Youngest on Top - Chapter 176

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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 176

* * *

“Welcome back.”

Anatullio High Priest greeted the returning priests with dignified bearing.

“This was your first large-scale subjugation. You’ve worked hard. I’m proud of you all.”

Though brief, his words brought more satisfaction than any flowery praise could have.
Pride gleamed brilliantly in the children’s eyes.

“Now that you’re home, rest well today.”
“Yes!”

Everyone had come to think of the temple as home.
For the exhausted children, Anatullio High Priest had spared no expense in his preparations.

“Yes, this aged meat! This is the taste!”
“The meat we had in the Kingdom of Bennayser was delicious too. But our temple’s meat is still the best!”

The children tore into the meat with joy.
Their playful chatter and relaxed expressions were noticeably more at ease than when they were outside.

While the children enjoyed themselves,
the High Priest received detailed reports from the priests in a corner of the banquet hall.

‘Indeed. The High Priest is truly different.’

To think he was already discussing future matters while receiving reports like this.
He was like a pillar supporting this massive temple.

‘That’s right—the most dangerous time is right after success, when one’s guard drops.’

It’s easiest to fall when you’ve climbed highest.
In times like these, one must solidify the foundation and strengthen the ground beneath one’s feet.

The High Priest understood this well and strictly managed the adults who had returned with me.

“You did go and handle things properly, right? You weren’t just fooling around spending time with Sae, were you?”

The adults, caught red-handed, averted their gazes.
Kaiser muttered under his breath.

“First one thing, now venting frustrations.”
“What gives you the right to talk, you runaway?”

Runaway?
I tilted my head in confusion and interjected.

“What do you mean by that?”

The adults flinched.
All their gazes turned toward me at once.

“Sae, when did you arrive?”
“Why aren’t you eating and playing more?”

I asked the High Priest.

“A runaway?”
“You didn’t know?”
“…?”
“That bastard, he missed his daught—.”
“High Priest.”

Kaiser cut off the High Priest’s words.
His expression was befittingly grave and resolute, worthy of the title of the strongest Holy Knight.

“I will show you what you mentioned earlier.”
“Just showing me won’t be enough anymore.”
“…Then I will give you one.”
“Three.”
“Two. I cannot go beyond this.”
“Fine.”

The two of them concluded their discussion with grave expressions.

‘What is this? Are they discussing the future of the temple?’

The High Priest spoke to me.

“Running away was merely a jest. More importantly, Saelika, come to my chambers once the banquet concludes.”

It seemed he wanted to hear the details of everything that had transpired in private.
It was certainly important.
I nodded obediently.

“Yes, High Priest.”

* * *

The banquet dispersed not long after.
Though the children had acted as though they would stay awake all night, the accumulated fatigue and tension suddenly crashed down upon them.

I left the children behind and made my way to the High Priest’s chambers.
As I opened the door, I saw the High Priest with his usual stern and rigid expression.

His silver eyes pierced through me with an intense gaze.
With an air suggesting he was about to say something momentous, I waited quietly.
Soon his lips parted.

“My little one.”

Pardon?
What did he just say?

Before I could even properly comprehend what I had heard.
Suddenly I felt an impact against my body.

Whoosh!
The High Priest pulled me into a tight embrace.
My cheeks pressed firmly against his solid chest.

‘I, I can’t breathe!’

In that moment, a memory suddenly surfaced.

“Did you know? The High Priest wept beneath the moonlight, saying ‘that star belongs to Sae, this star is mine.'”
“No way… The High Priest scolded the Elders for making a fuss and told them not to be foolish.”

It was a ghost story the children used to exchange.

“Let me see, my little one. Half your face is swollen.”
“….”
“Grandfather should have been by my little one’s side. It’s Grandfather’s fault. It’s Grandfather’s fault.”
“….”

I had forgotten.

‘The High Priest is quite the handful too!’

I forget because he occasionally displays moments of sanity.

“My little one didn’t want to see Grandfather?”

Munch, munch!
As my chubby cheeks were pinched and eaten, I clenched my fists.

‘I am the only sane person left to restore the Temple of Artemia!’

Enrik: Honestly, I’m anxious about what the youngest is doing too…
Enrik: He’s only ever destroyed things. He’s never actually created anything.

‘Destruction and creation are intertwined. You can only create anew after breaking things down.’

