How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 226



Only Noblemtl

Episode 226

Swaying-.

“……?”

Dios tilted his head in puzzlement as he saw Nihil suddenly stagger slightly just before swinging his sword.

“Are you having a hard time?”

“No, it’s nothing. I just misstepped.”

“…….”

Dios narrowed his eyes. My father was so good at hiding his expressions that he didn’t seem to notice anything, but what could possibly happen if he just stood there and stumbled?

“…It seems a little difficult…?”

“…….”

As I continued to look down at him suspiciously, the person who usually doesn’t say that he’s having a hard time admitted it so readily. It’s very suspicious.

“Well, I guess it’s because I’m just learning to empathize with the child. Since I keep doing the same training over and over again, I think it’s a bit boring and I’ve become lazy.”

Dios observed Nihil, who had become particularly talkative, and asked him a question.

“Did you get what you wanted?”

“Oh, of course. I’ll get plenty of herbs and minerals and give them to Puppy as gifts too…”

“yes?”

“I’m not talking about you, Khan.”

“Ah…, yes.”

Corps Commander Khan, who had been dragged in on a ride and was waiting, reacted to the word ‘woof woof’, but crouched down again when he was told no.

Dios was curious as to how the proud lycanthrope could be ruined in just two days, but on the other hand, he didn’t ask because he thought it would upset him if he found out.

“Well, if you need anything, Dia, I’ll make it for you, just tell me.”

“Father, it seems like you’re limping on one leg.”

“…….”

Dios questioned Nihil, who looked strangely off-center. His father slightly lowered his eyes, avoided eye contact, and hesitantly opened his mouth.

“that is…….”

“Be honest with me.”

“His legs are a little….”

“Are you sick?”

Dios clicked his tongue lightly. It must have been because he had been constantly abusing his unbalanced body as a quarter elf. He gets tired easily and recovers slowly, so he could get hurt if he lets his guard down even for a little bit.

I was about to open my mouth again, thinking that I guess the training should end here.

“It looks broken.”

“……?”

“No, it’s a little bit cracked…”

“Requies.”

Dios, who was listening, was so shocked that he touched his forehead.

“Seriously, are you crazy?”

“…….”

“When on earth did you get hurt?”

“this…….”

“Were you already injured two days ago?”

“2 minutes……”

“……?”

“2 minutes 19 seconds…, 20…, 21…….”

“…Requies.”

“Yes, Dia.”

“Can I just hit you once?”

“…….”

Nihil quickly shut his mouth. The child’s expression was serious, so he tried to joke around, but it seemed to have backfired.

“Actually, there was a child who made me an amulet, but it seems he got hurt.”

Dios frowned at those words.

“Don’t pretend like it’s a talisman. I’m just accepting the bad luck for you.”

“I didn’t intend to receive it myself…….”

“Yes, yes. Are you trying to tell me that the amulet couldn’t handle all the evil and that it came to you? Okay, just solve the fairy tale first. Then go get treated.”

“yes…….”

Nihil was heard moving with the grass dead. The pain that had been pounding like being beaten as he unraveled the fairy tale quickly subsided.

Instead of a regular potion, Dios poured a mana potion into Nihil’s snout.

“Please absorb all the magic stones and go.”

“I can’t use all that precious stuff for myself…….”

“I won’t let you go until I absorb everything.”

“yes…….”

Nihil nodded helplessly and began to hurriedly absorb the magic stone.

I had given the maid a talisman in case something happened, but I had never thought she would get hurt this badly, so I was worried inside.

‘Did you roll down the stairs?’

Although he acts a bit clumsy sometimes, he is quite thorough and doesn’t make many mistakes…

Then, something suddenly appeared before my eyes.

“Take this.”

“…? Are you unemployed?”

“We’ve collected blood by race.”

“…….”

“If you had recovered your strength quickly, you wouldn’t have had to give me something like this!”

Dios shouted at the sight of Nihil, who was acting shaky, and forcibly placed small glass vials containing blood beads the size of a child’s fingernail into Nihil’s arms.

“Keep it with you as an emergency until you can use mana freely. If you properly suppress the assimilation rate, you will be able to use it by extracting only the useful functions.”

“…Do you have Dia’s blood?”

“doesn’t exist.”

