Youngest on Top - Chapter 194

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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 194

* * *

The assembly location for the third preliminary round of the 7th Seed.
As I entered the Hall, the Sacred Maidens had clustered together, whispering among themselves.

“Really… isn’t it?”
“I know. The first time… shocking….”

‘What’s going on?’

Wondering what had happened, I stepped closer, and the Sacred Maidens sensed my presence and turned around.
Upon seeing me, the Sacred Maidens widened their eyes and gasped.
That reaction.

‘Were they talking about me?’

After all, I was currently the most watched Sacred Maiden in the 7th Seed.
So it made sense they would discuss me.

‘This is troublesome.’

The first vote was scheduled after this mission.
In other words, how this mission unfolded would have the greatest impact on the voting.

‘They have more than enough reason to judge that strategically joining forces to check me would be more advantageous.’

Fighting over similar stakes versus destroying my much larger stake.
It was clear which would yield greater gains.

I clenched my fists tightly.
The faces of those who had cheered for me on my way here flashed through my mind.

‘No matter what happens, I will never be defeated—.’

“Welcome, Saelika!”
“Was the journey here inconvenient?”
“You’re truly beautiful today as well.”

Huh?

“I was truly moved.”
“Since I’m a Sacred Maiden of the Octagon, you always felt so distant to me.”
“I didn’t understand your heart, and I thought you were putting up walls.”

Uh… what?

“I’m embarrassed to say this, but… let’s become closer from now on.”
“This is my first time in the Regime. After the mission, would you like to explore the Regime together?”
“I visited Artemia Park the other day. Artemia’s buns were so perfectly round and… ahem, her figure is truly beautiful.”

Either way, the Sacred Maidens seemed sincere.
Especially when they spoke about how perfectly round our Artemia’s figure was—I felt 200% genuine sincerity then.

‘What is this.’

“I’m glad everyone understands Saelika’s sincerity.”

Shuellina whispered in my ear and broke into a wide smile.

‘Could they be misunderstanding because of the broadcast editing and saving Shuellina?’

No, they were there during the mission—why are they taking it at face value?

“Sincerity reveals itself through actions. It seems everyone opened their hearts after witnessing Saelika’s deeds.”

But what actions did I even take!
Still, it seemed only I was struggling to adapt to this situation.
The Sacred Maidens had already gathered around me, chattering away.
Some of them had brought snacks to share.

‘…These are delicious.’

To be honest, they really were delicious.

‘Ugh, forget it.’

It was far better than being watched and constrained by the Sacred Maidens who stuck together without me.
It absolutely wasn’t that the snacks made me thoughtless.

“But Sae, how did you manage that?”

Well, caught up in the moment, I’d let my words slip.

“Manage what?”
“That—everything went crazy.”
“…?”

Was she talking about swapping the Ruaf core with the egg?

“Why are you interrogating her like that?”
“Right, it couldn’t have been easy for Sae either.”
“Crown Prince… well, it must have been terrifying too.”
“…?”

Crown Prince?
I looked at the Sacred Maidens with confusion, and they all smiled warmly and patted me on the shoulder.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to explain.”
“Still, you were really brave.”
“It was amazing.”

I had no idea what they were talking about, but it seemed like they were under some massive misunderstanding.
They were even looking at me with what seemed like admiration.

‘Fine. It’s not a bad reaction anyway.’

Something felt off, but I let it pass.
The macarons were truly delicious.

* * *

After finishing all the snacks, the Host appeared.
The Host greeted us with pleasantries about how we’d been, then got to the main point.

“The third mission is hostage rescue!”

Summarizing the mission details, it was as follows.

1. Participants begin at different starting points.
2. Virtual monsters blocking hostage rescue appear along the way.
3. When engaging virtual monsters, the hostages’ lives become endangered.
4. There are ten hostages total. Their initial positions are marked on the map.
5. Each hostage is worth 1 point.
6. However, there is one special hostage. This hostage’s location is not marked on the map.
7. The special hostage is worth 10 points.

The point distribution was reasonable.
In real situations, not knowing a hostage’s location is far more common than knowing it.

‘So the special hostage is real.’

However, without any hints about the hostage locations, the mission itself becomes difficult.
Moreover, it becomes harder to edit the broadcast showing the Sacred Maidens strategizing and competing.

‘Hints serve as a compass for action, after all.’

