Youngest on Top - Chapter 188

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

Chapter 188

-Phew, thank goodness that was stopped.
But seriously, does that guy only know how to throw punches?
Just looking at them, they seem to have terrible intelligence lol. I’ve never seen a strong guy who’s also smart lol
└She established an Order Branch despite being stupid?
People around him probably fed it to him lol, those new priests there are pretty capable anyway
Even now, when I see them spitting out real missions, it’s so predictable. Like, what kind of mission has real ones and fake ones lol
└I don’t like it! It’s fake! Whiiiiine!

[A real mission, you say?]
[This is a fake mission.]
[….]

The moderator fell silent.

-Huh??
-Why isn’t she saying anything???
-Could it actually be fake?!?!??

[You said it yourself just now. From now on, each competition’s mission will be written on a mission card.]

“Now, there’s a mission card inside this mission envelope. From now on, each competition’s mission will come written on a mission card like this.”

[…!]
[…Could it be!]

The Sacred Maidens around her lifted their heads in shock.

[W-when you announced the second mission just now, you didn’t read from the mission card…!]

I suddenly struck down a monster, and when questioned about it, I naturally transitioned into talking about the next mission.
And then the camera suddenly cut off….

‘I was so focused on that I didn’t notice at all!’
‘She remembered a passing remark made in that situation and immediately saw through it?!’
‘And this after hearing orders to kill each other?!’

The Sacred Maidens stared at Saelika with eyes filled with disbelief.

Clap, clap, clap.
Slow applause echoed through the air.
The host smiled brightly as he looked at Saelika.

[Impressive. Truly worthy of Artemisia’s Sacred Maiden.]

-Wow, it’s real then;; chills;;;-
-Honestly, the mission itself was ridiculous
-Where did all those people go who were talking about Sae’s intelligence earlier?
└Probably logged off out of embarrassment for their own intelligence lol

[The mission was fake. Such a mission could never be real. Each and every one of you Sacred Maidens is precious.]
[….]
[….]
[However, it was a wonderful opportunity to understand what kind of people you Sacred Maidens truly are. A perfect self-introduction, one might say.]

A perfect self-introduction.
At those words, the Sacred Maidens stiffened, their bodies tensing.
Especially those who had declared they would climb up by any means necessary—their eyes darted about nervously.

‘It’s fine, it’s fine. The cameras are off.’
‘As long as people don’t know, we can recover from this somehow.’

But unfortunately for them, everything was being broadcast live.

* * *

The Perardin Noishurael Duke’s residence.
The Adjutant posed a question to the Duke.

“Is this what Your Highness was referring to?”
“Yes.”

Just then, the door opened and a tall man strode in with long legs.

“What is this? I thought you weren’t watching, yet here you are.”
“Admiral Ekellan.”
“So you do care about our Sae? Over these past few years, Sae has—”
“Pointless talk.”

A voice sharp as a honed blade cut through the Admiral’s words.
Of course, Admiral Ekellan was not one to be intimidated by such a tone.

“Hmm~ Then why are you watching the broadcast right now?”
“I am merely observing one of the candidates. The Grand Sacred Maiden is an important existence.”
“Of course you would say that.”

Admiral Ekellan chuckled and rose from his seat.

“Well then, Sae is my Sae, so don’t get any ideas. Oh! I’m going to be late for my appointment with Sae! I’ll take my leave.”

Admiral Ekellan winked and left the room.
Perardin Noishurael Duke stared at the closed door with a displeased expression.
The Adjutant, sensing the Duke’s mood, cautiously opened his mouth.

“Ah, ha ha, Your Highness has come to the Order Branch after quite some time, so it seems the Admiral made time to visit despite his busy schedule.”
“….”
“Your Highness?”

Perardin Noishurael Duke abruptly stood up.

“…?”
“…I’m going to the Artemisia Branch.”
“Yes?”

Why there all of a sudden….
Even as the Adjutant thought this, he hurried to follow the Duke.

* * *

[Grand Sacred Maiden Selection Begins!]
[A Sudden Battle Royale?! Sacred Maidens Killing Each Other!]
[Trending #1! Seed 7 Dominates All Expectations!]
According to preliminary surveys, the most mentioned seeds were Seed 10, Seed 3, and Seed 1, with Seed 7 not even appearing in the rankings.
Yet defying everyone’s expectations, viewership for Seed 7’s broadcast skyrocketed—

“It’s all thanks to our apple, obviously!”

Admiral Ekellan set down the newspaper and tapped my cheek lightly as he spoke.
The preliminary venue for Seed 7 was closer to the Order Branch than to the Eastern Temple Headquarters.
So after the first mission ended, I remained at the Order Branch instead of returning to headquarters.

