Youngest on Top - Chapter 70

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 70

* * *

Trainee Priest Quarters.

“Look at this! Snow flowers are clinging to the window!”

A child pointed at the window and shouted.
The children crowded around the windowsill in a commotion, trying to get a closer look at the intricate patterns of the snowflakes.

“It’s true!”
“Snow is already falling.”
“Wow, it’s so beautiful…!”

I jumped up and gazed at the window from a distance.

‘Winter has arrived without me noticing.’

I had come to Artemisia Temple in spring.
So much time had passed since I arrived at this temple.

‘Though with everything that’s happened, it’s only natural.’

It was a struggle from the moment I entered the temple.
I had to run around so much trying to prove to the adults that I wasn’t the illegitimate child of Parmanasus… sigh.
But that wasn’t all.
I conquered the Trainee Priest mountain with my fists.
I even gave the arrogant Reyatan a taste of his own medicine.
And then there was the incident with the Southern Admiral….
Thinking about it all, tears blur my vision.

“Sae, come over here too.”

One of the children who had been watching the snowflakes at the window turned around and called me.
I responded with an “Okay!” and rushed over, grabbing the windowsill.
I was about to look at the beautiful snowflakes, but—

“Ugh…”

—The window was far too high for me.

‘I could see it from a distance, but now I can’t even catch a glimpse.’

I grunted and bounced up and down, desperate to get a closer look at the snow crystals.

Why was I the only one still so tiny when all the other children were shooting up like weeds?
Before my regression, I’d thought it was because I hadn’t eaten enough.
But now I realized it was just my constitution!

‘Is this what you intended, Artemia?’

I glared up at the sky with burning eyes.

Even if this was exile, couldn’t you have at least given me a massive body?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be about two meters tall with rippling muscles?
It would have been even better when I was Amelia’s battery.

‘I could have shattered that wretched Patrick’s ribs and escaped the prison.’

I looked down at my hands gripping the windowsill.
They were still the size of a small dumpling.

I let out a deep sigh and muttered in a small voice.

“When will I grow up and become awesome?”

While I was grumbling like that, I heard stifled laughter from behind me.
When I glanced back, my eyes met the children’s.

“Pfft!”
“Hahaha—!”

The children burst into laughter, unable to hold it in any longer.
Dmitri was even holding his stomach as he laughed.

“Hahahaha! Look at those short legs bouncing around!”

The children found it hilarious watching me bounce around.
I stared at Dmitri with a disgruntled expression.
He was laughing the loudest of all.

‘Should I hit this bastard?’

I was caught in a moment of deliberation over Dmitri’s life.

“You’re quite the handful, aren’t you? Look, can you see well from here?”

Dmitri chuckled and slipped his hands under my armpits, lifting me up effortlessly.
Thanks to Dmitri, my view had become two or three times higher.

“Wow….”

Snow flowers bloomed abundantly on the frost-covered window.

“So pretty….”

Without thinking, I pressed my flushed cheeks with my fingers.
The children giggled at the sight of me.
Eager to see it more closely, I flailed my limbs about and spoke to Dmitri.

“Closer! I want to see it even closer!”

Dmitri smiled broadly and lifted me even closer to the window.

“Wow wow wow….”

It was so beautiful that I pressed my hand against the window and leaned my face in closer to see the snow flowers better.
But because I leaned in too much, the snow flowers melted and disappeared from my breath.

“It’s gone….”

Seeing me slump against the window, Edmund spoke.

“Why worry about that? Here, take this instead.”

and suddenly thrust something at me.
It was a hair ornament with jewels set in a snowflake pattern.

“Just get one made from gems that don’t melt.”

This guy really….

At his saccharine words, I fixed Edmund with a cold, withering stare.

“Gems are expensive. No way.”

Since I refused, Edmund huffed indignantly.
Roana fastened it in my hair.

“Yeah, it looks good on you.”
“You always look good.”
“Seriously! Who says that? You’re just a little… what? A little like a squirrel. Just the kind of cute that suits you, you know?”
“….”
“Don’t get the wrong idea even if someone says you’re lovely. It’s only a tiny bit!”
“….”
“If I say you’re pretty, just take it at face value. Like, top five percent? That’s all it is.”

So I’m cute, lovely, and pretty, then?

I nodded, saying “Sure, sure.”

