How the Prince Makes Friends Chapter 94

When Nihil opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the little prince wiping his face with tear-streaked cheeks. Raising his head a little further, he saw Evan holding him in his arms.

“Neil…”

“…Rian.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”

Rianus kept apologizing. If he had known that removing the slave brands would hurt this much, he would never have agreed to it.

He had wanted to appear mature, to grow up quickly, but he had never imagined that his choice would end up hurting his friend.

Was this what it meant to be an adult—to endure pain? Or was he still too incompetent to become one?

“Rian… your face is a mess.”

Nihil blinked a few times, looking dazed. Then, seeing Rianus’s swollen, puffy face, he let out a quiet snort of laughter and sat up.

“Hic, sniff, huuu…”

“Rian, let’s wash your face. I’ll take off your bandages.”

Nihil unwound Rianus’s damp, soggy bandages, fetched fresh water, and scrubbed his face clean.

“Huu, sniff… I’m sorry, Neil…”

“Don’t rub your eyes, Rian. Are they itchy?”

Nihil caught Rianus’s hand and lowered it before the prince could rub his face. Rianus shook his head.

“Mmm…”

“Okay. Next time we go out, we’ll cover it with an eyepatch. Or we can get some magical reagents.”

“Mmm…”

Rianus lowered his head.

Next time we go out, I’ll have to prepare more thoroughly.

So my friend won’t have to suffer. So he won’t have to bear everything alone.

“Rian, I need to wash your face, so lift your head a little.”

“…Neil, you’re okay now, right?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Rian, blow your nose.”

“Hnk!”

Nihil even took care of Rianus’s runny nose, then washed the bandages soaked with tears.

Rianus blinked at his friend, completely unaware that he had just blown his nose into Nihil’s hand.

When Nihil pulled Rianus’s hood down over his head, the prince’s bright, sparkling eyes disappeared beneath it. Nihil, too, changed into a spare set of clothes with the prince himself attending to him, then pulled his hood low over his face.

“Your field of vision will be narrower, so it might be a little uncomfortable.”

“Mmm, it’s okay. I’m not uncomfortable. What about you, Neil? Are you really okay now?”

“I’m fine. The pain has subsided.”

“Why…? Can I ask why you did it?”

Rianus asked in as quiet a voice as he could manage.

Nihil briefly considered how much he could tell him. He must never be defined as any one thing. He had to be neither this nor that—or perhaps both this and that… just something like that.

First, Nihil explained the two ways to remove a slave brand. One was to reverse-calculate the spell formula. The other was to pour holy water directly into the core of the formula.

“…Since it would be difficult to hire a mage or shaman right away, I chose the method involving holy water. But I couldn’t open up their chests and pour holy water directly onto their hearts, so I transferred the brands to the backs of my hands first. Transferring them is relatively easy compared to lifting the curse.”

No. In truth, transferring them to another person was impossible.

He had only managed it because of his ability to assimilate.

“Originally… Does getting a slave brand hurt that much?”

“No. The pain I experienced came from something else. Transferring or removing a brand causes severe pain. That’s why people usually die of shock when the brand is torn out of their hearts.”

“Wh—!”

Startled by the mention of death from shock, Rianus was about to cry out when Nihil hurriedly covered his mouth and continued.

“Calm down, Nerr. Anyway, slave brands embedded in the heart are extremely difficult to remove. That’s why I transferred them to the backs of my hands, where they’d be easier to erase. And…”

“W-wait. Are you sure you can tell me all of this? I-I’m not curious. You don’t have to tell me.”

“…You’re okay with me not explaining it?”

By now, Rianus had squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears with both hands.

He was terribly curious about what kind of ability Nihil had used. But he was also afraid that if he learned too much, his friend might leave him.

I don’t mind living my whole life without knowing anything. I just want Nihil to stay by my side.

Nihil stared at Rianus, who was firmly covering his eyes and ears, and parted his lips slightly.

Would it be all right if I only told him something vague? If I told him just a little, perhaps he wouldn’t forget me.

After thinking it over a little longer, Nihil cautiously spoke.

“It should be fine if I tell you part of it.”

“…Is it okay to tell me?”

“Hmm. Just a tiny bit.”

Hearing that it would probably be all right, Rianus hesitated before lowering the hand covering one ear and waiting for Nihil to speak. It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t curious.

“I can’t explain it in detail, but… I can take on the consequences of something in someone else’s place.”

Taking on someone else’s consequences was an ability that used only a portion of his unique power, Assimilation. It wasn’t particularly impressive.

However, after hearing the explanation, Evan and Rianus both pressed their lips tightly together and thought the same thing.

Perhaps he thinks it’s safe to tell us because we don’t actually understand what he means.

Nihil let out a light chuckle, as though he could plainly see what the two were thinking, and continued explaining.

“The twins didn’t die of shock because I shared the consequences of their pain. Three people shared the pain that would normally have been borne by two, so they were able to endure it.”

“Hmm… I think I understand a little. Then wouldn’t it have hurt less if more people had shared the pain?”

“I’m the only one who can share the consequences. I can’t pass them on to anyone else.”

Rianus looked a little dejected at that.

