Youngest on Top - Chapter 106

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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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Chapter 106

It was absurd.
Just moments ago, the Sacred Maiden had appeared and I’d mocked her for failing to catch up with us!

“Are you certain about these projections? There’s no error in the calculations?”
“I’ve verified it multiple times, but regrettably….”
“So this is actually real?!”
“All the other Octagon temples ignored us, so Artemisia couldn’t even hold a proper council meeting?!”

The first to face pressure from the Sacred Maiden’s appearance at Artemisia was the Molloresta Temple in the same eastern region.
The High Priest of Molloresta immediately held meetings with temples belonging to the other Octagon branches.

The result was a collusion agreement to refuse holding council meetings with Artemisia Temple.

“How much money have we spent for this?!”
“And didn’t we just send golden chests to Parmanace not long ago?!”

Parmanace had spouted nonsense about finding it difficult to refuse council meetings with Artemisia any longer.
To prevent that, there was no choice but to give them what they wanted.

It wasn’t just Parmanace.
The other temples too had made subtle demands, claiming it would be difficult to refuse council meetings with Artemisia.

But it was still manageable.
The prestige of being first in the east brought greater profits than the gold flowing to other Octagon branches.

‘Money is easy to earn as long as we maintain first place in the east—we could make it lying down.’
‘If we can maintain first place with money and minimal effort, it’s a profitable trade.’

That’s what I thought…!

“What do we do now! Don’t the Elders have any thoughts on this?!”

At the High Priest’s words, the Elders began recovering from their shock and offering their opinions.

“This is merely a projection, not the actual result.”
“Yes, so it can certainly be overturned.”
“Exactly! There’s no way Artemisia is overwhelmingly superior to us, and they only secured first place by the narrowest of margins, didn’t they?”
“We can absolutely change the outcome!”
“Indeed, that makes sense.”

The High Priest nodded at the Elders’ words.

“We need to show them that decades of difference cannot be made up overnight.”
“Yes! It’s time to remind them why we’ve been the unshakeable first in the Eastern region!”
“Good. Contact the Artemisia Temple!”

* * *

“By now, Molorestia must have compiled their own projected rankings for the Eastern temples.”

Edmund poured milk generously into my teacup as he spoke.
Roana, who had been reviewing documents beside him, let out a soft laugh.

“Fools. Did they really think preventing a summit meeting with Octagon would be enough?”
“The summit meeting is the most critical factor in temple evaluations. So normally, if a temple can’t hold a summit with another Octagon member, it’s nearly impossible to raise their rankings.”
“Molorestia thought the same way and handled it carelessly.”

Roana tilted her head at my words and Edmund’s.

“But that’s only true under normal circumstances. We’re different, aren’t we?”

That’s right.
Other temples, which compete at maximum capacity every year with their Sacred Maiden, have their rankings heavily determined by the outcome of summit meetings.
There are limits to the factors that can be developed in a short timeframe.

But Artemisia is different.
Since we gained a Sacred Maiden after having none, our potential for growth over short and medium terms is boundless.
Just look at the rate of increase in our followers—the scale is entirely different.

“Roana’s right. We are different. But other temples have watched their rankings be determined by summit meetings for almost their entire existence.”
“It’s hard to think differently?”
“More precisely, they’ve been conditioned not to think differently.”

At my words, Roana’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Created it?”
“So that Molorestia and we wouldn’t develop unnecessarily while competing with each other.”
“They just made us stagnate in place while squandering money.”

Edmund agreed with me and generously added sugar to my teacup.
I nodded in acknowledgment.

“Right, it’s human nature—when there’s an easy method that works well, you lose the desire to put in effort.”

Beatrice of Parmanace was certainly capable of orchestrating such a scheme.
She’d obscured the truth skillfully and made them believe it.

“Oh, our Sacred Maiden is incredibly clever when moments like this come around, isn’t she?”

Roana giggled and poked my cheek playfully.
I puffed out my chest proudly.

“I do have some talent.”

Enrik: Doesn’t your conscience bother you?

‘Why would it?’

Enrik: When did you ever read something like that and plan it?
Enrik: Don’t you remember what you said?

“Oh, so the other Octagons were ignoring us and wouldn’t hold meetings?”
“Then we just need to beat all the other temples and win, right?”
“If we thrash them all, our ranking will go up anyway? Even if it’s slow.”

