Youngest on Top - Chapter 24

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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 24

* * *

A fire had broken out.
The shockwave caused by those few words was tremendous.

“A fire?!”
“That’s impossible. All the Temple Buildings have been consecrated, so how could….”
“The children.”

The Priest who had reported answered the High Priest’s question with a grim expression.

“…We’re still assessing the situation.”

The High Priest rose from his seat with a hardened face.
The Elder and the other Priests followed in his wake.

“What’s the scale of the fire?”
“One Dormitory building is ablaze. It hasn’t spread to other areas yet.”
“Of all times, the Dormitory. When the children would be sleeping.”
“Yes…. And it’s the building where Shinsu is.”

Everyone’s faces turned rigid.

By the time the High Priest’s party arrived at the fire scene, the other Priests who had heard the news were also arriving.
The High Priest immediately issued orders to them.

“Deploy the Holy Formation.”
“Yes!”
“Move the children to safety. If the building collapses, they could be injured by the debris.”
“Understood.”

The Priests who received their orders prepared to unleash sacred magic to suppress the fire.
The other Priests quickly assessed the situation and reported back.

“Fortunately, most of the children escaped quickly.”
“Yes, there aren’t many injured children, and the wounds are only minor.”
“It seems nearly everyone got out safely!”

It was nothing short of a miracle.
Everyone was exhaling sighs of relief.

“Sae, Sae…!”

Relieved by the arrival of the adults, the children called out for Saelika through tears.

“Sae? Why Sae—what happened to that child!”
“Sae is still inside, sob, still inside alone!”
“She saved us…”

The children burst into wails.
The Priests’ gazes turned toward the burning building.

Saelika was inside that building?
Alone?

Then I saw the children running toward the building.
The Priests were horrified.

“Dmitri, Ilay, Edmund! Where are you going!”
“It’s dangerous—stay away from the building!”

The adults rushed toward the three boys at once.
Just as they were about to grab the children—

Crash—!

The ground trembled violently.
The building before our eyes crumbled, and flames erupted skyward.
A sight too surreal to be real.

Screeeech—

A sharp ringing pierced the ears, overlapping with the deafening roar.

“Gasp, gasp…!”

It felt as though I had plunged into water.
Sound became muffled and distant, and breathing grew labored.

A moment suspended in silence.
As reality began to return, I grasped what had happened.

“Kyaaaaaaah—!”

A scream, piercing and raw, tore through the air.

“No, no, no!”
“How can this be, no! Sob, gasp, what do I do…!”

Cries of anguish engulfed everything around us.
Chaos wove together confusion and dread, terror and despair into a single, suffocating tapestry.

The adults seized the three boys.
Like fish dragged from water, the boys thrashed and writhed.

“No! Sae! Sae!”
“Let me go! The child is still inside! I have to save him! I have to save him…!”

Dmitri’s face, always so cheerful and bright, was now ravaged by tears.
Ilay’s face, perpetually wreathed in smiles, was twisted in anguish, veins bulging at his temples.
Edmund’s face, which had always gazed down with arrogance, was now shadowed by helpless despair.

“Let go of me—!”

At the desperate cry, the adults clenched their teeth.
Without a word, they held the children closer, their grip unyielding.

Whether exhausted or simply spent, Dmitri, who had struggled most violently, went suddenly still.
Ilay too fell silent.
Had they surrendered, accepted the inevitable?

In that moment.

Uuuuuuung—!

A resonant hum accompanied the light that enveloped Ilay’s body.
A clear, brilliant sacred radiance devoured the darkness.

No one present could fail to recognize this light.

“Sacred power…?”

The adults all knew that Ilay had awakened his sacred power.
But he possessed such tremendous strength?

“When exactly did he become so…?”

But something even more astonishing unfolded.

“Graaaaaahhh!”

With a roar, light erupted from Dmitri’s body.

“That bastard isn’t dead! You know how stubborn and relentless he is! He never backs down!”

At those words, the children who had been crying lifted their heads one by one.

