How the Prince Makes Friends – Chapter 126

Author: isuzuuy

Nihil closed the final ancient book. His head was throbbing.

He hadn’t been able to find any information about the Moonfang Clan in ordinary books. Instead, he had managed to uncover a few details that he suspected were related to them. And he’d found them in a book he never would have expected.

On Having a Wolf for a Husband

If he had judged the book by its title alone and passed it over, he would have had to leave without learning anything. It was, of all things, an essay. More specifically, it was written by a woman whose husband belonged to the beastkin race.

It had no proper structure, more like a hastily written diary, and even the chronology was all jumbled up.

Only one page had caught Nihil’s attention.

-…Early in our courtship, my husband was very interested in the superstitions of humans, so I told him all sorts of stories. One day, I asked whether beastkin had superstitions of their own, too. I was quite surprised when he told me that the Moonfang Clan tried not to transform into beasts on nights when the full moon was out.

-After all, doesn’t everyone associate wolves with the full moon? According to him, if they transformed into beasts and howled on a night when the full moon shone brightly, God would become furious and punish them.

-I asked why they were forbidden from howling specifically on nights with a full moon. According to a legend of the Moonfang Clan, long ago, a Moonfang beastkin known as the Wolf of the Full Moon dared to challenge God’s authority and devoured one of God’s little fingers.

-Enraged by this, God inflicted divine punishment upon the Wolf of the Full Moon, condemning it to suffer burning pain until the day it died.

-Time passed, and the Wolf of the Full Moon eventually died. But God could not quell His anger, so He took it out on any wolf that howled beneath the full moon instead…

The Wolf of the Full Moon. Divine punishment. And the death of a wolf.

Ordinarily, such legends and superstitions might seem like absurd nonsense to anyone else. But Nihil, who had lived through an extraordinarily long stretch of time, knew that most legends and superstitions were based on something that had actually happened.

That was why he had to search through every ancient book related to legends.

This is bad.

Nihil pressed his fingertips against his aching eyes, tired from reading such a vast amount of text.

The Moonfang Clan had been wiped out. Their entire race had been struck by divine punishment.

He didn’t know the exact reason. He had hoped to find the Moonfang Clan, learn something about their awakening, and perhaps get a little help from them. But that plan had gone up in smoke.

The bigger problem, however, would come after the big puppy successfully completed the Moonfang awakening ritual.

Once an ‘human’ completed the Moonfang awakening, would he still be ‘human,’ or would he become ‘Moonfang’?

Of course, undergoing an awakening wouldn’t make a human cease to be human. But if, by God’s standards, the awakened puppy was classified as Moonfang, then divine punishment would undoubtedly descend upon his bloodline.

I should stop the puppy from awakening, or delay it as long as possible.

One must never meddle carelessly in the domain of the gods. A single misstep could bring the consequences crashing down upon oneself.

Fortunately, there was one small blessing amid this misfortune. The timing of a Moonfang’s awakening was determined by the amount of mana in their body, which meant it would be easier than expected to delay it.

He felt a little sorry for the puppy, but until he found a way to avoid divine punishment, he had no choice but to prevent his growth.

Just then, he sensed someone approaching in the distance.

“I’m telling you, I definitely saw something white!”

“Did you dream it? How could anyone get in when we’ve got magic circles laid out all over the place?”

“But I really did…”

“Don’t you know the alarm would go off even if a mouse got in here? You must’ve dozed off while on guard duty. Seriously…”

Listening to the guards bicker, Nihil leisurely slipped out of the library.

***

Damn it…

Evan bit down hard on his lip. Every time the frail little body swayed, he had to fight the urge to rush forward.

As if inviting all these children without telling us weren’t enough, now they’re suddenly holding a sparring match? Since when have they ever sparred like this?!

It was obvious they were trying to humiliate the prince in front of the children. There was never any chance of a fair match. Unless one had reached the level where they could strengthen their body with aura, physical build was practically equivalent to strength.

And that was even more true for children who were still growing, let alone adults.