“It’s not that—it’s because you drew aggro by telling them to kill each other.”
“And our apple turned that into drama. If no one had noticed, it would’ve gone all the way until someone actually did something, then we’d have stopped it.”

Admiral Ekellan was right.
In the midst of that chaos, I would have revealed it was a fake mission.
He must have revealed it was a fake mission in that chaos.

‘All the Sacred Maidens of Seed 7 would have fallen.’

The stigma would have spread to their affiliated temples as well.
In contrast, the Sacred Maidens of the other seeds would have been sanctified.

“The other seeds didn’t receive instructions to kill each other, right?”
“After introductions, each seed received different ‘fake missions.'”

Even calling them fake missions was generous.
A train is moving down the tracks, and there are small children on the rails.
If the train stops, the passengers aboard will be injured or killed.
What would you do in this situation?
That was all—questions and scenarios that could double as introductions.

‘Naturally, the fairness issue erupted.’

-Does that even make sense?? They tell some to kill each other, and give others trivial problems.
-Honestly, the 7th Seed seems discriminated against;;;
-Aren’t they just using them as a disposable piece?
-The 7th Seed’s original fake mission was supposedly something else.
└Please refrain from spreading rumors
└It’s not a rumor. The headquarters just released an official statement

And the headquarters’ statement, in summary, went like this.

1. The 7th Seed’s “fake mission” was indeed something different.
2. The mission was: “There is a monster in here.”
3. However, because Saelika caught the monster first, they had no choice but to come up with a different mission.
4. The facilitator demonstrated ingenuity and created a new fake mission on the spot.

Naturally, chaos erupted.

-??? What kind of statement is this?
Haha, it seems like they’re blaming Saelika for messing things up somehow.
It’s not a matter of blame—it’s the truth. If she had just left it alone and done nothing, would this ridiculous mission have even come up? Those other saints are so pitiful.
└No, but I’ve never heard of someone complaining that a Sacred Maiden caught a monster;;;
Huh; it doesn’t seem like she’s blaming anyone at all. Does she have a victim complex? ;;; I heard a lot of Saelika fans were created because of this incident, and it seems to be true lol;;
└So questioning a ridiculous statement makes me a fan??????
└The mission where they tell people to kill each other is a fact; the statement wrote down the sequence of events;;;;
└You don’t see where they wrote that telling people to kill each other was “demonstrating ingenuity”?????
Wow, there are a lot of Saelica fans here lol
-It seems like the critics are the ones gritting their teeth and commenting more than the fans^^

“Don’t worry about it too much.”
“…?”
“You don’t need to pay attention to what people who don’t know anything say.”

I was merely lost in thought, but Admiral Ekellan seemed to have misunderstood.

“I’m not really concerned. Compared to things I’ve heard before, this is nothing.”
“What do you—.”
“In any case, the operations headquarters achieved their purpose.”
“…?”
“Muddying the waters, that is.”

Kill each other.
Considering the fallout from those words, there’s no way the organizer would have acted unilaterally.

“From the beginning, the fake mission for Seed 7 must have been ‘kill each other.’ The entrance statement was fabricated.”
“….”
“The reason they deliberately placed a monster at the scene—.”
“If the Sacred Maidens gave up or couldn’t do anything, they planned to move the monster to incite a fight.”

After that, making excuses becomes rather easy.
They could simply blame it on a monster that snuck in and caused the situation to escalate.
The controversy from that?
They would have welcomed it instead.

The Sacred Maidens of Seed 7 would become fools who couldn’t properly respond to a single monster and were manipulated by it.
They could even boost the topic’s appeal with the narrative that a monster was preventing the birth of a Grand Sacred Maiden.

‘The real problem is the malice of the management headquarters that planned such a mission.’

More precisely, malice directed at me.

Last time, they broadcast live as a special exception under the guise of it being the first time.
The real reason for the live broadcast was probably because of the ‘kill each other’ mission.

From the next mission onward, they’ll record and edit before broadcasting.
In other words, depending on how it’s edited, people’s perception of me will change.

‘Just looking at this entrance statement, they’re using me for controversy.’

If they plan to keep using me as a source of controversy and then discard me, that’s a problem.

‘From the main tournament onward, sponsors can support Sacred Maidens.’

The headquarters will have no choice but to push whichever Sacred Maiden seems likely to receive the most sponsorship.

‘If some decent sponsor openly backs me from now on—.’

Not just decent, but a sponsor who’s a walking fortune at the pinnacle of power—

“Why did my smooth little apple’s brow wrinkle like this!”
“…!”

—It’s there.
Right before my eyes.

“Of course, a wrinkled apple is also incredibly adorable.”

Admiral Ekellan chuckled lazily and gently rubbed my brow.
Then he spoke in a subtle voice.

