How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 84

Nihil approached the children with an innocent expression, pretending he had no idea what was going on. Seeing the wildcat calmly continue acting in the middle of such a suffocating atmosphere, Evan felt relieved before he even realized it.

To resolve the situation, Nihil glanced over the children, then crouched down and moved close to the child who was gasping for breath, bringing his face right up to theirs.

The moment the child saw Nihil’s face, they stopped breathing and stared at him with wide eyes. It seemed his face was more useful than he’d thought.

He noticed Rianus pouting beside him, but Nihil pretended not to see it and spoke.

“There, there. Good child. Don’t cry. You were scared the puppy might die, weren’t you? I’ll help you!”

After saying that, Nihil tilted his head as though wondering what to do. Then he took off his robe and wrapped it around the puppy squirming in Rianus’s arms.

“Ta-da! Now the puppy won’t be cold!”

Having said that, Nihil handed the puppy back to Rianus and immediately returned to his previous spot. The moment he turned his back, the icy atmosphere thawed in an instant.

The gazes that had been fixed on the children shifted to Nihil, whose face was now exposed. It would have been better if he’d had some soot smeared on it, but Evan had wiped his face clean when he was drunk, leaving it sparkling and spotless.

Evan was regretting that he should have dirtied the boy’s face a little more when Nihil spoke.

“Hmm, are you all done, mister? Can Neil say the number now?”

Nihil pretended not to know anything, examining the gold coin closely before walking all the way along the cage.

As expected, the spectators were no longer interested in the coin. Their eyes followed Nihil instead. Relieved by the change in atmosphere but troubled by the situation, Evan rubbed his face with a weary hand.

Rianus bit his lip hard. He admired how Nihil could change the atmosphere to suit his needs even in a disadvantageous situation, but he hated his own incompetence for making his friend shoulder the consequences of his mistake. He also resented the child who had shouted.

Just then, the fat man who had earlier prodded Pan with his cane suddenly spoke up.

“Five gold! I’ll buy that child!”

With those words, an auction abruptly began.

Nihil sneered at the man for offering a mere five gold coins, but outwardly, he smiled brightly as though he knew nothing.

Of course, five gold coins wasn’t an amount that ordinary gamblers from Saturn Street could casually offer to buy someone.

But things were different if nobles were involved.

“Seven gold.”

When another man spoke up, the price began to rise little by little.

Thinking this was his chance, the host tried to grab Nihil, but Nihil smacked him on the head and ran away, giggling.

“Are we playing tag again?”

Nihil tried to regain control of the situation, but the people had already lost interest in watching him torment the host.

A nobleman looked at the host, who was clutching his now-bumped head, with contempt and spoke.

“Hey, once the auction’s over, we’ll take the winner ourselves. Just leave the kid alone and get on with it!”

Scratching his head, the host inadvertently became the auctioneer.

“Y-yes, sir! W-well, we’re at twelve gold! Anyone willing to offer more?”

Just like that, the situation was completely turned around.

Nihil, who had been leading the game, became the item up for sale, and the price continued to creep upward, slowly reaching fifty gold.

“F-fifty! Fifty gold! Anyone offering more?”

“…Sixty.”

After perhaps five minutes of stalling, the auction seemed about to end. Evan finally stepped in.

There was no way the wildcat would actually be sold, even if someone won the auction. Still, they needed to buy time until the guards arrived.

“Sixty gold! Anyone offering more?”

The price, which had been increasing by two or three gold at a time, suddenly jumped by ten gold. Everyone turned to look at Evan.

Evan considered releasing a little of his killing intent, but if the others got frightened and the auction ended right then, he would have to show his identification badge. So he held back.

After all, he carried only his Royal Knight’s badge, not an ordinary identification badge.

The moment he showed it, this place would descend into chaos.

Sighing inwardly, Evan decided to provoke the man he suspected was a nobleman—the one who had last offered fifty gold—instead of releasing his killing intent. He looked the man up and down.

“Are you poorer than you look?”

“Y-you insolent…! Seventy! I’ll offer seventy!”

“Seventy! Seventy gold! We have a bid!”

Fortunately, the man took the bait easily.

Evan glanced at Nihil, who was behaving himself, then raised the price again.

“Eighty.”

“……”

Perhaps the nobleman wasn’t particularly wealthy, or perhaps he had decided Nihil wasn’t worth that much. Either way, the middle-aged nobleman hesitated to raise his offer.

Then Nihil stepped in again.

“Is Neil getting sold?”

Despite already having been sold and locked in the rabbit cage, Nihil tilted his head as though he had no idea what was happening, then gave a pretty, bashful smile.

He had started raising his own price.

His eyes curved into an utterly adorable crescent. The nobleman stared at him blankly before shouting,

“Eighty-five!”

The stupid fat man had fallen for the wildcat’s charms and immediately raised his bid. Evan responded without the slightest hesitation.

“Ninety.”

“Ninety-five.”

“One hundred.”

As the price continued to climb, Pan whispered to Rianus, who had been watching the scene.

“Hey, is your big brother rich?”

“Is he… rich?”

Rianus had been watching with displeasure as his friend’s price rose. At Pan’s question, he found himself wondering about Sir Evan’s finances.

