Chapter 16
Startled by how suddenly everything had happened, I rushed over to the squirrel.
He was definitely a suspicious little guy, but seeing him collapse so suddenly made me worry.
The table was quite high, so I had to stand on tiptoe to get a good look at him.
The squirrel lay spread-eagle, arms stretched wide, completely limp.
If I hadn’t seen his belly rising and falling with his breaths, I would’ve feared the worst.
“H-Hey! Are you okay? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
“H-Hungry…”
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, he had been singing about being hungry earlier.
Panicking, I dug into my pocket, where I had secretly stashed a cookie behind Ellie’s back.
Maybe I bumped into something while crawling through the gate, because the cookie was so crumbled it was barely recognizable.
Hmm. Can squirrels even eat cookies? Shouldn’t I be giving him acorns or fruit or something…?
“Uuugh…”
Still, he looked like he’d be in real trouble if he didn’t eat something soon.
I held out what used to be a perfectly round cookie—now reduced to crumbs—to the half-fainted squirrel.
“Do you… wanna eat this?”
“Wah! Food!”
The cookie disappeared from my hand in an instant.
This squirrel, who just seconds ago looked like he had no strength to even move, was now crying as he devoured the cookie crumbs.
Well… I guess it’s fine?
“Uwaaah!”
Seeing him cry with joy as he ate, I couldn’t bring myself to question whether cookies were healthy for animals.
“Delicious! It’s so good! I’ve never tasted anything like this before. Hey! What is this called?”
“Butter cookie… crumbs.”
“Butter? That’s a strange name. But it suits my taste perfectly!”
Apparently, he didn’t mind that it was just crumbs.
“Glad you like it… I guess.”
The squirrel let out a strange, triumphant noise as he devoured the cookie, and that was all I could think to say.
“Hmm. I feel like it’s not enough. Got another one, human?”
He held out his front paw toward me, as if expecting more—as if I were in charge of his snack stash.
I gave him a flat look and shook my head.
The squirrel pouted dramatically and plopped down on the table.
“Tch, so that’s it? Geez, you should carry more emergency food, you know.”
I shut my eyes tightly.
This cheeky little furball…
That wasn’t emergency food—it was the last cookie I had, and I brought it because I couldn’t bear to part with it.
But I didn’t say that out loud. It felt like making excuses would only tire me out.
Anyway, cookies weren’t the important thing right now.
There was a word the squirrel had almost said earlier that kept nagging at me.
“Hey, about what you almost said before.”
“Tch, I told you, it’s a secret.”
Don’t act all serious and secretive now, you little puffball. It’s annoying.
Staring at him with deadpan eyes, I asked,
“Was it about the World Tree?”
“Eek?”
His tail and fur bristled as he let out a startled squeak.
He really seemed caught off guard.
“You said something like ‘World’ earlier. Weren’t you about to say ‘World Tree’?”
“Ah…”
He didn’t answer, but the way he kept glancing away made it obvious I was right.
“W-What are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean!”
“You don’t have to try that hard to lie…”
His awkward attempt to lie was honestly kind of endearing.
“I really won’t ask anymore. Calm down.”
“Liar! Your eyes are screaming ‘I want to know!’”
“I mean, yeah, I am curious… but you can’t talk about the World Tree, right? So it’s not like I’ll actually hear anything.”
“Hmmph…”
As I calmly explained my reasoning, the squirrel pouted and stared at me in silence.
“I only figured it out from context. I’ll keep it a secret.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not gonna tell anyone about me?”
“Nope.”
Why would I? That would just be a hassle.
Blabbing about this squirrel would only cause even more trouble for me.
“Really truly?”
“Seriously, I won’t.”
“Hmm…”
The squirrel tilted his head, examining my face like he was trying to judge whether I was telling the truth.
Then he shook his head violently and let out a weird little sound.
“Nope! I don’t believe you! I’ve heard that humans lie the moment they open their mouths.”
Well… I couldn’t exactly argue.
Even I, who had only lived here for five years, had told more than my fair share of lies.
“Uhh…”
“Aha! So you are lying!”
“I’m not!”
After I told him I wasn’t lying about ten times, the squirrel finally calmed down.
“Pepe.”
“Huh?”
“That’s my name.”
He puffed out his chest proudly and introduced himself as Pepe.
“That’s… a weird name.”
“What?!”
Pepe stomped his tiny feet in frustration at my honest reaction to his ill-fitting name.
But no matter how much a small animal shouted, it just wasn’t that intimidating.
“My name’s Chloe.”
“That doesn’t suit you either.”
Why you little…
I resisted the urge to flick Pepe on the forehead and instead asked,
“Anyway… why are you here? You said you were looking for someone?”
“Yeah, I’m searching for the Savior. I followed the trail, but no one was there. The strongest energy trace was around here, though. Hmm…”
Pepe sat like a little person and rubbed his chin with his front paw, deep in thought.
“Hmm… Hmm!”
He muttered loudly to himself.
“Ugh, I seriously have no idea. By the way, Chloe, you’re an Esper, huh?”
“Huh? You can tell?”
“Of course! You’re giving off a huge Esper aura!”
Whoa. So being tied to the World Tree gives you that kind of insight?
“So does that mean… Chloe, are you from a Guardian family?”
His voice suddenly turned serious.
“Ah… yeah.”
“Which one?”
“Ere…yton.”
Was it okay to say that?
I wasn’t even sure if I was staying in this house yet, but I figured it was fine—he was just a squirrel, after all.
“What? Erayton? Hmm… that’s the family with lightning powers, right?”
Wow, he even knew that?
“You sure know a lot about Espers.”
“Of course I do. There’s nothing I don’t know.”
His answer made something spark in my head.
“Then do you know how to awaken Esper powers?”
“Huh? How to awaken them? That’s easy. You just move the natural energy inside your body and use it.”
Natural energy?
I tilted my head in confusion.
“What’s with that face? I just gave you super helpful information! And no, I didn’t say that because I want more cookies. But! If you insist on giving me more, I won’t refuse. Bailey always said it’s polite to accept gifts—”
“Wait, wait.”
I held up a hand to stop Pepe, who had started rambling.
“What exactly is natural energy?”
“…What?”
He looked genuinely baffled by my question.
“Didn’t you say you were from the Erayton family?”
“I am.”
(Well… kind of.) I nodded.
“And you’ve never heard of natural energy?”
“Nope. Do Esper powers come from natural energy? Where do you even get that from?”
“Wh-what the… seriously?”
Pepe clicked his tongue and let out a long sigh, clearly stunned.
Come on, no one ever told me!
Watching this tiny squirrel click his tongue at me in pity just made me feel wronged—and a little annoyed.
“What the heck did Erayton even teach you if they skipped the basics?”
“Well…”
The Duke didn’t strike me as someone who explained things thoroughly.
So it wasn’t surprising that he never told me any of this.
“Ugh…”
Pepe shook his head in disbelief at my half-hearted response.
“Ahem! Well, since you gave me a cookie, I’ll tell you about it. But you have to listen carefully, okay? Take notes if you need to!”
“No, I’ll just listen.”
My firm answer caught him off guard, but he quickly cleared his throat and rubbed his neck with his paw.
Such dramatic prep for a squirrel…
