Youngest on Top - Chapter 191

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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 191

* * *

Inside the Headquarters of the Sacred Maiden Selection.
Emily ground her teeth audibly.

‘How exhausting it was to persuade them to use the Ruaf core as a prop!’

A monster had been born from the bosom of the Sacred Maiden Saelika!
All that effort had been to capture that very moment.

The sight of a monster bursting forth from the box that Saelika had carried so carefully.
Just the image of it etched into her mind would inevitably deal a blow to her reputation.

People were aware of the properties that the Ruaf core possessed, but it didn’t matter.
The subconscious was far more powerful than conscious knowledge.

‘But how could it have turned out this way!’

Recalling the egg that had emerged from Saelika’s box, Emily yanked open the editing room door roughly.

“So, how is it?”

The Editor-in-Chief of 7th Seed shook his head at Emily’s question.

“Everyone’s being cautious because of the backlash from the last battle royale. There’s no excitement.”
“I suppose so.”
“So this is the only thing worth paying attention to, after all.”

The Editor-in-Chief gestured toward the main screen with his chin.
There, Saelika’s face was displayed prominently.
Emily, watching the moving footage, furrowed her brow.

“Are you going with this as is?”
“There’s no other usable scene.”
“Wait. Let me search once more.”
“Emily.”
“Saelika didn’t swap the egg using Sacred Magic. There wasn’t even a Sacred Magic Circle.”
“That’s true, but….”
“Something definitely happened between Rimildar and Saelika in the camera’s blind spot.”
“And then Saelika pretended not to know and betrayed her at the last moment?”
“She could have been deceiving from the start. That’s why Rimildar reacted that way.”
“….”
“If I can even just get her voice, it’ll be huge. Give me one more day. Or even just until this evening, yeah? What’s so great about being classmates at the Academy? This would get way more of a reaction.”
“Hmm, if you’re right, the controversy factor is definitely guaranteed….”

The Editor-in-Chief hesitated slightly.
Thanks to Emily’s suggestion to draw aggression from the 7th Seed on the first mission, they had reaped great benefits.
Emily, reading that sentiment, pushed once more.

“Besides, there are two people tied for first place in the mission anyway. If one of them stirs up controversy, things will be way more interesting going forward.”
“Hmm, certainly….”

It was the moment the Editor-in-Chief was about to nod.
Knock knock.
The editorial office door opened along with the knocking sound.

“How’s it going?”
“H-Head of Department!”

The Editor-in-Chief, the editorial staff, and Emily sprang to their feet.

“How are things progressing? Didn’t you say you were in the final stages?”
“Well, we had a good idea, so we’re looking for more scenes….”

Emily quickly voiced her opinion.
Once the Head of Department gave permission, things would go exactly as Emily wanted.
But.

“You’re looking for new scenes now? And when would we even edit them? Besides, do such scenes even exist in the first place?”
“Based on the circumstances—”
“We’ve searched thoroughly until now. If it’s not there, it’s not there.”
“Head of Department, this is genuinely guaranteed to generate buzz—”
“No time.”

The Head of Department dismissed Emily’s words and spoke to the Editor-in-Chief.

“The story isn’t lacking. I thought this story was fine.”
“…!”
“…!!”

The story is fine.
The moment those words left the Head of Department’s mouth, it meant we had to proceed as is.

“Th-thank you so much!”

The Editor-in-Chief and the entire editorial team bowed their heads.

“Yes, you picked well. Just push a bit harder.”

The Head of Department waved his hand dismissively and left the editorial office.
The moment the door closed, the editorial staff erupted with excitement.

“Wow, the Head of Department actually came to see us for just the preliminary round 2 mission of 7th Seed!”
“Of course! 7th Seed generated such massive buzz!”
“When we first took on 7th Seed, there was someone crying that we’d all go down with it. Now they’re saying it’s natural?”
“Hehe, Editor-in-Chief, when are you going to let that go? This is all thanks to you pulling us through.”
“Aren’t we going to cause real trouble at this rate?”

Excited voices filled the editorial office.
Among them, only Emily’s face had gone rigid and expressionless.

‘…Saelika isn’t even a strong contender for the championship. Yet the Head of Department personally came to see her?’

It made no sense.

‘It’s definitely the influence of a backer. No, it’s not just a backer level.’

A Sacred Maiden rated C-grade, discarded as a throwaway piece.
The Head of Department made sure to personally look after her.

‘…I heard he created work in the Southern Region and disposed of Admiral Ekellan.’

Admiral Ekellan had now departed for distant seas where communications couldn’t reach.
Before leaving, he supposedly met with the Head of Department separately, but there were limits to what that could accomplish.
There weren’t just one or two people lobbying for influence.

One had to haggle down to the very last moment, as if conducting a bidding war.
The fact that Saelika’s patron won that final competition meant they were someone truly extraordinary.

‘Who on earth could it be?’

