Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 101

Chapter 101

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The peacefully bustling square quickly turned into a chaotic mess.

"Undead!"

"Kyaaa!"

Three undead, their faces riddled with holes and their knee joints twisted, hobbled through the square.

Looking closely, they were all moving toward one place.

An elderly noblewoman and her personal maid were there.

"Madam, Grand Duchess..."

"Shall I pre, prepare tea...?"

"Welcome back..."

Even as the undead drew closer, the two women didn't move.

"Oh, no!"

"Run! Hurry!"

People who had already fled shouted for them to escape, but the two remained motionless.

People assumed they were frozen in shock.

"Damn it...!"

A young man ran forward to help them.

At that very moment.

A sharp, heavy sound cut through the air and struck the undead.

A massive axe blade, wreathed in divine power, cleaved the undead in two, leaving a long gash in the square's pavement.

The undead, purified by the strike, scattered into gray dust.

The Inquisitor said a short prayer.

Then, after securing the axe on his back, he approached the noblewoman, presumed to be the undead's target.

"My name is Olive, Inquisitor."

"Inquisitor..."

"The clothes the undead were wearing bother me. They look like the uniforms typically worn by servants of a noble house."

Inquisitor Olive showed the clothes he'd collected.

"Do you happen to know who they are?"

"They are..."

The noblewoman, Grand Duchess of Stria, said with a stern face.

"Employees of the Deste mansion."

"Employees?"

"I'm currently staying at the Deste mansion for my health. So I'm certain."

"Do you remember their names?"

The Grand Duchess looked to her side. Her personal maid, Kara, trembling but steadying her voice, said.

"The names were Medy, Ochs, and Rita."

"Wh-what?"

Just then.

Someone appeared with a scream-like shout.

"Ochs is my cousin! He's an employee of the Deste mansion!"

Olive examined the split male servant's uniform. The name Ochs was embroidered inside the fabric.

"Ah, ah...!"

Ochs's cousin, confirming this, clutched his head and wailed.

"Employees of Deste are undead?"

"W-what is this...!"

"Wait! My friend also works there..."

"My daughter! My daughter works at the Deste mansion too...!"

A terrible wave of anxiety spread in an instant.

People frantically recalled if they knew any Deste employees, and those whose family or friends worked there were terrified.

Thud—!

Olive drew his axe again and struck the ground hard with the bottom of the handle.

"Calm down."

In the silence that followed, Olive's steady voice rang out.

"The central headquarters will act immediately to assess the situation."

"B-but we need to act now...!"

"Yes. We will act now."

Olive said.

"His Holiness the Holy King arrived in the Deste Territory today."

---

Knight Commander Rashid knew as soon as he saw the visitor at the Deste mansion.

Ah, the plan had failed.

"This can't be..."

The visitor had been crying even before entering the mansion.

A white priestly robe reaching down to the ankles, and a short black cape over the shoulders.

Stylishly graying hair and a kind face.

A plain black jade ring on the left ring finger.

"How could such a tragic evil have occurred on this land blessed by an angel's descent..."

Holy King Ekklesia Kathol.

He looked at the employees moving about the mansion and murmured sadly.

"Your Holiness, why have you come here?"

Knight Commander Rashid asked, hiding his agitation.

Even though the plan had failed completely, he desperately racked his brain to prevent the fallout from reaching him and the Crown Prince.

Holy King Ekklesia said in a tearful voice.

"I came to appraise the relic."

"The relic..."

At that, Rashid recalled the angel that had descended here last spring.

"I came to appraise the feather the angel left behind, but then I sensed an evil presence and hurriedly changed course here..."

"......"

Rashid found nothing suspicious in the Holy King's words.

That made it all the more suspicious.

'Why now of all times?'

Now, when they were trying to kill the Grand Duchess.

Now, when they were trying to bring the Magical Engineering Academy under the Emperor's control.

Now, when they were trying to use Head Priest Saikeuf.

Now, when the Crown Prince was here.

Why would the Holy King, who had remained silent even when the Clavis were destroyed, choose to move now?

And with such an impeccable excuse.

"Undead, you say?"

Rashid first feigned ignorance.

"That's absurd. How could there be undead here..."

Whoosh—!

A sharp sound grazed the right side of the Knight Commander's ear.

He heard something fall behind him.

