Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 104

Chapter 104

---

Let me correct myself.

'I thought I had no luck with family, but I have the best luck of all.'

From now on, I won't say I have no luck with family, even as a joke.

Having made that resolution, I sniffled for no reason. It wasn't because I was crying—my eyes just suddenly stung.

I must have an allergy to kind grandfathers.

'...Hehe.'

Sitting on the sofa, I happily swung my dangling legs.

The Holy King's gaze as he watched me was as warm as if it were melting. I suppose that's what they mean by a honeyed look.

"Hehe!"

"Our princess looks just like her mother."

"Really?"

"Is there anyone else in the Clavis as clever and pretty as our princess? Or maybe she takes after her grandmother?"

The Holy King told me that he loved and respected those two just as much as he loved me.

I shyly crossed my legs.

"She naturally thought it was only right to help others with a kind heart, and she was always at the top of her class in everything she did."

"Ooh."

"And yet she had to go and get married..."

"......"

I didn't know what to say, since I was born because of it.

The Holy King earnestly advised me.

"Our princess doesn't need to get married. When a woman has money and power, living alone is the best. Love only your muscles—people betray you, but muscles never do."

I'd never met such a positive pessimist in my life.

No wonder he became the Holy King.

I nodded.

"Yes! I'll work hard on my muscle training!"

I had no intention of dating anyone except Senior anyway.

'Besides, I have a seven-year-old body and a twenty-five-year-old mind.'

No matter which standard I used, everyone seemed like an odd choice for romance.

"Oh, our princess."

The Holy King's gaze, which had been watching me answer so brightly, shifted slightly.

"What's your next plan?"

Hearing that, I recalled something from a few days ago.

---

The Holy King had announced that a miracle had occurred at the Deste Temple.

"The miracle bestowed upon the Deste Temple was holy water that aided the growth of herbs."

"Keeping it secret was entirely my decision."

"Considering the situation at the time when the miracle was reported..."

He explained that it had been kept secret because if the Emperor found out, he would have taken all the herbs.

And the next day.

An angel appeared once more over the Deste Territory.

The angel glared somewhere with white eyes, then pointed in a certain direction with the sword in its hand.

At the same time, an emergency occurred at the Deste Temple.

"H-help!"

"Head Priest Saikeuf has...!"

Head Priest Saikeuf had stolen the angel's feather and fled.

And the miracle had vanished.

The glowing well lost its power, and the herbs grown with its water had completely withered.

And he hadn't disappeared alone.

"The Viscount Deste has also fled!"

The Holy King immediately dispatched search parties. He ordered that if captured, they should be taken straight to the central headquarters in the west.

'He's truly amazing.'

The place the Holy King sent the search parties matched a location I hadn't told anyone about.

The Antema Lab.

What surprised me most was his decision to open the Deste mansion when purifying the undead.

Officially, it was to mourn the tragedy and not hide the truth.

In reality, it was to create numerous witnesses and completely block any possibility of the imperial family opposing the temple's punishment of the nobles.

'So this is the kind of person who becomes the head of an organization...'

I said honestly.

"The imperial family will be lying low because of this incident, so I was thinking of focusing more on running Ixelium Village in the meantime."

"Ixelium?"

"The village's name. I changed the spelling of Exilium a little."

"Such a beautiful name. A land where light dawns..."

Muttering as if savoring the meaning, the Holy King's eyes widened.

"Oh, then that first-aid kit the Deste Temple recently endorsed..."

"The flagship product of the Ixel Trading Company, the pride of our village!"

"Oh, oh my!"

The Holy King picked me up and bounced me up and down.

"Our princess is this amazing!"

"Kyahaha."

"Then I should tell you one thing, Village Chief."

Setting me back down on the sofa, the Holy King said.

"Why is the imperial family lying low?"

"Because they've lost so much public support because of this incident."

At my answer, he nodded as if I'd hit the mark.

"And?"

"Huh?"

"That's also correct, but isn't that alone a bit weak?"

"Hmm..."

Thinking about it, he was right.

The Emperor had always pretended not to see public sentiment and ignored his reputation, doing as he pleased.

There's no way such a person would start caring about Deste's public opinion now.

'Hmm...'

The Holy King gazed at me as I pondered.

"Our princess."

Then he gave me another answer.

"The Emperor may be foolish, but he's not stupid."

"......"

"He'll pretend to step back for now and reorganize his forces."

