How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 276

276. How to Profit as an Extra (276/344)

Chapter 276

307. The Stolen Center (7)

“……Unexpected. You recognized me right away.”

“Aren’t the names of the Imperial Family frequently heard within the Empire? Everyone is famous.”

They parade around, show their faces at all sorts of events, and get spoon-fed achievements, so of course they’re famous.

However, Abil countered my sarcasm with a cynical laugh.

“Hmph. Don’t talk nonsense. My brother, maybe, but my name wouldn’t be famous.”

“Still, you seem to be popular among some people.”

The good citizens might not know, but among corrupt nobles or those with shady backgrounds, he’s probably the Empire’s idol.

Oh? Does that mean I’m shady too?

“Well, jokes aside, putting me aside, it seems Your Highness also knows me quite well? Am I famous?”

Let’s return the favor.

Perhaps Abil had some understanding of me?

From the incident in the Falzente Duchy? Or perhaps something related to the Merchant Guild?

The guesses are endless.

If he didn’t know me at all, he wouldn’t have agreed to meet me here like this.

He doesn’t deny that fact either.

“Heh heh. Yes, I’ve certainly encountered your name in reports several times. Ah, don’t misunderstand. Some of the things you sell are quite useful to me.”

“Oh, so you were a customer. I didn’t know.”

But I won’t give any extras.

My motto is ‘a store known for not giving service’.

I’m being a bit more cynical than usual, but I can’t help it.

I can’t afford to be underestimated.

At least, I need to give the impression that I’m a troublesome opponent to deal with.

Scheming won’t work, so I need to at least plant the idea that I’m an uncontrollable madman.

Grrr. Aileen bites well.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like he would try to provoke me first, even without this pretense.

“Stop with the useless talk. Cough…….”

He coughed mid-sentence.

As expected, his physical condition isn’t great, just like in the original story.

Just by looking at him, his energy feels less than half of others, and that’s based on an average person’s standard.

“Stop being so wary. I can’t do anything to you here, can I?”

“Certainly, even if you were holding a weapon, you wouldn’t be able to do anything to me.”

Conversely, I could eliminate him even if I were only holding a fork.

Meeting in such a secluded place is, in a way, showing me proper sincerity by gambling with his own safety.

“I roughly understand that your intention is to align your interests with mine.”

“If you understand that much, I couldn’t be more grateful. ……So, what do you want to hear?”

“First, what I want to ask is, what about the other Imperial Family members?”

“Are you referring to Resilia?”

It seems he knows about that too.

“I’ll start by expressing my gratitude for Resilia being in your care.”

“So…… it was you who deliberately had her infiltrate the Selvas Kingdom.”

That wasn’t surprising.

At the time, Princess Resilia didn’t even properly grasp the full picture of what she was doing.

That means someone was moving her.

At least, the only person capable of that would be that sly Imperial Prince.

I want to question him about that too, but that’s for a bit later.

“So, what’s the answer to my question?”

“So impatient. Listen slowly. Surely you have that much time?”

He chuckled and began to list, one by one, the situations he had grasped.

“Let me tell you, I don’t know the details either. I’m not making excuses. I really don’t know.”

“Tell me at least what you do know.”

“……Hmm, I barely managed to escape when things went down. I don’t know much.”

“Oh, really?”

I have a lot to say about that attitude, but I restrained myself for now.

“I had secured a map of this place from before.”

“Hmm hmm. Well, that’s understandable.”

Even if he wasn’t aiming for this incident, he needed a place to escape to in case something went wrong, so he had his eye on escape routes.

I understand that.

A man should always have one or two escape routes in his heart.

The role model for a wise life is a cockroach. They can get out of anywhere.

“As far as I know, almost no Imperial Family members escaped from the Imperial Palace…… except for my sister, who was on a temporary inspection tour to the Empire’s border.”

“Does that mean everyone is captured in the Imperial Palace?”

“Again, I’m not sure about that either. That’s just how it is based on what I’ve gathered.”

“Um…… well, let’s leave it at that.”

Either way, the Imperial Palace is where I’ll have to go eventually, so if the Imperial Family members are there, I can just solve my purpose while I’m at it.

‘I’m not saying I’m not worried, but it’s not like there’s no chance they’re safe.’

In fact, what I’m curious about is the whereabouts of one man before Resilia’s.

“I don’t know about His Majesty either.”

And Abil preemptively said, as if he could see right through me.

How mischievous.

“Aren’t you worried? He’s your father before he’s the Emperor, isn’t he?”

“There’s no point in worrying about someone who isn’t here in this situation. ……The Imperial Family doesn’t need familial affection. I should be worrying about the people here right now instead.”

“You’re cold.”

“It’s a natural quality.”

Anyway, he doesn’t know the Emperor’s whereabouts either.

Maybe he fled first, or he’s in the safest place.

Or maybe…….

He doesn’t care what happens from the start.

“Then, what I want to hear next is…… how much power can you currently gather?”

“You’re being blunt.”

“To put it bluntly, we can’t quietly end things at this point, can we? Aren’t you going to retaliate?”

After all, the root of the solution is force.

It’s only natural to confirm that.

“You have soldiers, right? How many Imperial Knights have you secured?”

“I’m sorry to say, but I think I can only give you disappointing answers regarding that.”

“Alright, I’ll be disappointed first.”

I, Aileen, am disappointed.

Seeing this attitude, he somehow puts his hand on his forehead and shakes his head.

“You…… unexpectedly…….”

“Unexpectedly what?”

He mumbled and then gave an answer to what I had just asked.

“Let me tell you. There’s almost none.”

“…….”

