The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 41

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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 41
* * *
Chihuahua.
“From ancient times, they’ve specialized in hunting down creatures of ill omen.”
“Grrr-arf!”
“Arf! Grrr-arf, arf!”
Verity introduced the dogs with utmost sincerity, but the disgruntled chihuahuas merely growled in return.
“The downside is that despite their tremendous strength, their small frames strain under it—which makes them rather ill-tempered.”
“Arf! Arf! Grrr-arf!”
“Grrrrr! Arf!”
“If you kept talking about me that way, I’d bark at you to shut up too, honestly.”
I shot the irritating Demon butler a glance, then sighed and looked away.
Verity was the one who’d upset them, yet the dogs prowled around me threateningly instead.
‘But they’re so cute…….’
My lips kept curling up the more I watched them.
“They’re dogs…….”
“So cute…….”
The townspeople too flushed and gazed at them with affection.
After long years of banishment, finally seeing furry beasts with their own eyes was enough to excite anyone.
“Grrr-arf-arf!”
“Arf! Arf-arf!”
Only, their ferocity made it impossible to express that joy openly.
So everyone kept their distance, maintaining a cautious space.
“Hebeniah!”
Libi, standing far off, cupped her hands like a horn to her mouth and called out loudly.
“Pet them! Stroke their heads, touch their bellies!”
“Sister, won’t you get your hand bitten that way?”
“It’s fine. I’ll just put medicine on it.”
“She really treats other people’s problems so casually…….”
But there was truth in her words.
‘They were my family, after all.’
Memory or not, I had a duty to care for these dogs.
‘Now I have a home, subordinates, and power!’
I rubbed my palms on my clothes and took a long, steady breath.
Then I crouched down and met their eyes.
“Hey, hello?”
According to information I’d picked up somewhere, the proper way to greet a dog you’d just met was to hold out your closed fist and let them smell it first.
So I extended my right hand, slightly curled.
Then, for the first time, the furry bundles stopped snapping.
A wet, dark nose poked out from between the thick fur so dense you couldn’t tell where the head ended and tail began.
‘It touched, it actually touched!’
The wet nose touched my hand!
Overcome with emotion, I turned back to Verity, who was beaming at me with approval.
“Now try calling them by their names.”
“Their names…….”
I had already decided on names.
Ppoppi and Chuchu.
I’d always thought that if I ever owned dogs, I’d have exactly two, and they’d absolutely have these names.
‘I wonder if that wish was somehow a reflection of my life as Clavis, the part I don’t remember?’
It was a fairly plausible theory.
‘But wait—these creatures have titles?’
My ancestor used to say titles should only go to dogs, and apparently he’d meant it literally.
‘However much they’re just dogs, they’re Dukes. Can Ppoppi and Chuchu really work?’
I decided to give the children proper names instead.
I sat down on the ground, and the dogs climbed onto my legs, settling one on each thigh.
They even licked the back of my hand with their tongues.
“Ehhehe!”
“Wow, the young lady’s face really went ugly…….”
“Arf! Arf-arf!”
“Grrr-arf! Woof!”
The moment Verity spoke, the dogs bristled and growled.
“Good, well done!”
I patted the dogs approvingly.
‘Was it Verity they were barking at just now?’
Had they sensed the capable yet occasionally arrogant nature of the Demon butler? If so, they were remarkably perceptive dogs.
All the more reason to give them splendid names.
‘Noble dogs, with that fluffy coat, and standing in the sunlight like that—truly sacred.’
Chihuahuas.
Sacred chihuahuas.
‘Sacred chihuahuas, sacred chi….’
That’s when a brilliant name struck me.
“How about Duke Sacred Chi? Duke Sacred Chi? The name has such prestige—!”
“Woof! Woof-woof-howwwl! Yip-yip, grrrrowl! Yip!”
“Yip! Yee-yip! Woof-woof!”
“Yelp!”
Faced with the dogs’ violent opposition—eyes rolling back in their heads as they charged—I scrambled to my feet and bolted.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry-sorry-sorry!”
* * *
Only after the commotion had died down.
“P-Popina and Chuchu. That’s their names…….”
Hebeniah, utterly exhausted, introduced the new family members to the villagers while cradling one dog in each arm.
Gasping for breath, it took her a full minute just to say their names.
“Popina is female, Chuchu is male. For reference, the white one is Popina. The duke—that’s Popina too. So Chuchu is the duke’s consort.”
Hebeniah set Popina and Chuchu down on the ground.
The villagers flinched in that moment, but thankfully the dogs showed no further aggressive behavior.
Once she’d caught her breath, Hebeniah introduced the villagers to the dogs.
“They’ve been my comrades since my days in exile. They’re my precious family and friends, so please don’t be unkind to them. They’re all wonderful, admirable people.”
“Hebeniah…….”
The moved adults felt tears welling in their eyes.
“Grrrrrowl!”
“Yip! Yip-yip!”
But it seemed Hebeniah’s introduction had rubbed them the wrong way, and Duke Popina and Consort Chuchu bared their fangs in clear displeasure.
“Hiss!”
Hebeniah quickly scooped the dogs into her arms to restrain them.
“I told you not to do that!”
“Yip! Yip!”
“Yip-yip!”
The dogs barked indignantly, though their fury had considerably diminished.
Even that ceased the moment Hebeniah gave them a sharp look.
“Oh!”
The villagers erupted in astonished applause and amazement.
As Hebeniah savored their admiration, Ian approached and asked.
