Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 29

Chapter 29

"Saker!"

Priest Chel do stopped his colleague from speaking further.

Only then did Priest Saker realize his mistake and shut his mouth. But the secret had already spilled.

'I-I blurted it all out without meaning to...'

Just looking into that girl's eyes made him instinctively compliant.

As if he was born with an instinct to obey that child.

'But, it does feel refreshing...'

After the sacred angel's descent, the Deste Temple had been cursed.

The High Priest, the cornerstone and spiritual pillar of the temple, had lost his mind.

He'd started wearing his pants down around his hips, and every time he walked, he'd clutch his crotch and hobble grotesquely.

The priests had confined the High Priest to the prayer room.

'The very place where His Highness the Crown Prince had stayed alone...'

Priest Saker grew gloomy again.

As if reading his thoughts, Priest Chel do also stiffened.

'But that child...'

'Is she really a Clavis...?'

The two priests quietly exchanged glances.

If she was Hebenia Clavis, she'd be the young Clavis who was supposedly exiled to the primeval forest.

The youngest princess that the Clavis had supposedly birthed and raised.

But that noble lady had died recently in the monster rampage in the forest—or so the world had been told.

"Oh, the High Priest has..."

Oh dear.

Hebenia was surprised by the High Priest's tragic news, but she showed a composure beyond her years.

"That might not be a curse but a blessing. In a way, he's rejuvenated—just like the young people these days."

Hebenia offered her sincere sympathy for the High Priest's tragedy.

But Priests Saker and Chel do broke out in cold sweat.

'Th-her way with words is definitely Clavis...!'

'Her skill at pretending to worry while subtly mocking is exactly like the Clavis family head! She's definitely a Clavis!'

And so, Hebenia earned their trust.

Unaware of all that, Hebenia asked.

"So the temple's leader is currently absent?"

"Yes."

Priest Chel do nodded.

"Then what about the two of you?"

"Us?"

"Do you have authority or influence? What's your rank?"

Hebenia once again stated her purpose.

"I told you—I came to negotiate."

Hebenia curled the corner of her mouth, her chubby cheeks pressing against her eyes.

"From what I heard earlier, you want to help people, right?"

"I-is there a way?"

"Yes."

Priest Saker's eyes sparkled.

He would do anything to give the temple a chance to fulfill its purpose again.

He wanted to somehow make amends for turning a blind eye to the young prince's plight out of fear of the imperial family.

'Is this... too selfish?'

Suddenly, a wave of disgust washed over him.

'I'm just helping others to ease my own conscience.'

Priest Saker felt pathetic and disgusted with himself.

"Priest."

Pat. Hebenia touched Priest Saker's hand. Startled, he flinched and turned.

"I came here for my own benefit, not to help those people outside out of pity. Got it?"

"L-Lady Clavis...?"

"I actually think this situation is fortunate. So take comfort in seeing me like this."

"Ah..."

Embarrassed, Priest Saker looked to Priest Chel do.

"Your inner thoughts came out."

"Oh dear."

Priest Chel do smiled wryly.

Embarrassed, Priest Saker squeezed his eyes shut.

But when he opened them again, he had regained his composure, like a man who had made up his mind.

"Then shall we begin the negotiation?"

Hebenia clapped her hands and got to the point. Her chubby-cheeked smile was a little eerie.

"You know what happened to the herbalist grandfather today, don't you?"

The elderly herbalist had a somewhat twisted personality, but he was a good man who often sold medicine cheaply to the sick, even at a loss.

He had been arrested this time for secretly distributing medicine made from a rare herb to poor children.

"I heard from him that a temple insider tipped them off."

"......"

"......"

The two priests lowered their eyes in shame.

Hebenia quietly observed them.

'Well, at least they have a conscience.'

Looking away is wrong.

But forced complicity under authority leaves you with no choice.

'They've probably been through situations like this many times.'

Such experiences had accumulated over time, deepening their self-reproach, and they had come to blame themselves for all the world's tragedies.

Hebenia stated her negotiation terms.

"Give me that person."

"Pardon?"

"The informant."

Hebenia stated her terms.

"Hand over the informant to me, and I'll give you both a chance to restore the temple's reason for existence."

---

Before visiting the temple, the herbalist grandfather had told us in detail how he'd ended up in this predicament.

"There was a pair of siblings I was looking after. They'd recently lost their parents and become orphans, and the older brother had fallen ill."

