The Celestial Maiden’s Young Master in Another World - Chapter 19

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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 19. Zerotil
A little over a year remained until my entrance to the academy.
Corin’s abilities far exceeded my expectations.
‘What a talented child she is.’
The moment I gave her direction, her powers exploded as if she’d sprouted wings.
Now she handled Attribute Transformation between Healing and Execution with perfect ease.
Her healing efficiency was so high that one could hardly believe she possessed only a single Sacred Power Crystal.
‘This… at seven years old?’
Talent really does make all the difference.
What was I doing all this time, then?
What was I doing? Swinging an Iron Pipe relentlessly and sketching Sacred Magic Circles with everything I had.
The real progress came from the Sacred Magic side of things.
The Iron Pipe was for restoring my sense of touch and combat feel.
And for adapting to a seven-year-old body.
But there was one significant disappointment in all this.
‘Damn it — drawing Sacred Magic Circles on gloves doesn’t work!’
My dream lay in ruins.
The fabric shifts when you move, and the lines scatter.
‘I wanted to recreate that moment, snapping a finger to conjure flame…’
-Otaku nonsense.
Don’t dismiss the romance of an otaku, would you?
One day, I’ll make it happen.
My strength accumulated steadily. Finally, the day of the academy entrance ceremony arrived.
I stood before the academy’s great hall, looking up.
‘A Projection Stone?’
-Looks like they’re broadcasting this too.
Projection Stones floated near the entrance to the ceremony hall.
The Baptism Ceremony came to mind.
‘Right. They called me a “candidate” outright back then.’
And they’re broadcasting the entrance ceremony live, of all things?
‘Doesn’t sound very entertaining.’
-Your face right now would be comedy gold, Rian.
Even if I am only seven?
I gazed at the Projection Stones for a moment, then stepped inside.
Osten Academy.
The cradle of priestly learning, located in Raelum—the city where the church’s headquarters stands.
Entrance to the academy required having received the Baptism Ceremony.
‘There are more children than at the Baptism Ceremony.’
Though their numbers were indeed greater than then.
Most entered directly a year after their ceremony, but some came later.
They came after studying abroad or pursuing further personal training.
‘The academy needs standout performances too, after all.’
Projection Stones drifted throughout the ceremony hall as well.
Smaller in scale than the national Baptism Ceremony, yes—but there were still people watching.
‘In Earth terms, it’s like a rookie league.’
Just as soccer has youth divisions.
Osten Academy drew mostly devoted fans.
The entrance ceremony was where these rookies made their debut!
You could also see how much the children from the Baptism Ceremony had grown in that year.
‘They mentioned there’d be the Dormitory Selection Ceremony, individual tests, and simple inter-dormitory matches.’
The Dormitory Selection Ceremony is straightforward enough.
But I wasn’t sure how the individual tests and inter-dormitory matches would be structured.
“Rian! Over here!”
Corin waved from across the way.
I thought I’d arrived first.
“You made it.”
“You’re last? Hehe.”
I wasn’t, after all.
Beside Corin stood Lumiel and Adrian, giggling.
Over this past year.
Rian kept in touch not only with Corin but with all the children from his group.
‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve made real friends since I was young?’
—On Earth, other children had been afraid of Rian.
Children sense things more keenly than adults do.
While adults had simply regarded him as an unusual boy, children of his own age had detected Eli’s presence and feared it.
No one had approached him first, and once rumors spread as he grew older, making friends became all the more distant a prospect.
‘Childhood friends, perhaps?’
If they continued to grow close like this, that might well be the nature of their bond.
“Hey, Corin. You’re really going to apply to Zerotil?”
“Um, yeah….”
His thoughts scattered at Lumiel’s question.
At Osten Academy, dormitories were divided according to career path.
The dormitory where children bound for the Inquisition Department lived was called Zerotil House.
“Such a pity, when your Healing ability is so strong.”
“…I’m still going to Zerotil.”
“Ugh. Rian’s been filling your head with strange ideas.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
Unfortunately, at present.
The Inquisition Department was utterly unpopular.
Why unpopular?
