How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 85

“……”

After being shoved by the child, Nihil quickly moved away from the iron cage.

Rianus looked as though he was about to snap at the child who had pushed his friend, but Nihil hurriedly shook his head to stop him.

The bloodstained cage was a place of terror for the children, but it was also the only place where they could protect themselves from the hunting dog. It was a sanctuary that any child designated as prey was forbidden to enter.

With one child left outside as the prey, the others could take comfort in knowing they weren’t the targets and that they would get to live at least one more day.

That pathetic little comfort must have meant an awful lot to the children right now.

Looking at the children, who had been psychologically broken, Nihil silently gazed up at the host approaching him.

“W-What are you looking at?! Hand over the key!”

“……”

Should I break one arm and one leg each before I leave? If the children weren’t here, I wouldn’t have had to hold back this much.

Concealing his murderous intent behind his back, Nihil smiled brightly.

He had considered teasing the host a little longer to buy more time, but the nobleman seemed to be reaching his limit and was about to order his knight to smash the cage. So Nihil obediently tossed the key far away.

The host cursed as he went to retrieve it. Perhaps because Nihil had already given him so much trouble, he didn’t dare attack and instead fled out of the cage as though running for his life.

The two knights entered the cage.

Evan drew his sword as far away from the children as possible.

His opponent swung his sword fiercely, but the difference in skill between them was considerable. Since Evan’s only goal was to protect the children and buy time, he simply deflected the attacks.

From the outside, it looked as though Evan was the only one retreating, so the spectators who had bet on him began to jeer. However, as the opposing knight watched every one of his attacks slide harmlessly past Evan, he gradually grew tense.

Nihil watched Evan maintain his distance and carefully made his way toward the cage.

The timid child opened his mouth, apparently about to say something again, but the seaweed-haired boy, now puffed up with anger, was quicker. He shoved the child aside and opened the cage door for Nihil.

“Neil, it’s dangerous, so hurry over here.”

“I’m fine. Doggy will know how to handle himself. Can you give me my robe?”

“Oh, right!”

Rianus handed back the robe Nihil had wrapped around the puppy, then quickly tucked the little dog into his own arms.

“What are you going to do with the puppy? Are you taking it with you?”

Nihil put on his robe and pulled the hood firmly over his head. The puppy nestled in Rianus’s arms wriggled and squeaked as if answering the question.

Rianus looked down at the tiny puppy squirming against his chest and hesitated.

He liked the puppy very much and wanted to take it home. However, whenever he had kept an animal in the past, it had often ended up being found dead not long afterward. He couldn’t bring himself to agree so easily.

What if he took it home out of selfish desire and only brought it misfortune?

“I… I don’t know if I can protect it…”

“We can protect it together. If you like it, let’s take it with us.”

“Are you sure we can?”

“Yeah. But before that, let’s let the puppy say goodbye to its mother.”

“Its mother…?”

Nihil signaled Evan to draw everyone’s attention, then cradled the puppy against his chest and approached the cage where the hunting dog was being kept.

Evan frowned deeply.

How on earth does that brat know military hand signals?

He was uneasy, wondering what kind of nonsense the wildcat was about to pull this time, but he spread his aura spectacularly to draw everyone’s attention.

Rianus stared blankly for a moment at Evan’s now even more dazzling golden aura and wondered:

If I could have mana within me, what color would my aura be?

But he soon turned away, telling himself that such thoughts would only give him false hope, and trotted after Nihil.

The hunting dog snarled viciously at the children when it saw them, but as they approached, it began to whine.

“Come on, sweetheart. You should greet your baby.”

Nihil carefully showed it to the puppy.

Seeing its little one squirming in Nihil’s arms, the hunting dog paced anxiously inside its cage, whining incessantly.

Nihil took out the key he had deliberately withheld and unlocked the dog’s enclosure. The host spotted the children outside the cage and shouted at them, demanding to know what they thought they were doing. But Nihil calmly yelled something along the lines of, “Poor Doggy!” and even removed the dog’s muzzle.

As a result, everyone’s attention shifted back to the children. However, when Evan sheathed his sword and began throwing punches, the crowd erupted into cheers and focused on the fight instead.

Covered in wounds, the hunting dog remained somewhat wary as the atmosphere around it kept changing. But when Nihil gently nudged the puppy toward it, the dog cautiously crawled out of its cage and licked its little one.

Then, as though expressing its gratitude, it licked Nihil’s face as well.

After greeting its puppy, the hunting dog picked up its young in its mouth and carried it over to Rianus.

Rianus accepted the puppy almost automatically and held it against his chest, but he felt strangely unsettled.

The dog gazed intently at him and its puppy before nudging Nihil’s trouser pocket with its nose. The candy the host had given Nihil was inside.

Nihil took out the candy and rolled it between his fingers without speaking for a moment. Then he frowned and whispered something to the dog. His voice was so quiet that even Rianus, standing right beside him, could barely hear it.

Rianus silently watched Nihil as though he were conversing with the hunting dog. His friend eventually pressed a gentle kiss to the dog’s nose before standing up.

Apparently unwilling to eat the candy, Nihil tossed it onto the floor. The hunting dog, however, seemed interested in it.

“Let’s go now.”

“O-Oh? R-Right. The mother dog is coming with us too, isn’t she?”

“No. She can’t come with us.”

“W-Why not? O-Our house is big, so we can keep one more dog…”

“The little one doesn’t want to go. Take good care of the puppy.”

“Huh? What are you going to do?”

Rianus looked back and forth between the hunting dog and its puppy in confusion.

