Youngest on Top - Chapter 55

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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 55

It was like a situation where no one was offering any cake, yet they were fighting amongst themselves over who would eat it.

I stared at the children grabbing each other’s hair, my expression completely blank.

‘…Why are they suddenly fighting?’

* * *

Mogen and Derrick also showered me with fervent praise.

“Ohohoho, our youngest is truly admirable!”

Bear-like Derrick pulled me into an embrace so tight I thought I’d burst.

“Ugh….”
“From every angle—beautiful, adorable, and absolutely splendid!”

It wasn’t just Derrick.
Mogen rushed in from the other side and embraced me as well.
At this point, I began to suspect something.

‘Is this really praise?’

Could they be tormenting me under the guise of compliments…?

After being squeezed and jostled by both of them with their full bodies, I was completely disheveled.

‘Save me…!’

While I was groaning under their intense praise, I heard footsteps from outside.
Then the door opened.
Anatullio High Priest and the High Priests, including the Elders, had come down.

They all sat down with satisfied expressions and poured out their praise for me.

“How could you be so admirable?”
“You helped train the Trainee Priests?”
“Rather than boasting about awakening your sacred power first, you helped your friends. Truly magnificent.”
“That’s not all! The power you used to suppress the Sacred Maiden! You are truly Artemia’s child~.”
“Ahahaha! Well said!”

As I listened to their praise, my face grew warm without my control.
The High Priest stared at me intently.

‘What is it? Why is he looking at me like that?’

An uneasy feeling crept over me.
His gaze was sharper than usual.

He asked me in a heavy voice.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

It seemed like he was definitely upset about something.

‘Why would he be? I worked hard.’

I defeated the Reyatan Temple.
It was as good as preventing Octagon from being pushed out.
And I even exposed the Sacred Maiden’s falsehood, which they had boasted about so much.

‘So why does he seem angry…’

After nervously reading the mood, I squeezed my eyes shut and thrust out my hand without thinking.
The very hand that had blocked Reyatan’s scythe.

“It hurts.”
“I know.”

That’s it?

His response was different from what I expected.
I slowly opened my tightly closed eyes.

I thought I’d get scolded for this.

There had been a promise I made with the High Priest long ago.

“If it hurts, you tell me it hurts. Don’t say you’re fine.”
“….”
“Answer me.”
“Yes….”

Yet until now, I had hidden my pain.

Perhaps he was being lenient because I spoke up first.
I stole a glance at him.

The High Priest exhaled a deep sigh and looked down at my hand.
My small hand had turned red from the poison.

I realized then that completely blocking it had been impossible.

Even if I’d only borrowed a shell, poison was still poison.

The truth was, it did hurt.

I had pretended it was nothing to avoid ruining the mood.
My hand had been throbbing hotly since earlier.

Oh, I thought I’d be fine since I mentioned it first.

The High Priest still looked angry.

Should I just apologize outright?

If I promised to tell him immediately next time and begged for forgiveness….

But then it happened.
The High Priest placed my palm on top of his hand.

“Why did you do something so reckless?”
“….”
“Reyatan’s poison is a supreme toxin. It’s not ordinary poison—it’s a toxin that acts upon the soul itself. You should have learned this in class.”

The silver eyes fixed upon me seemed infinitely heavy with disappointment.
Unable to evade an answer, I hesitated before speaking.

“But it was necessary.”

My shoulders instinctively shrank beneath the High Priest’s cold voice.

‘But today, I simply couldn’t afford to merely win….’

If I had simply won,

‘Oh, Artemisia defeated Reyatan? Surprising. It seems the depths of Octagon haven’t completely withered after all?’

—that would have been the inevitable reaction.

And they would think that even this strength would eventually fade away.
Or they would dismiss it as mere luck.

‘That’s why I needed an overwhelmingly decisive victory.’

A victory so undeniable that no one could help but acknowledge it.

Simply dodging Reyatan’s scythe was insufficient.
That’s why I had to block it with my bare hand.

‘And the result was absolutely perfect.’

Everyone who came to the gathering today began to view Artemisia Temple differently.
Moreover, the match itself provided plenty of material for discussion.