Emily bit her lip hard.

* * *

Saturday, 8 PM.
The broadcast began.

“She’s coming on, she’s coming on.”
“The youngest looks great on camera.”
“That looks good? She looks way better in person.”

Children lounging comfortably in front of the crystal viewing seats chattered away.
The early segments were composed almost entirely of other Seeds.

‘Amelia really is getting superstar treatment from the start.’

All the editing for the 10th Seed was tailored to Amelia.

“Oh, finally the youngest appeared!”

[Number 7 probably won’t appear at all.]
[It’s practically impossible.]

Amid such whispers, I on the screen spun the roulette wheel.

[Seven! That’s seven!]
[Wow, seven actually came up!]
[As expected of Saelika. That’s amazing.]
[Congratulations!]

I checked Manashell’s reaction beside me.

-Whoa seven came up!!!!
-Isn’t this the first time in all Seeds??
-Manipulation? It feels like they’ve been pushing Saelika too much since last time.
└The whole thing is rigged from the start since there’s no decent Sacred Maiden in the 7th Seed besides Saelika.
└????? People are still saying it’s rigged even after seeing the preview edit

‘The manipulation accusations will disappear the moment they announce what seven is.’

But the broadcast didn’t reveal what seven was right away.
They cut it off at just the right moment.

-Ugh what is it;; they won’t tell us even though it’s nothing special
-Since six was an egg, maybe seven is something like a cup filled with water?

Then the dungeon entry by seed began.
But the editing was strange.

“Why does our youngest look so isolated?”
“Isolated? She just doesn’t go around with them, that’s all!”

If our people see it that way, what would others think?

-Saelika really has no social skills. The damage control hasn’t worked since last time
-The other Sacred Maidens are cooperating, but she’s doing solo play lololol
└Yeah those other Sacred Maidens are all one-point wooden logs
└Oh, so your great Sae is too good to match with one-pointers?
└That’s not it, they grouped up because their gacha luck was bad and they needed to rush and score points somehow;; and yet you’re shoving in a seven-pointer like that
└Defending your favored Sacred Maiden’s lack of social skills by blaming the other Sacred Maidens lololololol

‘…I only kept my distance because of Ruaf’s hack.’

In reality, there were quite a few Sacred Maidens who operated independently besides me.
But since they didn’t reveal what my cargo was, and the editing had such a peculiar touch to it.
Even I could see that I alone looked out of place.

‘Why is the editing like this?’

Admiral Ekellan had confidently sent a gift, so I thought it was handled well….
Could it be.

‘Did Perardin Noishurael Duke interfere?!’

The hair ornament the Duke had sent as a warning came to mind.
That was when it happened.

Boom—bang!
A magic cannon installed on the dungeon wall suddenly fired without warning.
Shuellina’s flustered face was captured in close-up.

A critical moment!

[Ah…!]

Someone’s hand pulled Shuellina away.
The screen played out in slow motion, deliberately drawn out.
A pale, delicate hand wrapped firmly around Shuellina’s waist.
Shuellina’s golden hair and her savior’s blonde hair intertwined and scattered.
Shuellina’s blue eyes wavered as she gazed at the person before her.

Gradually, the figure’s appearance came into view from below.
…It was me.

‘They’re showing it like that…?’

The editing had such force, like a Sacred Maiden on a white horse.
There even seemed to be a soft-focus effect on top of it.

‘No, why is Shuellina’s face turning so red like that.’

Even back then, I thought her face was oddly flushed.
But it wasn’t quite to this extent, was it?
Seeing her like this, something feels really off.

“…Sae.”

I turned my head at the low voice.
For some reason, Roana was looking at me with eyes full of betrayal.

“Youngest….”
“Why….”

It wasn’t just Roana.
All my children were staring at me with resentful eyes.
What’s gotten into them now.

Even as this happened, the screen with the soft-focus effect continued playing.

[Can you get up?]
[Y-yes, thank you.]
[That’s enough.]
[I don’t know how to thank you for this….]
[It’s fine.]
[But still—.]
[I wasn’t trying to save you in particular.]

‘…What, I came across like some bashful tsundere.’

I was just trying to brush her off because it would be awkward if she insisted on coming along with me.
Then Shuellina’s interview came up next.

[I was truly moved. She was so cool. I mean, it’s not easy to look after someone else in that situation, right? Strictly speaking, she’s a competitor.]
Q. Weren’t you hurt by her saying she wasn’t trying to save you?
[Hurt? Everything she said was for my sake.]

Shuellina waved her hand dismissively.

[Thinking about what was in Saelika’s box— she didn’t want me to get dragged into it.]

-Why are we talking about supplies here?
-What’s with number 7?

Reactions immediately flooded Manashell.
The video shifted in response.

What on earth could be inside Saelika’s box?

As subtitles appeared, the scene rewound.
Back to when the supply list was announced.

