Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 108

Chapter 108

Olive explained.

"It's a foundation operated with donations from wealthy merchants based in T'mari."

"That foundation is suspicious too?"

Just then.

Poppy and Chuchu, who had been sniffing around the building, perked up their ears.

Then they looked outside.

At the same time, Verity pulled me close and hid against the wall by the window.

Olive also crouched down and pulled out thin iron needles hidden in his sleeves.

I asked as I gathered the dogs.

"Can you kill with those?"

"I can, but I won't."

"But they're coming with the intent to kill us."

Verity pointed to Poppy and Chuchu in my arms.

Both were smart enough not to make a sound, but they were baring their fangs in fierce anger.

This was the first time I'd seen them so angry.

"Verity."

I said quietly.

"I want to try something."

"What?"

"A new application of my ability."

Verity, holding a sharp piece of broken plank, widened his eyes.

"Now? Without testing it in the village?"

"Because..."

Snap.

The moment I snapped my fingers.

"Aaaargh! Aah!"

A painful scream erupted.

Taking advantage of the opening, Olive threw his needles through the broken window.

Verity also threw the plank he was holding.

Though I couldn't see it, I soon heard the heavy thud of something falling to the ground. I closed my eyes and prayed.

'In your next life, be born a good person to clear your karma.'

Having killed multiple times at the Antema Lab, I wasn't scared, but a part of me felt quite uncomfortable.

Poppy and Chuchu quickly ran outside.

Following them, I saw the Duke couple chewing on the scalp and nape of the only man still breathing.

Horrified, I quickly pulled them away.

"Gross! Down! Bad!"

"Grrrr!"

"Woof! Woof!"

Even after I pried them off, the Duke couple kept growling shamelessly.

Verity checked the three fallen men.

"Two are unconscious..."

"Huh?"

"Why?"

"Oh, nothing..."

I'd assumed they were dead.

'Guess I prematurely offered my condolences.'

They seemed like the type who wouldn't live long anyway, so I figured I was just giving them an early blessing.

What was surprising was that the one bleeding the most was the one struck by my attack.

"Ugh, nngh..."

A short-haired man lay on the ground, clutching his bleeding foot.

"Aha."

Verity grinned at me.

Then he pulled a syringe from his subspace pocket and handed it to me.

"You copied that guy, didn't you?"

"This kind of ability is hard to practice in the village."

I inserted the syringe into the fallen man's arm.

The moment the drug was injected, the man passed out, his eyes rolling back.

Olive frowned and asked.

"Is that a proper medicine?"

"I don't know."

"......"

"But Habi is seven years old, so she won't be punished for any crime! No medical law violations either!"

"Don't you remember being implicated and exiled?"

"Oh, right."

I quickly hid the empty syringe in my subspace.

'Anyway!'

This ability was copied from the demon I'd fought at the Antema Lab...

'...Ah, what was his name?'

Anyway, I'd copied the demon's 'storage' ability exactly.

A technique that opens a subspace right under the enemy's feet to pull out a weapon and attack.

'Phew, even thinking about it gives me chills.'

As my ability grew stronger, my subspace volume also increased.

Just a few days ago, I'd measured it at 50x50.

125 liters.

That's about 62.5 two-liter bottles.

I stretched the subspace, which I'd always used in cube form, into a long shape.

62.5 two-liter bottles lined up would be about 6 meters.

I laid that stretched subspace along the path I'd walked.

And the moment I sensed someone passing over it, I pulled out a knife I'd brought from the village.

'I'm so tired I could die...'

I yawned so wide my jaw cracked. My eyes were even tearing up.

It seemed extending the subspace to detect others required considerable power.

'But having gained a detection ability...'

The unexpected gain was enough to chase away my drowsiness.

I yawned again and asked Verity.

"Why did they come?"

"If your guess is correct, they came looking for the missing children too. Or maybe for something hidden in the orphanage."

"I don't think the children fled on their own."

Olive said, looking at the building.

"There was probably an adult."

"True, it would be hard for children to escape without leaving any traces."

