"Not everything down and hand it over anonymously to the church. But don't write that it is a slave ring. They won't ever take it seriously. Instead, say that it's a demonic cult that is threatening their authority.

This will make those corrupt priests come running."

Layla advised her maid on what to do next.

Layla's distrust of the temple in this world was profound. She harbored no faith in the people running the temple and their intentions.

The temple's social structure was not based on power but on faith. However, power-hungry individuals still needed to climb the ranks.

It was a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It made those old men rigid and easy to manipulate if you knew them well enough.

'This was one of the methods that the original male lead used. But who cares if I decide to borrow it or not? It's not like the Male Lead does anything useful with this. He just got the temple to act so that his lover would stop spending time with her friends. What a foolish man.'

Layla shook her head to get rid of useless thoughts like these. If she stared, she knew she could not stop.

"Is that all you want to report to me, Mary?"

Layla asked her maid. She felt Mary had more to say, but she was refraining from opening her mouth, so Layla asked her outright about it.

"It's nothing much, miss. Just two of the 150 eliminated participants disappeared before returning to their rooms. They were both orphans and had no connection to others. I was unsure if I should tell you about this."

Layla felt sorry for the kidnapped kids, but she also knew that now was not the time to pursue them. The competition was still raging.

"I understand, Miss. I promise to do well since you want me to do this. You will have nothing to fear about."

Mary promised, and she began to write her letter.

Before she finished, Layla decided to interfere one last time.

"Make sure you send this letter to the temple after the competition. We cannot afford to have it messed up."

Layla did feel like she was getting too involved in this competition, but she had always been a little obsessive about what she wanted.

And right now, she wanted nothing more than to win this competition.

...

Dinner was considerably light and bland. The food barely felt enough, even with only 20 people in the hall.

"Ah, I feel so jealous of the other two halls. I heard that they got served special meals and extra food. I wish I could also go to one of these halls to eat their food."

One of the kids spoke in a dreamy voice.

Mary had already informed Layla that the other two halls had personal chefs prepare their food (she had also snuck some out).

It felt unfair, but this was the treatment those nobles and higher-class people had paid for.

Layla could have also gone there if she had tried hard enough and paid money, but her plan required her to be here.

"Hey, do you think we can win this time? I mean, if someone here wins, then their life would change in an instant-"

"Don't be a fool! The winner has already been decided. Did you not see the half-elf in the crowd? Daidus Lukewater would win for sure."

That was a familiar name to even Layla.

She had worked hard to remember all the important people who could help her in the future, and this was one of those people.

Daidus Lukewater was the only son of Duke Lukewater of the neighboring kingdom of Celceris.

Somehow, the kingdom's only role in the original novel was being mentioned once as a tourist spot, making one think it was unimportant, right?

Wrong!

The kingdoms of Celceris and Rumenia (her current kingdom) were much more intertwined than one expected. Their trading market was one of the world's oldest and biggest, and their royal houses had even been married more than once.

As one of the only two dukes of Celceris, the Lukewater family was famous.

"A half-elf? Don't they shun most humans and competitions like these? Not only them but most other species also do not seem to participate in this competition. It's almost like they sense that something is wrong here."

Someone else pointed this out, and Layla knew its reason well.

Other species knew about this slave-trading ring and wanted to avoid it. They also saw no point in competing against humans.

This was a good point for Layla, so she decided not to look too much into it. She only found out that there were no other competitors except humans until she reached the competition site.

"By the way, aren't two people missing from this group? The last time I counted, there were 23 of us, and now there are only 21. Where did two people go?"

Layla finally had a number for her group, but she did not feel so worried about these kids.

The kidnapping for today was already over, so it was likely safe now. She also had Mary with her for the rest of the day, meaning she would likely not be targeted.

"How weird. I remember them saying something about going to the bathroom because they had an emergency, but neither returned. Do you think they got kidnapped?"

Another kid asked, but her mother quickly quieted her down. That was how dinner ended, and by the time Layla reached her room, she could see 22 kids around her once more.

Layla had looked at all the kids' faces, so it was easy for her to spot the outlier in this crowd.

The kid was mostly hiding behind his mother, and he looked scared. But his eyes were serious, scanning the people around him with interest.

Even if he did not say anything, Layla felt she had her culprit now. This was the kid who talked about kidnapping others in the morning.