Youngest on Top - Chapter 279

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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 279

“What greeting!”

The first to lose his temper was Anakin, the most hot-blooded among the Five Angels.

“How dare you greet anyone, you insignificant creature!”
“We have no need for your greetings. I’d rather eat dirt than accept them from you!”

My brothers fluttered their wings in fury.
I heard Ilay muttering softly.

“…I’ve heard this line so many times in dramas, but I never thought I’d actually hear it in real life.”

What was he going on about in this situation?

In any case, my brothers’ momentum was formidable.
Since each of them was an archangel who commanded legions, I couldn’t risk them affecting the human realm in any way.
I hurried to stop my brothers.

“You won’t even accept the Crown Prince’s greeting? That’s too much.”
“What? Youngest, you surely…!”
“That bastard has taken a liking to—.”
“As the Crown Prince of the Empire, I’m simply offering my gratitude for lending your aid in this calamity. If people misunderstand and think Artemia’s Messenger is ruthless, what will we do!”
“….”
“….”

Sudden silence fell.
What was this?

“I think the youngest is the most ruthless one. I told you he’s not called Buljoomeok for nothing.”
“Why does that guy actually look pitiful now?”
“Sigh, he’s only grown older for a thousand years. Still….”
“No wonder he’s been single since birth.”

What? Really?!
Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?
What does it matter if I’ve never been in a relationship?!
Anyway, people really do say whatever comes to mind.

I ignored my Brothers and offered my gratitude to Shuri.

“I was truly grateful back then. I survived thanks to you, Crown Prince.”
“Even without that human interfering, we would have protected you sufficiently.”
“Right, wouldn’t it all be over once you ascend?”
“Ascend…you say?”

Ardin’s Father, who had been silent until then, furrowed his brow.

“Does that mean you intend to take my daughter somewhere else?”
“My younger sibling’s true place was never here—it was the Heavenly Realm. More precisely, by my side.”

Kailros spoke with arrogance.
Mikhail flinched.

“My younger sibling?”

Mikhail bared his teeth in a grin.
To think he’d immediately bare his fangs at that ill-tempered Kailros.

‘This is really going to become a disaster. I need to stop this quickly…’

Then Demian raised his hand.
I looked at him with hopeful eyes.
As the successor to the Duke’s position, he would surely make a cold and composed judgment!

Indeed, Demian did not stop his younger brother—instead, he placed his hand on his sword hilt.
Ready to draw at any moment.

‘…? Are they insane?’

As the situation grew heated, Randel smiled gently and opened his mouth.

“As one who serves and follows Artemia, I must naturally follow Artemia’s will.”
“Indeed, truly befitting words from Artemia’s Temple Priest.”

Serha nodded with a softened demeanor.
I exhaled a sigh of relief.
But then.

“Yes, so our Sae must remain with us for her entire life, must she not?”

The Brothers faltered.
Meanwhile, Kaiser chuckled with a sinister grin.

“Indeed, the bond between me and my daughter was forged by Artemia herself.”
“If anyone tries to forcibly take away a daughter bound by divine blood, I have no choice but to protect her. Regardless of who that person may be.”

I stood there dumbfounded, my mouth agape.

‘You claim to follow Artemia’s will, yet you’re radiating killing intent at Artemia’s Messenger!!’

A suffocating tension permeated the room.
The air trembled from the auras emanating from each of them.
A hair-trigger situation with no room for retreat!

“However.”

Shuri’s voice cut through the sharp atmosphere with ease.
The honed killing intent suddenly converged upon Shuri.

“This is no place for the likes of you to meddle!”
“Is the Crown Prince not an outsider?”
“One must know when to advance and when to retreat!”

The killing intent concentrated on a single target—Shuri.
It seemed he would be struck down if he opened his mouth even once more.
Yet Shuri asked with an unbothered expression.

“Who exactly should I be greeting?”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”

A shockwave rippled through the air.

“A wretch like you has no right to receive my greeting, but if anyone should, it would naturally be me—the youngest’s true family.”
“Of course it should be to me. The fact that my blood flows through Saelika cannot be denied as truth.”
“Simply giving birth doesn’t make one a parent. One becomes a parent only by watching over their growth and raising them, does one not?”

The killing intent directed at Shuri vanished in an instant.
Instead, an even fiercer momentum erupted toward a different target.