"It was a minor ailment that would have been cured with about a week of regular medication..."

"Luckily, thanks to you selling me the Dulcevia, I was able to prepare medicine for that child."

And on the day he went to deliver the medicine to the siblings.

He ran into a certain priest.

"A short man with dark brown hair and narrow, slit-like eyes."

"Yes, I knew him. He was a priest who often came to our shop to sell herbs grown at the temple."

The priest asked about the source of the herb, and the grandfather lied, saying he'd bought it from a wandering adventurer.

"That was the only time I ever told anyone about the herb."

"And then this happened..."

"The very priest who guided the knights here..."

"His name is..."

Head Priest Nughata Saikeuf.

The youngest son of the Saikeuf Count family, a loyal servant of the Emperor, he had been famous since childhood for his talent in healing magic.

"But he never once used healing magic here."

"They say he treated many nobles in the capital with that skill..."

"But he never showed any evidence that he could actually use healing magic."

I listened to the priests' information as we walked through the temple's inner garden.

I was wearing the cloaking cloak just in case, and fortunately, we didn't run into anyone on the way to the garden.

"Priests of noble birth usually operate in the capital or nearby regions. They rarely come to places like this."

"Of course, Deste Territory is more developed than most border cities..."

Their tone was as decorous as befits clergy, but their distrust and dislike toward Head Priest Saikeuf were unmistakable.

'They've never actually seen him use healing magic...'

That statement bothered me.

Given everything I'd experienced, there was a high possibility that Head Priest Saikeuf's healing magic was connected to demons.

'I thought all demons were kind.'

I still vividly remembered Verity sweating over writing a report about what had happened during our first visit to the Deste Territory.

'That incident seemed to be quite serious for demons too...'

It looked like Verity's report this time would be just as thick.

"By the way."

I casually tossed out a question like a joke.

"Aren't you believing me too easily, just because I said I'm a Clavis?"

"The way you talk is exactly like the Clavis family head. We've met him once before."

"And what good would it do to make an enemy of the Clavis?"

"There's even a saying: 'Show your belly to the Clavis and you'll be blessed.' It means getting on their good side can change your life."

"......"

Just how eccentric was my family?

'I feel a bit annoyed, but...'

I liked it.

'It feels like I've found a scapegoat for all the crazy things I'm about to do.'

Just as the conversation was wrapping up, we arrived at the garden.

Unlike the ornate temple building, the garden had a simple charm.

The peaceful, rural farm-like atmosphere naturally put my mind at ease.

'Carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, corn...'

Each carefully tended plot had a small sign.

"These are the vegetables we grow. Most of the priests' food comes from here."

"You grow them yourselves?"

"Farming is an important form of training. We personally sweat and labor to understand the value of work, and we reflect daily on how difficult it is to nurture life."

"That's a noble sentiment."

But the reason I came to the garden wasn't to look at the fields.

"The well you're looking for is over there."

A small well near the fields.

Priest Saker lowered the ladle hanging from the well's roof.

It took about three seconds before we heard a plop.

"...It's deep."

My voice echoed as it fell into the well.

"It's deep, but the water level is quite high. So if someone falls in, even an adult could be in danger."

"Oho."

"But why the well...?"

"To create a miracle."

"A miracle...?"

Stepping back from the well, I curled the corner of my mouth.

"A well that springs holy water."

Keuh, I let out a solo exclamation.

"Doesn't just hearing that sound like a miracle?"

It would be perfect to pass off as a gift left behind by the descended angel.

---

[A well that springs holy water. Doesn't just hearing that sound like a miracle?]

Inside the Deste mansion office.

"Wow, look at our Lady's shrewdness."

Verity was eavesdropping on the temple situation through the watch.

'Even most twenty-five-year-olds wouldn't have this kind of nerve.'

Hebenia was leading this plan.

"Let's divide the roles now. Aunt Elva, you take the grandfather back to the village. And tell Ian oppa to..."

After that, Elva had taken the herbalist grandfather back to the village.

Hebenia had used her power to send them, and ended up with another nosebleed.

At that moment, Elva's face was full of pity. The other adults felt the same.

But Hebenia didn't stop.

"Libby unnie, go find the children the grandfather was looking after. It would be best to bring them to the village too. If they're orphans and on the informant's radar..."

She didn't finish the sentence, but everyone knew what she was worried about.

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