Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot
Chapter 112 - 111 - The squirrels’ helping hands.

Chapter 112: Chapter 111 - The squirrels’ helping hands.

The sun had barely kissed the horizon, and already the squirrel kingdom of Acornia was having a full-blown nut-fueled rave in the middle of the Bestiary Mountain forest.

Flags woven from enchanted leaves waved in the breeze.

Acorn beer—yes, that was a thing—flowed freely from mushroom keg fountains.

Mushrooms, squirrels, gliders, and a few traumatized chipmunks partied like it was their last autumn on Earth.

Tiny hammocks swayed between branches as squirrel soldiers sobbed over lost comrades, toasted their bravery with half-eaten pinecones, and then immediately tried flirting with squirrel medics.

There were candlelit nut vigils, emotional nut hugs, and at least three acorn-based proposals within the first hour.

It was chaos.

It was purification.

It was adorable.

Raven stood at the edge of a mossy knoll, arms crossed, staring at the festival below.

His eyes narrowed in silent contemplation.

"This looks like a Red Bull commercial but for rodents," he muttered.

Clara leaned on his arm, giggling. "They deserve it. They just survived demon cultists."

"And Flurry’s alive," Jessy added, nodding solemnly. "I mean, look at Nibbles right now."

Nibbles and Flurry were dancing—or more accurately, bouncing in a figure-eight while tail-twirling—under a soft spotlight of glowing fireflies. Their moves were synchronized with unnerving grace, like a couple on a squirrel version of Dancing with the Stars.

"She literally just kissed him on the nose," Siris noted flatly, sitting beside Raven and gently pushing Clara an inch away.

"She does that again, I’ll bite her," Selena muttered through a strained smile.

She sat on the other side of Clara, yanking her flower-stress-toy like it owed her money.

Raven, surrounded by estrogen and emotional squirrels, sighed.

"Why is my life like this?"

"You’re charismatic," Clara whispered sweetly.

"You’re hot," Siris smiled from the side.

"...You’re special," Selena muttered silently, her voice not even reaching Raven.

"Yep. That explains nothing and everything," Raven muttered.

Down below, a few squirrel warriors were reenacting the demon battle by wearing blackened leaf armor and chasing each other with toothpick-sized spears.

When one fell dramatically, three other squirrels tackled him, weeping like they were in a soap opera.

Another group was writing the names of fallen squirrels on bark tablets, while a choir of baby squirrels sang a solemn, squeaky hymn.

Alex, naturally, was crying too.

"It’s just so beautiful," he sniffled, his notebook soaked with tears. "I need to learn their language so I can write a squirrel opera."

"...Why would you do that?" Jessy asked, deadpan.

"For culture."

"Fair."

As Flurry leaned in for another snuggle, Nibbles suddenly froze mid-romance. His eyes widened as if struck by divine revelation.

"SQUEAK!!" He screamed, launching himself out of Flurry’s embrace and parkouring across three squirrels and a pine tree like a furry ninja.

"Is he okay?" Clara asked.

"Heart attack?" Rufus guessed. "Maybe too much nut cider?"

"No," Alex said, standing up like a scholar channeling a higher power. "He’s realized something..."

Nibbles slammed into the front gate of the Royal Acorn Hall, where Emperor Nutrius Acornpaw IV sat upon his Throne of Bark, drinking fermented walnut juice from a carved acorn goblet.

"SQUEAK-SQUEAK-SQUUUUEEEAK!!"

The emperor straightened, raising a single whisker.

Raven and the others arrived just in time to see dozens of squirrel guards, priests, and bushy-tailed nobles gathering around in shock.

"What’s going on?" Clara whispered.

"They’re squeaking very fast," Jessy noted.

"I can feel the plot," Siris said ominously.

Raven pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to Alex, who had a comically long feather quill in hand and was scribbling furiously in his "Nut-to-English" notebook.

"Alex. Translate," Raven said.

Alex bowed with all the seriousness of a squirrel-themed bard.

"Nibbles says, ’Oh Glorious Flufffather, I have beheld a vision. Raven and his companions shall be participating in a human trial, a trial where they must collect shiny rocks from the forest! But they cannot waste time looking for them while fighting demons and protecting the Maiden of Sky. We—your glorious nut-born army—shall gather the shiny things for them!’"

Silence.

Then he added, "Also, he said Flurry tastes like sugar acorns. Which... might’ve been a private thought."

Raven blinked.

"Wait, he knows about the trial gems?"

Nibbles squeaked solemnly, raising a paw.

Alex translated, "He heard us talk about it before. He’s smart."

"...Of course he is," Raven muttered. "But would the squirrels be able to sniff out the gems under layers of magical traps placed by the teachers?"

The squirrel emperor slowly nodded, then bellowed a series of mighty squeaks that echoed throughout the glade.

More squirrels ran out of nearby bushes.

Fluffy commandos, glider scouts, nut-hurlers, and one old squirrel with a walking stick and a scar over his left eye—probably a war veteran named something like Scar-Nut the Wise—lined up in perfect ranks.

"What’s he saying now?" Clara asked.

Alex puffed out his chest. "He says, ’From this moment on, Acornia shall aid our two-legged allies. We shall retrieve the Shiny Ones. We shall fight in the shadows. We shall be the unseen paw beneath the boot of destiny.’"

Jessy raised a brow. "...Did he actually say all that?"

"Well, I translate emotion, not just words."

