I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain

“Nothing serious has happened, right?”

 

Mariel bit her nails nervously as she fidgeted outside the door.

 

When she had asked earlier if it was okay to enter, the inside of the living room seemed to be in complete chaos.

 

“W–Wait a minute! Sister, wait a minute!”

 

“P–Please wait a moment!”

 

Until now, Mariel had never heard such desperate words from Yurika.

 

Moreover, Yohan’s voice had completely lost its composure.

 

When Mariel first saw Yohan, she felt that he was a very cold-hearted person, without any feelings or tears.

 

He was even the hero who had ended that massive war—so why on earth did he sound so flustered? 

 

She couldn’t even begin to guess.

 

“It won’t work.”

 

Runart, who had also been anxiously pacing beside her, rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.

 

“I think we should go in right away. Regardless of manners or etiquette, this is an emergency.”

 

He knocked on the door voice and shouted, 

 

“Lady Yurika, we’re coming in now!”

 

Mariel widened her eyes in surprise as she glanced at Runart.

 

She had never known that the usually calm and quiet Runart had this side to him.

 

His sharp gaze made it clear that he was already far from rational due to his worry for Yurika.

 

Mariel saw him often because of Sienna’s treatment, but it was the first time she saw him make that kind of expression.

 

Originally, it would have been absurd for someone with a mere title to invade the noble lady’s private space without permission.

 

But to Runart, Yurika was truly a benefactor.

 

Yurika stopped the abuse at the orphanage and supported him so he could develop his talents.

 

‘Runart would probably do anything for Yurika…’

 

That must be why, disregarding status and everything else, he was willing to enter like that because he truly cares about Yurika.

 

While Mariel was thinking about Runart’s stubborn loyalty, Yurika’s scream could be heard from inside the room.

 

“Aaaah! Wait, wait! I’m really fine!” 

 

“I’m going in,” Runart declared.

 

Just as another scream erupted, without hesitation, Runart swung his hand to open the door.

 * * * 

‘Oh,…. thank goodness.’

 

I looked at Runart and Mariel, who had rushed in with worried expressions while gasping for breath.

 

They had, of course, chosen the worst possible timing to come in—causing utter chaos.

 

Because of that, there wasn’t even time for everyone to fully process the fact that I was practically naked in Yohan’s arms.

 

I had to hurriedly put my clothes back on and to make things worse, I even needed Yohan’s help to fasten the buttons at the back.

 

At that moment… Yohan’s hands were trembling uncontrollably.

 

His entire body had turned bright red, and even the slightest touch of his fingers felt like they were burning.

 

‘You’re less immune to women than I thought. Well, I guess that’s why he fell for Mariel at first sight in the original story.’

 

Something seemed to be messed up with the buttons at the back, so I had no choice but to let my hair down to cover it.

 

So when Runart and Mariel rushed in, Yohan and I instinctively jumped apart like a pair of kids caught doing something wrong.

 

I was sitting on the sofa fanning myself, and Yohan was just staring out the window with his ears red.

 

“Lady Yurika, are you truly okay? We were just so worried…” 

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Really.”

 

I answered Runart’s worried question while wiping away the cold sweat forming on my forehead.

 

“It’s true that I wasn’t feeling well for a while, but I’m really feeling better now.”

 

“Let me start with a checkup. It’s been bothering me that I didn’t check properly earlier.”

 

While Runart opened his medical bag, Mariel sat down next to me and rubbed my arm worriedly.

 

“Are you really… really okay? Yurika, I’m so worried. I heard that Runart fed you some medicine that isn’t even on the market yet.”

 

I was indeed a little embarrassed, but in some ways, it was fortunate that they barged in.

 

If they hadn’t made a fuss about coming in, how on earth would I have dealt with that situation between Yohan and me?

 

Both of us were so flustered that we hastily put on my clothes and the situation ended, and that seemed like a less embarrassing way to get through the situation.

 

“Hmm….”

 

Meanwhile, Runart finished his examination, adjusted his glasses, and spoke.

 

“You seem fine now. Everything looks normal at the moment. But earlier, your complexion was really bad…”

 

In fact, after accepting Yohan’s magic power and becoming human, my condition became completely normal.

