Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: How the Prince Makes Friends
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In the main palace's office, the Prime Minister was tearing his hair out.
"We've got redevelopment right around the corner, and now this happens?!"
"...Calm down, Abel."
King Sedes soothed his close friend, who was buried under a pile of documents with dark circles under his eyes just like his own—they'd both pulled an all-nighter dealing with the sudden incident. In fact, just last night, it had been Abel calming Sedes down.
"How can I calm down?! This is drugs and human trafficking we're talking about! Not some petty pickpocketing!"
Sedes shook his head at his friend, who was spouting the exact same words he'd said yesterday, and threw them right back at him.
"Still, we caught it before redevelopment started. That's something to be grateful for, isn't it?"
"Now I have to redo the entire slum rehabilitation budget!"
"......Good luck."
Sedes knew the Prime Minister's workload was at least as heavy as his own, if not more, so he offered a heartfelt but brief word of comfort.
"Once this is over, I'll give you some vacation time."
"...A month?"
"......"
"...Two weeks?"
"......Four days."
"Oh, come on."
Four days—not even a full week!
Abel cursed under his breath, even though he knew the man before him was the king of a nation. Lately, they'd had one incident after another—slave ships, rabbit warrens, you name it—and he'd worked without a single day off. Four days of vacation for all that?
Abel nearly hurled the thick stack of documents in his hand, but realized he'd only be hurting himself, so he sat back down obediently and picked up his fountain pen.
"By the way, did you include Sirentea?"
"Aaahhh! I forgot!"
Abel suddenly remembered the Sirentea he'd left on the windowsill of his bedroom in the palace last night to give it some moonlight, and let out a scream.
"Sedi, I'll be right back!"
"...Go ahead."
Sedes watched his friend dash out of the office in a clatter, absentmindedly wishing he could leave too, then shook his head and turned back to his papers.
'I want to go home.'
This place was already his home, though.
Sedes let out a deep sigh with that thought.
"...So, what if we supply raw ingredients instead of cooked food for the provisions? It'd cut labor costs and let us provide even more volume, right? Dried foods that keep well would be perfect!"
"That sounds good, but it'd require a lot more drinking water too. Once construction starts in the capital, wells might be harder to access, so we'd need to keep that in mind."
"Oh, right! Nil, you're so smart! I'll have to think about water too!"
Lianus showered praise on his friend for pointing out things he'd overlooked. Chatting endlessly about homework with the smartest person in the world made the trip back to the palace fly by. Bella, having completed her mission, said she'd come play again and headed off.
Opening the terrace doors, they found the butler tidying Lianus's bedroom. His eyes widened at their arrival, then he smiled warmly in greeting.
"Welcome back."
"Yeah! We're back, Butler."
"I'll prepare your bath."
"Okay!"
Lianus, who desperately wanted a wash, tossed off his wig in a hurry. His dark green locks, trapped inside all day, finally spilled free. The fresh air on his scalp felt wonderful.
Nihil, who had no need for warm bathwater in the first place, started heading to his room to clean up, but a maid came rushing in with a fuss.
"Young master, the mana stone in your room seems to be out! It'll take a bit to heat the water—could you wait just a moment?"
"......"
The culprit who had secretly drained the mana stone shut his mouth.
Then, a kitten struck with a brilliant idea bounced up and offered a solution.
"Then just bathe with me!"
Nihil nodded—it was a great idea—but as the wildcat scurried after the kitten, he was grabbed by the scruff of the neck right at the bathroom door.
Nihil scowled, dangling limply from Sir Evan's grip.
"What's the big deal about kids bathing together?"
"......You're not a kid, so no."
"If you're worried, join us."
"How could I bathe with the young master..."
"Great! Sir Evan, bathe with us too! I'll scrub your back!"
"......What."
And so Evan found himself dragged into the bathroom by two very scary, very insistent children, hands firmly held. He swore up and down it had nothing to do with the kitten offering to scrub his back.
Once inside, Evan realized he'd never shown his bare body to the prince before and felt awkwardly shy. Glancing down, he noticed the scars crisscrossing his frame. What if the prince got scared? But then his eyes met the white wildcat's.
"What're you staring at?"
"......Unglamorous wildcat."
"The unglamorous part's your crotch. Cover up that flopping thing. It's eye level and gross. Or chop it off. How do you even carry that weight around?"
Nihil clicked his tongue in genuine disgust. Evan blanked for a second, then grasped the meaning and yelped, hastily wrapping a towel around himself.
"You idiot! Watch your mouth in front of the prince!"
"Can't even joke?"
