The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 92

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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 92
The Crown Prince spoke listlessly.
[I looked into it, but I still can’t figure it out.]
[But they’re all the dead. Demonic Power is a remarkable force that makes any impossibility succeed.]
[Even so, it’s just playing around with corpses. It doesn’t even resurrect them.]
Pex and I turned toward Verity at the same time.
“Tsk, what a waste of the Crown’s coin.”
He couldn’t even show off his training.
The demon muttered quietly, his voice thick with fury.
Pex and I wisely kept our mouths shut.
[So what do you plan to do with the Undead? Create an immortal army?]
[They are experimental byproducts designed to steal Clavis’s power.]
[Hmm.]
Just hearing it, I could picture it clearly.
[That’s actually quite appealing.]
The smile of a greedy man who believes what belongs to others is rightfully his.
[So Clavis really did possess a special power. His shameless arrogance, reaching toward the heavens, was because of that.]
[Then I humbly ask for your assistance with this visit to the Magic Engineering Academy.]
[For even the Commander of the Knights to make such a presumptuous request…….]
[…….]
[So you’ve made a contract with a demon as well, haven’t you?]
[…….]
Good grief.
I glanced sideways at Verity.
“Really, anyone and their dog can summon a demon nowadays.”
“That’s strange…….”
Verity genuinely felt his pride wounded, furrowing his brow as he grumbled for a long while.
“Demon Summoning is supposed to be really difficult…….”
“…….”
I know the truth, actually.
‘Summoning is difficult.’
Calling demons from another dimension to grant wishes requires an enormous amount of power and an equally enormous price.
It’s just that I’m an exception—managing it all with a single nosebleed and a few drops of saliva. Probably because I’m Clavis.
‘In that case…….’
There’s something else I need to investigate.
‘How the Emperor performs Demon Summoning.’
* * *
After briefly discussing the Magic Engineering Academy schedule, the Crown Prince withdrew to his room to rest.
Commander Rasheid sealed his lips and moved to another location.
“I’ve programmed the Mado Device to recognize both their voices, so it’ll record automatically whenever they talk.”
“Oh, fascinating!”
“Hebenia…….”
As I removed the headset, Pex asked with a worried expression.
“The Emperor, he…….”
He hesitated for a long time.
I could tell what Pex was worried about.
[They are experimental byproducts designed to steal Clavis’s power.]
He was concerned because of what I’d just eavesdropped on.
‘There’s no need to worry.’
Actually, I felt better than ever. I’d gathered an enormous amount of information from that eavesdropping.
‘The Crown Prince doesn’t know everything.’
The arrogant Crown Prince knows nothing of Possession User creation, nor of the Multi-dimensional Alliance. The Emperor is withholding information even from his own son.
‘On the other hand, the Commander seemed to know it all.’
And he’s even made a contract with a demon.
I’ve found one of the demons I need to capture and deal with. Once I catch him, this time I’ll finally get my hands on a Tablet PC that can be used here too.
That’s when it happened.
“I never understood why the Emperor coveted you so, but now I finally see.”
“Pex, please choose your words more carefully.”
I know he meant well.
‘But that was absolutely revolting.’
But Pex’s anger was far greater than I had anticipated.
“How could such an absurd greed claim so many innocent lives……!”
……
“Us trapped in that Exile Location, the hired hands who died knowing nothing and became Undead—all of it……!”
……
His gaze toward me held both shock and sorrow.
I offered him a thin smile as if to say I was fine, but it had little effect.
If anything, I’d only poured fuel on his anger.
“This is madness! Insanity! This entire country has lost its mind!”
“I’m afraid I can offer you no comfort by denying it.”
Verity pressed his fingers to his temples, squeezing his eyes shut for a long moment.
“Stripping away Clavis’s power, is it…….”
Then he cast a meaningful glance in my direction.
I grasped the meaning of that look immediately.
‘It’s not about stealing Clavis’s power—it’s about exploiting it.’
If that had truly been the original objective, matters would never have escalated to this point.
Because it was impossible, they shifted tactics to creating Possession Users through that power. That’s also why they couldn’t treat me carelessly now that I’d become the sole Clavis.
‘That lie about stripping away Clavis’s power is actually the key clue.’
The knight commander had left behind a rather significant gift.
‘The Emperor wants to seize the power of Possession Users for himself.’
That power to steal destiny, to defy Causality, to overturn Fate itself.
‘I underestimated the Emperor.’
When I’d reached the Multi-dimensional Alliance, I’d thought there was nothing left to surprise me.
But this Emperor was a madman who transcended human reason, imagination, and even delusion.
What could one witness and learn to conceive of such insanity?
“In any case.”
To shift the mood, I changed the subject.
“It seems an opportunity has presented itself to visit the Magic Engineering Academy.”
The Magic Engineering Academy.
