The Celestial Maiden’s Young Master in Another World - Chapter 9
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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 9. A Mission to Save the Saint
“It’s almost time to go.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
In the VIP lounge adjoining the grand hall of the Main Temple, where the Holy Baptism Ceremony was underway, someone spoke while watching the panel screen.
A middle-aged man dressed in pristine white cardinal’s vestments.
Seated before him was a pale-haired boy who couldn’t have been more than a child.
“Go and offer encouragement as befits a saint’s calling.”
He was Dain Clenor. The one and only saint of this nation.
“And if your eyes catch sight of any child shining with particular brilliance, do not forget to report it to me in detail.”
“…Yes, Uncle.”
The saint’s gaze drifted toward a golden-haired child who gleamed brilliantly on the panel, then quickly returned to its neutral position.
“As you well know, discovering promising talent and offering your patronage is a most important duty for a member of the Clenor house.”
The saint’s uncle, Sabelio Clenor, impressed this upon him with utmost gravity.
The saint’s eyes possessed the ability to discern talent. A gift not unlike the legendary Nagrim Hilo Liven’s own power.
Even if a child showed promise during the ceremony, no one could tell whether that talent would bloom early and fade, or blossom endlessly—only the saint could recognize such potential before it sprouted.
Sponsoring talented children and watching them flourish elevated the patron, Sabelio, in turn.
‘Just a little more.’
His influence within the Order was growing steadily.
It was only natural. The families of the children he sponsored now favored his side.
‘That fool’s lost his edge lately—his eye for potential has become worthless.’
As the saint’s abilities deteriorated and went unused, he had somehow forgotten even the basics of wielding Divine Power.
He was doing his best to keep it quiet, but the rumors had already spread far beyond containment.
Sabelio’s sharp gaze swept over the saint, then turned away.
‘Tch. Is it time to discard him?’
A mere shell bearing the name of saint. Useless until his Divine Power returned.
If the rumors spread wider, the negative sentiment could easily reach Sabelio himself—the one who had sponsored him.
He’d thought he could use the boy until the next saint emerged.
But Sabelio was not the type to hold onto something worthless for long.
Moments later, the saint rose from his seat.
***
The Labyrinth.
Once a fortress built by Elysian as shelter to protect humanity and a trap to imprison demons during the Holy War against the Demonic Realm.
But what was happening in the Labyrinth?
Snap—
The screen captured children’s faces slack with shock.
“Aha ha ha! Everyone seems quite surprised!”
Right, that caught me off guard too. I immediately switched on the composure.
I couldn’t let those vacant expressions show on air.
“I’m sure the sudden mention of the Labyrinth startled you all! But this place is the Main Temple of the Order—we utilize everything available to us!”
What’s gotten into the Bishop MC? He’s in overdrive.
“Ha ha! But joking aside, let me explain the Holy Flame Transfer Mission within the Labyrinth!”
Whoosh—
Photos and rules appeared on the floating panel screen.
A white flame attached to a small candle. Unmistakably a Holy Flame.
“The Holy Flame Transfer Mission requires you to form teams and navigate various trials within the Labyrinth while keeping the Holy Flame alight. Your objective is to transport it safely to the goal.”
“The Labyrinth contains numerous obstacles. Working together as a team, you’ll need to discuss strategy and overcome each trial you encounter.”
“And remember—if your Holy Flame goes out, your team’s score becomes zero!”
A team assignment? What is this?
‘Great, they’re asking us to form teams already.’
With these five-year-old brats I’m meeting for the first time?
Back when I used to hunt down evil spirits, I’d teamed up with a few reputable ones.
They were all professionals, so the results were solid enough.
‘Ugh, I’m getting PTSD.’
Everyone had such strong opinions that coordinating was hell—literal hell.
Absolutely unbearable.
But elite-track novice priests? Child prodigies?
‘They won’t listen to a word.’
They’d throw their weight around without question.
Doesn’t everyone know how wonderful team assignments are?
If they were mature and had any sense, sure. But trying to run a cooperation exercise with five-year-olds…
‘Dear lord, I think I’m going to lose my hair.’
-Kyaaaah! Don’t say such inauspicious things! Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!