“R-right!”
“There’s no way that tough kid would die like this!”
“His fists are insanely strong!”

Their words drew strength from one another.
Hope began to kindle in the children’s eyes.

Above all, the light that Ilay and Dmitri had revealed.
That light, carrying the same yearning as their own, illuminated the hearts that had sunk into darkness.

Faint light began to flow from the children’s bodies.
That light was far dimmer compared to Ilay and Dmitri’s.

Yet those tender lights gathered and converged, becoming nothing but radiant.
Intense yearnings merged into one.
Their hearts sustained one another.

“Tell me what you wish to do.”

Prayer is one’s own yearning.
One must speak of what they desire most desperately.
Words that child always spoke.

The light each of them kindled was a faint starlight.
Yet that starlight embroidered the dark night sky as if pouring forth, illuminating it.
Just as constellations guided lost wanderers, their intertwined lights became a beacon leading the way.

“…!”

The Priesthood watched the sight with astonished eyes.

“The children have awakened their sacred power…!”
“When did this….”

No, it was not merely an awakening.
This situation right now—.

“Resonance?”

Their sacred powers answered and drew from one another, manifesting even greater strength.

Ordinarily, resonance was led by the Saint.
For priests were always drawn to the Saint’s power.

But there was no one guiding these children.
Without anyone to lead them, the children’s hearts gathered as one and resonated.

“How is this even possible…?”

No, that was not what mattered now.

The light the children had conjured was directed toward one place.
The burning building where Saelika was.

Without anyone teaching them, the children’s prayers were extinguishing the fire….

‘—beating it down?’

Hm?
The Priesthood doubted their eyes.
But looking again, it was the same.
They weren’t extinguishing the fire—they were beating it down.

“Why are they…?”

The adults were bewildered, but soon came to their senses.
That wasn’t what mattered right now.
They had to help the children and suppress the fire quickly.

The Priesthood began deploying sacred magic.

Randel entered the burning building without hesitation.
Dmitri and Ilay saw him and tried to follow him inside.

“You two wait here.”

Elder Devon stopped the two boys.

“No. We’re going in too.”
“Yes! We’re going in!”

It was just as Devon opened his mouth to stop the two children.

“No.”

A low voice rang out clearly.
The two boys’ movements froze.

“I’ll go. So wait.”

The High Priest pressed down firmly on both children’s shoulders and continued past them.

“H-High Priest?”

The senior priests looked up in startled surprise at the High Priest.
Before they could say anything to stop him, the High Priest disappeared into the building.

The Elders stared after him in bewilderment.

Why on earth was he entering there directly himself?
If anything happened to the High Priest, it would be an irreversible catastrophe.
And he of all people would know that!

But there was no one in the world who could stop the High Priest.
They rushed in after him.

* * *

Sirius remained outside, watching their figures disappear.
A frown creased his brow.
Sirius’ Attendant Priest beside him called out with a puzzled expression.

“Elder?”
“…Doesn’t this seem strange? A fire breaking out so suddenly.”
“It certainly is peculiar. The Trainee Priest Quarters that had just been consecrated burning down like this. And so completely destroyed.”
“If someone desecrated the sanctity, it would be possible.”
“…!”

The Attendant Priest’s eyes wavered.

“That child went to the underground today, didn’t they?”

The core of the consecration lay underground.
Even an infant could easily desecrate the sanctity if they merely approached the core.
If that child had desecrated the sanctity…

“Elder, surely that can’t be. That child is in the flames right now.”
“Yes. They woke all the other children and were coming out together when they became isolated. Alone.”

What were the odds of that actually happening?

“Could it be… that child…?”
“…I should have cast her out long ago.”

Thinking of what trauma today’s events might leave on the other children, a burning rage kindled within my chest.

Sirius clenched his teeth and strode inside.
A sacred power as cold as the north wind enveloped his body and consumed the flames.

Rather than search for Saelika, Sirius headed straight for the stairs.
He intended to descend underground.