‘Because the empire’s citizens don’t like it.’
A clergyman’s duties, save for administrative work at temples, are all fieldwork.
Most children prefer fieldwork. Why?
Because it’s glamorous. And you can gain the people’s favor and live as a celebrity.
But clerics from the Inquisition Department weren’t particularly popular.
“If you go to the Inquisition Department, you won’t advance easily.”
“Still, my mother was very popular, or so I’ve heard.”
“Of course she was. She’s beautiful.”
Hm?
“Beauty with a rough edge—that’s charm.”
—Oh. This kid actually understands something.
Lumiel, are you really seven?
The reason Inquisition Department clerics were shunned by the empire’s citizens was their crude methods.
Demons were resilient, and Dark Magic was more powerful than ordinary magic.
Inevitably, their methods had to become harsh, and ordinary people found it far too extreme.
‘The Elion Holy Empire’s greatest enemy is the Demon God.’
They had to contend with demons, Inpurim who worshipped demons and Demon Gods, and beasts corrupted by Magic Contamination.
Yet as the Inquisition Department’s reputation fell, enrollment in Zerotil plummeted along with it!
Clerics had a sacred duty to fight enemies wielding Magic Contamination.
Yet more and more priests were beginning to feel burdened at the thought of joining the Inquisition Department, the very specialists meant for such work.
“Still, if you’re a cleric, the Inquisition Department is where you belong.”
I gave Lumiel a shrug.
***
In the far corner of the auditorium where the children gathered.
A cluster of professors stood huddled together.
Among them, a gaunt man with hollow eyes was gnawing at the tips of his fingers.
“This time around, there cannot be even a single child applying to Zerotil in the first selection.”
He was Lahil Runstia, the senior professor in charge of Zerotil House.
Last year had been a nightmare.
Not a single student had chosen Zerotil in the first Dormitory Selection Ceremony!
‘That retired senior professor had siphoned them all away….’
The senior professor had been an Inquisitor from Zerotil House.
Since all those from the Inquisition Department shared difficult temperaments, Lahil had suffered greatly under his watch.
The feeling of being lectured at in that refined, measured tone was unbearable!
‘It cannot happen again this time!’
Ever since Reliad had stepped back from the front lines, Zerotil’s popularity had hit rock bottom.
The number of students selecting it in the first round began to dwindle steadily, until it reached zero.
‘But this time, that Reliad’s son has enrolled.’
Lahil’s gaze turned toward the platinum-blonde head in the center of the auditorium.
“Professor, what will we do if Rian doesn’t choose us either…?”
The teaching assistant beside him asked, her voice thick with anxiety.
Last year, she had been one of the students caught up in that same incident.
“Don’t speak such ill omens.”
“Surely Reliad guided them well?”
“She must have. She absolutely must have….”
Please, please.
Lahil prayed fervently. He didn’t want to be torn apart.
‘Rian Lotherscar. With our first-choice selection rate at number one every year, he’ll come to us.’
‘Tsk. Would a Baptism Ceremony rookie really go there?’
‘I suppose they’re hoping because Reliad is from Zerotil. Unfortunately for them.’
Of course, the other dormitory supervisors who saw the two of them were chuckling to themselves.
***
If one lacks popularity, one simply creates it.
‘Fortunately, I have high potential in appearance.’
-Yeah, that’s true of Rian. So this life, let’s not build muscle, shall we?
What are you suddenly saying?
Muscle is my life.
“Welcome, Osten Academy’s new students. I am Marel Justus, Dean of Osten Academy.”
While Rian and Eli were chattering away, the entrance ceremony had already begun.
Unlike the Baptism Ceremony, there was no live audience, but the floating Projection Stone was broadcasting it live!
‘Are they even recording the boring opening remarks?’
Would anyone even want to watch?
An entrance ceremony was never entertaining, and now they had to sit through the opening speech too.
He was already struggling not to yawn. And well, it was just an entrance ceremony, after all.
“I am delighted to be here with all of you as fresh shoots bloom in this warm season.”
‘See?’
The ceremonial pleasantries had begun.
