How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 52

Carus scratched his head awkwardly and answered on Bella’s behalf.

“My dear friend, Bella is older than I am. She’s already an adult. I believe she’s twenty-eight this year.”

“Teacher, you shouldn’t judge cat beastkin by human standards. Their lifespans are longer than humans’ to begin with. At twenty-eight… She’s roughly in her late teens by human standards, so she should awaken within the next year or two at the latest. She might even awaken sooner.”

“Meow?”

At the mention of her powers potentially awakening within the next year or two, the cat immediately lifted her head and sprang into Nihil’s arms.

Nihil scratched her under the chin and continued explaining.

“From the looks of it, there aren’t any other beastkin around you. If possible, try to find another cat beastkin who can help you learn to control your abilities. You won’t rampage and go berserk during your awakening like a wolf beastkin might, but if you can’t control your sleeping ability in time, you could put everyone around you to sleep.”

“Meeeeow~”

Bella, who was essentially an oversized house cat now, showered Nihil with affection as though his warning meant nothing to her. She seemed simply delighted that she still had a chance to awaken her powers.

Only a few minutes ago, she had been radiating murderous hostility toward the wildcat. Seeing how shamelessly the big cat had changed her attitude, Evan let out a disbelieving laugh.

Just then, Nihil, who had been idly scratching the cat under the chin, suddenly raised his head and met Evan’s eyes.

“What are you looking at, wildcat?”

Caught off guard by their sudden eye contact, Evan snapped at him without thinking.

Despite Evan’s curt response, Nihil continued staring at him in silence for a moment. Then he turned his attention back to the cat and murmured, almost as if talking to himself,

“I didn’t think much of it before because the blood was so diluted, but I wonder if my puppy might awaken someday, too.”

“……?”

Everyone looked puzzled at Nihil’s muttering.

Only Evan, who knew that the puppy Nihil was referring to was him, furrowed his brows and silently pondered the remark.

The puppy Nihil was talking about had to be him. But what did he mean by diluted blood? And what was this awakening?

They had been discussing beastkin awakening moments ago, so that had to be what Nihil meant by awakening. And diluted blood meant…

Evan had gotten that far in his thoughts when he nearly sprang to his feet. However, feeling the slight weight of the little kitten prince sitting on his thigh, he obediently settled back down.

“Don’t tell me I’m mixed with something?”

Rianus, who had been watching the cat with wide-eyed fascination, also widened his eyes in surprise and looked up at his knight.

Even after arriving at his own conclusion, Evan couldn’t believe it. He shook his head and continued,

“No. Both my parents were perfectly ordinary humans. They passed away when I was young, but I’m certain they were my biological parents. There’s no way I could be mixed with—”

“‘Mixed’ isn’t quite the right word.”

Nihil casually interrupted Evan’s increasingly frantic explanation.

Evan waited quietly, assuming Nihil would elaborate. But Nihil offered no further explanation. Instead, he picked up a cookie and crunched away at it.

Crumbs fell onto the head of the cat sitting on his lap.

Nihil knew all four pairs of eyes were fixed on him, but he ignored them. He finished his cookie, gently brushed the crumbs off the cat’s head, and handed her back to her rightful owner.

At last, Carus, whose curiosity was the strongest of them all, couldn’t hold back any longer. Accepting the cat, he asked,

“My dear friend, I’m curious about Sir Evan’s true nature. Could you explain a little more?”

“Why are you curious about that, Teacher?”

“Why, because Sir Evan is my precious secret friend of the same age! Friends grow closer by sharing interesting things—no, I mean, private matters that they can’t tell anyone else, don’t they?”

“It’s nothing special. One of that guy’s ancestors was probably a beastkin. His blood has been diluted to the point that there’s hardly any difference between him and an ordinary human. He was simply lucky enough to inherit more prominent traits from that bloodline. He has a good physique, greater strength, and a slightly sturdier body. That’s about it.”

Evan twisted his mouth at those words. He might have been born with certain advantages, but he had worked hard to join the Knights Order and still trained diligently.

Yet Nihil made it sound as though his physique and strength were entirely due to being mixed with beastkin blood. Somehow, that left a bad taste in his mouth.

“I may have a larger build than the average person, but it’s not difficult to find knights of similar stature among those who’ve undergone proper training. How can you be certain I’m mixed with something based on that alone?”

“Well… you smell like a dog.”

“…….”

“…….”

…This little brat.

Nihil’s remark about Evan smelling like a dog was met with a long, profound silence in the bedroom. Even the cat purring in Carus’s arms abruptly stopped.

Nobody dared to speak first. Everyone watched Evan’s reaction while Nihil leisurely lifted his teacup and took a sip.

Rianus glanced up at Evan. After cautiously checking his expression, he decided to satisfy his curiosity and threw his arms around the knight, sniffing him enthusiastically.

“Whoa! Your Highness, please don’t sniff me!”

Evan panicked and tried to pull him away, but Rianus shook his head and clung to him, refusing to let go.

Evan couldn’t bring himself to use force against the prince. He fidgeted helplessly for a while before finally giving up and going limp.

After sniffing to his heart’s content without interruption, Rianus eventually lifted his head and tilted it to one side. Then his eyes widened as though he’d realized something, and he turned toward Nihil.

“Now that I think about it, I don’t really know what a dog smells like. Hmm, Sir Evan smells kind of soft and cozy, but also a little heavy and dry… I can’t quite put it into words. Is that the smell you were talking about, Neil?”

