I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 297: Dandelion Honey Tea

"Nyaaah!"

"Hurrk!"

The children and I screamed as we raced towards the container house.

Only Saebyeok maintained her silence as she ran.

Buzz-!

The sound of the bees' wings chasing us sent chills down my spine.

With our swift beast-kin legs, we could have easily outrun them, but Saebyeok was slower than the average beast-kin.

We couldn't leave Saebyeok behind.

I ran behind Saebyeok, pushing her back to help her along.

"Okay..."

Though Saebyeok ran as hard as she could, the bees were getting closer.

Far ahead, Levinas, who had been leading the pack, realized we were falling behind and looked back.

"King!"

"Levinas, don't look back, just run...!"

"It's okay...! Just trust Levinas...!"

Levinas stopped in her tracks and pulled out some bubble solution from her bag.

She blew a huge bubble towards the bees chasing us.

It was large enough to trap hundreds of bees.

We huddled together, watching the floating bubble.

"Get 'em!"

"Get 'em!"

Levinas and Gaeul cheered on the bubble.

I watched the situation expectantly.

After all, Levinas's bubbles were amazing enough to trap people.

'Will it work?'

Just as the bubble was about to reach the bees, the lead bee aimed its stinger at it.

Pop-!

With the tiny sound of the stinger being fired, the bubble burst.

"Ah!"

"Master...!"

Everyone's ears perked up in surprise.

Levinas's bubbles didn't pop even when pricked with needles.

These bees clearly had some special power.

"Q-quick, to the container...!"

"Got it...!"

We sprinted to the container house with all our might.

We immediately tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Oh no."

The key was in my bag.

I frantically rummaged through my bag while glancing back.

Hundreds of bees were already right behind us.

Ah.

We're going to get stung.

Just as I was hurriedly trying to hide the children behind me-

"Meow meow!"

"Squeak!"

Seol and Kkamang rushed out from the tent.

Seol puffed up her fur and meowed loudly, while Kkamang raised its front legs and shot out spider webs.

Buzz-

The bees hesitated.

Watching from a short distance away, I realized what was happening.

Seol and Kkamang were intimidating the bees by exuding their unique wildness.

I could do that too.

I'd been practicing hard, after all.

To help Seol and Kkamang, I extended my claws and tried to intimidate the bees.

"Grr..."

The bees reacted to my threat.

They seemed to become even more ferocious.

"King! The bees got angrier!"

"Master...!"

"Uh..."

The bees that had hesitated at Seol and Kkamang's wildness became enraged at mine.

I quickly withdrew my outstretched hand and fidgeted nervously.

It seemed I'd have to rely on Seol and Kkamang after all.

"Meow meow!"

"Squeak!"

Seol and Kkamang faced off against the bees for a long time.

We won the prolonged battle of nerves.

Buzz-

The bees began to leave.

As they departed, a few bees left behind some hexagonal cube-shaped objects.

"What are these?"

About thirty cubes, each slightly larger than my thumb.

A sweet honey scent wafted from inside the cubes.

Had the defeated bees left honey as tribute?

As I picked up one of the cubes and examined it, Levinas popped one into her mouth.

"Hurrk...!"

After chewing the cube, Levinas sprawled out on the ground.

She looked as if she was in ecstasy.

"What's wrong?"

"Levinas just ate heaven...!"

"Is it that delicious?"

"Mm-hmm...!"

How tasty could it be to make Levinas react like that?

I cautiously put one cube in my mouth.

"...!"

An intense sweetness spread throughout my mouth.

It was on a completely different level from ordinary honey.

Every hair on my body stood on end.

My wide eyes refused to close.

Wow, I never knew such sweetness existed.

As the honey disappeared from my mouth, my tail began to wag rapidly.

"This is incredibly delicious."

"Master, Gaeul too."

"......"

Gaeul and Saebyeok held out their hands.

I gave them each a honey cube.

Nom-

The two children put the cubes in their mouths.

Their reactions were similar to mine.

"Yummy!"

Whirr-

Gaeul's tail spun around.

Saebyeok's tail was also gently swaying.

"This is really tasty."

"Right? It's super delicious, isn't it?"

It would probably taste even better mixed into dandelion tea or something similar.

I wonder if we could get more honey from the bees?

'We could probably make lots of flowers bloom with Levinas's ability.'

I should think about how we could coexist.

But first, I decided to try making some tea.

**

In the meeting room of the Yeomyeong Guild.

The guild executives gathered at Master Kang Jinho's summons.

These were the leaders of each team.

"......"

The Master's mood was gloomy.

Yeoreum and the others couldn't help but watch Kang Jinho cautiously.

