The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 96

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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 96
Olive’s face, which I hadn’t seen in some time, was creased with dissatisfaction.
“Are you all right?”
Still, he voiced his concern for me first. Olive was truly a good person at heart.
‘The trouble is he’s an older sister-obsessed weirdo—but he’s not my brother, so it’s fine.’
Since he wasn’t actually my brother, there was no problem.
I smiled brightly and nodded.
“I’m fine. And you, Olive?”
“This is nothing at all.”
Indeed, Olive had just demonstrated tremendous strength moments before, yet showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.
‘Did he receive a boost from Holy Magic?’
That was when it happened.
With a sharp whistle, the Magical Device that had shot high into the sky detonated with a thunderous boom.
I quickly threw up a Protective Barrier to prevent the shrapnel from the explosion from scattering in all directions.
The Magical Device landed safely on the ground, and I lowered the barrier simultaneously.
The fragments that had fallen from the explosion began rolling messily across the earth. A sickly-sweet smell of burnt sugar drifted through the air.
“It appears to have been a Magical Device for making cotton candy,” Verity said, cradling me in his arms.
The students who had been experimenting with the Magical Device came rushing toward us, their faces drained of color.
“Are you hurt? Is there any injury?”
“We are truly sorry! Because of our carelessness—!”
“It’s all right. But why did the Magical Device suddenly explode?”
I fought back a wave of drowsiness as I asked.
The oldest-looking male student among them stepped forward with a troubled expression.
“First, I apologize once more. And I am grateful to you, Holy Knight, for preventing greater harm.”
After apologizing a second time, the student continued.
“The precise cause will only become clear once we examine the broken Magical Device, but for now, it appears to be due to a defective Mana Circuit.”
“You mean a Mana Circuit?” Verity asked.
The male student nodded.
“The flow of Mana stopped at the center of the circuit, and heat began accumulating at that point.”
“But Mana—or rather, Mana Flow—is supposed to have a flowing nature. How could it stop?”
This time, I was the one asking.
At that, the student’s eyes sparkled.
‘Ah, the look of a professor discovering a promising graduate student!’
He seemed startled that a seven-year-old was explaining the properties of Mana in terms of Magical Engineering.
“I’ve read books on Magical Engineering. Was I wrong?”
“No, you’re correct. It’s impressive that you understand the difference between Mana and Mana Flow. Are you interested in attending the Magical Engineering Academy? By the time you’re ready to enroll, I might well be a professor.”
This kid’s dreams were ambitious.
Before I could gather my scattered words—
“So,” Olive redirected the conversation that was veering off course.
“You’re saying an impossible phenomenon occurred?”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
……
“Mana suddenly stopping and pooling is, in fact, something that cannot naturally occur. According to the physical laws we’ve discovered so far, it’s impossible…….”
“Then someone intervened?” Olive pressed.
“N-no, surely not!”
The student and the other Magical Engineering Academy trainees vehemently denied it, their faces paling.
“This Magical Device’s only function is to create cotton candy according to the parameters input into its shape!”
“Of course, precise design is required, but the operating principle follows only the most basic physical laws.”
“So why would anyone……”
“However,” Olive said, cutting off the thought.
His gaze turned cold as he glanced at the broken Magical Device.
“At the moment of detonation, it becomes a weapon of tremendous destructive power.”
……
The Magical Engineering Academy trainees fell silent, their mouths sealed shut.
Olive exhaled slowly, then spoke.
“In other words, this is not your fault.”
“……The investigation won’t take long.”
The male student spoke in a hardened voice. He had finally grasped the gravity of the situation.
The investigation won’t take long indeed.
……
“Will you return tomorrow? Please tell me your name.”
“Olive, Heretic Inquisitor Corps, Central Headquarters.”
Olive produced a Red Jade Ring engraved with a crimson hunting hound.
“A-a Heretic Inquisitor?”
The students gasped in shock at the sight of the ring.
“An Inquisitor, here?”
“I come bearing the Holy King’s decree. I was to deliver a letter to the Magical Engineering Academy’s headmaster, but…….”
The Heretic Inquisitor slowly drew the axe he’d planted in the ground.
“It seems,”
Olive’s slowly opening eyes, colored like olives, flashed darkly.
“I must fulfill my duty after all.”
Nestled in Verity’s arms, fighting sleep as I watched it all unfold, I swallowed a quiet laugh.
‘There it is. You caught on, just as I thought.’
Mana, the Mana Flow, possesses the nature of continuous motion.
And according to the physics laws of this world, it never stops.
“A phenomenon where Mana suddenly ceases and pools is, in fact, naturally impossible. By the laws of physics discovered so far, it’s impossible…….”
The cause of this impossibility.
The culprit behind the accident.
‘A Demon.’
Among the Imperial Court’s knights who were watching us, there exists a Demon with the ability to stop the flow of Mana.
“Well now, Miss,”
Verity glanced discreetly at a carriage approaching from a distance.
“Shall I have all your Korean household goods brought over?”
“You confirmed the knights’ faces?”
“Of course.”
The Crown Prince’s expression as he descended from the carriage and gazed upon the scene.
And the twisted face of Rashid, the knight commander at his side.
‘You foolish children.’
I pity you far too much to forgive you.