“How’d you manage that? Earlier, with the dogs…….”
“Woof! Woof-woof-woof! Arr-arr, yip!”
“Yip-yip! Arr-arr, yip! Yip!”
“……When I was being chased by Duke Popina and Consort Chuchu, I thought all was lost.”
The adults had rushed to help, but Hebeniah said she had it and went into the house alone with the two dogs.
When she emerged a few minutes later, the hierarchy was established.
“It was a bit touch-and-go, to be honest.”
Hebeniah’s eyes grew distant as she recalled the moment when the dogs had chased her.
“What did we do without knowing……?”
Suspicion flickered in Ian’s gaze.
“……You didn’t use a pan, did you?”
The village chief’s history of using torture to experience torture firsthand weighed on his mind.
“Oh, really. What do you take me for!”
Hebeniah pouted her lips indignantly and readily explained.
“I fought fair and square.”
“……What?”
“I always, no matter who my opponent is! Face them seriously and fight.”
Which is to say, she’d gone down on all fours and fought the dogs.
“And then it calmed right down.”
“Wait, that’s……!”
Ian had far too much he wanted to say.
Complaints came flooding up his throat—starting with warnings about fighting like a dog, then worries about whether her human dignity was really okay with all this.
The puppies cradled in Hebeniah’s arms did look more worn than before.
Their faces were hidden behind their fur, but their eyes betrayed exhaustion.
‘Is that why they’re being so calm?’
It seemed Hebeniah’s behavior had come as a shock to them as well.
“All right, let’s go greet the villagers.”
And so the first meeting between the chihuahua duke and duchess and the village folk began.
Ppoppi and Chuchu were gentle with the children. They let Flora pet them without resistance, and even licked Pania and Nulla’s outstretched hands softly when the siblings offered them.
Toward the adults, however, they showed no mercy.
“Your name is Ppoppi? Pleased to meet you——”
“Grrrrr!”
“Duke Ppoppi, I am Modi, a resident of Exsilium, and I offer my respects.”
Proper address, honorifics, courtesy.
The moment any of these three were missing, they bared their fangs.
Still, thanks to Hebeniah warning them with the occasional “Shush” or “Ahem,” no one was actually attacked.
“We heard a duke was coming, so we built a doghouse——”
“Grrrrrowl!”
“——and thus constructed an outdoor recreation facility for your rest and relaxation.”
Standing a few paces away, Verity watched the villagers’ cheerful performance with amusement.
‘……I have to admit, this really is entertaining.’
Troublesome situations kept arising one after another, yet her conviction that coming here was the right choice never wavered.
‘Though I have to say—everyone’s grown quite a bit.’
The villagers willingly lowered themselves and bowed their heads before Ppoppi and Chuchu.
An ordinary person witnessing this spectacle would surely have doubled over with laughter.
Yet to Verity’s eyes, the situation appeared entirely different.
‘They’re sensing the gap in power.’
The children perceived Ppoppi and Chuchu as ordinary dogs. The way they reached out without hesitation and grinned at how adorable they were was proof enough.
But the adults’ demeanor was subtly different.
‘It’s not just caution about ill-tempered mutts. They’re unconsciously detecting that those two are stronger than they are.’
They were treating Ppoppi and Chuchu as beings equal to themselves, or perhaps even superior.
Much the way they treated Verity normally.
‘……And that makes no sense.’
The demon butler’s brow furrowed.
‘The village population is sixteen in total, including children. Eleven possess Transcendent Aptitude, and of those, only six have actually undergone training.’
Yet the remaining five without training were also naturally sensing the gap in strength. That shouldn’t be possible.
‘This means I need to reconsider Ian’s abnormal growth rate too. He’s not the exception—everyone is. Every resident here is anomalous.’
When everyone becomes an exception, it ceases to be an exception. It becomes a phenomenon.
And every phenomenon has a cause behind it.
‘They share something only they know. An intersection the villagers themselves aren’t aware of.’
Tap, tap.
Just then, someone lightly tapped Verity’s arm.
“Miss?”
“Let’s go to the well.”
“The well?”
“I need to prepare before linking it with the Deste Sacred Shrine. Oh, and I’ve asked the villagers to look after Ppoppi and Chuchu while we’re gone.”
Hebeniah pointed toward a scene where the chihuahua couple sat atop a golden cushion, being waited upon by the villagers as their lords and masters.
When Chuchu growled after eating some finely diced chicken breast, Popina immediately bowed and scraped, saying, “Too tough for your taste? Next time I shall prepare it even more tenderly.”
‘The hierarchy is well-established.’
Verity sighed silently.
Upon arriving at the well, Verity checked the watch on her wrist.
“Isn’t this rather early?”
“I mentioned it before. That we need to prepare.”
“Ah yes, you mean that luminous well?”
Verity was herself curious about how Hebeniah intended to accomplish it.
‘Surely she’s going to ask me to grant a wish……’
Even as she was thinking vaguely along those lines, Hebeniah was already extending her left arm—the one wearing the watch—straight outward.
On the watch’s display: a blue pentagram, drawn in its standard orientation.
“Why?”
Hebeniah savored Verity’s bewildered expression, a smile playing at her lips.
“It feels wrong to ask a Demon to help a Sacred Shrine, don’t you think?”
“Surely not……!”
“I’ve been saving the advance payment you gave me. Might as well use it.”
Hebeniah’s voice rang out with sudden force.
“Summoning!”

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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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