I Became A Squirrel Seeking For The Villain [EN]: Chapter 99

Still, Johann didn’t interrupt the conversation.

‘I guess so.’

I thought of Johann, who described the Hyrard’s wizard bloodline as a curse.

‘If it’s a famous family, Hyrard isn’t far behind…’

We vaguely remained ignorant of our family’s secrets, but Johann, due to the peculiarity of magic, couldn’t help but be aware of his family’s power.

“It seems they argued for using that ability to create a power that even the Imperial Family couldn’t control.”

So, the proposal was to conduct experiments away from the eyes of the Imperial Family.

“And it seems they needed to use children with Medest’s blood for that…”

“Crazy! Who would agree to that?”

I clicked my tongue, dumbfounded.

Paul nodded gloomily but spoke slowly.

“Of course, looking at the family as a whole, agreeing to that experiment might have been the right thing to do. After all, unlike Hyrard, Medest didn’t even lose its secrets within 100 years, did it?”

Paul’s words weren’t wrong.

There were families that sacrificed some members for the sake of the entire family.

“Still…”

As I moved my lips, Paul continued.

“Still, the Medest Duchy didn’t agree to that proposal. Rather, they severed ties when the Senate was dissolved, claiming that the values of the Artear barony were subversive.”

I nodded slowly.

Even if I were an ancestor, I would cut ties with such a shady family.

“In fact, it was not a good thing for the Artear barony, which had been living under the patronage of Medest, according to the diary.”

Paul continued with a gloomy face.

“Because, like all research, it always requires significant funding… and the people of the Artear barony tended to lock themselves in the lab instead of making their own fortune.”

Hmm, I guess so…

You can’t make a living just by doing research. Even if it’s research related to money.

They needed a patron and backing who could directly monetize that money-making research.

“Medest had a symbiotic relationship with them. They accumulated wealth by distributing their research and reinvesting it, creating a virtuous cycle. But when that cycle was broken, they suffered from financial difficulties all at once.”

“So, what happened to them? Why did they disappear from all records, even?”

“That’s what I’m wondering too. My father’s diary doesn’t contain the story after that.”

Paul frowned.

“The last entry in the diary is that the Artear barony disappeared from history in an instant, and everyone went into hiding.”

“Hmm.”

“And then strange things started to happen. The senators slowly started to die. Secretly.”

That was a bit surprising.

Frankly, it was quite a long time ago to start digging into it now.

But I had a vague idea.

The easiest way to kill people secretly was with poison.

And the place that handled the most poison was the temple.

“…But Baron Olteba survived.”

“That’s…”

Paul squeezed his eyes shut with an expression that said what he expected had come.

He clearly suspected something but didn’t want to say it.

Johann, who had been listening to the conversation with his arms crossed, opened his mouth once again.

“Yurika, did I tell you?”

“Huh?”

“I believe that you must repay any grace.”

It was a way of speaking that made him strangely annoying, even though he was clearly on my side.

“I got you discharged from that terrible battlefield, and I saved your life from the fire.”

I was smiling brightly, but I sighed inwardly.

Stop showing off…

But that showing off was the only way to get Paul to open his mouth.

“I don’t know how many times you’ve said that… Well, I guess you can say it a hundred times when your life is at stake.”

Paul looked at Johann with a tearful expression.

The look of worship he had when he first saw Johann was nowhere to be found.

Still, he couldn’t help but open his mouth as ‘grace’ was continuously mentioned, and he sighed and spoke slowly.

“We were wondering about that too.”

“Yes. Please tell us what you suspect.”

“…My father was the godfather of Father Patr, and Patr, who was an orphan, grew up with me. I don’t know much about that time because I grew up with my mother, but I know he raised him like his own child.”

“Ah?”

“My father and mother were divorced. I only lived with my father after I became an adult.”

A moment of silence flowed.

Paul also revealed that the temple was involved in this by mentioning ‘Patr’.

“So, when the senators were all dying…”

Paul sighed once and said.

“My father said he had nothing to worry about. He must have heard something from Patr.”

In fact, the conclusion was reached.

In those days, the Artear barony lived by relying on the temple.

They researched what could make money, and the patron took care of everything else, and they used the money the patron gave them to do more research. The only thing that changed was that the patron was changed from Medest to the temple.

“Artear must have harbored resentment towards Medest.”

Paul said slowly.

“After all, they were abandoned all at once. Originally, the abandoned side tends to exaggerate their damage a bit too much.”

I could roughly picture it.

Artear could have entered the temple, hid himself, and done the research he wanted.

That kind of research that used Medest’s power, which they had planned.

‘The temple just supplied Medest’s children instead of Medest.’

The reason why the temple erased their existence altogether was probably because there were many people who remembered the name of Artear.

And even that was uneasy, so they seemed to have started eliminating people who knew about this one by one.

That effort continued for a long time… and eventually, later generations were unknowingly victimized.

“That’s really all I know.”

Paul rubbed his eyes as if he was tired.

“I don’t know the details because I’m not from that time, and normal conversation with my father is impossible. It will probably be difficult to find out any more.”

As Paul said, it was difficult to ask him more questions because he didn’t know that time well.

I nodded quietly and stared at Paul.

“I’ll ask you just one more question.”

Paul shrugged lightly with a face that said he wouldn’t be able to answer. I added without changing my expression.

“Then why does Paul hate Medest?”

A moment of silence flowed.

Paul swept back his white hair as if he was embarrassed and said.

“It’s because Medest at that time was too soft and couldn’t protect the Senate.”

“…”

“If they thought it was dangerous, they should have kicked out Artear at that time. And if they couldn’t kick them out, they should have at least not forgotten about themselves. That way, we can trust and rely on them.”

“…”

“But what can you expect from a great noble family that has even forgotten about themselves? They lived like ordinary humans and remained silent even about the deaths of the senators, who were their vassal families. So, there’s no way I can have good feelings for Medest.”

I couldn’t answer that.

Of course, it wasn’t my fault, but according to Paul, everyone had forgotten even the essence of Medest in the past 100 years.

“Didn’t you even forget that we were a vassal family?”

That was also true. It was already over 100 years ago, and the Olteba barony had not interacted with Medest for a long time.

I was lost in thought for a moment, then stood up and formally paid my respects.

And I bowed my head and said.

“Many generations have passed, but I, Yurika Medest, will apologize even now.”

“P, Princess?”

Paul jumped in surprise at my polite apology. I calmly added.

“It’s true that I couldn’t maintain my center as a great noble family that ruled over vassals in those days.”

“N, no… T, that’s…”

“But even if the ancestors did, not all Medests are like that.”

I smiled slightly, straightened my back, and looked him straight in the eye.

“It’s a little late, but I’ll still do my best to finish it. I’ll find the secrets of the Medest family again, and I’ll take revenge on the temple and the Artear barony that killed the senators.”

Paul stared at me silently. I calmly added.

“I’ll pay for the story I heard.”

Paul, who I thought would wave his hand and say it was okay, was unexpectedly quiet.

And he didn’t say a word until the end of the meeting.

He just kept making a thoughtful face.

* * *

That evening.

“About that book on the curses of the nobles that His Majesty the Emperor has.”

I declared to Johann.

“I need to see it.”