Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 44

Chapter 44

Aunt Elva, Ian, and Verity entered the cell.

I naturally tried to follow, but Ian pushed me back with a stern voice, telling me to wait outside.

"Why are you trying to get a close look at something like this?"

"Listen to Sir Ian. Those in power are supposed to delegate dirty work to their subordinates and watch from a distance."

In the end, I watched the truth serum administration from outside the bars with the dogs.

Ian and Verity each grabbed one of Head Priest Saikeuf's arms and pressed down on his thighs with their feet.

In the meantime, Aunt Elva skillfully administered the truth serum.

"N-no! Let go! Let go of...!"

"It's okay. It's good medicine. Good for us, that is."

"He's resisting quite a bit—should we break something, Aunt Elva?"

"It's fine. If you hold his throat and gently press downward while pouring..."

"Guh! Ugh...!"

"Ta-da! Not a single drop spilled—he swallowed it all!"

"...Sister, that doesn't seem like something you've done only once or twice."

At Ian's admiration, Aunt Elva blushed shyly.

"I used to feed children who refused bitter medicine this way. The parents were happy, but the kids hated it."

That's how she earned the nickname 'Witch Who Handles Poison' among the village children.

'I can see why she got the 'Apothecary Who Whispers Death' aptitude.'

Ian and Verity's expressions were no different from mine.

'Anyway, he's taken the truth serum.'

I approached the cell door.

My eyes met Head Priest Saikeuf's, who was coughing and convulsing.

'His eyes are a bit glazed.'

The truth serum lowers brain function, reducing judgment and self-control.

'That's why Aunt Elva said the side effects of the truth serum are dangerous.'

In the worst case, it could damage the brain to the point where daily life becomes impossible.

'Let's ask quickly.'

Head Priest Saikeuf was a truly evil person from my perspective, but not enough to inflict such terrible side effects on him for life.

'And I don't particularly want to deal with the aftermath either.'

I pulled out the questions I'd prepared one by one.

"Name?"

"Nughata Saikeuf..."

"Family name?"

"Saikeuf..."

"Age and gender?"

"Thirty-three, male..."

As Verity had taught me, I started with basic personal information.

"The foundation of interrogation is relaxation of tension. Pressure is important, but you also need to make them lower their guard so they unconsciously open up."

"Don't ask directly when getting to the main topic. It's also effective to break down the five Ws and one H into separate questions. For example..."

When.

"You went to see the Deste mansion employees, didn't you? When?"

"Ten days ago..."

Who.

"You went with someone, didn't you? Not alone?"

"With the, the Mage Tower Lord..."

What.

"What did you two do at the Deste mansion? Kiss?"

"Turned the dead, employees into undead..."

How.

"But you're just an ordinary priest. You couldn't possibly use such incredible power. And it doesn't seem like you have divine magic either."

"With a stone, imbued with power..."

"Power?"

"An, angel of light..."

Where.

"Where was that made?"

"At the, resear..."

"The one that burned down?"

"Gu, guh...!"

For the first time, Head Priest Saikeuf, who had been answering slowly but steadily, showed an abnormal reaction.

"Aunt Elva!"

"It's not a side effect of the truth serum. This is..."

"A vow of silence has been placed on him."

Verity said with a stern face, examining Head Priest Saikeuf closely.

Ian squinted one eye.

"A vow of silence?"

"A spell that prevents the utterance of specific words or phrases."

"Does such magic exist?"

"It exists among demons."

"......"

"From my perspective, it's infuriating because it means more work, but from the villagers' perspective, it's actually fortunate."

Verity said that, looking at me.

"It's a spell strictly forbidden even among demons. As you can see, it's cruel and has great potential for abuse."

In the worst case, the subject could have a vow of silence placed on them and their memories erased.

Because many innocent victims had suffered this way in the past, demons had forbidden and sealed this magic.

"Then..."

I glanced at Head Priest Saikeuf.

It seemed the vow of silence placed on him was related to the 'research lab.'

'The information about creating undead and the angel seems to have narrowly escaped the vow's scope.'

The priest kept choking and groaning, as if breathing was painful. The veins bulging on his dry neck vividly expressed his suffering.

"We need to narrow down which demons currently summoned to this world have access to this vow magic."

At my words, Verity nodded.

"It's probably best to stop the interrogation here. If we dig any deeper, he might actually die. In fact, he's already struggling to breathe."

"Oh dear, I went through all the trouble of making the truth serum so he wouldn't die...!"

Head Priest Saikeuf must have firmly believed he was riding a red arrow of upward success.

But what this fool had actually boarded was a blue arrow that pierced through the bottom and went straight to the inner core.

'Your stock was doomed from the start.'