"That’s what he said last time," Raven muttered.

Nibbles leaped onto Raven’s shoulder, pointing a tiny paw at the horizon with all the pomp of a general commanding a war front.

"He says, ’Fear not, Brother Raven. We shall collect the shiny rocks while you punch the bad people.’"

Raven blinked again, then sighed.

"...Tell him thanks. That actually helps a lot."

Nibbles saluted proudly.

"But," Raven added, pointing a finger, "if you find any, stash them in one place. The more we have, the better our score. We do still need to technically win this trial."

"Squeak-squeak!"

"He says, ’Then we shall steal victory under their noses! For Fluff! For Glory! For Sky Girlfriend!’" Alex translated.

"Sky Girlfriend..." Selena whispered, emotionally whiplashed from rage to genuine amusement. "That’s actually cute."

"Squeak," Nibbles added quickly.

"He says she’s his," Alex repeated for the group.

Everyone turned to look at Nibbles and Flurry, whose tails were once again twined together. Even Clara melted a little.

"...This is weirdly romantic," Jessy admitted.

"Group pet?" Rufus asked again.

Clara hurled another acorn at his face.

"Group mascot," Raven corrected. "She’s staying with us."

Siris nodded in agreement. "We protect the Sky Fluff."

As Raven turned to leave, he glanced once more at the squirrel legions assembling for operation Gem Snatch ’n’ Dash.

He shook his head.

"This trial’s gonna be chaos."

"Correction," Alex said, dramatically flipping his notebook shut, "This trial... will be legendary."

Raven gave him a long look.

"...I’m giving you ten seconds head start before I slap that notebook into the moon."

"INTO THE MOON?"

"Ten."

"AAAAAAAAA—!"

And so, beneath the rising sun and amidst tiny war chants, tail hugs, and tactical gliders screaming squirrel battle cries, it was decided that the Vaises would kill demons while the squirrels collected the gems for them.

What they failed to notice was a pair of red eyes staring at them from the tree behind them.

"Hm?" Raven did notice it, but it was already too late by then.

A crow, with eyes as red as blood, flew away from there before Raven could even turn.

"What’s wrong?" Clara, noticing his frown, questioned him, but Raven shook his head.

"I felt as if someone was looking at me."

There was doubt in his voice, making Clara frown as well.

Siris, however, didn’t smile, nor did she hum, as she had also felt it.

’What was it?’ She asked inwardly, her question directed at the spirit in her head.

’It was a familiar of some mage. Most likely a demonic human,’ the spirit replied, making Siris’s eyes flash.

"I’ll be back in a while." She turned to Raven, making him tilt his head.

"Where are you going?"

"I don’t know?" She tilted her head, smiling cluelessly, making Raven sigh.

"Do as you wish."

He didn’t stop her, as she was strong, not someone he had to worry about.

However, he did fear that she might bring a dead body along if she crossed paths with a demonic human.

...................................

An hour later.

From the eastern trail of the Bestiary Mountain Forest, a group of students in regulation academy uniforms emerged, flanked by teachers who looked like they’d aged five years during the hike.

Some were mages flicking away mosquitoes with disgust.

Others were warriors, carrying enough bags to supply a small caravan.

A few looked like they were already questioning their life choices.

Then there was him.

Prince Lio of the Hector Kingdom.

He was one of the two royals among the third-year students, but unlike always, when he was ignored by most, now many people flocked around him.

The reason was simple.

Because everyone had found out that he was now part of the Vaise group.

Raven, already waiting in the clearing along with his group, turned just in time to see Lia—still very much disguised as Prince Lio—stride toward them with the most convincing noble pout imaginable.

Her pink hair was tied back under her formal hat, her gait regal, her smile tight as a suppressed panic attack.

"Ah!" She called, waving at Raven a bit too enthusiastically. "Raven! Brother! I have arrived! Ha ha! Just as we planned. Which was... my arrival. Yes."

Clara, Jessy, Rufus, and even Alex raised brows at Raven, who gave Lia a flat stare that said, ’Tone it down before you give everything away because of your trashy acting.’

"Smooth," Raven muttered.

"You hush," Lia whispered when she reached him, cheeks pink under the princely confidence. "I’ve been walking behind a mage who won’t stop spraying lavender oil on everything. I smell like emotional healing and foot sweat."

Alex immediately began scribbling. "New poem idea: The Lavender Prince of Foot-Scented Valor."

"Burn that notebook," Raven said without turning.

Behind them, the other academy students paused upon seeing the prestigious Vaise group... and the literal prince hanging off Raven’s arm like an emotional support royal.

They stared.

Not just because the Vaises looked like they had crawled out of a chaotic woodland festival, but because their numbers included a prince, a guy with two squirrels above his head, and other Vaise monsters, including a guy who could defeat level six mages and knights.

"...Is that a squirrel wearing a cape?" One student whispered.

"It’s wearing three capes," another replied, awestruck.

The teachers, meanwhile, approached the group with the same energy as someone realizing the weird kid from class had just become prom king and brought a raccoon army.

"Raven Von Vaise," one of the more experienced instructors, a grey-haired woman named Professor Yulenne, began warily, "your group seems to have... increased in size."

"Just networking," Raven said blandly.

"With squirrels?" Another teacher asked, pointing at Nibbles and Furry on Alex’s head, their tails now braided with a flower crown.

"He’s our scout leader," Raven deadpanned.

Professor Yulenne blinked. "Of course he is."