I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 112

“This place really makes a great mushroom soup.”

Trevor chuckled, looking satisfied.

“They must do good business.”

“Father, this isn’t a restaurant.”

Paul said gruffly, massaging Trevor’s legs.

“It’s the Medest Estate, where you so admirably upheld your loyalty when you were alive.”

“Oh, really? The Medest family succeeded as a restaurant? You never know what might happen in life,” Trevor clapped, feigning admiration, then narrowed his eyes. “Come to think of it, we need to return the Medest heirloom….”

“I already returned it,” Paul grumbled.

“Well, there wasn’t really a crisis during the hunting competition, though.”

Paul had vaguely suspected that if a crisis were to befall the Medest family, it would occur during the hunting competition.

The Medest family has beastmen as ancestors, and the hunting competition is, after all, an event where beasts are hunted.

He thought it might be incompatible for some reason, so he worried until the end and hurriedly chased after Yurica to hand over the pendant.

But the person who almost ended up in danger was the Emperor, which was truly absurd.

“If I had known nothing would happen, I would have thought about it more before returning it.”

“Well, who would know? That crisis might have already happened,” Trevor nonchalantly replied, scraping the mushroom soup clean.

“Still, they’re the only ducal family among the three to have resolved the curse on their own, so wouldn’t they do well on their own accord?”

“Pardon? The ducal family’s curse?”

“Of course, it’s a curse,” Trevor smiled innocently.

“Don’t tell me you’re envious of that great magical ability? That terrible life of suffering?”

“…Father, are you saying that magical ability is a curse?”

“Of course.”

Paul was serious, but Trevor’s face remained bright.

“That curse ultimately gave them power and authority, but if you think about it the other way, isn’t that why they can’t escape from the curse themselves? Medest is the family that perfectly managed it for their descendants.”

Originally, the Hilrad ducal family was famous for producing great archmages.

In fact, even the criteria for selecting the head of the family were determined by magical ability.

The Eliyah ducal family was also said to be famous for magic, but now the lineage is cut off, and it has fallen.

But for Medest to also be a family of magicians was news to Paul.

“Even now that Medest has stopped handing over the sacred beasts to the temple, what will they do with all those magicians….”

“Pardon?”

Paul’s eyes widened.

“No, why does the Medest family hand over the sacred beasts to the temple?”

“Ah, shoot.”

Trevor slapped his mouth hard.

“This is a secret! A secret that only the elders and the current head of the family know! Now, besides me, there’s no one else who knows!”

Of course, now the only people in this world who know are Trevor and Paul.

“Damn it… Patr won’t leave me alone.”

Besides, why is Patr’s name even coming up here?

That meant he had been aware of this fact all along but had remained silent.

Paul said, wide-eyed. “No… the sacred beasts are distributed by the temple, and that was only until 5 years ago… No, who is the current head of the family that Father remembers?”

“Hmm? Paul? Why have you gotten so old? Just yesterday, you were only up to my knees, you little rascal….”

Paul rubbed his forehead.

It seemed Trevor’s mind was going back and forth again.

What was certain was that the temple had been distributing sacred beasts for nearly five hundred years.

But that was related to the Medest family? His head was spinning, wondering what was going on.

At that moment.

“Lord Paul! Can I talk to you for a moment!”

Renat burst in with a hurried knock. Paul rubbed his forehead as if one problem after another was appearing.

This young genius doctor of the Medest family, Renat, tormented him terribly.

Ever since he returned from the hunting competition, he had been persistently asking where Trevor’s painkillers came from.

“Ah, it’s a family matter!” Paul snapped.

“A family member I lost contact with gave it to me, so I don’t know either!”

“Then who is that family member?”

Of course, Renat, who had been scolded by Paul several times, didn’t back down either.

“It’s a really important issue for me. The Lady and the Viscount have many overlapping illnesses.”

“That’s none of my business! But how can I answer what I don’t know?”

