Youngest on Top - Chapter 167

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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 167

* * *

A vast desert sprawled before my eyes.
I marveled anew at the sight.

‘Wow, this place is perfect for putting the kids through their paces.’

When I’d come here as part of the diplomatic delegation, I hadn’t thought of it this way.
But the desert truly held boundless potential.

A scorching sun like torture itself.
Barren earth laid bare without a shred of shade.
Sand grains scraping harshly at the throat.
When the wind blew, sand even found its way into the eyes.
And on top of that, the ground sinking beneath each step.

‘Truly a hellscape! …Or rather, the perfect training ground!’

Here, my children would grow stronger—without dying, of course!
I felt genuinely delighted.

“Look at him grinning. What sinister thoughts are running through his head?”
“Right! He’s thinking about burying people!”
“Please tell me the people being buried aren’t our kids?”

Ilay, Dmitri, and Edmund muttered beside me.
How they belittled my grand vision.

“Who wants to volunteer to be buried first?”
“….”

Silence and peace descended.
Dmitri, whose eyes had been rolling around, pointed toward the distance.

“Ah, look! Here comes a sacrificial victim for our Honeybread to bury while playing in the dirt!!”

Dmitri was right.
And right on cue, our sacrificial lambs—no, wait!
Our Trainee Priests came rushing over with thundering footsteps.

“Sae!”
“Our youngest!”
“Honeybread!!”

They were all grinning widely, eager for the training that lay ahead.

* * *

Dust clouds billowed up as the children ran with all their might.
Yet none of them minded the dirt getting into their mouths or their eyes stinging.
Because there, ahead of them, was our Sacred Maiden—the one we’d longed to see so desperately!
The children pushed themselves to run even faster.

“You all!!!”

Saelika waved her hand with a brilliant smile.
At her warm welcome, the children’s hearts swelled.

“So Sae missed us too!”
“Of course! We’re family!!”

Truth be told, they had felt hurt.
When she left saying she’d been invited to the imperial palace, they thought she’d return quickly.
But then there were diplomatic missions, establishing branch temples, and all manner of things—she didn’t even seem to think about coming back.

‘Of course we were glad for her and supported her…’

Still, they couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss.
Especially when the adults, Dmitri, and Edmund went up to the capital while they didn’t.
The children left at the temple had grown dispirited.

‘But to welcome us so warmly like this…!’

Wait.
Warmly?

The children running at full speed suddenly came to a halt.

“…Isn’t she greeting us a bit too enthusiastically?”
“Yeah, this is excessive.”

Sacred Maiden Saelika’s eyes were shining like stars.
A radiant smile, brimming with vitality.
It was a familiar sight to the children.

“L-Let’s bolt!”
“What? Even so, there’s no reason to run—.”
“Look at that gleaming face!”
“…!”
“B-Back! Hurry, now!!”
“Out of the way!! I’m escaping!!!”

The panicked children began to flee.
It was instinctive flight.
Like flocks of birds that sense a natural disaster and take wing first!
It was an acquired instinct that Sacred Maiden Saelika had kindly instilled in them.

“After she greets us with such a cheerful expression—.”
“Hell inevitably unfolds!!!”
“That’s not a ‘glad to see you’ face!”
“It’s a ‘you’ve been caught’ face!”

Sacred Maiden Saelika stood there blankly, watching their retreat.

“They’re running?”
“They really are running. I’d run too.”
“Yeah, of course. We’ve been together for years. We know the signs.”

The Three Young Men whispered beside her.
When Sacred Maiden Saelika glanced at them, they flinched and straightened up.

Sacred Maiden Saelika called out kindly to the fleeing children.

“Stop moving.”

A voice that rang out clearly despite the distance.

‘No, no way! I need to run!’
‘I, I could actually die!’
‘If I’m buried in the desert, they won’t even find my body…!’

Even as I thought this, my body automatically froze in place.
This too was instinct.
Carved into me by several sorrowful past experiences.

“Gather in front of me.”

