The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 120

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 120
From Kevillis’s slightly hunched shoulders, bowed low, emanated a raw, crushing sorrow.
Arun twisted one corner of his mouth into an ugly smile.
“W-what are you saying? That’s insane. What, me—what could I have—how dare you pin some ridiculous crime on me……!”
“There was a child who survived.”
The children we’d rescued from the Antemma Research Institute.
Before moving to the Intmari Estate, I’d told Kevillis about Klore and Lila, whom we’d extracted from the research facility.
“Those children were……the ones I had intended to sponsor.”
At that moment, Kevillis wore the face of a man whose entire world had crumbled.
“The victims—the children I meant to support—they were alive! And we’ve just apprehended those responsible for the Trade Port explosion on the way back!”
“……!”
“It’s all……he knows everything.”
Only then did Arun squeeze his eyes shut, fleeing from reality.
Kevillis felt an even deeper betrayal wash over him at his brother’s reaction.
“The child was about Rosy’s age.”
“…….”
“Don’t you feel any shame toward Rosy?”
“It’s not like…….”
From Arun’s lips came a voice caked in pathetic pride, unpleasant to hear.
“They’re orphans with no parents anyway—what’s the big deal if a few little rats like them disappear?”
Everyone present furrowed their brows.
“The Trade Port explosion really wasn’t my doing, and I didn’t kill the orphans either! I just lent them a carriage…….”
“Now your daughter will be one too.”
Unable to bear it any longer, I cut in.
“A little rat.”
Arun’s face, which had been glaring at me as if to cut me down, grew progressively paler.
He seemed to grasp at last what kind of predicament he was in.
His younger brother surrounding him, along with figures of uncertain identity.
His own body bound tightly with rope, lying on the ground.
“K-Kevil……!”
Arun cried out his brother’s name desperately.
“N-no, right? No, right? I’m still your older brother after all!”
“Brother.”
“Yes. Kevil! My one and only younger brother! I just made a small mistake. For the Octo Merchant Guild, and so it was unavoidable……!”
“No.”
Kevillis shook his head slowly.
“There’s another younger sibling.”
Since this might be his final conversation with his brother, Kevillis used a form of address from childhood.
“The youngest you and your sister abandoned.”
“…….”
“Do you remember when we abandoned the youngest?”
“…….”
“You sent a letter.”
A letter stating that Popina had no connection to the Kevillis family and would humbly accept whatever punishment came afterward.
“Precedent cannot be ignored.”
Kevillis’s low voice fell upon Arun’s terror-stricken head.
“Your will shall continue to be upheld.”
* * *
Arun was immediately confined to the Underground Guest Room, a famous landmark of Izelium Village.
The empty cell next to him received his sister, Kanna Octo, the following day.
“The one who provided the bomb was that woman.”
Verity brought me the results of the interrogation of the captured demon.
“Kanna Octo married the Trade Port’s administrator.”
“Was her husband involved as well?”
“Quite likely. Though even if he wasn’t aware, that’s its own problem—it means the administrator was that incompetent.”
The two we’d captured were to be handed over to the Central Headquarters.
It would fall to the Sacred Temple to discover what dealings they’d had with the Emperor and what they’d received in return.
At last we could return home with everything settled, yet my heart remained far from at ease.
Verity sat quietly beside me.
“What troubles weigh on your mind so?”
“It’s Popina.”
Popina had insisted on witnessing the moment his brother and sister were locked away with his own eyes.
I couldn’t bring myself to stop him—there was a resolve in him I’d never seen before.
The moment Arun and Kanna spotted Popina, they went pale. They scrambled to beg for their lives, belatedly crying out for forgiveness and admitting their wrongs.
But it was nothing but performative apology, born of desperation to survive.
Popina chose not to forgive them.
“And then there’s Rosy—she’s been on my mind.”
“Rosy?”
“Arun’s daughter. I met her at the tea gathering yesterday. She didn’t seem like a bad child at all.”
“Well, she lost her father in a single day.”
“The Merchant Guild Master seems troubled by that as well.”
“Ah yes, the Master troubles me too.”
The day before, the Merchant Guild Master had returned to the estate carrying the dejected Ppoppi and Chutchu.
As he handed me the exhausted dogs, the Master spoke thus:
“I’m going to abandon the Octo Merchant Guild.”
“It’s the only way to protect my remaining children and grandchildren.”
The Octo Merchant Guild had been another child to the Master—a second life’s work.
I couldn’t fathom what it must cost him to surrender something he’d poured his whole existence into.
‘They say losing a child tears at your very insides.’
Perhaps he felt something similar to that agony—I could only wonder vaguely.
“Every time you go out, it’s always bitter.”
“There’s no helping it.”
Verity stroked my head gently.
“There will be more such incidents ahead.”