"Hmm."

Kang Jinho, arms crossed, looked over the guild team leaders one by one.

Unable to bear the tension, Kim Woo-jin, leader of Team 3, spoke up.

"Master, is there a problem?"

"...Yes."

So what exactly happened?

Everyone looked at Kang Jinho.

After a moment of silence, Kang Jinho spoke.

"...A large number of high-level dungeons have opened. More than we can handle."

"What? That's impossible..."

The number of dungeons that had appeared across the Korean peninsula today was no different from usual.

It was a number that could be managed even without Yeomyeong.

If it was more than Yeomyeong could handle, it would mean the country's destruction.

Kim Woo-jin felt his lips go dry.

"Not here, but we've received requests for support from other countries."

"Where from?"

"Australia and Norway."

"Ah..."

Australia was vast.

Excluding the spaces expanded by magic, it had a landmass over 35 times that of the Korean peninsula.

Yet its population was less than half of Korea's.

With such a small population, they couldn't protect all of Australia, so they periodically sent support requests to allied countries.

'Norway must be because of the islands...'

Norway had over two hundred thousand islands.

And a population of just five million.

It was difficult to manage tens of thousands of islands with such a small population.

That's why Norway also regularly sent support requests to allied countries.

"But why ask us for support? Couldn't they ask nearby countries?"

"Three level 9 dungeons have opened in Australia. Quite a few level 8 dungeons too."

"Three of them?"

"Yes, and Norway has two level 9 dungeons."

A total of five level 9 dungeons.

The number of level 8 dungeons was also considerable.

It was natural for them to request support from Yeomyeong Guild, one of the top guilds in the world.

Why were so many top-tier dungeons opening?

This was almost at the level of a national disaster.

Kim Woo-jin clicked his tongue.

"...We'll have to give up on one of them, I suppose."

"That's right."

They needed to send support while keeping enough manpower to protect the Korean peninsula.

This division of manpower meant a loss of combat strength.

Dividing forces to protect two countries was very different from protecting three.

It meant they had to give up on one country.

'Which one should we give up?'

Helping some and not others.

It was bound to cause diplomatic issues.

They needed to choose the option that would cause the least backlash.

Everyone in the meeting room looked down at the table with serious expressions.

"Maybe we should just refuse both-"

Just as someone was about to suggest an opinion, the meeting room door opened.

Gyeoul peeked her head through the open door.

"Uncle, are you busy?"

"...Not busy."

Gyeoul's appearance changed the atmosphere in the meeting room.

There was no need to look serious in front of Gyeoul.

The people in the room forced smiles.

"Uncle, I made a new menu item."

Gyeoul came in struggling with a teapot.

Something must be in the teapot.

The quick-witted Yeoreum took out some paper cups from nearby.

Seeing this, the people around also took out paper cups.

"What is it?"

"It's dandelion honey tea."

"Dandelion honey tea?"

"Yes. I got some honey as a gift, you know? I made it with that and it's really delicious."

Gyeoul poured the tea into Kang Jinho's paper cup.

Kang Jinho helped Gyeoul tilt the heavy teapot.

"Everyone, please have a cup. It's really tasty."

Gyeoul went around pouring tea into everyone's cups.

Kang Jinho sipped the tea while watching Gyeoul toddle around with the teapot.

"Hm?"

This wasn't an ordinary sweetness.

A rich yet clean sweetness that didn't become cloying.

Could this be...

Kang Jinho stood up and approached Gyeoul.

Glug glug glug, Gyeoul looked up at Kang Jinho as she poured the tea.

She managed to pour without spilling, even though she wasn't looking at the cup.

"What kind of honey did you use for this?"

"I'm not sure what kind it is. We received it as a gift."

Gyeoul took out a honey cube from her bag.

The eyes of those who saw the honey cube widened.

"Isn't that tiger bee honey?"

"Tiger bee honey?"

"Yeah. They have nasty tempers and make their honey poisonous if anyone tries to steal it."

"Oh..."

Gyeoul's pupils shook at the mention of poison.

Kang Jinho put his hand on Gyeoul's head.

"There's no poison in this."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. This honey is hard even for me to get, how did you manage..."

Kang Jinho trailed off mid-sentence and pressed his lips together.

His eyes widened slightly.

This was the maximum emotional expression Kang Jinho could show.

"This is..."

The mana was exploding.

No, it would be more accurate to say it was amplifying explosively.

The original dandelion tea was already amazing, but the tea with this honey was on another level entirely.

With this, they might be able to support both countries.

Kang Jinho sipped the tea and looked down at Gyeoul.

Of all the guild members, Gyeoul was truly the luckiest charm.

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