How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 149

Evan adjusted the targe on his arm once more and took his stance. Deputy Captain Aaron tilted his head slightly as he looked at Evan, then spoke.

“Sir, I won’t go easy on you just because you’re tired.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“I may be small in stature, but I’m not someone to take lightly.”

“I don’t take you lightly, Deputy Captain. That wildcat thought you were worth keeping an eye on, after all.”

“……?”

Wondering what Evan meant, the deputy captain glanced toward Nihil, whom Evan had indicated with his eyes.

Rianus, speaking on behalf of his friend who couldn’t talk, hopped forward and chimed in.

“My friend told me to keep an eye on you, Deputy Captain! He said you’re the strongest among the dual-sword users!”

“…So that’s why His Highness’s friend has been staring at me so… creepily—no, so persistently? But… how does His Highness’s friend know my level…?”

“My friend knows everything!”

Rianus puffed out his chest proudly, as though boasting about his friend. Aaron looked at him with an awkward expression and asked,

“…I heard he can neither speak nor write. How do you communicate with each other?”

“Ah… Um… Well… You don’t necessarily have to communicate through speech or writing.”

Rianus rolled his eyes around as he spoke, then slipped behind Nihil. Still, apparently pleased with his own excuse, he smiled smugly and whispered, “I did well, right?”

Nihil found him adorable, so he patted his head before lifting him up and holding him out toward Walter.

“……?”

Walter reflexively took the prince, who tilted his head in confusion while being held out by his friend.

It looked rather like a cat entrusting its kitten to someone. Walter couldn’t exactly scold him for being rude.

He had thought so ever since his last escort assignment, but the little fellow the prince had picked up seemed incredibly strong.

“You damned wildcat! Don’t be so rude to His Highness and the captain!”

“It’s fine, Sir Evan. It would be better for me to hold His Highness in case of danger.”

“…My apologies.”

“It’s all right. He doesn’t mean any harm, does he?”

Walter adjusted his hold on Rianus so that the prince could comfortably watch the sparring match.

Evan was certainly strong, but he wouldn’t be able to defeat the deputy captain. He was already thoroughly exhausted, and even Walter acknowledged the deputy captain’s skill.

Sure enough, not long after the sparring began, the young knight started to fall behind.

For someone his age, Evan was remarkably good at countering attacks. However, he was more accustomed to hunting monsters and beasts than fighting people, whereas the deputy captain had far more experience fighting human opponents. The outcome was only natural.

Just then, Evan, who had been gripping his sword with both hands, let go with one hand and began making a strange twitching motion with it.

Watching him, Walter narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue.

He’s starting to get cornered, so that old habit of his is coming back.

When Evan was younger, he would sometimes make reckless moves because he had too much faith in his own sturdy body. One of those habits was grabbing the blade of a sword with his bare hands.

Perhaps it had developed because he had fought monsters desperately, with his life on the line, without ever receiving proper swordsmanship training. Still, it wasn’t a good habit, and Walter had once given him a severe scolding over it.

‘Evan! Didn’t I tell you not to grab a sword blade with your bare hands?! If that were a sharpened sword, your fingers would already be cut off!’

‘…I-I’m sorry.’

‘This won’t do. Starting tomorrow, bring me a heavy sword that can only be wielded with both hands.’

‘Y-Yes, sir!’

That day, Walter had ended Evan’s training after the basic exercises and handed him a purse of money, instructing him to buy a sword.

He had considered buying one for the boy himself, but decided that choosing a weapon after seeing and handling the options would be a valuable experience in its own right.

However, Walter could only regret that decision the following day.

The sword the boy had chosen was a true two-hander as tall as he was.

It had been absurd then, and it was still absurd when Walter thought about it now.

At first, he had assumed it was nothing more than a young boy’s childish bravado. But the boy’s eyes had been serious, and when he said he had tried swinging every sword in the shop, Walter had no choice but to press a hand to his forehead.

The blacksmith had even recommended a sword suited to the boy’s build. But since Walter had told him to find a ‘heavy sword that could only be wielded with both hands,’ Evan had prioritized that condition above everything else. He had brought back a true two-hander—one that was actually a failed product, made excessively heavy by an improper mixture of metals.

And to top it all off, the boy had been delighted that he’d managed to buy such a poor-quality sword and still have money left over.

Ha…

Remembering those days, Walter couldn’t help letting out a hollow laugh.

Come to think of it, it had already been eight years since he first met Evan. Their first encounter had been when Walter was conducting a preliminary survey before a monster subjugation. He had rescued a young boy being chased by a pack of orcs.

The boy had been caught by the orcs and was on the verge of being torn apart and killed. But despite his filthy appearance, he didn’t seem to have any serious injuries, so Walter had given him some ointment and a warming pouch before sending him home.

Yet the following day, Walter found the boy in the forest again and grabbed him, giving him a thorough scolding.

‘What were you thinking, coming into the forest again?!’

‘I-I have to hunt monsters.’

As it turned out, the boy had entered the forest specifically to hunt monsters. He was even an experienced hunter who had already killed countless small monsters, such as goblins.

‘Why do you go around hunting monsters when it’s so dangerous?’

‘I have a little sister! She’s still this small, and she’s really cute. But I heard raising a child costs a lot of money. So I, as her older brother, have to earn lots of money!’

The boy had smiled brightly as he held up his forearm to demonstrate.

He had originally hunted ordinary animals and sold their by-products. But after hearing that monster materials fetched a much higher price, he had been hunting monsters ever since his mother became pregnant with his younger sibling.

From that day onward, Walter supervised Evan’s swordsmanship training for approximately three years.