“There are quite a few ordinary knights and soldiers here, but what you want isn’t ordinary talent like that, is it?”

That’s right.

Only those who can be a force, at least those who I can hide behind in an emergency.

“There’s the mercenary Elraut, but it’s questionable whether she’ll accept requests in the future.”

“Let’s put her aside. Then, are there really no skilled knights at all?”

“Most of them are missing. It was such a sudden attack that it wouldn’t be strange if some died. Or they might still be holed up in the Imperial Palace.”

“What about the Magic Corps?”

There should also be the Empire’s strongest magician there.

Clopord Belphenas.

He could rival Kmelz in certain situations.

“He died in battle.”

What I heard was the news of the strongest magician’s death.

It seems the Red Tower was also annihilated.

“They were instantly annihilated in the surprise attack. Clopord happened to be caught up in it while he was at the Red Tower.”

“Oh, dear.”

That’s disappointing news.

I exhaled as if I were indifferent and deleted the available lists one by one from my head.

It feels like the allies are decreasing and the ones I have to fight are increasing.

It’s no wonder the Empire is in such a checkmate [a situation in chess where a player’s king is in a position to be captured and there is no way to remove it from attack].

There’s really no one to deal with it.

If I didn’t have the knowledge of the original story, I would have given up long ago.

There’s no hope anymore.

* * *

Anyway, I roughly heard the story and decided to cooperate.

Even if I don’t get involved, Sylvester will probably get involved, and he won’t be able to handle the situation alone.

The goal is to recapture the capital first.

We began to rack our brains in earnest to find a way to recapture the capital and punish the villains.

Days of reviewing methods, rejecting them, and reviewing them again, agonizing over ways to catch those guys off guard.

And about two days later.

Cruise, who had gone out to investigate, spoke up, saying that she had found out something.

“I understand their intentions.”

“Intentions…… are you talking about the ridiculous game they’re playing right now?”

Even now, fake humans are pretending to live normally above our heads.

It’s subtly disgusting.

What’s unusual is that in the case of those who came from the outside like me, they stay still unless attacked first, but they mercilessly harm the citizens who are holed up here.

“Yes. No matter how I think about it, it’s suspicious. It’s unnatural to start something without any meaning.”

“Maybe they’re just doing it for fun?”

The Third Prince Abil said with a smirk.

“Maybe it’s an intention to show off to us.”

“……Geez, the way you think.”

“Hmph…… you can’t know anything about the thoughts of villains. How can you understand their thoughts?”

I don’t think you’re the one to say that.

Of course, I know that they’re not the type to do such unnecessary things.

There must be a reason.

“I’ve been observing for the past few days. I’ve also mobilized observation methods in my own way. ……Especially.”

Cruise rummaged inside her robe and showed something in a bottle.

The material of the crystal stone, a fragment of red ore.

“That fragment. More than that, when did you get that…….”

Her hands are so fast. Did she get it in the midst of that chaos back then?

“I was worried about this too.”

“Wait. Cruise Elphament. Is it okay to keep that as it is?”

Sylvester interrupted and asked.

Bringing that fragment means it wouldn’t be strange if it were detected.

“Don’t worry. Sylvester…… was it? I know what you’re worried about, but that won’t happen. I’ve thoroughly sealed it. I’ve also confirmed that nothing is being received by this anymore.”

“……Not being received?”

That’s a strange thing to say.

“A part of some kind of formula was engraved on this fragment. The other fragments are the same.”

“A formula. Not for creating those fakes?”

“I thought so too, but when I examined it, it seemed to be a separate formula.”

As she said that, Cruise took out and placed several pieces of parchment with a magic circle drawn on them, which seemed to be a restoration of a part of the formula.

“It’s a prediction of some of the restored parts. ……I think there will probably be differences in the specific parts, though.”

“That’s absurd. You reverse-engineered the overall big picture from that tiny fragment of the formula?”

The Prince said with admiration, not ridicule, this time.

That would certainly be difficult.

“There are only a few who can do that even within the Empire. The future of the White Tower [a prestigious magic academy] is bright.”

Cruise doesn’t seem interested in whether she’s being praised or not.

It also seemed like she was wary of the Imperial Family within the Empire.

Anyway, she continued to explain.

“This formula seems to be a path to smoothly circulate a certain flow of mana [magical energy].”

“A path?”

“That means it’s a part of some huge formula.”

“……Could it be.”

Sylvester frowned and stared at the magic circle.

The others roughly guessed.

I was also subtly understanding, thinking, ‘Is that so?’

“……In other words, is it? A disguise to create some kind of formula?”

“There are surprisingly many ways to chant magic.”

Cruise-sensei’s lecture on magic begins.

“The easiest and most common is the magic circle or the chanting that is commonly called a spell.”

Magicians use that to create formulas and use magic.

That’s what they learn, and that’s the method that has been universally established.

But there are countless other ways to complete magic.

A method of replacing chanting by comparing it to actions or various objects. It’s not used often because it’s difficult, but it theoretically exists.

“You can’t openly draw magic circles and chant spells anytime, anywhere.”

“……And that means there are any number of ways to bypass and activate magic for that purpose.”

“That’s right, Aileen.”

She nodded as if pleased when I gave an appropriate explanation.

Anyway, if there’s someone who listens to the explanation, you’ll be motivated.

“I see. Magic…… a high-level formula that has to be cast in a roundabout way.”

Sylvester also had a serious face, as if he had something to guess.

“What are they trying to do?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t know that much……. It’s really unfortunate.”

Cruise muttered the word ‘unfortunate’ twice, as if she were resentful.

It’s probably a matter of pride.

“I could figure it out if I took the time, but I don’t think I have that much time.”