Youngest on Top - Chapter 43

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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 43

Devon, blessed with keen intuition, found himself thinking.

‘So today is finally the day I move closer to her. Artemia…’

* * *

Deep into the night.
The Reyatan Priests were lodging in the annex of the Artemisia Temple.
In a place where adults should have been present, Helene sat upon a sofa, gently waving a fan.

After some time had passed, the Reyatan Priests who had ventured outside returned.
Shedmon Elder, who had been sitting across from Helene, immediately asked.

“How did it go?”

The priests who had gone outside grinned wickedly.

“As expected, those wretches couldn’t procure any meat.”
“The building certainly gleams, but their funds are so depleted that they didn’t even bother inquiring about obtaining meat.”

At those words, all the priests in the room burst into raucous laughter.
Indeed, Artemisia was renowned for its poverty.
How could such wretches possibly have money to entertain guests!

Shedmon slapped his knee and roared with laughter.

“Yes, I knew it would be so!”

One priest chuckled.

“It’s a relief. The temple seemed somewhat, well, different, so I wondered if perhaps…”
“Relief? It’s only natural! How could those beggars possibly earn money?”
“They lack even the funds to purchase meat. How pitiful.”
“And what merchant would labor for the Artemisia Temple on a night like this?”
“Precisely! The merchants surely know that dealing with them yields no profit.”

The Reyatan Priests wore expressions of arrogance.

‘Indeed, they cannot even compare to us.’

In truth, for the past several months, the Reyatan Temple had been subtly wary of the Artemisia Temple.
It was because a divine beast had appeared at the Artemisia Temple.

‘I wondered if perhaps something had changed.’

So they had worried that Artemisia might somehow survive a bit longer through the Octagon.
Bringing rotten meat to humiliate them was also for that reason.

“Losing at the assembly meeting is one thing, but if they act pathetically over food, how pitiful would that be?”
“Crudely speaking, they would appear worthless.”

One priest burst into laughter—guffaw, guffaw, guffaw!

“After that, who would want to believe in a god like Artemisia?”

A god so incompetent that even a single priest could not oversee them.
The believers would flee in droves.

“Truly, our Sacred Maiden is remarkable. So young, yet such an astounding plan!”

One priest rubbed his hands together as he spoke.

That was right.
It was Helene who had suggested giving rotten meat as a gift.

“A gift to bring to the assembly meeting? Nonsense! There is nothing we should give to such wretches!”

When Shedmon Elder was shouting at the priests, Helene appeared.
She spoke in a gentle voice.

“My, Elder, surely that won’t do~.”
“H-Helene?”
“We who serve a far greater god should show magnanimity to these pitiful people, should we not?”
“B-but…!”
“Let us bring an appropriate gift. Ah, what about something like that?”

Helene smiled brightly and pointed to a box of meat.
Spoiled meat from the storage unit that had broken down.
She was pointing to what had been stacked for disposal.

“I hear Artemisia is so poor they can’t even give the children a single meat dish. How pitiful…”
“Ah yes, quite right!”
“The children will be happy with any meat at all. And besides, they say poor people have sturdy stomachs, don’t they?”
“Ahahaha! As expected of our Sacred Maiden Helene. Truly brilliant!”
“Mmm, I can already picture the delighted faces of the Artemisia trainee priests. If the children are happy, then I’m happy too!”

Helene laughed with crystalline clarity, as if she truly believed the children would be overjoyed.

The priests, recalling the events before departure, wore expressions of deep satisfaction.

“Just thinking about those fools’ faces tomorrow makes me giddy.”
“If Artemisia had managed to procure beef, this whole plan would have been wasted. What a shame that would have been.”
“Exactly! Our Sacred Maiden devised such a flawless scheme!”

Helene waved her fan and smiled sweetly.

“Oh, stop it.”
“And so modest too. Hahahaha!”

The priests fawned over Helene, tittering with delight.

“All that polishing of their building will have been for nothing.”

At those words, Shedmon Elder raised his wine glass with a smirk.

“Foolish creatures who don’t understand priorities. No wonder they’ve come to this.”
“This is going to be something to look forward to tomorrow!”

