The Celestial Maiden’s Young Master in Another World - Chapter 22

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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 22. There Is No Dropout
Crack! Boom!
“Ohhh…wow….”
The three-horned deer’s head, which had been knocked cleanly to the left, burst apart with a loud pop.
Crack! Boom!
“Hrrk….”
This time its face on the other side exploded.
Whoosh, whoosh—each time the pipe spun, the three-horned deer’s body burst open at various points, as if fireworks had been attached to the staff’s end.
The children watching stood dumbfounded.
“What… is that? Why is it exploding?”
“Is it even possible to burst a monster apart with a pipe?”
Thanks to the three-horned deer’s appearance, the tension that had frozen the children thawed—only to be replaced by shock.
“He’s the same age as us, right…?”
“Actually, he’s a year younger than me!”
The other children could only watch my hunt unfold.
There was no need for them to join in. The power was already that overwhelming.
Why?
‘This is the power of Parma.’
The Parma characters inscribed on the steel pipe were performing their role beautifully, proving their worth with every strike.
Before I obtained the Holy Power Crystal, I would write these characters and charge them with Holy Power like filling a battery.
But once the crystal appeared and I learned to properly execute Attribute Conversion, I could activate each character individually.
I hadn’t bothered using Parma’s full power when hunting the one-horned rabbit.
The other children needed to fight as well.
‘If I layer Parma’s power onto Condemnation’s force, the impact triples.’
The synergy was not merely double—it was triple.
Parma’s power had always been formidable, but adding Condemnation’s force to it made the efficiency absolutely insane.
“Damn, is that just Condemnation’s power?”
“You’re using the same power as me, aren’t you? So why does everything explode?”
The watching children couldn’t make sense of it at all.
Corin’s Healing attacks were at least visually comprehensible—you could see the mechanism at work.
The Healing power flowing in through small wounds would mix with Condemnation and burst outward.
Even if they couldn’t replicate it, they could understand it in theory.
But the explosions that came with every swing of the pipe—there was no way to make sense of that.
‘Is it divine blessing?’
‘It must be divine blessing! He’s been blessed and that’s how he’s producing such impossible strength!’
Rian had somehow become a monster of brute force, capable of obliterating beasts with a staff.
Whoooosh—sweep!
I brought down the final three-horned deer and lowered the pipe.
“Sixth floor cleared.”
***
The image on the floating monitor panel.
Rian grinned widely as he lowered the pipe.
[“Sixth floor cleared”]
Crash!
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Daniel slammed his fist on the desk and let out an ecstatic roar.
“Wait, wait, wait! Is Rian Ludersic really a first-year student?! Really?!!!”
Today’s commentator.
MC Bishop Daniel, who had also served as master of ceremonies at the Entrance Ceremony.
His reaction had only grown more flamboyant upon his return.
“That performance! That smile!! I’m falling head over heels! For a mere seven-year-old!”
Rian had assumed there was no broadcast.
In fact, one had been running the entire time—from the moment the children entered the Labyrinth.
“He is the student from this year’s intake I have been most interested in watching.”
But Daniel was not alone today.
Beside him sat a distinguished-looking middle-aged man.
“Whoa~ From a rookie in the Entrance Ceremony to even catching the eye of Dean Marél! This Rian is quite impressive.”
He was Marél Justus, the dean of Osten Academy, accompanying Daniel as co-commentator today.
Interest kindled in Marél’s eyes.
“What aspect of the boy’s performance caught your eye and led you to select him, Dean?”
“Hmm. Well, unlike the other students, he demonstrates genuine mastery in martial technique.”
The way he swung the steel pipe, how he applied force, where he struck the monsters—
Everything was precise, as if he’d been wielding that weapon for years.
“He handles his weapon even better than the young master of House Rondoa, famous throughout the Paladin Order for their swordsmanship.”
“I thought he was skilled, but is Rian really at that level?!”
“Yes. He is.”
In Marél’s assessment, Rian was the sort who seemed born with a steel pipe in hand.
Even for the child of that Lady Rudersque, it was genuinely astonishing.
“During the individual test, I was uncertain when I watched him strike the dummies. But seeing him face the monsters settled it for me.”
“Settled what?!”
“That Rian is a martial prodigy.”
“A, a martial prodigy?!”
Daniel was genuinely stunned.
Marél Yustas was famous for his impartiality.
