Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 1

Chapter 1

They say when others die, they possess someone and move up in the world.

"Stop dawdling and move!"

"If you don't meet today's quota, there's no dinner for anyone!"

When I opened my eyes, I had possessed a seven-year-old prisoner.

Amid the guards' harsh shouts and the occasional crack of whips, I and the other prisoners were sweating profusely as we toiled away.

'It all happened so fast I didn't even have time to be shocked.'

While the adults mined ore in the mines, I gathered it and loaded it onto carts.

Waking up in this unfamiliar world overnight felt less frightening and more disorienting.

Just then.

"Hm?"

My eyes landed on the red badge attached to my shabby prison uniform.

'Everyone else has white ones, but mine is red?'

When I asked the older prisoner girl who shared my cell, she gave me a pitying look and explained that it meant I was a lifetime prisoner.

"A lifetime prisoner means you have to spend your entire life in this exile camp. Here, the only lifetime prisoners are you and that lady over there, Daliss."

"......"

Dazed, I turned to look where she pointed and saw a white-haired young woman staring blankly at me with unfocused eyes.

"She came here for killing her husband and abusing her child. And, well, a bit... mentally..."

"Mentally unstable?"

"Well, to put it bluntly."

Damn, I wanted to go crazy too.

Suppressing the urge to cry, I asked the most pressing question.

"Th-then, what crime brought me here?"

"Don't you even know?"

"Yeah..."

The prisoner girl's eyes filled with sympathy again.

For the record, this kind girl's name was Libby.

With her brown hair and eyes, her crime was armed robbery and murder.

"Attempted assassination of the Crown Princess."

I couldn't believe my ears.

"Attempted what?"

"Assassination of the Crown Princess."

"......"

"Your family tried to kill Her Highness the Crown Princess and failed."

Then came the next words.

"You were implicated and dragged here."

---

Implication.

The system where a criminal's family is punished along with them.

'The whole "execute the grandfather, father, and son—three generations" thing.'

It had already been a month since I'd possessed the body of a seven-year-old implicated prisoner.

"......Am I just naturally suited to exile?"

I found the exile life quite to my liking.

Who knew life could be this physically and mentally comfortable?

'No wonder my exiled ancestors wrote literature.'

Six hours of labor a day, breaks in between, and fresh vegetables and meat with every meal.

Aside from the work, I had complete freedom all day, and the guards didn't interfere.

Plus, my fellow prisoners were incredibly kind.

They all had fearsome crimes attached to their names, yet they were the kindest and most warm-hearted people I'd ever met.

They helped me a lot since I was small and clumsy, and during meal distribution, they always filled my bowl with the most solid bits.

When they found pretty wildflowers, they'd always show them to me, and when they heated up water, they'd let me wash first.

'Even my own family never treated me this well.'

So my life before was actually worse than exile.

Pushing aside my complicated feelings, I went for a walk alone by the stream, sat down anywhere, and briefly sorted out what I'd learned so far.

First, the identity of the small body I'd possessed.

'Hebenia Clavis, age 7.'

The youngest daughter of an incredibly wealthy family.

In this world, social status existed, and the Clavis family was said to be so powerful that even nobles and the royal family couldn't touch them lightly.

Rumor had it they were granted a noble title but gave it away to their pet dog and became commoners.

'Why would such a family want to kill the Crown Princess?'

Even the exiled prisoners all found that point puzzling.

Anyway, because of that incident, all the Clavis men were executed, and the women were scattered to various exile camps.

'I have no luck with family, no matter where I go.'

Just as I let out a deep sigh, someone called my name loudly.

"Hebenia!"

"Ian oppa."

This young man with unique lavender hair was a former royal knight whose crime was embezzlement and breach of trust.

"What were you doing? I came to get you since it's almost dinner time."

"I was looking at the primeval forest."

Ian sat down next to me and gazed at the vast forest surrounding the exile camp.

'An exile camp surrounded by a forest.'

The exile camp Exilium.

This place, said to house only the most heinous criminals, had surprisingly lax security.

The guards only watched over us during labor and didn't interfere otherwise. Instead of iron bars, the prisoners lived freely in a village near the work site.

The reason this was possible was that vast forest encircling the camp.

"Ian oppa. Are there really monsters living in that forest?"

"They say it's infested with man-eating monsters. I've never seen one myself, though."

"But why can't the monsters come in here? They could easily eat the guards too."

"Then we'd all meet inside a monster's stomach together. Look, the reason they can't enter here is..."

Ian picked up a small stone lying nearby and suddenly hurled it toward the primeval forest.

The stone flew at high speed but bounced back and fell just before the forest.

"It's because there's a barrier."

"Wow...!"

No matter how many times I saw it, it was amazing.

As you just saw, Exilium wasn't surrounded by monsters—it was the invisible barrier that kept us from escaping.

However, once a month.

On the night of the full moon, a path to the outside temporarily opens, and supplies and necessities are brought in.

