CH 21

Translated by EunEun

Edited by Zil

“I’m not sure…?”

“Ah! Isn’t it because our Young Miss is a Squirrel Young Miss?”

The young soldier presented an unexpected hypothesis and drew people’s attention.

Suddenly becoming the spotlight, the young soldier blushed and said in a crawling voice.

“I… I mean, aren’t shapeshifters popular with the shapeshifter animals?”

“No, that obedience—”

“The security lions also looked like they only liked the Young Master, and I wonder if that was what happened with that magical beast too….”

Who would’ve known that he would misunderstand the lions’ when they showed their willingness to obey the Young Master in advance, when it was actually because they were afraid that they would suffer when battling—it was actually torment under the pretext of battling—as they were arranging their ranks!

The knight tried to correct the misunderstanding of the young soldier, but the Young Master was much faster to respond to his words than him.

“That one impudent bastard.”

Gnash.

From Carl’s mouth, there came out a gnashing sound of his sharp tooth.

“That squirrel bastard who unknowingly rolled from somewhere.”

“Y-Young Master. Your bloodthirst…!”

“He dares to go after our house’s squirrel?!”

The knight trembled when he saw the Young Master spouting his murderous spirit continuously as if he had returned to the battlefield.

Right now in front of his eyes, the knight seemed to be watching what would happen when a person picked out a sleeping lion’s tail fur.

“Go and fetch everyone who’s inside now immediately! It’s a subjugation!”

Surprised by the Young Master’s rare shout, the knight rushed to the training barracks to call his colleagues.

***

On another side.

Beatty had been moved to an unknown place and in her vision shone green trees.

“….”

It’s a very jam-packed tree‘s’.

It wasn’t like the garden tree that she had been around until a moment ago. The thickly grown forest was definitely outside the castle.

“Here’s… the Northern Mountain Range?”

That’s the place where she looked up every day, so she can’t help but to infer it.

It was weird that they could move to a further place than this just in a blink of an eye, and.

As she looked around with anxious eyes, ‘that’ sound spoke to her again.

–   Hi.

Flinch.

Beatty trembled at the sound that she could not get used to even when she heard it again.

At her gaze which was busily looking everywhere again.

Soft.

Something on her cheek drew her attention.

“….”

Beatty hesitated for a moment, but then she boldly reached out and pulled off what was attached to her face.

Beatty tightened her grip in case she was going to be attacked, and her eyes wide open to the shape that caught her eyes.

“A squirrel…?”

–   To be exact, a Snowstorm Squirrel Magical Beast.

“What?!”

Beatty was surprised to see the white squirrel who was talking and looking straight at her.

Obviously his words were delivered, but the white squirrel’s mouth didn’t move even a bit.

–   Since the only thing that can hold me is this body, it turns out that I became late in finding you.

‘Finding me?’

A question arose in Beatty’s eyes.

The white squirrel saw the confused Beatty, smiled as if saying that she’s cute, and said again.

–   Surely, we need greetings, right?

“….”

–   Hi, Fragment.

“Fragment?”

–   Yeah, a star fragment. Among them, you’re ‘my’ fragment.

“Yours…?”

At the words that she couldn’t understand, Beatty’s eye rims wrinkled up.

–   Yeah! I’m [  ].

Criiiing.

Her head rang.

–   Hm. As expected, this can’t be done like this.

“?”

–   Anyway, to make it easier for you to understand.

As the white squirrel clicked his fingers, a twinkling swarm of light came out from his fingertips.

–   Star.

‘The night sky’s… that star?’

–   Yeah.

He replied as if he had read Beatty’s mind.

Hooooong.

The twinkling swarm of light from the fingertips of the white squirrel soared far into the sky like a shooting star turned upside down.

–   I am the star itself and the one who rules the stars.

Although Beatty still couldn’t understand his words, at his next words, she opened her eyes wide.

–   It’s an existence that you guys called it as the Constellation of the Squirrel.

“Constellation!”

The origin of the shapeshifters, and the God of another world who saved the world before destruction.

In other words, the reason Beatty, a squirrel shapeshifter, existed.

‘The Originator…?’

When she suddenly saw him claiming himself as a mythological being, Beatty thought there was nothing more surprising than this.

–   Ah! So, it’s easier to tell you like this.

However, it wasn’t.

At the next moment, Beatty couldn’t help but to open her mouth and raise her voice.

–   I’m the one who sent you back here.

“Yes?!”

–   Yeah, I should have said this sooner.

“Did you say you sent me here?”

Beatty was thrown into confusion.

“What is the meaning of that? Then, I suddenly came back to 10 years before was also, no, maybe the dying me was—”

–   Shush.

The self-proclaimed Constellation calmed her down who had a lot of questions.

–   We don’t have much time. Even though I chose this body because it’s strong.

“Body?”

