The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 76

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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 76
Hebenia, who had spent twenty-five years in Korean studies, understood how vital distribution networks were.
That’s why she had been so enthusiastic about establishing the Merchant Guild.
“Building the Merchant Guild shouldn’t be particularly difficult.”
Modi, Hebenia’s first secretary, offered his counsel.
“Since Molle Rebus, the lord of the Deste Territory, is in no condition to object, we simply forge his seal and signature to issue the establishment permit.”
“Oh wow, you’re something else!”
“The real challenge, then, is securing the logistics routes for the Merchant Guild.”
Hebenia jotted down Modi’s explanation carefully in her notebook.
First, establishing a Merchant Guild required securing at minimum three things.
A headquarters to oversee logistics operations, and branch offices to store transported goods.
And a freight train to transport the goods.
“Well, we can worry about the headquarters and branches later.”
Hebenia asked,
“With my abilities, wouldn’t I be able to secure a freight train on my own?”
“If you did that, you risk exposing your existence to the Emperor.”
“Ah.”
“The Emperor already seems to know you’re alive, but it’s still better not to make an official appearance if you can help it.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
“Besides, if we keep relying solely on you, the Merchant Guild will never develop properly.”
Modi insisted they should prepare for the guild’s establishment by excluding Hebenia’s abilities as much as possible.
“It would certainly be easier with your help. But there are limits to that too. Your own life would fall into disarray, and worse—we might all too easily come to exploit you.”
“…”
“This time, try trusting us.”
Hebenia nodded in agreement.
“But honestly, I don’t think the village elders would ever exploit me.”
“No, they won’t.”
However, human nature is fundamentally selfish, so one must make efforts to prevent the character one has built over a lifetime from crumbling.
That was Modi’s philosophy.
Hebenia often thought that if she collected the conversations she had with the adults into a book of sayings, it would sell quite well.
‘That’s the kind of heart they have—that’s why they looked after me even in exile.’
Hebenia felt grateful once more for the fact that the first people she had met after returning to the original world were the exiled families.
And so Exsilium Village began its preparations to engage seriously with the outside world.
* * *
While the adults work so hard.
What am I, the village chief, supposed to do?
“Ugh, my eyes feel like they’re going to pop out…”
“Want to step outside and get some fresh air?”
“Let’s eat something first. I’m starving.”
I was going through the research documents we had brought from the Anthema Research Institute with Ian, Libi, Verity, and the others.
Since the volume was so enormous, I had used my authority as village chief to rent an entire empty house.
Papers covered every wall and floor.
“Ugh, I feel sick…”
The smell of paper and ink made my stomach churn, and the moment I stepped outside, I collapsed flat on the ground.
Ian and Libi, who sat down beside me, weren’t much better off. We gazed up at the sky in a daze, greedily breathing in the clean, crisp air.
The sheer volume of the documents was staggering, and every word written in them was technical jargon, forcing us to keep a dictionary at hand to look up every single meaning.
Still, we weren’t without gains.
“Creating Undead wasn’t the goal.”
The Anthema Research Institute wasn’t a place built to produce immortal soldiers, Undead that would carry out orders.
“Undead? No, there was just a bunch of content about herbal medicine component experiments.”
“I had no idea there were so many types of minerals.”
Libi tilted her head.
“Isn’t that strange? You and Havi said you saw so many bones in the research institute?”
Now even Libi called me ‘Havi’.
Of course, what really mattered was the point Libi had just raised.
Ian and I had rescued six people who were on the verge of becoming victims of human experimentation at the Anthema Research Institute, and inside the facility we’d found several corpses and countless bones.
One room had walls and a ceiling completely lined with bones, and another room was painted a deep red with what appeared to be blood.
“Those were definitely human bones.”
Ian absently touched his own thigh. He must have been remembering the femur we’d found among the bones.
I quietly voiced the possibility that had come to mind.
“Perhaps the Undead aren’t the objective at all—merely a byproduct of something else.”
With that, I hauled myself upright, joints creaking.
“Some other research must have stumbled upon an efficient method for handling the Undead, and then when that tragedy struck the Deste Estate, they…”
“They converted the dead servants into Undead to cover it up?”
Ian grasped exactly what I was driving at.
I nodded, my face blunt.
“It’s the worst.”
This time Libi spoke the thought we all shared.
“Either way—no, actually your theory is even worse, Havi. What in the world would someone have to be doing to cause something this horrific?”
“We’ll know more once we dig deeper.”
“Ugh, I really hate this.”
Verity, watching us despair, pressed a fist-sized bread into each of our hands.
“Come now, eat first.”
The bread was stuffed with minced meat, vegetables, and spices all mixed together.
‘Like a dumpling.’
It tasted good.