He didn’t know exactly what Nihil meant by consequences, but if several people could share the pain, his friend wouldn’t have had to suffer so much that his entire body became drenched in cold sweat.

“Neil, we couldn’t help it this time, but don’t use that ability again from now on.”

“Okay.”

“You’re not still in pain, are you?”

“I’m not. This is a secret, remember?”

“Yeah. As long as you’re not in pain, that’s enough for now.”

“…I’m afraid that’s not enough yet.”

“Huh?”

Evan stared intently at the back of Nihil’s hand before continuing.

“Judging from the context, those glittering silver markings are slave brands, aren’t they?”

“That’s right…”

“And there are two of them.”

“…There are.”

Evan and Rianus stared at Nihil simultaneously. Their expressions clearly asked what he intended to do about those markings now.

“Erasing these isn’t difficult. I just need to pour some holy water directly into the core. Divine power has a nasty disposition and absolutely hates coexisting with other kinds of mana.”

“Hmm. Where’s the core?”

“In my palm.”

“Wildcat, don’t tell me you’re going to tear open the palm I just finished treating.”

“……”

Nihil fell silent and subtly avoided Evan’s gaze.

His reaction was so obvious that Rianus practically leaped in alarm.

“No! Absolutely not! Why did you transfer them to the backs of your hands in the first place? Couldn’t you have transferred them to the backs of their hands instead?”

Rianus openly pointed at the twins. His voice was so loud that the children couldn’t help hearing him. The twins immediately realized what they were talking about and exchanged uneasy glances.

Nihil picked up the agitated Rianus and gently patted his back as he spoke.

“I couldn’t just punch through the kids’ palms.”

“P-punch through? You mean you’re going to punch through them, not just cut them?”

“……Ah.”

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Nihil quickly shut his mouth. But Rianus’s face had already turned deathly pale.

It was too late to take back what he had said, so Nihil hurriedly changed the subject.

“Rian, you don’t want me to remain a slave, do you?”

“Of course not, but… W-we can just find a mage or go to a temple. I may not look like it, but I’m a prince…”

Rianus hugged Nihil’s head tightly, his voice trembling as though he might burst into tears. He tried to persuade Nihil, promising that he could summon as many mages or priests as he wanted.

But Nihil shook his head and continued.

“I don’t like other people’s mana entering my body. It feels unpleasant.”

In truth, it wasn’t even possible for their mana to enter his body. The moment another person’s mana flowed into him, it would simply be absorbed by him.

Even now, he was barely preventing the mana engraved into the slave brands from being absorbed. If the brands were to disappear into him without the proper procedure, the twins’ causality might be disrupted. That was why Nihil was being so cautious.

However, he couldn’t explain all of that, so he considered another excuse before slowly speaking.

“And… More importantly, it would be troublesome if rumors spread that the commoner the prince picked up turned out to be a slave. Besides, I don’t really get along with temples.”

At Nihil’s claim that he didn’t get along with temples, the little kitten and the big dog exchanged glances.

Nihil could easily guess what they were thinking, but he didn’t bother correcting them.

Evan cautiously asked, “Is it… all right to use holy water?”

“As long as you don’t fill a bathtub with holy water and dunk me in it over and over, it’s fine.”

If he assimilated with divine power, there would truly be no going back.

Evan’s eyes trembled slightly as he listened to the explanation.

Then that means dunking him in holy water over and over is NOT okay…!

Evan silently agonized over the thought as he recalled all the times Nihil had used holy water without a second thought.

While Evan tried to figure out what exactly the little wildcat was, His Highness the Little Kitten seemed unconcerned about his friend’s true identity and kept insisting that he not hurt himself any further.

“I’m sorry, Rian. But it really isn’t a big deal. You can watch if you want.”

“…Really?”

“You want the prince to watch you punch a hole through your hand?”

“If you want to watch, then watch.”

Nihil waved the hand Evan had already treated as though it were truly no big deal.

Still being held by Nihil, Rianus wrapped his arms around Nihil’s head and thought for a while before nodding cautiously, as if he had come to a decision.

“But why did you ask Sir Evan to help earlier?”

“My concentration was slipping, so I was going to ask him to punch the hole for me.”

Evan flew into a rage, demanding to know what kind of ridiculous thing Nihil had been planning to make him do. But Nihil simply led the two of them back into the storeroom, neatly arranged the medicine bottles and bandages, and carefully wiped down his dagger.

Every movement was so natural that the two wondered whether this was really all right, yet neither could bring themselves to stop him.

The wound Nihil had made to draw blood had already been treated by Evan. When Nihil unwound the bandage, his palm was sticky with ointment. Evan must have applied a generous amount.

“Why did you slather on so much ointment? You should use it sparingly.”

“…Just try not to get hurt, and then you can talk.”

“……”

Nihil stopped nagging. After all, he had seen the expressions on Evan’s and Rianus’s faces as they cleaned him up.

Nihil proceeded to open every single medicine bottle. Then he accidentally knocked one of the glass bottles with his hand, and it toppled over with a small thunk.

The bottle rolled away and disappeared behind them.

“Oh! I’ll get it!”

Rianus hurried after the rolling bottle.

“But Neil, this bottle is empty… Huh?”

By the time Rianus returned with the bottle, Nihil was already wrapping one of his hands in bandages.