‘…My words weren’t wrong either. The results proved me right.’

Increases in believers and business growth rates, relief activities and demon subjugation achievements, and so on.
It’s true that various factors contributed to our ranking improvement.

But the biggest thing was this.
I’d been going around defeating temples other than Octagon—no, wait, that’s not right.
Holding summit meetings with other temples in a friendly atmosphere for mutual development.

One is a trivial number, but stack a hundred of them and you end up with a hundred, don’t you?

“I-Isn’t this dojo-breaking rather than a summit meeting?! This is truly too much!”

The fact that I was hearing such complaints said everything.

Enrik: You’re bragging.

‘When I was going around defeating other temples, Enrik was the most excited about it.’

Enrik: When did I ever!
Enrik: …I was merely supporting it to avoid damaging Artemia’s dignity.
Enrik: There may have been some excitement in the process, but in any case, I absolutely—

I ignored Enrik’s lengthy response.
There was one thing bothering me.

‘Parmanace wouldn’t want Artemisia Temple to become the strongest in the east.’

I thought they’d support Molorestia to hold out, but it was unexpected.

‘Did they need a lot of money?’

According to what Randel told me, massive funds flowed from Molorestia to Parmanace.
It was obvious.
They must have extorted money as a condition for not holding summit meetings with us.

‘But Parmanace has such financial power that they shouldn’t need money….’

Was it simply to disrespect Artemisia?
To show that if they don’t even acknowledge Octagon like this, we can never rise.
I was lost in thought when—
“In any case, this turned out well for us.”

Edmund cut a slice of cake and placed it in front of me, speaking as he did.
“When you first awakened as the Sacred Maiden, places like Parmanace and Netiarsen immediately called for a council meeting. Can you imagine how that would have gone?”
“…Honestly, I never would have won.”

Before my regression, I’d seen firsthand what level the Trainee Priests of Parmanace were at.

“Right, frustrating as it is, you’re correct.”
“When Sae first awakened, people’s expectations reached the heavens.”
“But if she’d lost consecutively to Parmanace and Netiarsen right away….”

Edmund didn’t finish his sentence.

‘Even though they’d think it was a natural result, their expectations for Artemisia would have shattered in an instant.’

Recovering from that would have been truly difficult.

“Artemisia and us are in a different league.”
“….”
“Thanks to Octagon treating Artemisia with such contempt, we actually gained time instead.”

I stared at Edmund and suddenly understood.
I’d wondered why he was saying this all of a sudden….

‘That was Eddie’s way of comforting me.’

I must have looked a bit downcast thinking about Parmanace.
Edmund was right.
The other temples in Octagon ignoring us and treating us as if we didn’t exist.
That had actually worked in our favor.
I nodded with a broad smile.

“Right, exactly! We gained time to strengthen our foundations while keeping our claws hidden!”

Edmund let out a soft laugh.
And he extended his hand toward me.

“Getting buried and eating. Your etiquette is still rough.”
“It’s fine. It’s just you and Roana here anyway.”

The hand wiping the whipped cream from my cheek froze mid-motion.

“You are….”

That was when it happened.

“Sacred Maiden!”

As the door burst open, a Trainee Priest came rushing in breathlessly.
Though he’d done nothing wrong, Edmund startled and pulled away from me.

“What is it?”
“A message came from Molorestia Temple!”

It was the news I’d been waiting for.
I asked with a smile on my face.

“What’s the message?”
“They’re requesting a joint conference.”

Finally.
It was time for Artemisia to play its hand properly—no, to have some real fun.

* * *

I attended the selection conference immediately.
When I entered the Meeting Hall, the Elders, High Priests, and even the High Priest himself were already seated.

I tilted my head in confusion.

‘Molorestia just sent word now? They should have just gathered after receiving the message, so how are they all already here?’

These were busy people to begin with.
I was puzzled, wondering if they’d been in the middle of another meeting.

“Ahem! Sae, there’s a spot open here.”
“Our tiger would prefer this to some shady corner, wouldn’t she?”
“What good is sunlight anyway? You’re so massive you’re blocking it all and casting a shadow.”
“Come here, my little bundle of joy! I’ve even prepared some snacks!”
“How underhanded…!”
“Just cookies? I brought cream puffs and éclairs—the ones our Sae loves.”
“You cunning…!”

Were they really doing this in the Meeting Hall?
I was utterly dumbfounded.

