master.”

“It may be difficult for you to understand, but the guild itself could have been destroyed. In those days, that prejudice was even more severe.”

“So, you agreed to the negotiation?”

In response to the negotiation, Elmeroth pretended to deceive the Guild Master and said that he had obtained and used the material himself.

He took it upon himself.