“My little apple. There’s no one here, no one to disturb us, just the two of us—.”
“….”
“Serge Dad, try it.”
“Serge Dad.”
“Tsk, as expected, my little apple is cold— huh? Huh? What? What did you say?!”

Admiral Ekellan nearly tumbled off the bench from the shock.
Even the smile he always wore so leisurely had vanished.

Admiral Ekellan had jokingly sung “Serge Dad, Serge Dad” to me all the time.
But I had never actually called him that before.

‘It’s something I’d say to tease Kaiser Dad.’

But now I needed a wealthy patron at the pinnacle of power.
He wouldn’t turn away after joking about me calling him that first.
I needed to nail this down quickly.

“Serge Dad?”
“Uh, uh-uh, uh….”

Admiral Ekellan covered his mouth with one hand.
His face flushed noticeably red.
A completely different demeanor from his usual smooth and leisurely attitude.

“…?”
“That, that is, so— uh….”

Admiral Ekellan rambled on incoherently.
I found myself questioning whether this was truly the legendary philanderer Admiral Ekellan.
In that moment.

“Ha.”

A sound of exasperation reached my ears.

‘Hmm, this is the pattern I anticipated.’

Sure enough, when I turned my head toward the garden, Kaiser stood behind the flower beds—

‘Huh?’

—No, it was someone else entirely.

‘P-Perardin Noishurael Duke?!’

Someone I had completely failed to anticipate.

* * *

“Greetings, Your Grace.”

I quickly offered a proper bow.
Though he had said his daughter could not be found, Perardin Noishurael Duke occasionally visited the Temple.
It seemed he wished to maintain the connection, just in case some possibility remained.

“….”
“…?”
“….”

Perardin Noishurael Duke stared at me without returning the greeting.
His gaze felt as though it might pierce right through me.
Only after a long moment did the Duke’s lips finally part.

“…Why are you calling that fellow ‘father’?”
“Ah….”

I suppose it could be uncomfortable for Perardin Noishurael Duke.
Losing his daughter and not knowing whether she’s alive or dead for over a decade.
If I call Admiral Ekellan—my uncle by marriage and the adoptive father of my own son—Father—.

‘He might think I’m coveting the position of Duke’s daughter.’

That I’m trying to stand on equal footing with Mikhail.
In fact, hadn’t I been misunderstood in such a way more than once?

‘Which only means there were many people who coveted the Duke’s daughter’s position.’

I couldn’t afford to make an enemy of the Duke’s household in this situation.
Moreover, this would be a profound wound for Perardin Noishurael Duke in another sense.

“I apologize.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“I was thoughtless.”
“….”
“I overstepped my bounds, not knowing my place, when Admiral Ekellan was showing me such kindness.”
“….”

There are still words that chase after me even now.

A lowborn child who doesn’t even know who her mother and father are.
An orphanage foundling who survived only thanks to the pity of the highborn.
All the other Sacred Maidens come from noble families, so what about her?
How pathetic, thinking she’s nobility just because she became a Sacred Maiden.

“It won’t happen again. I know my place. So absolutely never—.”
“I’m the one who told you to call me Father, so why are you bowing your head like that?”

Admiral Ekellan pulled me into an embrace and lifted my chin.

“Why are you so angry at a child who’s done nothing wrong?”
“Did I get angry?”
“Isn’t questioning me so intimidatingly the same as getting angry?”
“….”
“I asked you to call me that. For years now. Because I wanted to hear you say the word Father.”

Perardin Noishurael Duke’s brow furrowed deeply.
His mood seemed to worsen.

‘Of course. He’s already misunderstanding that I’m after his daughter’s position, so hearing something like that would only make him angrier.’

Does he think I’m some seductress who bewitched Admiral Ekellan?

“Maintain your dignity. Wanting to call someone ‘father’ just because they spoil you?”
“What’s wrong with wanting to call ‘father’ to someone who cherishes me like a daughter?”
“….”
“Why, are you jealous?”

I stared at Admiral Ekellan with an exasperated expression.
I knew he was skilled at needling people with that smooth, grinning demeanor of his.

‘How could he say something like that here!!’

In panic, I grabbed Admiral Ekellan’s collar firmly.
Perardin Noishurael Duke’s gaze turned toward my hand.
I quickly released it with a start.
It could be misunderstood as me fanning the flames with Admiral Ekellan.

“You….”

Perardin Noishurael Duke called out to me in a voice that had dropped considerably.

“Never call that bastard ‘father’ again.”

A growling, threatening tone.
The Duke left those words behind and turned away.
Watching his broad figure recede, Admiral Ekellan muttered under his breath.

“What. Is that guy actually jealous?”

As if!

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