[Now, the final and highly anticipated number 7! Number 7 is the Core of Ruaf!]

-??????
-Huh??? What did you say?
-The Core of Ruaf?!
-Why did the difficulty suddenly spike like this
-Number 7 was a complete dud
-Where did all those people go who were saying it was rigged and favoritism?

The Manashell screen updated rapidly at the unexpected revelation.

-Wait. So Saelika standing apart alone earlier was also because of the Ruaf Core?
-Looking at Shuellina’s interview just now, she probably didn’t equip it because she was worried about harming the other Sacred Maidens.
-From the other Sacred Maidens’ perspective, they’d definitely refuse if someone with the Ruaf Core asked to join them anyway
It seems like they considerate separated themselves first to avoid creating an awkward situation.

‘…It was actually because the other Sacred Maidens’ holy power might corrupt the Ruaf Core.’

The rescue scene and Shuellina’s interview seemed to be causing a misunderstanding.
There were also people with different opinions.

Haha, no, I’m deliberately staying away alone so I don’t create an awkward situation. Say something that makes sense;;
“You were the one pushing Saelika earlier, weren’t you?”
└You keep trying to spin that her character is questionable, but in reality she’s out there saving everyone, right???
It’s so typical of someone who’s never even seen a saint’s face while scratching their belly in a corner to react like this, when an actual saint who experienced it is praising them like that lol

Thanks to the plot twist, they got hit with criticism and disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

-So that’s why the preview scene makes sense. That red writhing thing wasn’t a Ruaf fragment?
-Did Saelika end up creating a Ruaf fragment?
└It’s natural for Ruaf to become corrupted inside a virtual dungeon. This isn’t something effort can prevent.
-Sae pushed it forward for Rimildar’s sake
└Yeah, if things went wrong, a Ruaf fragment could have jumped out of the box.
└Wow, that actually makes sense. She blocked the approach to prevent danger.

The screen filled with scenes of other Sacred Maidens disarming dungeon traps and battling virtual monsters.
But the editing was mundane, and since no famous Sacred Maidens appeared,
the public opinion on Manashell didn’t shift topics.

As several pages became plastered with favorable opinions about me, a backlash gradually began to emerge.

-That uppercut was really excessive. Can you stop already?
-Isn’t it the opposite? She probably used Ruaf’s fragment to attack while pretending it was a mistake lol
└Right, right. Thinking about that scream, this has to be it.
└What about Rimildar’s interview?? She cried saying she didn’t expect to be attacked.
-Your Sae saved everyone, so why would a gentle soul like Rimildar cry so miserably?

Opinions clashed fiercely.
Not just people who disliked me, but supporters of other Sacred Maidens seemed to have joined in to counter me.

The screen showed me again.
Dmitri marveled at how I deftly dodged and passed through the dungeon’s traps.

“It’s like you’ve been evading traps for over a thousand years.”

I felt a pang of guilt, honestly.

‘I did spend all that time running away from my Brothers’ traps.’

-Well, she dodges well enough.
-Can’t dismiss her skill
-It’s a crossroads!
-What should we do?

In the video, I opened the box and extracted Ruaf’s core.

-??? Ruaf’s core hasn’t degraded yet?
-What? How??!??!!

In the video, I set Ruaf’s core down on the ground.
Ruaf’s core was alive.
Therefore, it possessed the instinct to avoid sacred power and move toward monsters.
Watching the core slowly roll along, people reacted immediately.

-No way;
-Since when was Ruaf’s core a monster detector????

Since I avoided traps and didn’t fight monsters, my speed was naturally faster.
However, luck didn’t always follow me.

-Wow, dead end;;;
What do I do ㅠㅠ It seems like it’ll be late if I go back again..

The people who had been cheering me on sighed with disappointment.
But in the video, I didn’t turn back and instead felt along the wall.
And then.

Crack!
The ground disappeared and I fell straight down.

[Are you alright, Sae?]

That was how I encountered Rimildar.

-Finally they meet!!
-Now the truth will be revealed
People start betting on whose fault it is lol
└Wow I need to place a bet too

The moment people’s anticipation reached its peak.
The video cut off.

-An ad here?!
-Are you seriously showing an ad????

As bewildered reactions rippled through the crowd, my children let out a collective sigh.

“This is the most critical moment.”
“We know everything that happened, but….”

They seemed worried about how the editing would turn out.
Judging by how they put effort into the scene where we saved Shuellina earlier, it should be fine….

‘Shuellina is also first place. They might have edited it that way to push her forward.’

I couldn’t shake my unease about the editing in the early parts.

That was when it happened.
The door to the Lounge burst open.

“Kaiser?”

Kaiser stood there, breathing heavily as if he’d rushed over.
What was going on?
I tilted my head in confusion, looking at him.

“There was no need to guide me so urgently.”

A slow yet commanding voice echoed through the room.
Perardin Noishurael Duke.
He emerged from behind Kaiser.

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