Youngest on Top - Chapter 272

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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 272

“I told you. I would grow stronger and return to you, Sacred Maiden.”

With those words, the face of the man before me overlapped with the young boy from my memories.

“I will grow stronger and return. When that day comes, please…”

That young boy who spoke those words while pressing his lips to the back of my hand.
His jawline had hardened and matured, his gaze deepened, yet those sorrowful eyes remained unchanged.

Kiiiiieeeee—!
The demons shrieked and rushed forward.
In an instant, a blade of light cleaved through space.

“…!”

The demons stiffened under the sacred light, frozen in place.
His divine power was remarkably formidable.

“Surely you haven’t forgotten me?”

Heidrun had drawn close to my side without my noticing.
He smiled and extended his hand to me.
Just as he had before.

“I have lived thinking only of my promise with you, Sacred Maiden.”

I smiled in return and took his hand.

“Now I can easily slaughter Death Knights.”
“Any enemy that stands in your way, Sacred Maiden.”

Warm lips pressed against the back of my hand, just as they had all those years ago.

* * *

In a dark, secluded chamber.
Beatrix furrowed her brow and asked in return.

“What? Who appeared?”
“The… the priests of Molloresta…”
“Molloresta?”

The messenger bowed his head apologetically.
The Parmanase Priests burst into hollow laughter.

“Ha, Molloresta stepping forward? How absurd.”
“After we supported them to claim the top position in the east…!”
“Have they no shame? They collapsed after the summit with Artemia, yet now they help Artemia’s Sacred Maiden!”

While the priests chattered, Beatrix remained silent.
Tap, tap.
She drummed her crimson nails against the armrest as she questioned the messenger.

“What about the mana network response?”
“…It’s favorable toward Saelika.”
“Ha, of course it is.”

Her red lips twisted.

Simultaneous demon attacks erupting across the entire continent.
Without Saelika’s abilities, the casualties would have been catastrophic.

“During the last mission, I tested it by ‘teleporting’ into the dragon-kin’s territory… it’s truly a broken ability.”
“Yes, normally spatial displacement has numerous restrictions.”
“No need to pre-install gates, no limits on personnel, weight, frequency… even barriers prove useless.”

That wasn’t all.

“How does she even know which cities the demons appeared in?”

It seemed as though she received real-time updates on the situation.

“Moreover, healing power so potent it can instantly cure even fatal wounds that are difficult to treat with sacred magic….”
“They say she possesses unprecedented abilities, calling her the Grand Sacred Maiden and making such a fuss. Foolish masses!”
“We should have sent Meira as well. If we had used the stigmata granted by Amelia, Saelika wouldn’t have been elevated so exclusively.”
“What good would that do?”

Beatrix asked sharply.
The priests flinched and fell silent.

“Even so, public opinion wouldn’t completely turn away from Saelika. It would merely waver indecisively.”
“….”
“When the same issue persists, people lose interest. And loose tongues are easily silenced.”
“We, we apologize.”
“It’s time to hold our breath for one decisive strike rather than petty moves.”

Beatrix gazed down at those assembled.

“Above all, Saelika stopping this attack falls within our expectations. Of course, it would have been better if she hadn’t.”

A rat of a woman, but her abilities alone were exceptional.
I never believed the attack would succeed unconditionally.

“It’s truly regrettable. The plan would have succeeded if the Molloresta priests hadn’t interfered.”
“It’s still fine. The other objective succeeded.”

Beatrix smiled with composure.
The priests brightened, nodding and beginning to chatter.

Meanwhile, Beatrix’s eyes grew cold and dark.
She said it was fine, but her insides churned otherwise.

Scratch, scratch—crimson nails raked across the armrest.

‘I never dreamed the young leader of Molloresta would grow so formidably strong.’

The more Saelika’s abilities shone.
The more exceptional the people at her side became.
Beatrix felt as though her insides were twisting.

‘Saelika, that arrogant little rat was in our orphanage.’

If I had recognized Saelika first.
If I had discovered the hidden potential within her and that she was the daughter of Perardin Noishurael Duke!

‘All of that tremendous power and Saelika’s people would have become Amelia’s…!’

It was lamentable.

* * *

Artemia Temple System Branch.
Dmitri and Edmund, who had returned, wore peculiar expressions.

“That guy really came back then?”
“Why did he come?”
“…I don’t think that’s something you should say with the person in question right here.”

Heidrun spoke with a reluctant expression.
And soon after, he chuckled.