Unlike the priests fawning over Sae, the High Priest, Randel, and Kaiser remained silent and composed.
Truly, the three pillars supporting Artemisia.
Their presence carried considerable weight.

“Tempting a child with material goods is wrong!”
“Sae, didn’t I tell you? You can’t just follow anyone who offers you food! Don’t sit next to him under any circumstances!”
“Are you discriminating based on size?! Just because someone is large means our tiger can’t sit beside them?!”
“I spoke first, so Sae will sit next to me!”

I watched the grown men bickering with weary eyes.
This was going to turn into a real fight.
Actually, it already was turning into one.

I turned my desperate gaze toward Artemisia’s three pillars.
Please, someone calm this situation down…!

The High Priest, catching my pleading eyes, opened his mouth.

“That’s right, my little rabbit. Come to Grandfather.”

…Pardon?

“What are you saying? She is my daughter.”

…Excuse me?

Kaiser and the High Priest glared at each other as if ready to devour one another.
The intensity was so overwhelming that the earlier squabbling among the priests seemed trivial by comparison.

I looked toward Randel, my last hope.

“Our daughter, you missed daddy? Come here.”
“….”

Wrong.
This was hardly the atmosphere for a meeting.

Enrik: What are you saying?

Enrik looked equally dumbfounded.
Indeed, for priests who served Artemia to behave this way…
How exasperated must she be looking down from heaven?

Enrik: She’s my sister.

“….”

I need nothing more.
Leave me alone.

* * *

This gathering was to be held in Molorestia rather than Artemisia.
After receiving briefing on the schedule and other details of the gathering, I fell into contemplation.

The competition event chosen by Molorestia.
It was undead subjugation.

‘It’s a fitting choice—the Trainee Priests are already dispersed across various regions conducting actual subjugations.’

Moreover, with its public benefit, people would surely approve of it as well.
In that sense, it was a very reasonable selection for the competition.

The problem was the location.

“This will require some preparation, I think.”

Randel chuckled softly, having heard my murmur.

“What preparations does our daughter need?”
“Ah, Randel. This works out perfectly.”

I’d thought to call him so we could go out together, but something felt off.
Randel suddenly turned his head as if he hadn’t heard my call at all.

“Randel?”
“….”
“Randel!”

I thrust my face right in front of his.

“Can’t you hear me?”

As I asked with furrowed brows, Randel let out a soft laugh.

“Our daughter is so adorable that it’s hard to pretend not to notice.”
“…Hmph.”
“Don’t you think it’s time you called me something different?”
“What?”

I looked at Randel in confusion.
What was he suddenly talking about?

“When you first made me your godfather, I recall you called me Father right away.”

His jade-green eyes gazing at me were as deep as the lush foliage of summer leaves.

“You never did call me Father properly back then either.”
“…It just felt a bit awkward….”

I shrank my shoulders, avoiding his gaze.

“Still?”

Randel bumped his forehead against mine as he spoke.
The same unwavering tenderness as when I was much younger than I am now.

I couldn’t avoid his approaching gaze and met his eyes directly.

“I’m happy that Sae has become my daughter, but it seems our Sae isn’t happy about it.”
“That’s, that’s not it!”
“Then why won’t you call me Dad?”

Randel spoke with a touch of melancholy.
Seeing him like that, my chest tightened with pain.
I had no idea Randel cared about this so deeply.

Once or twice might be understandable.
But calling him Dad continuously felt awkward and embarrassing.
It would come naturally if I’d ever had a father to begin with.
That’s why I simply couldn’t bring myself to say it….
As I hesitated to respond, Randel turned away with a bitter smile.
“I see.”
“What?”
“Sae’s first choice of father is someone else.”
“What?”
“So Kaiser was right after all.”

Randel lowered his eyes with a sorrowful expression.
Seeing such a beautiful face clouded with such deep sorrow, I didn’t know what to do.

“The second father must not be much of a father then.”
“…!”

I looked up at Randel in shock.

“No, that’s not it!”
“Then?”

Randel stared directly at me.
As if demanding that if it truly wasn’t the case, I call him by his proper name.
Unable to withstand that gaze, I cried out.

“D-D-Dad!”

Boom!

The door shattered and flew open with a deafening crash.
It looked as though a bomb had detonated.
But that was nothing compared to what came next.
“What did you just say?”
A Demon rose before me, ascending from the depths of hell itself.

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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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