The Seventh Prince Runs Away from Awkward Situations Chapter 68

Seya, Mir, and the Little Duke ran, leaving behind the smoke-filled room.

Although the sound of painful retching was heard from behind, they did not look back.

Because there were many things to worry about more than such things.

"Young master?! How did you get here, no, how did you come here? Urgh!"

Seya, who had inhaled a little of the emetic gas, forcibly suppressed the rising gastric juice and urged the Little Duke running beside them for an answer.

"I walked around nearby wearing your clothes and got caught right away. They hit the back of my head mercilessly. I don't know if I got a bump."

At the answer given by the Little Duke, who raised his arm to show the clothes he was wearing and acted nonchalantly, Seya's mouth fell open.

"No, so what I mean is, why did you bother to get caught and come yourself. To this dangerous place."

"Because I had no other choice."

The Little Duke answered with a somewhat hardened face.

But Flinn soon relaxed his face and smiled faintly.

"And didn't I promise. That I would definitely save you."

That expression, as if stating the fact that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night as if it were nothing, was enough to bewilder Seya even more.

"You did...... do that."

He did.

But he didn't necessarily have to keep it.

Seya glanced sideways at the profile of the Little Duke running silently.

Whether he deliberately dressed like a beggar, or rolled around on the way here after being caught, or both, his face was a mess.

However, only the child's upright gaze was sparkling with intelligence.

Nobles do not make promises with commoners.

Nor do they have an obligation to keep them.

Because the kindness occasionally shown to beggars is no different from throwing food to a pitiful mutt once in a while.

Just as no one resents them even if they never show their face again after leaving, waving their hand saying they will share bread again tomorrow.

"Even if you pretended not to know, no one would have blamed you."

"But I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself."

It was a firm and short answer.

But it was enough to be embedded in Seya's simple mind.

Mir's expression watching that from the side was dyed with anxiety.

***

"Urgh...... Uurgh......."

Whether the nausea subsided to some extent, the large man staggered up covering his mouth and nose.

"These dog-like bastards, I'll kill them. I'll definitely kill them."

Glaring around with flashing eyes, he approached the door.

"The people right now...... Ack!"

Although he fell forward helplessly again due to the force hitting him from behind.

A thick beast's forepaw pressed down on the neck of the man struggling on the floor without knowing the reason.

"Wha, what is it? Ugh......!"

Choked, he swung his arms here and there to check the identity of the opponent pressing down on his neck.

And soon he met the flashing eyes of a yellow beast looking down at him.

It was a large wolf.

Startled by the appearance of an unrealistically huge beast, the man tried to scream, but the force compressing his neck was so strong that even that didn't work properly.

"Ugh, ugh, aah......! Sa, save me!"

The wolf's sharp teeth got closer and closer to the man's neck.

The man, who gasped for breath a few times, fainted just before the wolf's teeth sank into his neck.

As the man's body went limp, the beast's movement stopped as if it were a lie.

The large beast, who looked around the room, left the room without delay.

Although what passed through the door was no longer a beast walking on four legs.

Brushing off his black hair, the man opened the door and came out.

"So it's a breach of contract."

His muttering voice was calm.

***

Although it was a maze-like path, since there was no hesitation in Mir's steps, Seya and the Little Duke, who had been brought here while unconscious, had no choice but to follow him obediently.

"Are you going to know the way?"

"The way back to the room we were trapped in. Mir rarely forgets once he sees something."

Looking at Seya who somehow seemed more proud, the Little Duke nodded his head.

"By the way, the greeting is late, but thank you for earlier."

Perhaps remembering that he hadn't thanked him but only asked questions amidst the chaos, Seya bowed his head.

"It is nothing. And if it's thanks, there is someone else besides me who should receive it."

At the tone sounding as if there was definitely someone else here, Seya tilted his head.

Leaving such a child behind, the Little Duke opened his outer garment as if he just remembered.

What peeked its head out from inside the boy's outer garment was.......

"A squirrel?"

At Seya's absent-minded muttering, the Little Duke smiled and nodded his head.

"Being able to come here was purely thanks to this guy. He guided the way."

At that face introducing it as if introducing a newly made friend, Seya opened his mouth to say thank you for now.

'Thanks for earlier.'

"It looks really delicious."

If only his appetite facing delicious meat in front of his eyes hadn't betrayed the child's will, he would have said so.

***

After Seya's slip of the tongue, the Little Duke was busy hiding his squirrel friend in his bosom even while walking busily down the hallway.

"Young master, the words just slipped out for a moment. I didn't say it looked delicious, I said it looked cool. Not delicious, cool, cool."

Seya made excuses diligently to the Little Duke who had been subtly blocking the view between the squirrel and him since earlier, but the sound of the child swallowing saliva was too loud and frequent for it to work.

"Let me greet it a bit too. I intended to say thank you for saving my life earlier...... slurp."

The drool that eventually flowed down a little to the corner of his mouth was enough to evaporate even the last remaining credit he barely had.

This time, even the squirrel made wrinkles on its furry forehead.

Seya, who wiped his saliva awkwardly, opened his eyes roundly at that sight.

