I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain

Prologue 

“Come on, Tezen.”

 

Ella, the Duchess of Hyrad, had crescent-shaped red eyes.

 

“This is a birthday present. Mother brought it specially from the temple.”

 

“This….?”

 

The eyes of the fourteen-year-old boy, Tezen, shone brightly. 

 

Seeing his jaw drop, Ella explained with a hint of pride.

 

“You already know what this is, right? It’s a divine beast that can quell magical outbursts. It’s a must for a wizard full of magical powers like you.”

 

“Thank you, Mom! But this…Isn’t it expensive?”

 

“Can’t a mother do this much for her great wizard son?”

 

Anyone who sees it will evaluate it as a very touching scene full of love between a son and a mother.

 

“Kyuung.”

 

Of course, apart from the happiness of those two, I felt very uncomfortable.

 

I am now Tezen’s ‘birthday present’ mentioned there.

 

And although I have a grand name called ‘Divine beast’, my appearance looks just ordinary to anyone.

 

It was a squirrel.

 

I was locked in the iron cage and bit the acorn in frustration. The acorn was left on the floor without any sincerity. It was old and tasteless.

 

Tezen looked at me intently and smiled.

 

“It looks cute.”

 

‘Hmm, well, I’m cute.’ 

 

This was the Duke of Hyrad, a prestigious wizard family.

 

The head of the duke’s family, regardless of age and gender, is the strongest in that generation.

 

The wizards are passed down through generations. The strong wizard had truly great power.

 

They could destroy mountains, cause waves to crash, and burn castles.

 

The problem was that wizards who could use strong magic had side effects. 

 

If they didn’t calm down when their powers, or magical energy, ran wild, they would suffer terrible pain.

 

And the only being who could absorb the rampaging magic and calm the pain was the Divine beast.

 

‘Well, even a great wizard can’t do anything about overflowing magic power. Ordinary wizards who have insignificant magical powers don’t need a divine beast.’

 

Duchess Hyrad, Ella Hyrad, bought me from the temple at a great price.

 

She wanted the world to know that Tezen had so much magical power that he needed a divine being.

 

“It can’t leave the Duke of Hyrad’s mansion since it has been given a seal of ownership.”

 

That statement was correct. 

 

On my delicate chest was engraved the black rose, the symbol of the Duke of Hyrad.

 

Ella smiled as she opened the cage door and let me out.

 

“So, raise it well in your room, Tezen. It will probably understand simple words, if you tell it not to leave this room, it won’t.

 

It was a rather tempting suggestion. I nodded quickly.

 

Because living locked in a narrow iron cage was truly the worst.

 

“Look, it understands what I’m saying, right?”

 

“It’s disgusting, a beast that understands speech.”

 

Tezen frowned as he took me from Ella’s hand.

 

“Kyuung.”

 

‘He said I was cute earlier. He’s so moody.’

 

Ella giggled as I snorted in displeasure.

 

“A beast? A divine beast. And according to legend, a divine beast that has absorbed a lot of magic power can become human, right?”

 

“Hmm. Well, I have a lot of magical power, so I think I could humanize it!”

 

‘What are you talking about? That is impossible.’

 

I sighed and slapped his palm with my tail.

 

Tezen Hyrad, the second son of the Duke of Hyrad, did not have much innate magical power.

 

After becomeing a divine beast, I was able to roughly understand the magical powers of the people I met.

 

Tezen Hyrad’s magic was just ordinary.

 

He would struggle to light a small fire, let alone perform any great magic.

 

Since his magical power was not great enough to require a divine power, there was no possibility of me being humanized.

 

“Then, I guess I’ll have one more slave to command, right? This divine beast is mine!”

 

‘This damn kid, how can he say such horrible things like a slave…?’

 

It was a very unpleasant remark, even though his magic power could not humanize me anyway.

 

I felt sick and threw the acorn I was holding onto the floor.

 

Of course, my goal was to humanize myself, since I was originally a human being.

 

I didn’t want to be a dumb beast like this, even if I had the ability to calm the wizards.

 

“Then let’s go, slave.”

 

‘A slave…, he was a guy I really didn’t like.’

 

But coming to the Duke of Hyrad wasn’t such a bad thing.

 

As far as I know, there is a boy hidden in this mansion who has incredible magical powers that are incomparable to Tezen.

 

Maybe he could humanize me.

 * * * 

Not even a supporting character…I became the ‘birthday present’ that was really just a line from the original story.

 

[Ella showed the world that Tezen’s magical power was enormous by giving him a divine beast as a present. Of course, Yohan, who really needed the divine beast, was naturally neglected.] 