The hints themselves function as a kind of broadcast script.
That’s why they placed the 1-point hostages.

“Now, here are the locations of the hostages!”

A massive map materialized behind the Host.
It was quite a vast area.
The hostages were each positioned separately from one another.
However, their numbers increased toward the center and decreased toward the periphery.

“And here are the starting points.”

Thirty starting points were marked on the map.
Some were close to the hostages, while others were far.
At a glance, it was clear that advantage and disadvantage depended on where one began.

“Hehe, you’ll need to choose your starting point wisely, won’t you? But drawing lots like last time is rather tedious.”
“….”
“Wait a moment! Let me announce the first-place reward for this mission!”

The screen behind the Host shifted at his words.

“I’m sure you’ve all anticipated that voting will commence after this third mission concludes.”
“….”
“We’ll be running a voting encouragement advertisement. And for whoever places first in this mission—”

The changed screen displayed a voting encouragement advertisement.

[Vote for your Sacred Maiden!]

The silhouette was rendered in black, making it impossible to identify who it was.

“You’ll have the opportunity to become the star of this advertisement!”
“Wow…!”
“That’s an incredible reward.”
“The impact will be undeniable.”

The Sacred Maidens whispered among themselves nearby.
They were right.
This advertisement would appear not only in the major plazas of the Regime but also in the commercial districts of each region.

The most skilled and promising Sacred Maiden!
That’s how the public would perceive her before the first vote even began.

“Hold on a moment.”

One of the Sacred Maidens raised her hand.

“What about the first-place winner from last mission? You said there was a reward for placing first in the second mission too.”
“Hehe, of course there is! The second mission’s first-place reward is—!”

As the Host spoke, the screen changed once more.
To a map with the hostage and starting point marked.

“It’s the authority to choose the starting point of this mission first!”
“…!”

No one complained that the reward was too meager compared to the advertisement.
As I said, it was clear at a glance which starting positions were advantageous and disadvantageous.
In other words, the first-place finisher from the last mission had obtained the authority to start far ahead of everyone else in this mission!

‘Now I understand why they mentioned the first-place bonus for this mission first.’

“There’s no need to deliberate. It’s far too obvious which is better.”
“Yeah, position 1 is advantageous, and the higher the number, the worse it gets.”
“Position 30 is basically telling you to give up on the mission. I’d just have to break through the map alone.”

The Sacred Maidens whispered among themselves.

“Sae will choose position 1, right?”
“Of course she’ll choose 1. Position 1 is really good. It’s close to five hostages, no less.”
“Oh, but what about Shuellina? Shuellina is also first place. Will one of them choose position 2?”
“Hmm, position 2 is decent, but it doesn’t even compare to position 1.”

The Host spoke up.

“Have you all decided which position you’ll choose? The order of selection will be determined by the scores from the second mission. In case of a tie, the Sacred Maiden who entered first has priority.”

There really wasn’t much to choose from.
The starting positions were better in numerical order.

“As I mentioned earlier regarding the first-place bonus, since the 7-seed is a tie for first place, we need to determine which Sacred Maiden will choose first….”

The Host looked back and forth between me and Shuellina.

‘They said the Sacred Maiden who entered first has priority, yet they’re making a point of saying it this way….’

The Host certainly understood the editing points well.
Shuellina immediately waved her hand.

“Ah! I’m fine, really. Of course, Saelika should choose first.”
“Are you certain? It’s an incredible opportunity. There’s even advertising involved.”
“Of course I’d regret it if I think about it that way… but if it weren’t for Saelika, I wouldn’t have escaped memorization either.”
“…”
“My ranking would have been much lower, and I wouldn’t have received supplies from the others. So it’s only right that Saelika chooses first.”

Shuellina beamed at me with a radiant smile.
The Host spoke.

“How heartwarming. Do you agree, Saelika?”

‘That Host really knows how to work it.’

Asking if I agree right now.
One wrong move and it’ll be edited in a strange way.
But if I say no here, it’s the same as throwing away my chance to pick number one.

Actually, how it appears on screen is more of a problem than losing the opportunity.
If they cut the mutual modesty because it’s boring, that would be better.
If they edit it into an awkwardly heartwarming anecdote, I could face backlash as a hypocrite when I compete fiercely in the finals later.

‘Then—.’

I opened my mouth.

