I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 14

Becoming a Squirrel to Save the Villain 14

One day, a carriage from the temple arrived at the Hyrard estate.

“The High Priest is visiting in person?”

“What’s going on? The High Priest himself?”

The servants of the estate whispered among themselves at the sight of High Priest Patr, with his long white beard.

High Priest Patr, leaning on his staff, was led to the Duchess’s office.

Since Duke Hyrard had gone to the battlefield, Ella had been overseeing all matters of the estate.

“Everyone, leave.”

Ella greeted High Priest Patr with courtesy before ordering the servants.

“It seems the High Priest has something important to discuss.”

The servants hesitated but slowly retreated.

Thus, Ella and the High Priest were left alone in the office. “High Priest.”

As soon as the servants were gone, Ella spoke first.

“The contents of the letter you sent this morning… is it true?”

High Priest Patr nodded at Ella’s cautious words.

“Unfortunately, it is.”

High Priest Patr sat upright and said,

“The Divine Beast we sent to the Hyrard estate… has been found to have no calming ability.”

Ella suppressed a groan and touched her forehead.

In truth, the Divine Beast’s ability didn’t matter.

It was a Divine Beast bought at a great price to show off Tezen’s magical talent.

The real problem was that the fact that the Divine Beast had no ability would reveal that Tezen was not a mage.

Originally, she should have been angry at the temple’s incompetence, but there was something more urgent.

“Who… knows about this?”

“No one knows. Of course, the temple also wants to hide this information…”

“Then the story is over.”

Ella replied coldly.

“Since it’s information that’s not good for either of us to be known, let’s keep it a secret.”

“That’s true, but…”

High Priest Patr said with a seemingly amiable face, slowly narrowing his eyes.

“Isn’t it something that can’t be hidden forever? A mage might visit and want to check the calming ability…”

“Then what do you want to do? This is the temple’s responsibility anyway. I bought it because I trusted you…”

“We are sorry about that.”

Even at Ella’s irritable words, High Priest Patr answered smoothly, seemingly not offended at all.

“Please return the Divine Beast to the temple. Say that it’s sick. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Ella’s eyes widened at High Priest Patr’s words.

“…Back to the temple?”

“We will pay you twice the price you paid. Would that satisfy you?”

High Priest Patr spoke leisurely, but inwardly he was swallowing his anxiety.

He had urgently found out that the mother and daughter of the Medest estate had visited the Hyrard estate.

It was similar to a friendly visit that every noble family had, but the situation was concerning.

Unless there was something special, they probably wouldn’t have shown the Divine Beast at the dinner table….

“Twice the price…”

Honestly, it wasn’t a bad offer for Ella.

After all, the Divine Beast was like an expensive accessory to Tezen.

Saying it was sick and sending it to the temple, and then saying it died, would not be a problem.

“For Young Master Tezen’s discomfort… we will send a potion that will help. It’s not a fundamental solution, but there is a medicine that mages who don’t have the money to bring in a Divine Beast often buy.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Duke Hyrard, who is currently on the front lines, also bought quite a lot and took it with him.”

That was pretty good too.

It was the same as the temple spreading the message that ‘there is a mage in the Hyrard estate who needs potions.’

Moreover, since Duke Hyrard had bought it before, it was perfect to say, ‘Our Tezen seems to resemble his father a lot. He ended up using the same medicine.’

Ella was about to nod her head, but she paused momentarily.

Twice the money….

Of course, it was a tempting offer, but seizing the temple’s weakness was a rare occurrence.

Wasn’t there something much more necessary than money? It seemed like an opportunity that might not come again…

In fact, Ella had been very annoyed with Johan these days.

Johan’s complexion had been getting paler day by day, but lately, he seemed to have become a bit healthier.

According to the doctor, he was pretending to be weak, but he had definitely gained weight, and his metabolism seemed to be smoother.

Tezen seemed to be neglecting the Divine Beast’s care, and that squirrel kept climbing to high places according to its instincts, so maybe it sometimes went to the tower and met Johan…

She was already worried and considering locking him up, so this was a good opportunity in a way.

“Rather than money…”

Ella looked at High Priest Patr and slowly replied,

“I heard that the temple has a potion that makes people puppets without leaving any trace.”

‘Oh my god.’

I, who had been eavesdropping on Ella and High Priest Patr’s conversation, was so surprised that I grabbed the branch tightly.

This afternoon, a carriage from the temple came, so I was lurking in a tree near Ella’s office.

The branch I had settled on was a prime spot that I had found while scurrying around for a month.

I could hear all the stories coming out of the office, but it was strangely in a blind spot, so I wasn’t noticeable.

‘This is a disaster. I’m in danger.’

The High Priest was lying right now.

He was saying that I was a Divine Beast without calming abilities and that he would take me away, but my calming abilities were excellent.

There was no doubt about it when I looked at Johan and my condition every night.

‘The fact that he’s trying to take me away while telling such lies…’

In the original story, I had disappeared without a trace.

So, according to the original story, my ending seemed to be that I would just be paid twice the money and dragged to the temple.

And… I would have really disappeared without a trace. Because I never appeared in the original story again.

‘It’s definitely not a good sign.’

High Priest Patr always had a friendly impression and smiled with narrowed eyes.

But I just didn’t like him. It was an instinctive feeling.

The air of the temple felt bad, and a strange sense of rejection surged.

I had already been sold to Ella when I realized I had possessed this body.

My memories of the temple were faint, but I still instinctively felt that I shouldn’t go there.

‘One must follow the instincts of a beast!’

And there was one thing that had changed from the original story.

Ella was really trying to harm Johan.

‘Originally, she just indifferently left him at the top of the tower… What kind of secret potion…’

I knew what the secret potion she was talking about was.

Later, it was a potion that the villain Johan obtained by threatening the temple. In the future, he would commit all sorts of crimes to get Meriel.

It was a vicious potion that broke a person’s ego and made them someone’s puppet, and it was perfect for use in crimes because it left no evidence.

It didn’t kill people, but it was a terrible potion that essentially made them live like dolls without any ego or soul.

Of course, the temple never allowed that drug to be circulated outside.

However, by announcing that they had developed such a drug, they made the public think, ‘If you get on the temple’s bad side….’

But in my opinion, the High Priest looked like he was going to hand over the drug to Ella.

‘The temple makes such drugs… The temple is really weird.’

But the drug had a big feature.

It had to be kept warm until it was ingested.

This was also information that came out in the original story, and it became an opportunity for Johan to be backstabbed by Meriel’s closest aide, whom he later made into a puppet.

So, if you only had prior information, you could prevent it by not eating warm food and only eating cold food….

It was a bit strange to save the current villain by using the villain’s failure as an asset, but anyway, I was living my life, not the original story.

So I just wanted to save the person I wanted to save.

Maybe it’s because of me, but it doesn’t seem like Johan is growing up to be a villain….

‘Anyway, in just about a month, Johan will be drafted into the war. From then on, I don’t have to worry about Ella’s plot.’

No matter how much Ella was, she couldn’t harm Johan on the battlefield.

The battlefield was much safer for Johan.

‘The fact that something that didn’t exist originally happened… must be because I messed up something in the original story.’

Like me calming Johan every night and making him look better….

What Ella hated the most was Johan being healthy. It seemed that Johan’s complexion was too good at the last dinner.

Anyway, this was a major crisis.

Ella was about to order me to be found right now and hand me over to the High Priest. If I went to the temple, I couldn’t guarantee my safety.

‘I have to run away. I can’t stay here any longer.’

And as long as the Hyrard seal was engraved on my chest, I couldn’t leave this mansion.