‘As expected, tedious…’
“Well then, let us now begin the Dormitory Selection Ceremony!”
But it wasn’t.
The opening remarks had ended far too quickly.
“Huh? Starting right away?”
“Yeah.”
The surprise was brief. The explanation of the Dormitory Selection Ceremony continued succinctly.
The Dormitory Selection Ceremony proceeded by channeling Sacred Power through a Sacred Flame to change its color.
Sacred Power was fundamentally white light.
When Attribute Transformation was applied, the color would shift.
Healing manifested as green, Sacred Aura as blue, Manifestation as violet, Enhancement as yellow, and Execution as red.
The places that required essential talents were the Holy Healing Ministry, which trained Healing priests, and the Holy Knight Order.
‘Those two absolutely require essential talents.’
To train a Healing priest without the Healing talent would be absurd.
To train a Holy Knight without the ability to create Sacred Aura would be utterly pointless.
The Dormitory Selection Ceremony made use of this very Attribute Transformation.
‘Still, the Sacred Flame is quite versatile, isn’t it?’
The Naming Ceremony, the Baptism Ceremony, and even the academy’s entrance ceremony.
Perhaps this was why Elysian had sent the Sacred Flame to humanity—for such versatility.
Zerotil had listed the Execution talent not as a requirement but as a preference.
This was partly because one could already fight demons with just Sacred Power alone, but more importantly…
‘The applicant pool is so small they lowered the barrier to entry.’
There was a predictable reason for the tears to come.
The one consolation was that Execution wasn’t actually such a rare talent!
‘No wonder. Mother keeps singing about the Inquisition Department, the Inquisition Department.’
At the center of the academy’s great hall.
A Sacred Flame was enshrined on a dais set at a height level with the children’s eyes.
“Ahem, well then, let us now begin the Dormitory Selection Ceremony!”
Those who appeared to be faculty staff began guiding the children forward.
A line formed in the order the students would select their dormitories.
“Hey, isn’t that him?”
“The Baptism Ceremony rookie.”
“I think he was noted for all-rounded talent. He’ll probably pick the Holy Knight Order. Lucky guy.”
Murmur, murmur.
Young, untested voices brushed past my ears.
‘I’m not going to the Holy Knight Order.’
Naturally, everyone was already divining my career path toward the Holy Knight Order.
If you ranked the first-choice selections by frequency, the order was Priesthood Governance Ministry, Holy Healing Ministry, Holy Knight Order, and Inquisition Department.
The Priesthood Governance Ministry came in first simply by numbers, since it housed administrative clergy, combat priests, and Sacred Magic priests all in one organization.
The Holy Knight Order had fewer first-choice applicants because the mandatory talent of Sacred Aura wasn’t something everyone possessed.
Still, you could say the Holy Knight Order held the undisputed top spot in popularity.
‘The Holy Knight Order is the most popular among the empire’s citizens, after all.’
They were popular not just throughout the empire, but in neighboring kingdoms as well.
It was because they had the most deployment missions, giving them far greater exposure abroad.
One by one, students stepped forward and began changing the color of the Sacred Flame.
‘Oh, the first one is blue?’
Blue was Sacred Aura.
So a student choosing the Holy Knight Order right from the start had appeared.
“Wow… Sacred Aura talent. I’m jealous.”
“Why didn’t mine show up?”
The reason so many students envied it was because Sacred Aura was the rarest of all special talents.
After that, various colors flickered past—green, purple, yellow, white as the baseline attribute—but.
‘Still no red, as expected.’
No red had appeared by the time my turn came around.
“Rian Ludersk, new student. Please come forward.”
When my name was called, I stepped up to the front.
Standing before the dais, the white Sacred Flame I hadn’t seen in so long was burning brightly.
‘Hello? It’s been a while.’
It wouldn’t answer, but I greeted it anyway as I reached my hand into the flame.
Whoosh—!
The Sacred Flame surged up in response, burning fiercely.
“!!”
The faculty member who’d been guiding us jumped back in surprise.
‘Come on, Sacred Flame, don’t overdo it…’
I was startled too.

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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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