Enrik: …That’s probably not what you’re supposed to use that logic for.
Enrik: But it really does seem like there’s no sane person around.
Enrik: How did the temple end up in this state anyway?

That was a mystery to me as well.
Then it happened.

Kailros: Ah, how I miss those intimate and happy times with my younger brother.
Kailros: When I return to the Heavenly Realm, we shall reminisce about those memories together.
Enrik: …You’re hardly one to talk.

Right.
I stared at Kailros’s message window with a displeased expression.

* * *

The next day.
When I returned after finishing my dawn training, the children were still fast asleep.
After the hardship of the expedition and returning to see them lost in slumber, I felt a pang of—

“Wake up!”

—sympathy, but then I wondered if they’d gotten lazy.

“You won’t get up?!”
“Kyaaah!”
“Eek! Help!”
“Dammit, it was paradise just a moment ago! Endless meat kept appearing!”
“Yeah, want me to send you to paradise for real?”

I lifted Honeybread up as I spoke.
The children screamed and bolted toward the training grounds.

“Did you all sleep in and slack off on training the whole time I was gone?!”
“Yes! Yes! We’re running now!”

I watched their retreating figures with a disapproving gaze.

“The youngest really is back.”
“Yeah, now it feels real.”

The kids giggled with genuine delight.
I shrugged my shoulders.

“If you’re going to sleep in on purpose, at least hide it better.”

Idiots.
If they had neglected their training, they couldn’t have achieved such results in the desert.
It meant that even in my absence, the children had desperately strived in their own way.

‘Then—.’

I clenched my fists tightly.

‘I need to repay their devotion.’

Since I leveled up my flames in the desert, the training should become more intense now.
The children who had been running ahead suddenly shrank back.

“W-wait, just now there was an ominous aura.”
“You felt it too? Why did I suddenly get chills?”
“T-this can’t be….”

The children turned their reluctant heads to look at me.
Their faces were filled with terror.
I smiled benevolently.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You won’t die.”
“Y-you’re going to kill us! The youngest is going to kill us all!”
“I said you won’t die?”
“R-run!”

Honestly, what a nuisance.
This is why I hate perceptive little brats.

* * *

After fulfilling the children’s wishes.
I wandered around inspecting the temple.
I wanted to check things since there were quite a few changes during my absence.

“Like a cat with its tail raised, patrolling its territory.”

Ilay gave me a brief assessment as he watched me.
It wasn’t entirely wrong.
This place felt completely like my own territory.

‘When I first came here, I was anxious about being driven out.’

“You look incredibly happy.”
“Do I?”
“It’s not just because you’ve returned to the temple.”
“Hey, Ilay. You know what?”

I wanted to boast that I had met Artemia.
The words kept swelling in my chest, tickling me from the inside.
As if they would spill out with just a sneeze.

But when I tried to speak, it felt like a waste.
It was such a precious memory to me.
Even putting it into words felt like I was tarnishing that cherished moment.

“…No, it’s nothing.”
“What, how boring.”

Ilay chuckled and ruffled my hair.
We walked in silence for a moment.
At some point, Ilay spoke up.

“Something happened back then, didn’t it?”
“…”
“Why did you really cry?”
“I told you then. Artemia’s statue had returned to—”
“—its rightful place, and you were moved to tears?”
“Yes.”
“That can’t be right. We all know your nature.”
“What about my nature? You think I can’t be moved by something like that?”
“You can be moved, sure you can be—”
“But?”
“But you’d be even happier about getting one over on Parmanase.”
“…”

It was such a perfect answer that I had nothing to say.
To think you know me this well!

“Why are you so surprised?”

A voice came from behind me.
I turned around to see Edmund approaching with Roana and Dmitri.
Roana laughed mischievously.

“You went through all that trouble to mess up and even made yourself bald.”
“That was hilarious! You’re really something, Honeybread.”

In an instant, I was surrounded by four people.
The children looked down at me in silence for a moment.

“You don’t have to tell us what happened right now.”
“Tell us whenever you feel like it.”
“Aren’t you going to ask more?”
“It doesn’t seem like something bad.”
“Don’t try to bear all the responsibility alone.”

I ended up laughing softly.
Right, I’m not the only one responsible for the Artemia Temple.

‘Isn’t that right, Artemia?’

I told the children what I had witnessed that day.
That Artemia had manifested directly on this land and granted me her power.

