Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Lessons from the Streets
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The carriage carrying the baby kitten and the wild lynx was weaving through every nook and cranny of Sharton Street, heading even deeper into its heart. After navigating streets lined with brothels, taverns, and illegal gambling dens, it now entered the slums.
"Rian, put on your hood. It's fine to sightsee, but your eye color is so distinctive—be careful not to make eye contact with anyone."
Nihil, who had already pulled his hood down tight so only his lower face was visible, spoke to Lianus as he peered curiously out at the surroundings.
Lianus admitted his heterochromia was unusual but figured it wasn't as striking as Nihil's eyes. He tugged his hood down firmly anyway. At least heterochromia didn't always show up clearly, even to animals.
"You'd better hide your own eyes and that wild look of yours, lynx."
Sir Evan muttered lowly from the driver's seat as he guided the carriage.
"After getting kidnapped twice and nearly sold off..."
"..."
Lianus couldn't help but grin at Evan's words. It felt like the knight had said exactly what he'd been thinking.
Nihil pretended not to hear and changed the subject.
"So, what do you think of Sharton Street now that you've seen it firsthand, Rian?"
"I'm not sure. The more I see, the more convinced I am that the redevelopment plan is solid."
Lianus offered no sentiments about the streets being filthy, frightening, or the people pitiable. He coolly assessed the area, eyes fixed on his purpose for coming here.
"I'm still fuzzy on the relief efforts, but the redevelopment side looks flawless. It's dirty and rundown now, but the location is prime. A proper overhaul would yield massive profits, no doubt. The real issue is the illegal immigrants who'd get displaced or the abandoned kids with nowhere to go—and there are fewer children visible than I expected."
"Kids band together but don't swarm in big groups. That would just annoy the adults. They're probably hiding in narrow alleys, waiting for some easy mark to wander by."
"Uh... why?"
"Because they have to pickpocket."
Nihil jingled a small pouch he'd prepared, then opened the little window toward the driver's seat and tossed it to Evan.
"Watch closely, Rian. This is how the kids here survive."
Evan caught the pouch, hesitated a moment, then parked the carriage and hung it conspicuously from his side.
"Young master, I'll be right back."
"Huh?"
"...If that lynx bothers you, just yell."
Evan added quietly before leaving Lianus—who was staring at him with wide eyes—behind and heading into the alley. Lianus peeked out the window, wondering where the knight was off to so suddenly.
Just as Evan rounded the corner, a scrawny boy who looked about thirteen or fourteen years old darted out and collided with him.
The boy, whose bones stuck out from days without food, was flung back quite a distance.
"S-sorry! Sorry!"
He sprang up as if unhurt and bowed repeatedly in apology. Even when Evan waved it off, saying it was fine, the boy apologized a few more times before vanishing into the alley.
Evan turned back casually and returned to the carriage as if nothing had happened.
"See that, Rian?"
"Huh? You mean that kid?"
"Yeah. He lifted the pouch."
Lianus shot to his feet at those words. He'd been watching through the narrow window slit, but his view was obstructed—he hadn't caught how the boy had emerged and snatched it.
"What? When? I didn't see it clearly! Shouldn't we chase him down?"
Nihil grabbed Lianus's hand—he looked ready to tumble out the window—and pulled him back to his seat.
"Calm down, Rian. We set it up to get pickpocketed, so no need to catch him. There wasn't much in it anyway. Your knight went a bit overboard, though."
"...Just a few broken cookie crumbs."
Evan defended himself. He'd slipped the cookies, wrapped in a handkerchief, into the boy's pocket on the sly.
Lianus hesitated before speaking up.
"Wouldn't it have been better to put more money in the pouch?"
"Exactly. If you pitied the kid, gold coins would've been smarter. Or at least fill it with whole cookies instead of just a few crumbs."
"..."
"But why go out of his way to prepare broken cookie pieces?"
"..."
Lianus pondered it. His friend wouldn't ask without reason. But no matter how he racked his brain, he couldn't figure it out and shook his head.
"...I, I don't know."
"Kids' gangs fall into two main types. Some survive just among themselves, but most need protectors. That's where bad adults step in—offering shelter or 'protection' to lure kids, then forcing them to work or pickpocket. Or maybe an older, stronger boy acts as boss and exploits the rest."
"Then it'd be better to live without relying on adults!"
