The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 78

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 78
“I’ve mentioned this before, haven’t I?”
A Possessed One discovered is executed on sight.
Verity spread what she had found across the table.
[Experiments on residual soul removal from corpses using Void Stones.]
[Cases where the balance of power between Angels and Demons becomes disrupted,]
“Because the very existence of such a being shakes the foundation of dimensions themselves. A Possessed One destroys Causality, gaining boundless power far exceeding the effort invested…….”
“And inflicts immense harm in the process, yes?”
Hebeniah also laid what she had discovered upon the table.
[In the case of corpses treated with special drugs, the efficacy of Void Stones increases further…….]
[Undead produced from failed experimental subjects]
[Confirmed ability to inject specific commands into Undead. However, the scope of commands is limited to actions the subject frequently repeated in life…….]
[Experiment injecting a mouse’s soul into a human body: Failed]
Every entry was revolting and horrifying.
The inhumane experiments that defied all reason only deepened Hebeniah’s confidence in the possibility she had suddenly conceived.
That was why she had never wanted to voice it aloud.
As a fellow human, it filled her with revulsion.
And as a human, it shamed her.
But now she had to speak it.
Hebeniah forced back her disgust and delivered her final conclusion.
“The Emperor’s ultimate goal is to create a Possessed One.”
Verity finally squeezed her eyes shut.
“Everything that seemed strange until now is finally explained.”
The Void Stone mined using prisoners for labor.
The medicinal herbs whose supply was disrupted by the Emperor’s private hoarding.
Angels and Demons beginning to violate their codes.
‘And Clavis, whose entire household was annihilated.’
The Emperor’s obsession with capturing Hebeniah alive.
It was all a stepping stone to creating a Possessed One.
“Verity.”
Hebeniah asked, her voice trembling.
“Is this even possible?”
“I have neither heard of it nor imagined it in all my years.”
Even for a Demon general who had lived countless ages, the very notion of creating a Possessed One was a shock too alien to comprehend.
The Demon Verity, for the first time in ages, felt fear and revulsion.
“The prerequisite for a Possessed One is acquiring a vessel and seizing control.”
“That means…….”
“The original spirit inhabiting the body must die.”
……
This unethical act was absolutely forbidden not only by the Demon realm but by the Multidimensional Alliance as well.
That is why a Possessed One is executed immediately upon discovery.
Otherwise, the Causality and probability of the dimension to which the Possessed One belongs would be destroyed, ushering in an age of chaos.
Thus, the very idea of creating a Possessed One was tantamount to collapsing the universe itself.
“What are your thoughts on Possessed Ones, miss?”
“Well, to be honest…….”
Hebeniah briefly recalled those days of exile when she had mistaken herself for a Possessed One.
“……I thought of it as a second chance.”
She had thought only of spending the rest of her life enjoying that exile—far easier and happier than her former existence.
“I intended to be buried in that exile. My former life was so painful.”
“So you had no desire to accomplish anything while possessed?”
“None whatsoever. Because there was no way to leave the Primordial Forest…….”
“What if you had been able to escape the Primordial Forest?”
……
“Could you truly say with certainty you would have done nothing then?”
……
Eyes like tarnished gold fixed upon Hebeniah with unflinching clarity.
Facing a Demon who demanded honesty, Hebeniah could not bring herself to answer in the affirmative.
Verity tilted her head lightly, as if to say she already knew.
“When people suddenly receive the love of many, or acquire tremendous wealth with minimal effort.”
……
“Or stories about gaining some mysterious power, becoming an unexpected savior not written in fate, a hero who saves the world.”
A Possessed One doesn’t inherit Heaven’s fortune.
“They steal it.”
……
“The world is far too cruel for that.”
A life where everyone loves you, where a little effort yields thousands of times success? A honeyed existence?
Verity let out a scoff.
“No such thing exists.”
Except in special cases.
“Those Possessed Ones are parasites that shatter the world’s rules.”
……
Hebeniah had settled into a posture of rapt attention.
‘Did the Possessed Ones burn her badly?’
As Ian listened intently to Verity’s explanation, her hands naturally drew together before her navel.
Her clasped fingers tensed with force.
“Then…….”
Hebeniah posed her next question in a tone more measured than before.
“Who could have told him?”
It wasn’t a question seeking an answer.
The young village chief already knew the answer to her own doubt.
“How did the Emperor learn information that even a powerful Demon like Verity doesn’t know?”
……
“I’ve narrowed it down to two suspects.”
The first.
“The Multidimensional Alliance.”
……
“I don’t know what kind of place it is, but given that they carry out summary executions of the Possessed Ones, they must know them well.”
“W-well, I suppose that’s… true, yes…….”
Verity’s response came from a face desperate to deny reality itself.
‘Please, anything but making enemies of the Multidimensional Alliance!’
An organization that manages countless dimensions, wielding such immense authority as to hold sway over the cosmos itself.
With ‘God’ absent, the Multidimensional Alliance’s power now differs from what it once was.
‘Even if all the Demons and Angels together threw themselves at them, I’m not sure we’d win…….’
Her brow furrowed naturally at the mounting headache.
“……Then what of the second suspect?”
“Clavis.”
“Good grief.”
Despite herself, Verity let slip words in a rougher tone.
‘That’s even worse than the Multidimensional Alliance!’
