The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 43

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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 43
“If the emperor of my nation is the kind of fool who throws tantrums when insulted, I’d rather he died soon. I’m starting to seriously consider a coup d’état.”
“Sister, you’re finally thinking about it?”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
Libi gathered the hair that had come loose from the brush into a ball and placed it gently atop Ian’s head.
“Sister, don’t you have another one? Let’s make ears for Ian.”
“Ian, what animal do you like?”
“Cats.”
“Purrrr!”
“Meow!”
“……Could you make them dog ears instead, please?”
And so white and black dog ears came to sit atop Ian’s head.
Libi, satisfied with her handiwork, spoke again.
“Everything we’ve said is just guesswork after all, so to confirm it, we need to find the laboratory, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Come to think of it, I don’t see Verity. Where did she go?”
“To the house of Elba—the pharmacist who whispers of death—to find out exactly that.”
“To her house?”
“Well…….”
“Miss.”
Speak of the devil, and the tiger appears.
Verity arrived at the house at precisely that moment, holding up what she had brought.
In a glass vial no larger than half a palm, a deep green liquid filled halfway.
“I’ve brought the Truth Serum.”
“Oh, then shall we head to the Village Hall soon?”
“But Elba would like to participate in the interrogation as well. She wants to observe the side effects.”
“Let’s go together.”
“What? You’re going to torture him?”
“That’s why I made the Truth Serum—so we wouldn’t have to.”
What does she take people for?
As I was preparing to leave, Ppobi and Chuchu planted themselves firmly on either side of me.
“You’re coming along too?”
I stroked their fur, freshly combed and now even shinier, and the two dogs bounced lightly as if in answer.
I laughed and hugged them tight.
“Libi, do you want to come with us?”
“Not this time.”
Libi waved her hand lightly.
“I want to study Magic more. I’m starting to get the hang of it.”
“…….”
“What?”
“Don’t overexert yourself.”
“Do you really think you have the credibility to say that?”
“There’s no seven-year-old who doesn’t push themselves as hard as I do.”
Quality meals, sufficient sleep, a regular schedule.
Even the authority of being a village chief.
In Korea, I’d never enjoyed such a remarkable life, and I was savoring every bit of it without reservation.
“No, you’re the one overexerting yourself.”
On the way to the Village Hall.
Ian pointed to a nameless yellow flower blooming by the roadside and spoke.
Back in exile, whenever pretty flowers bloomed, he would call for me first to show them; even now, whenever he spotted a flower, he showed it to me.
“Most seven-year-olds don’t work like you do.”
“Well, I’m the village chief, so I have to work. And besides, the work itself…….”
I was about to say it was nothing much, but Ian cut me off first.
“You distribute supplies to the villagers, draw up all sorts of plans for their welfare, participate in every Primordial Forest training session, and keep watch over affairs outside the village.”
“But anyone would…….”
“No one does those things, and they’re certainly not things a seven-year-old should be doing.”
I thought Ian was exaggerating.
‘My body is only seven, but my mind is twenty-five.’
And yet I haven’t managed to accomplish anything properly on my own.
It’s only because I speak plausibly enough that Verity and the other adults correct and carry out my plans properly.
‘But still…’
If Flora saw me trying to manage everything as chief, I’d worry too.
“I’ll just do the work at a relaxed pace, then.”
As I said that and glanced up, Ian’s expression finally softened.
I scratched absently at my tingling chest.
Just then my eyes met Verity’s and Elba’s, both watching me with warm amusement.
Embarrassed, I pretended not to notice and pressed the accelerator on the Shing-shing Car a little harder.
“By the way, Libi is quite impressive.”
Verity shifted the subject.
“Teaching yourself to sense Magic through self-study—that’s no ordinary feat.”
“Right?”
“Magic can’t be learned through self-study under normal circumstances.”
I eased off the accelerator and listened in.
“Just awakening to the Mana flowing through your body is a monumental hurdle. After all, no one consciously perceives the blood running through their veins.”
And even though blood is a tangible substance, Mana is invisible, which makes sensing it extraordinarily difficult.
I ventured a question.
“What about Aura, then?”
“Aura goes further—you have to twist and reshape the Mana itself. That borders on a miracle; it demands both genuine effort and talent in equal measure.”
“That’s why even Magic users lose to Aura wielders.”
Ian added his own thought.
When we arrived at the Village Hall, I parked my cherished vehicle in the designated spot.
“Beep-beep.”
“Do you really make that sound effect with your mouth every single time?”
“What? You don’t like it?”
“It’s adorable. Maybe I’ll try ‘beep-beep’ every time I tuck my chair in later.”
“Don’t. You’ll look like some ridiculous uncle trying to act young.”
“…I’m only twenty-one.”
Ignoring that comment, I stepped into the chief’s office to find Modi already there, buried in paperwork.
“Chief, you’ve arrived. And everyone else too.”
“We’re about to go see our guests. Modi, could you gather some writing supplies for me?”
Modi immediately pulled a pen and a notebook from a drawer and handed them to me, which I passed along to Elba.
“Verity will record the confessions separately, so I’d like you to document the effects and reactions of the Truth Serum.”
“Thanks for thinking of me.”