Nihil felt a sense of relief at the firm answer and put the vials back in his bosom. Dios continued speaking.

“I cannot get involved in the strife between royal families.”

“I know, Dia.”

“If you knew that you would raise a prince, you wouldn’t have put such restrictions on him.”

“…….”

In fact, Nihil wasn’t the one who picked it up, but he was closer to being picked up, but he kept his mouth shut and pretended not to know.

“By the way, Requies. Are you sure you’re absorbing the magic stone? Your height… isn’t growing at all…”

When Dios asked with a puzzled look while looking at Nihil, whose hair was growing out little by little, Nihil smiled brightly and answered.

“Oh, because I have to match the height of the child.”

“…….”

“How heartbroken would a child be if his or her best friend grew up alone?”

“It’s really all sorts of things……”

* * *

“after…….”

Abel ran his fingers through his hair. Traces of an all-nighter were evident in his eyes. However, his efforts were in vain as the tracking magic failed.

How vain it was to know that the cause of all failure was because the Second Prince had no mana vessel. I had no idea that the realm of the 6th circle would be so fleeting.

But Abel couldn’t give up like this, so he struggled to find traces of the kidnapper. If he couldn’t track down the prince, he had to track down the kidnapper.

“Saddie, no matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

But even that wasn’t easy. The Wernus Palace was strangely free of any traces of outside intrusion. I checked all the security devices that Neil had apparently made, but the results were the same.

“What are you talking about, Abel? Have you found any clues?”

“I’m talking about the magical tools that were in the Wernus Palace… ”

… but the fact that there was no trace of intrusion could have been a clue in itself.

Abel opened his mouth a few times with a serious expression, as he was reluctant to express his guess.

“There’s no problem with the magic tool. It can still be operated right now. It’s surprisingly delicate, but it’s also very strong, so it’s hard to break with even a slight impact. Judging from the fact that the surrounding situation is clearly captured and saved when the alarm sounds, it’s a top-level magic tool with multiple magic inputs.”

“Then why didn’t anyone know that the prince was kidnapped?”

“The problem is……”

“Speak quickly, Abel.”

Sedes was quick to urge him on. His patience was already at its limit, as he had no idea where his son was or what was happening to him.

“…The problem with this magic tool is that it only reacts to intrusions from unregistered third parties.”

“That means……”

“Yes, if the prince didn’t go out on his own feet….”

“The culprit is… an insider.”

“That’s also among the people Neil believes in.”

“…….”

“…….”

The two remained silent for a moment. The situation was not very good, but it narrowed the scope compared to searching the entire country without any clues.

“…It’s enough to prove that the queen was involved in the kidnapping. How many people are entered into the magic tool?”

“Honestly, not that many. Basically, it seems that the number of servants allowed in the Prince’s bedroom is limited.”

Abel examined the magic tools and listed the registered users one by one.

“The prince and Sir Evan, the butler, the head maid, my niece, Yvonne and Jane, ah, Cedi, you and I are registered. Dios… is that the baby dragon? And… Sylphy? If it’s Sylphy….”

“Ah, that’s, my spirit…, ugh!”

Karus, who was continuing the mana circulation, tried to pretend to know the familiar name, but his body staggered as he felt his mana drain away.

“Another summoning….”

“Are you alright, Marquise Francesca?”

“Ah, it’s okay, Your Majesty. Do you have any mana potions left?”

Karus pressed his temples. Eventually, he ran out of mana and Silphy was summoned back.

I was constantly circulating mana to try to hold out for a long time, but it seemed like it didn’t have much effect because the mana vessel was so small.

At that moment, Abel, who had checked Karus’ condition, shook his head and opened his mouth.

“Stop drinking the mana potions, Marquis. You have had too much already. Drink any more and you will become poisoned.”

“But…, we must quickly find the prince….”

“No. The Royal Knights are also on the move. Let’s take a break and have some tea.”

Abel quickly poured him a cup of tea, even though he seemed to be having no time to spare. He agreed that they had to find the prince as soon as possible, but if he kept pushing himself like this, he might get into serious trouble.

Karus looked down at the warm-smelling tea for a moment, then carefully lifted it to his lips.

Karus, who had entered the palace to take the prince’s lessons, was terrified when he heard that the student who was supposed to take his lessons had gone missing and that his secret friend had gone to prison, and he went straight to prison.