Evan squeezed his eyes shut. The difference in skill was painfully obvious, yet the prince was still doing his best…

It was simply too heartbreaking to watch.

Even in the middle of all this, that damn snake was taking his time, going so far as to make reckless moves.

Clack! Whirrrrr—

In the end, His Highness lost his wooden sword and tumbled to the ground. The sword he had dropped spun through the air several times before falling toward the head of the Duke of Thesaurus.

The duke, who looked considerably younger than his actual age, casually caught the wooden sword as it came spinning toward him and clicked his tongue.

The children snickered at Rianus, who had dropped his sword. The duke looked down at him as though he were utterly pathetic.

“To think you haven’t even mastered the basics…”

“……”

At those words, the prince, still sitting on the ground, lowered his head.

Evan unconsciously ground his teeth.

He had never once bothered to watch our prince work so hard, and now he dared… He actually dared to pass such a judgment!

He was furious. He wanted nothing more than to smack that damn duke upside the head, but there was no way he could take on a Sword Master.

I want to get stronger.

If he were a Sword Master, could he have helped their prince stand a little taller?

“Your Highness, let’s start with practicing how to hold your sword…”

Even then, the duke showed no sign of stopping his criticism. Just as Evan was about to step in, he heard—

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

“…?”

Turning toward the sudden applause, he saw that the wildcat had arrived at some point. The little brat was hopping up and down, clapping his hands.

He already looked suspicious enough with his face covered by a black veil. But apparently that wasn’t enough for him. He scampered over to the First Prince, snatched the wooden sword from his hands—

And threw it at the duke.

“…!”

Evan flinched at Nihil’s sudden outburst. The wooden sword flew slowly, but directly toward the duke.

Clack.

The duke frowned at the approaching sword, then casually knocked it aside with the wooden sword in his hand.

“What do you think you’re—”

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

Just as the duke began to speak, the wildcat clapped again. Then he even gave the duke a thumbs-up.

The children, who had been snickering at the prince, looked bewildered. But once they realized what was happening, they joined in the applause. They wanted to make a good impression on the duke, too.

“Just as expected of Your Grace!”

“That was amazing!”

“A Sword Master’s movements are truly on another level!”

“……”

The children showered the duke with praise.

The oppressive atmosphere had suddenly turned cheerful, and even the prince, who had dropped his sword and been thoroughly dejected, was staring at the wildcat with wide eyes.

The duke, on the other hand, looked rather displeased. The children might have thought they were expressing praise and admiration in their own way, but from the perspective of a Sword Master, he had been reduced to nothing more than a circus performer.

Evan was genuinely impressed. So this was what it meant to steer a situation exactly the way you wanted.

For once, he decided he ought to learn from that wildcat.

So, before the duke could say anything, Evan quickly grabbed the brat by the scruff of his neck and shouted.

“You little brat! What if you hurt His Grace by throwing a wooden sword like that?!”

“……”

“I sincerely apologize, Your Grace. My young master is still young and inexperienced, and he has behaved rudely.”

“……”

Evan gladly apologized on his behalf. The duke’s sour expression was making the corners of his mouth twitch upward, so he bowed his head even lower to hide it.

The wildcat gave the duke another thumbs-up. Then he wriggled around until he slipped out of Evan’s grasp and reached out to the prince, who was still sitting on the ground.

“Neil… When did you get here?”

“……”

Without answering, Nihil took Rianus’s hand and pulled him straight up, as though yanking a radish out of the ground.

Embarrassed that he had been sitting on the ground, Rianus quickly brushed the dirt off his clothes.

He must have seen everything, right?

He felt a little dispirited, thinking that he always seemed to show his friend nothing but embarrassing sides of himself.

His older brother was certainly bigger than him, but they were the same age and had been learning swordsmanship for the same amount of time. Losing so easily was terribly humiliating.

“We will meet again.”

Just then, Lawrence approached Nihil.

Rather than respond to Lawrence, Nihil slipped behind Rianus and hid. Lawrence’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly, but only Nihil noticed.

