How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 259

289. Spirit Magic (2)

I briefly considered grabbing some popcorn, but that would only delay things.

“…Let’s stop this.”

Before Cruise could finish the spell to blow the guy’s chin off, I quickly stepped in and blocked them.

“…Aileron?”

The mana emanating from Cruise vanished instantly.

She quickly regained her composure, realizing she almost attacked an innocent mercenary, and awkwardly avoided my gaze.

Well, there’s always one idiot who doesn’t even notice the situation.

“Huh? Who’s this guy?”

“…Such language.”

For a moment, I regretted not letting him get beat up a little before intervening. Just a brief moment.

I don’t exactly enjoy watching people get hurt, so let’s just get rid of him as I intended.

I waved my hand dismissively.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Looks like you’re picking a fight because he looks like an easy target. I’m telling you to get lost before you regret it later.”

“…This punk, looking down on me.”

He growled, ready to pounce, but fortunately, his companion wasn’t completely oblivious.

He frowned at me and quickly grabbed his companion’s shoulder, as if something had clicked.

“Hey, stop it.”

“It’s not that… this guy… he’s the owner of that Aileron Store.”

“…Huh? Aileron?”

His eyes widened like a startled parrot.

“So… could it be? Is that guy really the owner there?”

“…I heard. Definitely.”

Seeing them whispering and glancing at me, it seems my reputation has spread quite a bit.

There’s probably some prestige attached to being the owner of a successful commercial group.

“…That crazy spiritist.”

…Huh? What?

“…I heard he completely overturned the Spiritist Guild.”

“…And after that, the vice guild master came out submissively and negotiated, right?”

“…It seems there was a conflict before that.”

They’re whispering amongst themselves, excluding me from the conversation.

But what I’m hearing sounds ominous.

Who are they talking about when they say ‘Aileron?’

“…I heard that if someone is annoying, they drag them out and throw them into the fire spirit’s mouth…”

“…He’s out of his mind.”

“…Completely insane.”

“…I heard you shouldn’t get involved with him if you want to stay in one piece.”

Whisper, whisper…

I only hear ominous stories.

And I’m a little hurt.

When did I ever do such a thing?

Rumors are usually exaggerated, and they become more grotesque as they’re passed around…

Just listening to the story, I sound like a crazy guy who throws annoying people into the flames of spirits without hesitation?

…Aileron sounds like a very dangerous individual.

I can’t deny it since I brought it on myself.

It’s also convenient to be a little feared.

Look, like this.

“Yes. Yes. That’s Aileron. A very dangerous Aileron, so avoid me if you know what’s good for you.”

When I waved my hand again, the mercenary who recognized me flinched and hesitated, perhaps because of his pride, but eventually chose to back down.

“I’ll… get you for this.”

I sighed as I watched them leave without looking back.

“There’s no need to deal with those kinds of guys. From now on, just threaten them with magic appropriately. It’s less annoying.”

“…That’s what I was going to do.”

“Huh? Just a moment ago, you were about to blow his chin off with a Magic Missile spell?”

“As long as I don’t kill him, it’s fine.”

…Scary.

“Those who don’t recognize the value of my magic tools and nitpick are the bad ones. Yes. That’s right.”

Cruise calmly nodded and justified herself.

It’s true that they started the fight, but I’m worried if she can navigate social situations properly in the future like this.

You’re going to catch a lot of unwanted attention, miss.

“…Personally, if I may offer a piece of advice regarding these kinds of claims, you should write down the usage and effects on the magic tools and sell them with the product. Then it will be easier to feign ignorance [if someone misuses the tool].”

In other words, include a manual.

“…Do you think they would bother reading it even if I did that?”

“I explained it anyway. Then I can make the excuse that it’s strange that they didn’t read it.”

Manuals are important. They’re important even if you don’t read them.

Anyway, after giving that advice, I immediately told Cruise what I needed.

“By the way, Cruise, are you interested in the theory of spirit magic?”

“…Tell me.”

Her eyes changed, reflecting serious interest, and I knew I had her hooked.

Easy.

With this, I’ve successfully recruited talent who will remember the difficult theories.

* * *

Now, the only problem is whether I can learn it or not.

In other words, it depends on me.

I explained the situation to Cruise, and as expected, she readily agreed to join me.

“Spirit magic! It’s a theory that I gave up on researching because there was no information about it in the Tower! [The White Tower is a common trope in fantasy, representing a center of magical learning and research.]”

Shining with a mage’s thirst for knowledge, she seems like she would follow me even if I told her not to.

“Rather, Aileron, why didn’t you ask for my help with such an interesting… no, big matter?”

“…Did you just say interesting?”

“That’s not important, is it?”

Instead, she complained, half-complaining about why I didn’t include her in the incident involving the Wind Spirit King.

I can’t help it.

Cruise is a mage belonging to the White Tower.

I couldn’t dismiss the possibility that involving her in the Spiritist Guild’s problems would cause troublesome repercussions.

Anyway, excited about the opportunity to learn a new theory, Cruise, without being told to, said:

“Don’t worry. I’ll interpret any lacking theories and help you somehow.”