He was so pathetic I didn't even feel like cursing him.

---

In the end.

Head Priest Saikeuf didn't die.

"That idiot didn't spill all the information, so the vow's activation stopped halfway. Lucky bastard."

"Is it luck?"

"I'm terrible with magic. If the vow had fully activated, there would have been nothing I could do."

Verity made a cute eheh sound and winked, saying he'd once tried to save a prisoner but ended up killing them.

Displeased, Hebenia jabbed the demon's side.

Hebenia, Ian, and Verity were sitting side by side on the long bench in front of the village hall, licking lollipops.

They were strawberry milk-flavored candies gifted by Bleached Demon.

The sky was blue, and Poppy and Chuchu were sharing affection under the bench.

"Aunt Elva said..."

Hebenia asked with a slightly lispy pronunciation.

"She's going to improve the truth serum based on today's reactions."

"Head Priest Saikeuf is going to die from a burst stomach from all the truth serum."

"That would be a problem..."

Hebenia propped an elbow on her knee and rested her chin on her hand.

For a seven-year-old, her gaze was weary and dark, and the particularly clear weather made the village scenery look like a watercolor painting.

"That man still has uses—it'd be a big problem if he died."

"I see you've already thought of a way to use him shrewdly."

"Hebenia, you..."

Ian didn't finish his sentence.

He hesitated, rolling his eyes, then let out a light sigh and spoke again with a firmer voice than before.

"...Doesn't thinking about that stuff give you a headache?"

"That stuff?"

"Honestly, I was a bit taken aback earlier in the dungeon."

The white lollipop stick in Ian's mouth moved as he spoke.

Finding it uncomfortable, he frowned and finally took the candy out of his mouth.

"When you were grilling that priest. Honestly, it was a little scary."

Ian spoke like a parishioner making a confession.

Hebenia asked.

"Were you disappointed?"

"No."

Ian firmly denied it.

"If I were disappointed, would I be sitting here casually licking a lollipop next to you? I'm not that brave or clever."

"That's true."

"He's that kind of person."

At their agreement, Ian let out a wry chuckle.

Hebenia, who had been tense, also grinned.

"Normally, that's something we should be doing..."

"The person who can do it should do it. Well, it's only possible because I'm not an ordinary seven-year-old."

"......"

It wasn't just a matter of today.

Hebenia had always been like that.

Starting with saving them from the guards, she'd always protected and cared for others, even at the cost of her own health.

Ian had been troubled by this for a long time.

And when he'd discussed it with Libby, she'd said that precisely because of that, they needed to be good role models.

'But...'

That alone wasn't enough.

'The situation surrounding us is horrifying and cruel. If we always make righteous choices based on morality and conscience, we'll just get hurt. We'll die.'

Even now, the Emperor was trying to get his hands on them—no, on Hebenia.

And every time they faced the Emperor, Hebenia would bleed again.

Thinking of the young village chief who nonchalantly wiped away her nosebleed, saying it was nothing, made him feel sick with his own incompetence.

'Aunt Elva must have felt the same way.'

Her face, as she'd hurried off to improve the truth serum, had shown the same anguish and resolve.

Perhaps the newly improved truth serum would deliberately have stronger side effects. She too had steeled herself to dirty her hands.

"...As for torture."

That went for Ian too.

"I'll do it. Hebenia, you just make the decisions."

"...What?"

Hebenia, who had been lightly bickering and play-fighting with Verity, turned with a surprised look.

Verity was equally surprised.

Meeting the eyes of the two who looked at him as if they hadn't expected him to say that, Ian held his gaze.

"If it's necessary, we'll do it. Right now, we're not in a position to choose our means."

"But, uh, that's..."

"And if there's ever a situation where you think someone absolutely has to die, don't hesitate to tell me."

"......"

"I'll kill them—no matter who it is."

Voicing that cruel resolve, Ian felt a strange sensation.

The heavy discomfort that had been pressing on his chest for so long vanished like a lie.

'Ah, finally.'

Morality and conscience.

For Ian, a former knight, those two things had been incredibly important beliefs.

'But I've been leaving a child to suffer alone just to protect my own beliefs. That was actually eating away at them even more.'

Ian put the lollipop back in his mouth.

'To protect my beliefs, I have to abandon them...'

Crunch.

He bit down hard on the lollipop, now small from sucking.

The strawberry milk flavor, much sweeter than before, was intoxicating.

---

'...What kind of misunderstanding does this oppa have?'

Ian had made his sincere confession, but from my perspective, it was quite troublesome.

'I just enjoy tormenting bad people and watching them get frustrated...'

There's nothing more thrilling than seeing those who've finally realized their place and fallen, looking up at me with defiant eyes.

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