Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 7

Chapter 7

"...Pardon?"

I asked back, frozen.

"Ex-execution? Summary execution?"

"Possessors are always going on about the 'original story' or whatever, disrupting the world's order, the flow of fate, and causality however they please. When one person possesses someone, at least ten thousand people suffer. They act like they're the main characters of the world."

The school-uniform demon shook his head as if troubled.

"There's an organization called the Interdimensional Alliance—oh, is this too soon for you? Anyway, there have been cases of damage across various worlds caused by possessors..."

I swallowed dryly in fear.

'What kind of development is this all of a sudden!'

Possessor?

Summary execution?

'I shouldn't have asked! I should have just shamelessly pretended to be Hebenia! What was that conscience of mine thinking!'

Just then.

"Did you ask because you thought you yourself might have possessed someone?"

The school-uniform demon suddenly leaned his face close to mine and asked.

Startled, I let out a loud hiccup instead of answering.

The demon looked at me and smiled brightly.

"Oh my, what a misunderstanding! Don't worry. You've simply settled well into your original body. You haven't possessed anyone."

You've returned.

The school-uniform demon smiled so prettily it made one's heart flutter.

But I was only afraid.

Whether it was because of the demon's smile, or because of the enormous secret I'd just discovered, I couldn't be sure.

But one thing was certain.

'...I was shocked enough to stop hiccupping.'

I hadn't possessed anyone.

I had been 'Hebenia Clavis' from the start.

---

First, I introduced the school-uniform demon to the exile family.

I decided to set aside the various questions swirling in my head for now. I was dying of curiosity, but they weren't urgent matters.

"You could ask more, you know."

"I'll do it later. My head's too complicated."

"Oh dear, did I talk too much unnecessarily?"

"Not yet, it's fine..."

The family, who had gathered at our house to prepare dinner, greeted the school-uniform demon warmly the moment they saw him.

"I am the demon who will be staying by Lady Hebenia's side from today onward."

With his polite replies and his friendly, smiling eyes, the school-uniform demon won the family's hearts in an instant.

He even told us his name.

"Please, call me Verity! Of course, it's a pseudonym. If an ordinary human heard my true name, their head would explode and they'd die, and then their soul would wander the mortal realm until it wore away and disappeared."

"......"

"......"

A demon was still a demon.

While dinner was being prepared, I called Ian aside and went to a corner of the yard with Verity.

"Verity, you're a really strong demon, right?"

At my question, Verity nodded.

"In terms of combat ability, I have a skill level that would make no one envious. Even the two Lords you met earlier would acknowledge it."

So Bleached Demon was also a Lord.

"Then can you help the two of us train?"

"Hebenia?"

Ian looked at me with surprised eyes.

I spoke to Ian.

"Well, I'm sorry for deciding on my own. But earlier, when you touched the sword, your eyes looked so wistful..."

"......"

"Just like the main character in that song we heard during morning exercises."

"Haha..."

Ian gave a bitter smile and opened his mouth.

"How embarrassing. Even a child like you noticed."

And he readily admitted it.

"You're right. As you said, I still have lingering feelings."

Though he had been forced to give up his knighthood due to a false accusation, Ian still couldn't forget the days he held a sword.

"For me, a sword wasn't just a weapon. It was a means to protect my family, the fruit of my efforts, proof that I was alive and breathing."

"Oppa..."

That was a bit cringey.

But it must mean that the sword was that precious to Ian, so I hid my true feelings with a bittersweet smile.

"Oh my...!"

And.

"I never thought a human could be so admirable!"

It worked perfectly on Verity.

'Now that I think about it, that sounded just like something a chuunibyou would love.'

He looked like he was fifteen, so I guess he really was a middle-schooler.

'There's a reason his combat ability is strong.'

Now that the topic had come up, Ian and I decided to start training the very next day.

For tomorrow's training, I ate a hearty dinner and went to bed early.

But I couldn't fall asleep easily.

'So I really am Hebenia.'

All this time, I thought I'd possessed someone.

Aside from my head spinning, my heart was gradually calming down.

'Thank goodness.'

With the guilt of taking over someone else's body gone, I felt confident. Now I could do anything without reservation.

But a question arose.

'If the present me is really Hebenia...'

Then what was the life I lived in that other world as 'Chae Habin'?

"Hmm..."

Even as I groaned in thought, no clear answer came.

"Oh well, let's just forget about it!"

My curiosity wasn't urgent. What mattered most to me now was living well and eating well in this exile camp.

To do that, I needed to learn how to use my power properly.

'Of course, it's frustrating. If this life is really mine, then what was all that suffering I went through over there?'

But that frustration was nothing compared to my current relief and happiness.

'Yeah. Let's forget it for now and sleep well.'

What was the point of complaining about a life worse than exile?