Hebeniah continued.
“If you can open and close space at will, doesn’t that mean you could interfere with dimensions too, if you set your mind to it?”
This clever, bright-eyed little village chief harbored a suspicion she’d carried all along.
‘If Hebeniah Clavis is my true life, then what exactly was Chae Ha-bin, the one who lived in Korea?’
There was only one answer.
‘Chae Ha-bin was a Possessed One that Clavis created.’
Clavis possessed the ability to evade the Multidimensional Alliance’s notice and reach as far as Earth, creating Possessed Ones across such distances.
So even if Clavis were her own blood, Hebeniah did not entirely exclude them from suspicion.
“But I don’t think it was Clavis.”
Yet in the end, she was certain of Clavis’s innocence.
“Because they were exterminated.”
“Ah.”
With both hands cradling her head in anguish, Verity’s pale face finally brightened.
“That’s right! They fled, pretending to lose to the Emperor!”
“Don’t phrase it that way.”
A tactical withdrawal.
Hebeniah corrected her.
“From Clavis’s position, there arose a situation where direct confrontation with the Emperor became impossible.”
“And that situation is the creation of Possessed Ones?”
“Clavis hid themselves to prevent it.”
“Then why would you leave the girl behind…….”
“Instead, you sent me to another world. You made me into a Possessed One named Hebeniah!”
“……!”
At last, the pieces began to fall into place.
“The adults told me I was like a doll with no reaction at all on my first day in exile.”
And then, the very next day, I returned to my original body.
“On top of that, I didn’t awaken my abilities until after arriving in exile.”
“…….”
“Since Clavis was the only one left and hadn’t awakened any powers, the Emperor grew careless and sent me into exile. He was planning to secretly retrieve me later and use me however he wanted!”
The guilt by association decree that fell upon Hebeniah had been a gambit for exactly this purpose.
Which meant.
“The real culprit is the last one standing.”
The Multidimensional Alliance.
* * *
Verity and I had finally reached the answer.
‘At last I understood Clavis’s bewildering actions, and I learned that far from being abandoned, I had actually been protected all along…….’
Yet I couldn’t rejoice.
“Oh, Divine One…….”
Watching a Demon kneel like that, imploring the heavens, I was reminded anew just how dire our situation had become.
‘Now what do we do…….’
I could laugh my way through a palace coup.
‘The Multidimensional Alliance? I still don’t even understand what that is.’
And now I’m supposed to stand against something I can’t even comprehend?
‘Damn it, Clavis!’
You should have taken me with you when you ran.
‘If I’d known the truth, I could have faced execution with a smile on my face!’
Clavis, wherever he’d vanished to, was likely moving heaven and earth to stop the Multidimensional Alliance or whatever it was.
It must have been difficult to keep a young child safe and at his side while dealing with such momentous matters. I understood his reasoning well enough.
‘Even when I was living as Hebeniah, I didn’t know I was Possessed…….’
It was a precaution to keep the Multidimensional Alliance from finding out.
Because of it, unlike other Possessed Ones, I’d had a somewhat difficult childhood, but in the end, looking back, it hadn’t been such a bad life at all.
Once I returned to my original body, the experiences from that time proved invaluable.
‘It was good that I studied hard.’
The adults had been right — those who study well tend to live well.
“Miss.”
Verity had finally collected himself and approached. His face bore the exact same expression as Hebeniah’s used to wear during that month of consecutive all-nighters.
“This is, well, for now…….”
“Let’s pretend we don’t know anything.”
“Ah, thank you for understanding.”
Verity bowed his head with sincere gratitude.
“If the Multidimensional Alliance has truly joined hands with humans, this is beyond our ability to handle.”
“You’ll report it to the Long-haired Lord?”
“First to the Bleached Demon. But he’ll tell us to contact the Lord as well.”
It was the wisdom of a competent subordinate.
‘Problems beyond one’s scope must be escalated to superiors immediately.’
I too needed time to sort through my thoughts.
“You know what?”
I lifted one corner of my mouth into a smile.
“On the day the guards tried to kill us, that last shipment of Void Stones never made it out of the Primordial Forest.”
Unintentional as it was, we had already dealt a significant blow to the Emperor’s plan to create Possessed Ones.
“Our village’s only goal is to live well and prosper.”
Success in this alone would strike at the Emperor.
“Just as we always have, we only need to keep living as we do now.”
I was certain that our continued success would make the Emperor and the Multidimensional Alliance rue the day they crossed us.
* * *
As promised earlier, Verity and I decided to keep the Emperor’s intentions and the existence of the Multidimensional Alliance secret from the village.
Verity contacted the Bleached Demon immediately.
“Wow, that was fast.”
“What is it?”
“He’s already contacting the Long-haired Lord about it. He’s also told me to write up a report and submit it separately, with copies of all our data attached.”
Just hearing about it made me feel exhausted.
“What should I tell Ian and Livy……?”
Both of them had helped me as if it were their own affair all this time.
As I wrestled with the thought, Verity spoke.
“You can say that serious matters were discovered during the investigation, so the Demons are conducting it directly now.”
“Then we’re stepping back entirely?”
“We must continue to observe.”
But we could not accept Ian and Livy’s help any further.
“Sometimes, not knowing is a mercy, isn’t it?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————