“You two are still the same. I’ve heard stories about you from here and there, so I knew.”
“Stories from here and there? Ah, so you’ve heard of the great exploits of this magnificent Dmitri!”
“No. I was talking about the Sacred Maiden….”
“How impressive of this Dmitri! To think you’ve been my fan all this time—I’ll take you as my subordinate!”
“….”

Heidrun seemed to have given up.
Edmund looked displeased, but soon after,

“Well, it seems to have been helpful to Sae.”

—he nodded.
The other children, who had initially regarded him with cautious eyes, soon began to blend in naturally.

“What? You collected all the official Saelika photocards from the Great Saint Chronicles? I couldn’t even collect them all!”
“That’s amazing! So cool!”
“Show us! We want to see!”

…It’s properly mixed in, right?
But that wasn’t even the most absurd part.

“Saelika! You’re accepting Molloresta’s priests as Artemia priests?”

Helele, Zabele, and Elele came rushing at me like a pack of wolves, demanding an explanation.

“What’s wrong with that?”
“It took you forever to accept us!”
“But you accepted them right away!”

Spittle flew everywhere.
Heidrun stepped in front of me.

“We are different from you. We have always wanted to become the Sacred Maiden’s priests since long ago.”
“What?!”

The three Sacred Maidens’ eyes widened even further.
I let out a deep sigh.

“I accepted you immediately when you swore the oath of submission.”
“That’s… that’s—.”
“And the circumstances are genuinely different.”

The three of them looked troubled.
They seemed disappointed, as if they’d misunderstood my words.

“Martina, the Sacred Maiden of Molloresta, abandoned her priests.”
“…!”
“You must have heard about it, right?”
“Well…”
“We did know about it…”

When the Death Knight emerged at the assembly.

“After all, trainee priests are supposed to sacrifice their lives to protect the Sacred Maiden, aren’t they?”
“Since they seemed unable to make that decision themselves, I gave them the glorious opportunity to sacrifice their lives for the Sacred Maiden.”

Martina used her trainee priests as bait, driving them into a desperate situation, and escaped herself.
And then.

“Everyone risked their lives for me.”
“I must survive and escape this place to honor the sacrifice and will of those children.”

She even told such lies.

‘The shockwaves back then were tremendous.’

The Molloresta Temple, which had genuinely held the top position in the east, completely fell into decline after that day.
Yet they continued to train throughout.
To become useful to me.

A declining temple—especially growing stronger without the Sacred Maiden’s power.
Others might not understand how difficult that was, but the people of Artemia knew.
Our children accepted it for that reason.

“I can never forgive Martina.”

Using shortcuts like Helene did was acceptable enough.
But abandoning priests—that could never be forgiven, no matter how much time passed.

Suddenly I felt their gazes.
When I turned around, the Molloresta priests who had been talking with our children…
No, those who had now become Artemia priests were looking at me.

“Coming here was the right choice.”
“Yeah, it was incredibly hard, but we did well to keep striving to grow stronger.”
“Because we could help you. Sacred Maiden.”

Heidrun took my hand and kissed it gently.
It wasn’t just them.
Suddenly Helele, Elele, and Zabele looked at me with eyes full of emotion.

“Saelika…”
“To think you held us in such high regard…”
“Well, we never abandoned our priests.”

I let out a short laugh.

“At least you’re better than Martina. Though it’s unchanged that you’ve used every dirty and petty trick in the book against children.”
“Ugh, seriously!”
“I can’t even bring myself to be moved.”
“Honestly, I haven’t done anything noteworthy enough to be lumped in with these guys.”

Helele and Elele grumbled and complained.
Watching them, Elizabeth shook her head.

“Sigh, I really don’t understand those two.”
“Really? I think they’re fine. Either way, they were helpful in this attack.”

Dolores grinned widely.

The surroundings were filled with Sacred Maidens and Priests.
They were all people who had pooled their strength for this attack.
As I gazed at them, Ilay asked.

“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. Just… finding it fascinating.”

Unlike my previous life, where I was nearly confined within the temple, this life had allowed me to meet countless people.
Many of these connections were good from the start.
But even those I once considered the worst have now become quite decent relationships after all these years.
Enough to combine our strength together.

“I thought I was reincarnated as a human as punishment.”
“Right, you said you beat up a lot of other angels.”
“But maybe it wasn’t a punishment.”
“Hmm?”
“It might have been a reward.”

Artemia, did you enjoy watching me beat up those angels?
Did you take satisfaction in seeing me break the nose of that archangel, Parmanase’s closest aide?

Anakin: Was that you, Artemia?

‘When I beat that guy up, Anakin pretended to stop me but subtly threw in a punch of his own.’

Anakin: “…Did you catch on?”

Now that I think about it, aren’t my brothers just as violent as I am?

