I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 83

The temple was originally very closed off, so ordinary people couldn’t even enter.

That heavy, massive door was opening.

Inside Johan’s pocket, I clutched my pounding heart and took a deep breath.

I had almost no memories from inside the temple, so it was like visiting for the first time.

However, this was also the place where I had spent the longest time after being born.

The place I had to come to at least once to learn the truth about me and my family.

I swallowed hard. Now it was starting.

“Due to the temple’s circumstances… this dedication ceremony has been prepared somewhat modestly compared to the original plan,” the interim temple representative said in a weak voice.

“First, we will enter this path and offer a simple prayer at the central altar.”

He continued to list a series of schedules, such as banquets and tea parties.

Well, I wasn’t curious about those schedules.

‘Because those schedules won’t be kept anyway.’

I had already done so much beforehand that I didn’t have to use my brain much today.

Of course, that didn’t mean that all of my plans had been successful so far.

It was good that I had secretly let in the unidentified intruder sent by Libena.

And the original plan was to follow that intruder and find decisive evidence.

If they were secretly infiltrating a temple guarded by the knights of the Hilard Estate, their purpose must have been to eliminate or take away very important evidence.

‘But… it failed.’

Just thinking about it made me sigh.

“I’m sorry. We failed to track them.”

The report I had heard with great anticipation was disappointing.

“They were faster than expected… we lost them in the middle. And we haven’t been able to find any secret passages since then.”

I thought it would be too inefficient to vaguely search the temple, so I deliberately set a trap, but I missed them right in front of my eyes.

If Libena had borrowed Theodore’s power, she would have definitely used one of the imperial knights, and in that case, they would have been more skilled than the knights of the Hilard Estate.

In fact, the Hilard Estate’s knights were a separate group from Johan.

Johan had simply been on the battlefield alone and ended the war with his magical powers.

On the other hand, the Hilard knights were people who had lingered around the Hilard Estate without much to do.

Naturally, they were less skilled than the imperial knights.

“They weren’t even armed… they probably couldn’t have done anything significant. Maybe just concealing evidence?”

That evidence concealment could be a significant thing.

The captain of the knights hurriedly lowered his head and added.

“But we couldn’t help it either. When we opened a small door on the east Irett Hall side, a path leading to the basement appeared, but that door closed too quickly… and then the priests came.”

Honestly, it was an excuse. They should have gone in faster before it closed so quickly.

“We went back later, but… we couldn’t figure out how to open the door…”

Johan didn’t get angry at the report, but instead smiled crookedly and said.

“The Hilard Knights are too lacking compared to my capabilities.”

However, just because he was smiling didn’t mean he looked gentle at all.

He created such a chilling atmosphere that even I next to him flinched as he continued.

“Once the temple ceremony is over, I’ll have to manage the knights myself. So that they become excellent knights worthy of a war hero.”

The knights’ expressions darkened at those words.

Only the adjutant quietly chuckled, ‘They’re dead now.’

Well, anyway, my first operation didn’t succeed.

Because I missed the person Libena sent.

But that didn’t mean it was a complete failure.

‘We just lost them in the middle, right? I know where they disappeared to!’

In fact, the knights had missed that person, but at least they knew which way they had gone.

It was just that the priests refused, so they couldn’t openly investigate.

So now we just have to go there and investigate ourselves. Without the priests knowing.

“Well, shall we go this way? Everyone is waiting in the plaza.”

While the interim temple representative was leading Johan and Roymond, I quietly followed…

Thump.

When we arrived at the door where the knight said the person Libena sent had disappeared, Johan could just block the passage with his magic.

* * *

When Johan used magic at the place the knight had mentioned, Johan alone was isolated, and the hallway collapsed and was completely blocked.

In other words, it was a physical barrier to prevent other priests from coming.

“Everyone is waiting in the plaza.”

That meant that everyone related to the temple was currently in the plaza.

I peeked my head out of Johan’s pocket.

As expected, there was no one around, and noisy voices could be heard from beyond the hallway blocked by debris.

“No, what is going on! What is this…”

“Think simply,” Roymond said nonchalantly in front of the panicked interim temple representative.

“The temple has already collapsed, hasn’t it? It’s just that it’s no longer a figurative expression.”

“Y-Your Highness!”

“Uh-huh. Are you angry with me now?”

Roymond lightly silenced the interim temple representative and shouted loudly in this direction.

“We’ll be enjoying the banquet then. Just find your way out. There’s no need to worry about a great mage who survived even on the battlefield in this situation.”

Johan also replied insincerely.

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll just gather my magic power and be there soon.”

Soon, the sound of footsteps began to fade away.

The sound of Roymond’s footsteps heading to the banquet hall somewhat cheerfully, and the sound of the priests’ footsteps reluctantly following.

I came out of Johan’s pocket and scurried onto his head.

Now there were no eyes watching, so I didn’t have to hide.

‘Maybe the lower-ranking priests remaining in the temple now don’t even know what’s here.’

So they could leave without any suspicion.

Even if the person Libena sent had safely destroyed the evidence and left, I had to go just in case.

‘Besides, my father might be there.’

In fact, what I was most worried about because things didn’t go as expected was my father’s safety.

‘He was unarmed, right? They couldn’t have killed him.’

Still, it was a great relief that he didn’t have a weapon. At least they couldn’t have killed my father.

I put my front paws on Johan’s forehead and calmed his magic power for a moment.

It was because he had used some magic to destroy the temple hallway earlier.

“Well, let’s go.”

Johan slowly moved his feet and stood in front of the small door.

And indeed, the door only rattled and didn’t open.

“We went back later, but… we couldn’t figure out how to open the door…”

Rather, the fact that the door didn’t open easily made me more confident.

If this was Libena’s secret place, it wouldn’t be easy to enter.

“Kyung.”

Even the door was a solid door made of stone, so it wasn’t easy to open with just strength.

But neither I nor Johan were very worried.

Thump.

When it’s not easy to open with strength, you can just destroy it with greater strength.

‘If human strength doesn’t work, you can just use magic!’

Indeed, when the stone door was destroyed by magic, a long, downward-sloping hallway appeared.

“Kyugyoong!”

I quickly put my front paws on Johan’s forehead again and shouted with emotion. It meant let’s go.

So we walked for a while.

After going down the slope quite a bit, there was a staircase leading further underground.

“Kyugoong.”

It was when I went down the stairs to the end.

This time, an open space appeared. It was a large space that shouldn’t be in such a deep underground.

However, it wasn’t very clean, and there were clear signs of use here and there.

“It’s not just an open space,” Johan narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice.

“Something… it doesn’t seem like a space that’s not used at all, but it seems like it was emptied a long time ago.”

“Kyoong.”

Libena sent someone, but it was only one person anyway.

That one person couldn’t completely clean this large space.

‘Could it be a place where they researched divine beasts?’

If we assume that all the equipment related to the divine beasts that were here were removed when the temple officially stopped distributing divine beasts 5 years ago, then it fits quite well.

‘Even if that’s the case, there’s nothing I can get out of here for now.’

Since it’s an empty space, there was nothing more to find, no evidence or anything. It seemed like it had already been concealed a long time ago.

Johan looked around and muttered.

“There are quite a few connected paths here…”

And like a large open space, there were paths connected to various places.

Of course, it would be good to go to all of them, but I didn’t know where to start.

It was then.

“Grrr…”

A strange beast’s sound was heard from afar. Johan and I exchanged tense glances for a moment.

To be exact, it was a sound like a tiger was making.