The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 79

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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 79
Verity suspected that all the residents who had received exile punishments were victims of an unjust fate.
In other words, if not for the Emperor and the Multidimensional Alliance, they would have lived ordinary lives out there in the world.
“Getting further entangled here won’t help anyone.”
“Right…….”
I could only nod in agreement at those words.
I’m the village chief who must put the happiness of the residents first. So Verity’s persuasion had worked perfectly on me.
In the end, I lied to Ian and Libi, telling them that circumstances had changed and I couldn’t investigate any further.
They both said they’d suspected as much and answered seriously.
“Verity, we’ll help however we can.”
“That’s right. Family sticks together!”
Verity thanked them both sincerely, her words carrying genuine warmth.
After that, Verity threw herself into late-night work, barely sleeping for days.
The office window in the Village Community Hall was always lit, and Verity’s face had gone past expired juice to the verge of sprouting mold.
Even so, she often sought me out to check if I needed anything, faithfully carrying out her duties as a steward.
“Are you sleeping at all? Watching you is killing me.”
“Once this is finished, it’ll be enough. The evidence materials we found between the two of us should be sufficient for now…….”
“Poor working soul…….”
“Sniff…….”
Verity’s eyes finally filled with tears.
“I thought serving the young mistress would be incredibly easy, so I took it on so carelessly……!”
“There’s nothing easy in this world.”
After offering half-hearted consolation.
I focused on what I could actually do right then.
‘At least I’ve figured out the enemy’s objective and the hand pulling the strings.’
My greatest strength, as I saw it, was an objective judgment—the ability to assess reality coldly and clearly.
I don’t waste time agonizing over situations I can’t change. I’d learned it was far more efficient to do what I actually could with that time instead.
Growing the village.
Taking care of the residents.
‘And improving my abilities!’
Opening and Closing.
Through the trial last time, I had learned a new application for it.
“Nngh, grgh……!”
Noon on a scorching summer day.
I stood in the shade of a large tree, sweat dripping down my face, moving my hands this way and that.
Each time, a single piece of colored paper in front of me fluttered.
“Just a bit more……!”
The colored paper floating at eye level was folding in half more and more with each bead of sweat that rolled down my forehead.
“Agh!”
But I collapsed from exhaustion faster than the paper could fold.
“Argh, what a waste!”
I was so close to success!
I crumpled to the ground, swallowed my regret, and forced my exhausted body up. Then I picked up the colored paper that had fallen and examined it.
‘A mess…….’
It was wrinkled in places like a toddler had gotten their hands on it, and the center crease where it had barely folded was crooked.
‘This is hard.’
I was practicing paper folding with my Protective Barrier.
This was new training born from an applied technique of the Protective Barrier I’d used to pummel the demon I’d fought last time—inspired by videos I’d seen in Korea of surgeons folding paper cranes with tweezers.
If I could create a Protective Barrier wherever I wanted, in whatever size I wanted.
And if I could manipulate it as precisely as hands.
‘It would become an incredible weapon.’
What people commonly called Telekinesis—the superpower to touch and move objects or people without laying a hand on them.
And there was one more thing.
I swept my arm out smoothly.
A gap the size of my palm opened in the empty air before me.
Something fell through the bizarrely gleaming gap—a violet-tinged darkness—and I caught it adeptly.
It was the Lemon Juice that Libi had made that morning.
The glass, heavy with ice, began beading with droplets the moment it met the hot air.
‘This one’s perfect.’
I had succeeded in creating a Subspace.
Subspace.
A virtual space separated from reality, unbound by the constraints of time.
Though the subspace I created is only the size of a single bag, its performance is flawless in every way.
‘The cold juice Libi made for me earlier is still perfectly chilled!’
Creating the subspace had been far easier than the protective barrier practice with folding paper just before.
I didn’t even need to practice. I simply resolved to try, and it worked on the first attempt.
“Mm, delicious!”
The cold, refreshing lemon flavor sent shivers through my whole body.
Instead of putting the empty glass into my subspace pocket, I glanced around, caught sight of a park bench, and pointed at it with my hand.
“Coordinates locked.”
Teleport!
The glass vanished and rematerialized on the bench in an instant. The moment it arrived, it teetered precariously before settling upright with a soft clink.
Telekinesis—the final application following the subspace.
Teleportation.
Teleportation is a technique where I create a gateway and move a specific object to a target point.
‘The passage that connects the gateways must not be subject to time’s constraints.’
Like the subspace itself.
That’s precisely why Ian’s slash attack and Nema’s strike reached the demon and the angel instantly through teleportation.
‘Transcending every constraint of time and space…….’
Truly a boundless application.
According to Pex, who is well-versed in magical artifacts, all magic ultimately operates within the laws of physics.
Even in this world where magic exists, physical law held equal weight.
“Opening and Closing…….”
The ability to open and close.
“Is that still the right name?”
Can I continue calling this power “Opening and Closing”?
Suddenly, I felt it shouldn’t be.
But even after reading Clavis: Complete in One Volume and asking Verity, I couldn’t think of a new word to describe the ability.