“I understand. I know what Roana thinks of me.”
“Ha! It’s not like I was complimenting you or anything, okay? Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“Sure, Roana says I’m cute and lovely and pretty.”
“That’s not what I said!”
“Yeah, Roana is pretty too.”
“That’s not—! Pretty? How pretty am I anyway? Did you think so too? Since when?”
“Sure, sure.”

Roana huffed indignantly, as if offended.

“No, listen to me properly—”
“Why won’t you accept what I gave you, but you accept what Roana gave you?”
“I’m trying to talk here.”
“I had something to say first.”

Roana and Edmund started bickering with each other.
I slipped right between the two of them.

“Stop it! Don’t fight because of me! Nobody can choose me!”
“….”
“….”

Roana and Edmund wore awkward expressions.
The other children giggled.
I had been feeling a certain distance because of their family’s high status, but it seemed my joke was entertaining.

Edmund clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow.

“Fine. We should prepare for class.”
“Oh! That’s right! The exam is coming up soon!”

Then the other children quickly grabbed their books.
They headed to the lounge with their books to review what they had learned before class, chatting quietly.
Children lying on their stomachs or leaning against sofas, talking softly about sacred magic.

‘This feels so peaceful.’

Buried in the sofa with the blanket Ilay had draped over me, drowsiness began to wash over me.
The crackling sound of firewood burning in the fireplace.
The children’s voices created a soft backdrop, like a lullaby.

‘I’ve never experienced a winter like this before.’

At the Orphanage, such comfort was certainly a luxury.
At Parmanasus Temple, winter was terror.
Because you could actually die.

The Temple Priests grumbled as they saved me from death several times over.

“Why is she always getting sick like this? It’s so annoying!”
“Since it’s annoying, should we at least heat the room?”
“Then she’ll try to live comfortably and develop bad habits.”
“Right. Standing makes you want to sit, sitting makes you want to lie down—that’s the nature of these wretches.”
“We need to train her properly.”

Back then, it was so cold that my skin stung and ached as if it might peel away.
Eventually, I couldn’t feel anything at all.
Gradually, I couldn’t move anywhere—.

“Be grateful to Amelia. She cast a spell on your room.”

When I lost consciousness and woke up, the priests would tell me that.

I was truly grateful to her.
Every time I nearly died and came back, my room was warm.
The priests always said it was thanks to Amelia.

So this was the first time I was sitting comfortably by the fireplace without worrying about the cold.
The warmth itself was wonderful, but.
I lifted my head and looked at the other children.

“Sleepy? If you’re tired, sleep more.”

Ilay patted my back.
I closed my eyes under his touch.
It felt as cozy as being wrapped in a mother bird’s feathers.

* * *

A few days later.
The children leaving the classroom had dark expressions.

“That was brutal….”
“Problem 3 has four answers, right? Did you write them all?”
“Four answers? I couldn’t even write a few sentences….”
“…wasn’t that multiple choice? I wrote 3.”
“Are you insane, seriously.”

The exam had been far too difficult.
The questions varied by age, and the older children’s expressions grew increasingly grim.

“I lost to Beckman….”
“Ugh, it was way too hard.”
“You did well on the last exam at least. I’ve failed this one too, so maybe no one will want to be my godparent anymore….”

The trainee priest with frizzy hair wore a dejected expression.

“Godparent?”

At my question, the children’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You didn’t know?!”
“No.”
“Ah, that’s right. The youngest wasn’t formally inducted, so there was no orientation.”

One child murmured, and the others crowded around me.

“So youngest, you haven’t made any moves with any of the priests yet?”
“Made moves?”
“Once winter passes, we’ll be assigned godparents. The other kids have already started working on the priests.”

‘Ah, right. There was such a system.’

All the priests in the temple were family.
They were bound by divine blood rather than mortal kinship.
When the time came, trainee priests would form direct relationships with the generation above them.
This faith-based parent-child relationship was called godparent and godchild.

“Still, wouldn’t many people accept Sae?”
“Yeah, you could pick anyone.”
“Who are you thinking of, Sae?”

Then one child clicked their tongue and wagged their index finger side to side.

“Obviously Randel!”
“Ah, that’s true!”
“Yeah. Randel cares for Sae, and Sae follows him the most.”

The children let out wistful sighs of longing.

“I wish it were me, I really do.”
“Right? I didn’t even dare ask.”
“Everyone wants Randel as their mentor anyway.”

The children began chattering excitedly.

“He’s so kind, incredibly skilled, teaches wonderfully, and he’s handsome too!”
“A master of holy magic who rivals the High Priest despite his youth!”
“The most promising candidate for the next High Priest!”

