Youngest on Top - Chapter 184

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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 184

That’s the most unbelievable feeling in the world.
I regarded the two fathers with a skeptical expression.

“Regardless, the Grand Duke isn’t what matters right now.”

I gestured toward Ilay.
Ilay unfolded the continental map he’d brought.
The map was colored in various shades.
It was a perfect recreation of the contamination levels I could perceive.

“This is….”
“It looks like a contamination level map. Am I right?”

Just as expected from Kaiser.
He compared it to the known contaminated regions and reached his conclusion swiftly.
Having conducted so many military campaigns, he possessed an exceptional ability to read battle situations from maps alone.

“Exactly. Through Artemia’s blessing, I’ve gained the ability to perceive the contamination status across the entire continent.”
“…!”
“Truly remarkable!”
“But the contamination situation appears more severe than anticipated.”
“Something seems odd. This area here is marked as heavily contaminated, yet it appears perfectly fine, does it not?”
“Indeed. If a city where merchants actively travel were this contaminated, suppression efforts would have begun long ago.”
“That’s because the contamination isn’t progressing as it did before.”

The adults’ gazes turned toward me at my words.

“Anberck Lake also showed contamination at approximately stage three. But when we actually visited….”
“The contamination had only just begun. The monsters remained in the depths and hadn’t emerged to the surface.”

Ilay continued from where I left off.
The High Priest looked at me.

“…You said you were going sightseeing, but you went to a contaminated area? Without a word.”

Oh no.
I lowered my posture, drawing my shoulders inward.

“My apologies.”
“…Sigh, never mind. Don’t do that again.”

The High Priest gestured for me to continue.

“I found it strange, so I investigated the surroundings and discovered the cause.”
“And what cause would that be?”
“A Demonic Realm Flower.”
“…!”

A tremor rippled through the conference chamber.

“A, a Demonic Realm Flower appearing in the human realm…!”
“This is not something we can simply overlook!”
“There’s an even more serious problem.”

Randel nodded at Kaiser’s words.

“There’s a high probability that Demonic Realm Flowers exist in other locations where the recorded contamination levels don’t match the actual situation.”
“Even if they aren’t Demonic Realm Flowers, something equivalent to them likely exists.”

The Temple Priests stared at the map with trembling eyes.
The sections colored in dark red were innumerable.

“H, how could this happen….”
“If this continues, in the worst case, the entire continent could—.”
“Become demonized…!”

The Temple Priests couldn’t bring themselves to finish their words.
A surging anxiety washed over them like rough waves.
That was when it happened.

“Who exactly is bowing their head right now?”

The High Priest’s sharp rebuke cut through the space with weight.

“Are Artemia’s priests trembling with anxiety?”
“High Priest.”
“Rather, we should consider this fortunate.”

The High Priest’s gaze turned toward me.

“If our Sacred Maiden hadn’t discovered this, we would have learned the truth far too late. By then, it might have been impossible to prevent the Demon Realm’s manifestation.”
“…You speak wisely, High Priest.”
“I apologize, High Priest.”

A new light began to shine in the Temple Priests’ eyes.
All of them gazed at me with radiant expressions.

“Thanks to our youngest, we can prepare countermeasures ahead of time.”
“Yes, we can now calmly choose our path without being swept up in sudden circumstances and floundering about.”
“Truly our little blessing!”
“Our tiger is nothing short of a hero!!”

Our youngest is the best!
The adults looked at me with such adoring expressions that it was genuinely burdensome.

“Now then, Saelika.”
“Yes, High Priest.”
“What are your thoughts?”

The High Priest listened to my words first, before anyone else’s.
The Elders and High Priests all looked at me without any objection.

“I believe—”

I met the adults’ gazes with a serious expression.

“—we need to put the children to work!”
“…”
“…”

Why, what, why.
Why are they all looking at me like that?

“Of course I know you’d object. We’ve only just established the Order’s branch, and the nobles’ response has been excellent. If we enter into competition with the temples, we could rise even higher.”

It was a golden opportunity.
Right now, Artemia commanded more attention than any temple—even more than Parmanase.
Yet I was choosing to abandon this chance.

“Still, I believe we must focus on strengthening our foundation now. Even if you object—”
“I’m not objecting.”
“Pardon?”
“You truly are our blessing. You understand what truly matters.”
“Even if we seize this opportunity and climb rapidly right now, what comes after?”
“If we spend all our time squabbling for power and playing politics, we’ll crumble the moment real danger arrives.”
“Even if moving slowly and carefully like a tortoise seems foolish right now, what’s important is making ourselves genuinely strong.”