He tried bringing the puppy close to its mother, but the affection she had shown earlier was nowhere to be seen. The mother dog simply turned her head away as though she didn’t recognize her own child.

“Neil, wh-what’s wrong with her?”

“Shel, we have to go. It looks like they’re almost here. I should’ve broken that bastard’s arms and legs after all…”

“Wh-Who are you talking about? Who’s almost here?”

Nihil was too focused on his surroundings to answer immediately. After checking that all the children were safely inside the cage, he picked up the cane and hurled it with all his might.

With a loud crash, the iron cage door broke and creaked open.

Evan had just knocked another tooth out of his opponent when he heard the noise. He was about to ask what had happened when Nihil snapped the hunting dog’s collar apart with his bare hands.

“[For atonement and revenge.]”

The hunting dog bolted out.

In an instant, the venue descended into chaos as the hunting dog ran wild.

The man who had been fighting Evan was startled when the dog broke free. He immediately tried to rush over and protect his master, but Nihil lashed out with the whip and bound his legs in a flash, sending him sprawling spectacularly across the floor.

Evan hurriedly scooped Rianus into his arms and grabbed Nihil by the scruff of his neck.

“Y-You crazy little bastard!”

“Come on, Doggy. Let’s go.”

“You think you can cause all this chaos and then stroll away like nothing happened?!”

“The knights have arrived. We need to get out of here.”

“What do you mean, the knights?!”

“The knights, not the guards.”

“…The Royal Knights?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Evan was a Royal Knight himself. He had been the youngest person ever to join the Royal Knights Order, and at the time, he had also been its only commoner knight.

He had been quickly assigned as the prince’s personal escort and hadn’t spent long in the order, so he hadn’t had much time to interact with the others. Even so, with the exception of a few junior knights who had joined after him, almost every Royal Knight would recognize his face.

In his desperation, Evan hoisted Nihil onto his shoulder like a piece of luggage and drew his sword.

It was bad enough that he had secretly taken a seven-year-old prince outside the palace, sold him for eighty silver coins, and brought him to a dangerous gambling den. If His Majesty ever found out, Evan would truly be finished.

“Break through over there.”

Even now, the wildcat was dangling from his shoulder, holding on with nothing but arm strength while helpfully pointing out the way out. Evan felt his insides twist with frustration, but he swung his sword in the indicated direction anyway.

A corner of the ceiling in the gambling den’s decrepit underground chamber collapsed in an instant.

Evan quickly sheathed his sword, adjusted his hold on Nihil, gathered aura around his lower body, and leaped high into the air.

The knights apparently hadn’t stormed the place yet, because the people in the gambling den stared in shock at Evan suddenly appearing out of nowhere. But he had no time to care about them. The moment he reached the ground floor, he could clearly sense the knights’ presence.

The Royal Knights were already about to reach the entrance, so Evan couldn’t escape through the door. He was about to draw his sword again to smash through a wall when Nihil spoke.

“Doggy, don’t punch a hole in the wall. The rats will escape. Erase your presence first, then go up to the second floor.”

“……”

“Now.”

Evan realized he had gotten carried away and took a deep breath. He checked once more that the hoods on the two children were securely covering their heads, pulled his own mask up to just beneath his eyes, and dashed up to the second floor.

People’s gazes followed them, but once the Royal Knights stormed the place, the crowd would soon scatter.

“Left. The fourth room.”

“…I’ll go since you told me to, but how the hell do you know that?”

“Don’t ask. It’s distracting.”

“……”

Evan decided to stop questioning him and simply do as he was told. Nihil was the kind of brat who seemed capable of doing anything without the slightest effort, so Evan had assumed this was just another one of his inexplicable tricks. Apparently, it wasn’t quite that simple.

The fourth room Nihil had mentioned was a private room used for secret dealings. It might have been well soundproofed, but it had absolutely no windows.

“We’re blocked.”

“Break through here. The wall is relatively thin, so control your strength.”

Evan shifted Nihil and held both children in one arm before drawing his sword again. With a light slash imbued with aura, he carved a long opening into the wall. He shoved his hand into the gap and tore the wall apart, revealing an empty space beyond it.

Nihil, who rarely showed admiration, muttered, “At least you’re strong,” before continuing his explanation.

“Tear open the ventilation duct in the ceiling and follow the passage.”

“…It looks a little narrow.”

“You’re just too big.”

“……”

Since that wasn’t wrong, Evan tore open the ventilation duct, lifted the two children inside, and climbed up after them.

After checking the passage, Evan let out a sigh and muttered,

“…This is driving me insane.”

The two children could move through the passage comfortably with only a slight bend at the waist. Evan, on the other hand, was so large that he had to flatten himself against the floor and crawl on his stomach just to move. The passage was so narrow from side to side that he couldn’t even spread his arms and legs.

Watching Evan struggle forward on his elbows with his body curled up as tightly as possible, Nihil remarked,

“Why not just lie down and crawl?”

“…I can barely turn my body over.”

“You’re so big for no good reason…”

“Stop teasing me and hurry up!”

“Next time, I’ll take Doggy’s size into account.”

“If only you’d shut up!”

“Don’t get angry. I didn’t expect the passage to be this narrow either. Shel, this way.”

Nihil gently tugged at Rianus, who was about to continue straight ahead.

“Ugh, damn it! Why is this passage so complicated?!”

“Oh! Sir Evan, I can see the end!”

Evan’s face relaxed slightly at the thought that this hellish passage was finally coming to an end. But the moment he crawled out, his expression twisted all over again.

“D-Damn it! WHO THE HELL MADE THE ENTRANCE THIS SMALL?!”

“…Pfft.”

“DON’T LAUGH!”