–   I’m talking about this magical beasts’ body. It was hard to find a body that was compatible enough even if it’s only for a moment around here, so after the descent was solved, I’m going to take care of it well.

(t/n: ‘it’ in [I’m going to take care of it well] = the body of the magical beast.

And, I’m going to explain what Constellation meant with [the descent was solved]. 

-> He’s that ‘Constellation’, the God of another world, the Star itself, the Ruler of the Stars, just like it was mentioned a few lines above. So, he’s not supposed to be on land, but up in the sky.

-> In order to talk to Beatty, he needs a medium. He has to enter a body, and it’s not just any body. Unfortunately, it has to be a body that has enough of his blood.

-> His blood = his descent = a squirrel shapeshifter, which only very few exist. From this story so far, there’s only this Snowstorm Squirrel and Beatty that exist. 

-> That was a problem for him. And after he found the body, the problem was solved.)

The Constellation held the child’s hand tightly around, using the squirrel magical beast’s body, and continued again.

–   I’ll tell you the important thing.

At his next words, Beatty’s ears lit up as she loosened her fingers again with a doubtful face.

–   The reason I sent you back.

“!”

–   The reason was….

Thump. Thump.

Beatty listened carefully, and since she concentrated so much, she could even hear her heart beating.

With his mouth still motionless, the Constellation faced Beatty, raised his hand as if it was unexpected, and said.

–   Oh! This one solved much faster than I thought.

“….”

Beatty looked at the white squirrel with puzzled eyes.

Tilt.

Where did the existence that had a significant energy until just now go, and the ordinary squirrel magical beast opened its mouth.

“Chuut chuut.”

It was an ordinary squirrel’s voice.

“The reason….”

Tremble.

Beatty’s hand trembled automatically.

“You should’ve go only after you told me the reason!”

The Snowstorm Squirrel’s ears stood up, perhaps startled by the sound that rang in its ears.

In the meantime, he had never spared a creature that screamed arrogantly in front of him. He opened and stretched his mouth as much as a rock, and swallowed up all of the intruders in his territory.

The Snowstorm Squirrel took out its sharp tooth that was jammed and embedded in the roof of its mouth.

Sae-ek. Sae-ek—

He put back his tooth again at the energy that was rising from the girl who breathed heavily. It was an energy that somewhat made his heart felt tired.

The squirrel magical beast liked the girl.

The Snowstorm Squirrel changed his plan to bite her head as if he were dealing with other intruders, and instead, he patted the girl with his jelly-embedded front feet as if he was calming her down.

Beatty, who had fumed in despondency and anger for a while, came to her senses because of a sound that was heard from a place not far away.

Crisp.

‘What was that sound just now…?’

A deep mountain range where it’s rare to have people. She came to realize that she only had her body without any weapons in an unfamiliar forest.

Press.

Beatty grabbed the string bag that she was carrying on her shoulder without realizing it.

Rustle.

“!”

This time, it sounded a bit clearer.

‘The sound of a heavy footstep. It is a huge beast?’

The northern mountain range was as famous as a place that was common for large predators, as much as pigeons in the capital.

Beatty’s eyes became busy looking around, at the presence of a predator that might appear immediately.

‘Where… is a big tree which I can climb up fast…!’

As Beatty was looking for the highest tree to escape in her squirrel form if it was needed, she heard a voice that she couldn’t even imagine.

“… You.”

‘Hm?’

It was a person’s voice.

That also, it was somewhat familiar….

As if calling someone he knew, it was a voice that sounded like the encounter here was unexpected.

‘Does he know me? Ah! By any chance!’

Beatty turned her head to see whether if he was a Duke’s Castle people or not who came out after the magical beast who intruded, and what was seen in her eyes was—

“… Who are you?”

(t/n: she was asking in a formal way of speaking.)

He was a suspicious person as if he was painted.

A black robe that wrapped around his whole body in a mountain range where normally you won’t encounter people.

A short stature without even a companion around him in a dangerous place where a small number of people should not travel in this area, even if you’re a native of this area.

A large and overwhelming shadow of his frame that was similar to her older brother was cast over Beatty’s face.

Contrary to its very suspicious appearance.

“I’m….”

The voice itself could be called a beautiful voice.

‘Hm?’

Contrary to what was expected from the big shadow in front of me, it was the voice of a boy who still had a fresh charm before becoming an adult.

From the perspective of an 8-year-old child, which anything will look big, it seemed that she had exaggerated the suspicious outline in her vision with a maximized vigilance.

Beatty calmed down a little and looked at the person who was in front of her again.

‘It’s a similar height with Older Brother.’

When it turned out that he was about her age and not a suspicious adult, Beatty became a little less wary and asked.

“Who are you?”

(t/n: she asked in an informal way of speaking.)

“….”

As if it was somehow difficult, the unidentified boy kept silent.

“Hey….”

Flinch.

As she took a step closer, the boy stepped back and moved away, as if something from Tiny Beatty became a threat to him.