Crackle!
Sparks flew through the air and lightning struck.
Even a dragon and tiger’s battle wouldn’t be this intense.

‘Is the temple going to collapse at this rate?’

This branch was decorated with all sorts of precious things, and I had just poked Gerald in the ribs about it….
Compared to this situation, beating up Amelia would have been better.

‘Could this be the calamity the Sacred Maiden predicted?’

This was truly a catastrophe!

* * *

There had never been such chaos.
Ilay watched the angels with a stunned expression.
They were unfamiliar angels, yet their expressions were all too familiar.

‘That’s the exact same face Sae makes when she’s wondering whether to throw a punch.’

It was the expression Saelika wore when her fists itched to move faster than her words.

‘…Aren’t these the Five Angels, the most renowned among Artemia’s angels?’

Ilay whispered quietly to Saelika.

“Saelika, didn’t you say you were banished from the heavens because you beat up the angels too much?”
“Why bring that up again?”

Saelika answered bluntly, as if recalling an unpleasant memory.

‘If Saelika was banished for violence, wouldn’t that make her an unusual angel?’

But now, Artemia’s Five Angels were….

“Hey, hey. Just because your mouth is open doesn’t mean you should say everything. Think before you speak.”
“Say it again. Who is my sister’s sibling?”

They were no different from street thugs.
Ilay spoke with a displeased expression.

“No matter how I look at it, you seem to resemble you and your brothers.”
“Are you joking?”

Saelika’s brow furrowed sharply.
The way she clenched her fist was exactly the same as the other angels.

Of course, it wasn’t just Saelika and the angels who resembled each other.

“Haha, to follow the will of Artemia, who has given me Sae as a daughter, a little violence is unavoidable.”
“This is the Holy Sword bestowed upon us to punish those who defy the will of the divine and offer their blood as sacrifice.”

The eyes of Artemia’s priests were equally unsettling.
Wasn’t that the kind of dialogue only villains would spout?

“…Priests and priestesses are said to be influenced by the god they serve.”
“Right, it’s basic knowledge. You know this well, so why are you asking?”
“….”

Ilay’s gaze turned toward Perardin Noishurael Duke and his family.

“Anyone who targets my daughter, I will kill even if they are a god.”
“Ooh~ This should be fun. It’s my first time fighting an angel.”

‘…That one has nothing to do with Artemia, so why does she have such a terrible personality? Was she just born rotten?’

As I pondered this, a thought came to mind.

‘Artemia was intertwined in the mythology of both the Perardin Noishurael Duke’s house and the Ekkelan Duchy.’

For some reason, all the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together.
Though it was a puzzle I didn’t particularly want to solve.
It felt like I’d opened Pandora’s box.

“That voice we heard at the altar back then. It was Artemia, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, that divine voice descended upon this land.”
“But, well….”

Ilay hesitated.
But Pandora’s box was already open.

“Didn’t she tell you to go beat them up?”

Saelika, who had been entranced recalling Artemia’s voice, froze.

“What are you talking about.”
“Her final words. She said to go beat them up, didn’t she.”
“What? Artemia, the only one among countless gods who is so compassionate, merciful, kind, and affectionate, would never say such a thing.”

Saelika’s face, glaring at Ilay with an incredulous expression, was filled with sincerity.
It wasn’t a lie or feigned ignorance.
She genuinely believed it.

“No, I’m certain—.”
“Ilay, is your faith lacking?”

Saelika raised her fist and asked.

“Want me to inscribe some faith into your body for once?”
“….”

Ilay suddenly came to a realization.
Among all the Temple Priests, the Sacred Maiden was the one most influenced by the divine.
And Saelika was Artemia’s angel, no less.
How much more influence could she possibly receive?

Moreover, Saelika carried the blood of both the Perardin Noishurael Duke’s house and the Ekkelan Duchy—houses steeped in Artemia’s mythology.

‘Sae’s personality is exactly like Artemia’s…!’

He’d learned something he would have been better off not knowing.
A sudden thought made Ilay pause.

‘Maybe she resembles her most simply because she’s her daughter.’

Hadn’t Amelia said as much?
That Saelika was Artemia’s daughter.

‘…Is it really true?’

Ilay glanced sideways at Saelika.
From her reaction at the time, it seemed she didn’t even know herself.

‘…What is she thinking?’

He’d thought to ask his brothers right away.
But Saelika kept her lips sealed on the matter.

