Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 5

Chapter 5

We listened intently to Bleached Demon's edifying words for a long while.

'Ah...'

What's for lunch?

I was starting to zone out, employing a technique I'd often used back in my office worker days, when—

"...You little shits!"

BANG!

Bleached Demon suddenly shouted and slammed his fist on the desk, his veins bulging. There hadn't been a desk there before, but one appeared out of thin air right where his fist struck.

"You!"

"Y-yes...?"

The demon abruptly grabbed one of us by the wrist. The innocent wrist belonged to Uncle Modi.

Bleached Demon sat Uncle Modi on a backless chair that had also materialized out of nowhere. Then he perched himself on the desk.

"Ah, Lord Demon...?"

"Shh. Quiet."

"Pardon?"

"Look me straight in the eye."

"...Y-yes?"

Bleached Demon took Uncle Modi's face in both hands, tilted his head, and brought it close.

'Huh?'

'Huh-huh?'

Question marks appeared on everyone's faces.

'N-no way...!'

Just as my expectations swelled, my vision suddenly went dark. Libby had covered my eyes with her hand.

I quickly pried her fingers apart to secure my view.

Meanwhile, Libby shouted.

"The demon is kissing the uncle!"

The adults scrambled backward.

Uncle Modi, still in the demon's grip, wrapped his arms around his own chest and sobbed, "Honey, I'm sorry...!"

"No, you idiots!"

From Bleached Demon's hand, something appeared. A silvery, metallic object.

Everyone, including me, gasped.

It looked like the demon was about to handcuff Uncle Modi and commit some irreversible taboo act.

But instead.

"Now, take a deep breath."

"S-something's touching my chest...!"

"Shut up. Crying wastes your energy."

Bleached Demon used a stethoscope to listen to Uncle Modi's chest and back.

Then he scribbled something on an examination chart that had appeared on the desk.

"Next!"

"......"

"......"

And so the health checkup began.

---

A cute cat band-aid on the crook of my elbow.

Bleached Demon had put it there after drawing my blood.

"Such a little thing, not crying. Impressive."

He even popped a candy into my mouth. The sweetness after so long made my body tremble. It was a delicious strawberry milk flavor.

'It's tasty, but what is going on?'

I'd summoned the long-haired Lord Demon, but a different demon showed up.

He scolded us not to worship demons, then gave us a health checkup.

'Demons are all so kind.'

The situation was bewildering, but since it wasn't a bad thing, I decided to accept it willingly.

"Hebenia."

Ian, who had finished his blood draw earlier, came over. A candy was also in his mouth. Like me, he was pressing the inside of his elbow.

"Lord Demons—are they always this kind?"

"I guess so."

"This is how people fall into heresy."

"That's exactly what Bleached Demon would scold us for saying."

"I'm not the only one who thinks it, right?"

That was true.

Ian was actually one of the more restrained ones.

Libby had been going on about how "We should convert. Shouldn't we build a temple right away to worship Lord Demon?" until Bleached Demon overheard and gave her a sharp reprimand.

"But I understand the sentiment."

"Yeah, me too."

Bleached Demon examined our family members meticulously.

The exile family—especially the middle-aged ones—honestly opened up about the health issues they'd been suppressing.

"Oh dear, my knees ache whenever it rains..."

"Even though the scratch healed, it still itches sometimes..."

"I get dizzy when I stand up after lying down."

My heart ached at their health, with not a single one in good condition.

After the final examination.

"You little shits...!"

Bleached Demon glared at us again.

"How is it that not one of you has a healthy body! Does this make any sense, huh? No matter how harsh exile life is...!"

Then suddenly, he covered his eyes with one hand and dropped his head. His shoulders shook intermittently.

"Such small, pretty things, not getting enough to eat..."

"......"

"......"

As if by agreement, we all looked at Uncle Modi.

I gladly volunteered as a messenger of love.

"Bleached Demon said you're small and pretty, Uncle."

"Honey, even if I become the demon's concubine here, my true heart belongs only to you...!"

Uncle Modi closed his eyes in resignation.

"How many times do I have to tell you that's not it!"

Bleached Demon protested, his eyes glistening with tears.

"And I'm a chaste bachelor!"

Uncle Modi's chances of becoming the official wife just increased significantly.

---

After the health checkup, the sun was already beginning to set.

The vermilion hue staining the blue sky was quite beautiful.

The adults went to prepare dinner, and I followed Bleached Demon, who said he had something to tell me and asked me to come along for a walk through the residential district.

Bleached Demon had very long legs, but he matched my pace. Truly a kind person—no, demon.

Bleached Demon spoke.

"I heard from the Sovereign."

I quickly realized that "the Sovereign" referred to the long-haired demon I'd first summoned.

"I was thinking of him when I summoned, so why did Bleached Demon show up instead?"

"Did you just call me Bleached Demon? Quite bold of you."