Because through this incident, he'd learned how far my abilities had developed and what level of power and strength I possessed.

Tap. He lightly touched my small nose with his finger.

The Holy King's eyes were now filled with concern.

"I'm the one on the front lines, but he knows you're behind this."

"......"

"His retreat could be both an opportunity and a crisis for you. So always be careful..."

"How much do you know, Grandfather?"

I asked.

"Do you know what the Emperor wants?"

"Just some petty, filthy ambition, smaller than a flea."

The Holy King frowned. He clicked his tongue as if just thinking about it was unpleasant.

"But..."

Then he pointed upward with his finger.

I followed his gaze and looked up, startled.

'Was that always there?'

A painting covered the ceiling.

Like the ceiling paintings I'd seen in some grand cathedral in a book, the sky in the fresco was so vast it seemed to pierce through the roof.

Even though I knew it was an optical illusion created by perspective, I found myself unconsciously searching for the end of that painted sky.

A large hand slowly covered my eyes.

As a safe darkness fell over my vision.

"Beware of those beyond."

The Holy King whispered in my ear, like sharing a secret.

"Those cowardly hypocrites who dress up their self-interest as justice and call their self-preservation peace."

Grandfather knew about possessors.

---

On the day he left for the central headquarters in the west.

"Our princess, do you want to come with Grandfather to the central headquarters?"

Holy King Ekklesia lingered in the reception room, reluctant to say goodbye to Hebenia.

"Does Grandfather have a lot of money?"

Hebenia's eyes sparkled.

"If I go to the headquarters, can I wear pretty clothes and put on jewelry?"

"Grandfather is the Holy King, so I don't have personal wealth. Instead, I can wear a simple white robe and eat healthy black grain bread..."

"Take care!"

Hebenia bowed at a right angle.

"Our princess, your greed has really grown..."

That's something that can't be cured.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door. It was the Holy King's secretary.

"It's time to leave."

The Holy King swallowed his regret and stood up. He kissed Hebenia's forehead and sincerely prayed.

"Our princess, I will always pray for your health and happiness."

"I'll definitely come visit the central headquarters. Once I've visited a place, I can always go back. So we can always meet."

Hebenia waved as the Holy King left through the reception room door.

Soon, the door closed.

Hebenia took out the cloaking cloak she'd stored in her subspace, put it on, and used her ability to move into the Holy King's carriage.

'No one's here yet, right?'

She quickly put up a barrier.

'In movies and dramas, people get assassinated when they let their guard down while leaving.'

Then she immediately moved to the train station.

And waited for the Holy King's party to arrive.

'Sigh, look at the crowd.'

The streets and the area in front of the station in the Deste Territory were packed with people.

They wanted to see the Holy King, who had purified the undead and brought about not one but two miracles of angelic descent, even from a distance.

There were no loud cheers.

Because of the recent tragedy, people silently escorted the Holy King with tears and silence.

Hebenia hid behind a pillar and watched the Holy King and his party board the train until the very end.

---

"You've worked hard."

"How could I have worked hard? Others did all the work."

"You'll have a lot to do when you return to the headquarters."

"First, I need to find those who verified that Saikeuf had overcome the trials. I also need to reflect on my own failure to properly verify him."

"This is a good opportunity to reform the temple from the inside..."

Huh?

The Holy King's secretary paused, then chuckled and pointed outside.

"Your Holiness."

The Holy King looked out the window and his eyes widened.

Behind a pillar on the platform, Hebenia was hiding.

Seeing that their eyes had met, Hebenia waved her arms enthusiastically.

Jumping up and down with a bright smile, she looked just like an excited puppy.

"She seems to have come to see you off, Your Holiness."

"......"

"Oh dear, don't cry."

"Thinking of all the hardships that little one will face..."

"Now you can help her, Your Holiness. She said she'd visit the headquarters, so from then on, you can always..."

Hmm?

The secretary paused once more.

"Um, Your Holiness...?"

She quickly tapped the Holy King's shoulder and pointed outside again.

The Holy King, who had been dabbing his moist eyes with a handkerchief, sniffled and looked out.

[Grandfather!]

Hebenia was holding a large sketchbook.

On it, she'd written her true feelings that she hadn't been able to say.

[The saintess is our next-door neighbor!]

[And she's a half-demon!]

"What!"

Puuuuu, the train departed with a loud horn.

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