“Rian, it’s not a smell you can detect. It’s much fainter than the forest scent you give off. If you’re one-quarter beastkin, then your knight has only a drop or two of their blood in him. Aside from his sturdy body and slightly superior physical gifts, he’s no different from a human.”

Nihil’s words provoked Evan’s rebellious streak, and he replied sulkily,

“My physical abilities are the result of my own hard work. Don’t belittle my efforts just because I might have a drop or two of beastkin blood.”

“Didn’t I just say that ‘mixed’ wasn’t quite the right word? There’s barely an afterscent left. I only brought it up because your natural gifts seem disproportionately strong compared to that faint trace, so I wondered whether you might undergo an awakening someday. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“I’m telling you, I earned my abilities through hard work!”

Evan burst out angrily.

Nihil merely shrugged, then approached him and took his rough, enormous palm—the size of a pot lid—in his hands, turning it over to inspect it.

The palm was calloused all over and covered in scars of various sizes. They were the marks left by monsters attacking him and by catching blades or incoming arrows with his bare hands.

Seeing those unmistakable scars, Evan felt a little better. They were proof that his efforts hadn’t been in vain.

Just then, Nihil, who had been examining his palm, spoke in a quiet voice.

“Have you ever been ill?”

“Just a few mild colds when I was young.”

“Were your parents tall?”

“My mother was rather short, and my father was of average height for an adult man. I’m a little taller than either of them, though.”

In truth, “a little” was an understatement. Evan stood over 190 centimeters tall and was still growing slightly. Even among knights with large builds, his stature was conspicuous.

Nihil nodded indifferently and continued questioning him.

Evan felt as though he were being interrogated, which made him uneasy, but he answered each question honestly.

“When did you first pick up a sword?”

“When I was around ten, I thought…”

“When did you join the Knights Order?”

“Fifteen.”

“Who was your master?”

“At first, I secretly watched mercenaries and hunters train and tried to imitate them. Then I nearly died fighting a monster, and the current captain of the Royal Knights saved me. That’s how we met, and he taught me a few things afterward. Most of the time, though, I trained alone or hunted monsters…”

“Do you honestly think it makes sense for a commoner boy with no proper master to hunt monsters alone and join the Knights Order just five years after picking up a sword? And not just any order, but the Royal Knights? On top of that, I hear you were the youngest member.”

“I grew up having to fend for myself from an early age, so I’ve always had good stamina. I admit I have some natural talent, but that has nothing to do with beastkin blood. And how long are you going to keep asking me questions like this?”

Uncharacteristically narrowing his eyes, Nihil stared at Evan for a while before asking one final question.

“…Have your palms ever split open while practicing swordsmanship?”

“Why would my palms split open from practicing swordsmanship?”

“……”

A second silence fell over the bedroom.

Rianus, who had been sitting obediently in Evan’s arms, wriggled free and hurried over to cling to Nihil’s back. He then narrowed his eyes at Evan in exactly the same way Nihil was doing.

Evan shuddered at the unfamiliar gaze of the little kitten prince, who was now glaring at him with deep suspicion.

“Y-Your Highness, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Sir Evan, I feel kind of betrayed.”

“W-What did I do?”

“Wow. So my secret friend is a natural genius.”

Carus, who had been sitting quietly across from them and listening, clapped his hands and laughed helplessly.

“What does ‘natural genius’ mean?”

“It’s slang used by academy students. A recently coined term for people who achieve far better results than their efforts would suggest, usually with a hint of sarcasm. I advise you not to tell anyone how you joined the Knights Order. You’ll likely get beaten to a pulp.”

“Even you, Marquess? I worked hard, too, you know.”

“Yes, yes. How could I possibly dismiss your efforts? I’m simply delighted to discover that my secret friend is such an extraordinary talent.”

“Hmm, I don’t mind if Sir Evan is a natural genius, either.”

“Rian, don’t learn strange words.”

“Meowww~”

As everyone took turns making their remarks, Evan’s head began to spin.

Was he really a natural genius? Was all the skill he’d built up over the years merely the result of a few drops of beastkin blood?

Meanwhile, Rianus kept repeating his newly learned word—“natural genius, natural genius”—until Nihil scolded him.

Nihil tugged on Rianus’s cheek and said,

“Rian, I told you not to use that word.”

“Mmm, whyyy?”

“Once it becomes a habit, it’s hard to break. Besides, your knight is so sturdy that he was able to achieve rapid growth through rather extreme methods. His palms didn’t split open from swinging a sword, and even when beasts bit him, he never suffered a penetrating wound. That means he could swing his sword more times and hunt more often than other people. It doesn’t mean he lacked effort. Unlike ordinary people, he survived situations that should have killed him, and as a result, he gained more experience. That’s all.”

“I see! Sir Evan, I have a new appreciation for you!”

Rianus looked up at his escort knight with shining eyes.

Embarrassed by Nihil’s praise, Evan cleared his throat and tried to change the subject.

“Ahem, ahem. What exactly is this awakening you mentioned?”

“Most beastkin normally go through an awakening. Since you’re practically indistinguishable from a human, there shouldn’t be any need to worry, but…”

“…But?”

“As I said, the amount of blood passed down to you is extremely small, yet it seems to have had a considerable influence on you. Now that I’ve looked more closely, I can’t rule out the possibility entirely. That’s why I brought it up.”

Evan imagined himself after an awakening, then furrowed his brows.

Surely he wouldn’t turn into a dog…?