Youngest on Top - Chapter 116

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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 116

Enrik: Well done.
Enrik: Artemisia’s righteous Trainee Priests would never agree to such talk.

Enrik’s words carried an unusually sharp, bristling tone.
Even through text, I could feel the anger radiating from them.

“Cutting… in line?”

Edmund spoke in bewilderment.

“A great noble who understands honor and dignity would never commit such a cowardly act.”

The children who particularly followed Edmund nodded in agreement, chiming in.

“That’s right. Cutting in line? How could we do something so dishonorable?”
“We would never do anything that brings shame to our family name!”

Enrik: See?

Saelika spoke without any hint of panic despite the children’s resistance.

“The broadcast crystal is off.”
“…We would never do such a thing, but following the Sacred Maiden is a far more honorable calling.”
“Exactly! As priests of Artemisia, following the Sacred Maiden is what truly matters!”

Enrik: …
Enrik: Weren’t these brats the ones always going on about noble pride and dignity?

Dmitri chuckled mockingly and asked Saelika a question.

“Still, shouldn’t the Sacred Maiden be telling us to completely annihilate the undead coming from this mountain?”
“Why should we hold back when it’s obvious this is a trap set by Molorestia?”
“A trap?”

Saelika nodded.

“Right now, we’re not just exterminating the undead. We’re in a competition.”
“Yeah, so we need to defeat more undead, right? To win.”
“No.”

Saelika shook her head firmly.

“That’s not what matters in this competition.”
“…?”
“Purification.”

The last word came not from Saelika, but from Ilay.
As expected, Ilay had grasped the true essence of the competition.
Saelika nodded in agreement.

“Ilay’s right. After all, if we don’t purify the corrupted area, the undead will keep spawning.”

Defeating more undead.
Eliminating the very source from which the undead emerge.
It’s clear which approach truly eradicates the undead.

“In other words, all we need to do is purify and retrieve the core that’s the source of the corruption.”
“Brilliant…!”
“The victory condition was just stated as ‘undead extermination,’ but that was the trap from the start!”
“When people hear ‘extermination,’ they usually think of just driving them back.”
“Our youngest here leads with her fists most of the time, but that doesn’t mean she’s not smart!”
“You have to admit—she’s got cunning and resourcefulness!”

Saelika’s expression became subtle at the children’s praise.
That was praise, right?

“The Molorestia Temple deliberately structured this competition that way.”

The fact that they didn’t state the victory condition as ‘purifying the corruption’s core’ proves it.

“They probably already know where the corruption’s core is located.”

The Molorestia Priests must have conducted a preliminary survey of Mount Nanukia for this competition.
There’s a high likelihood they already searched for and located the corruption’s core beforehand.

“And there’s a high probability they deliberately assigned us to a zone with many undead.”
“Wait, wait! Then could the Death Knight also be the work of those Molorestia bastards?”
“That’s unlikely.”

Saelika shook her head.
Ilay shared the same opinion.

“Molorestia would be held responsible if a Death Knight appeared during the competition, so they wouldn’t commit such a foolish act.”
“But the broadcast crystal stones suddenly going dark is very likely the work of those Molorestia dogs.”

While the children were struggling against the Death Knight and skeleton legions.
Saelika noticed that all the broadcast crystal stones had gone dark.

The crystal stones floating in the air hadn’t fallen or been destroyed.
Seeing their lights flickering red, it was clearly a malfunction.

“Why would they do such a thing…?”
“If the competition started and skeleton soldiers appeared in massive numbers only in front of us while the Molorestia trainee priests faced nothing, wouldn’t that be suspicious?”

The children were indignant at Saelika’s words.

“These cowardly bastards!”
“I never expected them to fight fair, but this is too much!”
“This is fraud and deception! What’s the point of winning like this?!”

Of course, there was plenty to gain.
After all, the public watching the edited footage would see things differently.

In the end, the greatest temple in the east was Molorestia.
No matter how much Artemisia struggled, it couldn’t compare to the true Octagon.
Before Molorestia, Artemisia knelt.
And so on.

A god’s power grows stronger the more their mythology spreads and the more believers they have.

‘If it were Molorestia, he’d be applauding while watching his reputation rise through such deception.’

Enrik: Just applaud? He’d probably shower blessings in his excitement.

Saelika snatched a floating crystal recording stone from the air.