Just then, he sensed a presence from above.
Looking up, he saw the High Priest and other priests.
Saelika was not among them.

“You couldn’t find her?”
“…She wasn’t in her room, so we’ve been searching thoroughly as we came down.”

At Randel’s response, Sirius nodded and moved toward the underground passage.
Seeing this, the hot-tempered Derrick furrowed his brow.

“Elder, surely you’re not more concerned about the Summoned Beast than the child?! The Summoned Beast will simply be unsummoned, but that child will…!”

Die.
Derrick couldn’t bring himself to finish and swallowed the rest.

Sirius ignored Derrick’s words and descended further.

“It’s open.”
“…!”

The door to the underground passage was open.
At those words, the High Priest came down the stairs with a rigid expression.

* * *

The Priests who entered the Underground furrowed their brows.
It wasn’t merely because the interior was charred and in disarray.

“The consecration….”
“Someone damaged the core.”

In other words—.

“This wasn’t an accident. Someone deliberately set the fire.”

Everyone recalled what Gawain had said.

Saelika had snuck into the Underground and come back out.
And judging by the fact that the Underground door’s lock was disengaged, that child must be here somewhere.

Everything pointed to Saelika being the arsonist.

But why?
There was no reason for Saelika to deliberately set a fire and hide in the Underground.

“…Come to think of it, that child did discover a treasure within the Temple.”

Sirius murmured.

“If that wasn’t a chance discovery, it means she knows the Temple better than we do.”

The Underground beneath the Trainee Priest Quarters Dormitory—a place we thought held nothing of particular interest.
But if something existed there, and Saelika knew about it?

“Perhaps she committed this act to obtain something in this place.”
“Sirius Elder!”

Randel protested.

“Sae discovered that treasure by chance. I was there with her, so I know best!”
“Then again, she may have been targeting the divine water.”

Sirius spoke in a cold tone.

“It could be an attempt to reverse summon the Divine Beast before it awakens.”
“The one who summoned the Divine Beast is Sae.”
“Yes, and he earned quite a bit of favor from it. If that was the goal, hasn’t it already been achieved?”

Sirius dismissed Devon’s words.

“B-but Sae would never do such a thing!”
“That’s right! I believe in the child I’ve watched all this time!”

It was a statement that bordered on wanting to believe rather than actually believing.
Randel looked at him, then turned his head away.

‘The High Priest…’

The High Priest’s face was expressionless as always.
Despite having observed him for so long, it was difficult to discern what thoughts lay within.

That was when it happened.

“L-look, there’s Sae over there…!”

At someone’s words, all eyes turned in unison toward one spot.
There, a small child was huddled.

Lips drained of all color, swollen and pale.
The plump cheeks that should have always held a rosy hue were now covered in soot, their original color unrecognizable.
Arms and legs covered in blisters.
The long hair that had been carefully maintained was singed and matted from the flames.
The pajamas, charred and burned away, exposed the child’s back entirely.
That tender back, covered in terrible burns.

And that child was embracing the Divine Beast wrapped in cloth with their entire body.
With that small frame, the child had protected the Divine Beast.

“…”

No one could open their mouth.
They had even forgotten how to move.

In that moment, the child’s eyelids, which had been shut with exhaustion, trembled faintly.
Those blue eyes were as clear and pure as always.

Upon spotting the adults, the child’s lips moved.
The instant Randel recognized that expression as something akin to relief, his chest felt as though it might crumble.

“You… came…”

A voice so fragile it seemed ready to break.
At those words, the High Priest took a step forward, as if awakening from a trance.

“I… kept my promise…”

The High Priest’s face contorted.
As if his perpetual expressionlessness had been a lie, it crumbled into disarray.

“I kept my promise, Sae.”

He reached out toward the child, then froze.

“I need to… heal you first.”
“Sae.”
“Please… promise me you’ll hold on.”
“Sae, please.”
“Will you… stay with me…?”

He collapsed to his knees before the child.

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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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