One of the prime trading partners our Village has long coveted.
Catching even a single monster from the Primordial Forest and selling it would easily fund fifty years of budget for a village of thirty people.
I’d been pondering how to break through for a trade agreement when the Crown Prince’s visit to the Magic Engineering Academy proved to be the perfect opening.
“I’ll need to be more charming with the Duchess of Stria. And perhaps let slip something about the Magic Engineering Academy.”
The Magic Engineering Academy maintains quite strict access controls, citing safety and security.
I’d once asked the Deste clergy for their help, but even they apologized, saying they had no way inside.
‘A simple tour would be enough.’
One of my abilities, Spatial Movement, has a fatal limitation: I can only teleport to places I’ve already visited.
But if I could just set foot inside once……
‘It would be as good as holding a permanent pass.’
I’d need to carefully review the information on the Magic Engineering Academy from the Empire section of “The Complete Guide to Clavis” once more.
Then.
“Miss.”
Verity called to me.
“What was that earlier?”
“That earlier?”
“When I said it seemed the Crown Prince was involved in this, you said you expected as much.”
“Ah, that.”
I found myself absently touching the back of my neck.
How was I supposed to explain this?
“It was a feeling…….”
“A feeling?”
“Looking at the Crown Prince, I was reminded of the guards.”
“Guards?”
Pex’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You mean the guards from the Exile Location?”
“Yes.”
“Did something happen when we went to greet him?”
“Not at all.”
The carriage heading toward the Deste Estate had been utterly peaceful.
Only from the profile of the Crown Prince, whose expression had occasionally gone blank, emanated an ominous atmosphere.
Ian’s words suddenly came back to me.
On the day the Imperial Princess’s palace had caught fire, the Crown Prince had clicked his tongue with regret.
“……This one is someone you can kill.”
Only then did I grasp the true nature of the foreboding I’d felt.
“The Crown Prince will kill people as easily as those guards do, if he has a purpose and an order.”
* * *
That night.
In case the undead employees caused a disturbance, Ian came over to the Deste Estate.
I played him the recorded eavesdropping contents.
Ian’s face twisted in anguish.
I offered him genuine consolation.
“At least he was your old boss—thank goodness for that. If he were your current boss, you’d have gotten dragged down with him and ruined your life. You’re really lucky he threw you away first, aren’t you?”
“Thanks for the practical comfort.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Whether my joke landed or not, Ian wore a grave expression but wasn’t tormented the way he had been before.
“Is there anything else I should know besides that?”
“This is just my instinct, but…….”
I laid bare everything I’d felt upon seeing the Crown Prince today.
Ian, who had listened intently, spoke.
“You have good judgment, so that feeling probably isn’t mere intuition. It’d be wise to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
“What about you? Do you think the Crown Prince could actually kill someone?”
“Yes.”
Ian didn’t hesitate long.
“At least, that’s my sense of it.”
Ian was the only one among us who had ever set foot inside the Imperial Palace.
So when it came to judgments concerning the Imperial Palace, Ian’s read was sharper than mine.
Even if it was only intuition.
‘And we’ve both arrived at the same conclusion.’
Truly, a mad nine-year-old.
I made my way to my room with Ian.
Like last time, Ian had dyed his hair pitch black and wore the neat butler’s suit that servants wore.
Though we’d both disguised our appearances, we moved only through empty corridors just in case.
“Miss Hebenia.”
Ian called quietly.
“The Duchess will be coming up from the other direction.”
“Oh, I see.”
At that, I pulled a book from the subspace and pressed it into Ian’s hands.
Mado Engineering for Children.
Ian’s brow furrowed.
“When did you even get this?”
“Now, Ice. Use formal speech. And I bought this separately at a bookstore the day before.”
“Is Ice my name, or rather, is it my name, miss?”
“Cold-blooded demon knight, so cold like ice.”
“…….”
Soon the Duchess of Stria appeared from the other direction with her personal maid.
“My, Miss Hebenia.”
The Duchess of Stria, who had recognized me, raised the corners of her mouth slightly, then immediately assumed a stern expression.
“Children should be sleeping early.”
“I was reading books without a moment’s rest. So my servant brother is taking me to my room.”
Adults favor children who are composed and clever, but they love them all the more if they possess the peculiar charm of childhood innocence.
And indeed.
“Reading without a moment’s rest, you say?”
The Duchess of Stria and her maid found my odd phrasing adorable.
“So what book were you reading so intently that you haven’t slept at this late hour?”
“This one. Ice, give me the book.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Ian handed me the book he was holding.
And I showed it to the Duchess.
The Duchess of Stria’s eyes widened as she read the title.
“Mado Engineering? You like it?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
“…….”
Wait?
‘Hah!’
I swallowed quietly.
The Duchess of Stria suddenly began to weep.

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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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