 

“Runart.”

 

I said with a serious face.

 

“That potion… can you show it to me? What exactly is it?”

 

“As I explained, it is a medicine that slightly disrupts your magical power. It does have the effect of slightly worsening your condition, but normally, that level of magic disturbance should recover quickly, so it will not have a big impact.…”

 

He carefully took the potion out of his bag.

 

“I’m sorry, Lady Yurika. I think I may have been too overconfident. I still don’t know why you reacted that way, but I will research it further.”

 

I took the ordinary vial of potion and spoke seriously.

 

“No, there’s no need to research it again….Can you give me this? As much as you can.”

 

“It’s not particularly difficult to make, but… why do you need so much?”

 

“I think I’ll need it.”

 

After hearing Runart’s explanation, I developed a hypothesis.

 

This was a potion that only had a fatal effect on me, who had once been a divine beast.

 

Even a slight instability in my magic would turn me back into a squirrel, and the way to become human again was to absorb magic once more.

 

In other words, as long as I had access to this potion and someone who could supply me with magic power, I could switch between a squirrel and a human at will.

 

Of course, it wasn’t that I particularly wanted to live as a squirrel from time to time. Ever since I was possessed, I had desperately wished to become human.

 

I just didn’t forget. The temple came to the Duke of Hyrad’s house to capture me. It meant that they were after me, but I didn’t even know why.

 

It would be great if I could live as Yurika Medes for thousands of years, but at this point, the temple was an unknown threat to me.

 

They might suspect my human transformation.

 

And I always wanted to prepare for such situations.

 

It’s just that the temple was such a closed space that I couldn’t do anything about it.

 

“Anyway, if you’ve confirmed that I’m fine, could you both leave now?”

 

I said while looking at Runart and Mariel.

 

“I still have things to discuss with Yohan….”

 

“Yohan?”

 

Mariel’s eyes turned to Yohan, who was standing by the window and not saying anything.

 

Yohan was even leaning his forehead against the window, panting for breath.

 

“His condition is not very good.  Yurika, did you poison him or something so he wouldn’t cause trouble in Medes again? It would be hard to get poison, though….”

 

It was obviously a joke, but Yohan’s complexion was so bad that no one could laugh.

 

It seemed like his hands were still shaking.

 

“Oh my god….Runart, perhaps we should have conducted the check-up over there instead.”

 

Mariel said seriously.

 

* * * 

 

Yohan found it difficult even to breathe.

 

He had hastily helped Yurika get dressed, but her lingering image kept flashing before his eyes.

 

And when he recalled the sensation of her skin brushing against his fingers as he fastened the buttons on her back, his head spun.

 

‘Am I seriously losing my mind….?’

 

Even in the middle of the war, no situation had ever left his mind that paralyzed.

 

Like an idiot, he simply watched as Yurika drove out Mariel and Runart.

 

Yohan still didn’t like that pale-faced doctor who had been trembling in front of Yurika, but his heart was pounding so hard that he couldn’t even glare properly.

 

And when Yurika and Yohan were left alone in the living room again, he almost held his breath once again when he saw Yurika looking back at him.

 

“Yohan.”

 

But Yurika didn’t seem shaken at all. 

 

It was as if the chaos from earlier had no effect on her.

 

She even had a very serious expression.

 

She asked seriously.

 

“Could you help me with something?”

 

“Help you….?”

 

Yohan was about to answer that he could help her, and even more than that, but Yurika frowned and said.

 

“I think….I need to know the truth.”

 

“The truth?”

 

“The truth about the divine beast.”

 

Yurika’s pink eyes were sparkling seriously.

 

“You have to go to the temple for the victory celebration, don’t you?”

 

“I canceled everything….”

 

Yohan answered blankly, then quickly changed his mind.

 

“I’ll tell them to prepare it again.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Yurika smiled softly.

 

“Then take me with you.”

 

Yohan, who had been planning to storm the temple and destroy it regardless of the celebration, froze at her request.

 

“With the body of a squirrel, hide me in your arms.”

 

* * *