Youngest on Top - Chapter 34

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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 34

* * *

The insurance contract had been structured entirely in the Temple’s favor.
The Temple had no real need for insurance, and the Insurance Company believed they would never have to pay out claims.
Because of this, the Insurance Company was desperately searching for any excuse to reduce the payout.

“As you know, we deferred the insurance payment for you….”
“You recommended deferment first when we requested cancellation.”
“Since the individual who belonged to the Temple committed arson, in this case the insurance payment could be interpreted as intentional accident for compensation—.”

Bang!
The Finance Department Priest slammed the table roughly.

“I trust you’re not suggesting we burned our Temple’s future—our trainee priests—to death for gold coins.”
“My apologies. Of course that wasn’t my intention. I was merely speaking in terms of standard procedure….”

Well, despite what he’s saying, he definitely meant it intentionally.
If they kept saying yes, they’d end up surrendering all the money.

As the atmosphere grew heated, Devon stepped in.

“Perhaps it’s my age, but sitting for so long has made my back ache. How about we get some fresh air.”

Finally, a break.
I bounced up from my chair eagerly.
And I scampered after Gerald.

“Hello there.”

At my greeting, the Insurance Company employees all turned to look at me.

“Haha, what a cute little priest.”
“You were so well-behaved in the meeting room earlier. Quite impressive.”

Gerald showed no particular reaction.
I grabbed the hem of his robe and held out a daisy flower.

“To you, Master.”

Gerald’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? M-me?”
“Mm.”
“Th-thank you so much, young Priest….”

The people around us chuckled.

“My, the Priest seems to have taken a liking to you. Lucky you, Jeffrey.”
“Haha….”

So he was hiding his true identity and going by Jeffrey.
His naive smile was unmistakably that of a novice.
During the meeting, the supervisor had taken the lead while Gerald sat there with the air of someone earnestly learning from observation on the ground.

‘Quite the schemer for someone so young.’

I introduced myself with an innocent smile, playing dumb.

“I’m Saelika.”
“Ah…. You bear the name of an angel.”
“An angel’s name? With such a cherubic appearance and an angel’s name to match. I’d believe you were an angel, Priest Saelika.”

I actually was a real angel.

‘But Gerald knows my name.’

Unlike my brothers born from the same branch, I was not a particularly favored angel.
So unless one was a Priest of Artemeia, they rarely knew of me.

‘Well, Gerald collects all manner of mythology, so it makes sense he’d know.’

I chattered away meaninglessly to Gerald, saying things like “I ate three mushrooms this morning!”

“Haha, the young Priest really does seem fond of you, Jeffrey!”
“Right? Quite popular, aren’t you?”

Everyone thought the same thing.
I grabbed the hem of Gerald’s clothes just as the meeting was about to resume.

“I wanna play more with Jeffrey and mister….”
“Sae, if you do that, it’ll be difficult for him. He came here to work.”

The Priests stopped me.
No one found it strange.

“Can’t I play with Jeffrey and mister?”

I looked up at the adults with teary eyes.
Devon spoke to Gerald.

“This child doesn’t usually throw tantrums like this, so it seems you’ve made quite an impression. Actually, this child was the very last one to come out of the fire scene… Would it be alright if you played with her for a bit?”
“W-well, it’s not really a difficult thing to do.”

Thanks to that, I was able to step outside alone with Gerald.

* * *

“There’s a really big tree over there.”
“W-well then, shall we go together?”

I held Gerald’s hand and chattered away as we walked.
Gerald was quite a decent person.

‘Except he’s excessively obsessed with money.’

There was a reason he was so obsessed with money.

‘To find the Iadelph flower, a legendary flower from mythology.’

Gerald at this moment was not yet the third Guild Master.
To be precise, he was one of the third Guild Master’s children.
The current Guild Master said he would pass the Guild to whichever child brought him the Iadelph flower.
And in the future, in a situation where no one ever found the Iadelph flower, he dies suddenly.

The guild had no master, and there was no heir designated to succeed him.
Naturally, conflict erupted.
Gerald was the one who ultimately emerged victorious from that struggle and became the master of the guild.

“But there’s no large tree here, is there?”

Gerald looked around and asked me.

“Of course there isn’t!”

I’d simply come to a place where other people don’t usually pass through.
Gerald laughed as if asking what kind of joke this was.
But that laughter soon froze solid.

“A large tree blooms in a place where only one tree exists.”

Because of my following words.