The MC bishop’s face was lit up with delight, his lips curling into a grin.
The audience watching the live broadcast in real time probably wore the same expression.
‘On purpose, no doubt.’
Demons in human form, the lot of them.
My eyes narrowed involuntarily.
“Well then, before we formally assemble the party, we’ve invited a special guest to help us with the selection!”
As the MC bishop finished speaking, a strikingly beautiful boy who appeared to be in his early teens stepped onto the platform.
-Ooh, wow, wooooow….
Snow-white hair, braided and draped long in a single plait—a sight unseen in this world, ethereal and wondrous. Clear amber eyes caught the sunlight and gleamed gold, precious beyond measure.
The moment the gaze fell upon him, an overwhelming holiness flooded the room. His appearance was surreal, as if bathed in divine light itself.
A hush fell over the assembly, and Eli lost the ability to speak.
“Our special guest today: the Saint, Dain Clenor!”
What? A Saint?
‘That Saint?!’
Good heavens. That very Saint.
Five years ago, now.
When we first encountered the Holy Flame and conducted our transaction, the Holy Flame had imposed two conditions.
First, to destroy Infulim and the demons whenever they appeared.
Second, to meet with the Saint and remove the seal on him that Elysian had placed.
“Greetings, candidates. I am honored to participate as an assistant in today’s Holy Baptism Ceremony.”
The Saint was beautiful, but his face bore the pallor of illness.
‘Is he unwell? Does the seal Elysian placed affect his health as well?’
Eli offered no response.
‘Hello? Eli? Eli?’
-…….
I’d been too absorbed in scrutinizing his face.
Even the sunlight seemed to bless the Saint, casting upon him in radiance. One might have sworn light emanated from the back of his head as well.
‘Could Divine Power reserves be connected to appearance?’
The more blessing one receives from the divine, the greater one’s Divine Power. And such blessings generally render all things beneficial.
It seemed a sufficiently plausible hypothesis.
‘He certainly looks like a Saint.’
His appearance was so unmistakably saintly that it would be obvious even from five hundred meters away.
Every strand of his hair seemed to radiate nobility and Divine Power.
‘Wait, I take that back about sensing Divine Power.’
There was no outward trace of Divine Power at all.
Only something latent felt powerfully present. Likely thanks to my Spiritual Eye.
‘Why on earth did they place such a seal on him?’
At this point, I was genuinely curious.
Why had such tremendous talent been created only to have everything locked away?
The Holy Flame hadn’t offered any further explanation about the Saint.
All I could infer was this.
‘The absence of something once possessed cuts far deeper than if it had never existed at all.’
It was the emotion the Saint must surely feel.
And the absence of a being with whom one could once communicate regularly would have bred still greater unease in his heart.
I wished I could have helped him sooner.
‘Still, it’s better we met when he was five than never.’
I hadn’t expected the Saint to appear at this Baptism Ceremony.
He’d been said to have kept himself confined for quite some time now.
Regardless, this was an excellent opportunity.
“Wow… I didn’t know the Saint would come to see us. Talk about luck.”
I wasn’t the only one startled by the Saint’s appearance—whispers rippled through those nearby.
“Hey, did you hear about that?”
“About what?”
“Apparently the Saint hasn’t been able to dream lately.”
“What? If he can’t dream, how can he see the future that Elysian shows him?”
“I don’t know the details, but apparently it’s been going on for a while.”
“Isn’t that a serious problem?”
It was only a faint murmur, but Lian, standing nearby, heard it clearly enough.
The children chattered a bit longer about the rumors of the saint, then drifted to other topics.
Children, after all, tire of subjects quickly.
‘Word travels fast,’ I thought.
Even when I was an infant, the servants were talking about it.
Five years on, the rumors must have spread everywhere by now.
Perhaps those whispered stories accounted for some of the pallor in the saint’s complexion.
To examine the saint’s body properly, I slowly opened my Spiritual Eye.
‘I must have decided I could undo that Seal, or I wouldn’t have asked for it.’
The Spiritual Eye isn’t a real physical eye. It’s a third, subtle eye that exists in the realm of the mind’s eye. That’s what it is.
When I opened the Spiritual Eye, I could see things I normally couldn’t—the flow of Divine Power, for instance.