Ahahaha!
The annex was filled with laughter.

“Artemisia will be thoroughly humiliated at the banquet.”
“And in the competition, our children will crush those arrogant Artemisia brats!”

Helene snapped her fan shut as she listened to the priests’ words.
Then she let out a soft groan and lowered her gaze.
Shedmon looked at her as if asking what was wrong.

“What troubles you, our Sacred Maiden Helene? Has something displeased you?”
“It’s… well, it’s nothing really.”
“Do not hold back. Who dares disturb the heart of our Sacred Maiden?”

The other priests began clamoring to know what had happened.

“The Sacred Maiden’s troubles are the troubles of all Reyatan.”
“Indeed!”

Helene released a heavy sigh.

“If you insist…”

Her expression showed clear reluctance to speak of this matter.

“Among the trainee priests of Artemisia, there was a young child. She called herself Sae…”

Shedmon’s eyes gleamed at once.
He knew that name well.

“What did that impudent girl do to you, Sacred Maiden?”
“No, it’s just that she didn’t seem like a proper trainee priest serving the divine. She seemed… like a wicked child.”
“Wicked?”
“She was sowing discord among the children in the Trainee Priest Quarters…”

The priests’ eyes widened upon hearing this.

“Instigating discord?”
“Artemisia’s future is obvious, isn’t it? Our Reyatan will become the Octagon.”
“Well….”
“There are decent trainee priests at Artemisia, so I thought I’d give them the opportunity to serve our Reyatan.”
“Ah.”
“That’s a good thing for those children too, isn’t it?”
“Yes! How glorious it is that the Sacred Maiden extended her hand to them.”
“Indeed. And once we become the Octagon, we’ll need talented people to compete with other Octagons.”
“How wise you are. Thinking of the future in such a way.”

Helene spoke while cupping her cheeks.

“It would be good for both Artemisia’s trainee priests and us, but that child kept interfering.”
“Tsk, that reckless thing…!”
“She was probably loved as the youngest, and since I took her attention away, she seems to be jealous….”

Helene’s expression showed pity for the foolish child.

“She deliberately makes disrespectful remarks about me, and she even instigates fights between the temples, so….”
“How outrageous! Such wickedness exists?”
“I’m hesitant to even say this, but….”

Helene whispered, her eyebrows drooping.

“It was as if a demon possessed her. She was so despicable.”

Shedmon’s teeth ground together.

“So even our Sacred Maiden’s eyes can see the demon possessing that insufferable woman.”
“My! You know about it too, Elder?”

Helene covered her mouth with her hand, looking utterly astonished.

“I know all too well.”

That face still appears in my dreams.
How could I forget?
That wretched woman!

“But the old man’s hair hates the old man. That’s why it left him! (But sir, your hair hates you. That’s why it abandoned you!)”
“Does a bald man use shampoo? Does he use soap? (Does a bald man use shampoo or soap?)”
“Being bald isn’t a bad thing… I didn’t want to become bald… (Being bald isn’t something bad. I didn’t choose to become bald….)”
“Do you wash all the way up here when you wash your face? (Do you wash up to here when you wash your face?)”

That innocent voice.
The child was cunning and malicious beyond compare.

‘I should have dealt with her that day. Damn Anatullio…!’

Because Anatullio High Priest stepped in to protect her, I even bowed my head to that devil woman.
Every time I think of that moment, rage boils up inside me.

Once I become Octagon, I’ll grind that smug face of Anatullio’s to dust.
And I’ll make him kneel beneath me, tasting humiliation.

‘I need to teach that insolent brat the bitter taste of life too.’

No, I don’t even need to wait for such a future.

Tomorrow at the banquet, Anatullio will be disgraced in the first phase.
Just as I apologized that day, I’ll make him bow his head too.
In front of everyone—the priests and trainee priests of Artemisia, as well as outside guests.

I imagined both of them writhing and wailing beneath my feet, but it brought no satisfaction.

“Pervert slave! (Pervert slave!)”
“Don’t get close because he’s a pervert! (You can’t get close because he’s a pervert!)”

