IBTBD 05

Chapter 05

I dusted off my tiny hands and hopped up onto the man’s thigh.

Actually, there was something I’d had my eye on for a while—
the pocket watch that peeked ever so slightly from his inner coat pocket.

Of course, deep in the mountains, there was never any need for a watch.

The street kids could guess the time thanks to instincts etched into their genes,
but not me.

‘I used to be a noble lady once, you know.’

The best I could do was guess the time by the position of the sun.

But if the weather was cloudy, I was as good as blind.

Because of that, I’d once been the only one late to a meeting…

I almost ruined an operation that only came once every few months.

And oh, how the others scolded me, saying that even their leader had no sense of time.

[Boss, are you out of your mind? The sun’s already high in the sky.]

‘B-but it was cloudy today, I couldn’t see the sun…’

[And that’s your excuse?!]

‘…So I was a little late. Big deal. You little brats are so noisy…’

[What?! You’re the tiniest one here, Boss!]

The memory made my fists tremble with indignation.

That’s why I needed this watch.

Surely, anyone could understand that.

I gazed at the man with pleading eyes.

“……”

Of course, he didn’t answer.

But I decided to take his silence as tacit approval.

“Chuu…”

Glancing carefully, I reached my little paw into his pocket.

Pretending to just brush the golden frame, I suddenly bit down on the top of the watch—

And bolted like lightning.

“Ts-sssk!”

Heheheh.

I couldn’t stop giggling, completely unaware of the danger awaiting me later.

“Chuu… chuut—”

Huff, huff—

Terrified he might chase me, I only stopped to catch my breath once I reached my refuge.

It was my cabin, hidden in the deepest part of Bear Mountain.

Once a decrepit ruin that looked ready to collapse, I had spent two years fixing it up.

‘Thanks to that, it finally feels a bit like a home.’

Crude, but there was a desk. And a bed.

With great effort, I heaved the pocket watch onto the desk.

It was only the size of my body, yet so heavy I was drenched in sweat.

Still—

‘A watch! A real watch!’

Now I could schedule my days properly, like a civilized person!

Tomorrow, I would gather the Squirrel Gang for a tea time.

Exactly at 1 p.m.!

I was wriggling to the ticking second hand’s rhythm when—

Something felt wrong.

Cold sweat trickled down my face, and my vision swam.

My heartbeat thundered, as if it were right beside my ear.

‘Did I overexert myself today…?’

The world spun—then I blacked out.

“Ughhh!”

When I awoke again, it was past midnight.

‘I passed out around 10…’

That meant I’d been out for over two hours.

To be able to calculate the time so exactly—

Having a watch was truly wonderful.

But wait… something was odd.

Out of my mouth came not the cursed “chuu” or “jju”—
but human words.

“I… I’m human again…?!”

Well, I had always been human, but for the first time in three years,
I’d returned to my human form.

Staring blankly, I looked at my hands.

The way each joint bent and flexed felt strangely fascinating.

My hair, once reaching my waist, now tumbled down to the floor.

The sheer length showed just how much time had passed.

But then—

“Why… why now?”

No matter how desperately I had tried before, nothing had worked.

Why now of all times?

I was happy, yet uneasily anxious.

Would I suddenly revert to a squirrel again?

And how many more years would I be stuck like that?

“For now… let’s put something on.”

I hastily wrapped myself in a bedsheet and sat down at the desk.

First, I reviewed the day’s events.

Nothing unusual had happened.

I’d rushed to gather my underlings after Jjorong told me a merchant caravan had reached the mountain’s edge.

We helped out a wealthy-looking merchant master.

“Could that have been the man Mother said I’d meet?”

Hmm… no, I hadn’t felt any sort of click.

Although, come to think of it, I’d met someone else too.

My eyes drifted to the desk.

Because I remembered the pocket watch’s owner.

‘That man…’

Yes, there had been a definite click.

After growing up surrounded only by meek, herbivorous beastfolk,
he had been a shocking sight.

But there was no real connection between us.

The chance that he was the one Mother spoke of was slim.

I sighed, feeling like I’d gone back to square one.

“There must be some condition for turning human again… What is it?”

As I paced anxiously, my gaze fell on the books scattered across the desk.

They were ones I had borrowed each time I had a reason to visit the capital.

Sneaking into the library as a squirrel and hopping into a wagon’s luggage compartment wasn’t that hard.

Once the staff had gone home, I could just slip inside and take what I wanted.

Of course, I had to pay a wandering horse in carrots to get me back to Bear Mountain…

Ahem, anyway.

Most of the books were survival encyclopedias—
identifying edible plants and mushrooms, or medicinal herbs.

The rest were on beastfolk:
Principles of Therianthropy, The History of Beastkin, and the like.

I wondered if others had experienced what I was going through.

One book led to another, until the desk was full.

“…I’ll return them someday.”

Murmuring an apology to an unseen librarian, I opened Principles of Therianthropy.

As always, it was incomprehensible.

Not because I was a dropout from the Academy,
but because the text was a jumbled mess of untranslated ancient languages.

That’s why I’d had to steal an ancient language dictionary too.

“Ehem… I’ll return that as well.”

Anyway, the gist was this:

Beastkin, who inherit the power of sacred beasts, have latent mana.
By using it, they awaken their abilities.
And—

“Each family possesses a unique ability…”

I muttered the final line of the first chapter, my voice heavy.

The Aymond family’s unique ability was in the spiritual domain.

The first head of House Aymond used it to unite carnivorous and herbivorous beastkin.

My father had always expected me to manifest it.

After all, I also had blood from House Laplen, known for prophetic powers, and—

‘The first head of Aymond was a mutant, just like me.’

Mutants had always been said to carry special powers along with their unique appearances.

The ancestors had called it “the mark of an heir.”

A deer might have unusually large antlers,
a tiger an unusual coat color.

In my case, it was the latter.

That’s why the Marquis of Aymond used to sit me down and brainwash me,
saying I must revive the family’s glory.

But even by age fifteen, I had no power.

And now at eighteen, I couldn’t even control my human form at will…

Why was I always the one left behind?

I unconsciously crumpled the corner of the page.

Rustle.

Suddenly, a sound came from outside.

‘…Who’s there?’

I pricked my ears and heard it more clearly.

Footsteps. Upright, bipedal.

But my cabin was in the very depths of Bear Mountain.

With bears guarding every path, hardly anyone could approach.

And yet, someone had.

How?

Heart pounding, I peeled back the old newspaper covering the window.

“…!”

Two eyes gleamed in the dark.

Predator’s eyes. A top-tier carnivore.

‘No… Have they come to hunt me again?’

I didn’t know if the predator came from the Imperial Palace,
but the fear of the past was enough to turn me back into that coward from three years ago.

Would I have to flee again?

Abandon Bear Mountain and my friends?

‘How long must I keep running?’

Terror and despair crushed me.

No matter how I tried to stay calm,
my body shook and my breath grew shallow.

It felt like I was back on that cliff three years ago,
on the day I lost my mother.

Maybe that was why—

Thump, thump.

My heart pounded, vision blurring.

The desk that had been small a moment ago loomed larger and larger.

“N-no… this can’t be…”

But it was.

I had turned back into a squirrel.

There was no time to despair.

Because the intruder was already closing in on my cabin.

At last, the footsteps stopped right outside the window.

And then—

Crash!

The broken corner of the glass shattered completely,
as something lunged inside.

That was the last thing I remembered.