My secret friend, who found me in prison, reached out through the bars and quickly grabbed my sleeve.

‘Carus, Carus, please… , please find our prince. Not too… , not too far… , Sa… , behind the palace… , Ugh… ,!’

When I thought of my secret friend who used to cling to me with a face that looked like it might collapse at any moment, I automatically lowered my head.

Sir Evan gasped for breath several times as if he was having a hard time speaking, and everyone watching felt breathless.

“…It would have been easier if it was our Kara…….”

Karus lamented his inability to be of much help. If Kara had been there with him, the search might have been easier.

I sent a letter to the mansion yesterday after hearing the news that the prince had gone missing, but it took some time for the letter to reach Francesca’s estate because it was far away.

Moreover, since Kara is still young and it would be difficult for her to ride a horse and make a forced march, it would take more time to reach the palace.

“But, Marquis. Do the spirits have to open the doors one by one to enter? They can’t go through walls and such?”

“Of course it will pass.”

“Then why……”

“Except for the prince’s bedroom.”

“……?”

As Abel tilted his head in puzzlement, Carus carefully laid out the facts he had discovered.

“I don’t know the details yet because I don’t know the spirit language very well, but it seems that magical entities such as contracted spirits or familiars that can directly harm the prince cannot enter the prince’s bedroom without permission. It’s different from just sounding the alarm when an outsider intrudes.”

“hmm…….”

Abel wiped his lips after hearing the explanation. It seemed that the contract itself had blocked entry. To be honest, the spell engraved on the magic tool was so complicated that he couldn’t interpret it all, but the more he learned, the more he felt that it was on a different level.

The problem is that it has become clearer that the culprit who kidnapped the prince must be an insider.

dripping.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and a familiar voice.

“Your Majesty, this is Walter Ernest.”

“Come in, Commander.”

The expression on the face of the captain of the knights who carefully opened the door and came in was not very good.

“What’s going on?”

“That… may be unrelated, but….”

It seems that the prince’s kidnapping is related to the Vision…

The captain lowered his voice as much as possible and trailed off in an uncharacteristic manner.

“It’s okay, just tell me anything.”

“A subordinate working at the Autumnum Palace… asked me a question out of the blue today. He asked if all Shadow Knights were criminals.”

“…? What does that mean?”

Sedes was a little puzzled by the seemingly unrelated content to the prince’s kidnapping, but he waited patiently for the next words.

“That’s…, while performing a mission, you sometimes encounter a shadow knight with a mask over his face. I heard that he is a criminal who was scheduled to be executed.”

“…Were there any criminals among the Queen’s knights?”

Sedes, who was listening, tilted his head slightly in puzzlement. Her shadow knights must have been the knights who accompanied her since the Duke’s time. But criminals… … .

“I couldn’t hear the details because of the confidentiality clause, but it seems like the subordinate mistook the Shadow Knight’s duties as a dishonorable substitute. It’s like…, I’ve seen that kind of situation before. So, could His Majesty be using the Shadow Knight…?”

Walter kept his words short. After all, it was a very sensitive subject to bring up carelessly.

Sedes also knew that, so he nodded his head and accepted the words.

“It’s definitely strange.”

Of course, Shadow Knights don’t always do honorable things. They are the ones who most closely assist their masters, so they know every little detail about their masters.

Their appointments were the private domain of each royal family member, so she couldn’t really comment on them, but there was no reason for her to take risks and bring along an untrustworthy criminal.

But if you insist on dragging a criminal along… … .

“…Is this a throwaway pattern?”

His heart was pounding. Sedes asked a little urgently, though he was determined not to jump to conclusions.

“Did you happen to see that Shadow Knight sometime?”

“They say it was about four days ago.”

“Just a little while ago.”

‘Could this really be a coincidence?’

Contrary to my determination not to jump to conclusions, the seed of suspicion that had once sprouted grew without a trace. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the shadow knight might be connected to this kidnapping incident.

‘… If he’s a criminal, it might be easier to trick him.’

Sedes was secretly glad that there was hope that he could find the prince, but given the circumstances, he asked his questions carefully and without letting it show.

“Have you found out anything about that article?”

“According to my subordinates…, he was called Lord Nave.”