Merely conducting purges quietly doesn’t expand influence the way politics does.
Unless the purges are broadcast or occur in areas drawing public attention.
And in places where the flowers of the demonic realm bloom, people don’t even realize they’re corrupted.

“Even if people call me a fool for refusing opportunities handed to me on a silver platter, I don’t care.”
“High Priests….”

I felt the same way.
When Roana and Dmitri, Edmund and Ilay and I played harmless pranks together.
I wanted to protect the children’s ordinary laughter and games above all else.
To do that….

“Then I really can handle the children however I see fit, correct?”
“Of course!”
“You won’t interfere no matter what happens, right?”
“Huh?”
“Even if you hear screams, even if blood splatters across the training grounds….”
“….”
“Then I’ll take that as a promise!”

I grinned widely and quickly left the conference room before the adults could backtrack.
Behind me, I heard the adults’ anguished voices.

“W-what have we done….”
“Ah, I’m sorry, children! I failed to protect you as you ripen like golden grain!”

Right, I almost forgot.
I reopened the conference room door.

“Surely you adults don’t expect to take it easy while the children are being worked so hard, do you?”
“Huh?”
“I’m sure that’s not the case, right?”

Roll with it.
An earthquake struck the pupils of the adults’ eyes.
I smiled brightly and closed the door again.
Ilay whispered in my ear.

“That’s insubordination.”
“What are you talking about? When you think about it, they’re all a thousand years older than me. If an elder says to do something, you do it.”

Ilay looked at me with an exasperated expression, then turned his head away.
I think he muttered something like “stubborn old-timer,” but surely not?

“Can you still sense the Crown Prince’s aura from me?”
“It’s gone now. Kaiser and Randel covered it up completely.”
“Hmm, so you knew from the beginning?”
“….”
“You deliberately didn’t tell the fathers so they wouldn’t find out?”

Ilay smiled.

“Sae just said she encountered a monster, so I thought I’d give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“….”

He certainly knows how to talk.
I fixed Ilay with a sharp glare before speaking.

“Next time, you have to tell me. I’m especially weak at sensing human auras.”
“Well, you’re a bomber who just overwhelms with sheer force. Didn’t you say before that sensing other auras is like detecting a single drop of milk in the ocean?”
“That’s fine. I can sense turbid energy well enough.”

Now that Shuri’s aura had faded too, there was nothing left to worry about.
I hurried over to the children.
Commendably, the children who had been diligently training flinched when they saw me.

“Why, why are you like that, Sae?”
“The youngest is… laughing?”
“P-please… spare us…”

I was hurt.

“You’re all too much. Would I really kill the children?”
“…”
“…”

No, what am I supposed to do if I stay silent here?

“I won’t kill them, I won’t.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah.”
“I knew it! The others were just overreacting, right?”
“I believed in the youngest from the start!”

The children rushed toward me.
I smiled brightly and picked up a cream bun.

“If you feel like you’re about to stop breathing, tell me. I’ll keep the thread of your life intact. But if I catch you faking it, then I’ll really make you stop breathing.”
“…!”

Before the children could even run away, my fist of love blazed with fire.
Boom!

“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“G-godmother! Please save us!”
“Godmother! The youngest is trying to kill me!”

Poor things.
The adults abandoned you.

I gazed at the map of the continent that appeared before my eyes and smiled wickedly.
Ah, where should I take them first?

A hellish path that no one—adult or child—belonging to the Artemia Temple could escape.
This was its beginning.

* * *

A remote village in the northwestern region.

“Flee—!!”
“We’re under attack by monsters!”
“This can’t be happening! This wasn’t even a contaminated zone!”
“But how did so many monsters suddenly appear… cough!”

The fleeing people were torn apart by the monsters’ fangs and died instantly.
Death without a single moment to resist.
Blood sprayed like a fountain.

“O, O, Divine One…!”
“What are the Temple Priests doing?”
“Where are the Holy Knights?!”

Men gripping spears backed away, searching for the Holy Knights.
This was a rural village where the militia handled all public security.
They possessed no ability to defend themselves against monsters.

“Hold on just a bit longer! We sent word just now, so the Holy Knights will arrive soon!”
“When exactly?! Our village doesn’t even have a portal! We’ll all be dead before they get here!!!”