Those who visited today would continue to recount it like a glorious tale, if only to boast about it.

‘That will become the strength of Artemisia Temple.’

“Sae.”

I paused at the soft call and lifted my head.

“You don’t need to worry about such things.”
“….”
“There’s no reason to sacrifice yourself for that.”
“….”
“That’s something we adults should handle.”

The High Priest’s face, which I looked up at, was strangely contorted.

It was strange.
That face didn’t frighten me at all.
Rather, it felt somewhat warm.

“No one here wishes for your sacrifice.”

Then the other Temple Priests spoke up as well.

“Remember that watching you get hurt causes us greater pain.”

Sirius, his brow furrowed.

“You’re admirable, but it saddens me just the same.”

Devon, his eyebrows drooping.

“Don’t get hurt anymore, Sae. And trust me a little more, won’t you?”

Randel, his face sorrowful.

Seeing how much the adults were grieving, I quickly raised both arms with a bright expression.

“It’s not a sacrifice! (It’s not a sacrifice!)”

It’s true.
Even when I was burned by fire, even when I was poisoned, I never once thought of it as a sacrifice.

It was something I did because I thought I was needed,
and above all—.

“The High Priest will fix everything! Saelika won’t hurt anymore.”

Seeing me smile brightly, the High Priest reached out and stroked my head.
I widened my eyes and looked up at the High Priest.

His touch remained characteristically gruff.
Yet the sacred power flowing from his hand seeped into me with warmth and gentleness.

* * *

The underground prison of Artemisia Temple was saturated with the bitter cold of a winter night.

The Reyatan Temple priests, including Shedmen, lay bound and collapsed on the stone floor.
They had already endured one round of torture, and their condition was deplorable.

The High Priest of Artemisia, along with the Elders and other high-ranking priests, walked in with heavy footsteps.
Their expressions were utterly cold—nothing like the warmth they’d shown moments ago with Saelika.

They surveyed the Reyatan priests sprawled across the stone floor.
Shedmen quickly forced himself to his feet.

“H-High Priest, High Priest. Please spare us, I beg you…!”

One of Artemisia’s priests clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
A far cry from the arrogant attitude they’d displayed when trampling Artemisia.

‘It’s understandable, really.’

After the Fourth Calamity War, conflicts between temples had become forbidden.
Yet Reyatan had attempted to murder a child from another temple.

By providing kindling for war, they would face sanctions according to all inter-temple agreements.
It was obvious who Reyatan would sacrifice to minimize their sentence.
Shedmen, the person responsible for this conference.

‘No one knows what he’ll say at the inquiry. They might hand over his corpse.’

Given Reyatan’s leadership, it was almost certain.

“Please, I beg you to clear up this misunderstanding and show mercy—.”
“Who hired that priest Hendrick?”

A voice colder than the prison’s chill.
It was Sirius.

The moment the three syllables “Hendrick” reached Shedmon’s ears, his hands began to tremble violently.
Shedmon concealed his trembling hands and fixed his gaze upon the ground.

Sirius gazed down at the trembling Shedmon and asked.

“I heard there was a worm who tried to persuade us that an accident could happen.”

Anatullio High Priest’s eyes sharpened.
Then Shedmon’s trembling hands suddenly twisted with a sickening crack.
It was the High Priest’s doing.

“Aaaaahhh—!!”

Shedmon writhed in agony and screamed.
Then Devon chuckled and asked.

“Why won’t you answer, Shedmon Elder?”
“That is… that…”
“Ah, I’m not asking you to lie, mind you.”
“D-Devon, please…!”
“Speak honestly, without deception. Confess everything.”

Devon trampled upon Shedmon’s twisted hand.

“Because of you, our precious one nearly suffered grave injury.”
“Ughhhh…!”

Shedmon writhed, drooling blood-tinged saliva.

“D-Debon Elder, your foot, please…!”
“Ah, ‘nearly’ suffered, you say?”
“Ughhhh…!”
“No—our precious one was definitely injured. That tiny hand was filled with poison, and our precious one suffered greatly because of it.”

Though the blood hadn’t fully spread across the room, to Devon—effectively the third representative of the Sae Fan Club—it appeared that way.