Daniel knew he wasn’t the sort to speak so highly based on mere talent alone.
And when the professors of Osten Academy heard his words, a murmur rippled through them.
“Tch—!”
Professor Belladen in particular seemed to have taken a hard blow.
“And he’s proving quite adept at a leadership role.”
“Is he? I hadn’t thought Rian was leading anything yet.”
In trials like this, leadership tends to emerge naturally.
From what Daniel had observed, Zerotil didn’t yet seem to have a clear leader.
“No, but when they first entered the first floor and began combat, Rian gave Adrian a signal.”
“Really? Did he?”
“Yes. Adrian, Lumiel, and Corin were in the same group as Rian during the Entrance Ceremony, and now their coordination is remarkably tight. It appears all four of them trained together before enrollment.”
“Oh, that’s right! They were Group 13!”
“When the children were frozen in fear, he signaled to the one he trusted most, giving them the timing to break the stalemate.”
Daniel’s eyes widened with surprise.
And when the three-horned deer appeared.
“Rian struck first, dispelling the children’s fear.”
Marél saw it all as deliberate action.
“If this year’s Zerotil first-years continue to be led by Rian, it will be quite remarkable.”
“Dean Marél. Do you mean to say that this year’s Zerotil cohort is definitively different from others?”
“Yes. Definitively.”
‘Zerotil swept up all three of the top students from the Entrance Ceremony.’
For now, Rian coordinated only with the children from the old Group 13.
But if he learned to move in concert with all of Zerotil, and even led those ranked higher—
‘This year’s Zerotil won’t just be different from past cohorts. They’ll become monsters.’
Thump-thump.
When was the last time his heart raced watching new students enter Osten Academy?
Rian Rudersque, who had brought nothing but extraordinary incidents in his wake.
There was no way not to be anticipating what came next.
“Personally, I’m quite curious about Rian’s precise combat ability.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Even to my eye, it’s difficult to discern exactly what technique he’s employing.”
“Does that mean Rian has already perfected his own signature technique?!”
Daniel’s jaw dropped open.
“Dean Marél! That’s impossible, isn’t it? Rian’s only seven years old and just enrolled!”
There was every reason for him to be astonished.
A signature technique wasn’t merely a simple skill.
It was a technique born from a person’s individuality—one only they could execute.
Even senior students had to spend years refining and developing their techniques gradually, shaping their form bit by bit.
And yet a student who’d just enrolled at seven years old was wielding it?
“For now, it’s difficult to definitively call it a signature technique. However, I don’t think I could replicate what he’s doing.”
Daniel swallowed hard.
Marél Yustas was skilled enough to serve as dean of Osten Academy.
Before assuming the position, he’d been an archbishop at the Cathedral in a major city.
And he couldn’t replicate it?
‘Then it’s just a signature technique, isn’t it?’
Just not yet fully refined.
The techniques Rian employs are not something anyone else can replicate.
“Isn’t it truly thrilling?”
Marél smiled with genuine interest.
‘There were markings drawn on the Steel Pipe.’
Every time the staff swung, they glowed red with the power of Condemnation.
While that alone didn’t fully explain why the monsters burst apart, Marél had already formed a theory.
‘The markings on the Steel Pipe must grant him either overwhelming strength or extreme hardness.’
He hadn’t unraveled the exact nature, but—
Marél had deduced it more accurately than anyone else who’d attempted it so far!
Daniel nodded and smoothly steered the conversation to the other groups.
“The dean, Marél, mentioned that the student most worth watching right now is Rian, and I’d like to show you the status of the other dormitories as well!”
With a snap, the display switched to show the students from another dormitory.
Unlike Zerotil, which faced Three-Horned Deer, they were all facing only One-Horned Rabbits!
“You see, the other dormitories are currently on floor 3 or 4. They haven’t even reached floor 5 yet!”
Quite different from Zerotil’s progress, they were struggling with just the One-Horned Rabbits.
The Entrance Ceremony Subjugation War was unfolding in a strikingly different manner than in previous years.
“Zerotil is pulling decisively ahead.”
“But we still don’t know everything, do we?”
“That’s right.”
The true essence of the Infinite Descent Trial.
That was the existence of the exit.
“The real contest begins now. After all, not a single student from any dormitory has managed to escape yet, have they?”
“The Subjugation War only truly starts when dropouts begin appearing.”
Exactly.