At the time, Walter held the position of deputy captain and wasn’t particularly free. He could only train the boy once or twice a month at most, but Evan was such a diligent student that he managed to keep up with even that limited instruction.

When Evan turned fifteen, Walter recommended that he take the Royal Knights’ apprentice examination.

The royal examination had an especially high passing standard and was notoriously difficult, so Evan was likely to fail. But even if he did, Walter intended to take him into his own household and keep him as a page.

Then I’ll properly teach him and help him grow. From that point onward, we can finally define our relationship clearly as master and disciple, rather than this ambiguous arrangement.

‘Yes, sir! Deputy Captain! I will pass the examination and live up to your expectations!’

The young boy had answered with shining eyes.

Walter became busy afterward and couldn’t visit Evan for some time, but he wasn’t worried. The boy had always followed his instructions so faithfully.

Or so he had thought.

Evan never appeared at the apprentice knight examination. No, when Walter finally checked, he discovered that Evan hadn’t even been on the list of applicants.

Wondering whether Evan, who was still unfamiliar with written characters, had somehow written his name incorrectly, Walter stayed to observe the examination until the very last day.

But he never saw Evan.

‘……’

‘What’s wrong, Deputy Captain?’

‘…Ah, Captain. No, it’s nothing.’

‘You don’t look like it’s nothing.’

‘…There’s a child I’m looking for, but I can’t find him on the applicant list. Is this the complete list? Were there any absentees?’

‘The application fee alone is fifty gold coins. Most applicants are children of fallen noble families who can barely afford to train knights. Who would pay that much and then not show up? What’s the name of the person you’re looking for? Let’s check together.’

‘No, it’s all right. I’ve been busy lately and haven’t been able to look after him… He must have forgotten.’

Walter smiled bitterly.

There was no way Evan, a commoner, could have had such a large sum as fifty gold coins. Naturally, Walter had intended to cover the application fee himself. Perhaps the boy had changed his mind after coming into possession of such a large amount of money.

Walter consoled himself by thinking that it was understandable. After all, fifty gold coins wasn’t an especially large sum for a nobleman like him.

He was simply… a little disappointed because the boy had been so attached to him.

After that day, Walter stopped visiting Evan. There was no point in going when his presence would only make things uncomfortable for the boy. Perhaps Evan had already moved somewhere better with his family.

‘Deputy Captain, when are you taking your leave this month? It would be inconvenient if it overlapped with mine.’

‘Ah, I don’t have any reason to go far away anymore, so you don’t need to worry about that.’

‘Really? …Ahem. More importantly, I have a favor to ask.’

‘Please, go ahead, Captain.’

‘Could you attend the regular knight appointment examination in my place? You’ll be captain soon anyway, so I thought you might as well handle it yourself…’

‘Just admit you’re too lazy to go. Anyway, the regular knight examination… Do you mean the promotion test for apprentice knights?’

‘No, not that one. The regular appointment examination.’

‘That one… Isn’t there hardly anything to judge?’

The knight appointment examination had been created for the children of noble families who disliked being made to work their way up from the lowly position of apprentice knight and wanted to receive the title of knight directly.

The requirements were extremely simple.

They merely had to be an Aura user.

There was hardly anything to judge. All the examiners had to do was weed out those who failed to meet the requirements.

‘Well, that’s true. Just filter out the ones who slipped in applications with bribes despite being unqualified, or those who seem unsuited to working in an organization.’

‘Understood.’

Walter readily agreed to the captain’s request. Now that he had no reason to go out and was relatively free, it wouldn’t be a difficult task.

Then, on the day of the examination, while turning away a few attendants who were discreetly trying to offer him bribes, Walter spotted a boy standing among the noble children. He was wearing shabby clothes and looking around blankly.

For some reason, the boy seemed familiar.

‘……Evan?’

‘Deputy Captain?’

The moment the boy spotted him, he smiled brightly and ran over.

‘Deputy Captain!’

Walter hadn’t expected to see Evan at the regular knight appointment examination, so he asked with a somewhat bewildered expression,

‘Why… are you here?’

‘Didn’t you tell me to take the knight examination, Deputy Captain? So I came to take it!’

At those words, it felt as though something that had been weighing heavily on Walter’s chest had suddenly disappeared.

At the same time, he felt terribly sorry for having failed to trust the boy until the end and having jumped to his own conclusions.

Still, he was happy. So happy, in fact, that Walter couldn’t help laughing aloud as he patted the boy on the back. Evan had grown so much that he was now almost as tall as Walter.

‘So that’s what happened. I thought you… No, I’m glad you came. It’s wonderful to see you again after so long.’

Walter deliberately chose not to point out that Evan had applied for the wrong examination. He was simply so relieved to know that the boy hadn’t betrayed his trust.

Perhaps he’d just misread something.

Walter had no idea how someone who couldn’t even afford to slip a bribe to the officials had managed to submit an application. But he brushed it aside, assuming the clerk in charge had been careless and processed it without checking properly.

Evan couldn’t use Aura yet, so he would naturally fail. But that didn’t matter. Walter was going to take him into his household anyway.

He’s a talented child. If I focus on teaching him, he’ll become an Aura user before long.

Thinking that, Walter began the examination.

But who could have imagined that Evan had become an Aura user during the two months Walter hadn’t seen him?

What’s more, he defeated every single one of the noble children, who had grown up pampered, and achieved the highest score.

But Walter couldn’t simply declare him successful.

Because Evan was so talented… precisely because of that.

If a fifteen-year-old commoner boy who had never gone through an apprenticeship period were suddenly appointed as a full-fledged knight—and, on top of that, ranked first after defeating every noble child—would his life as a knight really be smooth sailing?

…Of course it wouldn’t.

Walter reached his own conclusion and pressed his lips together tightly.