“…What?”
“A large tree blooms!”

Gerald stared at me silently.
The naive feeling he’d been projecting completely vanished.

“Let me try to find that large tree. Oh, wait, that’s not right.”
“…”
“Gerald, sir!”

Gerald looked down at me expressionlessly.
I didn’t avert my gaze from those eyes.
The corners of his mouth gradually lifted, and Gerald swept his hair back dramatically.

“Ah, goodness! There’s no helping it. My own excellence! You’ve been so fond of me from the start!”

…Huh?

“No matter how much I pretend to be clumsy, my brilliant genius cannot be hidden!”

This man had been hiding an incredible fool’s side all along.

“That’s right, I am the third son of the Whitepearl Guild! The legendary genius of commerce! Gerald Delc!”

Gerald spread both arms wide with a flourish.
Honestly, this wasn’t just incompetent—it was pathetic.

‘Ugh… I should just leave.’

Yes, that would be best.
Randel told me not to engage with strange people.

“Wait, wait, young priest! Where are you going!”
“I’m leaving.”
“What? You recognize me, Gerald, and you’re just going to walk away?!”
“I’m out of here.”
“Impossible! Ah! Playing hard to get, are we? The basics of commerce! But you can be honest with me!”

Sigh.
I’m about to lose my mind trying to secure this money source.

* * *

Iadelf flowers were discovered extraordinarily rarely.
Every time one appeared at auction, it sold for astronomical sums.
The problem was that “extraordinarily rarely” meant once every few hundred years.
In other words, without information, no amount of money could procure one.

‘And I know exactly where they bloom.’

They’re treasures from mythology—who else but a former Messenger of God would know?

“Let’s drop the act now.”

Gerald spoke with a suddenly composed demeanor.
So it was all an act.
I exhaled in relief.

‘I nearly lost this money source because of his nonsense.’

“How did you know I was searching for that flower, young priest?”

The condition for inheriting the White Pearl Guild—that it requires the Iaadelph Flower—would become an open secret in the future.
But this was still before that knowledge spread.

“Devon said so. (Devon told me.)”

I quickly laundered the source of my information.
Gerald stroked his chin with a serious expression, muttering to himself.

“…Devon the Elder. Hmm, truly, the depths of Artemisia’s power cannot be underestimated.”

Hm?

“Of course, it’s information that can be discovered if one tries. It’s not classified, after all. But how remarkable!”

Gerald winked at me with an expression of admiration.

“I thought you only knew how to defend in negotiations. To think you’d already figured out what I wanted and prepared additional trades! You’re quite proactive in your approach!”

That’s not it at all.

“And to think you know my true identity! Hehehehe, I must commend your information gathering!”

I had no desire to receive praise from this man.

“Ah! Or perhaps it’s keen observation. Indeed, recognizing genius isn’t difficult! It shines even in silence!”

I couldn’t speak to genius, but I could certainly confirm the fool.

“So that’s why you asked me to play with the priest! The meticulousness of calling out a child without the employees knowing—you truly caught me off guard!”

What was he marveling at?
He’d completely misread the situation.

“Ah, you were quite startled, little priest. But for this Gerald, such analysis is child’s play!”

Gerald threw his chin up and laughed magnificently. Light glinted off his pristine white teeth.

“So, where is Elder Devon at the moment? He should be coming out by now.”
“Ain’t comin’.”
“…?”
“Devon ain’t comin’, I tell ya.”
“That, that can’t be. Surely through the young priest—.”
“Wrong.”
“No, surely this genius Gerald’s perfect—.”
“It’s fiction.”

Gerald’s pupils trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
I deliberated seriously.
Should I just leave now?

‘But it’s true that I become the guild master in the future.’

I had no idea how someone like this surpassed brothers who were supposedly so remarkable.

“Devon only knows that the old man is hiding the Aetheldorf flower.”

What Devon knows is indeed true.

“Then it was you who saw through my identity—.”
“Me.”
“….”
“Nobody told me to. I’m the one who made a deal with the old man and wants to do this.”

Gerald’s eyes narrowed.
He probably couldn’t believe a child was saying such things.

But I had no intention of explaining the whole story.
There was no need to.

“You think I can’t make a deal ’cause I’m a child?”
“…No, that’s not it.”

A thirsty person doesn’t question which well the water came from, or whether it’s cold or lukewarm.

“What matters is that I want the Aetheldorf flower, and you know information about that flower.”

