Home/The Seven-Year-Old Village Chief of Exile/ch 66

Chapter 66

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"Hebenia! Hebenia!"

Ian called out to the fallen Hebenia endlessly.

'She, she's not dead, is she? First, check her breathing...!'

He pressed a trembling finger to her nose. He felt a faint, shallow breath.

But it was too early to feel relieved.

Hebenia's condition was terrible.

Her skin was pale as if all her blood had drained, her clothes were torn in places, and red scars peeked through the rips.

Her philtrum, chin, and the front of her clothes were stained with blood.

'This is a trial? Something a Clavis should go through?'

Ian carefully cradled the unconscious Hebenia.

She was taller than when she'd first come to the exile camp, and her belly was plump, but why did she feel so much lighter than when he'd held her on the train yesterday?

"Sister."

Ian called out to Nema, who was leaning on the giant scissors, panting.

Her face, grimacing in pain, was drenched in cold sweat.

Every time she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, the blood vessels in her eyes expanded and contracted repeatedly.

Her body, leaning on the scissors, writhed as if about to go berserk at any moment, and drool dripped from her mouth as she breathed raggedly.

"Sister Nema! It's okay now."

"Huff, pant, huff..."

"Habi—Hebenia is safe. Thanks to you arriving just in time."

"Heben...ia..."

"Yes, Sister."

Ian spoke in a warm voice, like a lantern lighting the way.

"Hebenia is right here."

Only then did Nema manage to hold onto her precarious sanity.

Her rough breathing gradually calmed, and color began to return to her hands, which had been gripping the scissors so tightly they'd turned white from lack of blood flow.

"Heb, Hebenia...!"

Nema threw down the scissors and rushed over, kneeling before Hebenia.

"Go, goodness...!"

"She's breathing. But she needs treatment."

"Right, let's get out of here quickly..."

"Are you okay, Sister?"

"I'm fine."

Nema swept her tangled red hair back with one hand, revealing a golden hairband-like object.

"Lord Verity gave it to me. He said it's a magical tool that suppresses madness."

"The side effects..."

"A bit of a headache..."

She smiled as if it was nothing, but Ian could tell that the pain was severe enough to suppress the madness.

Fortunately, now that she'd regained her reason, she didn't seem to be suffering, which was a relief.

Just then, Verity approached.

The demon butler knelt on one knee to lower himself.

"My Lady."

He gently stroked Hebenia, who had successfully overcome the trial.

"Lord Verity."

Ian couldn't hold it in any longer.

"This, this isn't right."

"......"

"She's seven years old. She's only a seven-year-old child!"

While fighting the angel, Ian had felt like he was falling into hell countless times.

The demon had nearly killed Hebenia several times, and each time, Hebenia had endured without a single scream.

Watching that from the side had been unspeakably miserable. He felt like a useless fool.

What was a trial anyway?

Why did a child have to suffer to this extent for something like that?

"...The Clavis."

Verity paused for a moment and lowered his gaze.

The pain in his voice was genuine.

"Are a family full of exceptions. I don't know much more than you do. No, even the Lords probably only know the tip of the iceberg."

"......"

"As much as you are angry, I am also burning up inside. After all, I care for my Lady quite a bit."

"We know you care."

"There isn't a single villager who doesn't know that."

At Ian and Nema's affirmation, Verity smiled bitterly.

Ian asked.

"By any chance, are there three trials? Like the 'Three Trials of the Savior' from the scriptures?"

"That's what I've heard."

"This madness..."

He had to endure two more?

If the Clavis were here, Ian would grab them by the collar and shout.

What kind of burden are you placing on your own daughter?

Don't you feel sorry for the child left alone?

'...What is this trial for, anyway?'

Ian was confused.

'What is the trial for, and what do you gain from it?'

Just then, something was thrust before Ian's eyes.

He took it absently and muttered.

"Holy water..."

"Drink it. You're not in good shape either, Sir Ian. And Sister Nema, stay still for a moment. I'll remove the golden circlet. Has the impulse subsided?"

"Yes. Thanks to you..."

"It must have been very painful, but you endured well. This golden circlet is originally used by youkai—hmm, by beings superior to humans..."

Verity also handed holy water to Nema.

Then he put the unconscious Hebenia on his back.

"Let's get out of here first. It's underground and the air is stagnant—it won't be good for my Lady."

"...Agreed."

Ian wanted to get out of this damn lab as soon as possible.

"Before that, there's something Habi asked for."

"Habi?"

"Hebenia asked me to call her by that nickname."

"Oh, that's a good change."

The three of them stored all the bookshelves in the archive into Verity's subspace pocket.

Then they moved to the lab where the herbs were piled up.

Along the way, they flinched every time they passed the bone-filled room or the lab covered in dark red substances.

"There are no undead."