Her enthusiasm is about to explode.

Anyway, I waited with Cruise on a plain quite far from the city, and soon the Spirit King Senileina descended.

-Did you wait?

“I waited.”

We exchanged brief greetings.

“…It really is the Spirit King.”

Cruise muttered as if she couldn’t believe it even after hearing about it.

-Who’s that human?

“As I mentioned, she’s a friend who will be helping me with the theoretical part. She’s trustworthy, so don’t worry.”

-I don’t care.

She coolly approves of Cruise’s presence.

From the beginning, her identity was going to be revealed to a certain extent even within the Spiritist Guild.

“I’m Cruise Elphament. Oh, apex of spirits.”

Cruise seriously introduced herself, and the Spirit King nodded once in response.

“Then, please teach me about spirit magic.”

“…Aileron, your manners.”

-It’s okay.

“She said it’s okay.”

-I gave up.

“Is that what you meant?”

We’re not in a relationship that would be ruined by a little nagging.

The Spirit King immediately began explaining spirit magic.

-Spirit magic. First of all, it’s not something a spiritist uses.

The Spirit King lightly extended her arm forward as if demonstrating and chanted a spell.

As she chanted, the wind swirled, and spirit energy began to move in a complex array, creating a formula.

-Spirit magic is the essence of spirits.

Not the essence of spiritists, but the essence of spirits.

“The essence of spirits… It’s certainly natural that the theory can’t be passed down to humans for generations.”

Cruise groaned as if she had a headache, pointing out why it’s difficult to learn this technique.

“Because it’s not the essence of humans, but the essence of spirits.”

This is the fundamental reason why this secret is virtually treated as lost.

It’s not me who has to learn it, but the spirit I contracted with.

“…I’m guessing, but wasn’t spirit magic developed by a high-ranking spirit like you?”

-Correct.

She lightly affirmed.

-But in the past, there were a few humans who had their contracted spirits learn this.

“…Just for reference, when was the last spirit magic user?”

-Hmm, 4,000 years?

At that point, I don’t even know who that is.

“It can’t be helped that there are no records left.”

Cruise smiled wryly as if she understood, but the Spirit King shook her head as if that wasn’t the case.

-Wrong. There were mages in the past who mastered this theory.

“…Who is it?”

-The name… I don’t remember. It wasn’t me who taught it. Maybe it was the Water Spirit King?

“Well, rather than who someone whose name I don’t even know is, the problem is whether I can learn it now.”

In conclusion, there are absolute conditions to learn this.

“So, to use magic, you need that much intelligence and… the ability to control spirit energy yourself, right?”

-Based on your standards, at least high-level.

There may be differences depending on the individual, but only spirits of at least high-level or higher can barely learn it.

The hurdle isn’t high for no reason.

It’s so high that my head will break!

First, I listed the spirits that are currently available here and pondered which entity could be taught spirit magic.

‘The most suitable one would be that girl… it would be suitable for her nature as well.’

I immediately summoned Undine.

Then, I roughly explained spirit magic to Undine and asked her to receive the transmission.

-Spirit magic? What’s that?

Seeing her tilting her head innocently, I’m already worried.

“Undine, can you do it?”

-I don’t know, but I’ll try!

“Okay… your positive attitude is good.”

I’m glad you’re full of motivation.

I stroked Undine and asked Senileina again for confirmation.

“For now, she’s motivated, but can she really be taught?”

-I don’t care. She’s rather suitable.

She scanned Undine once and gave her a high evaluation.

This is truly an honor.

-Spirit magic. Spirits that have grown strongly are more likely to learn it.”

“So, Undine is qualified enough?”

If so, I can expect something.

“I’m counting on you.”

-Leave it to me.

“…But specifically, how do you teach it?”

-Don’t worry. It won’t take long.

“Hmm… you seem to be using a pretty good method?”

I was a little curious about what method she was using.

-You’ll know when you see it.

Whether she didn’t want to explain it or was just annoyed, she looked at Undine and beckoned.

-Come here.

Usually, it’s common sense for spirits not to listen to orders from anyone other than the summoned spiritist without permission.

But the other party is the Spirit King, one of the superiors who reigns at the top even if the attributes are different.

Undine hesitated for a few seconds and then obediently moved to the Spirit King.

What is she trying to do?

I watched for now.

-The method of teaching humans is different. Humans take time to learn.

“Well, that’s the difficult part. So, spirits are different?”

-We have a more direct method.

Saying that, the Spirit King put her hand on Undine’s head.

Then, she began to emit spirit energy that showed a strange reaction.

‘Is she directly interfering with the components of Undine’s spirit?’

Normally, I would never allow such suspicious behavior that would allow someone to interfere with my spirit, but there’s no way that Spirit King would do something that would harm me.

I watched quietly.

I watched her spirit energy deeply penetrate Undine and exert strong interference for a few seconds.

-It’s over.

And after saying it simply enough to be anticlimactic, she took her hand off Undine.

Undine immediately flew back to me.

-Ailer, it’s over!

“…Ah, I see.”

I just pretended to agree for now.

Is this the latest patch complete?