The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief in Exile - Chapter 98

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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 98
Since we’re on the subject.
“I like handsome men who listen well.”
Hebenia decided to lay out her preferences once and for all.
“I can’t stand ambitious types climbing over each other. I’ll earn the money myself, so I’d prefer he never faces hardship and just stays comfortable in my shadow as a kept man.”
“Why does she have to be like this…….”
And here I’d thought I was raising her carefully.
Having brazenly aired her convictions, Hebenia earned Ian’s deep concern.
“But what do we do now?”
Frelia interjected deftly, steering the conversation back on track before it veered into chaos.
“If things keep going like this, the Duchess of Stria really will…….”
During the postponed ceremony, Frelia had grown quite fond of the Duchess of Stria. She wanted to save her at any cost.
“But.”
Hebenia voiced an even grimmer possibility.
“What if they don’t stop at just killing the Duchess?”
“What?”
“We have Sycreph, the high priest they’ll pin the crime on.”
Hebenia pointed out the crucial detail.
And the adults’ faces paled another shade.
“A substitution, then.”
Modi swallowed hard.
“We can find someone to replace the high priest Sycreph, but…….”
“It could still blow open.”
Ian continued the thought.
His violet eyes, heavy with dread, had already categorized the nine-year-old Crown Prince as an enemy to be excluded and eliminated.
“So we’ll make it impossible to tell whether it’s Sycreph or not, and the method for that is probably…….”
“Boom.”
He uttered the onomatopoeia flatly.
It was Verity.
“I already tested it at the Magic Engineering Academy.”
Stagnation.
A force that suppresses the flow of mana, pools it in one place, then detonates it all at once.
“Since the Deste Territory is the birthplace of magical engineering, there are countless magical devices and massive power circuits buried underground throughout the lands.”
Pecks gave an example.
“If an accident like that were to occur in a small shop that the Duchess of Stria visited to buy souvenirs…….”
When stagnation forces mana within the shop to concentrate in one point.
“……half the Commercial District would be caught in the explosion.”
The destruction would be so massive that estimating casualties would become meaningless.
“If the dead perpetrator is dressed in the high priest’s robes, they’ll assume it’s Sycreph even if the face is completely obliterated.”
“Havi.”
Ian asked.
“Are you going to kill him?”
“The high priest Sycreph needs to be transported to the Central Headquarters for interrogation, so he can’t die. So unfortunately, we’ll have to keep him alive.”
Hebenia paused to think.
‘We’ll need reinforcements…….’
The village chief quickly decided who to bring from the village.
Then she conferred with the adults about how to resolve the situation.
It didn’t take as long as expected.
* * *
That night.
“Sigh, the village chief never gets a break.”
“I’m sorry, the adults are just so powerless…….”
“No, that’s not what I meant…….”
I visited the Deste Temple together with Ian.
I’d sent Verity back to the village. It was because of the Crown Prince, mad as he was, who’d tried to shred him with scissors, mistaking him for an Undead.
“If anything happens, summon me right away.”
“I should check the materials from the Anathema Research Institute one more time.”
“I want to look into the use of Aeon Stones again. Since Pecks’s hypothesis is the most promising at the moment…….”
Aeon Stones.
Ore that the Exile families had quarried through long years of forced labor.
‘I never imagined it would be used like this…’
The way Verity and the adults had described the Aeon Stone’s purpose was so horrifying that even my nerves, supposedly steeled against fear, stood on end.
“Thank goodness the last shipment didn’t make it out.”
“…Yes, thank goodness.”
Ian replied without conviction.
“Miss!”
Saker, the priest who had become as familiar as a neighbor uncle, led us into the upscale reception room where he’d taken us before.
“The High Priest said you may use this room whenever you wish.”
“Wait, she’s not actually a Holy Maiden, is she?”
“Don’t worry. We’re all aware of the arrangement.”
“Someone’s quite smitten, I see.”
“Ian?”
I jabbed him repeatedly in the ribs with my finger.
As Ian twisted away, complaining of pain, Olive the Interrogator and Cherdo the priest entered.
“Hello!”
The moment Olive saw us, his brow furrowed sharply—and I flashed him my most innocent smile.
His frown only deepened.
I turned my head and greeted Cherdo as well.
“Hello, Cherdo! The order of first aid boxes you requested before is complete—I’ll have them sent in two days.”
“May the blessings of the divine walk with you and Izelium Village.”
“Are more orders coming in?”
“Orders have begun arriving from nearby territories. That’s why I was thinking—wouldn’t it be worthwhile to collaborate with those temples and sell first aid boxes more broadly?”
“I’ll discuss it with the village when I return.”
Much as I regretted it, that profitable matter would have to wait.
‘What I’m about to discuss is hardly something to smile through.’
Just then, Olive spoke in a grave, measured tone.
“Is the attack at the Magic Engineering Academy related to the Undead swarming the Deste Estate?”
“Yes.”
I did not deny it.
Olive’s lips pressed thin, as if he’d expected as much.
But the shock came from elsewhere.
“…Pardon?”
“Undead? At the Deste Estate?”