The particularly gifted children in front of Ilay shouted Randel’s praises.
Then Dmitri’s group scoffed loudly from the other side.

“No way, it has to be Derrick.”
“Derrick is truly amazing.”
“He’s strong! Incredibly powerful!”
“The ultimate fist—he single-handedly defeated a hundred monsters bare-handed!”

Edmund’s group, all from wealthy families, crossed their arms and said, “Please.”
“It’s Skyler.”
“You can’t ignore the prestige of tradition.”
“Skyler with his systematic education based on data!”

Then a timid child with braided hair and large glasses cautiously raised her hand.

“It might actually be Mogen… I mean, since he makes people feel comfortable… maybe peace of mind is what matters most…”
“What! That’s such a curveball!”
“Why are you joining the majority?!”
“Wait, why are you dismissing the minority opinion?!”

The children opened their eyes wide and began debating who the greatest priest was.

Ding ding, a message came through. A message saying Randel is the greatest.
No way, no way. That’s not it. A message came through saying Derrick is the greatest~!

“How can you lack such discernment in people? How pathetic. Can’t you see Skyler’s dignity?”
“Dignity? Skill comes first, don’t you know? Randel is good at everything!”
“D! E! R! R! I! C! K! Don’t you know this chant?!”

The children who had been bickering back and forth suddenly turned to look at me.

“Huh? Who are you?”
“Have you decided?”

Their gazes were so intensely fierce that I flinched.

‘I’ve already made up my mind.’

I had decided this long before coming to the temple.

“It’s… Sae…”

Everyone waited for my next words with keen interest in their eyes.

* * *

The Meeting Hall.
The priests gathered around the table to discuss temple matters.

“Then we shall proceed with the request from Derteria Temple in that manner.”
“We will proceed with the year-end event as planned. Next is the spring schedule—the matter of godparents.”

When the topic of godparents came up, the priests chuckled warmly.

“How nostalgic. During our trainee priest days, choosing a godparent was the most important matter, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, Sirius took me as his godchild, and I was so delighted to be chosen by him.”
“Now that I think about it, becoming a godparent is just as thrilling as being a godchild.”
“The responsibility is immense. Haha!”

Godparents and godchildren were inseparable.
Sometimes their bond was even stronger than that of real parents and children.
Once formed, it was a connection that lasted a lifetime.
Even those who had stepped down from their positions still maintained contact with their godparents.

“Have many children come to visit you, Jerome?”
“A few did come, but… ah, the one I was watching closely seems to have gone to another priest.”
“I see. Since this is your first time as a mentor, you didn’t know.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s not just the Trainee Priests who enter the ‘selection.’ We priests also mark children we’re interested in.”
“Ha, if I’d known that, I should have spoken with Ilay more often beforehand.”

At the young priest’s words, the older priest’s lips curled up slightly.

“What? You were after Ilay too? Unbelievable! You have no respect for hierarchy. That child is mine—!”
“Ah, you keep emphasizing hierarchy, but these days people call that being old-fashioned.”
“What did you just say! Back in my day, when an elder spoke, you simply said ‘yes’ and listened!”

On the other side, there was also commotion about the mentees.

“Dmitri, that fellow. When is he planning to come by?”
“What? I’ve already claimed Dmitri!”
“I meant Edmund. When I spoke with him last time, I found we had much in common.”
“Edmund needs a mentor who matches his caliber, and that’s me.”

Taking on an exceptional mentee was a great honor for the priests.
The priests began quarreling over the outstanding Trainee Priests.
The Elders chuckled as they watched the priests’ dispute.

“They certainly have plenty of vigor.”
“It’s passion for education, so there’s nothing wrong with it.”
“But that’s only when you’re young, isn’t it? Now that I’m older, I think a mentor is simply someone who helps their mentee grow strong and confident.”
“Well said. Greed can be poison to a child, after all.”
“Ha, so with Sae, I’m just thinking of enjoying our time together.”

One Elder casually mentioned Saelika’s name.

‘I’m targeting Sae?’

That’s what he meant.
But something was strange.
The Meeting Hall fell silent in an instant, and murderous gazes converged on the Elder who had mentioned Saelika’s name.

“Sae?”
“Our youngest?”
“Our precious one?”

Even those who had been quarreling over Ilay, Dmitri, and Edmund’s eyes lit up with fervor.
The Elder blinked in bewilderment.

“Why, why are you doing this?”
“Elder, you lack basic decency.”
“What?”
“Sae is neutral ground.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————