"I hope it was a good adult..."

A mutter slipped out unintentionally.

Leaving no traces behind meant they had received professional training.

Whatever the case.

'Just stay alive.'

I hated seeing children suffer more than anything.

---

First, we decided to dispose of the three unconscious men.

"How should we dispose of them? Chop them up?"

"You keep suggesting that, which is why Sir Ian worries about your character."

"Oppa worries about pointless things. My character is already beyond repair."

"Don't say that. Humans can always be rehabilitated."

After discussion, we decided to put them in the village hall.

The dungeon, which had long housed Molle Livus and Head Priest Saikeuf, was now empty since we'd given them away to the holy knights for free.

After contacting Aunt Prellia, the acting village chief, I used my ability to move directly to the village hall basement.

"Oh my, this man's leg is hurt?"

"He was clumsy and didn't notice a knife on the floor."

"Should I call Elva and Merdi?"

"Tell them the one with the injured leg was anesthetized, but the other two weren't. And that all three tried to kill us."

After finishing our business, we returned to the T'mari Territory.

"Now, let's find out where they came from..."

"Lady Clavis."

Just then, Olive called me.

"Isn't Mr. Merdi the one who was part of the gang that hijacked the train?"

"Yes."

Uncle Merdi is an acquaintance of Aunt Elva, and the only one who believed in her innocence to the end.

After many hardships, the two reunited, confessed their feelings, and started dating with marriage in mind.

'By the way, he remembered the name.'

Honestly, that surprised me more.

"Are they all doing well?"

"I hope so."

As village chief, I'm helping them a lot, but only they truly know how they're doing.

"I'm doing my best to help them live well."

"My Lady is quite a remarkable village chief."

Verity praised me.

Embarrassed, I could only kick the ground.

"......"

Olive watched me silently for a long time.

His eyes, which had always looked at me with the disapproval of a grumpy adolescent, were for the first time soft and gentle.

'He must be thinking of his sister.'

Olive had seen Ixelium Village twice today. When bringing the uncles, and when bringing the dogs.

That was intentional on my part.

'I should at least show him where his sister lives.'

So he could be a little at ease.

And it seemed to have worked.

"Now, it's the Duke couple's turn."

I held out a glove I'd taken from the man we'd put in the dungeon.

Poppy and Chuchu sniffed the glove intently.

"Woof!"

"Woof woof!"

They soon fixed their gaze in a certain direction.

There was a forest there.

Verity looked at the sun's position.

"Northwest."

"If we go a little further, we'll reach Int'mari Territory."

"Maybe we'll run into Uncle Modi on the way."

We followed the dogs' lead northwest.

After about thirty minutes of walking.

Just as I was getting tired of stepping on twigs.

"...A cave?"

A dugout cave appeared.

It was man-made. The thick wooden supports at the entrance weren't very old—it had been built recently.

"......"

Verity knelt on one knee, placed his hand on the ground, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them.

"My Lady, congratulations."

"Huh? Suddenly?"

"You might get that parcel delivery ticket."

"......"

"......"

Verity quickly looked away when our eyes met.

And for good reason.

"One wish counts as half?"

"The thing is, hmm, they judged that I basically caught it myself..."

"Uncle Aig and I worked together to send it to the primeval forest—so it's practically mine!"

"Ugh, but it's not my decision..."

"Wow, I feel like I'm back in Korea. Experiencing this kind of injustice again."

"My Lady, life is inherently unfair. Would it be fun if everything went your way?"

"It would be fucking fun! I always used the motherlode cheat in Sims games!"

The demon we'd caught during the undead incident.

Since half the credit went to Verity, I ended up losing half a wish.

'So this time, I have to catch one myself!'

I need three wishes to get a tablet PC.

"A parcel delivery ticket?"

Olive, not knowing our situation, tilted his head.

"What's that?"

"It's the reason I endure this unfair child labor."

"You're saying such hurtful things, my Lady."

Ignoring Verity's whining, I quickly assessed the situation.

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