He didn’t know how much a Royal Knight earned, but Sir Evan was his only escort knight, and apart from the occasional brief outing, he practically worked around the clock without any days off. Surely his salary wasn’t small.

However, Sir Evan came from a commoner family, and no matter how he looked at it, buying Nihil with a knight’s salary seemed impossible.

Not that human trafficking was legal in the first place.

“He’s just… trying to kill time.”

“What? What if he gets found out?”

“If he does, couldn’t he just beat everyone up and run away?”

Rianus answered casually, saying the first thing that came to mind.

Sir Evan’s financial situation didn’t matter to him. If money had to be paid, Rianus could simply pay it himself.

What bothered him more was that fat nobleman who kept raising his friend’s price.

“…I don’t like that fat bastard. Who does he think he is, trying to buy Neil?”

“……”

Pan was momentarily speechless as he watched Rianus, who had such a gentle face yet casually cursed someone out. It seemed the younger brother had quite a temper, too.

“Hey… you really…”

“Hm?”

“No, nothing. You and your brother really… resemble each other.”

“Really?”

Rianus’s eyes lit up, and he smiled broadly at the thought of resembling Nihil. Then he suddenly lowered his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“My brother told me not to use bad words.”

“……”

Pan decided not to ask any more questions.

Meanwhile, Nihil’s price had just passed 160 gold.

“Two hundred!”

“……”

The nobleman raised his offer by a huge amount and looked at Evan triumphantly.

Evan had never intended to pay in the first place, so he didn’t mind the price continuing to rise. However, if he pushed it any higher, someone would inevitably start questioning his identity.

Just then, Nihil spoke again.

“Misters, instead of doing this, let’s play tag with Neil! Neil likes people who play with him. How about whoever catches Neil first gets to take him home? Of course, Neil won’t let himself get caught easily!”

“Sounds goo— No.”

Evan had been about to agree, but he shook his head. He didn’t want the wildcat to become any more of a spectacle than he already was. There was no reason Nihil had to be the one to keep everyone entertained.

Evan turned toward the nobleman.

“How about I fight your knight instead? Two hundred gold is quite a lot of money for you, isn’t it? Let’s say the winner gets to buy him for one hundred gold. What do you think?”

“Hmm…”

The nobleman couldn’t answer immediately. Judging by Evan’s clothes, he looked like an ordinary mercenary. However, his enormous build made the nobleman wonder whether his own knight might lose.

When the decision took too long, the wildcat launched another provocation.

“Fat mister, you’d better not! Your knight is waaay smaller and looks weaker! He’ll definitely get hurt and bleed and then, and then, he’ll cry and cry because it hurts!”

Evan wondered whether such a ridiculous taunt would actually work. To his surprise, the nobleman’s bodyguard immediately shouted in outrage.

“Y-you insolent brat! My lord, there’s no way I could lose to some mere mercenary!”

“Can you do it?”

“Of course! Leave it to me!”

“But…”

The nobleman still seemed concerned about the enormous difference in their physiques. He narrowed his eyes and looked Evan up and down.

Just then, Nihil reached through the bars and tugged repeatedly at the hem of Evan’s cloak, whispering loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“But… Neil actually likes small and cute things. Honestly, that mister is big, sure, but he’s also… really not cute, so Neil doesn’t want to go with him. Bear mister isn’t very cute either, but he’s a little better than that mister. So Bear mister has to win! Oh, but that might hurt the other mister’s feelings, so please keep it a secret.”

“Pfft…!”

Laughter erupted from all around at Nihil’s not-so-secret secret.

Even Evan couldn’t hold back his chuckles as he asked,

“Then what would you like? If you come with me, I’ll give you a present later.”

“A baby kitty.”

You little bastard. No. Not happening.

Evan couldn’t forgive the wildcat for daring to covet His Exalted Baby Kitty, but ridiculously enough, Nihil’s provocation had worked perfectly, so he had no choice but to prepare for the fight.

Meanwhile, Nihil was proudly holding the baby kitten in his arms.

“Shel.”

“Hm?”

“It might get dangerous, so go inside with the others.”

“Inside the cage?”

“Yeah.”

But when Nihil opened the door of the portable iron cage, one of the children began trembling like a leaf and spoke.

“I-I-I don’t w-w-want to g-go in th-there.”

“I’m not going to force you. I won’t lock the door, either. If you’re too scared, just hide behind it. I’ll protect you.”

“H-how can you p-protect us…? W-wait!!”

When the child tried to shout again, another boy finally lost patience and clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Enough. If you open your mouth one more time, I’ll tie you up and feed you to that hunting dog myself.”

“Mmph! Mmmph!!”

At the threat, the child shook his head frantically.

Meanwhile, Pan seemed to think following Nihil’s instructions was the best option, so he cautiously climbed into the portable cage. Rianus hesitated briefly before following him inside.

The host, having finished placing his bets, was still shouting at Nihil to hand over the keys. Nihil ignored him for the time being. The longer he dragged things out, the better.

Thanks to the host, however, the children who had been hesitating grew frightened and hurried into the portable cage.

Once everyone was inside, Nihil approached to close the cage door for them. But as soon as he reached out, a trembling hand shoved him away.

“Y-you stay away!”

BANG!

The cage door slammed shut.