The Celestial Maiden’s Young Master in Another World - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 10. Holy Flame Transfer
‘I’ll have to figure out how to extract that.’
The saint’s condition was far more serious than he’d anticipated.
Divine Power was clogging the flow of Holy Power—tiny fragments of Divine Power wedged precisely along the channels where Holy Power should run.
Divine Power and Holy Power operated on a clear hierarchy of force.
Divine Power was the force of God itself. Holy Power was what God had refined and granted to humans—the same energy, processed for mortal use.
In other words, Holy Power was a diminished version of Divine Power. The raw energy had been constrained to exactly what a human body could endure.
Which meant that Holy Power alone could never dislodge the Divine Power wedged in the saint’s body, blocking the flow. For any ordinary human, it would be impossible.
‘But I can do it.’
When he glanced at Ellie, she was still staring at the saint, her mouth hanging open.
Ahem, ahem.
Regardless, it was possible.
‘Ellie, Ellie. Stop gawking at the saint and say something, would you?’
-Oh, right. Yes, yes.
Snap.
‘You just told me you were the best-looking one, and now you can’t tear your eyes away.’
-Well, Lian is from the Celestial Realm too, but if you’re Archangel Grade, that one’s more like Divine Grade!
‘Never mind that. Stop just looking at his face and observe the rest of him. Isn’t it strange that he hasn’t ruptured?’
-Huh? Really?
Only then did Ellie’s eyes widen, as if she’d finally noticed the microscopic shards of Divine Power embedded within.
‘Is there any way to extract it?’
Ellie’s brow furrowed slightly.
-We can extract it. Won’t be easy, though.
‘So it’s not easy after all?’
-An enormous volume of Holy Power is being blocked by Divine Power sharp as a needle. That’s what this is. The concentration is incredible.
‘It can’t rupture. You can manage it, right?’
-I can do it! And we absolutely have to!
Ellie swallowed hard with a small gulp.
-I can absorb it!
Wait, what?
‘You can absorb Divine Power?’
-Yeah!
Well, that changes things.
The question is how to get close enough. I’ll need to approach him first.
-If you keep placing first, won’t you eventually run into him?
Right. Let me try keeping that pace.
“Whoa…”
“No way.”
“What’s going to happen with this?”
But something felt off. The atmosphere around the arena had changed.
Looking up at the aerial display panels, he saw his name and Corin Dalofes’s name side by side.
‘We’re in the same group? Group 13?’
While his attention had been elsewhere, he’d been placed on a team with Corin, who’d been dead last.
The group assignments had been drawn directly by the saint himself.
The moment Lian and Corin were confirmed as teammates, the crowd erupted in excitement.
“Wow, first place and last place on the same team? Is that right?”
“Ugh, I was rooting for Lian.”
“Well, group assignments are a matter of luck, so what can you do?”
The pairing of first and last place was precisely the kind of spectacle to set the spectators ablaze with speculation.
Some laughed at the amusing turn of events, while others protested that it wasn’t fair.
But everyone shared one common thought.
“This Baptism Ceremony is turning out to be really entertaining!”
That it was entertaining.
“If this is how it goes, the first place has to be Lionel Londoa, right?”
“Who knows? Lian might grab first again anyway.”
“Come on, getting first place while carrying dead weight is tough!”
Opinions on Lian Rudersque, who’d placed first in the Holy Flame hunt, were sharply divided.
Most held a skeptical view; the majority predicted he wouldn’t win first place this time around.
“I think Lian Rudersque will place first again this time.”
But one man in that crowd, a figure with a bright blue handkerchief—the signature color of the Rudersque Family—wrapped around his head spoke out with conviction.
“Ha, your arm’s bent inward, isn’t it? Being a native of Rudersque Territory, you’re a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the Rudersque Family!”
The person who countered wore a deep navy handkerchief wrapped around their head—deep navy was the signature color of the Londoa Family.
“No. It’s not simply because I’m a fan. I’ve heard rumors.”
“What sort of rumors?”
“That when Lian Rudersque was still an infant who couldn’t even crawl, he struck down a demon with extraordinary power. That’s the rumor I heard.”
“Even for a Rudersque, does that make sense?”
“It’s supposedly quite credible information. And he’s the child of Lady Rudersque, who was famous in her active years. The boy’s hardly lacking in talent.”
“Ha, I don’t believe it. I think Lionel Londoa will reclaim first place this time.”
“Care to wager on it?”
“You’re on!”
Bets were being made here and there—a textbook example of a thriving Baptism Ceremony!
‘This ceremony is going splendidly!’