I had only one question.
Was it water safe to drink?

“Of course, the information would need to be accurate.”

The gaze fixed upon me grew sharp and piercing.
There was no trace of the foolish demeanor from moments before.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Bow beneath the golden pillar, raise your head beneath the silver pillar.”
“…!”
“The flower’s song is the ripple, the flower’s dance is the breath.”
“….”
“It blooms from the greatest tree, yet grows nowhere that trees exist.”

All of it was information about the Iadelph flower from mythology.
Knowledge that only the wealthy would possess if they went to great lengths to collect it—knowledge that had already been lost to time.
Yes, information that only someone like Gerald would know.

“You, Priest, are….”

Gerald’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.

“—A genius like myself!”

…What?

“Honestly, I suspected you weren’t an ordinary child! Those bright, sparkling eyes! Those plump, rosy cheeks! Those adorable little lips!”

Gerald pointed at me with a dramatic flourish.

“As you can see from my exceptionally handsome face, true genius always shows itself in one’s appearance! Have you heard of facial genius?”

That wasn’t what that term meant at all.

“So it was Devon who pretended to be the mastermind and deceived me! Remarkable! To so completely fool a genius like myself!”

He hadn’t deceived me.
That man had simply fabricated the story on his own.

“Very well. A genius baby priest is certainly worth negotiating with.”
“Sae doesn’t know if it’s worth negotiating with a foolish old man.”

But there was no other opportunity.
There was no guarantee I’d ever meet another person of Gerald’s caliber, destined to become the next third-generation guild master.

‘Gerald obtaining the Iadelph flower benefits me as well.’

After the current guild master’s death, Whitepearl would weaken considerably through years of inheritance disputes.
But if Gerald obtained the flower, he would become the successor without any resistance.

‘Then I would have the complete Whitepearl in my grasp.’

I made my decision.

“If you fulfill what Sae wants, Sae will give you information about the Iadelph flower.”
“Excellent. What is it that the baby priest desires?”

I put strength into my belly and shouted.

“Water!”

* * *

Inside the meeting hall.
Though discussions had resumed long ago, disagreements still hadn’t narrowed.
The insurance employees shouted with an air of absolute refusal to compromise.

“It is impossible to pay according to the contract terms when there was negligence on the part of a priest belonging to the Temple. The compromise you suggested is also something we cannot accept….”
“—that’s not it!”

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the voice that suddenly cut in.
There stood Gerald, holding Saelika’s hand with confidence.

“Of course! We absolutely must do this, yes. Of course! We will pay the insurance claim to the maximum, and provide additional services as well.”

The Insurance Company employees who had been listening blankly contorted their faces.

“Jeffrey? What are you doing right now?”
“Jeffrey, this isn’t a situation for you to interfere!”

Gerald paid them no mind.

“Team Leader, please proceed according to my instructions.”
“Are you insane? Why would the Team Leader—.”
“Understood.”

The Team Leader rose from his seat and bowed respectfully toward Gerald.

“President.”
“…?!”
“P-President?!”

Everyone in the Meeting Hall was thrown into chaos.

* * *

Gerald was remarkably eloquent.
The bumbling appearance from moments ago was nowhere to be found.

“Having heard our young Priest’s words, I believe that is the righteous path. What truly matters is not money. And I wish to make a donation to the Temple. Around… this much?”

Gerald withdrew a fountain pen and wrote down a figure.
The eyes of those who saw the number widened as if they might burst from their sockets.

“A d-donation, but why…?”
“It’s all thanks to our young Priest. His sermons are so masterful that I felt as though my soul had been saved.”

The Team Leader regarded Gerald with an expression of utter bewilderment.
His eyes seemed to ask: ‘What’s gotten into this miser, this penny-pincher?’

“I would very much like to continue hearing our young Priest’s sermons. Of course, I intend to offer a donation of gratitude each time he preaches.”
“Well, that’s a bit—.”
“I must insist. I’m thinking of this amount per sermon…”

Gerald wrote down the numbers.
The Priests fell silent.

* * *

After the Insurance Company employees left.
Devon, who had been writing numbers with trembling hands, suddenly snapped his head around.
And he glared at me with wide, bulging eyes.

“A walking money bag…! That child is nothing but a walking money bag!”

Excuse me?

“No, what I meant was a blessing in disguise. I misspoke. Hahahaha!”
“….”

That wasn’t a misspeak—that was his true feelings slipping out.

—————
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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