The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 65

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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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Episode 65
* * *
Whack-a-mole.
A game where moles pop up wildly from several holes installed in a square board, and you use a hammer to hit and catch them.
‘Demon Necro’s ability is Collection.’
At first glance it resembles a pocket dimension, but you can freely retrieve items without needing an actual pouch or bag.
‘But it’s not omnipotent!’
Centered on Necro, you can only retrieve stored weapons within a certain distance.
Just like the mole game!
‘Why we have such complementary and contradictory matchups—I finally understand it now!’
Necro’s ability was the direction my own ability, Open/Close, needed to develop toward.
“Ugh! Wh-what! Argh!”
Demon Necro was taking a relentless barrage of blows from all directions.
‘A protective barrier is a technique that physically seals off space!’
So then, what if I created the barrier fast and elongated?
Right near the target’s body, too.
‘It becomes an impact-filled single strike!’
Like a mole popping up from nowhere!
“Damn this wretched Clavis……!”
The demon, burning with fury, swung his spear.
‘If one can’t hold out……!’
Then I’ll layer the barriers thick!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
By the time the spear’s speed—which had been piercing through the barriers rapidly—noticeably slowed,
Crack—!
“Ack!”
I succeeded in striking Demon Necro’s back of the head with a barrier.
I carved out protective barriers in every space surrounding the demon, pressing him relentlessly without respite.
“That stupid demon……!”
“You’re in no position to worry about anyone else?”
Ian seized the Angel who was trying to help the demon, as if effortlessly.
‘He’s doing well over there.’
Ian had been fighting the Angel as an equal from the very start.
Of course, Ian’s condition wasn’t good either. Blood flowed from his head, and because of it he couldn’t open one eye properly.
‘That wound came from rushing over to help me…….’
So now I couldn’t afford to be a burden to him.
I wiped away the nosebleed streaming down my face and forced strength into limbs that threatened to buckle beneath exhaustion.
‘I have to hold on a little longer.’
This newly devised application of the protective barrier was consuming my strength at an enormous rate.
I could roughly guess why.
‘Until now, I’ve relied on pre-formed doorways. And my ability was always static.’
The Barrier created by the long-haired Lord.
The door to the Village Hall.
My Open/Close ability didn’t require much power because I was utilizing ‘doors’ that already had a fixed form.
The protective barrier, too, had always remained static, and since I only needed to envelop the space around me, the activation distance was short. I’d never maintained it long, so the power consumption was minimal.
But.
‘The victims we rescued…….’
If I collapsed here, the victims we’d rescued would be in danger too. I absolutely had to prevent the protective barrier surrounding them from disappearing.
‘So that means……!’
Time to end this.
Zing—.
Zing—.
The Watch, switched to Manner Mode, had been vibrating constantly since moments ago.
“Clavis……!”
Taking advantage of the brief moment I touched the Watch, Demon Necro, now at a distance, trembled violently.
“I’ll kill you!”
“Try it.”
I stretched out my right arm and flicked my hand toward the ceiling.
“Coordinates confirmed.”
The demon froze for an instant upon seeing my motion.
That moment of hesitation was enough.
‘Ah, what a rush of middle school syndrome.’
Not bad at all, really.
With fighting spirit surging through me, the ache in my body meant nothing, nor did the dizziness from blood loss caused by my relentless nosebleed.
“Open!”
As the ceiling of the cave vanished, a starless night sky unfurled above. The night wind, driven by the pressure difference between inside and out, whipped through like a violent gale.
……
Demon Necro, who had been braced in a defensive stance, hissed.
“All noise and fury, signifying nothing—”
Then.
……!
A star appeared in the demon’s eyes.
The star drew closer and closer, and soon took on the shape of a person.
Red hair scattered by the wind billowed wild as a mustang’s mane, and the long, gleaming silver Scissors Blade held in her grip flashed like a guillotine’s blade.
The moment blue eyes glinted brilliantly between the strands of hair, beautiful and fierce.
Slice—!
The demon’s left arm fell away.
* * *
Uuuugh……
Verity crashed to the ground and barely managed to lift her hand, which tingled and numbed as though struck by lightning.
“Wow, you’re telling me that even this much interference hurts this badly?”
I was at a loss for words.
All I’d done was make a single phone call to Hebennia,
and I didn’t even complete the call.
Yet for just that much, the world punished Verity.
‘A warning not to interfere with Clavis’s ordeal.’
The world loves Clavis so much, yet at moments like this, it shows no mercy at all.
“Miss, let’s finish this quickly and get home.”
Verity gritted through the numbness and, with effort, drew out a grand general’s spear tipped with golden tassels.
“I’ll treat you to all the bacon you can eat.”
* * *
Aagh! Uaaaagh!
The demon screamed in agony, clutching the arm that had been severed from its body.
‘The blood……!’
I steadied my ragged breathing and watched the blood dripping from the demon’s severed arm.
Drop by drop, the blood had already formed a small puddle on the ground.
Hehehehe……
Aunt Nema was laughing.
It seemed she couldn’t hear my words.
‘Is this the Berserker state……?’
For someone who had abandoned reason and pursued only combat, it hardly seemed like the typical Berserker’s nature……
‘……she’s actually quite restrained this time.’
The shape of the Scissors Blade that Aunt Nema held was familiar.