It was a cry bordering on desperation.
Fear spread in an instant.

‘Damn it.’

Militia Commander Jonatan clenched his teeth.
He reassured his men that the Holy Knights would arrive soon, but he too sensed death approaching.
The Badarler Temple chapel in the village had only a single elderly Temple Priest.
The Badarler Temple branch with Holy Knights was two days’ journey away.

‘At least I need to buy time for the people to escape….’

It was in that moment of thought.

“Look, look over there!”

At the militia member’s cry, Jonatan looked up.
A monster gaped its maw wide before the woman shielding the child.

‘Too late! Too far away to save them…!’

Jonatan squeezed his eyes shut, unable to bear watching what came next.
But then.

“Huh?”
“Why… why is it just leaving?”

At the militia members’ words, Jonatan opened his eyes.
The monster that had been before the woman was slowly backing away.
As if it were afraid.

“It’s been doing that since earlier.”
“Since earlier?”
“Look at Hans at the mill over there! The monsters are avoiding him!”
“And Olivia at the blacksmith!”

The militia members were right.
The monsters were not attacking indiscriminately.
More precisely, they were avoiding only certain people.

“What on earth…?”

In this rural village where everyone knew each other within two neighborhoods, Jonatan quickly discerned what these people had in common.
The other militia members came to the same realization.
It was the same for the other vigilante members as well.

“Wait, they’re cultists! The demons are avoiding the cultists!”

Only those who had embraced this religion were surviving.
Only a few people who had accepted that religion were managing to survive.

“Have you lost your mind? An unapproved heresy like—”
“Heresy?! A god that saves human lives is the true god!!”
“Nonsense! We don’t even know why the monsters are avoiding the heretics…”
“What nonsense! You don’t even know why demons avoid the Apostle of Society….”

His words trailed off unfinished.
The old man’s eyes widened before he slowly lowered his head.
A monster’s long claw protruded through his abdomen.
The moment he realized this, the old man lifted his gaze toward his son.

“Run… run away…”
“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

The son, who had been speaking with the old man, let out a scream.
Seized by panic, the son cried out.

“I, I will become a true believer from now on. So please, true god, protect me—”

His voice vanished mid-sentence.
The monster simply swallowed the man’s head whole.
At that horrific sight, the villagers descended into chaos.

“It’s too late! What good is faith now when death is upon us!”
“Of course! What god would answer the prayers of someone who only seeks salvation when their life hangs by a thread!”
“I told you from the start not to believe in frauds like that Badarler temple!”
“Hypocritical temple priests!! They’re useless when it truly matters, worse than heresy!”

Desperate people fled, shrieking curses.

“Please, any god will do!”
“I’ve worshipped at temples other than Badarler!!”
“Parmanase, divine god! Sacred Maiden Amelia!!”
“I’ve even prayed at the Artemia temple in the capital!”
“So please, god…”

But the situation was hopeless.
They called upon every god’s name they knew, grasping at straws, yet death crept ever closer.
The militia members were no match whatsoever.
Even with three of them attacking at once, they couldn’t stop the monster—instead, they were devoured.

“We’re… doomed. Everyone will die at this rate…”
“Please… at least spare the children… I don’t mind dying…”
“No… I don’t want to die!”
“Where are these gods who promised to save us!!”

In the moment when all hope closed its eyes.

Boom!
A tremendous explosion shook the very earth.
Alongside a golden radiance, the monsters were reduced to ash without a trace.

The people forgot even their screams as they beheld the sight.
The monsters that had slaughtered them so cruelly and horrifically vanished without leaving a mark.

Salvation.
How else could one describe this miracle but with those two words?
Within that brilliant radiance stood a woman.

Long golden hair that captured sunlight itself.
A graceful, extended neck and straight shoulders.
A slender frame, a delicate waist.
And emblazoned across her back, the crest of Artemia’s Temple.

“Ah.”

The woman tilted her head with a slight movement of her chin.
Shedding the innocence of a young girl, a face like a freshly bloomed flower turned toward the people.
Her blue eyes shone with a holiness as lofty as the boundless sky.

The people recognized her instantly.
Though they had never laid eyes upon her before, how could they not know?
A figure renowned throughout the entire empire.

“Ah, the Sacred Maiden of Artemia…!”

Artemia’s Sacred Maiden.
It was Saelika.

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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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