The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 39

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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 39
I quickly seized the opening to press my point.
“If we’re going to stand against the Emperor, we’ll naturally end up in situations where we’re under attack. We need to build up our fighting strength beforehand. We can’t just sit around waiting for the villagers to grow stronger.”
“Well…….”
Judging my argument reasonable, Ian’s reluctant expression began to soften slightly.
I seized the moment to add another point.
“Besides, monsters turn into money. The meat is delicious, and the hides, sinews, and bones sell for exorbitant prices.”
“Libi mentioned wanting to make a magic staff from a Lich’s bones, didn’t she?”
“See? I wasn’t talking nonsense.”
“But is monster farming actually possible?”
Ian pinpointed the most fundamental question.
“You’re being foolish.”
I declared with confidence.
“We won’t know until we bring some here and try raising them!”
“Fine, sit back down here for now.”
In the end, Ian had me sit in the Torture Chair.
* * *
Verity cleared away the rod, so I could at least keep my joints intact.
[You have lost your nerve.]
Instead, a Collar hung around my neck with my mistakes written on it in large characters, and I received the punishment of sitting in the Torture Chair for about ten minutes in that state.
Still, he opened a Parasol so I wouldn’t get too hot, and set a cup of water beside me.
“I suppose I’ve managed to preserve my dignity as Village Chief, barely.”
“I thought you’d lost it long ago.”
Verity, who had set a long chair right next to mine and was sitting there reading a book, let out a soft laugh.
The chair was positioned in front of the Village Hall, so I kept crossing paths with adults heading out to work the fields and children riding around on their wheeled toys.
The adults burst into laughter the moment they saw the mistake Collar around my neck.
The children were cheerfully chattering about looking forward to snacks that Popina would make.
“You don’t seem to be reflecting at all.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong, so why should I?”
“Yet you’re sitting here the full ten minutes?”
Just then, the Watch on my wrist vibrated. It was an alarm signaling that ten minutes had passed.
“……This is actually my first time experiencing discipline like this.”
I touched the Watch to silence the alarm.
I’d always lived getting scolded or hit without understanding what I’d done wrong.
For someone with only that kind of experience, Ian’s discipline felt genuinely novel.
‘Never mind whether it’s actually effective.’
So I spent the ten minutes in good spirits.
“Monster farming is truly impossible?”
I stood up from the chair and stretched luxuriously.
“Come on, what’s the deal. In novels and movies, people make contracts with sacred beasts like dragons and fight alongside them, and sometimes they even fall in love.”
“Do you want to fall in love?”
“That’s not what I’m getting at.”
Verity, who had been answering half-heartedly, closed her book and stood up.
“Monster farming isn’t entirely impossible, at least. With the technology available in this world, lower-tier monsters might be manageable.”
However, monsters are fundamentally violent by nature and lack herding instincts, making it impossible to raise them like ordinary livestock.
No one actually does it, either.
“So the monsters living in the Primordial Forest here…….”
“It’s far more realistic for them to farm you lot—increase your numbers and eat you. Cruel, but true.”
“Ugh.”
I didn’t like that inversion.
“But if we’re talking about fighting strength…….”
Verity, who had been tapping my head like a bouncing ball, produced a word that made my ears perk up.
“There’s a method called Servant Demons.”
“Servant Demons?”
The moment I heard that term, I recalled once more what this Primordial Forest was originally used for.
“Didn’t you say this place was originally a playground for the Long-Haired Demon’s Servant Demons?”
“Ah, that’s right. You do remember.”
Servant Demons.
Monsters that could be controlled for one’s own purposes.
“Can we do that too?”
“If you work at it.”
Verity explained how to create a Servant Demon.
“A Mage who has surpassed a certain level of mastery uses force to subdue a Monster, then casts Subjugation Magic upon it.”
……
“Quite simple, isn’t it?”
“Honestly, dying sounds easier.”
The plan I’d thought was at least feasible dissolved like soap bubbles.
All the wind knocked out of me, I slumped back onto the Torture Chair without resistance.
“I’ve lost all motivation…….”
“Young people shouldn’t speak like that so carelessly.”
“Mmm…….”
As I shifted through various postures of discontent, something odd suddenly occurred to me.
“I’ve wandered through the Primordial Forest several times, but I’ve never once encountered one.”
“A Servant Demon? You’re curious about them?”
“Of course.”
I straightened my posture again.
“You said the Monsters living in the Primordial Forest were originally gathered as snacks for Servant Demons.”
“That’s right.”
“What if we asked the Long-Haired Demon to let us take care of them instead? They’d be incredibly strong—surely they’d become a major asset.”
“Shall I ask him?”
I was startled by how readily she agreed.
“A reply just came regarding the Ward access authority issue.”
Verity pulled out her phone as she spoke.
“He says he’ll tell me the method if I call. While we’re at it, let’s ask about the Servant Demon.”
“Yes! Excellent!”
I was bouncing on my feet, riding the high, when I suddenly stopped short.
“Wait—a Servant Demon is like a pet, isn’t it?”
The Long-Haired Demon was currently on leave to help his pregnant wife.
Even so, he’d made this spacious enclosure to keep his Servant Demon from feeling lonely, stocking it with plenty of snacks.
“They’re probably family to the Long-Haired Demon—I don’t want to selfishly impose on them just because we need…….”
“Don’t worry. He’d be happy to dump them on you anyway.”