"Rian, it's not that simple. Kids dumped alone in a strange place will always seek out adults first. What would you do if you were abandoned here by yourself?"
"...Find the guards...?"
"Guards might help lost kids find parents, but not orphans. Abandoned children are the same. If you got dumped here, your pretty face and unique eyes would get you kidnapped and sold to a brothel or black-market auction. Or fanatics might grab you for a sacrifice. Even if you escaped somehow, you can't conjure food from nothing or start a fire without tools. You'd starve for days, shivering through cold nights. If you begged an adult for help and they were kind, great—but good people are rare here. They're too busy feeding themselves to tolerate some orphan nosing around; they'd shoo you off. Then, cold, hungry, and scared, what if an adult extended a hand?"
"...I'd follow."
"Right. To most kids, that hand is salvation. But it leads to brutal labor and filthy abuse. Still, they can't escape. They don't know how to survive alone, so even knowing the adult's bad, they can't break free."
"...That's so heartbreaking."
Lianus hung his head. Nihil gently stroked his friend's curly dark green hair a few times before continuing.
"I didn't mean to upset you, Rian. If that boy falls under bad adults, where do you think the pickpocketed goods end up?"
"The adults take it..."
"Exactly. And kids don't pickpocket alone. Adults make teams of peers to watch each other."
"..."
"Body searches go without saying. The cookies would get confiscated too. But imagine the boy finds them—he'd want to eat so badly."
"But if he did..."
"Yeah. Even a little bite from an intact cookie, and the abuse would fly."
"..."
Lianus bowed his head again. Nihil pressed on without consoling him.
"But what if it's already broken cookies, sloppily wrapped in a handkerchief?"
Lianus's head snapped up.
"I get it! He could sneak a single broken piece without getting caught."
Lianus's eyes sparkled as he looked at Evan. Now he understood why the knight had brought broken cookies in a handkerchief—and why Nihil had wanted him to grasp it.
"Sir Evan hoped the boy could eat at least a little. And without getting punished. Broken, unpackaged crumbs wouldn't show if one piece went missing."
"You've got it, Rian."
Nihil smiled and petted his head again. Part praise, part because the soft hair felt nice.
Lianus leaned into the touch, eyes closing as he continued.
"And no gold coins because the adults would've taken them anyway."
"Right, Rian. Remember this well—what you can actually do for that kid. Stepping in to 'help' without knowing their situation isn't charity; it's deception."
"Nil, you're just... well, anyway. You're amazing."
Lianus hadn't realized his vocabulary was so limited. 'Amazing' didn't capture how his friend made his chest swell with emotion, but he couldn't find better words.
"Don't relax yet, Rian. We haven't solved anything. Relief work is like sharing cookies. Your knight only thought of that one boy, but one cookie changes nothing for them. A fleeting joy, and they're still hungry and cold. Besides, large-scale relief isn't just charity—it's politics. Whether you become their savior or deceiver remains to be seen, but no one wants resentment after helping, so the plan has to be near-perfect."
"Still, I think I know what I need to investigate now. Thanks, Nil. So, back here the day after tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I've got prep tomorrow, so I might miss classes. Let's head back to the palace."
With their talk wrapped up, Lianus and Nihil turned to Evan in unison.
Evan had been inwardly praising his quick-witted young master, beaming with pride, when he remembered he was the driver. He chuckled awkwardly.
Unless he moved, the carriage wouldn't.
"Ahem. Then let's head back."
After returning from their patrol of Sharton Street, they ate a late dinner and dispersed to their rooms to wash up.
Back in his room, Nihil scanned the shelves packed with small glass vials and the bundles of herbs strewn across his spacious chamber.
The potions in the vials were for testing Lianus's constitution, but on second thought, the prince—who especially hated bitter tastes—would take forever to finish them all.
'Guess I'll have to transmute them after all.'
It was faster to ingest and record reactions himself than force-feed Lianus daily. And quite a few of the prepared potions were poisons.
The only hitch: transmuting required Lianus's blood.
Nihil thought it over, then shook his head. He didn't like the idea of cutting the boy, and they weren't urgent anyway.
As Nihil shelved the idea and grabbed his robe to head to the bath, footsteps approached—heavy and steady, unmistakably Evan's.
Nihil paused before entering the bathroom; the steps headed straight for his bedroom. He waited a beat. They stopped abruptly at the door, as if assessing inside, and lingered silently.
Nihil flung the door open.