How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 48

“…Mother.”

Lawrence spoke cautiously in the middle of his meal. Queen Helia smiled and replied in a soft, gentle voice.

“What is it, Louis?”

“Do you happen to know anything about the commoner Rianus brought back with him?”

At the question, Queen Helia furrowed her brows slightly and set down her cutlery.

“Why is the prince concerning himself with that lowborn wretch? Leave that to your mother. You need only carry on as usual.”

“……”

At his mother’s rebuke, Lawrence started to lower his head, then quickly straightened his back. Putting on a nonchalant expression, he spoke again.

“I was simply curious because Rianus seems rather attached to that commoner.”

“Is that so? I heard the child stays shut up in his room all day and refuses to come out. There are even rumors that he’s mute.”

“…Mute?”

“He might simply be a man of few words, but someone claims to have seen him communicating through lip movements alone. Apparently, he avoids the servants, perhaps because he’s shy around strangers. There are all sorts of bizarre rumors, too, claiming he’s a divine beast or some other mystical creature…”

The queen recalled the reports she had received and frowned faintly.

She had ordered her people to investigate the commoner child, yet not a single one of them had managed to find out where he had come from or where he had been picked up. All they had discovered was that he was exceptionally beautiful, enough to inspire strange rumors.

Since he seemed to avoid the servants, she had secretly sent someone during the princes’ lessons, hoping to find him when he was alone. Instead, the person had failed to locate the child and had even been caught by his escort knight and chased away.

Even the apothecary she had painstakingly brought under her control had been caught and dismissed. To make matters worse, the Second Prince’s Palace was hiring its own apothecary. The whole affair was thoroughly irritating.

“Louis, my prince, don’t worry. I won’t simply stand by and watch that lowborn brat throw his weight around.”

Her reddish-orange eyes darkened.

 

***

 

11:30 a.m.

It was precisely then that Rianus hopped down from the carriage.

He must have rushed terribly, because his hair was still damp and a towel was wrapped around his neck. Evan climbed down after him, looking utterly drained, as though he had been put through the wringer.

If there hadn’t been a restriction on how fast carriages could travel within the royal palace grounds, the coachman would undoubtedly have suffered even more.

Rianus asked Nihil whether he had been bored or lonely, then chatted about how wonderful he had been feeling today.

Because he had hurried over without drying his hair, the backs of his shoulders were soaked, and he had to change his clothes again. Still, arriving early gave him plenty of time to enjoy not only lunch but also tea afterward.

Most of Rianus’s conversation revolved around where they could go to play once the weather warmed up. Just as Nihil rarely spoke about himself, Rianus never brought up his own past. Perhaps he simply had no particularly happy memories to chatter about.

Eventually, their conversation turned to the field trip planned for the following day.

“Rian, we’re going to Sharton Street early tomorrow.”

“Okay, sounds good.”

“We’re not just going to look around. We have to become them. We have to become real wandering orphans. It’ll definitely be difficult, and it might not even help with your assignment.”

“Mmm, I’m not going because of the assignment. I want to understand them better.”

Since Nihil had been a wandering orphan until quite recently, Rianus wanted to learn more about their lives. Perhaps this would also be a good opportunity to learn more about his friend.

In truth, Nihil’s life had been nothing like theirs, but he didn’t correct Rianus’s misunderstanding. Instead, he lowered his eyes slightly and continued.

“…All right. We’ll stay overnight and come back the next day. Is that okay?”

“…Huh?”

“What do you mean by that, wildcat?”

Rianus and Evan questioned him at the same time. Nihil casually toyed with Rianus’s curly, dark green hair and continued as though nothing were amiss.

“Their struggle to survive begins at night—in brothels, taverns, gambling dens, and the slums. Staying only during the day won’t be nearly enough to understand them.”

“No. That’s dangerous.”

“Oh, I see.”

Evan firmly opposed the idea, while Rianus nodded in agreement. Their eyes met.

“Your Highness, I’m against this. It’s dangerous.”

“But Neil is right.”

“That wildcat is talking about sleeping on the streets! There’s no way we can get a room at an inn while pretending to be orphans!”

“We’ll have to sleep on the streets.”

“Your Highness! This isn’t ordinary camping. To blend in with them, you’ll have to endure everything with absolutely nothing. You might have to spend the night on a sheet of newspaper or an old blanket instead of a sleeping bag. You might even go hungry because there’s nothing to eat. Rats and insects could crawl right beside you while you sleep. Can you endure that?”

Rianus stared at Evan with wide eyes. Now that he thought about it, he really didn’t want rats and insects crawling around beside him while he slept.

Seeing his reaction, Nihil spoke calmly.

“Rian, your knight is right. It might be better to return late at night instead.”

“But seeing and hearing about something isn’t the same as experiencing it yourself.”

“That’s true, but you don’t need to put yourself through more discomfort than necessary. You don’t have to push yourself.”

“Exactly, Your Highness. Besides, I can’t openly stay by your side as your escort. If a perfectly respectable adult like me tags along, you won’t be able to pretend to be orphans, much less blend in with them.”

“…Couldn’t you pretend to be an unrespectable adult?”