A tiny, adorable hand that wouldn’t even reach the size of one of his fingers even if she spread all of hers.
That hand had swollen a deep crimson.

Devon continued speaking as he methodically ground the bloodied Shedmen’s hand beneath his heel.

“Why did you order them to break that tiny child’s arms and legs? Hmm? What was there to break?”

Shedmen couldn’t even scream through the excruciating agony.

“Grind away her face? What face is there to grind?”
“Aaaagh!”
“The face to grind is right here.”

That last part came from Sirius.

Crack!
With the sound of bones shattering, Shedmen was slammed against the wall.

My vision swam.
Whether my nose had burst or not, something hot streamed down beneath it.

“Ugh, hnngh…!”

Shedmen wiped at the blood flowing from his nose with trembling hands.
In that instant, my eyes met Anatullio High Priest’s.

‘Gasp…!’

My breath caught in my throat.
There was nothing in those eyes.
No murderous intent like the other priests, no hostility, no rage—nothing whatsoever could be found.

A void where nothing existed.
Yet merely meeting that gaze sent a tangible terror crawling up from beneath my feet, taking shape as it rose.
It was a fear that transcended all sensation.
I found myself wishing I could gouge out my own eyes rather than continue meeting that stare.

Anatullio approached him slowly.

“No, don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t come. Don’t—!”

Shedmon let out a shriek, covering his head with both arms.
If this torture continued, he might actually die.
An overwhelming terror unlike anything he’d ever experienced consumed his entire body.

“Do not be so afraid.”
“…!”

Shedmon flinched and lifted his head.

“H-High Priest?”
“Shedmon.”

His voice was strangely gentle.
Shedmon gazed up at the High Priest with hopeful eyes.

The High Priest knelt down and met his gaze.
The High Priest gently grasped the back of Shedmon’s neck.

“Wh-what, wh-what—?”
“One mustn’t let their tongue wag carelessly.”

A strange pressure seized him.
The faint pain that began escalated to its peak in an instant.

“Ah, gack, gaaahhh—!”

His tongue felt as though it would burst from his mouth.
Or perhaps he would bite it clean off.
No, not just his tongue—

“H-gck, High P-Priest, f-forgive—! Ggghhh—!”
“Child of Reyatan, do not make such a fuss.”
“H-High, gggck, P-Priest, I-I-I—ahhhhh—!!”

The High Priest patted the back of his neck as though soothing a child.

“Your punishment has only just begun.”
“Gack, gaaahhh…!”
“You won’t die easily. Not before you’ve tasted hell itself.”

The High Priest’s hand released from Shedmen’s throat.
Only then did breath return to him, as if he might finally stop choking.
Yet Shedmen was seized by even greater terror.

‘He… he deliberately didn’t kill me.’

With his body bound, Shedmen crawled across the floor, desperately trying to distance himself from the High Priest.
Then, with a thud, he collided with someone.

It was Randel.
Shedmen’s expression brightened.

Randel stood back, not interfering in this torture.
Moreover, Randel of Artemisia was renowned for his gentle and kind nature.

‘This… this is my chance to survive.’

He grasped Randel’s trouser leg with both hands, trembling as he spoke.

“P-please, Randel, stop him. If I die like this, the Artemisia Temple will be in t-trouble too, won’t it?”
“Hmm, that might be true.”

Just as I thought!
Randel was someone I could reason with.
Color returned to Shedmen’s face.

‘Soft-hearted fool. Once I return to Reyatan, I won’t let any of you off easily.’

I have powerful connections waiting for me.
Using them, revenge would be child’s play.

“However.”

Randel’s voice echoed slowly through the prison.

“That child’s hair burned away.”
“…What?”
“I loved brushing and tying that child’s hair.”
“…?”
“I took care of her when she first came to the Temple.”

Randel smiled faintly.
Strangely, that smile felt more chilling than any malevolent spirit.

“So my heart aches terribly.”
“R-Randel?”
“And you see.”
“W-What?”
“I was taught that those who make others weep blood from their hearts deserve to die.”

Randel slowly bent his knees as the High Priest had done, meeting Shedmen’s gaze.

“So you hired someone to commit arson?”

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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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