“Look. The automatic recovery system is activating. It’s not a serious error.”
“Once the recovery is complete, the broadcast will resume, won’t it?”

At Dmitri’s words, Edmund’s lips curved into a crooked smile.

“I understand the plan now. When the broadcast resumes, the Molorestia Trainee Priests will pretend to discover the core of corruption and perform the purification.”
“Exactly.”

Saelika nodded and grinned wickedly.

“Why would I foolishly wander across this entire mountain searching for the core of corruption if I knew that?”
“We can follow the Molorestia bastards in secret and let them guide us to it.”
“And then we cut in front of them like Honeybread suggested, right?”
“Sounds good to me.”

Edmund, Dmitri, and Ilay spoke in turn.
All three young boys wore smiles similar to Saelika’s.

When Roana shouted “I’m in!”, the other children eagerly agreed.

“Let’s turn the tables on them!”
“Beat them down!”
“Crush them!”
“Wooooo!”

Enrik: …Weren’t we supposed to purify the core of corruption?
Enrik: Why are they talking about beating people up?
Enrik: This is strange.
Enrik: Why does it feel like there are multiple of you?

“Still, it’s a shame. People didn’t get to see Dmitri’s magnificent performance.”
“Don’t worry about that. Everyone already knows.”
“…?”

I removed the ornament that had been pinned in Saelika’s hair.

“This is a recording crystal.”
“…A recording crystal? Is it still broadcasting right now?”
“No. It’ll resume broadcasting once we finish dealing with the line-cutters.”

Saelika broke into a sly smile.

“If Molorestia breaks the recording crystal to delete anything unfavorable to them, we can just show an edited version of our own, right?”

Mischievous grins spread across the children’s faces.

“Perfect! Let’s find those fraudsters first!”
“We should be able to sense them by their holy power, right?”
“If holy power is concentrated in a place this murky, those must be them!”

Ilay’s vast holy power extended outward in all directions.
It wasn’t long before he located the concentrated holy power.

“Found them. It’s over there.”
“Great! We need to be careful not to get caught before we can switch things up!”
“Got it! Like thieves!”
“Silent as mice!!”

Enrik: ….

The Artemisia trainee priests moved quietly, yet swiftly.
But then.

“Huh?”

The children’s expressions became complicated upon spotting the Molorestia trainee priests.

“…They’re getting beaten up by a Death Knight?”

* * *

In the plaza of Molorestia Temple.
People were murmuring as they watched the recording crystal, which had gone dark again.

“The footage cutting out at such a critical moment!”
“How is Molorestia Temple even managing this?!”
“And they charge such expensive admission fees!!”

The crowd’s frustration naturally turned toward Molorestia Temple.
They had just witnessed something akin to a miracle, only to have the feed cut off abruptly.

“Did Artemisia deliberately cut it off because she was winning?”

Such talk had finally emerged.
Under normal circumstances, people would have dismissed it as nonsense immediately.

But things were different now.
The crowd was in a frenzy over Artemia’s martial prowess—she had defeated two Death Knights and repelled an entire skeleton legion in one fell swoop.
They were in a state where they readily accepted conspiracy theories about the team they supported!

And on top of that—

“It makes sense! They sabotaged things so Dmitri and Ilay couldn’t participate!”

Molorestia had already lost the crowd’s trust due to what happened when the Trainee Priests entered.

“What is Molorestia even doing?!”
“Turn the footage back on!”

The stands erupted into chaos.
Then, with a crackling sound, the light from the crystal viewing stone began to flicker back on.

“There, there! It’s back!”
“It’s Artemisia’s Trainee Priests!”
“They’re moving? Where are they going?”
“We missed something important!”

Even though they were simply moving, the crowd was in an uproar about missing crucial moments.
It was proof of how engrossed they were.

“Wait, they’re not going deeper into the mountain?”
“Don’t you need to go deeper to defeat the undead?”
“Then why exactly…?”

The confused spectators quickly arrived at a reasonable conclusion.

“They must be searching for the Molorestia Trainee Priests!”
“Are they worried they might be suffering at the hands of the Death Knight?!”
“Even in a situation like this, they’re moving to help the opposing temple…!”
“As expected of Artemisia! Completely different from the petty Molorestia!”
“Not only fair and honorable, but noble enough to even save those who used dirty tactics!”
“What a sacred and elevated spirit this is…!”