Then the sound of the fallen object scattering into dust in the air.

The Holy King, who had thrown an iron needle, adjusted his sleeve and said.

"I've just caught one undead."

"......"

"Don't you want to check?"

"......"

Rashid silently gritted his teeth.

'He knew everything.'

The Holy King knew it all.

A chilling fear scraped across the Knight Commander's skin.

The holy knights behind the Holy King were bothersome, but what bothered him most was the Holy King himself, who showed no openings.

The Holy King said.

"I received a report that three undead appeared in the square a moment ago..."

Rashid's eyebrow twitched.

'Three undead.'

The Crown Prince had been playing with three undead employees as well.

'But I incinerated those myself.'

He'd put them in the incinerator behind the mansion and burned them until only ash remained.

'Then how did they end up roaming the streets?'

But the Holy King gave Rashid no time to resolve his confusion.

"From this moment on, all authority over the Deste mansion is seized in the name of Holy King Ekklesia Kathol."

"......"

"Not even a single ant will leave this place. Until the investigation is complete."

A transparent barrier formed outside the window.

The Deste mansion was sealed.

---

'Oho.'

From a short distance away, I watched the Deste mansion, now trapped inside a large rectangular barrier, as if it had nothing to do with me.

Soon, holy knights surrounded the mansion and took up defensive positions.

'I never expected the Holy King himself to show up.'

Ignoring the slight fatigue, I headed to the Deste Temple with Uncle Aig.

Priest Saker, who had arrived first, guided me to the reception room.

The Grand Duchess, sitting with an anxious expression, looked relieved the moment she saw me.

"Little one!"

"Grand Duchess."

I expressed my gratitude.

"Thank you for your help. Are you hurt?"

"Nothing happened to me."

She pulled me into a light embrace and pointed across the room.

"Thanks to the Inquisitor, we're safe."

"Sir Olive, thank you for your help."

"I merely did what a servant of God should do."

Olive replied stiffly.

"......"

I tilted my head.

"Are you angry?"

"Something like that."

"Ah, I guess calling the Holy King was too much..."

"That's not it."

Olive cut me off and let out a deep sigh, eyes closed.

"I'm displeased for personal reasons. It's not unrelated to you, but the root cause is something else, so don't worry."

"That makes me more worried..."

"And His Holiness the Holy King..."

"......"

I waited for him to continue, but Olive didn't say anything more.

'What's wrong with him? Is he going through puberty?'

He is sixteen, after all.

I sat down beside the Grand Duchess.

"Grand Duchess, where's Kara?"

"She went to the station to buy tickets with your guard. We were originally supposed to return tomorrow, but given the situation, it might be delayed."

"Ah."

If she went with Ian, there was nothing to worry about.

Then I turned to Priests Saker and Chel do.

Meeting my eyes, they spoke in turn.

"When His Holiness's secretary visited, we reported that Head Priest Saikeuf had stolen the angel's feather and fled."

"We also told them that the miracle of the well, which made Dulcevia grow, had also disappeared. As proof, we showed them the dried Dulcevia we'd collected."

I nodded and let out a deep breath.

'It's finally over...'

The past few days of struggle flashed through my mind.

'First, we removed the undead the Knight Commander was about to destroy.'

It wasn't difficult.

The incinerator where Rashid had thrown the bodies was actually the incinerator of Ixelium Village Hall, which I had swapped using my ability.

Verity, who had been in the village, removed the undead and replaced them with three fake corpses made of pork and bones.

And before releasing the three undead.

"Stationing troops in Deste? If there's a justification, it can be done immediately."

"Of course there's a justification! The Deste Temple has the angel's feather, and the miracle of the well that made the rare herb grow..."

"...The central headquarters has received no such reports."

"D-don't glare at us, Priests! There's a terrible reason why these were kept secret!"

I'd given Olive the justification to move the temple's forces.

"Grand Duchess, could you keep visiting the antique shop?"

"Will that be enough? What about Kara..."

"Feel free to tell Kara. If you trust her, I will too. And please remember these names."

"These names are..."

"They were the names of the undead who would have attacked you in life."

"...Names I will remember for the rest of my life."

I'd asked the Grand Duchess to walk into the trap.

And just in case, I'd asked the Director of the Magical Engineering Academy to cause a mana blackout in the area.

By slipping a letter through the window, just like last time.

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