The children glanced at each other nervously, gauging the situation.
Watching them dawdle and hesitate, Saelika raised her eyebrows.

“You’re not coming?”
“…W, well.”
“Ah, I see. Don’t come, don’t come. No need to force yourselves.”
“R, really?!”

Whoosh!
The children’s faces brightened instantly.
Saelika smiled softly.

“I’ll go to you instead, so don’t move at all. Understood?”
“…!”

Boom!!
In that instant, an afterimage appeared behind the children.
She had charged forward using her sacred power at full speed.

The people from Bennayser who had been following the trainee priests from behind widened their eyes in shock.

“W, what….”
“Incredible. A sprint like that on such unstable ground!”
“But why did she suddenly use her sacred power and dash at full speed? Like someone fleeing for their life.”

It was a puzzling sight.
Prince Ryubik, who stood among the people, quickly opened his mouth.

“Haha, doesn’t that just show how delighted they are to see the Sacred Maiden?”
“Pardon? That’s what it means?”
“Of course. They departed with us, but these children couldn’t wait—they rushed ahead just to meet the Sacred Maiden a moment sooner.”

The people of Bennayser nodded at the explanation.
Indeed, that was precisely why the Trainee Priests had bolted ahead first.
That’s why the distance between them had grown so vast that their voices couldn’t even be heard.

“Ah, of course! So Sacred Maiden Saelika must be truly remarkable!”
“I’m really looking forward to the day when the Artemisia Temple branch opens in our Bennayser!”

Prince Ryubik remained silent.
Sometimes it was better when the truth remained hidden.

Meanwhile, the children who had reached Saelika spoke with awkward expressions.

“W-we’re here, youngest.”
“Why would the youngest try to move on her own?”
“Right, this is something we older siblings should handle. The youngest should just stay put.”

Saelika stared intently at the children she hadn’t seen in so long.
Cold sweat beaded and dripped from their foreheads.

“We absolutely weren’t trying to run away!”
“That’s right! Run away? We never even thought of it!”
“Why would we run? Our youngest and our Sacred Maiden is right here.”

Saelika, who had been looking up at the children, blurted out.

“I didn’t even ask if you ran away.”
“Ah…”

They had essentially confessed on their own.
But the children didn’t give up.

“W-we were just exercising, and we explained first because we were worried you’d misunderstand!”
“Is that so?”
“Of course!”
“Then all is well.”

Saelika grinned widely.

“You all feel the same way I do, don’t you?”
“Y-yes, that’s right!”

The children nodded nervously.
Though I had a nagging feeling that “the same way” didn’t quite mean what I thought it meant.
The emphasis seemed to be on “exercise” somehow.
But it was already too late.

“Good.”

Saelika clapped her hands together approvingly.
And she declared:

“Then roll.”
“…!”

Shock rippled through the children’s eyes.
But what could they do?
It was a fate sealed the moment they gathered before Saelika of their own volition.
The children didn’t resist and rolled across the desert floor.

“I knew this would happen.”
“That’s why I said not to stand out and waste your energy.”
“I understand wanting to play tag with Honeybread, but still!”

The three young men beside them muttered in protest.
Saelika fixed them with a steady gaze.

“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“You’re not rolling.”
“….”

In the end, the three young men rolled across the desert floor as well.

The people of Bennayser watching from afar were utterly astounded.

“Why are you suddenly rolling around on the desert floor?!”
“Indeed. The demons haven’t even appeared yet, so why….”
“Isn’t that torture?!”

The scorching desert sun beating down relentlessly, the sand beneath them burning hot.
Trainee Priests rolling across its surface.
To anyone watching, it was clearly torture.

“…Ah, well, it certainly is the best way to adapt to the desert.”

Prince Ryubik muttered in an awkward tone.

“Really?! That’s not a torture method?!”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

People stared at Ryubik with expressions questioning what nonsense he was spouting.
Even Ryubik himself thought it was nonsense.
But in moments like this, one must never waver!

“We grew up with the desert from childhood. For those who’ve never seen a desert their entire lives, shock therapy is necessary to adapt all at once.”