* * *

-Sacred Maiden Championship spoilers incoming!!!
The mission is hostage rescue, and the starting point is determined from the high scores of the previous mission.

The day of the Sacred Maiden Championship mission.
Though there was no related broadcast that day, the Manashell network was bustling with activity.

You won’t even give me a chance to turn things around? lol
The 10 o’clock seed was basically just handing over all their supplies to Amelia. Even if you gave them a chance to turn it around, they’d probably just give it back themselves lol
└If it’s Amelia, I get it. I’d hand it over too.
-Then the top finishers from the last mission would have an advantage.
└Yeah, everyone said they’d pick number 1. Apparently number 1 is the most advantageous. Number 30 is basically telling you to give up the mission.
└What? They should have mixed up the difficulty levels. Why did they do it so blatantly?
Honestly, there are way too many saintly girls. I need to push for the ones I’m sure about and quickly weed out the rest. If I get mixed up too, it feels like the saintly girl competition alone would take 100 years lol.

Among the discussions, there was also talk about the 7-seed.

-But isn’t the 7-seed two first-place finishers? How are they handling that?
└Right? Maybe they’ll do rock-paper-scissors.
└Maybe they’ll do some kind of mini-game?
Among the same seed saints, it could also receive votes.
└Sae came in much earlier, so obviously Sae should pick first
└This would be so boring

Amid all the speculation, one post was registered.

Breaking! What did 7-seed Saelika choose??
My cousin works as an event assistant and contacted me.
They say Saelika picked it 30 times lol
This guy always seems to catch me off guard lol

Despite containing shocking information, the post was quickly swept away without much reaction.

-Here we go with the attention-seeking again.
-Does that make sense? She’s insane to pick number 30. She’s really trying everything to get attention
-Blocking attention-seeker.
-Don’t feed the troll, let it get swept away.

It made too little sense.
But they didn’t know.
That something impossible had actually happened.

* * *

“Did I misspeak? Why don’t you change it while you still can?”
“It’s fine. I chose correctly.”
“Sae….”
“Just how far are you willing to sacrifice for others? Stop giving in.”
“You need to think about yourself first. How do you plan to survive in this harsh world?”
“….”

Strange?
Why did my image suddenly shift like this again?

“I chose it because I wanted to do Gate 30.”

For some reason, the Sacred Maidens looked at me as though I was the most pitiful thing they’d ever seen.
They even patted my rear end, saying how admirable I was.

“…?!”

Before I could say anything, the Sacred Maidens followed the Host’s guidance and departed.
I shrugged and headed toward Gate 30.

Kailros: Our youngest is as kind and gentle as she used to be. Look at her, sacrificing for others like that.
Anakin: Saelika, are you insane? Did you eat something bad?
Kailros: How dare you speak that way about my sister!
Anakin: No, she’s doing something she never does. She could’ve easily chosen Gate 1 even with a perfect Sacred Maiden….

Anakin knows me far too well.

Enrik: The youngest must have her reasons for doing things this way.
Enrik: Right?

‘Of course.’

I whispered to myself as I stepped into the warp gate.

‘This is far too suspicious.’

They set starting points from Gate 1 to Gate 30 and claimed they were advantageous in order?
So blatantly?

If each starting point had clear advantages and disadvantages, I wouldn’t have suspected anything.
Then the Sacred Maiden would need to understand her strengths and weaknesses, strategically choosing her starting point.

Kailros: You’re right—the Sacred Maiden’s capabilities and choice of starting point were completely unrelated.
Enrik: The results differed so clearly depending on the starting point.

‘The foundation of warfare is seizing the high ground.’

Anakin: Right! That’s true!
Enrik: …Should I call it war?

‘But they’re issuing a mission while completely excluding the ability to recognize high ground and the ability to utilize it?’

It’s strange not to suspect this.
Of course, one could think like this.

Less than half of the Sacred Maidens from each seed could advance to the main tournament.
So they’re pushing the Sacred Maidens who are scoring well even further.
A device to make them appear more skilled to the public.

‘But if they were that kind of people, they wouldn’t have drawn attention using a battle royale in the first place.’

So this is rather—

‘A trap.’

* * *

“Gasp! Casualties!”
“Why are there so many monsters….”
“What are we supposed to do if monsters are waiting at the starting point!”
“We must avoid combat at all costs! The hostages are in danger!”

And everything unfolded exactly as Saelika had predicted.

—————
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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