“We’re still looking for revenue sources for the village. Even substances like Truth Serum can turn a profit, so we need to be thorough.”
“And yet she claims she’s not overworking herself.”
Ian playfully pressed the crown of my head with his fingers.
The Underground Prison where our guests were confined had grown considerably more pleasant thanks to the air purifier and dehumidifier we’d installed recently.
Soft patter—the footsteps of the dogs padding ahead echoed pleasantly.
As Elba looked around the holding area, she remarked,
“Working in a place like this would really help with concentration…”
“Aunt, are you serious?”
This is a prison.
Ian’s pupils wavered as he stared at her.
‘True, enclosed spaces do help focus.’
Among our plans for improving village resident welfare were constructions like reading rooms and study cafés. Referencing the Underground Prison design seemed perfect.
“Bark! Bark!”
“Grrrr!”
Ppobi and Chuchu, now standing before the bars, barked frantically.
I quieted the two of them down.
“Yeah, you’re upset seeing something ugly, aren’t you?”
“Every time I see the young lady, it reminds me that Clavis’s greatest weapon is her cutting tongue.”
Verity muttered under her breath.
The prisoners in their individual cells flinched at the sight of us, then lifted their heads sharply, their eyes glinting with venom.
In those gazes lay fear of their current circumstances and rage, yet also a clear sense of superiority—a contempt that belonged only to them.
‘I’ve been providing meals, and they still waste energy on this.’
In that moment of wondering why, Molle Rebus opened his mouth.
“…The fact that you’ve left us alone all this while means you can’t harm us, doesn’t it?”
Ah.
Now I understood.
‘They’ve deluded themselves into thinking that our restraint proves they still hold some value.’
The corner of my mouth curled upward slowly.
Having something to tease about from this morning made me far too delighted.
“You’d want to slip out through Deste Territory, but if I eliminate either myself or Saikeupu’s High Priest, the attendant dispatched from the Imperial Court will eventually catch wind of it…….”
“But didn’t I say we’re planning to eliminate them today?”
“……What?”
Molle Rebus’s face cracked like fractured glass, splintering in an instant.
I spun my body around to glance at Saikeupu’s High Priest confined in the adjacent cell.
“Hello there, High Priest!”
The moment I offered that honeyed greeting, Saikeupu’s High Priest launched into an introduction of his own.
“I, I’m the youngest son of the Saikeupu family!”
“Oh, I’m the youngest daughter of Clavis, myself.”
“Don’t you dare try any tricks on me! The temple has already noticed I’m gone and contacted the Saikeupu Family right away……!”
“But you won’t, will you?”
“……What?”
“Deste Sacred Shrine will pretend not to notice your disappearance.”
I explained the reason kindly.
“Because a miracle is happening there right now.”
A luminous well.
The legendary herb Dulchebia blooming the moment well water was sprinkled upon it.
The false miracle I’d manipulated with the help of the blond-haired Angel would never cross the temple’s walls.
“You know patients are flooding into Deste Sacred Shrine right now, don’t you? The priests are too busy treating them with the Dulchebia that bloomed from the well’s miracle.”
“…….”
“But if a miracle were announced, the Imperial Court might seize the herbs, wouldn’t they? Just like when you reported that old herbalist to the knight.”
“That, that was a Royal Order……!”
Saikeupu’s High Priest’s momentum, which had carried him forward with spittle flying, dropped like a cliff’s edge — sharp and sudden.
His face, which had flushed crimson, gradually turned ashen.
‘Idiot.’
It seemed he’d finally grasped the situation he was in.
“If the temple wishes to conceal the miracle, they’ll naturally abandon the search for you as well. The temple must appear entirely unchanged. After all, with a useless burden gone, they’ll be secretly pleased, won’t they?”
“…….”
“You should have lived decently in the first place. Ah, don’t worry — those men who clung to you for political gain will be handled over there.”
“…….”
“And even if your disappearance comes to light, so what? You think I can’t dispose of you cleanly?”
To prepare for contingencies, I’d already devised various methods to ‘erase’ Saikeupu’s High Priest.
“No, no…….”
Saikeupu’s High Priest denied reality.
A fully grown man collapsed on his knees before me, now cradling his head in both hands.
It was a pathetic sight.
‘Wicked creature.’
A repulsive wretch who tortured himself over his own suffering while remaining indifferent to what befell others.
Thinking of how that bastard had wounded the old herbalist made heat boil up furiously in my chest.
“Sigh…….”
Still, I slowly suppressed the rising emotions and calmed myself.
‘Let’s administer the Truth Serum and extract the information.’
Saikeupu’s High Priest.
He had a past of treating high-ranking nobles with Healing Magic in the Capital, yet he’d never once used Healing Magic while serving at Deste Sacred Shrine.
“Verity.”
Verity responded to my call with a slight delay.
“……There’s no trace of Holy Magic having been bestowed upon him.”
The moment the term “Holy Magic” was uttered, Saikeupu’s High Priest’s shoulders trembled visibly.
‘As I thought.’
He was connected to the Imperial Court.
“Elba.”
From this wretch, we could extract quality information.
“Let’s hurry and give him a taste of the herb’s bitterness…….”
“…….”
“Auntie?”
“Hm? Oh, yes. Right. We should give it to him.”

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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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