As the prestigious Prince Ryubik spoke with an unwavering, resolute expression, people began nodding one by one.
It was nonsense, but when spoken by a person of standing, it sounded like sense.

“Indeed…. A strategy where one endures great pain at once, making the remaining suffering seem trivial?”
“Remarkable! I can feel Artemisia’s resolve!”
“Yes! Without even recovering from travel fatigue, they’re using such torture-like methods to prepare for the subjugation…!”

Ryubik felt uncomfortable at their passionate response.

‘…No matter how I think about it, it’s nonsense, yet they believe it so readily?’

Though he was certainly grateful they did.

“The priests of Artemisia throw themselves into the flames for a distant foreign land!!”
“Artemisia’s grace knows no borders!”
“Wait, why a foreign land?! Artemisia and we are now one, aren’t we?!”
“I was actually bewildered by that decision, but seeing the future of the Temple—these Trainee Priests—with my own eyes today, I understand!!”
“Artemisia Temple is the best~!!”

…Sometimes the truth remains hidden, and that’s for the best.
Truly.

* * *

Several hours later, in King Bennayser’s palace.
The children who had rolled through the desert lay sprawled on the floor, utterly exhausted.

“Hah…. I thought there was nothing harder than rolling around in the Trainee Priest Quarters.”
“I saw Artemia’s toes today….”
“I even heard her voice. She asked why I came so early when it wasn’t time yet….”
“Why would she have come early? It was all because—.”

It was all because of the Sacred Maiden that Artemia had personally chosen!
The children stared at Saelika with resentful eyes.

Saelika called out to the exhausted children with affection.

“My little ones.”
“…Why.”
“You’re chattering away, so you must have energy left. Want to roll around again? I’ve wandered through it myself, so I know. The desert at night is something else entirely.”
“We’ll die doing that!!”
“It’s fine. People don’t die that easily.”
“….”
“Want to give it a try?”
“Wow! Today’s training was amazing, right?”
“Yeah yeah! It was so rewarding, really!!”

Saelika felt pleased at the children’s satisfied response.

“Hungry? Go ahead and eat.”

King Bennayser’s kingdom had prepared food with great care for the subjugation unit.

“Meat!”
“It’s meat!!”

The Trainee Priests descended upon the meat like children stranded in the desert.

‘My little ones eat so well.’

Watching them devour their meal with such enthusiasm, Saelika wore a mother’s smile.

‘Eat well. Tomorrow, we descend even deeper into hell.’

Hehehehe, hehehehehehe!
A sinister laugh, hardly befitting a Sacred Maiden, echoed softly through the air.

Expeditionary training required substantial funds.
Bringing this many people along demanded an enormous sum.

Especially now, when I was simultaneously constructing a large building and needed to pinch every coin.
A free expeditionary training like this was a godsend!

‘I absolutely cannot miss this. I’ll squeeze every last drop of value from it.’

Saelika cast healing magic on the children for the sake of efficiency.
It was something she normally never did.
After all, having them cast healing on themselves or circulate their sacred power to expel fatigue was part of their training.
Naturally, the children were shocked.

“…!”
“Did you just cast healing on us?!”
“She was worried about us, our youngest!”

The Trainee Priests, their eyes suddenly glistening with tears, surrounded Saelika.

“All that harsh training today was for us, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right! Our youngest just struggles to express herself! She definitely wanted to see us and was worried, she just showed it this way!!”
“Damn it, I cursed her out 666 times in my head without knowing!”
“I did it 6666 times!”

‘…Is this what they call reading the mood?’

Saelika stared at the Trainee Priests with an exasperated expression.
Ilay cleared the air.

“So what’s the schedule going forward?”

Subduing the desert is no easy task.
Combat against magical beasts is one thing, but the desert environment itself was fundamentally hostile to human existence.

Moreover, large-scale subjugation operations were still unfamiliar territory for the Trainee Priests.
A few of the children like Ilay and Dmitri had been mobilized several times before.
However, this was the first time the entire contingent of Trainee Priests had ventured on an external expedition.

