Youngest on Top - Chapter 58

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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 58

* * *

Gerald arrived at the Guest Room and spread both hands wide in a dramatic pose.

“Well? What do you think of my headquarters?”
“Hmm, it’s very Gerald-like.”
“Exactly! As expected of a genius—you have such refined taste despite your youth! This genius Gerald Delc and I are equally outstanding, brilliant, and magnificent!”

‘Yes, that’s precisely what this building and he have in common.’

“This building is the result of my personal commission as a genius! The construction workers I met back then proved quite helpful during the expansion of the Artemisia Temple.”

Indeed.
So that’s how he managed to recruit such skilled workers so quickly—they were people he’d built connections with while constructing his own building.

‘I think we’ve had enough small talk to ease the tension.’

Today’s meeting was actually one Gerald had officially requested.
The reason he’d summoned me to the merchant branch was clear.

‘It’s business.’

And I already had a suspicion about what kind of business Gerald wanted to discuss.
I listened to Gerald attentively in silence.

Now it was time to conduct business.

“The Assembly was truly a remarkable experience! Of course! As a genius, I predicted Artemisia’s victory and our precious young priest’s success, but who would have thought that wicked Reyatan would be so despicable as to secretly hide the sacred relics? Our precious young priest is truly a genius like me—”
“Get to the point!”

Enough chitchat!
It’s business time!

“…Everything I saw at the Assembly was remarkable, but honestly, what impressed me most was the beef steak.”

My prediction was correct.
I nodded while earnestly crossing my short, plump legs that didn’t bend easily.

‘He’s a businessman alright. The man has an uncanny nose for money.’

“With each taste, I was amazed. This has commercial potential, this will sell, this will work!”
“….”
“Gerald Delc here has a remarkably developed palate befitting a genius.”

Gerald threw a heart and a wink.

He probably would’ve benefited more from business if he hadn’t done that….
Ilay and I both grew somewhat cold-faced.

“Surely it’s an expensive breed with a special cut? The spices must be different from what’s commonly used. Since this is a special dish prepared for the Assembly, one might think the high cost makes it unprofitable for business.”
“….”
“But! Don’t worry. No matter the price, there will be many who want it. Especially among the nobility.”

Gerald rattled off his predictions about how promising this business venture was.
I tilted my head to one side.

“Well, that all sounds good.”
“Yes, please tell me if there’s anything that concerns you.”
“Gerald, are you speaking assuming Sae understands everything?”
“You don’t understand?”

Seeing Gerald’s surprised expression, I felt a bit exasperated.

“Because Sae is a child.”
“At that age, I was already making financial statements on my own.”
“….”
“—That’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I understood all of this.”

Gerald wrinkled the bridge of his nose.

“And I suspect the young priest isn’t any different?”

Randel, who had been listening quietly until now, laughed with a haha and nodded.

“Our Sae is quite brilliant, after all.”
“Yes, so—.”
“It’s not a bad proposal. The demand is certain, and the profit margin is high.”

At Randel’s words, Gerald’s eyes widened in surprise.

“A high profit margin, you say…?”
“The cost is low.”
“Low? For such a specialty cut of beef?”

Randel smiled broadly.
And instead of answering Gerald himself, he looked at me.
As if urging me to speak.

“Yeah. Because it’s made from spoiled meat.”
“I… spoiled…? What?!”

Hundreds of question marks floated above Gerald’s head.

“I told you back then. I used the meat Reyatan gave me. Reyatan gave me spoiled meat. I thought you’d figured it out.”
“I did notice that. But I thought you were just teasing the Reyatan people by cooking it with different meat instead.”
“What are you talking about? I always tell Sae only the truth. Because Artemia is watching.”
“Yes, well…”

Gerald still looked at me with an expression of disbelief.
Though I suppose I couldn’t blame him for that either.
To draw out such exquisite flavor from spoiled meat.

But instead of suspecting, he chose to believe and ask.

“Could you explain in more detail?”