* * *

“The Great Sacred Maiden has saved the world from calamity!!”

Wherever one traveled across the continent, that was all anyone spoke of.
Not only throughout the Empire’s territories but in foreign streets as well, Saelika’s name echoed.
Truly, all the people of the world praised Saelika.

“Is Saelika merely the Great Sacred Maiden? She is also the exalted messenger of the divine!”
“Artemia sent her most cherished angel to save us!”
“From what I’ve heard, she’s more than just the most cherished angel?”
“More than that?”

People perked up their ears.
Satisfied by their reaction, the man shouted loudly.

“You people haven’t even heard? Saelika is Artemia’s daughter!”
“What?! Is that really true!”
“You know, that one thing Amelia screamed out in her final throes— no, never mind, just watch the footage!”

The party held at the Erilaus Altar that day was being broadcast live.
It had been hacked suddenly and replaced with footage of Demons appearing in various places, but the image artifacts themselves hadn’t been destroyed.
With so many image artifacts recording, that day’s events were captured vividly.

“Still, what a shock. It was already stunning that Amelia was in league with the Demons.”
“And she tried to elevate Parmanase as a Demon God to dominate this world!”
“Turns out that old man next door was one of those cultists. He commutes to the Artemia Temple every day now, though….”
“If it weren’t for Saelika, he would’ve lived his whole life as that kind of monster, a puppet on Amelia’s strings.”
“Isn’t it all because of those filthy Parmanase bastards!”

The people’s anger was directed at Parmanase and Amelia.

“I’m dying over the donations I made to the Parmanase Temple! To think I bowed and scraped calling them Temple Priest.”
“Ha! The Temple Priest is nothing compared to this—when I think about how we revered Amelia as a Sacred Maiden, I want to slap myself!”
“Such a fake should be executed right away!”

The people raised their voices.

.
.

Inside the spire.
Amelia curled into herself, covering her ears.
But even so, she couldn’t block out the voices that pierced through.

“How dare a fake like her pose as a savior and persecute Saelika!”
“Meanwhile, how magnificent is Saelika! She didn’t yield even to that vicious woman—”

The voices of the people in the streets continued endlessly.

“I’ll tell you an interesting story to keep things from getting boring. I hope you’ll enjoy it.”

It was Kaishurit’s doing.
The magical circle installed within the spire activated, and voices praising Saelika echoed day and night without pause.

Noble daughter of the divine, Saelika!
Savior of the world, Saelika!

“All of that should have been directed at me…!”

Amelia let out a piercing scream.

But the voices weren’t only praising Saelika.
Words about Amelia were also being broadcast.

Spawn of the most heinous demon!
A filthy and abominable deceiver who dared desecrate the daughter of the divine!
Execute her at once!
Kill her, kill her, kill her!

“Why am I…!”

Scraaape!
Fingernails already shattered clawed desperately at the ground.

It was supposed to be me who saved the world.
The Beastkin felt it too, and so did the Elves.

‘They sensed the power of salvation within me!’

The world had always been wrong from the beginning.
What was wrong with me, blessed with divine power, reshaping this world into something ‘better’? Wasn’t that salvation itself?
Wasn’t that exactly what salvation meant?

“…You should have managed things properly from the start.”

Amelia lifted her head and glared at Beatrix.

“That wretched woman came from our temple’s orphanage, didn’t she? If you’d managed things properly, this never would have happened!”

Beatrix gazed at Amelia.

“…You should watch your words. I cherished you because of the power that dwelled within you—her power.”
“What…?”

Amelia’s eyes trembled.
Not from anyone else, but from Beatrix, who had always stood by her side.

“How could you say such a thing to me, Godmother….”
“Now you are nothing but an empty shell without her power.”
“…!”

Amelia staggered backward, her face struck with shock.
Beatrix murmured.

“But yes, you’re right. If only I had seized it sooner….”
“We shouldn’t seize it—we should kill her immediately! Have you forgotten the humiliation I suffered?”

Amelia’s voice dripped with malice.

“That wretched woman should have had her breath stolen while she rotted away in the orphanage!”

Beatrix’s brow furrowed.

“You see only one path. If that tremendous power had fallen into our hands—.”
“If it had, what then?”

A crystalline voice cut between them.
Amelia and Beatrix lifted their heads.
It was Saelika.

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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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