So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

After promising to do this occasionally in the future, I asked something I was curious about.

'By the way, how did you become friends with that ill-mannered prince?'

"Oh, you mean Phili?"

Amain told me the story of how he became friends with Prince Phili.

Hearing it, fate truly was mysterious.

'Hooh, I see...'

So that's how it is.

It seems I can handle the prince through Amain.

==

Rania had her ear pressed against the professor's office door.

Prince Phili was carefully watching her from behind.

"I can't hear any-"

"Shh!"

The prince quickly shut his mouth.

Rania frowned in concentration, but soon sighed and pulled her ear away.

"Can't hear anything. Seems they used magic to block sound."

"It's been an hour already!"

Quite some time had passed since Amain went in for the one-on-one meeting.

Yet there was still no sign of him coming out.

They could have just left, but they were too worried about Amain to do so.

The prince said seriously.

"That professor might be beating Amain up."

"No way!"

Though Rania responded that it was nonsense, the prince's expression was very serious.

"That guy is really bad. Maybe we need to save Amain..."

To Rania, the prince clearly had mild paranoia and anxiety disorder.

However, dismissing or ignoring such a person's thoughts wouldn't be good handling.

Just as Rania was about to say something nice.

Creeak-

The door opened and Amain came out.

Since there had been no sign at all until he came out, both Rania and the prince were startled.

"Are, are you okay?"

The prince asked.

"Okay...? Of course I'm okay."

Amain grinned broadly.

Far from being beaten up, he looked like he had a very enjoyable time.

"I got praised a lot. Haha."

"You got praised? By that professor?"

"Well... something like that."

Amain stayed quiet without answering.

Looking now, it seemed he had candy in his mouth. Did he even get candy?

"What's he plotting..."

The prince had his suspicions.

Since he refused meetings, maybe they're trying to draw him in by sweet-talking Amain.

'Still, absolutely not having any meetings!'

While he was making that resolution.

The door opened and Obern poked his head out.

"Oh, you were waiting without leaving. Good. Let's have your meeting too."

"No!"

When the prince refused like that. Obern frowned.

"I'm not talking to you. Your self-consciousness is excessive... Rania Martein."

"Eh, me...?"

"Come in."

Rania pointed at herself with a confused expression.

But Obern didn't explain anything, and she ended up following him into the room.

Now only Amain and Prince Phili were left in the corridor.

"Damn it... what is this!"

Phili cried out.

He couldn't guess what was going on at all.

He asked Amain what they talked about inside, but Amain kept his mouth firmly shut.

Appeals to friendship didn't work and royal authority was ignored.

Finally they waited a long time until Rania came out.

When they quickly asked her:

"What did you talk about?"

"Ah... secret."

Even Rania answered like that.

She also wasn't the type to change her mind no matter what Prince Phili said.

Shortly after, Obern came out and asked:

"Prince Phili, will you have a meeting?"

"..."

This time even the prince couldn't say no.

"Damn it!"

Though he grumbled like that, he went into Obern's office.

==

Anyway.

Kids become friends incredibly quickly.

I never imagined Rania, Amain, and Prince Phili would end up sticking together.

They're not the Gryffindor trio or something. Even the gender ratio is the same.

When did they become friends so quickly?

It becomes very difficult to make new friends when you become an adult.

I know that very well.

...Come to think of it, I don't think making friends was easy for me even when I was young.

I wish I had friends like Amain or Rania...

I revealed myself to Rania too.

And I gave her a light apology. Because I had shattered the dagger Rania gave me before.

Rania gave a bitter smile, albeit reluctantly. Saying it was fine.

I promised to teach Rania and her friends well while I'm here.

And lastly, Prince Phili.

I didn't reveal my identity to him who was wrapped in wariness.

I probed a bit through Obern's mouth.

Then I learned something unexpected.

"I... have to do well."

That one line was the first time Prince Phili revealed his inner thoughts.

"I have to do well, I promised mother. That I would do well at school."

And this kid tried to cause trouble from day one?

Obern didn't say that.

"What does doing well mean?"

When alone, Obern used honorifics too.

"Well..."

"Is there a comparison? Someone you need to do better than?"

"..."

Prince Phili glared at Obern.

But there probably aren't many people in the world who could win a staring contest with Obern.

The prince quickly lowered his eyes.

To him, Obern.

Instead, threw out quite a profound line.

"If Your Highness has the determination, I will make it so."

"...What do you mean."

"I will make it so you hear that you are better than the Second Prince."

"You're not trying to play games with royalty... blasphemy is punishable by death."

Obern didn't give any answer.

I knew. That he was timid enough to not dare answer here.

But to the prince, Obern must have looked very solemn.

A heavy silence flowed for a moment.

The meeting ended like that.

From what I could tell, it seemed the Second and Third Princes were in opposition.

What kind of person is the Second Prince?

Is he a ruffian like the Third Prince?

The chance to find out came sooner than expected.

Two days after the meetings.

It was when we went out for practice for a lecture called 'Dungeon and Ancient Text Analysis'.

Leading ten students including Amain's trio to the school's back garden.

But whether by coincidence or mistake, there were already other students there.

"Oh? We submitted a usage request for this class period."

"We received approval as well."

The instant dungeon usage requests had overlapped.

Then, the other professor said with a smirk.

"Since we're third years, and the Second Prince is here, we'd appreciate if you could yield to us."

Haha, how arrogant.

Go ahead Obern.

"I refuse."

We have a prince too!