Just as the exile family were reclaiming their own lives, I too could find and enjoy my own life.

'I've got a pleasant homework assignment.'

Thinking that, my mind felt at ease.

As if praising me for it, someone gently stroked my head.

"......"

Startled, I opened my eyes—and it was already morning.

'When did I fall asleep?'

The sensation was so vivid, not like a dream, and I subtly ran my hand over my hair.

It was a morning greeted with pleasant embarrassment.

---

Verity, wearing a dark blue school gym uniform, took me and Ian to the outskirts of the residential district, where the primeval forest spread out.

"First, please take these."

He handed us two backpacks.

Ian's was a neutral-toned hiking bag, and mine was a pink bag with a picture of an ant wearing a flower on its head.

When I checked inside, it contained dried food, a canteen, a first-aid kit, and such.

'No way...!'

Horrified, I quickly turned to Verity.

Verity, with an innocent smile, uttered something dreadful.

"The best training is real combat! Let's begin a training camp in the primeval forest, taking out monsters!"

"You demon!"

"I am a demon, yes?"

"Are you out of your mind...!"

Just as I started to protest frantically, Ian beside me was strangely quiet.

Feeling unnerved, I glanced at him—and he had a determined expression, eyes gleaming as if he had already accepted his fate.

As if entering the monster-infested primeval forest to hone his skills was his destiny.

'This guy's crazy!'

Look beside you!

There's a seven-year-old here!

Sensing my displeasure, Verity popped a strawberry milk-flavored candy into my mouth with his characteristic grin.

"As you know, Lady Hebenia, this place is a playground where the Sovereign's familiars romp around. The monsters are just snacks for those familiars."

Exilium is the familiars' territory.

Familiars are demons' pets.

In other words, this is demon land.

"In the territory of a superior being stronger than themselves, monsters can't act recklessly."

"R-really?"

Maybe the training would be a bit easier?

Unfortunately, my hopes were not to be fulfilled.

"The moment we enter the forest, I'll seal my power. Then the monsters will say, 'Oh ho!' and come charging at you. The two of you can just hunt them down properly."

"You demon!"

Having coughed up blood using my power before, this was hardly welcome news.

"So, you're not going to do it?"

"I-I'll do it, but..."

As if he'd expected that, Verity smiled sweetly.

The only thing left was Ian's decision.

"What are you going to do, oppa?"

"I want to get stronger quickly."

Ian's downcast eyes burned quietly.

"I was weak. Because I didn't have the power to protect even myself, I was framed. And the family I left behind is probably suffering because of me."

"......"

The family of a prisoner exiled for embezzlement and breach of trust.

Given what we'd been through, the family left behind was probably not in a good situation either.

'Usually, the families of perpetrators aren't protected.'

Ian, a former royal knight, knew that better than anyone.

Though he acted calm on the outside, his heart was probably burning darker than anyone else's. The same went for the other exile family members.

"......Alright."

Before entering the forest, I made one wish to Verity.

"Make me a tool to communicate with the family."

"Specifically, what kind?"

"Hmm..."

I thought for a moment and glanced at the watch on my left wrist.

I remembered that the Clavis in One Volume book said this had a phone function.

"Make me another one exactly like this. With the phone function."

Verity immediately created a watch and handed it to me.

Just then, the family arrived to see us off.

I put the new watch on Libby's wrist. Then and there, I taught her how to make a call and tried it out.

There were two ways to call: voice and video.

Voice was exactly that—communicating only through sound. Video displayed a small screen above the watch face, showing the other person's face.

"Oh my!"

When a small screen showing my face appeared above the watch, Libby and the exile family were startled.

'Oh, the picture quality is good!'

I was also surprised, when someone tapped my shoulder.

I turned around and smiled happily.

"Aunt Daliss!"

My fellow lifetime prisoner, who had been framed for killing her husband and abusing her child, was still not in her right mind.

According to the adults, her hair, now white as snow, used to be brown. It had turned like that in just one day after she arrived at the exile camp.

Aunt Daliss stared blankly at me, then opened her arms and hugged me tightly. I also wrapped my arms around her back.

"Listen well to Libby unnie. I'll bring you a present when I come back."

---

We decided to head into the primeval forest after the exile family had returned to the village, just in case.

Staring at the dark, dense forest, I asked Verity.

"How do we get in?"

"Well, you open it and go in, don't you?"

"Me?"

"Shall I open it for you then?"

"Can't a butler even open a barrier?"

"Lady Hebenia, we've only known each other for a day, but that's a bit harsh."

Verity put his hands on his waist and answered defiantly.

"I'm more of an errand boy! There are things I can't do!"

"If we're being technical, I'm the one paying for the errand, aren't I?"

If anyone's the errand boy, it's me?

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