‘Of course, not our gracious Artemia. She could never be like that.’

I clenched my fists tightly.
The reason I could live this life now wasn’t simply because I had been reborn as a human.
It was thanks to Shuri.

‘…Ah, so that’s why.’

I missed Shuri.
Right now, immediately.

* * *

But there was no time to leisurely meet with Shuri.
The fathers had finished all the cleanup and returned.
We immediately entered a conference.

“It wasn’t just demons. Monsters attacked the cities too.”
“I heard. Monsters appeared in several cities. Did the demons control them?”
“No. They couldn’t control them. They just released them.”
“But it was an effective strategy. The monsters didn’t attack the demons that were emitting miasma.”
“Because of that, we had to face both demons and monsters simultaneously.”

It was troubling.
We certainly had numerical superiority overall.
But if Parmanase came at us like this, our forces would inevitably be insufficient.

“That said, we can’t request support from noble private armies or imperial forces. We can never know when non-priests or non-temple priests might transform into demons.”
“Exactly. If we were engaged in a full-scale war with demons and the rear forces we trusted as allies suddenly turned into demons….”
“We’d be surrounded instead.”

…Beatrix was certainly not an easy opponent.
Even at the coronation, every move she made was sharp and calculated.
That’s why the entire continent had been played in the palms of Amelia and Beatrix before the regression.

My expression must have grown serious, as Randel placed a hand on my head.

“Don’t worry too much. Not everything that happens is bad.”
“True, there was some commotion during the coronation, but because of this incident, people have come to trust and follow our Sae even more.”
“It seems people are viewing the appearance of demons as a calamity.”
“That’s right. Demons were created because of the true calamity—the Demon God.”

The adults were correct.
Indeed, the outcome of this chaos had benefited us.

‘Moreover, we’ve captured and are holding the demons in custody.’
Parmanase gained nothing but lost troops instead.
Even the demons in our custody could serve as excellent evidence.

‘In every way, this is only good for us—.’

I hesitated.

‘…Something feels off.’

Would Beatrix really commit an act that only resulted in losses for her?
Did she panic upon realizing we had discovered the true identity of the calamity?

‘But we can’t easily reveal that the Demon God of the Society is Parmanase.’

Beatrix would know that well too.
Then why would she do something like this?

In that moment.
A thought struck me.

“She had multiple objectives….”
“Lesha?”
“Beatrix’s objectives, I mean. Her first objective would have been for us to fail in our defense.”
“Then people wouldn’t acknowledge my daughter as the Grand Sacred Maiden and would search for Amelia instead.”
“Her second objective would have been to kill me, even if the attack itself failed.”
“…!”
“Or if not killing me, then dealing a blow no less severe.”

If Heidrun and the Molloresta priests hadn’t appeared, I would have pushed myself to use my power recklessly.
Then I wouldn’t have been able to use my full strength for a long time afterward.

‘And if an attack like this one had occurred at that moment?’

And what if such an assault happened then?

“…But fortunately, everything failed.”
“Not necessarily everything.”

Ardin’s Father spoke coldly.

“There could be another objective. The attack itself might be a means to conceal the true purpose.”
“…!”

A tense silence settled over the conference hall.
I shared the same thought as Ardin’s Father.

“What about Amelia?”
“No separate report. She should still be locked in the prison.”
“I’ll have it checked once more.”

I nodded.
Dmitri let out an exasperated sigh.

“Ugh, my head hurts! Can’t we just reveal that the god those cult followers serve orchestrated all this, and that god is Parmanase?”
“Parmanase has existed alongside people for far longer than the empire itself. Saying that will only backfire.”

Kaiser was right.
Whether devout believers or not, everyone relies on Parmanase in their hearts.

“But this is the truth.”
“People are sometimes more influenced by emotion and the unconscious than by reason. Even if we reveal the facts, they will feel resistance.”
“And that resistance could manifest as the High Priestess oppressing Parmanase, who was her rival.”
“The Parmanase faction will guide it that way.”

Dmitri pouted.

“I’d believe anything you say, Honeybread.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m entangled with Parmanase in too many ways. If someone without any connection to Parmanase spoke—someone beloved by all—then perhaps I could accept it more easily.”

But that was impossible.
The other Sacred Maidens would also suspect conflicting interests, so they didn’t count.
The only possibility would be someone like Grizelda—a popular member of the royal family.
Yet even the royals’ support and backing of each Sacred Maiden was already known to all.

That was when it happened.
The conference room door burst open.

“An urgent message has arrived from the imperial palace.”
“From the imperial palace?”
“Prince Roiland has awakened!”
“…!”

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