How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 70

Perhaps taking it as a signal, Nihil immediately turned and ran. Kelvin elbowed Dave in the cheek to shake off his grip around his waist, then took off after Nihil.

“Damn it! Get that brat!”

Dave didn’t even have time to rub his aching cheek. He hurried after them, too.

“That little runt is ridiculously fast!”

Kelvin chased Nihil while spewing every curse he could think of. Dave panted heavily, secretly marveling at the sight.

Nihil really was fast. No matter how hard they chased him, they couldn’t close the distance. On the other hand, they weren’t falling behind, either.

Dave saw Nihil heading into an alley. Despite being out of breath, he shouted with all his might.

“Neil! That’s a dead end!”

But all Dave’s efforts were in vain. Nihil slipped straight into the alley, and Dave heard Kelvin snicker.

Thinking they were doomed, Dave chased after Kelvin. But when Kelvin rounded the corner, he collided with something and bounced backward.

“Ugh!”

“…Huh?”

Kelvin rolled across the ground. Just as the boys chasing him wondered what had happened, a burly, fearsome-looking man who resembled a bear strode out of the alley.

“Ah~ Come on, buddy. You shouldn’t go running around an alley like this, okay?”

The man rolled his shoulders a few times, then strode over, grabbed Kelvin by the collar, and forcibly hauled him to his feet.

“Hm? Looks like your shoulder’s dislocated. What do you think, buddy?”

Kelvin cursed inwardly. The man was so much taller that Kelvin’s head barely reached his shoulder, and he couldn’t find the courage to argue back.

The bear-like man swept his gaze over the group. Kelvin’s side had a clear advantage in numbers, but no matter how he looked at it, they didn’t stand a chance against this man.

As if to show off his strength, the man lifted Kelvin by the collar and shook him back and forth. The shoulder he had claimed was dislocated seemed to be working perfectly well.

Just then, one of Kelvin’s followers brought a wooden club from somewhere and swung it at the back of the burly man’s head.

A heavy thwack echoed through the alley.

“……”

But the man didn’t fall. In fact, the wooden club broke instead.

“Ah……”

The boy stared at the shattered pieces in his hand and let out a faint gasp before cautiously backing away.

The completely unharmed man turned his head toward him. His sharp, ivory-colored eyes shifted slightly before settling on the boy who had struck him with the club.

“E-eeeeek!”

The boy screamed in terror under that piercing gaze. The two broken pieces of wood clattered to the ground, and he turned and fled.

The other boys followed, one after another. Kelvin twisted and struggled with all his might to escape the man’s grasp, but it was no use.

His face grew deathly pale. He ground his teeth, vowing to beat the bastard who had swung the club half to death once he got back.

Dave was terrified, too, but he knew he had to find Neil and get him out of there. He hurried into the alley and called out in a whisper.

“Neil! Neil, where are y—?!”

As Dave searched the alley, he suddenly met a pair of eyes looking down at him serenely from atop a wall. He froze in utter shock.

Beside the boy sat Nerr, Neil’s little brother, along with the clever cat.

The hood cast a shadow over Neil’s face, but his eyes glimmered with an uncanny light, making his presence impossible to ignore.

The mysterious little boy stood steadily atop the narrow wall and held his younger brother in one arm. In his other hand was a pigeon with its neck broken.

Neil leaped down lightly and landed soundlessly on the ground.

A quiet, low voice for a child echoed through the alley.

“Don’t follow us.”

“H-huh?”

“I said, don’t follow us.”

“……”

After bluntly dismissing Dave, Nihil lowered Rianus from his arms and took his hand. He was about to continue on his way when he noticed the vivid bruises on Dave’s face. He paused and sighed.

Rianus watched his friend, who couldn’t quite bring himself to walk away coldly and was taking ointment out of his bag, and smiled with crinkled eyes.

Nihil pointed at the ground in front of him and called to Dave.

“Kneel.”

“H-huh?”

“Quickly.”

Nihil raised his chin as if to ask what Dave was waiting for. Dave hesitantly knelt on one knee in front of him.

