How the Prince Makes Friends - Chapter 94



Only Noblemtl

Episode 94

When Nihil opened his eyes, he saw the little prince wiping his face with tears in his eyes. When he raised his head a little more, he saw Evan holding him.

“Neil……”

“…Rian.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry……”

Lianus kept apologizing. If he had known that removing the slave seal would be this painful, he would have refused.

I didn’t know that the choice I made because I wanted to look mature and become an adult quickly would end up hurting my close friend.

Is this what it means to be an adult, to endure pain? Or is it because you are still too incompetent to become an adult?

“Rian… your face is a mess.”

Nihil blinked a few times with a blank look on his face, then chuckled at the swollen and bloated Lianus before getting up.

“Sigh, sniff, huhuhu…….”

“Rian, let’s wash up. I’ll take off the bandage.”

Nihil untied Lianus’s bandages, which had become soaking wet, and poured some new water over his face to scrub it gently.

“Ugh, sniff, I’m sorry, Neil…….”

“Don’t rub your eyes, Lian. Do they itch a lot?”

Nihil grabbed Rianus’ hand that was trying to rub his face with his hand and brought it down. Rianus shook his head.

“Ugh…

“Yeah, next time we come out, let’s wear a blindfold. Or get some magic reagents.”

“Ugh…….”

Lianus bowed his head. Next time I go out, I’ll have to prepare more diligently.

So that my friend doesn’t have a hard time. So that he doesn’t have to deal with it alone.

“Rian, I need to wash my face, so raise your head.”

“…Neil, are you okay now?”

“I’m fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Lian, sniff.”

“Crunch!”

Nihil diligently cleaned Rianus’s runny nose and sucked the bandage that was soaked with tears. Rianus didn’t even realize that he had blown his nose on his friend’s hand, and just blinked and looked at his friend.

As Nihil pulled the hood down deep on Lianus, his bright eyes disappeared into the hood. Nihil also changed into spare clothes while being attended to by the prince and pulled the hood down deep.

“It’ll be a little uncomfortable because your field of vision will be narrow.”

“Ugh, it’s okay. It’s not uncomfortable. Is Neil okay now?”

“I’m fine. The pain is gone now.”

“Can I ask why…?”

“Lianus asked, lowering his voice as much as possible.

Nihil took a moment to gauge how much he could reveal. He shouldn’t be ‘specified’ as something. He should be neither this nor that, or both this and that… just like that.

Nihil first explained two ways to erase the brand. One was to reverse the spell and the other was to pour holy water directly into the core of the spell.

“…That’s why I chose to pour holy water on it since it was difficult to hire a wizard or sorcerer right away. However, since I couldn’t open the chest and pour holy water directly into the heart, I first transferred the mark onto the back of my hand. Transferring it is relatively easier than doing it yourself.”

No. In fact, it was impossible to transfer it to a ‘man’. It was only possible because he had the ability to assimilate.

“Is it really that painful to get a branding?”

“No. It’s a different area that hurts me. When you move or erase a brand, it causes severe pain. So when you tear a brand from your heart, you usually die of shock.”

“What, ugh!”

Nihil quickly covered Lianus’ mouth as he was about to scream in surprise at the word shock and continued speaking.

“Calm down, Ner. Anyway, the mark on your heart is very difficult to erase. That’s why I moved it to the back of my hand to make it easier to erase. And…”

“Now, wait a minute, can I tell you everything? I, I’m not curious. You don’t have to say anything.”

“Is it okay if I don’t explain it to you?”

Before he knew it, Rianus had his eyes tightly shut and was covering his ears with his hands.

Lianus was very curious about what power Nihil had used, but he was a little scared that if he found out too much, his best friend might leave him. He was willing to live his whole life in ignorance, but he wanted Nihil to stay by his side.

Nihil stared at Rianus, who had his eyes and ears tightly shut, and opened his mouth.

Wouldn’t it be okay if I just vaguely talk about some of it? If it’s just a part, it might not be erased, right?

Nihil thought about it for a bit longer and then opened his mouth cautiously.

“It’s okay to tell some of them.”

“Is it okay for me to say this?”

“Well, just a little bit.”

Rianus glanced at the words that seemed okay, then slowly lowered his hand that was covering his ear and waited for Nihil to open his mouth. It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t curious.

“I can’t tell you the details, but… I can take the ‘fruit’ instead.”

Receiving the ‘fruit’ instead was an ability that only partially used the ability to ‘assimilate’. It was not a very great ability.

But after hearing the explanation, Evan and Lianus both shut their mouths tightly and thought.

The fact that they say it’s okay to tell you something may be because they don’t understand what you mean.

Nihil smiled faintly as if he could clearly see what the two men were thinking, with their mouths tightly shut, and continued his explanation.