And those noble, sacred, and elevated Trainee Priests of Artemisia were….

‘Damn, we’re screwed.’
‘We were planning to slip through easily and cut in line.’
‘Why is the Death Knight here too?’

They wore expressions of utter dismay.

* * *

“Why is a Death Knight appearing here?!”

Martina, the Sacred Maiden of Molorestia, cried out with a deathly pale face.

Mount Nanukia was a region that had only recently become corrupted.
As for undead, only basic monsters like skeletons had appeared so far.

That’s precisely why the Molorestia Temple had selected it as the venue for the Conference Tournament.
For Sacred Maidens who couldn’t yet deploy their holy domains, being surrounded by enemies on all sides would be too dangerous.

“Even if they do appear, why would one show up where we are!”

Martina grabbed Heidrun and asked.

“Did we take a wrong turn? The adults said they prepared a path for us.”
“We’re following the path they taught us. They definitely said we’d only encounter a skeleton soldier or two at most….”

Saelika’s suspicion was correct.
The Molorestia Priests had conducted preliminary surveys and deliberately cleared a path.
They had buried low-grade sacred relics containing faint holy power throughout the mountain.

So that the Molorestia Trainee Priests could move swiftly and safely without incident.

“But why is the Death Knight coming after us?! It should be targeting that annoying Commoner!”

Martina, intoxicated by the sense of crisis, forgot her usual composure and screamed.

The undead are fundamentally opposed to holy power.
Since Martina had buried sacred relics along her path, the undead would naturally avoid that route.
Which meant the undead had no choice but to swarm toward Saelika elsewhere.

I thought it was a sure victory.
It couldn’t have been easier.
That’s why I even blocked the broadcast crystal in advance…!

‘Suddenly the miasma surrounding the mountain grows thicker, and now a Death Knight appears!’

Nothing but impossible things were happening.

“Hold on just a bit longer! The adults will come to help!”

Heidrun, the leader, tried to comfort the Trainee Priests, but the children had already fallen into panic.

“You’re wrong! They won’t be able to get here quickly through this miasma. It’ll take time just to break through it!”
“We’re as good as dead!”
“Why do we have to die in a place like this?!”

The Molorestia Trainee Priests were only focused on fleeing in terror.
Not a single trainee priest was willing to stand against the Death Knight.

“M-Martina!”
“Do something, will you? You’re the Sacred Maiden! You must have a way, right?”
“Yes, that’s right! Try communicating with Molorestia! The Sacred Maiden can do that sort of thing!”

Martina looked at the children with a disgusted expression.

‘They expect me to protect them as the Sacred Maiden, but they’re trying to use me as a shield?’

I was utterly exasperated.
Communicating with the Heavenly Realm was no simple matter.
Yet she spoke so casually, as if it were nothing—just try it!

‘If only they were the Artemisia Trainee Priests instead!’

Martina recalled Ilay, Dmitri, and Edmund, her lips pressing together tightly.
Each one was magnificent, exceptional, devoted entirely to the Sacred Maiden.

‘That pretentious, trembling commoner woman commanding such trainee priests…!’

She had nothing superior about her—merely fortunate!
Awakened as Artemisia’s Sacred Maiden by sheer luck alone!

Martina unclenched her fists and straightened, breaking into a bright smile.
It was the same cheerful expression as always.

“Of course! I’m the Sacred Maiden, so I have a way.”
“…!”
“Really?!”

Martina nodded vigorously.

“Trust me, won’t you?”
“Yes!”
“Then—.”

Martina began instructing the Trainee Priests.

“Got it! We’ll do exactly as you say!”
“That’s our Martina! Our Sacred Maiden!”
“Oh, I’m only the Sacred Maiden because you all are here.”

The Trainee Priests’ chests swelled with pride at her words.
Then they turned and began to run.

As Martina watched their retreating figures, her smile gradually faded.

“Will it be alright?”

Martina let out a soft chuckle at Heidrun’s words.

“After all, Trainee Priests are supposed to dedicate their lives to protecting the Sacred Maiden, aren’t they?”
“….”
“Since you seem unable to make the decision yourself, I’ve given you the glorious opportunity to sacrifice your life for the Sacred Maiden.”
“But if we lose too many Trainee Priests….”
“We can simply train new ones.”
“…Train new ones, you say?”
“The Artemisia Trainee Priests, that is.”

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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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