“…Brother, what business do you have with my friend?”

Thinking that he had to protect Nihil, Rianus put on a stern expression and stepped in front of him. He was a little frightened, but at the same time, he was happy that Nihil was relying on him.

Lawrence smiled pleasantly and spoke.

“Is this not a gathering to welcome your page to the palace? Is it strange for me to speak to him?”

“…My friend is very shy around strangers. I would appreciate it if you could be considerate of that.”

“The fact that I approached him first is enough consideration.”

“Consideration that doesn’t take the other person’s feelings into account is a burden, not consideration.”

Just as ignorant charity was not true charity, but mockery.

“……”

A peculiar tension hung between Rianus and Lawrence.

Rianus tried not to look away from Lawrence’s eyes, while Lawrence deliberately smiled even more brightly as he gazed at Rianus, who was looking straight back at him.

“Rianus, it is rare to have an opportunity to meet children of distinguished lineage in such a relaxed atmosphere. Isn’t today an excellent occasion for your page to learn proper etiquette?”

“…Is that so? I… I’m not sure.”

Under Lawrence’s steady red gaze, Rianus found himself glancing away.

As Lawrence engaged him in a battle of wills, the other children gradually approached and stood behind him, putting pressure on Rianus.

“That’s right. When else would a commoner get to meet people of such noble status?”

The red-haired boy spoke as though Rianus himself were not of noble status. He stepped forward and looked down at Rianus. He was Aiden, the eldest grandson of the ducal family.

He glanced at Nihil and reached for the veil covering his face, as though intending to pull it off.

Smack!

Rianus boldly slapped his hand away. The boy’s gaze was far above his own, and it frightened him, but he forced himself not to show it and spoke clearly.

“Even if his status is low, he is here as my guest. Please show him the most basic courtesy.”

“Hah?”

Aiden crooked one corner of his mouth, looking utterly incredulous.

“Is this really the time to lecture me about manners? Your Highness, perhaps you should first reflect on that commoner’s behavior. He dares to set foot somewhere he doesn’t belong, relying on Your Highness’s protection, yet he hasn’t even bothered to greet anyone. Look at how arrogant and insolent he is.”

“…You haven’t greeted me either.”

Rianus replied timidly, and a few chuckles rang out.

“Ah~ So you were upset because we didn’t greet you~ Then allow us to greet you now. We respectfully greet the Second Pri—”

“No.”

Just as Aiden began to mock him with an exaggerated bow, Rianus cut him off with a stern expression.

“I don’t need your greeting. Don’t greet me from now on, either. My friend won’t have any reason to greet you, either.”

“……”

Aiden’s eyebrows twitched.

Rianus abruptly turned toward Nihil and said firmly,

“Neil, you don’t need to greet them, either. Understand?”

Nod, nod.

Nihil promptly nodded, making Aiden’s face twist in anger.

Nihil found the children’s little battle of wills rather amusing and watched the scene with interest from behind his veil.

Aiden’s hand trembled as though he might raise it at any moment, but perhaps because there were too many eyes watching, he refrained from doing anything foolish. What a shame. If he’d so much as laid a hand on Nihil, Evan could have stepped in himself.

Just then, a red-haired girl approached Nihil. She was Camilla, Aiden’s younger sister.

“Hey, why are you hiding? Are you scared of us?”

“……”

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you mute?”

“……”

Without answering, Nihil tugged at the hem of Rianus’s clothes.

“Ah…”

Rianus stared blankly for a moment before suddenly remembering that Nihil had said he wouldn’t speak. He hurriedly replied.

“Lady Camilla. My friend, um, he doesn’t… I mean, he can’t speak.”

Rianus, who was terrible at lying, was sweating bullets.

Nihil squeezed Rianus’s hand once to reassure him, then nodded toward the children as if to confirm that what Rianus had said was true.

“Hah. He can’t speak, and he can’t read or write, either… So are you just going to sit him beside you and talk to yourself?”