 

This was my first and last appearance.

 

Yohan is the eldest son of the Duke of Hyrad, two years older than Tezen, and was born to the former Duchess before Ella came in.

 

The Duke of Hyrad had been away at war for over a decade now, and the duchy was in Ella’s hands.

 

And of course, Ella wanted to make her son, Tezen, the successor to the Duke’s family, so she did everything she could.

 

First, she neglected young Yohan, who was born with tremendous magical powers but suffered from side effects.

 

Yohan had been sick since childhood, and Ella blamed it on a chronic illness and locked him in a room at the top of the tower.

 

It was because there was a risk that it could be transmitted to other people.

 

And in the meantime, in front of many people, she said that her son, Tezen was born with incredible magical powers.

 

After all, there was no need for Tezen to use such great magic in the peaceful Duke’s mansion.

 

‘Then, when Duke Hyrad was killed and the battlefield requested additional troops, she sent John away.’

 

was the law of the Empire that in times of great war, a member of a noble family must be sent.

 

So after Duke Hyrad died, she sent Yohan to be the new Hyrad to go to the battlefield.

 

Now he is trapped at the top of the tower, unable to control the magical power running wild inside his body. He was enduring all the pain.

 

In this harsh and desolate environment, it was natural for Yohan to become twisted.

 

So later on, he becomes a villain who becomes obsessed with the female protagonist and does all kinds of bad things.

 

‘Well, that’s none of my business.’

 

I was lost in thought as I chewed the acorns. They tasted much better than the acorns I had eaten earlier.

 

‘Anyway, the important fact is that John is the strongest magician in the world with an innate amount of magic that is unparalleled by anyone else, so maybe his magic could humanize me.’

 

‘I’ll absorb Yohan’s overflowing magic and use it to humanize myself, and he’ll be soothed by it, and it’ll be a perfect plot for both of us.’

 

I wanted to become human. I didn’t want to live the life of a squirrel raised by Tezen.

 

While I was thinking about the original story and making plans, Tezen brought me to his room.

 

He sat me down on the cushion and looked through me here and there.

 

I too stared at him and examined him in the same way.

 

He was not a boy whose appearance attracted attention, with black hair, red eyes like his mother’s, and a few scattered freckles.

 

No matter how neutral I tried to be, I can’t help but look at him unfavorably when I think of the image from the original story.

 

Tezen, who was the typical example of a bad young master who grew up like that, had an arrogant expression and a bad tone of speech.

 

“Hey, slave.”

 

Even my name seemed to have already been decided as ‘Slave’. 

 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Tezen said something even more ridiculous.

 

“Let’s roll once.”

 

‘Is he crazy?’

 

I tilted my head as if I didn’t understand and continued eating my food quietly.

 

“It doesn’t seem to understand everything I say. Should I give it some training?”

 

Training? If I keep pretending to eat, I might end up in trouble. 

 

I spent the rest of the night curled up in a ball, pretending to be asleep.

 

“Tch, that’s not fun. As expected from an animal, it goes to bed early.”

 

Tezen poked my back and showed no interest in me anymore.

 

Huh, I’m human. I’ll somehow succeed in becoming human.

 

It was the middle of the night, with the round moon hanging high. Tezen was already fast asleep in his bed, having spent the evening berating his maid.

 

I stopped pretending to sleep and slowly stretched.

 

As long as I had the Black Rose Seal engraved on my chest, I could not leave the Duke of Hyrad’s mansion.

 

But it didn’t matter. The place I was going to was also inside the Duke of Hyrad’s mansion.

 

‘The highest room in the west tower.’

 

I picked up an acorn, recalling the information from the original story. Then I scrambled out the window.

 

There, perhaps sixteen-year-old Yohan was writhing in agony. The original villain, the Duke of Hyrad, a truly great wizard hidden in Duke Hyrad’s mansion.

 

Climbing high places was not at all difficult for the squirrel.

 

It wasn’t long before I was climbing the wall and reaching the window at the top of the tower.

 

‘hmm.’

 

Inside the room, a boy with black hair was crouching in the corner, breathing heavily.

 

‘He seems to be in a lot of pain, as expected.’

 

No matter how much he grew up as a villain, the current Yohan was just a young boy, struggling.

 

The sight of him struggling made me feel a little strange.

 

I raised my arm and knocked on the window.

 

The boy, who had been unable to sleep due to pain all night long, suddenly raised his head.

 

His purple eyes grew as wide as a full moon as he saw me standing proudly on the windowsill.

 * * *