The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 51

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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 51
The moment I heard that the flames had turned white, a peculiar certainty struck me.
‘Wait—could it be that this woman got stronger too?’
The reason this thought occurred to me was because of science I’d learned back in school.
‘Flames change color depending on their temperature.’
Most people think of fire as red, but counterintuitively, the coolest flames are actually red.
The hotter the fire burns, the whiter it becomes.
And sure enough.
“Wow! Wow, wow!”
In the tragic situation of half the house destroyed, Verity didn’t scold Libi at all—instead, he practically vibrated with delight like a grandfather who wanted to pat his grandchild’s backside in praise.
And he actually asked permission.
“Libi! Would it be all right if I gave you a little pat on the bottom? I’m so impressed!”
“Want a fork stab through the back of your hand?”
True to someone falsely accused of murder, Libi knew exactly when a weapon was needed.
“What about a little bouncing motion, then?”
“……The chest and waist—somewhere in between is fine. Touch my belly and I really will go fetch the fork.”
“Oh, how impressive! So very impressive!”
“Kekeke.”
Libi destroyed the house and still got praised for it.
The villagers, except for me, stood agape, watching Libi bounce gently upward toward the sky.
“Ah…….”
Someone murmured.
It was Modi.
“This feels like a dream you have on an exhausting day—nothing makes sense.”
Hearing words that resonated so deeply, I found myself nodding involuntarily.
First, I let the adults know that we were safe.
“Everyone, you can disperse now! It’s fine, really. Yes, the house is destroyed, but since Libi got stronger, it all balances out in the end. Add and subtract and it comes to nothing. Equivalent exchange!”
“So my fate is to live a life where houses keep getting destroyed…….”
Ian’s murmur carried a hint of melancholy.
But when Dalis, the neighbor, offered to let us stay at her place while repairs were underway, he seemed overjoyed, as if he’d been given the whole world.
I shot Ian a sleepy-eyed glance.
“Your luck really is something.”
“…….”
“If you’re uncomfortable, we could head to an empty house? There are plenty sitting around in the village…….”
“It’s not polite to just ignore kindness like that.”
“Sure, I got it.”
“You really mean it……!”
“I said I got it.”
We decided to repair the destroyed house tomorrow.
In the meantime.
“Ugh, I think I’m going to throw up……!”
While Libi, who’d bounced in the air a bit too long, settled her stomach.
Verity, having finished his praise and returned to his composed self, explained to Ian and me just how remarkable Libi’s growth had been.
“You know about the ranks of mages?”
“There are nine ranks in total, from 1 to 9, and we learned before that a Grand Mage is typically rank 9.”
I raised my hand smartly and gave the answer with confidence, and Verity patted my head approvingly, handing me a piece of candy.
“Then how is rank determined?”
“By the number of Mana Circles.”
This time, Ian answered.
‘Mana Circle?’
It was the first time I’d heard the term, and it somehow had a strong ring of Middle School Syndrome to it.
Seeing my confusion, Ian tapped his chest lightly with his finger.
“A mage creates a ring made of Mana around the heart here.”
“So that’s a Mana Circle?”
“When Mana circulates through the heart and flows throughout the body, the body becomes accustomed to Mana, and the person can draw out stronger power.”
“I see.”
Creating more rings becomes harder, and if done wrong, it can be fatal, apparently.
“I’m honestly amazed every time by how much you know.”
“Aura users create circles the same way.”
Ian shrugged.
“But…….”
I was grateful for the explanation, and yet I understood less than before.
“Libi didn’t use magic until a week ago. So she only has one Mana Circle, right?”
“You’ve raised an excellent point, young lady!”
Verity pressed another candy into my palm.
When the house came down, it seemed Verity’s commitment to my health went down with it.
“As you say, Libi has only one Mana Circle.”
“But Rank 5?”
Rank 5 was precisely the middle of the nine Mage ranks.
‘That’s still incredible, isn’t it?’
But could she really jump four ranks in just one week? With a single Circle?
“……Oh.”
A word flashed through my mind like lightning then.
“Evolved……?”
Verity snapped her fingers as if to say exactly that.
“An Evolved Circle can only be made from the purest, cleanest Mana. It wields far greater power than an ordinary Mana Circle.”
Ian and I exchanged wide-eyed glances.
Then we turned our attention back to Verity’s explanation.
“The feature of an Evolved Circle is that it doesn’t require the grueling work of creating a new Circle each time, unlike other Mages.”
The quality of Mana.
The quantity of Mana.
When both reach an appropriate level, an Evolved Mana Circle generates its ring automatically.
I couldn’t close my mouth.
“……Wow, that’s basically a cheat code?”
And something so remarkable was sitting in Libi’s heart.
Verity lifted my fallen jaw and nodded.
“Which is why it’s quite remarkable and exceedingly rare. I myself have never actually seen one before.”
“Your brother becoming a Heretic Judge at such a young age was hardly coincidence, then.”
Verity enthusiastically agreed with Ian’s observation.
“Both siblings must have shown extraordinary qualities from childhood.”
“It won’t harm her body, will it?”
“Hardly. If anything, her body will grow stronger.”