“What on earth are you—!”
“And an attack? What do you mean, suddenly speaking of—!”
The two priests, who had walked in knowing nothing, were struck hard by the brief exchange between Olive and me.
“Do you remember when, last spring, a strange force descended upon the territory?”
At Ian’s words, the two priests nodded almost reflexively, then fell silent, their faces going pale.
“Surely you don’t mean…!”
“That’s when the Undead were created?”
“To be precise, a Demon that was summoned laid waste to the territory.”
“A Demon? You mean a Demon?”
“You must be joking.”
“I am not.”
To repay their trust and secure their aid going forward, I needed to reveal at least some measure of the truth.
The Exilium Exile Zone.
Prisoners bearing false accusations.
The tragedy of the Deste Estate.
The sudden disruption in herb distribution.
The Anathema Research Institute.
And the Crown Prince and the Magic Engineering Academy besides.
Ian and I slowly laid out everything we had experienced and learned, and what was to come.
By the time our account concluded, the tea Cherdo had poured had grown lukewarm.
“The Emperor will pin blame on the Temple to seize the Magic Engineering Academy. And he’ll station Imperial Knights and soldiers here.”
“There will be heavy casualties. The Crown Prince’s faction includes many who have made pacts with Demons.”
Of course, I kept hidden the truly critical information—that I myself had summoned the Demons, the creation of Vessels, the true nature of the Aeon Stone.
‘If they knew that much, all three would pass out.’
There it was.
“……”
“……”
“…….”
Two priests and one heresy inquisitor.
All three stood frozen, their eyes blinking helplessly.
Ian and I waited patiently for them to sort through the staggering truth in their minds.
‘Oh, even lukewarm this tea tastes good.’
After a moment.
“Hah, hah—!”
Saker, the priest who had been rigid as stone, reacted first. His blue hair trembled along with his body.
“K-killing people, turning them into, into Undead——!”
“Why, why would anyone do such a thing?”
“We don’t know for certain either.”
That wasn’t a lie.
Strictly speaking, what we’d uncovered so far was merely the most plausible hypothesis we could construct.
“But one thing is certain: the Emperor orchestrated all of this for some sinister purpose.”
“Wait, just a moment…….”
Cherdo raised a hand, asking for time to think.
After taking several deep breaths, he clenched his trembling hands tight.
Then his expression hardened with resolve.
“Inquisitor.”
Cherdo addressed the inquisitor earnestly.
“We have received tremendous help from you and your companions.”
“…….”
“You guided us back to the righteous path when we were about to stray, and you taught us personally how to save so many people.”
“We wish to help you both.”
Saker joined in as well.
“You two…….”
Moved by their words, I found myself unable to finish speaking properly.
The time I’d spent with these two came flooding back to me.
Especially that feeling of reassurance, like when I’d discovered the white Jade Ring alongside the train tickets.
‘But what about this one?’
What could I expect from him?
‘Olive.’
Aside from being Libi’s younger brother, honestly, this unreliable sister-complex had given me no real reason to trust him yet.
He, who had been silent all this while, finally opened his mouth.
“A heresy inquisitor is God’s hunting hound, judging all that is false and wicked—deception and filthy temptation that torments mankind.”
So there is no reason not to help.
At his words, all of us, myself included, smiled with relief.
“However.”
Olive fixed me with a direct stare.
“I have a condition.”
“A man who puts conditions on goodwill isn’t charming. And this is literally your job. Your sister Libi would be heartbroken to hear this, wouldn’t she?”
“My sister would praise me for exercising good judgment. She’s always said there’s nothing more foolish than breaking your back working at a low-wage job.”
“Wow, you really are Libi’s brother…….”
Ian muttered that there was no clearer proof of kinship than that.
Equally exasperated, I glanced sideways at the priests.
“The pay is meager, that’s true…….”
“Though it was a path I chose willingly…….”
Both priests seemed to agree with him.
‘So that’s why their eyes lit up when we divvied up the First Aid Box profits.’
I asked.
“As long as you’re not talking about taking me to Central Headquarters or asking me to prove I’m a Saint—nothing ridiculous like that.”
“Rest assured. That is not my intention.”
Olive readily disclosed his condition, surprisingly.
“Would you not accompany me to the Southern Region?”
“The Southern Region?”
“I need assistance there. If the knight beside you could come, and also the other two I met before—I would be even more grateful for their help.”
“Well, if that’s the case…….”
I had already been planning to go south anyway.
All the factories I wanted to acquire were located in the Southern Region.
“All right.”
“I’ll explain the details once everything is concluded.”
* * *
Hebenia and Ian made their way back to the Deste Estate with a promise to return within days.
Once again, Hebenia used her power to slip through a room in the mansion in an instant, and the priests and Olive witnessed the miracle anew.
“Inquisitor.”
Saker made the sign of the sacred cross and bowed with proper courtesy.
“We are grateful for your trust in us, and for extending your hand to aid us.”
“I’m merely fulfilling my duty, so there’s no need for thanks…….”
As Olive spoke indifferently, his gaze caught on something in Saker’s hand.
“That ring…….”

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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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