The Infinite Descent Trial’s real battle began the moment party members started dropping out and escaping one by one.
***
“About time you used that thing. I’ve been wondering when.”
At the far end of floor 6.
Lumiel shook her head with exasperation and shot me a look.
“What, what?”
“Use it already. It’s hard casting Ice Shot from the back.”
“So you want to coast?”
“The strongest person always does the most work anyway.”
What kind of logic is that?
Lumiel had grown more shameless the better we’d gotten.
“When I first saw that move, I thought you were on your second playthrough of life.”
‘Well, that’s actually true.’
Adrian’s words struck something in my chest.
“Anyway. None of us are planning to drop out, right?”
Somewhere along the way, I’d started talking like a leader.
The children simply nodded.
“Good. Let’s keep going then. Our team has no dropouts!”
There would be no eliminations in a party I led!
***
The Subjugation War proceeded smoothly.
Since I combined the power of Parma with Condemnation, the time required had dropped dramatically.
“Whew! What floor are we on now?”
“Floor 10!”
‘They’re getting pretty excited.’
The Zerotil students had expressions of high spirits as they hunted Three-Horned Deer.
By floor 10, there were no One-Horned Rabbits left—only Three-Horned Deer filled the corridors.
Yet the children’s faces remained bright.
They were all harboring the same thought.
‘We’re definitely first place, right?’
‘This is first place without even seeing the other dormitories!’
‘When Rian used that technique on floor 6, the difficulty just dropped like a stone!’
The minor injuries that had appeared before were now almost nonexistent.
I couldn’t imagine the other dormitories were conducting the war this smoothly.
Because this team was filled with irregulars!
‘Rian stands alone, but the others are incredible too.’
Adrian swallowed hard, casting a furtive glance around the corridor.
Lionel channeled Holy Aura into his blade, severing the horns that were the source of the paralysis.
Biera fastened her Gauntlet and drove her Destructive Force through the deer’s skull, caving it in.
Even Corin, who’d been in Group 13 with them, was playing support perfectly.
‘Lumiel… let’s give it our best.’
Adrian made that silent vow watching Lumiel launch her mangled Ice Shot.
“Hack!”
“Adrian! Watch out!”
Adrian had let himself drift into contemplation for just a moment before a horn caught him square in the chest.
‘What was he doing?’
Though Corin’s swift healing got him back on his feet quickly enough.
They were nearly at the corridor’s end.
“A stronger one’ll show up soon, yeah?”
“Probably.”
On the fifth floor, a somewhat stronger specimen of the same monster type had appeared, and from the sixth floor onward, a completely different breed emerged.
So this time, too.
The tenth floor would likely spawn a Three-Horned Deer that was stronger than the standard variety, and from the eleventh floor, a new monster type would appear altogether.
“Oooooooh!”
A creature with a distinctive cry emerged—roughly twice the size of an ordinary Three-Horned Deer.
Where it had borne two horns on its head and three along its spine, this one bristled with four on its head and ten down its back.
‘So it’s a Ten-Horned Deer, then?’
—Sounds like a curse word.
It does, doesn’t it.
Naming abandoned, Adrian picked up his Steel Pipe.
“An Elite deer, I’d say.”
“Elite?”
“We call any specimen significantly stronger than the standard variety an Elite.”
Lionel had drifted to his side, offering the explanation without prompting.
This guy had been doing that every fight lately—always ending up right next to him.
—Go on, Rian! This is how friendships bloom!
Lumiel was still angling for him to bond with Lionel.
“You know a lot about that thing?”
“Theoretically, yes.”
“What makes it different from the regular ones?”
“Its paralysis ability is far stronger.”
Right.
Lionel launched into his lecture.
“More horns means more paralysis-producing organs, obviously. But beyond that, its raw strength is about three times greater, and—”
“Adrian’s Shield won’t hold. If you’re going to tank, you’ll need multiple people blocking simultaneously.”
“I don’t know your strength well enough to comment, Rian. As for me—I can’t cut those horns anymore. The hardness is off the charts now, and the Mana layer wrapping them has thickened too much to breach.”
This man had basically become a walking wiki at this point.
“What about an explosion?”
“What?”
“If we blow it up, would that do damage?”
“…It would. Can you cast Holy magic too?”
No, not that.
“I’ve got a secret weapon.”
Finally—the moment had come to use it. Adrian felt a thrill run through him.

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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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