Chapter 210
Chapter 210
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 210
Chapter Title: A Glimpse of Mana
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Bang, clatter!
"Wildcat...! What the hell are you doing?"
Sir Evan, who had rushed back to Lianus's room after rummaging through Nihil's diary, froze at the sight before him.
The wildcat bastard had the prince sitting in front of him and was shuffling inverted cups this way and that. Yeah, just like a street shell game...
"Rian, pick one."
"I can't see it right now?"
"...Huh, yeah. You got it."
The wildcat bastard lifted the cups with a serious expression. They were all empty.
Was this guy seriously teaching our innocent baby kitten how to run a scam right now?
"...Don't teach him any weird crap."
"It's not like that. Come here yourself."
"......?"
"Sir Evan, come here!"
At the call from the world's cutest, most lovable baby kitten patting the spot beside him, Evan forgot his outrage and hurried over to take a seat.
"I'll put this pebble in one of the cups and shuffle them. Find it."
"...Got it."
He nodded on reflex and stared holes into the cup with the pebble.
"Rian, close your eyes."
"Okay!"
Soon the cups began shuffling at a speed that made Evan gasp inwardly.
Damn wildcat bastard even lifted them into the air to switch the pebble's position—skills that could make even seasoned hustlers weep and flee.
"Alright, find it."
"......This one."
Evan pointed hesitantly at the rightmost cup. Nihil didn't lift it right away but called out to Lianus, who still had his eyes squeezed shut.
"Rian, you pick too."
"Okay!"
Lianus popped his eyes open brightly and unhesitatingly pointed at the middle cup.
"This one!"
"......"
The cup was lifted. The pebble was in the one Lianus had chosen.
"...You're not saying you moved it just to make the prince happy, right?"
"What the hell do you take me for?"
What else? A crazy old coot who messes with kids.
Evan shot Nihil a dirty look before turning back to the prince.
"There must be a reason you covered the prince's eyes, right?"
"Yeah. Rian's eyes seem a bit off lately."
"What?! Fix it right now!"
Evan grabbed Nihil by the collar and shook him without waiting for the rest.
"Ugh, stop shaking me, Rian! The puppy's bullying me!"
"No! Don't bully him!"
Evan only calmed down once Lianus clung to him tightly, but he kept glaring at Nihil.
"What did you do to our prince!"
"Why do you assume I did something?"
Nihil sighed deeply and explained. It wasn't a pebble in the cup—it was a mana stone, and it seemed Lianus could now see mana faintly. Evan's eyes went wide as saucers.
"...So that's a good thing?"
"Hard to say right now. Rian, wanna come with me?"
"Okay!"
Nihil led Lianus to his room, where the scene left them momentarily speechless.
"......"
"...Sorry."
Evan unwittingly took a step back.
The study—practically a no-entry zone—had its door wide open, and the bookshelf leading to the secret room had a few books knocked out onto the floor from some impact.
The bedroom rug was half-flipped and sprawled pitifully out of place, probably kicked aside in the puppy's haste to leave.
"......"
Evan glanced at Nihil and hurriedly flipped the rug back with his foot. Nihil sighed at the sight, then led Lianus into the study.
"What do you think, Rian?"
"...Dizzy."
Lianus curiously scanned the study but turned away, unable to bear the vertigo. It looked like the room was wobbling and rippling like jelly.
'Didn't used to be like this.'
Lianus hadn't visited Nihil's room much. Makes sense—Nihil was always in his room. No point visiting an empty friend's room; nothing fun about it. But at least last time, the room hadn't moved like it was alive.
"Let's get out for now."
Leaving the study full of assorted spells behind, Nihil led Lianus out again and began penning a letter.
-Dearest Grand Duke. Summer must be approaching; the weather grows sweltering by the day. The finest mana stones you send are being put to good use where needed. But I worry this frail soul might cause you to collapse from heatstroke while gathering more for my sake...
Nihil wrote playfully but suddenly fretted the guy might get mad. Hadn't he even apologized for that last note calling him an 'idiot'?
"......"
Nihil crumpled the letter and wrote honestly instead.
-Dia, our kid's starting to babble. Come see.
Shortly after sending the brief note via Somnus, the mana surged wildly.
"Nil, baby's coming!"
Just before the passage opened, Lianus stared blankly at the rising haze in the air, then beamed and welcomed the arrival.
"Baby, come on in!"
"......"
But Diabolus firmly pushed away the clinging Lianus and chucked the crumpled note at Nihil.
"[Please don't send me this garbage.]"
"[How's kid updates 'garbage'?]"
"[What 'kid'? An anima's just a lump of mana. And... ]"
'Gr-Grand Duke! The kid—the kid babbled...!'