Slowly concentrating, I examined the saint’s body.
‘…? I can’t see anything.’
See anything? Not a chance. Nothing at all.
The title of saint was no mere reputation—it was starkly different from ordinary clergy.
It felt as though layers upon layers of impenetrable barriers wrapped around the body. God’s favor was almost painfully apparent.
‘What do you mean I can’t see it? How am I supposed to undo this?’
Elysian, you scoundrel! You never mentioned it was sealed shut this completely.
In any case, to undo this Seal, I’d need to see the saint’s body in detail.
Murky fog-like barriers clouded my vision.
‘Ah, who am I to blame but myself?’
Part of why I couldn’t see was my own lack of skill.
‘Well, what did I expect? I didn’t even have a Spiritual Eye in my last life.’
I grumbled to myself in excuse.
It was a sense I’d never used before, and besides, this world offered little chance to practice it.
Perhaps because it was the Holy Empire—there were no demons here.
All I could do was practice “confirming” others’ Divine Power by sight.
At first, I couldn’t even gauge the range of what the Spiritual Eye could show, so I’d assumed everyone could see Divine Power flowing the same way.
But that wasn’t it. It wasn’t seeing—it was sensing.
‘Concentrate harder, then.’
Focusing until my eyes stung, the vision gradually cleared.
The fog slowly lifted, and the flow of Divine Power came into view.
‘This is insane.’
It’s almost miraculous this hasn’t burst.
Divine Power, so densely packed it looked ready to rupture, was violently swirling through the body like a storm, throttled by an iron lock.
One wrong touch and it explodes. Guaranteed.
‘Can I actually do this?’
***
Meanwhile.
Liliad and Railaike sat in the observation section reserved for the trainees’ parents, their eyes fixed on Lian alone.
Both had expected Lian to excel at Divine Flame Detection.
He’d thrown a Bottle with Divine Power and blown a demon’s head clean off—distinguishing between them was a given.
Newly awakened children fumbled with such tasks, but any priest should have honed the basic sense to tell Divine Force from Divine Power.
It was essential so they could feel Elysian’s direct blessing when the time came.
‘But this….’
Even as Liliad watched the panels lighting up with the other trainees’ scores, his mind kept circling back to Lian’s result.
‘It’s absolutely extraordinary!’
He’d expected a strong performance.
But who could have imagined his son would set a record with 52—shattering every score the ancient cardinals had ever achieved!
Both Liliad and Railaike sat stunned.
‘Our son really is….’
‘Our son must be….’
‘A genius!’
They arrived at the same thought simultaneously.
They’d been lavishing praise on him as a prodigy all along, but this was a different order entirely.
Both Railaike and Liliad were ‘geniuses’ in their own right, having shown brilliance from childhood.
They had praised him as a genius, yet deep down harbored the thought that as their son, he should naturally surpass such trials with ease.
But now—now that he had exceeded both their scores and achieved a record surpassing anyone in history—
They were beginning to grasp, with painful clarity, that Lian was a genius of the century.
‘And our son is a Seer, to boot!’
Railaike maintained his composure, but could not help the breath that escaped his nose in a sharp exhalation.
Ah, I want to boast! I want to jump up and shout it from the rooftops—my son’s extraordinary talent!
Railaike’s chest swelled with pride, a feeling that burned just as fiercely in Liliad’s heart.
This was precisely why both of them looked forward so eagerly to the Holy Baptism Ceremony’s main event—the Holy Flame Transfer Mission.
Though it was a team-based mission and luck with teammates mattered, they had no doubt that Lian would be paired well.
Those blessed with divine favor, like saints and seers, inevitably carried extraordinary fortune with them.
The kind of luck where, even if someone fired a shot at them from a distance, a bird would fly over and take the bullet instead.
But moments later.
“This… this can’t be! What kind of pairing is this!”
The Master of Ceremonies Bishop cried out in shock.
Railaike stood speechless, his jaw hanging open, while Liliad’s already large eyes grew wider still.
“The first-place finisher from Divine Flame Detection, Lian, has been paired with the sixty-second-place finisher, Korin!”
Lian, who had placed first, had been matched with Korin, who had placed sixty-second.
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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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