That voice kept echoing in my mind even now.
It was always like this whenever I recalled that day.

The rumors had even spread to the Reyatan Temple!

“Did you hear? Shedmon Elder was saying—apparently someone at Artemisia called a child a pervert? And he said he wanted to be a slave or something.”
“What? So he called the child ‘master’?”
“Ugh, so he’s not just bald, he has no pride either.”

I heard those words from inside a restroom stall.
I wanted to burst out immediately, grab them by the collar, and demand what they’d just said.
But the more I reacted, the more ridiculous I would become.

In the end, Shedmon could only tremble, unable to do anything at all.
He remained still until the chattering children left.

That day, I learned something for the first time.
That the lower priests and trainee priests had been calling me “baldy” behind my back.

After that, I flinched whenever I heard laughter from behind me.
When others stopped talking upon seeing me, I wondered if they’d been discussing me.
Before that, I’d thought they were becoming respectful because they were intimidated by my dignity.

That devilish woman had driven me completely neurotic.

“Elder?”

Helene blinked, noticing that Shedmon had suddenly fallen silent.

“What are you thinking about so intently?”
“Ah, that insolent wench.”
“My goodness… To hear such words from your lips, she must truly be a terrible person.”

Helene wore a sympathetic expression.

“She’s been unlucky ever since she came to Artemisia for the last council meeting.”

Shedmon Elder clenched his fist tightly.
Seeing that even his usual deferential tone toward Helene had disappeared, he must have been truly infuriated.
Helene nodded as if she understood.

“I thought so? Hmm, if it’s her, that makes sense.”
“She’s so twisted that you can’t find a shred of courtesy in her.”
“Not only disrespecting me, but you as well, Elder. It’s truly upsetting!”

Helene gazed at Shedmon with a dejected expression.
Shedmon let out a hollow laugh.
And he spoke with a considerably softer tone.

“Our Sacred Maiden Helene is so remarkably kind. She’s nothing like that demonic woman.”
“Oh, stop it~. Ah, that’s right.”

Helene clapped her hands as if she’d just remembered something.

“Speaking of which, about the competition the day after tomorrow.”

Helene tapped her lips with the tip of her fan.

“I’m a bit worried, you see.”
“Hmm?”
“When the children compete against each other, they could get hurt, couldn’t they? Actually, earlier, if I hadn’t stopped them, a fight would have broken out.”
“A fight, you say…?”
“What if… if someone gets seriously injured in the process.”
“…!”

Shedmon immediately grasped what Helene meant.
A battle between trainee priests that the priesthood couldn’t intervene in.
If that demonic woman got hurt there, Artemisia couldn’t lodge a complaint.

Shedmon’s face brightened instantly.
He chuckled with contemptible glee.

“You’re truly compassionate, Sacred Maiden—”
“Yes, Elder.”
“No matter how well-intentioned the competition, once they clash, injuries are inevitable.”

Helene exhaled a long sigh.

“I’m so concerned. What if the children accidentally scar their faces…?”

As she sent a subtle glance, Shedmon’s lips curled upward.

“Yes. Faces, indeed.”

Shedmon glanced back at the priests.
The Reyatan Priests nodded with “Ah, I see.”

“Facial scars would be quite serious. The deeper, the worse.”

Deep wounds cannot be healed by the strength of children alone.
The match must be stopped immediately, and only adults can treat and mend such injuries.

Helene rose to her feet gracefully.

“I suppose a scar will remain for life, won’t it? But stopping the match just to avoid scarring would be…”
“Absolutely not! Children are meant to grow through striking, being struck, and fighting.”
“Hmm, wouldn’t the children consider such wounds as scars of glory?”

Helene continued, “Isn’t that right?”

“A great temple like Reyatan collided with a lesser temple, and we survived with only wounds to show for it.”
“Of course, Sacred Maiden.”

The priests chuckled with crude amusement.
Helene nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Besides, it’s not as though limbs will be severed, is it? So there’s nothing truly grave to worry about!”

Her words carried ominous weight.
…As if such a thing were destined to occur.

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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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