"Who jokes like that?!"
"You've never bathed with a friend? What a wasted life."
"......"
Evan, who truly had no friends, had nothing to say. His knight order comrades were much older, and even the juniors were mostly older than him.
Was this the kind of banter close friends exchanged normally?
While Evan grappled with confusion, Lianus spoke up hesitantly.
"Uh, I don't have any friends besides Nil either."
"It's fine, Rian. You've only wasted seven years. The mutt's wasted twenty."
"Oh, yeah!"
"......"
Evan was lost for words again at Nihil's miraculous math. He'd aged twenty years in an instant and scowled in rising irritation. Then he spotted the bucket.
"......"
Evan casually scooped up a brimming bucket—too full to add more—and dumped it straight over the wildcat's head.
Splash—
Evan smirked.
"How's the waterboarding, you damn wildcat?"
"......"
Drip... drip...
Water pattered from the snow-white hair.
Nihil stared blankly at the droplets trailing down his locks for a moment, then carefully picked up the bucket.
And war broke out.
"......Never washed this strenuously in my life."
Evan flopped exhausted onto the rug. The wildcat's stamina was beyond expectations, and the water fight had been tougher than guarding at Charn.
Lianus, perched on the bed, saw this and plopped a fluffy towel onto Evan's lap, sitting down with a beaming smile and handing over the towel as if to say dry my hair, please.
Evan's eyes widened at the kitten acting spoiled toward him, then he gratefully started drying the prince's hair.
Lianus giggled and wriggled under the fluffy towel and Evan's hands.
"That was fun!"
"If Your Highness enjoyed it, that's what matters."
"Let's play again next time!"
"...Haha......"
Evan had quite enjoyed it himself but couldn't say so outright, so he smiled awkwardly in silence.
Nihil toweled off his own hair roughly while glancing at Evan.
"Play while you can. Kids grow up and stop playing."
"......Are you seriously talking like an old man?"
"Hmph."
Lianus giggled at the two, who seemed to have grown closer, oblivious to being treated like a child. He pulled out paper and pen to jot down quick notes for revising the plan.
Moments later, Nihil, who had been wiping down the puppy with a warm cloth nearby, said he'd be right back from his room and left.
"Come to think of it, with a big heat stone, we could heat bathwater in seconds. Right, Sir Evan?"
"Yes. It'd be useful for monster hunts too."
Lianus mused that heat stones might be more practical for everyday life than he'd thought and asked the butler to procure ones in various sizes.
As he scribbled away, his eye caught the puppy squirming on the plush cushion. He hesitated, then gently scooped it up. It felt so fragile, like it might crumble if squeezed.
Was bringing home a puppy the right choice?
A helpless little life that couldn't do anything for itself. The last one he'd raised had been bigger than this and still broken so easily.
Lianus pressed the puppy to his cheek.
'Warm.'
The puppy was soft and toasty. He could hear its tiny heart thumping. It squeaked and wriggled in discomfort at being poked so much.
Setting it back on the cushion, he offered a finger, and it started suckling eagerly.
"Oh, gotta feed the baby!"
Realizing the puppy needed food too, Lianus rang the chime bell. Meals were important!
But the servants must have been busy, as no one came. Evan, with nothing else to do, went to the kitchen himself and returned with milk and a saucer.
"Rian... what're you doing?"
Nihil, back after mixing medicine for Lianus, gaped in bewilderment. The puppy was soaking up milk with its whole body under the overturned saucer.
"...What... is this......"
"Nil!"
"Wildcat!"
The two, who had been flailing anxiously beside the puppy, greeted Nihil with genuine delight.
Nihil found the situation utterly absurd but first rescued the puppy from the milk puddle. In the short time he'd wiped it with a clean cloth, they'd given it a milk bath.
The puppy, equally flustered, kept flailing and squeaking even after Nihil saved it.
"...We were just trying to feed it."
"Yeah, just feeding it."
Evan and Lianus mumbled excuses. Nihil chuckled, fashioned an improvised bottle from a small-necked empty vial, and started feeding the puppy milk.
Lianus watched intently, then spoke up.
"What should we name the baby?"
"Evan the Second."
"Hey, you...!"
Evan gaped, clawing at his hair, then hung his head. He looked a bit down—stage four of anger. A few more teases, and he'd accept it.
'But acceptance would be a problem too.'
As Nihil pondered calling it quits, the kitten chirped brightly.
"Let's name him 'Robert Louis de Armand the Second'!"
"......"
"......"
And so the puppy's name became Robert Louis de Armand the Second.