“Do you mean sitting around helplessly, wandering about with a liquor bottle in my hand, gambling, shouting and acting crazy in the street, or hitting children…?”

“…No.”

Pretending to be someone else wouldn’t be difficult, but if Evan acted that way, his chances of protecting Rianus would be ruined. Moreover, he was one of the larger knights, so the only role he could realistically pull off was that of a thug.

He would undoubtedly stand out.

“Rian, the only role your knight could play if he showed himself is that of a thug. And if an unfamiliar thug suddenly appeared on the street, everyone would be extremely wary of him.”

With Nihil driving the point home once again, Evan grew a little dejected.

“S-Sir Evan, don’t be disappointed. It just means you have a great physique. That’s so reassuring!”

The one who had delivered the fatal blow to the guard dog was the wildcat, yet the one comforting him was the little kitten.

Evan glared sidelong at Nihil before continuing in a sulky voice.

“Anyway, Your Highness, since I can’t reveal myself, I won’t be able to openly arrange meals or a place for you to sleep. The only roles I can play are those of a drunkard getting robbed, someone knocked unconscious and mugged, or a pickpocket’s victim.”

“W-What does that mean?”

Rianus’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar terms. The only word he understood was pickpocket, and he suspected the other two weren’t anything good, either.

Nihil explained.

“It means secretly stealing from someone who’s drunk, or hitting them on the back of the head to knock them unconscious before taking their money. In other words, theft or robbery.”

“But that’s a crime!”

“Since it’s a crime, your knight is offering to be the victim instead. You can’t steal from passersby or rob them yourself when you’re a prince.”

“C-Couldn’t we just find a job?”

“…It wouldn’t hurt to experience that, either. I’ll rescue you before you get kidnapped. But if someone offers you food, don’t eat it. Just pretend to. It might contain drugs.”

“……”

“In an ordinary town, looking for work would be fine. But I wouldn’t recommend it in Sharton Street. The smell of drugs was everywhere.”

“Okay…”

Rianus promptly abandoned the idea of looking for a job. It would be terrible if he caused trouble for his escort by trying to do something on his own.

“Your Highness, I really think this is too dangerous.”

“I still want to go. But I promise that if it gets truly dangerous, I won’t be stubborn about it. I’ll come back.”

“But…”

“…Please?”

“…All right.”

Evan ultimately gave in, unable to resist the pleading eyes of the little kitten.

Honestly, if he stayed hidden to protect Rianus and kept a close watch on the wildcat, the danger wouldn’t be all that great. Sharton Street had a high crime rate, but most of the major criminal organizations had already been dismantled. There probably wasn’t anyone there who could take him on.

They were still discussing how to proceed when Rianus’s next lesson approached. They finally agreed to continue the discussion after all his classes were over, and Rianus headed to the main palace.

Taking advantage of Rianus’s absence, Nihil began preparing his medicines. He washed and sorted the herbs, crushed or ground some of them, and patiently simmered others. He also used the herbs the kid’s dad had brought him without sparing a single handful, and asked the butler to obtain some of the ingredients he couldn’t find himself.

As a result, the room that had served as Nihil’s study had been completely transformed into an apothecary, with the smell of medicine filling every corner.

Nihil couldn’t ventilate the room because he wasn’t ready for anyone to discover that he was making medicine. On top of that, boiling the ingredients was raising both the temperature and humidity inside. With no other choice, he hurriedly removed the magic stone used to heat the bathwater and modified its spell formula.

It was a crude, temporary solution with a limited range, but since he couldn’t use mana, he had no other options.

There was another problem: magic stones were rare in this era, and most were managed by the Mage Tower. If anyone discovered that one had gone missing, there would be a tremendous uproar. He absolutely had to return it to its proper place after using it.

Nihil decided he would have to ask Rianus to obtain a magic stone for him later, then focused on preparing the medicine. He was a little startled when he accidentally used up all the mana stored in the stone, but he put it back in its place as though nothing had happened.

Even after Rianus returned from his statecraft lesson, Nihil still hadn’t finished preparing for the field trip. As they had agreed beforehand, Rianus would have to skip his Imperial language class.

Rianus looked a little disappointed, but Nihil handed him a note and gave him a mission.

“Give this note to your history teacher.”

When Nihil whispered, “You have to keep this a secret. Don’t let anyone else find out,” the innocent seaweed-haired boy nodded solemnly, determined to succeed.

“Let’s play together after your lessons.”

“Okay!!”

Simple-minded Rianus quickly brightened up, smiling cheerfully as though he had never been disappointed, and went off to class.

After sending the child to the classroom, Nihil decided he had to finish everything while the lesson was underway. He summoned the butler and had him prepare the necessary supplies.

Worn-out clothes, old shoes that didn’t quite fit, a robe, a single blanket, a multipurpose pocketknife and a small dagger for self-defense, jerky and chocolate that were compact but high in calories, inexpensive little items that could be sold at a pawnshop, and a spare change of clothes in case of an emergency.

He also arranged for an old carriage to wait outside the palace early the next morning, the day of the field trip. He instructed the butler and head maid to ensure that the other servants wouldn’t realize the prince was leaving the palace.

The butler seemed to have all sorts of questions, but Nihil slipped away before he could ask them.

The wildcat was very busy right now.