Bishop Daniel nodded with satisfaction as he surveyed the crowd’s reactions.
The success of the ceremony was directly tied to his career, after all.
‘Lian! You must distinguish yourself this time as well…!!’
He held the microphone with fervent prayer in his heart.
***
‘Oh. That’s impressive.’
I was quite pleased with our team composition.

Lian Rudersque
Lumiel Rudersque
Adrian Berche
Corin Dalofes
After all, I’d ended up on the same team as two people I’d been watching closely.
“Ugh! Why do I have to be on a team with you?”
Lumiel approached with a frown, clicking his tongue in irritation.
Spirits gathered around him, tugging at his hair a strand or two at a time.
—This one’s such a brat!
—Shall we bother him some more?
“Huh? What is it, that tickles.”
Lumiel grew annoyed and raised his hand to roughly ruffle his hair free.
‘Don’t torment him too much.’
—Okaaay~
—Yesss~
Lumiel seemed to have become the spirits’ plaything, it appeared.
The spirits circled around him, flitting close and pulling away, their laughter tinkling like bells.
“Ah, hello? Nice to meet you….”
Next came Corin Dalofes, the one I’d been most curious about.
His shoulders were already hunched from what had happened during the earlier Holy Flame search, and his greeting came stiffly.
“Hi, Corin Dalofes, right?”
“Huh? You know my name?”
When I asked his name, his already round eyes grew even rounder.
But it wasn’t me who answered Corin’s question.
“How could you not know the sixty-second ranked? Your face was plastered across the screen in enormous letters.”
“Oh! Ah, um….”
Corin shrank at Lumiel’s blunt remark.
‘I suspect it wasn’t because he came last, but because Corin screamed like that.’
Corin’s face flushed scarlet as the memory of the earlier situation returned to him.
Well, if I killed his confidence completely, that would be troublesome. Should I tell Lumiel to stop?
I was calculating when to jump in when Lumiel spoke again.
“Never mind. Don’t worry about it. I, Lumiel, will make sure our team finishes in first place.”
“…Huh?”
“Whether you ranked sixty-second or whatever, I don’t care. I only have one rival anyway.”
Lumiel shot me a sharp look as he spoke.
“Me?”
“Who else would it be?”
“For that to be called rivalry, there’s an enormous gap of seven ranks between our scores.”
This time, Lumiel’s face turned crimson like a tomato.
“Th-that was only because the cage door suddenly opened and I lost the Holy Flame!”
-That was us who did it!
-We’re the ones who did it!
We only lost one Holy Flame back then.
I could have said more, but I decided to stop here. I’m an adult, after all.
Once the conversation ended, Corin’s expression had softened considerably.
Lumiel didn’t seem to have deliberately set out to encourage him. Well, if it turned out to be comforting in the end, that’s what mattered.
“Oh, I guess I’m the last one here. Hi? I’m Adrian Berche.”
The final team member to approach was truly a child I’d never seen before.
‘How did I miss this one?’
His presence was far too substantial to overlook.
Was he… five years old?
‘Though his build looks more like he’d be around ten.’
Short hair framing gentle, downturned eyes. His appearance was soft and docile, yet his bearing was utterly unyielding.
Standing beside Corin, who ranked among the smallest of the sixty-two candidates, and Adrian, who was visibly the largest, the perspective warped oddly.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lian Rudersque.”
“Yeah! Of course I know! Getting on the same team as first place is such an honor!”
He flashed a broad, guileless grin and seized my hand, pumping it up and down with unbridled enthusiasm.
Goodness. The strength in this kid.
“Really making a big deal out of one first-place finish, aren’t you?”
“Huh? You’re Lumiel, eighth place, right? Great to meet you!”
“What? Wait, hold on—”
“I saw Corin on the panel too! Haha! Your voice was so loud!”
“Uh… no, that’s not—gah!”
Adrian was naturally gregarious.
“Wow! Our team is nothing but celebrities except me! I’m so excited for this mission!”
Despite his towering frame, his temperament was remarkably easygoing.
Thanks to this, Lumiel’s sharp complaints rolled right off, and Corin had no chance to shrink into himself.
‘He’s a good group morale-builder.’
And a solid tank besides. Probably has good mental fortitude too.
Lumiel had a forceful personality, and Corin was too fragile—I’d been worried. But with Adrian smoothing things over in the middle, it looked like things would work out fine.
With introductions handled,
‘I should get to my own work.’
The sixty-two candidates had been divided into fifteen teams of four or five members each.
We were team thirteen.
Following the Bishop’s guidance, we received our Holy Flame and began entering the Labyrinth in order, starting with team one.
