The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 33

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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 33
With introductions to the new residents complete, it was time to head back to the village.
Before leaving, we stopped at the Plaza to purchase supplies.
“Make a wish as you ask me.”
“As I mentioned before, this is part of the Social Rehabilitation Training.”
Berity watched Libi and Pex negotiate with the unfamiliar merchants, nodding slowly.
Merely buying a single item made them this tense.
Even Libi, ordinarily bright and composed, spoke in a voice that trembled faintly.
‘I despise the Emperor, truly.’
He torments the people I hold dear, and for that I hate him.
This time, I purchased a great many books.
“It’s been ages since I’ve studied Magical Tools. I need to begin anew.”
“I’ll study magic harder too!”
“Such admirable residents—have you ever seen their like!”
I found myself watching them with nothing but pride, the way a parent might regard a child ablaze with the will to learn.
‘Once we return, I must build a library first.’
We made our way back to the Deste Mansion and stood before Flora’s door.
“Oh, I just remembered—the knights locked in the Underground Prison…”
“I’ve stocked five days’ worth of provisions, so they’ll be fine for a while. I’ve searched them thoroughly as well, so they won’t be able to cause any trouble.”
My capable demon butler Berity had already taken care of every worry.
Now it was truly time to return home.
“Come now, everyone. Look here.”
I opened the door and showed them the dingy interior.
“Pathetic, isn’t it? This room shows just how wretched the Count was.”
Libi and Pex both furrowed their brows—they’d realized at once that this was Flora’s room.
“The Count seems to have gotten off far too easily,” Libi said.
“I share your sentiment entirely.”
“Then allow me to transform this room into a magnificent Village Community Hall.”
Ta-da-da-dah, ta-da-da-dah.
Humming an almost childish fanfare, I closed the door.
Then I slowly turned the handle to the right.
Click.
What lay beyond the reopened door was the Chief’s Office—the pride and heart of Excilium’s Village Community Hall.
Everyone fell silent at the sudden transformation.
‘Even I find it remarkable.’
The young siblings, witnessing this ability for the first time, were nearly fainting.
Both were so astounded they could barely speak.
“H-how is this…!”
“Wow! Wow-wow-wow!”
Pania’s face had gone ashen, while Nulla flushed crimson and bounced excitedly.
At Nulla’s cry of amazement, Libi and Pex quickly checked on my condition.
“Hebenia, are you all right?”
“You’re not having a nosebleed again, are you…”
“I’m fine thanks to good sleep.”
In fact, I felt noticeably stronger than the day before.
‘When I push myself to the limit…’
My capacity increases.
Still gripping the handle, I stepped aside.
“Welcome to Excilium!”
* * *
“Grandfather! Are you all right?”
“Grandfather…”
The siblings Pania and Nulla rushed to find the Pharmacist Elder first.
Seated in a wheeled chair, the Pharmacist Elder smiled bitterly as the young pair ran toward him.
“You’ve seen what a pathetic state I’ve fallen into, children.”
The old man let the sobbing pair bury their heads against his thighs, gently stroking their hair with a tender hand.
“Pania, you’re not coughing anymore, are you?”
“After taking the medicine you gave me, I haven’t been sick once since…!”
“So Dulthebya truly works wonders.”
The illness Pania had suffered from was Crape Myrtle Illness.
The early symptoms resemble those of an ordinary respiratory illness.
But then small rashes cover the entire body, accompanied by high fever, and the eyes turn a sickly yellow.
As time passes, hallucinations plague the mind, the body stiffens like wood, and finally death arrives—a terrifying disease.
Since this progression unfolds within barely a hundred days, people named it after the crape myrtle, a small tree that blooms with red flowers over roughly that same span.
Fortunately, if treated with medicine in the early stages, the disease clears rapidly and completely.
Once someone recovers, they develop immunity and never catch it again.
‘The medicine is cheap, too. Hardly anyone dies from this disease anymore.’
The Pharmacist Elder’s eyes grew red as he smiled toward Pania, who was gazing at him.
It was both a reassurance that he was fine now and a smile meant to hide his own private unease.
‘Crape Myrtle Illness is most common in summer.’
The season had already drifted into late spring.
‘If the Herb Distribution continues like this…….’
Pania had been fortunate.
If the Pharmacist Elder hadn’t purchased Dulthebya from Hebenia’s group, the boy might have died.
And what was even more terrifying was that cases like Pania’s—those without such luck—could keep happening.
‘Young Clavis seems to have joined hands with the Temple, so Deste Territory is secure. But elsewhere…….’
That was when it happened.
“Big sister!”
Young Clavis came scurrying over.
That impudent way of still calling her “big sister,” the large, frizzy hair tied up on both sides of her head, and that naturally brazen smile all at once.
‘Looking at it this way, she really does resemble Clavis.’
That stubborn old woman.
An elderly man with a gentlemanly appearance and a gangster’s temperament.
‘……When did I ever meet Clavis?’
The Pharmacist Elder carefully retraced his memory.
He thought he’d met her in some distant time, but the memory that actually surfaced was from a year ago.
‘We happened to have a conversation back then…….’
Furrowing his brow, he wracked his mind for the elusive recollection when Hebenia spoke to him.
“Big sister, are you feeling all right?”
“I’m fine. But I don’t think I can be called big sister anymore.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because I got kicked.”