Verity offered a sorrowful prophecy: this tragedy might turn out to be the smallest among all those yet to come.
My lips sagged.
“I wish the villagers could always be happy…”
“Still, the Village Chief managed to resolve his misunderstanding with the Master, and learned he wasn’t abandoned—”
“But there will be others who can’t?”
“There will be.”
……
“That’s beyond what you can do anything about, Chief.”
Verity’s voice was gentle but firm.
“Remember always: you can’t fix everything.”
* * *
Ppoppi and Chutchu lay listless for days, doing nothing but sleep.
“Does it hurt a lot? Are you okay?”
Seeing them so weak they could barely eat, I fretted until Verity gestured and said:
“They’re only cute and pretty when they’re quiet.”
“Grrrrr……”
“Crrrung……”
At least their temperaments were unchanged—a relief.
‘Could it be from the commotion at the tea gathering?’
I got more details from the Merchant Guild Master about what happened at the gathering.
Apparently, wolf demons the size of houses had destroyed everything in sight.
I petted the dogs in turn.
“Thank you for helping.”
Their tails wagged gently.
“By the way, what happened after the tea gathering?”
I asked the Merchant Guild Master. For days he’d been frantically busy cleaning up after the gathering and reporting his missing eldest son and daughter to the authorities.
Deep fatigue covered the Master’s face.
“I’m being cursed quite thoroughly.”
The mere fact that he’d used the ruins privately had already drawn considerable criticism.
So the people fervently believed the wolf demons that destroyed the tea gathering were divine beasts from myth.
In other words, they were delighted the gathering had turned to disaster.
‘I’d probably tease him about it too if I were them.’
And the host, Countess Reten, was still mad.
“She’s quite frightened, and if it continues, a physician warned it could worsen into madness.”
“Oh no.”
I glanced at the dogs lying beside me.
Like a father watching the news with his eyes closed, the dogs’ ears perked up the moment they heard of their exploits, and their tails wagged softly.
“Were you afraid of those wolves too, Merchant Master?”
“I was afraid. But I was not fearful.”
Most of the attendees, according to reports, had been seized by considerable fear—though not quite to the degree that rendered daily life impossible for the Countess.
Yet the Merchant Master and a few others had shaken it off and resumed their ordinary lives quickly enough.
“I suppose you might call it a conviction that they meant me no harm—that was the feeling I had. They showed little interest in me either.”
“I see.”
I stroked the dogs once more.
Thanks to the tea party’s chaos, the Trade Port incident had become relatively less publicized.
In common parlance, it had been simplified to the story of some madmen who set a ship ablaze, only to have the fire spread and kill them.
While that too was a grave matter, it could not compete with the appearance of demon wolves—creatures suspected to be divine beasts.
“I hear the Crown Prince departed straight for the Capital yesterday.”
“And the Imperial Prince?”
“He set out on a Prayer Pilgrimage the day after the tea party. He must be busy preparing for the Annual Consecration Ceremony in the coming autumn.”
So we didn’t meet after all.
‘I hope he isn’t exhausted.’
Though I regretted missing him, hearing of the young prince’s murderous schedule made me grateful we hadn’t met.
I simply hoped he was eating well, sleeping soundly, and getting by.
I asked the weary Merchant Master a few more questions.
“What will happen to the orphanage?”
“We’ve received a report of the staff and children missing, but I suspect the investigation won’t progress properly.”
“Then the orphanage will…….”
“The Sacred Temple has proposed to operate it directly.”
At those words, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.
‘If the orphanage disappeared, that would be a catastrophe.’
With the Holy King present now, there was no place more reliable than the Sacred Temple.
Of course, there would be other bad actors like the Chief High Priest, but it was far safer than the Imperial Court at least.
“Then…….”
I posed the most difficult question.
“A missing persons report for your son…….”
“Has been filed.”
……
“But this investigation too will likely not progress far.”
* * *
The next day.
“Then I’ll visit again in a few days.”
Verity and I prepared to return to Izelium Village.
The others had left for the village early. They all made excuses about needing to prepare the stage for my inauguration celebration, but I knew full well it was really to comfort Popina.
Comer and Kevillis came out to see us off. Since we were using our abilities to return to Izelium Village, the farewell took place at the entrance hall inside the estate.
The Merchant Master spoke.
“When you return, Kevillis will be ready to depart.”
“I’ll be counting on you then.”
“Me too.”
We shook hands.
Then I turned back to the Merchant Master.
“Merchant Master.”
“Yes, Village Chief.”
“Bring as many as you need. It’s fine.”
……
“Our village is quite large, you see.”
I knew what he was worried about.
“The staff of the Octo Merchant Guild—Izelium can accommodate them easily.”
Of course, once they moved in, they’d never be able to leave.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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