Nihil scooped up some ointment, smeared it roughly over the bruises, and then waved him away as though he had finished everything he needed to do.

“Go.”

“……”

Leaving Dave standing there in a daze, Nihil took Rianus by the hand and led him out of the alley.

And then, they were stopped.

“It’s dangerous for kids to wander around a place like this alone!”

“…We’re fine.”

“Are there any other kids with you?”

“Mm-hmm. It’s just me and my big brother.”

“Have you eaten? Do you have somewhere to go? I haven’t seen you around before. When did you come to Sharton?”

“……”

“…Haah……”

Rianus’s eyes darted from side to side. Nihil was so dumbfounded that he nearly rubbed his face in exasperation, but then he noticed the pigeon in his hand and lowered it again.

So this was the famous Busybody Yvonne. At least the nickname was fitting.

Yvonne had initially tried talking to Nihil, but when Nihil refused to respond, he turned to Rianus and began trying to persuade him instead.

Rianus couldn’t quite bring himself to shake Yvonne off. Though he kept glancing around to show how awkward he felt, he seemed rather fond of Yvonne’s willingness to offer kindness without expecting anything in return.

“If you don’t have anywhere to go, why don’t you come with us?”

“…Uh, well, we’re leaving Sharton tomorrow……”

“Really? Good. You made the right decision. This place is incredibly dangerous. Then why don’t you stay with us just for tonight? The sun will be setting soon. You saw those scary boys chasing you earlier, right? I don’t know why they were after you, but it could be bad if you run into them again.”

“…Um, well……”

“There are also some disturbing rumors going around lately about children disappearing.”

Whether or not he realized that he himself was one of the “scary boys” who had chased them, Yvonne continued trying to persuade Nihil and Rianus.

He crouched in front of Rianus and calmly explained just how dangerous the area was. Dave was crouching beside him, too. It seemed he had intended to leave his old gang and follow Yvonne.

Nihil let out another deep sigh. Their original purpose had been to help Rianus with his assignment, so spending time among the children and experiencing their lives firsthand wasn’t a bad idea. However, Nihil already knew that Yvonne’s hideout was a dilapidated warehouse that had partially collapsed. Even by the standards of the slums, it was hardly a decent place to live.

Grrrrrrr……

Just then, someone’s stomach growled loudly.

“A-ah, s-s-sorry. P-please, j-just ignore that……”

The tall boy who had been standing silently nearby lowered his head in embarrassment, his ears turning bright red.

“……”

Nihil sighed deeply.

…Should I just feed the kids first?

 

***

 

Nihil threw a pebble.

“Kitty, fetch.”

“M-myaow……”

The cat had been frozen in shock after watching a flying bird plummet to the ground. At Nihil’s call, she jolted and hurriedly ran over to retrieve it.

Rianus realized that when Nihil said the doggy had brought the bird back, he had meant it quite literally—the doggy had only brought it back. Sir Evan must have been just as bewildered.

Nihil stood still for a moment, gazing at the sky as though making some calculations. Then he picked up another pebble and threw it.

Another innocent aviator, who had been freely soaring through the sky, came crashing down to the ground.

The cat was returning with one pigeon in her mouth when she saw another bird falling out of the sky. She let out a strange cry, then struggled to carry both pigeons back.

“Good job, Kitty.”

“Myaaaaa……”

“……”

Rianus cradled the utterly exhausted cat in his arms and gently stroked her. He felt a little guilty about making the knight who had come to protect him work so hard.

Dave glanced at the cat in Rianus’s arms, then quietly whispered to Nihil.

“Can you actually talk to cats?”

Nihil looked at him as though he were an idiot, but he still answered rather than ignoring him.

“The cat is smart.”

“Oh……”

“She understands everything you say, including all the insults you threw at her.”

“…Really?”

“Watch your language around the kids.”

“…Okay. Sorry.”

“Here. Hold these.”

Nihil handed the pigeon carcasses to Dave. Yvonne’s pupils trembled as he muttered,

“…So this is how you can get meat……”

“Wild animals can carry parasites and germs, so make sure you cook them thoroughly. And don’t pick up animals that are already dead. They may have died from an illness.”