* * *

It was exactly as I said.
I had used spoiled meat.
Of course, I hadn’t used the spoiled meat as-is.

‘I cast Heal on it.’

Heal.
A universal restorative divine magic.

The evening before the banquet.
Before the worried adults, I cast Heal on the spoiled meat.
My logic was simple.

‘If it can cure festering wounds, there’s no reason it can’t cure spoiled meat.’

In truth, food doesn’t necessarily become problematic simply because it’s old.

‘That’s how it was when we made wine at Parmanasus Temple.’

Some foods, like cheese or wine, require time to ferment properly.
But without the right conditions, fermentation becomes putrefaction—decay.

Putrefaction and fermentation.
In the end, both are processes where microorganisms proliferate.
Putrefaction generates toxins in this process, which harms the human body.

‘So naturally, Heal can eliminate the toxins.’

Just as the High Priest healed my hand after Reyatan’s poison.

A simple shift in perspective.
Yet no one else had thought of it.
And for good reason.

‘Who in their right mind would think to cast Heal on meat?’

The adults present were somewhat taken aback.

“Well, I never. This is the first time I’ve met someone who thought to cast Heal on spoiled meat.”
“Perhaps it’s possible because the child has no preconceptions.”
“A truly ingenious idea. With Heal cast upon it, there’s certainly no risk of falling ill from eating it.”

Since there was no risk of illness, I had successfully thwarted Reyatan’s scheme.

But I never expected it to taste this good!
That was a result I hadn’t anticipated either.

Ilay nodded after hearing the full story.

“It’s like aged meat.”
“Aged?”
“Yeah. Back when refrigeration magic wasn’t developed, everyone ate dry-aged meat, right?”

Ilay added that it was the same in his past life.
And that Earth had various types of aged meat.

“But honestly, among all the aged meat I’ve eaten across both lives, this is the most delicious. It’s incomparable, really.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, of course. The taste varies depending on the aging method, but this was aged with holy magic, no less. How did you even come up with such an idea? I don’t know whether to call it absurd or amazing.”

Even without comparison, it was truly delicious.
And it was good for the body too.
Since it was meat that had received healing magic, if not a blessing.

Thus, beef that was both good for the body and delicious was born—defying the inverse relationship between taste and health!

* * *

“A… a genius…!”

Gerald’s mouth fell open after hearing the whole story.

“I always knew the young priest was a genius, but as expected! My eye for talent never fails!”
“…”
“Beef that tastes good and is healthy too! You calculated all of that, didn’t you? Remarkable!”

‘That’s not it.’

I was just incredibly frustrated that Reyatan’s scheme would double the costs.
And I didn’t want to see the adults upset either.

So I wanted to use the meat Reyatan brought and return it as is.
I thought removing just the toxin would work, and it actually did.

‘I didn’t expect the results to turn out this well either.’

Should I thank Reyatan for this?

“This is genuinely valuable. If the meat is in poor condition, we might be able to take it for free. Or better yet, if it’s meat scheduled for disposal, we could actually get paid to take it off their hands—.”

Gerald began pouring out his words in excitement.

“—So I’d like to sign a contract right away!”

I grinned wickedly.
This was exactly why I brought Ilay along.
I jabbed Ilay in the ribs.

‘Go for it, Ilay!’

But it was Randel, not Ilay, who spoke up.

“We welcome a contract as well. However, isn’t this situation different from a typical distribution agreement? The fact that the ingredients don’t spoil has implications for logistics and transportation—.”

Words flowed from him like a torrent.
Gerald looked at Randel with astonished eyes.

“And I’d also like to hear specifics about how we’d go about receiving meat scheduled for disposal while being compensated. It might very well be a product that costs nothing and turns all revenue directly into profit.”
“Ha ha…. You’re quite formidable, aren’t you?”

Gerald looked at Randel as if he’d been caught off guard.
He hadn’t expected Randel to bring up the point he’d casually mentioned in passing.