"Right now that guy, didn't it frown? It seems to understand human speech completely!"

Separating the squirrel from the surprised Seya as much as possible, the Little Duke tilted his head.

Don't animals originally do this much if they are somewhat smart?

The child recalled his black friend who was smarter than the squirrel.

'I felt like I could even have a conversation if I trained a little.'

Of course, it was a thought that occurred because he didn't dream that the crow he believed to be a friend actually knew how to speak and even write.

"It's done."

At Mir's voice who was tinkering with something in the corner, the two raised their heads.

In Mir's hand were black objects that looked similar to the round ball detonated in the room they escaped from.

If there was a difference, it was that white strings of different lengths were wound around the circumference once and hanging long.

"What is that string?"

At the Little Duke's question, Mir answered while placing about six of them sparsely on both sides of the hallway.

"It is woven from wicks taken out of candles. It is a tool to buy us time while we escape."

At the meaningful answer, a question arose on the Little Duke's face.

Is it something like the emetic agent earlier?

If so, isn't it just a matter of holding breath and running?

Whether he read that expression, Mir smiled a little for the first time since meeting the Little Duke.

"What do you think you would do if a fire broke out in your house, Young Master?"

It's not a very innocent-looking smile, Flinn thought.

"Well, I would run away taking the most valuable things. Things like money or clothes."

At the answer of Nihil who was listening from the side, Mir nodded his head.

"......And I would escape through the safest and fastest path."

"Correct. We just have to hide in the room and follow behind the guys to find the way."

"But wouldn't the guys come to find us in the room? Then we'll all be caught."

At the Little Duke's doubt, Mir shook his head.

"They are busy running away from the fire, so there is no way they would take care of or look for orphans kidnapped from the streets. They will think it's better to just leave them to burn to death and won't even glance at us."

At Mir's unreserved explanation, Flinn bit his lip for a moment and tried hard to turn the topic elsewhere.

"Then is that an object that starts a fire?"

"No, what if we all die from a fire because of that. Playing with fire must be done on a scale that can be handled. It's just mimicking. Only enough for those guys to think a fire broke out."

Although he was curious about how on earth one mimics it, at this point, the Little Duke began to think that if it's Mir, he might even be able to light a fire underwater.

"If we light this white string, do we just return to the room while the string burns down?"

"Yes. Fortunately, there isn't much wind here. With this length, it will take about 10 minutes to burn completely, and if we light about six, there will be one that succeeds."

In the direction Mir pointed, remains of chopped candles were rolling around.

So he was doing something in the corner, leaving Seya and himself alone.

The boy admired the novel idea and became afraid at the same time.

If it's to the extent that we have to be far away, isn't it a bit dangerous?

"Mir, you really are amazing. Wherever you fall, you will definitely survive."

Still, he couldn't help but agree with Seya's words.

"Truly amazing. Like that emetic agent earlier too."

"It's all made by Mir."

At the Little Duke's honest admiration, Seya made a triumphant expression as if he had received the praise himself.

"Originally, I intended to make something else but just failed. Because materials were a bit lacking."

Looking at Mir muttering small as if Seya's boasting was a bit awkward, the Little Duke asked again in surprise.

"You mean you made it all yourself?"

"I didn't steal it."

At the excuse that popped out instead of a simple answer that he made it all himself, the Little Duke opened his eyes a little wide.

A look of dismay flashed briefly across the face of the person involved who spat it out without realizing.

That seemed like reflexive self-defense.

The thought occurred to the Little Duke that life on the streets might be days where tension and excuses must come out reflexively.

He must be frequently misunderstood as stealing.

The Little Duke hurriedly opened his mouth before the child misunderstood.

"I didn't think such a thing. I was just surprised because your ability is so outstanding."

However, even at that firm answer, Mir bit his lip tight and turned his head away sharply.

It seems it's still hard for him to believe my words.

The innocent child nodded his head quietly and stroked the head of the squirrel in his bosom.

'We, well, strictly speaking, it's not that we didn't steal......'

Seya, who was watching this, quietly swallowed the truth he couldn't bring himself to reveal.

Didn't steal my ass.

More than half of that was stolen together by Seya.

Powder scraped from a rich house's wall, scrap pieces stolen from a smithy, and others etc.

Countless many.

The newly made ones this time even included subsidiary materials from that young master's clothes stolen last time.

It's not like he's being deceived for the first time, and that young master even had a coat stolen by us, so why does he believe so blindly?

Beyond being touched, it was starting to become worrying.

It was visible that Mir, who didn't approve of the young master, was also quite flustered by that groundless trust.

If it were another person, who knows, but if it's Seya, he could notice.

Seeing Mir, who hears he is unlucky from most people he meets for the first time, keeping his mouth shut, it was clear.

Seya smiled coyly when his eyes met Mir, who was making a very uncomfortable expression after lighting the candle wick.

Mir glared at Seya, then turned his head deliberately and spoke to the Little Duke.

"Please follow this way."

To be considerate of his embarrassed friend, Seya followed Mir one step behind.

"Pricks your conscience, right?"

Although he didn't leave out teasing him slightly.