"I heard there was a room on basement 4 where the living victims were kept. Could they be there?"

"Hmm..."

Verity, who had been stuffing the herbs and manufactured medicines from the lab into his subspace pocket, shook his head.

"I don't sense the ominous presence characteristic of undead. There's no sign of the living either."

"Does that make sense?"

Nema, who had been busily putting herbs and medicines into Verity's pocket, paused.

"This is a lab that creates undead."

And yet there wasn't a single undead.

Ian pointed out another oddity.

"Lord Verity, the amount of herbs here is also less than I expected. They were apparently shipped from the capital... but..."

"They only do the most annoying things. Are they crazy, or..."

"Could there be another research lab besides this one?"

At Nema's words, Ian and Verity's hands froze.

Feeling their gazes on her, Nema shrank her shoulders slightly, a bit embarrassed.

"Ah."

Just then, Verity checked on Hebenia, who was on his back.

"Her breathing has become labored..."

At that, Ian put his hand on Hebenia's forehead and was startled.

"She has a fever."

"We've gathered enough. You said the victims are on basement 2? We'll join them and then blow up the lab..."

Creak—.

Clack, clack.

Heavy leather heels struck the pristine marble floor, creating a crisp sound.

"......"

"......"

"......"

The three stopped moving simultaneously and pressed their backs against the corridor wall, crouching low.

At the same time, a presence passed overhead.

'I've heard that footstep before...!'

Ian's eyes trembled.

When the presence stopped in front of the archive at the deepest part of the lab, Ian quickly wrote on the back of Verity's hand.

Verity nodded with a grim expression.

After confirming, Ian wrote the identity of the presence on Nema's palm.

[The Emperor's Chief Chamberlain]

Nema's eyes widened as if they might pop out.

Verity quickly handed the cloaking cloaks to Ian and Nema, and they hurriedly put them on.

---

Late at night.

No one knew why the Chief Chamberlain had visited the Antema Research Lab.

If any of the researchers had survived, they'd have grumbled, "A surprise visit? How unfair!"

It was truly that inexplicable a visit.

"Hm."

Even seeing the empty archive, the Chief Chamberlain made an unimpressed sound. Just a disinterested face saying there was nothing there.

But the corner of his mouth was very slightly.

Barely perceptibly, curled upward.

When he passed the archive and entered the cavern connected to the secret passage to basement 4.

"Oh."

He surveyed the devastated scenery as if admiring a beautiful work of art, letting out an impressed sigh.

Clack, clack. His expensive shoes left a crisp sound.

The Chief Chamberlain removed his gloves and ran his bare hands over the sword scratches on the walls and the deep, sharp gouges on the floor.

He looked up at the sky through the hole in the ceiling.

He took in the bloodstains on the floor.

He frowned slightly at the blood, but soon returned to his usual impassive expression.

When the Chief Chamberlain left the archive again.

"......"

He had drawn his sword.

Thwack—!

Bang—!

The Chief Chamberlain entered each empty lab in turn, smashing and slashing everything.

And each time, he muttered:

"Nothing."

"Here too."

"Nothing."

"How strange."

"The one leaving..."

"I didn't meet them on the way in."

The Chief Chamberlain's clear mutterings were heard by.

"......"

"......"

"......"

The three people hiding in the lab closest to the stairs leading up, heard every word.

'Damn it, he knows!'

Ian bit his lip.

'He knows we're still here!'

They'd have made it up the stairs if they'd been a little faster, but the Chief Chamberlain had come out just then, forcing them to hide in a nearby lab.

They were wearing the cloaking cloaks, but they couldn't relax their guard.

Verity had even warned them to hold their breath as much as possible.

'The fact that Lord Verity doesn't underestimate the Chief Chamberlain...'

Ian swallowed dryly.

'He's strong after all.'

He'd known it when he saw him outside the primeval forest, but now, with his own level raised, Ian could tell just how monstrous the Chief Chamberlain was.

Just then.

Clatter, clatter—!

Someone was running down the stairs.

"......"

The Chief Chamberlain quietly sheathed his sword.

Clatter, clatter—!

The sound grew closer.

And the moment the presence descended the stairs and reached basement 3.

Crash—!

The Chief Chamberlain's sword, lunging with a swift kick, clashed with the massive axe blade swung by the newcomer, sending a massive shockwave through the underground floor.

All the glass in the labs shattered in succession, like ripples spreading.

Ian and Nema shielded Verity, who was holding Hebenia, as broken glass rained down on their heads and backs.

The standoff between the Chief Chamberlain and the unknown figure happened to be right in the corridor in front of the lab where the three were hiding.

"Hmm."

In the tense struggle of locked blade and axe, it was the Chief Chamberlain who spoke first.

"What brings an Inquisitor all the way here?"

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