‘Hmph. Randel is Randel for a reason.’

Randel wasn’t handling administrative duties carelessly despite possessing such considerable divine power.
He was genuinely brilliant.

“Randel, you’re amazing…!”

As I looked at him with sparkling eyes, Randel laughed.

That was when it happened.
Ilay, who had been reviewing the draft contract that Gerald had roughly prepared, suddenly began pouring out words.

“This clause here in the draft, sir. The scope of responsibility is somewhat ambiguous, and I find it rather peculiar that you would share responsibility for product damage during distribution?”
“…Of course, that can be revised as well. Haha, naturally.”
“And in the clause below that—.”

Ilay began scrutinizing every clause in the contract that fell under our responsibility.

“Naturally, I believe the staff members who drafted this contract were short-sighted. Gerald, you have such a generous heart and such deep faith in Artemia that you would never have included terms unfavorable to the Temple.”
“Hahaha. Priest Ilay, you understand my heart so well!”

Ilay roasted Gerald over the coals while systematically shifting all the disadvantageous contract terms onto Whitepearl.

Yet surprisingly, Gerald seemed to know what was happening and let it slide anyway.
Like he was watching his younger self with a pleased expression?

‘Gerald and Ilay really get along incredibly well, don’t they?’

Though Ilay would hate to hear that.

‘Well, one is the current duke and the other is the future duke, after all.’

And the best part about this situation is something else entirely.

‘Both of those dukes are in the palm of my hand!’

Hehehehe!
Just how much money will these two dukes earn for me!

* * *

“That was truly a beneficial meeting! Priest Randel, you hide thorns within beauty. You’re like a rose.”
“Haha….”
“In that way too, you’re quite similar to me.”

At those words, I felt a slight pang in my chest.
The kind Randel bore no resemblance to Gerald.
Not in a single way!

“Priest Ilay, it seems your appearance isn’t the only thing that reminds me of my younger self—your abilities too. Hehe, will you grow to become a genius like me?”
“Haha, yes.”

Ilay laughed with the expression of someone holding back water.

“Our talented young priest, if you ever come across good business opportunities in the future, you must seek out this Gerald.”
“Because you bring in the money.”
“Honestly, other merchants can’t work as well as I do.”

That might actually be true.
As Gerald sang his own praises, everyone from the merchant company agreed with his words.
Though their faces were worn with exhaustion from their superior’s endless chatter.

All the way down the stairs, Gerald continued appealing to how good a business partner he was.

“—which is why this genius Gerald managed to secure that difficult contract and made the impossible transaction possible…”

Ugh, I’m exhausted.
Since I had a child’s body, I tired easily, and today the fatigue had accumulated from being in an unfamiliar place and listening to business talk the whole time.

‘Ugh, so tired.’

I suppressed the childish urge to ask Randel to hold me and kept walking diligently.
Then an accident happened.

“Ow!”

Because I wasn’t watching where I was going, I crashed—bang!—into someone coming toward me.
My nose felt like it was about to flatten.

‘Is this a wall or a person? Why is it so hard?’

I rubbed my nose and looked up to see a tall man looking down at me.

‘Wow.’

Shimmering blonde hair like mine, and purple eyes that seemed to exist at the boundary between day and night.
In the man’s gaze looking down at me lay an undisguised sense of pressure.
A very oppressive, crushing feeling.

Flinch.
Without realizing it, my small child’s body shrank back.

The Priest noticed my fear and offered a belated smile.
With just that light laugh, the oppressive atmosphere vanished in an instant.
It was a cheerful, playful smile.

“Are you alright, little lady?”
“Yes.”

The Priest bent his knees to examine me.
His frame was so massive that even kneeling, he still loomed like a mountain.

Gerald, who had been watching for an opening to interject, finally spoke to the Priest.

“Admiral, what brings you here without notice? Ah, of course, I always welcome you.”
“I’m not shameless enough to summon a busy person.”

My eyes widened.

‘An Admiral? This man is an Admiral?’

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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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