It was the Fabric Scissors that Ian and I had bought at a craft supply store.
I didn’t know how they’d grown so large, but in any case, those scissors seemed to be restraining Aunt Nema’s rampage.
I could clearly see the strain in her knuckles and the trembling in her hands as she gripped the handle with all her strength.
Yet even so, she hadn’t completely suppressed the madness—Aunt Nema, touching the blood on the blade’s edge as though entranced, looked like an actress playing a horror film heroine.
‘The leading role in a slasher movie……’
But how had the attack even worked?
‘When I severed its neck, there was no blood.’
But now was not the time to solve this mystery.
Now it was truly time to finish this.
Ugh!
“Move it, dammit!”
Angel, who had finally shaken off Ian’s relentless grip, approached the demon’s side.
“What are you doing! That arm—we can reattach it after this is all done, so get up already! Is this really how you’re going to embarrass yourself in front of three mere humans!”
“Shut up! Dammit, you f— you f—, dammit, dammit, you f——!”
Daaaamn!
As the demon shrieked with resentment, its body began to transform grotesquely.
With the sound of tearing flesh, a pair of dark wings burst from the demon’s back.
Muscles that swelled in grotesque proportion.
Great goat horns sprouting from his brow.
“……Ah, I’ll need to raise livestock too.”
Goat’s milk supposedly causes fewer lactose intolerance issues.
‘When I return to the Village, I should look into animal husbandry methods.’
There was simply too much work for the Village Chief to do, so I decided it was time to head back.
“Hebennia!”
Ian rushed toward me, and the moment he saw my face, his expression twisted with concern.
I couldn’t hear him clearly, but his tone unmistakably carried worry.
‘Ah, my hearing…….’
That was when I realized my five senses were steadily deteriorating.
Every sensation began to sink heavily, as if I’d been dragged underwater.
It wasn’t simply from losing so much blood. There was the anemia that came with it, but more than that—I’d exhausted myself to the very brink using my powers far too much.
‘Which means…….’
This was my last move.
“I’ll kill them all! Every last one!”
“You idiot! Clavis can’t be killed——!”
“What does that matter now!”
Through it all, the Demon and the Angel’s bickering rang out clearly.
“That’s right—this body has no need to obey human commands!”
“Necro!”
“Angel, why don’t you just keep sucking on human toes like you always do!”
“How dare you speak to me that way! One wrong move and his magnificent purpose——!”
The Angel who had been jabbering away suddenly clamped his mouth shut in panic.
“Damn it, I’m killing this brat myself today! No matter what!”
“Fine, do as you please!”
The Demon spun his spear rapidly with his one remaining arm.
And the Angel fled, soaring high into the sky.
‘Not a chance.’
I summoned every last ounce of strength I had and activated my power.
Trial.
A difficult circumstance or critical juncture.
‘This trial is a threshold—a moment to recognize the limits of my current power and take a step forward.’
The target was clear.
The Angel’s wings, turning to flee with his back exposed.
The Demon’s arm, rushing toward me.
“Brother! Auntie!”
And I cried out.
“Swing! With all your strength!”
Neither hesitated at my command.
Ian immediately took his stance and swung his blade—now darkened even more than before—fast and with full force, while Nema slashed through empty air with a sharp laugh and her Scissors Blade.
Normally, their attacks would never have reached the Demon and Angel hovering so high in the sky.
“Die!”
Instead, the Demon’s spear rushing toward me would have struck us first.
“Coordinates confirmed.”
Snap.
Through the gap I created with a flick of my fingers, the Demon and Angel appeared.
‘Open space, close space…….’
The power that connected individual spaces into one; that bound separate realms together.
It was the boundless authority to ignore the flow of time itself, to forge an invisible new passage—a doorway to dimensions unseen.
For the dominion over space and time belongs to the Divine, and thus the Key rests in the highest place.
“Transport!”
I sent Ian and Nema’s attacks directly to their targets’ faces.
Ian’s slash cleanly severed the Angel’s wings.
Nema’s strike tore through the Demon’s arm as it lunged toward me.
The spear fell from the severed limb, clattering to the ground with a sound less than a coin’s ringing.
“Ugh, uuaaaagh!”
The Demon, having lost yet another arm, plummeted and thrashed in agony.
“Kyaaaagh!”
The Angel, wing-torn, fell as well.
At that moment.
“Inverted Seal.”
Reverse Summon.
Along with a familiar voice—one I’d been itching to strike—the star-sparse night sky was suddenly engulfed in rusted iron.
With a grotesque, booming screech of hinges, the iron split down the middle, and thick chains burst forth from the gap—darker than the primordial forest’s shadow itself.
Screech-screech, screech-screech-screech!
The chains scraped against earth and wall with a sickening wail, leaving claw-like marks in their wake.
Then they snatched up Demon Necro and Angel, dragging them into the darkness.
“No, stop! Stop it, please!”
“Let go of me! How dare some filthy demon—!”
Slam!
The rusted iron door shut behind them, and the night sky returned.
It was over.
“Brother….”
I spoke in a creeping whisper.
“Those people up there….”
We should bring them down and make them villagers.
Adding five new residents to a village this small would be an incredible opportunity.
But I wasn’t sure if I’d even said the words properly.
Before I could even process it properly, my consciousness—barely held together until now—flickered and cut out.

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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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