“The reason the twins didn’t die from shock is because I shared in the ‘fruit’ of suffering. The suffering of two people was shared among three people, so the kids didn’t die.”

“Hmm… I think I know what you mean a little. Then wouldn’t it be less painful if more people shared it?”

“I am the only one who can share the fruit. I cannot pass it on to anyone else.”

Lianus became a little sullen at those words. I don’t know what exactly ‘and’ means, but if the pain could be shared among many people, my friend wouldn’t have suffered so much that his whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

“Neil, I know you couldn’t help it this time, but don’t use that ability again.”

“huh.”

“Are you still sick?”

“It doesn’t hurt. It’s a secret. You know that?”

“Yeah. It’s okay since you said it doesn’t hurt.”

“…I don’t think it’s done yet.”

“uh?”

Evan stared at the back of Nihil’s hand.

“In context, doesn’t that shiny silver pattern mean that it’s a slave mark?”

“yes…….”

“Even two.”

“…That’s right.”

Evan and Lianus stared at Nihil. The symbol meant what to do now.

“It’s not hard to erase this. Just pour some holy water directly on the core. Divine power is dirty by nature and hates being with other magical powers.”

“Umm, where’s the nuke?”

“In the palm of your hand.”

“Salt, don’t tell me you have to tear the palm of my hand again after it’s been healed.”

“…….”

Nihil kept his mouth shut and slightly avoided Evan’s gaze. The meaning of his actions was so obvious that Rianus jumped in fright.

“No! Absolutely not! Why did you transfer it to the back of your hand in the first place! Couldn’t you have transferred it to the back of their hand?”

Lianus pointed his finger at the twins openly. He was so loud that the children could hear him. The twins immediately realized what he was talking about and began to watch him closely.

Nihil hugged the excited Lianus and patted him.

“You can’t pierce the palms of children.”

“Tch, you’re not tearing it or piercing it?”

“……ah.”

Nihil quickly shut his mouth after realizing his slip of the tongue, but Rianus’ face had already turned pale.

It was already too late to pick it up, so Nihil quickly changed the subject.

“Rian, you don’t want me to be your slave, do you?”

“Of course not! Let’s just go find a wizard or a temple… I, I’m a prince after all… ”

Lianus hugged Nihil’s head tightly, sobbing slightly. Then he began to persuade Nihil, saying that he could easily call a wizard or a priest.

But Nihil shook his head and continued speaking.

“I hate it when other people’s mana enters my body. It’s unpleasant.”

If a large amount of someone else’s mana were to directly penetrate my body, I might assimilate. Even now, I was trying to block the mana engraved on the slave seal from assimilating. In reality, assimilation was not a problem, but it was very difficult because it took time for the assimilation to be released.

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

The kitten and the puppy began to look at each other at Nihil’s words that the temple did not match. Nihil could clearly see what they were thinking, but he did not correct them.

Evan asked cautiously.

“Is it okay to use holy water?”

“It’s okay as long as you don’t fill the bathtub with holy water and drown me in it.”

Because once you become one with the divine power, there is really no turning back.

But Evan’s eyes began to tremble slightly at that explanation.

So, does that mean it’s not okay to splash around in holy water… …!

Evan began to groan inwardly as he looked back on Nihil’s actions of using the Holy Water so carelessly. While Evan was trying to figure out the identity of the wildcat, the kitten kept nagging him not to hurt her anymore, as if it didn’t matter what her best friend’s identity was.

“I’m sorry, Lian. But it’s really nothing. You can just look around.”

“…really?”

“Are you telling the prince to watch you get your hand cut off?”

“If you want to see it too, go ahead.”

Nihil waved the hand that Evan had healed as if it was nothing. Rianus, who was still being held by Nihil, held Nihil’s head in his arms and thought deeply before carefully nodding his head, saying, “Okay.”

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

“I guess I was losing focus, so I was going to ask you to break it for me.”

Evan was furious when he heard Nihil’s words, asking why he was ordering them to do something like that, but Nihil led the two back into the warehouse, neatly arranging the vials and bandages, and began cleaning the dagger.

Each and every one of their actions were so natural that the two of them wondered if this was okay, but they couldn’t think of stopping them.

The wound that Nihil had drained of blood from had already been treated simply by Evan. When he removed the bandage, his palm felt sticky because he had used so much ointment.

“Why did you put so much ointment on? Use it sparingly.”

“…Speak without getting hurt.”

Nihil didn’t nag anymore. He saw what Evan and Lianus were doing while they were cleaning his body.

Nihil began to open the caps of the vials one by one. Then he accidentally touched a glass bottle, which fell over with a thud and rolled away behind him.

“Oh, I’ll pick it up for you!”

Lianus followed the rolling glass bottle.

“But Neil, this is an empty bottle…, huh?”

And when Lianus picked up the rolled glass bottle, Nihil was already bandaging one of his hands.