‘Your plan to injure me and then use that as leverage against the Magical Engineering Academy—it’s come to naught.’
And through this, I will make you and the Imperial Court choke on your own schemes.
I will catch you by the heel whenever you stumble.
But each time you fall and bow your head in shame, you’ll realize it was your own past selves who held you by the ankle.
“Verity, I need to sleep now. I can’t hold on any longer…….”
“I’ll say you fainted from shock.”
“And…….”
I left one final request with Verity
“Sleep well, Miss.”
And drifted into sleep.
* * *
The Duchess of Stria thought she’d made a wise choice coming to the Deste Estate.
‘Beni, meeting that child was truly fortunate.’
A kind smile, crisp deportment, a gentle heart—and on top of it all, such passion for Magical Engineering.
The girl was so lovely that she wondered if her dead daughter had somehow returned to life.
And when Crown Prince Pereus was with Beni, he even seemed like an ordinary boy.
Watching them together always stirred the Duchess’s maternal worry, yet in her heart she earnestly wished this peace would continue.
Of course, the Duchess was not foolish enough to confuse reality with her own fantasies. She simply treasured the connection she’d formed with Beni.
“Molle Ribus is hardly an honest man.”
“That’s true.”
Her personal maid answered as if she’d been waiting for the question.
“Misa is too guileless—that’s her weakness.”
“Heh, so you’ve grown fond of Misa.”
“At first I mistook her for a cunning vixen, but spending time with her, I found her to be good-hearted. Her only flaw is that she has a blind eye for men.”
“I intend to bring her with me when I return to the capital.”
“I wholly approve, of course!”
“Naturally, it will only be possible if the two of them consent…….”
Just then,
the sound of a carriage pulling to a halt came from outside the window.
“Your Highness has arrived, it seems.”
The Duchess of Stria, thinking the same as her maid, descended to the first floor and instructed her to prepare refreshments for the children.
“Shall I call the servants?”
“No, have Kara prepare something separate.”
“My, the children here are quite diligent and kind, though they do struggle to follow instructions sometimes…….”
“Still, I’d rather you handle the preparations yourself.”
“Of course, I understand.”
“Since His Highness has a taste for sweets, prepare warm milk with lightly caramelized notes and cookies spread with jam.”
“You know His Highness’s preferences well.”
“He’s my grandson.”
No matter how frightening or inconvenient things became, Pereus was her one and only grandchild.
She could never despise a child her daughter had given birth to at the cost of her life.
“And Beni seems to have a taste for bread, so prepare small rolls with a thin spread of cream and jam.”
“His chubby cheeks tremble so adorably every time he eats, don’t they?”
“Heh, that’s a secret in his presence.”
“Of course.”
But the refreshments the Duchess and maid had so carefully prepared would go unused.
The Duchess of Stria, who had gone out to receive them, was taken aback.
Crown Prince Pereus arrived in a foul mood for reasons unknown, while Beni slept cradled in the arms of a young servant he’d brought with him.
“Your Highness, are you alright——!”
“…….”
The Crown Prince brushed past the Duchess without a word.
“Duchess.”
Hearing his voice, she snapped back to attention from her shock.
The young servant cradling Beni bowed lightly and offered an explanation.
“There was an accident at the Magic Engineering Academy.”
“An accident?”
“A Magical Device exploded during a tour.”
“Were there any——injured——!”
“Fortunately, a member of the Heretic Inquisitor Corps was present at the scene, so no one was hurt. The Crown Prince was not at the site, and Miss Beni simply fainted from the fright.”
At the servant’s steady explanation, the Duchess of Stria pressed a hand to her chest in relief.
But then she noticed something odd.
‘The Heretic Inquisitor Corps……?’
The direct regiment of the Holy King.
Why would God’s hunting dogs—those who judge the false and wicked that deceive mankind with corrupted doctrine and bring chaos to the world—be here?
“Duchess.”
The servant spoke again.
“The Heretic Inquisitor is standing before the entrance to the estate.”
“They are our benefactor who saved the Crown Prince and Beni—why have they not been invited inside?”
“They refuse to come in.”
“What?”
“I beg your pardon, but might I ask for your help in convincing them?”
“……Y-yes, of course.”
Something was wrong.
And she was afraid.
The Duchess of Stria found the entire situation bewildering, yet she was certain that the answer to this confusion lay beyond the threshold of her estate.
When she stepped outside, she saw a Holy Knight in a white uniform standing rigidly at a distance from the portico.
‘So young.’
She realized that Olive was scarcely more than a boy—not yet twenty.
Yet the murderous intent that poured from his eyes was indistinguishable from that of a killer who had spent decades on the battlefield.
The Duchess crossed herself as she approached him.
“May God walk with you. Inquisitor, I am truly grateful for what you did today…….”
“What manner of place is this?”
Olive spoke in a voice trembling with fury.
“It reeks of rotting flesh masked with perfume.”
As if breathing itself were a struggle, Olive covered his nose with the back of his hand, his brow furrowed.
“A sorrowful immortality that defies the natural order. A polluted ground where even Unholy Entities take flight. A profane tomb that mocks even death itself.”
Olive’s gaze fixed upon the estate as he issued his warning to the Duchess of Stria.
“Flee.”
“…….”
“The ground upon which you stand is a nest of the Undead.”

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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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