I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 1

## Becoming a Squirrel to Save the Villain 1

### 0. Prologue

“Here, Tezen.”

Ella, the Duchess of Hyrard, curved her red eyes like a crescent moon.

“This is a birthday gift. Your mother specially brought it from the temple.”

“Th-this is…”

Fourteen-year-old Tezen’s eyes lit up. Seeing his mouth agape, Ella proudly added an explanation.

“You already know what this is, right? It’s a divine creature that can suppress magical rampages. It’s essential for a wizard overflowing with magic like you.”

“Thank you, Mother! But this… isn’t it expensive?”

“What can’t a mother do for her wonderful wizard son?”

Anyone who saw it would have considered it a touching scene, overflowing with love between a son and his mother.

“Kyung.”

Of course, regardless of their happiness, my mood was far from cheerful.

I am now inhabiting Tezen’s ‘birthday gift’ mentioned earlier.

And although it has the grand title of ‘divine creature,’ my current appearance is, to all observers, simply an ordinary squirrel.

Locked in a cage, I bit into an acorn with dissatisfaction. The acorns scattered on the floor were stale and tasteless.

Tezen stared at me and smiled.

“It’s cute.”

‘Hmm, well. I suppose I am cute.’

This place was the Hyrard Duchy, a family renowned for producing powerful wizards.

And regardless of age or gender, the head of the Duchy is always the strongest wizard of that generation.

A strong wizard wielded truly great power.

They could collapse mountains, summon waves, and incinerate castles.

The problem was the side effects experienced by wizards wielding such potent magic.

The ability to use magic, if not properly controlled, could lead to magical rampages, causing terrible pain.

And the only beings capable of absorbing this rampaging magic and soothing the pain were divine creatures.

‘Well, that’s only for truly powerful wizards or those who can’t handle their overflowing magic. Ordinary wizards possess insignificant magic that doesn’t require a divine creature.’

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

It was to signal to the outside world that Tezen’s magic was so immense that he required a divine creature.

“Since the mark of ownership has already been imprinted, you cannot leave the Hyrard Duchy.”

That was right.

The black rose, the Hyrard Duchy’s crest, was now engraved on my tender chest.

Ella opened the cage door, took me out, and smiled brightly.

“So, take good care of it in your room, Tezen. It probably understands simple words, so if you tell it not to leave the room, it won’t.”

That was a tempting offer. I readily nodded my head.

Living locked in a narrow cage was truly the worst.

“See? It understands words.”

“It’s creepy that it’s an animal that understands words.”

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

“Kyung.”

You said I was cute earlier; you’re so fickle.

As I puffed out my nose with dissatisfaction, Ella chuckled.

“An animal? It’s a divine creature. Besides, according to legend, a divine creature that has absorbed a lot of magic can become human, right?”

“Hmm. Well, I have a lot of magic, so I might be able to humanize it!”

What are you talking about? No way, kid.

I sighed and smacked his palm with my tail.

Tezen Hyrard, the second son of the Hyrard Duchy, did not possess much innate magic.

After possessing this divine creature, I could roughly gauge the magic of those I encountered, and Tezen Hyrard’s magic was merely average.

It was obvious that he would struggle to even light a small fire, let alone perform great magic.

He didn’t have enough magic to need a divine creature, so there was no possibility of him humanizing me.

“Then… I guess I’ll have one more slave to use? This divine creature is my property!”

You damn bastard, a slave? How could you say such a terrible thing…

Anyway, his magic wouldn’t be able to humanize me, but it was a very unpleasant remark. I felt bad and threw the acorn I was holding onto the floor.

Of course, my goal was humanization. I was originally human, after all.

No matter how much ability I had to calm wizards, I didn’t want to live as a speechless animal like this.

“Then let’s go, slave.”

A slave? I really didn’t like that guy.

But coming to the Hyrard Duchy wasn’t such a bad thing.

As far as I knew, there was a boy hidden in this Duchy who had magic that couldn’t even be compared to Tezen’s.

Maybe he could humanize me.

I possessed a ‘birthday present’ that wasn’t even a supporting character, really just described in one line in the original work.