“She manifested directly? Is that even possible?”
“So, so you became stronger here? That’s amazing!”
“That’s why you were crying. Sae loves and follows Artemia so much.”
“Yes.”

The children, except for Ilay, don’t know about my past life.
Yet they understood my feelings.
Ilay smiled.

“That must have been nice.”
“Yeah!”
“But why did you manifest?”

Edmund asked.

“Actually, when I met Artemia that day, I felt something.”
“You mean a revelation?”
“No, not exactly… I felt Artemia’s will.”

My soul belongs to Artemia.
Because of that, her will sometimes projects onto me.

“Artemia’s will?”
“To protect.”
“…”
“I felt the will to protect something.”

Artemia is someone who doesn’t reveal her thoughts easily.
But if it projected onto me to this degree, it must have been an incredibly intense will.

“I don’t know what needs to be protected.”
“Or maybe it’s not what, but who.”
“…”
“Someone that Artemia wishes to protect.”

I nodded at Ilay’s words.

“Either way, I know nothing for certain now. But.”

I looked at the children.

“To be of help to Artemia’s will, the conclusion is singular.”
“…”
“To grow stronger.”

That way, regardless of what or who the object is, I can protect them.

“I believe that’s why Artemia granted me this power.”

I pulled the brooch from my pocket.
The brooch I had received from Grizelda, passed down through the imperial family.
A brooch connected to one of the myths surrounding the imperial house.

“Why that?”
“Actually, this is a sacred relic imbued with the essence of an angel.”
“…!”
“The essence of an angel?”
“I don’t feel anything at all….”
“It’s been so long, and even its origins have been forgotten.”

Myths grow stronger in power the more they resonate through the ages.

“I’m going to absorb the essence dwelling within this.”
“Is that even possible?”
“It’s dangerous work, so I need all of you to help me.”

The children swallowed hard.
Perhaps because this was the first time I had asked for their help, their expressions grew resolute.

“We understand.”
“Just trust us!”
“We’ll protect you no matter what!”
“But is absorbing an essence really that dangerous?”
“…The owner of the essence is a bit temperamental.”
“…?”

Enrik: A bit? More like a lot.
Kailros: Are you really doing this? This is truly dangerous, my beloved brother.

My brothers warned me.
Still, there was no choice but to proceed.

‘For Artemia’s sake!’

I steeled my resolve.

A moment later.
We moved to my room.
I gazed at the brooch held in my palm.

‘Anakin.’

Among the angels, my brother born from the same branch as me.
The owner of the essence contained within this brooch.
And.

‘This is why it’s dangerous.’

Honestly, if Artemia’s Sacred Maiden absorbed the essence of Artemia’s Messenger, there wouldn’t be much backlash.
But if I absorb Anakin’s power, that’s a different story.

‘Sorry, but I’m going to take some of your power.’

Anakin was the type who particularly disrespected me.
If Kailros was a bastard, Anakin was just a son of a bitch.

‘If he notices, things will really go crazy. He might even attack me with the brooch’s power….’

I’ll conceal it as much as possible with the other children’s sacred power, but can I really succeed?

Enrik: Even if you succeed, the problem comes later.
Enrik: When he finds out you stole his power, he’ll go absolutely berserk.
Kailros: If he just goes berserk, that’s a blessing.

‘If he’s upset, let him descend.’

Thinking recklessly, I drew up my sacred power.

A sacred magic circle drawn within the room.
The children positioned themselves around it and were stabilizing.
I was using the children’s sacred power to conceal the distinctive feel of my own sacred power.

My sacred power bloomed and settled into the brooch.
I carefully tapped the power sleeping within the brooch.
Soon, Anakin’s essence, stimulated, began to respond.

Whoooosh—!
A blinding light erupted from the brooch.
I seized the moment and connected my divine power to that force.

‘Perfect!’

Fortunately, it connected without any resistance.
If they’d known it was me, they would’ve made a fuss and turned my room into a battlefield.

‘Good. If I absorb it like this…’

That’s when it happened.

‘Huh?’

This wasn’t right.
The connected force began moving beyond my control.
Why wasn’t it being absorbed into me—

‘It’s going upward?’

Specifically, toward the Celestial Realm.

Shhhhh—
A chill ran down my spine at the ominous premonition.
Cold crept from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes.

‘Cancel! Cancel!’

The moment I tried to sever the connected force.

“Hey, troublemaker.”

I heard Anakin’s voice.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————