I let out a breath of relief, my hand at my chest.
‘She can’t get stronger if it damages her health. Absolutely not.’
The whole point of Exilium Village was to eat well and live well here, not to sacrifice ourselves and clash with the Emperor.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t spoken of revolution once in quite a while now.’
Not even as a joke.
‘Am I actually showing some style? Like a fairly dignified village chief, even.’
I was growing pleased with myself when Verity began explaining the drawbacks of an Evolved Circle as though blowing out a candle.
“Of course, when one still lacks the skill to control Mana as she does now, the magic tends to run wild. Now that I think about it, it’s remarkable you’re not dead, young lady.”
“What, so only I’m in danger!”
“Still, I’ll praise how quickly you erected a barrier.”
That was how I received my third candy.
As I stared blankly at the sweet, I suddenly caught my breath.
“Wait, then you’re not taking her to Anthema Territory——!”
“No, we won’t be.”
“Huh?”
Why had things suddenly turned in this direction?
“Ah, figures.”
“But why!”
Ian nodded as though he’d expected it, while Libi, barely catching her wits, cried out in protest.
I didn’t understand either.
‘Her power surged enough to destroy a house, so why…….’
Ah.
Ian stated the reason I’d just realized, word for word, without a single mistake.
“Someone careless enough with Mana control to destroy a house can’t be trusted not to injure allies in actual combat.”
And so Libi was eliminated.
* * *
The next day.
The sound of hammering began to ring out from our broken house.
“Don’t push yourself too hard!”
I shouted up at the adults on the roof.
“Take your time fixing it! That way Ian will be a little happier!”
“Can’t you be quiet?”
Ian’s face flushed crimson as he yelled. The adults laughed aloud.
Waving his arm as if he’d hurl the hammer at me, Ian chased me off, but I just giggled and fled.
Verity, who’d been waiting, greeted me with a wry smile.
“You’re incorrigible, really…….”
“But teasing Ian is so much fun.”
“Didn’t you swear you’d stop teasing him?”
“Oaths are meant to be broken.”
“Your mouth just won’t quit.”
Today, our village was going to undergo a major transformation.
Verity and I walked slowly through the village, preparing for that change.
“This one’s going to be a gymnasium — part fitness center, part swimming pool!”
We cordoned off fifteen empty houses near the village hall using the Black Rope that Verity had brought, marking out the boundaries.
Then I slapped a paper label reading “Gymnasium” onto the rope.
“The library goes here!”
The library would take twenty empty houses.
“The movie theater is…….”
“You said we’d show films on the Tablet PC, right?”
“But there are copyright issues and the number of simultaneous screenings and…….”
The movie theater was on hold for now.
“Health center, ten houses. Police station over there, five. Fire department, ten houses. The Sacred Shrine doesn’t need to be large, so five. The marketplace takes fifty empty houses…….”
Since Exilium Village had once been a great city, there were hundreds of empty houses scattered throughout the residential districts alone.
Of those, we’d actually use barely a dozen.
“And finally, the training grounds…….”
“Phew, marking that out with rope is going to be really difficult, isn’t it?”
“Should’ve brought some wheeled carts.”
“Miss, would you like to ride our bicycles?”
“Oh, bicycles!”
“That’s what you wished for, isn’t it? You wished for two of them, didn’t you?”
Riding the bicycles we’d cobbled together, Verity and I pedaled in opposite directions, stringing the Black Rope around the empty houses.
In the end, we’d enclosed roughly a hundred houses with the rope.
‘Even like this, there are still so many houses left over…….’
Feeling the weight of Exilium’s former glory, I attached a large paper label reading “Training Grounds” to the rope.
At last.
Community facilities were finally coming to our village.
Modi had taken my rough plan and developed it into something concrete, and then Verity had sent the order to the Demon realm.
A few days ago, word came back that construction was finished and we could take possession whenever we wanted.
Now, the empty houses we’d marked off with rope would be transformed into the community facilities written on those papers.
“Hmm, but…….”
It was good that we were adding community facilities.
“I just feel like something’s missing, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Honestly, I wanted to create more farmland where we could grow food. Of course, right now there’s no problem since everyone relies on me, but food self-sufficiency is important too…….”
“You’re an agrarian through and through.”
“Because eating is important.”
A truth I’d learned during my studies in Korea.
Food is life.
It was a country where people greeted close friends with “Have you eaten?” and said things like “I feel sick” upon seeing someone they disliked — a nation that took meals seriously.
‘How miserable it was every time those people ate out without me.’
Anyway, I’d bring up the farmland issue at the next village assembly.
I nodded to myself, settling the matter in my mind.
Verity spoke up.
“Shall we renovate the shrine?”
“Make it flashy, would you?”
“How flashy?”
“Middle School Syndrome style!”
“Now that’s right up my alley!”
Her tarnished golden eyes glinted with playful mischief.
“Don’t let the sight of me turn your head.”
Verity straightened her posture and flashed a brilliant smile, closing one eye in a wink. She was as bright and fresh as a lemon plucked on a summer’s day fifteen years ago.
But then.
Clap!
The Demon’s applause cut through the air.
“Reversed Seal.”

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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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