"I'm sorry. I don't know your name."

"Just call me that."

I nodded, and Bleached Demon continued.

"The Sovereign can't come out easily right now."

He must be busy?

"He's been running around taking care of his pregnant wife."

He really is busy.

"How does payment work for the health checkup? Is my blood enough? Will you take what you drew earlier?"

"That was just because I wanted to, so don't worry about it. Besides, I'm going to have your blood tested and then properly dispose of it as medical waste."

"You could use it."

"Funny you should say that—there's something I need to tell you about it."

Bleached Demon stopped walking, turned, and crouched down in front of me.

Up close, Bleached Demon looked like a breathtakingly beautiful god of death.

His golden eyes, like weathered suns, gleamed like the sunset. They say demons bewitch people—this must be why they're so handsome.

"Little ant."

This demon also called me little ant.

"The power in your blood is far greater and more precious than we expected."

"Wh-what?"

"So the balance isn't settled yet. That means you've paid far too much."

"......"

"You don't understand?"

"No..."

"Of course not. You're full of things you don't know."

Bleached Demon picked up a nearby twig and scratched something on the ground.

"Summoning a demon is like hiring a detective agency. You know what a detective agency is, right?"

"That's, like, where they do contract killings..."

"......What kind of environment did you grow up in?"

Domestic violence and sensational modern media, but I wisely kept my mouth shut this time too.

Two circles were drawn on the ground.

"The summoner must pay two prices when summoning a demon."

An arrow extended from the left circle to the right.

"One is the transportation fee."

"Transportation fee?"

"Demons cross dimensions to reach the summoner's world, so of course that requires a price. Your spit is that."

"But is spitting okay?"

"Does it look okay?"

If it had been any other human, their salivary glands would have burst.

I innocently poked my salivary gland with the tip of my tongue.

Another arrow extended to the right circle.

The second price required for summoning.

"The commission fee."

Bleached Demon emphasized this was the most important, jabbing the words he'd written with the twig.

"When a demon grants a wish, the summoner pays a corresponding price. Then we demons convert the received payment into resources and use it to maintain the world."

Oho, just like in those fantasy movies I'd seen before.

I grew curious about the demons' world.

Judging by the clothes and furniture demons used, their civilization seemed similar to or even more advanced than the world I'd lived in.

"But..."

I asked carefully.

"I just gave nosebleed."

When I'd first made a wish to the long-haired Lord Demon.

I'd paid by rubbing the nosebleed from my clothes onto the summoning circle.

Remembering the complex look on the long-haired Lord Demon's face as he watched me, I found it hard to believe that what I'd paid was so enormous.

Bleached Demon said.

"To put it simply, little ant, you handed us a gold bar and asked us to deliver a letter."

"Wow...!"

My nosebleed was worth that much?

"How about it? Pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Not cool at all, you idiot!"

"Eek!"

I let out an indignant shriek like a baby penguin being smacked by an adult.

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused us?"

"How would I know! This is my first time summoning a demon too!"

"The power in your blood exceeds what all of us demons working nonstop for a year could earn."

"Wow, that is actually cool!"

"Thanks to you, everyone's pulling all-nighters!"

According to Bleached Demon, yesterday the long-haired Lord Demon had done something that hadn't happened in several hundred years.

And even then, they'd used less than a tenth—let alone half—of the power in my blood.

So the demons were working overtime storing my power.

"So I'm going to make you a proposal."

"A proposal?"

"I'll station a demon butler here to grant your wishes on a regular basis."

"That's a bit..."

I hesitated.

"I'm shy around strangers..."

"You just met me and talked my ear off."

Bleached Demon lightly tapped my forehead, calling me a funny kid.

Then he gave me detailed basic information about demon summoning.

"Describe your wishes as clearly and specifically as possible. If your request is vague, the demon's imagination will run wild and apply itself."

"Oho."

Bleached Demon's explanation was as enjoyable and exciting as reading a fantasy novel.

Listening intently, I suddenly became curious about my own power.

"Could you teach me about my power? The long-haired Lord Demon called it 'opening and closing,' but I still don't understand it well."

"If it's a question, I'll answer simply; if it's a wish, I'll grant it perfectly."

"It's a wish!"

I asked to learn the fundamental nature of my power, its potential for development, and how to apply it.

Bleached Demon gave me a book.

[Clavis in One Volume]

I flinched at the cover.

The cover, which looked like a girls' manga with sparkling eyes taking up half the face, felt strangely familiar.

"The cover looks like a children's educational comic."

"For someone like you who knows nothing right now, that's just right."

That was true.

I flipped through the book and skimmed its contents.

'Ah.'

There it was.

I found the part about my power that I'd been most curious about.

The protagonist of the educational comic was a little girl with brown hair and green eyes, just like me.

Her name was 'Habi.'

'Wow, it's similar to my original name.'

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