……What?”
I paused, about to bow my head in embarrassment.
Verity must have already pressed the call button—I heard the dial tone through the phone at her ear.
And moments later.
“Hello?”
The instant the call connected, Verity bent at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
“My goodness, my Lord! I hope you and your household remain in health and prosperity. Yes, I’m doing well, thank you. And how is your Lady feeling? Oh dear, I do hope the morning sickness passes quickly…….”
Wow.
Watching Verity’s back as she spoke with such deference and courtesy left me feeling oddly touched.
‘I can feel the melancholy of the working life…….’
I’d never seen Verity lower herself like this before. She hadn’t even done it when the Bleached Demon was around.
‘The Long-Haired Demon really is an extraordinary Demon.’
I found myself nodding along with her from the side, matching her rhythm, when Verity suddenly brought up the Servant Demon.
“The young lady here is curious about your Servant Demons. Would it be all right to let her meet them?”
I waited for his answer with bated breath.
“……Ah, you’ll just give them to me?”
My eyes, which had been shut tight, opened slightly.
‘The conversation is a bit…….’
Weren’t the Servant Demons precious pets to the Long-Haired Demon?
“Haha, it’s fortunate timing, really. Since the young lady has shown interest, we can finally get rid of those two pests.”
Verity, who certainly understood as much, uttered the crude word without hesitation.
Though I couldn’t hear him, it seemed the Long-Haired Demon on the other end wasn’t making a big issue of it.
As the conversation progressed smoothly, a smile bloomed across Verity’s face.
But mine faded completely.
‘He’s really just abandoning his own Servant Demons to me now? And Verity thinks that’s good news?’
My insides churned like watching a car ahead abandon its pet on the highway.
“Miss.”
Verity spoke with the phone still pressed to her ear.
“My Lord would like to speak with you.”
“Give it here, please!”
“Why are you upset again? You’ve switched the call to the watch, so you can just speak directly.”
Just as Verity said, the watch face on his wrist displayed a receiver icon.
“Hello?”
[You’re brimming with energy this early in the morning, little ant.]
“Long-Haired Demon, it’s so good to hear from you. First, thank you so much for listening to my concerns. But aren’t you treating the servant demons you’re supposed to raise with love like mere objects? I don’t think that’s right!”
[Chattering away like a tiny thing, aren’t you.]
“I’m not tiny! I was just evaluated as overweight the other day.”
“Miss, that’s hardly something to boast about, is it?”
[No, no. A small, cute thing looks best when it’s got some plumpness to it.]
At the Long-Haired Demon’s words—that I was just right—a small warmth bloomed in my chest.
‘No, I shouldn’t feel good about this! Don’t let praise make you weak!’
I barely steadied myself and spoke again.
“Even so, treating your own servant demons like objects seems wrong to me…….”
[Those aren’t my servant demons.]
The Long-Haired Demon spoke in his characteristic unhurried tone.
[The ones I’m giving you are different.]
“B-but even so, speaking of them as objects doesn’t seem right to me…….”
[Mm, I’ll mind my words from now on.]
I’d expected him to brush me off, but the Long-Haired Demon accepted my criticism without protest.
I felt embarrassed for getting worked up alone.
[Little ant.]
“Yes?”
[Are you living well?]
His tone was so indifferent it almost sounded cold.
Yet my lips curved upward of their own accord.
“Thanks to you, I’m doing very well!”
[Children look best when they’ve got some meat on their bones. Don’t go starving yourself in the name of weight management. Last time I saw you, your frame was gaunt.]
“My lord, that sounds like something a grandmother would say…….”
“I agree! Besides, Verity always gives me small pieces of bacon.”
“Which is exactly why you’ve lost weight. Fatty liver in children is dangerously serious.”
As Verity and I bickered back and forth.
[…….]
A very faint sound leaked through the watch.
Verity and I both looked down at the watch simultaneously.
‘Did he… laugh……?’
I turned quickly to Verity. I wondered if I’d misheard, but the astonished look on Verity’s face confirmed I’d heard it right.
[Little ant.]
“Yes!”
[Don’t be a picky eater. When it’s nine o’clock, turn off the lights and sleep. After meals, brush your teeth thoroughly. Don’t forget the interdental brush and floss. And be careful of alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, drugs, and men.]
“Yes?”
[Then I’ll end the call here.]
Beep, beep.
The icon on the display shifted from a receiver to an inverted star.
“It seems…….”
Verity spoke softly.
“Now that my lord is about to become a father, paternal affection is welling up in him.”
“A father like that… might not be so bad after all…….”
“Shouldn’t you hear the lord’s side of things too?”
“…….”
“Ow! Stop poking my ribs!”
* * *
That evening.
Verity handed me a document envelope, saying it was from the Long-Haired Demon.
I’d been preparing for tomorrow’s observation of the residents’ hobby classes when I opened the envelope.
Ian and Libi came over to look as well.
“……Gasp.”
Ian caught his breath sharply.
“What is it? What’s got you like that?”
“It’s a Title Certificate…….”
“What?”
At those words, I examined the documents again.
Faded paper, yellowed with age; elegant cursive script traced across its surface; and a large key insignia stamped upon a gleaming gold seal.
“It’s the Title Certificate that the first Clavis received.”
Verity confirmed it once more.
“Good heavens…….”
I swallowed hard.
“Why are you giving me something so useless?”

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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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