‘Ellie. I’m counting on you.’
-Roger that! Trust me!
We’re going for first place again this time!
The moment team one entered through the portal-like Labyrinth gate, Ellie rushed in after them.
-Me too! I want to go!
-Looks fun~
The other spirits followed them inside as well.
‘Hmm. Should be fine, right?’
It should be fine.
All that remained was waiting for Ellie and the spirits to observe the test content and return with the information.
‘Understanding the pattern of past questions is important, after all.’
After waiting a moment, we received the Holy Flame—the most crucial item in the Holy Flame Transfer challenge. One per team.
“Except for the white color, it looks just like a regular candle flame.”
“Y-yeah… the appearance is identical.”
The Holy Flame currently rested in Lumiel’s hands.
When the Bishop instructed the team representative to hold it, Lumiel had insisted so forcefully that he be the one—given his superior stats—that it had ended up in his grip.
‘To be precise, he just wouldn’t stop insisting that the one with the highest ability stats should carry it.’
In the process, Adrian’s tactless observation that “but Lian is first place?” had caused quite a commotion.
‘He’s so eager to carry it around, but an adult has to give way.’
-Lian is five years old too.
Right, that’s true. Anyway.
The Holy Flame we’d been given was completely different in scale from what we’d seen during the Holy Naming Ceremony.
Transferred to a small candle, the Holy Flame—save for its white color—looked nothing more than a small, insignificant flame.
All we had was the candlestick they’d handed us for easy carrying, nothing more.
“What happens if it goes out while we’re carrying it?”
“Just because it looks like a candle doesn’t mean it actually is one, does it? This is Holy Flame. Holy Flame.”
Lumiel rebuked Adrian’s concern.
“Even so, it’s awfully small. It wouldn’t blow out even if the wind picked up, right?”
Whoooosh—
Adrian blew at the flame experimentally.
“Hey, hey! Don’t do that!”
Lumiel smacked Adrian’s forearm repeatedly, trying to stop him.
“Ow, ow. Well, it didn’t go out anyway. That’s a relief.”
“A relief? Did you have to test it by blowing on it like that?”
I flinched as well.
‘So simple wind alone won’t extinguish it, then.’
It was only natural. Still, there had to be something deeper within the Labyrinth capable of snuffing it out.
—Lian, I’m back.
Ellie soon returned, leading the spirits with her.
—I’ve arrived!
—Tada! I’m here!
The fire spirits returned in high spirits, circling eagerly around the Holy Flame.
‘As expected of fire spirits, they’re drawn to it.’
—Right. Since they’re so attuned to the Holy Flame, they should do fine monitoring its state. They’d probably be quite sensitive to any changes, I’d think.
‘Oh, that works well. So what’s the test content? How difficult is it?’
By the time we’d been waiting, the seventh group had already finished their entry, and the eighth group was now entering.
—It’s not particularly difficult overall. There’s a maze you navigate through. There are obstacles too.
‘Obstacles?’
—Yeah. There are demons manifested through Holy Power that appear.
…? What’s that supposed to mean.
‘Surely we don’t have to fight them?’
I only have a fountain pen.
—Nothing like that. They dissolve if you answer riddles or solve puzzles they pose.
‘…? Riddle demons?’
—There was even a sphinx.
Huh, what a thing to throw at us.
Still, the candidates here are novices who haven’t even undergone a Baptism Ceremony. They wouldn’t include actual combat in a test.
The Baptism Ceremony matters because of the Holy Power Crystal. It’s the Holy Naming Ceremony that creates this crystal for you.
You know how in typical fantasy, mages carve out mana circles, dragons possess dragon hearts, and martial artists cultivate inner force in their core meridians, yes?
For the clergy of the Elion Holy Empire, the Holy Power Crystal serves exactly that role.
‘It felt like an infinite engine.’
Looking back at what I’d learned, that’s exactly how I’d describe it. A new sacred organ that generates, stores, and releases Holy Power—that sort of thing.
Without the crystal, property conversion of Holy Power itself would be impossible in the first place.
‘I wouldn’t have managed it without Ellie either.’
With a Holy Power Crystal, you can compress and circulate the Holy Power scattered throughout your body, which dramatically improves efficiency in using it.
So naturally, they couldn’t demand combat from trainees who hadn’t even received the ceremony.
But still.
I took out the fountain pen I kept in my pocket and studied it. The lettering gleamed faintly, and the nib was sharp.
‘I think I could manage it, though.’
If I was going to finish first again.
I smiled wickedly at Ellie.
‘I’ve found a chance to test out my new weapon.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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