“O-okay……”

Nihil picked up another pebble. Whenever a pigeon dropped to the ground, the boys hurried over to retrieve it.

Yvonne decided that he had been sticking his nose into things unnecessarily and resolved to rein himself in from now on. After all, he had ended up making the little boy procure food for all of them.

Perhaps he was simply too confused. Even though they were on their way to his own hideout, he failed to notice that the little boy was leading the way.

 

***

 

“We’re here. This is the place.”

By the time they arrived at the hideout, dusk had already settled.

Hearing footsteps outside, the children inside cautiously cracked open the warehouse door. When they saw the group, they called out excitedly.

“Big brother Yvonne! Big brother Jane! You’re back!”

“Huh? But who are they?”

“Big brother Yvonne, did you bring home more kids again?”

“Uh, well… I didn’t exactly bring them home……”

“Stop bringing home strays! We don’t even have enough food!”

“Y-yeah… Sorry.”

Yvonne scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. The children laughed along with him. Though they had complained, they were all strays he had brought home himself.

Then several children recognized Nihil and Rianus. They pointed at them and shouted.

“Huh? I think I know these guys!”

“Yeah, I remember! They’re the suckers who gave us bread!”

Before the twins could put their foot in their mouths any further, Yvonne hurriedly covered their mouths and smiled awkwardly.

He had known from the beginning that these were the boys who had handed out bread. He had already heard descriptions of them from Jane and the other children.

That was why he had tried so hard to persuade them to come along. Judging by how freely they shared bread with other children and how little they seemed to guard themselves against strangers, he had assumed they hadn’t been out on the streets for very long.

But he had been terribly mistaken. They hadn’t merely been living on the streets for a short time. They seemed to have been born and raised in the wilderness. The reason they could give away food so easily was simply that they had plenty to spare.

“H-ha ha… So you’re the ones who gave the kids bread.”

“Get some water. We need to prepare the pigeons.”

“Mm-hmm. How much do you need?”

“A big potful.”

“Okay……”

Yvonne went to fetch water without another word. The children’s eyes lit up, and they crowded around Rianus.

“Hi!”

“Do you remember us? You gave us bread!”

“H-hello. Of course I remember.”

“Do you have any more bread?”

“H-huh?”

The children peered toward Rianus’s bag. Seeing this, Yvonne shouted from the backyard.

“Don’t try to coax the little guy into giving you stuff!”

“Tch……”

“Who’s coaxing him~?”

Rianus was confused by the conversation bouncing around in every direction, but the children didn’t seem like bad kids. So he rummaged through his bag to see if he had any bread left.

The children huddled together, sneaking glances into the rustling bag. Whenever something fell out while Rianus searched through it, they quickly snatched it up.

“What’s this?”

The object that had fallen from the bag was none other than a heatstone. Rianus took out a paper bag containing the remaining pieces of bread and handed it to them. Then he retrieved the heatstone and explained,

“This is called a heatstone. It’s a stone that produces heat when you strike it. And the bread… There isn’t much left, but you can have it if you don’t mind.”

“Wow! You’re giving this to us?”

“Can we eat it?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you!”

“We’ll enjoy it!”

The children happily clutched the bag of bread. Then they glanced at Nihil, who was standing silently nearby, and hurriedly backed away as though afraid he might take it back.

Watching the children rejoice over the bread, Yvonne wondered whether it was really all right to accept food from them. But considering that they had already accepted the pigeons, worrying about it now seemed rather ridiculous. He simply thanked them.

With Yvonne busy preparing the meal, Jane took over the task of showing the newcomers around the hideout. In truth, there was hardly anything to show them: just an old warehouse that had partially collapsed and a makeshift toilet consisting of a roughly dug pit.

“H-here’s the t-toilet. G-going into the f-forest alone is d-dangerous, so you can d-do your business here.”

“……”

After seeing the toilet, which was nothing more than a hole in the ground, Rianus froze solid.