?Nick watched as Wyntor's eyes exploded with rage.
For almost ten seconds, Wyntor didn't say anything.
Then, he took a deep breath and sighed.
"I'm sorry."
Nick was taken aback when he heard that apology.
That was not what he had expected Wyntor to do.
Nick had thought that Wyntor would argue about the definition of a friend or something like that.
Instead, he apologized after nearly exploding with anger.
"I shouldn't be angry at you," Wyntor said with exhaustion. "After all, you don't know anything about my past."
Nick realized that Wyntor was right.
Nick only knew that Wyntor had gotten the Blinding Light's ability and that he had learned a lot in the Melfion's mansion.
That was about it.
"Nick, despite what you believe, I genuinely view you as my friend," Wyntor said.
Nick raised his brows in uncertainty.
"Before you say anything," Wyntor said with a raised hand, "let me explain."
Nick nodded and remained silent.
"Ever since I was small, my time was occupied by teachers teaching me about all these things."
"Politics, economics, psychology, Spectology, biology, and so on."
"I wake up at six a.m., run for an hour, wash, eat breakfast, learn things, eat lunch, learn things, fight with my coach, eat dinner, prepare for tomorrow, sleep."
"That was every day."
"The entire day, I was busy learning things, and the only people I had contact with were experienced and intelligent adults."
"The only other people I had around me were my family and servants."
"Did you know that I haven't talked to a single kid of my age until I was twelve?" Wyntor asked, looking to the side.
"That was when I accompanied my father to a visit to Anatomy, and I saw the daughter of one of their Extractors."
"My entire life consisted of teachers, family, and servants."
"I didn't have a single friend until Pator was assigned to me."
"And you know how that went."
Nick looked with concern at Wyntor.
Nick also didn't have any real friends since nobody in the Dregs wanted to be friends with a suspicious kid.
The parents of the few kids in the Dregs even told their kids to stay away from Nick, thinking that he was trying to worm his way into their family to have his blood tax paid.
And when Nick finally started to look like an adult, no one wanted to come close to him because everyone knew that he and the gangs didn't like each other.
The first friend Nick had ever had was Horua, and that friendship wasn't even a real one since there was a massive power imbalance and age gap.
The first person that Nick had viewed as his friend was Wyntor, but Wyntor had always felt so distant.
"That was my life until I met you, Nick," Wyntor said.
"I've been taught how to run an entire Manufacturer business on my own."
"I've been taught how to read people."
"I've been taught how to manipulate people to do my bidding."
"I've been taught how to fight, build connections, get favorable trade deals, influence the government, and so on and so on."
"But I've never been taught how to make a friend…"
Silence.
The two of them just looked at each other.
"I don't know how I should act and what I should do with friends."
"When I first came into contact with you, I thought that you were an idiotic simpleton who had no idea what he was doing."
"I thought I was better than you and that you were only the means to an end for me."
"But when I saw you jumping into the sewers, I was genuinely impressed."
"The idiotic simpleton was able to do something that I could never imagine doing myself."
"I thought quite a lot about that while you were in the sewers, and when I saw you getting attacked by the Dreamer, I realized something."
"Yes, jumping into the sewers was also to catch the Dreamer, but another reason was that I didn't want to say goodbye to the first person in my life who didn't belong to my family, servants, or teachers."
"Over the following months, I saw more and more things that you can do, which I never imagined I would be able to do."
"In a way, I felt inferior to you."
"That's nonsense!" Nick interrupted with furrowed brows.
"You, inferior to me?" he asked with ridicule.
"You are the one that runs this entire thing. You are the one that's always in control."
"If I have an issue, you solve it."
"If we need something, you get it."
"You have your life under control."
Nick looked at the table.
"While I don't."
"I don't even know how to live," Nick said.
"Nick," Wyntor said. "I am talking about emotions, not logic. You can argue and use logic all you want, but it won't change emotions."
"Also, that wasn't my point," Wyntor said. "My point is that I view you as my first friend."
"Today, I made a couple more friends, and I wouldn't have been able to make them if you hadn't taught me how to make them."
Nick snorted.
"Me? Teach you how to make friends?"
"How can I teach you if I don't even have any?" Nick asked.
Wyntor looked at Nick with genuine confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"What about Jenny, Constanze, Marvila, Larry, Kerry, and Taren?"
Nick looked to the side. "They're my employees."
"Nick, you might be their superior, but they are treating you as their superior only secondarily."
"Primarily, they treat you as their friend."
"All these people I mentioned would voluntarily help you in an extremely dangerous battle, and I'm certain that most of them would do that even if you didn't belong to Dark Dream."
"They would risk their lives for you."
"I don't know what standards you're applying for Extractors, but it is not common for Extractors to voluntarily put their lives on the line for the business."
"In the end, this is just a job, and most people wouldn't risk their lives for their job."
"If someone that's willing to risk their life for you isn't a friend, then nobody in the world has any friends."