Hebenia inhaled sharply in surprise.
“Ian!”
She then scolded Ian, who had been helping carry packages from outside.
“Don’t you respect the elderly? You should be the one getting kicked!”
“That makes no sense whatsoever!”
Dumbfounded, Ian decided things had actually worked out well and quickly complained about what he’d endured yesterday.
“That old man keeps calling me ‘honey’ whenever he sees me, and last night he asked me if I’d like to come keep him company in his bedchamber……!”
“There are loves that begin with flesh touching flesh, after all.”
“……Did you meet another one of those strange angel-like creatures outside?”
“Hahahaha!”
Ian remained serious while Berity, who had been helping with the luggage, burst into laughter.
In any case, the second visit to Deste Territory came to an end that way.
The people of Excilium welcomed the newly arrived residents.
“Well, aren’t you clever-looking.”
“So Nulla is the same age as Flora—five years old. Flora is my daughter. I hope you’ll get along well together.”
“Oh, hello?”
“Hello!”
Flora and Nulla, being the same age, took to each other at once.
“And big sister…….”
“Don’t call me big sister!”
“……The Pharmacist Elder is going to live with them, right?”
Unable to overcome Ian’s vehement objection, Hebenia changed the form of address as she asked.
The Pharmacist Elder chuckled warmly.
“Yes. Since things have come to this, I must take responsibility for those children.”
“Then please stay here.”
The house Hebenia showed him was a two-story residence with a pretty low stone wall.
The house was already furnished with household goods.
“Brother, there’s a bed! It’s so soft!”
“Huh, what’s this? A wooden sword!”
“There’s a bear doll too! How cute!”
While Pania and Nulla bustled about the house in a flurry of excitement, exploring every corner,
Hebenia slipped away to the garden with the Pharmacist Elder to speak privately.
“The Deste Territory should have no problems for quite some time, thanks to the Temple.”
“I saw it yesterday too. You were doing something with the well, weren’t you—connecting it to the Temple somehow? Did you perform a miracle or something?”
The Pharmacist Elder spoke freely, remarking that he’d been startled when the priestess had burst forth from the well.
Yet wrinkles of worry gathered at the corners of his aged eyes.
“We can’t afford to keep relying on that miracle indefinitely.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
Hebenia nodded in agreement.
“If we’re not careful, the Emperor himself might decide to visit Deste personally.”
Of course, that was precisely why she’d brought Nugata Sycroph, the high priestess who was their inside agent.
But even that was merely a temporary measure.
“We can’t silence the common people’s rumors forever.”
“Then we’re right back to the fundamental problem, aren’t we?”
The Pharmacist Elder clicked his tongue lightly.
“The real question is how to restore the herb distribution network to its former state.”
……
“When are you going to move?”
“Pardon?”
“When are you going to act?”
At Hebenia’s bewildered expression, the Pharmacist Elder let out an amused snort and teased her warmly.
“Young Clavis, your face gives you away completely—I can see all the schemes churning behind those eyes, wondering which move to make first.”
“Oh, Grandfather, really.”
Hebenia shook her head slightly, protesting his words.
“What would a seven-year-old know?”
“The head of House Clavis acting coy like that—it’s positively creepy…….”
“What kind of existence was our grandfather, I wonder…….”
But ultimately, Hebenia didn’t deny what he’d said.
‘I’m just not fully prepared yet.’
Now that a sense of crisis had awakened in her, Hebenia began to carry herself with greater caution.
“For now, though.”
Still, she knew exactly what needed to be done next.
“Please nullify the political marriage contract with Ian.”
“So I’m supposed to get pregnant with that fellow’s child and then flee, is that it?”
“……How on earth do you know about ‘pregnancy and flight,’ Grandfather?”
“My late wife was quite fond of that sort of thing.”
The Pharmacist Elder mumbled fondly about his dead wife, his expression growing distant as he reminisced about her love of regret-driven narratives.
Watching this, Hebenia quietly made her way back to the Village Community Hall.
[Ah, yes.]
The Chief’s heavy voice crackled through the loudspeaker mounted in the village.
[I announce to all villagers that the political marriage between Ian and the Pharmacist Elder has been cancelled. I repeat: the political marriage between Ian and the Pharmacist……]
“……Does she hate me?”
Ian stared blankly up at the speaker.
Libi broke into delighted laughter beside him.
“I understand Hebenia. There’s just something about seeing you that makes me want to tease you.”
“So younger siblings are nothing but beasts…….”
They harass me because they can’t actually devour me.
Ian’s shoulders sagged.
* * *
We’d returned to the village safely, but there was no time to rest.
“Good grief, good grief. The Chief is certainly busy, isn’t she?”
“You’d have less to do if you hadn’t made that bizarre broadcast in the first place.”
Ian worked his thumbs gently along my temples, lecturing me as he went.
“Oh, blissful……!”
“Honestly, she’s so adorable I could bite her.”
“That’s precisely why the young lady takes such liberties—because she knows you’ll indulge her.”
I made my way to the guest room of the Village Community Hall alongside Ian and Berity.
In this special underground chamber, accessible only through a door in the Chief’s Office, two honored guests were being kept behind iron bars.
Molle Rebus.
And Nugata Sycroph, the high priest.
“Well.”
I sat in the chair Berity had brought.
“Shall we begin receiving our guest now?”

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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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