I chewed without much enthusiasm, but steadily.
The heaviness lifting even slightly as I ate felt like a small mercy.
Across from us, Verity dropped down heavily, warm bread in his Demon hands as well.
“Once you leave this house, put all that research business out of your minds.”
“It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”
When I protested, Verity brushed a crumb from the corner of my mouth and spoke.
“That’s precisely why you have to try. We do this so you can eat well and live well—but if you’re not careful, the means becomes the end, and your very life withers.”
His point was simple: tend to your own life properly, and only then can you sustain doing these infuriating things consistently.
“Don’t bury yourselves in tragedy.”
I found myself nodding naturally.
‘He’s right.’
Cruel as it sounds, there has to be a proper distance between someone else’s tragedy and my own life.
Only then can I protect myself, and in doing so, help others’ tragedies more effectively.
“Still, finding out sooner is better. You can make contingency plans, and honestly, even if I never attempt a Coup d’État, I’d like to flay that emperor’s hide off and put it back on again just to feel satisfied.”
“Where did you learn torture methods?”
Verity couldn’t hide his regret at how bloodthirsty every word from my mouth sounded.
I shrugged.
“Natural disposition and consistent reading?”
“That’s strange. Our house only has fairy tales.”
When Ian looked puzzled, Libi spoke up.
“What good does it do? Havi won’t even look at them. Sometimes she stares at the fairy tale books with a look of pure disdain.”
“They’re just not my level.”
“Both of you—see? You’re blessed simply by not carrying Clavis’s blood.”
“Instead, you’re a rich man’s daughter.”
“You know, I actually wondered when I was small—what if I were Clavis’s daughter?”
“You’d be dumped in some remote exile at age seven and suffer through hell.”
That rich man’s daughter answered flatly.
Meaning me.
“…Come to think of it, my fortune isn’t so bad after all.”
“So you can’t truly understand another’s tragedy.”
After that, we ate in silence.
Then we went back into the empty house and resumed examining the materials.
* * *
‘Verity was right—taking care of my own life matters more.’
The emperor’s conduct remained an eyesore, but what mattered in the end was the peace I had now.
So I followed the Demon butler’s advice and only glanced at the research materials when I had spare moments.
The rest of the time, I fulfilled my duties as village chief as I always had.
I checked that the new residents were adapting well and placed an order for a new ‘school’ where the children could gather to study.
And I minted currency.
“From now on, all transactions in this village must be conducted using this.”
I distributed a set amount to each villager, then explained.
“Once we establish the Merchant Guild and conduct trade with the outside, I’ll exchange the Toy Currency for real money.”
I promised to make it happen by the end of winter, no matter what.
And from that point forward, I declared, I would collect taxes—modest amounts, but taxes nonetheless.
Modi, the village representative and my secretary, offered his opinion.
“Then we’ll need someone to manage the village’s administration and finances professionally. I think we should elect an administrator and a magistrate.”
“I’ll hold a village assembly within the week to discuss it.”
Though they were only toy currency, the residents couldn’t tear their eyes away, overwhelmed to be holding private property for the first time in ages.
I gave each of them a wallet as a gift.
I’d obtained it through a wish to Verity—borrowing the old Korean saying that black and gold wallets attract financial fortune—and had them prepared in those colors.
“Live without money worries, all of us!”
I pretended not to notice the tears gathering at the corners of the adults’ eyes.
‘Oh dear, crying again.’
With so much good fortune coming their way, would they weep every time?
I bit back a quiet laugh at adults’ inability to help themselves.
“Are you crying, miss?”
“Dust got in my eye.”
“Then why is your nose running?”
“I’ve caught a cold. Oh, I should brew some Dulchebia and drink it.”
And so our village became far more vibrant than before.
Thanks to the new residents, the village finally had occasions to celebrate.
“Modi and Prelia want to have their wedding ceremony in the village. I’ve agreed to officiate.”
“A seven-year-old officiating a wedding?”
“Ian, you don’t even have a woman to marry—why are you offering opinions about other people’s weddings? Hold your tongue.”
“Pfahahaha!”
“……My younger sisters are too fierce.”
I told them of the village’s good fortune while we ate dinner.
“And it looks like Elba is going to marry that gruff-looking physician too.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful news.”
Verity, pleased, spooned some boiled peas onto my plate.
Disappointed—I’d been hoping for bacon—I chewed the peas with a sorrowful expression.
“There’s something else, though…….”
“Is there more good news in the village?”
Ian cut his portion of bacon into bite-sized pieces and divided it onto my plate.
I quickly put the bacon in my mouth.
And then I shared the other news.
“Popina and his wife are going to divorce.”
“That’s not good news.”
I nodded to the bewildered Ian.
“Popina’s wife joined a bandit gang to divorce 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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