Trevor, who had been listening to their conversation quietly, chimed in. “Huh? Patr gave me that medicine….”

Instantly, Renat’s face hardened.

Patr was the name of the high priest who had been imprisoned for the Crown Prince assassination attempt and then committed suicide… wasn’t he?

As Renat stared at Paul with a dumbfounded expression, Paul sighed deeply and muttered, “…Everything’s getting exposed like this. Sigh, I don’t know. Patr’s godfather was our father.”

Renat clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Then, he muttered as if all the mysteries had been solved. “It was the temple. That’s why I didn’t know the origin of this drug.”

“What….”

Paul, who didn’t particularly want to reveal that he was entangled with Patr, scratched his chin, but Renat said quietly.

“Thank you. Now I know how to approach it. If it’s a temple drug, I have a rough idea.”

“What?”

“I’m talking about the Lady’s illness.”

Renat slowly got up and politely greeted Paul and Trevor, who were looking at him with bewildered faces.

“I think I can finally cure it. And…,” Renat’s eyes, looking at Paul, calmly narrowed.

“It seems that family member… has played a big role in the Viscount’s current condition.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I mean it doesn’t seem like simple senility.”

Paul’s mouth dropped open as Renat turned around with a smile.

“Then I’ll be on my way. I’ll let you know again when I have definite results.”

“Wait, just a moment!”

Now it was Paul who was grabbing Renat. However, Renat coldly left, saying, ‘There’s not even enough time to research.’

* * *

“Please come this way.”

I carefully moved my steps as the servant guided me.

Meriel and Johann, who attended the meeting, couldn’t follow.

Since it was an opportunity I had worked hard to get, I had to find out properly.

In front of the nobles, right now, for a limited time, with sufficient justification.

It was a plan that was barely 짜 [Korean slang for ‘planned’]. My mouth was dry.

“You can go in here.”

I entered a small room inside the Emperor’s office, and the servant calmly took out a key from his pocket and opened the door.

I entered that small room and went down the stairs for a long time, and another room appeared. The servant opened the door again with a key there.

That procedure continued tediously two more times.

It was a space that was quite carefully secured in its own way.

And finally, the small room I arrived at didn’t have as many books as I thought.

‘Well, it was a secret, after all.’

I quickly scanned the books filling one wall. I didn’t have much time.

And I easily found a very thick book.

As Roymond said, the title was .

‘This is definitely it.’

The servant was watching from behind. I quickly took out the book and scanned the table of contents first.

Roughly looking at the preface, it was a list of mysterious words saying that the power of magic is accompanied by a curse, and the power to nullify that curse comes from nature.

‘Skip, skip. Let’s look at the side with the tiger and squirrel pictures first. The most urgent thing is what’s related to Father.’

And I easily found the page with the tiger and squirrel pictures. Roymond’s memory was not wrong.

[In ancient times full of magic and sorcery, Veli Medest, the first head of Medest, was able to manifest as a tiger or a squirrel.]

My eyes widened at the phrase that I had lived as a squirrel.

[He could transform into a tiger when he wanted to attack someone, and into a squirrel when he wanted to hide secretly. This ability to freely transform into human and beast forms gradually weakened as the Medest family continued through generations.]

Tiger and squirrel….

This was too much like me and Father.

It was definitely a story about our family. My heart was pounding.

[And as time passed, the heads of the Medest family began to worry that their descendants would not be able to transform back into humans after turning into beasts. Judging that it was the greatest risk factor for the Medest family, they gathered their remaining strength and imbued the last magic into the jewels.]

Just a moment.

Jewels, magic, risk.

These were words I had heard a lot.

Moreover, isn’t there a beast in our house that can’t turn back into a human?

[Someday, when all this storm passes, I must return it to the Medest family. Because it is an object that can save the Medest family from danger.]

I slowly looked at my wrist.

The old necklace Paul gave me was still dangling around my wrist.