In other words, meticulous tactics needed to be devised.
Everyone’s attention turned to Saelika.
Slowly, Saelika’s lips parted.

“Tomorrow, we roll.”
“…What?”

The children were momentarily flustered, but soon nodded calmly.
No one had expected her to roll for just a single day anyway.

“Right, and the day after that?”
“We roll that day too.”
“…?!”
“The day after that, and the day after that—we’ll keep rolling.”
“…?!??!”

The children’s faces drained of color.
They’d continue doing this every single day?!
And knowing Saelika, she’d make it progressively worse!
They’d rather fight a thousand magical beasts!

“W-wait, didn’t we come here to subjugate magical beasts?!”
“Well, if you keep rolling diligently, won’t the magical beasts be adequately subdued?”

Saelika smiled kindly.

“After all, you’ll need to kill the magical beasts if you want to survive.”
“….”

The children were left speechless.
A demon! There’s a demon here!

* * *

The Imperial Palace.
Nobles murmured amongst themselves as they made their way toward the Great Meeting Hall.

“A public purge? And kept secret from the parties involved, no less.”
“Isn’t a public purge inherently dangerous?”
“Usually, it’s the last desperate gamble of a temple backed into a corner.”

The final thrashing of those with nothing left to lose.
And furthermore—

“Not a single one has ever succeeded.”

That was the truth.
Not one had ever succeeded.
Even if the purge itself succeeded, if their image took a hit, it was still a failure.

Of course, one could theoretically perform so brilliantly during a public purge as to completely rehabilitate their image in one stroke.
In theory.

But war is never beautiful.
It’s nothing like a tournament held within controlled venues and rules.

A large-scale purge on top of that?
Naturally, countless variables would follow.
Could every situation and every scene within it appear inspiring to the watching masses?
For a temple, where image is paramount, this was all the more fatal.

A public purge was nothing but a surveillance camera in disguise!

“But why would Artemisia Temple agree to a public purge…?”
“Wasn’t it the temple with the best reputation right now?”
“Is there something else we don’t know?”

Listening to the whispers around him, Houston smiled.

‘Artemisia Temple is finished now.’

Houston deliberately let a week pass after Saelika arrived in Bennayser without incident.
Two days were spent on a welcoming banquet and recovering from the journey.
One day to enter the desert and engage in the first battle.
After that, as they ventured deeper and deeper, fighting all the while—.

‘By the time a week has passed, they should be in the thick of a messy battle.’

So today, he had informed the Emperor that they should all watch the live suppression footage together.

‘Artemisia brought all the Trainee Priests with her. And they are the main force.’

Throwing inexperienced Trainee Priests into such grueling combat from the start.

‘That woman made a poor judgment call!’

Thanks to that, he had grasped an easy victory.

Soon the grand Meeting Hall was filled to capacity.
An Attendant spoke.

“Then I shall display the suppression footage.”

With those words, light illuminated the massive crystal screen.

“This… this cannot be!”
“How is this possible…!”

Hearing the astonished voices of the people, Houston smiled.
Just as expected.
What scene could it possibly be?

A scene of abandoning comrades and fleeing alone?
Or perhaps a young boy Priest’s arm being severed?
A young girl Priest drenched in monster blood, crying out for help?

Either way was satisfactory.

‘In truth, that is reality.’

It was a scene one could witness quite often.
But nobles who weren’t Temple Priests would think differently!

‘Ideally, it would be perfect if we could capture the Sacred Maiden failing to save those priests.’

Or better yet, if she turned away and prioritized her own safety instead.
The importance of an ordinary priest and the Sacred Maiden differed, so that would be the natural choice.
However.

‘People would call her selfish and despise Saelika.’

And that would be the end of it.
But then….

“That’s truly remarkable!”
“What kind of subjugation technique is that?!”

No, that wasn’t subjugation.
Of course, they were being subjugated.
They were being subjugated, but.

“Torture…?”

—————
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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