Of course, it wasn’t urgent enough to lose sleep over, so I quickly turned my thoughts to another problem.
“Wonder if I can eat three slices of bacon today.”
* * *
After a week away, Verity returned home with barely enough strength to cross the threshold. So he simply collapsed where he stood.
“Ugh…….”
A week of overtime was grueling work, even for a demon.
“Welcome home, Verity.”
“You must be exhausted.”
Ian helped the collapsed Verity to the living room sofa. Libi prepared a drink from the lemon juice she’d brewed yesterday and handed it to him.
“Thank you, I love you, may you be blessed…….”
Sprawled comfortably on the sofa, Verity drained the drink in one gulp.
“Is the urgent business finished?”
“For now, yes.”
Verity set the empty glass on the table.
‘Now the real problem begins…….’
The Multidimensional Alliance.
The organization that manages countless dimensions across the universe.
‘……The lords will handle it themselves.’
I’ve done my part.
Why dwell on worries that only cloud my mind?
Verity had decided to leave all concerns, anxieties, future plans, even stock investments to his superiors. At times like this, he was grateful to have someone above him to pass the burden to.
“Hm?”
Something peculiar caught his eye.
‘Oho, what’s this?’
The demon’s golden eyes glinted.
“Ian, you’ve awakened your Aura.”
“Ah…….”
“Really?”
Ian rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
Libi, meanwhile, gasped in genuine delight and offered sincere congratulations.
“That’s amazing! So you have it too then—like me, with that ring-shaped thing around your heart?”
“It happened by chance two days ago…….”
“An Aura Circle can’t be created by chance.”
Coming home after so long, and to find such news!
Verity felt her fatigue evaporate in an instant. The demon genuinely celebrated her human disciple’s remarkable growth during her absence.
Under her mentor’s praise, Ian’s face flushed warm.
“Actually, I got the sense of it while at the Anteema Research Institute.”
During the fight with Angel at the Anteema Research Institute.
Ian first truly felt that her body had changed profoundly from before.
Every time she swung the sword, she was seized by a mystical sensation.
Something utterly unlike the blood circulating through her veins was transforming her body, and with each moment, that mysterious current itself began to shift little by little.
The more this happened, the lighter her body became, and the sword in her grip felt like an extension of herself. The enemy’s movements seemed slow, like feathers drifting and falling.
Only after returning to the Village did she understand.
The mysterious current was Mana, and it had transformed into Aura during combat.
She’d tried tracing an Aura Circle around her heart, recalling that sensation, and somehow—it had worked.
“That’s impossible…….”
Verity instinctively denied it. What Ian had accomplished was such an extraordinary miracle that it defied all precedent.
‘Creating a single Circle is incredibly difficult.’
Whether it was an Aura Circle or a Mana Circle, crafting even one required enormous effort and concentration.
The environment also mattered greatly.
If someone so much as spoke during the Circle’s formation, the backlash could be fatal.
‘Yet these two made that grueling process look far too easy…….’
Could it be the others as well?
‘I suspected they were growing fast, but to this degree……!’
The demon, who had been near collapse moments before, now brimmed with vitality.
Eager to verify her suspicions, Verity suddenly scooped Ian up from where she sat beside her.
Ian’s eyes went wide as she was lifted so abruptly.
“Ian! Would you mind if I examined your Aura Circle properly?”
“W-well, I’d be honored.”
“Hey, you should examine my Mana Circle too, then.”
Libi pouted at what she felt was unfair treatment.
But she quickly retracted the complaint.
“Take your clothes off.”
“Huh?”
“And it would be all right if I placed my hand on your chest and examined it gently, yes?”
“Um……?”
“Wait, isn’t this sexual harassment?”
This is honestly pretty gross.
Libi draped one arm over the back of the sofa and settled herself comfortably. Then she watched the demon admiring the young man’s chest.
‘I wonder how Havi would react if she saw this.’
Right then.
“I, the head and pillar of this household, have arrived——!”
Bang. The front door swung open with force.
Hebenia came through, flushed and dripping with sweat from playing with the village children, and froze in place.
“……have a-arrived, I guess.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Creak.
Hebenia closed the front door again.
But immediately she opened it once more.
Click. She snapped a photo with the Watch on her wrist.
Then she closed the door again.
Next came the ringing sound of Hebenia’s voice calling out, “People of the Village!”
The sound grew fainter, as if she were driving a Speedcar away.
“……Oh dear.”
Libi murmured flatly.
“By tomorrow, the whole village will be spreading rumors that Ian and Verity are together like that.”
* * *
Yet, surprisingly.
Hebenia did not spread word of what she’d seen to the village people.
“Tch, how boring.”
“Come on, don’t be disappointed! I have some dignity, you know.”
“Your dignity? That went out the window the day you confessed to Dalis in front of everyone and got rejected. You’re basically the neighborhood’s punching bag.”
“Do you really hate me that much?”
Libi was clearly disappointed, but Ian felt genuine relief that he wouldn’t become the object of mockery among the villagers yet again.
His younger sisters, however, were not so easily dissuaded.
Hebenia suddenly made him an offer.
“Brother, want to see me draw a line?”

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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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