[Ella flaunted Tezen’s immense magic to the outside world by gifting him a divine creature. Of course, Johan, who really needed a divine creature, was naturally neglected.]

This was my first and last appearance.

Here, Johan was the eldest son of the Hyrard Duchy, two years older than Tezen, and born to the former Duchess before Ella came.

The Hyrard Duke had been on the battlefield for over 10 years, and the Duchy was in Ella’s hands.

And of course, Ella wanted to make her son Tezen the successor of the Duchy, so she was plotting all sorts of schemes.

First, she neglected young Johan, who was born with tremendous magic and suffered from side effects.

Johan had always been sick since he was young, and Ella dismissed it as a chronic disease and locked him in the top room of the tower.

She claimed it was because there was a chance it could be contagious to others.

And in the meantime, she subtly hinted in front of many people that Tezen was born with tremendous magic.

Since there was no need for Tezen to use tremendous magic in the peaceful Duchy anyway.

‘Then, when the Hyrard Duke dies and additional troops are requested from the battlefield, she’ll send Johan away then.’

In the Empire, there was a law that members of noble families had to be sent when a big war broke out.

Therefore, after the Hyrard Duke died, Johan would be sent to the battlefield as the new Hyrard.

Now he was trapped in the top of the tower, unable to handle the magic rampaging inside his body, enduring all kinds of pain.

It was natural for Johan to become twisted in this barren and devastated environment.

So later, he becomes a villain who obsesses over the female lead and plots all sorts of bad things.

‘Well, that’s none of my business.’

I chewed on a chestnut and fell into thought. It tasted much better than the acorn I ate earlier.

‘Anyway, the important fact is that Johan is the strongest wizard in this world. His innate magic is so enormous that it cannot be compared to anyone else.’

So his magic might be able to humanize me.

‘I absorb Johan’s overflowing magic and use it for humanization, and Johan’s pain is soothed in the process—it’s a win-win situation.’

I wanted to become human no matter what. I didn’t want to live the life of a squirrel raised by Tezen.

While I was recalling the contents of the original work and making plans, Tezen brought me to his room, sat me on a cushion, and examined me from side to side.

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

He wasn’t a boy with a very memorable appearance, with black hair, red eyes resembling his mother, and lightly scattered freckles.

No matter how neutrally I tried to think, I couldn’t see him in a good light when I recalled his image from the original work.

Tezen’s expression, the epitome of a spoiled young master who grew up being pampered, was basically arrogant, and his tone was obnoxious.

“Hey, slave.”

Even my name seemed to have already been decided as ‘slave.’ I didn’t like that from the start, but Tezen said something even more absurd.

“Roll over once.”

Am I crazy?

I pretended not to understand, tilted my head once, and continued to eat the chestnut I was eating quietly.

“… It doesn’t understand all the words. Should I train it?”

Training…

It seemed like I might get into trouble if I kept pretending to eat.

I stuffed the remaining chestnuts into my cheeks and pretended to be asleep while curling up my body.

“Tch, no fun. As expected of an animal, it sleeps early.”

Tezen poked my back and didn’t show any more interest in me.

Hmph, I’m human. I’m going to succeed in humanization no matter what.

It was midnight when the round moon hung high. Tezen had been abusing the maid all evening and was already fast asleep in his bed.

I stopped pretending to sleep and slowly stretched.

As long as the black rose seal was engraved on my chest, I couldn’t leave the Hyrard Duchy.

But it didn’t matter. The place I was going was also inside the Hyrard Duchy.

‘The highest room in the west tower.’

I recalled the information from the original work and took an acorn. Then, I struggled to get out through the gap in the window and ran out.

There, sixteen-year-old Johan would probably be writhing in pain. The villain of the original work and the truly great wizard hidden in the Hyrard Duchy.

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

Before long, I reached the window at the top of the tower, climbing the wall.

‘Hmm.’

Inside the room, a boy with black hair was squatting in a corner, breathing roughly.

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

No matter how much he grows up to be a villain, Johan was just a young boy now, and seeing him groaning 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 the pain late into the night, suddenly raised his head.

His purple eyes, seeing me standing proudly on the windowsill, widened like a full moon.