I don't remember, but apparently I was brought in that way a month ago.

"Hebenia."

"Hm?"

"Still, nothing comes back to you?"

"Mm."

Currently, I was being treated as having amnesia due to the shock of the implication.

When I asked questions because I didn't know anything, the adults kindly filled in the gaps with their own assumptions.

Thanks to that, it was convenient not having to pretend to be 'Hebenia Clavis.'

"Should we head back? Time for dinner."

I stared at Ian's outstretched hand for a moment, then took it and stood up.

"Ian oppa. Do you want to go outside?"

"If I could, sure. Believe it or not, I'm actually innocent."

"The other adults all said the same thing."

The heinous criminals were kind, but they lacked a bit of conscience.

'So what if they don't?'

What mattered to me was that they were good to me.

"Actually, there's somewhere I'd like to go back to myself."

"Hah, you'd go back?"

"Yeah. But I like it here. Maybe I'll be buried here."

But I wouldn't be able to go.

'I've become certain that I can never return to my original life.'

Maybe that's why I had several lingering regrets I couldn't shake.

I couldn't tell them I came from another world, but I could share one of the reasons for my regret.

"To pick up a package."

"'Package'? What's that?"

"A limited-edition 'Magical Girl Milkshake' Magic Milky made in collaboration with an overseas jewelry designer..."

The 'Eternal Heart Milky Way Straw Stick' used in the season 2 finale was scheduled to arrive the next day.

"I paid three hundred thousand won for it...!"

"It's okay. Everyone goes a little crazy when they first come to exile."

With that comforting reassurance that it was only natural, Ian gently patted my sobbing back.

---

[Don't look for a reason to help others.]

[If you fall and get back up, we can walk again!]

[Even if not now, hope will surely save you!]

Having only watched my brother's favorite robot cartoons, the magical girl anime I stumbled upon at a friend's house was a total shock.

A girl my age saving the world.

Falling for those strong and cool heroines was only natural.

'If I were to possess someone, I'd want to be a magical girl...'

My arm, reaching for a dry branch by the stream, paused.

'Tch, I guess not.'

I was too materialistic to live like a magical girl.

'But it's such a waste.'

The magic wands filling an entire bookshelf. The money I poured into them was one thing, but the memories and effort behind each one clung to me like regrets.

Especially that three-hundred-thousand-won limited-edition wand, crafted with real jewels and remarkably detailed.

I couldn't even count how many people called me crazy when I broke into my savings for it.

Especially my 'senior,' who was always kind to me—she gazed at me with wistful eyes as if scolding me, like how could I possibly afford that on my salary?

"Senior, you must have been shocked...?"

Now that I'd possessed this body, my original body was probably dead.

Pushing aside my mixed feelings, I sat by the stream and stared blankly at the primeval forest.

"...But still, exile is better than my job. The prisoners are much nicer than my family too. Once you get attached, that place becomes home."

I muttered to myself, doodling in the dirt to pass the time.

An inverted five-pointed star with a circle around it.

It was a doodle I'd drawn since childhood whenever I was bored, but my mother, a church deaconess, despised it as a symbol of the devil. She often called me a demon-possessed wretch.

'But drawing this calms me down.'

Maybe my mother was right.

Getting along so easily with violent criminals and finding exile comfortable must be because a demon had truly possessed me.

"Magical Girl Milkshake, sweet and moist Milky Sugar..."

I hummed the theme song and layered more doodles on top.

Then a tiny drop of saliva fell onto the drawing.

Was it because of my seven-year-old body? Sometimes I made childish mistakes like this.

"Oh dear."

I quickly wiped my mouth.

"Tch, time to go..."

Muttering to myself, I gathered the twigs and stood up—and froze.

Right in front of me was an ornate, four-legged bathtub.

Inside the tub, obscured by warm, fragrant steam, I could see a dark shape.

A long, thick arm burst through the steam.

Startled, I gripped the twigs in my arms tightly.

As the steam cleared, a man soaked in water appeared.

A man so handsome it felt almost rude to look at him.

His sharp eyes were particularly striking, and his wet, muscular body with long black hair clinging to it gave him an intimidating aura.

'Wait, but...'

Why was he bathing out here?

The man in the tub was also staring at me with a flustered expression.

Eyes like weathered suns fixed straight on me.

Instinctively, I knew.

'He's not human.'

I stepped back reflexively.

Swallowing dryly at the tension I'd never felt since possessing this body.

"You really did come back."

The man suddenly twisted one corner of his mouth into a smirk.

What does that mean?

"So, what's your wish?"

"...Pardon?"

"Your wish."

The man rested his chin on his arm draped over the tub's edge and spoke.

"If you summon a demon, you should make a wish."

"Ah, no, thank you..."

I'm fine, thank you.

After politely declining, I awkwardly bowed my head like a turtle and promptly ran away.

But my escape ended in failure.

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