'Shouldn't we be welcoming Your heir!?'
'Weren't you busy?'
'Don't you need escorts!?'
"......"
Diabolus rubbed his forehead, recalling his aides' hysterics. They were clearly misunderstanding something big, but explaining on the spot was ridiculous, so he'd just come.
'Crawling around more lately...'
He used to barely speak, but words had increased recently.
"...So why'd you call?"
"Not busy?"
"No urgents."
Even if there were, his aides would handle it. That's what he hired them for.
Diabolus replied indifferently and looked down at the so-called babbling anima. It flinched like it was scared, then hid in its father's arms.
"That little fox..."
"Haha, takes right after you, Dia."
"......"
Diabolus nearly retorted in exasperation but shut his mouth—protesting would just be spitting in his own face.
"Dia, help me out a bit."
"......?"
"'Help' means being the kid's plaything?"
"Plaything? This is training."
"Training my ass..."
Diabolus snorted and wrapped aura around the stick again. As ordered: as crude as possible, but with obvious weak spots.
The blood clot glared at the stick for a while before swinging the wooden sword.
Crack! The wooden sword shattered on contact with the stick. The thirtieth attempt already.
Diabolus clicked his tongue and flicked his hand in the air. Practice swords tumbled down.
"More wooden swords...!"
The blood clot's eyes went round, but without complaint, it grabbed a new one. Diabolus swung the stick to knock it away and lightly tapped the dark green head.
"Rest."
"Baby, I can keep going..."
"Rest."
"Hng."
Lianus looked a bit downcast but flopped onto the ground anyway, eyes closed to build focus. Staring wide-eyed to see mana flows had dried them out.
"Requies, this is greed no matter how you slice it. He can't see mana clearly like you; it's just faint flickers."
"No! Nil, I can do it! Baby, give me a chance!"
Startled, Lianus shot up to voice his case, but Diabolus pressed his forehead down flat and continued.
"Grasping the sense alone could take years. How long do you think humans can endure that unstable uncertainty?"
"Dia, aren't you too pessimistic?"
Nihil felt a bit glum at Diabolus's excessive doubt. He'd thought it a golden chance for Lianus, who couldn't wield aura, but to a third party, it looked reckless.
"Don't fill his head with nonsense. Even if I could see mana like you, calculating resonance points is beyond me."
Better to just crush with brute force.
"And I'm not free enough to babysit. What then when I'm gone?"
"Oh, that—we train the puppy..."
"You mean that thing crawling on the floor?"
Diabolus raised an eyebrow curiously. There was a toddling pup in the palace..., but no way he meant turning it into a spirit beast.
"Ah, not the little one—the big one over there..."
Nihil nodded toward Evan to clear the misunderstanding.
"......"
"......"
Evan, meeting Diabolus's gaze, ducked his head in genuine shame. A normal look after so long hit hard.
"Now raising a grown one too—no, never mind."
Better not say it. At over 600, he was babied; a twenty-something would look like a blood clot. Or,
"...A pet?"
"Dia..., even so, to a person..."
"......"
'I'm the fool for thinking a kid raised by that wildcat would be normal.'
Suddenly demoted to pet puppy, Evan narrowed his eyes and stepped back.
The abnormal kids' conversation continued.
Dia, did I teach you that? You used to carry wolf pups everywhere. Call it a wolf pup. And that was because they clung to me, not—
Evan left the nutrient-free banter and approached the baby kitten with perked ears pretending not to listen.
"Your Highness, not too tired?"
"No, Sir Evan! I can do more!"
Thinking Evan would stop the training, Lianus jumped up and shook his head vigorously. The wildcat smashing aura layers without his own must've impressed him.
For a prince whose mana vessel was shattered, unable to ever form aura, it was like an oasis in the desert.
'Gotta... cheer him on.'
Even if it turned out a mirage.
"Nil, can you show me once more?"
"Sure."
At the prince's request, the wildcat picked up a wooden sword. The baby assumed position too, tenser than against the prince.
"Dia, wrap it in aura."
"...Go easy."
Soon, a vivid but savage, sloppy aura enveloped it—clear to anyone.
This inefficient mana use was to let the prince spot weak points in the aura layer easily. Seeming brute, controlling it to avoid harm was no easy feat.
"Rian, watch close. Here, here, and here—those are the weak spots."
"Hmm......"
But despite the wildcat's explanation, the prince tilted his head, clueless. Even Evan, more aura-exposed, couldn't tell; no way the prince could from faint mana glimpses.
Plus, he still couldn't feel mana properly.
In the end, the prince's training ended at sunset without a single lucky hit.
"...Sniff, hic."
Deep night, all asleep—the sniffling broke the silence now and then.
"......"
Nihil heard it, then closed his eyes again.