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628 – Hero Miia

I meet Miia’s eyes. Alarm bells are ringing in my ears. She’s smaller than me, but much stronger. I don’t know just from her status, but also from the prickly sensation on my skin as I face her.

I’m sure she’s gone through much more bloodshed than I have. I’ve experienced a fair bit. But, if what I heard is true, the what she went through was incomparably more tragic than anything I’ve experienced. By herself, she annihilated the army of the Eldia’s master, Demon Lord Noah, and then got wrapped up in an incredibly large-scale war against humans and the Saint, before finally challenging and being defeated by God’s Voice.

I can tell how strong someone is to some extent by their atmosphere. Perhaps that’s why it feels like her intense pressure could squash me flat at any moment.

“Is there a need to introduce myself, I wonder?”

『…Ah, sorry, I was looking at your status… Your story is still famous in this era, Hero Miia.』

“Hero, huh? At this point, that title only feels ironic. But, I see. You still haven’t had those skills taken away yet.”

Miia and the monsters around here don’t have [God’s Voice] or [Status Inspection]. According to Miia, she lost them after being taken into the origin matter. I already suspected that as God of Madness progresses, the divine skills are replaced with replicas, so it makes sense that those other skills could be taken away entirely.

…Miia’s God of Madness hasn’t fully progressed, and she still has a non-replica divine skill, so it might be a slightly different process though.

“Sorry, but could you tell me what era it is? I don’t know how many thousands of years it’s been. I was asleep for a quite a while, you see.”

I knew this was the case, but it seems she really did intentionally jump into the [Dark Frozen Prison].

『It’s just been one generation, five hundred years. Though none of us know much in the way of history.』

I say, and then turn to Aro and treant.

『I’m Irushia…and this is Aro and treant.』

Aro and treant nervously bow their heads. Miia smiles.

“I see. Aah, I’m jealous of your cute subordinates. Fufu, all of my subordinates were eccentrics of some kind or other. I’ve often said that to know a person, you should first learn about the humans around them. Of course, you two aren’t humans, though.”

I become a little nervous as I listen to Miia. Her subordinates included Umukahime, the clay guardians, the shub-niggurath, and the clay brave.

There may have been more in the past, but most of those I met in the Easternmost Strange Land…I killed. Umukahime told me they were attacking me in order to test my strength as part of Miia’s final request.

But, somehow, I feel reluctant to bring up the topic. Miia is mild-mannered now, but it feels like she could easily switch all of a sudden. According to her legend, she was a pacifist champion of justice. But, looking at her, I’m sure there’s something else to her now.

『……』

Miia frowns and peers at me.

“Hmm… By any chance, have you met my subordinates?”

『Y-yeah…』


“I see, so that’s how it is. In that case, did they become good experience points for you? Fufu, there aren’t many A+ monsters on the surface at all, so weren’t they just right for you?”

Miia’s lips curl into a smile. I struggle to think of how to reply.

I’ve thought about this before. For her to incite her subordinates to fight to the last as a kind of test… From the beginning, she raised them with in order to sacrifice them asexperience points for her successor. But, to then be able to talk about them in such a carefree way is something I can’t understand.

“Did you know? Unless there’s some other factor, an A- monster will give 64 experience points per level, but an A+ monster will provide 190 experience, almost three times the amount. An A+ rank’s maximum level is also higher, so the actual difference is even greater. You’ve become this powerful, so perhaps you already knew this?”

『…Weren’t they your precious companions…? How are you able to treat them as mere numerical values?』

Miia touches a finger to her mouth and tilts her head to the side.

“They were necessary sacrifices. Don’t you want to fight God’s Voice too? You’re not going to tell me you’re cooperating, are you?”

Miia stares at me, her face blank. Her eyes are cold. I feel a chill that pierces my thick scales. Treant appears unable to bear the pressure and almost collapses, so Aro helps him stand.

『If fighting is possible…then that is what I intend.』

I reply, choosing my words carefully. From the start, I’ve been unsure of if it’s even possible to oppose God’s Voice. Lilixira essentially chose to obey, but used her value as a divine skill holder as a shield to protect what mattered most to her. I think that might be the most pragmatic, realistic way of resisting.

“Isn’t that naive? I would have thought you would know by now that God’s Voice can’t be beaten with a little lip service. This is a little unfortunate. I wonder if there are too few sacrifices left now?”

Miia’s tone has no malice behind it, as though simply stating the facts. Thoughts of my partner well up inside, and I feel a wave of irritation, but manage to suppress it.

I absolutely can’t become hostile with Miia. She’s probably the only collaborator in the forest that could allow me to fight the hecatoncheir. Her status is even stronger than the origin matter’s.

The clay brave should have been a degraded version of her, and yet it still managed to overwhelm me through sheer combat technique, despite having much weaker stats than me. There’s no way the real Miia could be unskilled in that respect. She’s not someone I can hope to somehow scrape a win against if I were to fight her.

“God’s Voice’s personality is malicious to the extreme. I doubt you’ll be able to persist with that level of determination…”

Suddenly, treant steps forward.

『Miia-dono! I don’t know how harsh your life has been, but… I won’t let you to look down on what master-dono and we have overcome!』

He raises his short wings into a battle-ready stance.

『Treant…』

 

Miia looks at him. A few moments pass in silence with Miia deep in thought.

『Wh-what is it!? If you’re going to say more, then… This treant won’t forgive you!』

Treant swishes his wings though the air. In an instant, Miia vanishes, and then places her hand on treant’s back. He jerks away with a start. I-I couldn’t see her movement at all.

“You’re brave and kind, aren’t you? Sorry, I’ll try to be a bit more considerate next time.”

I snatch treant back with my claws, pulling him away from Miia. Unable to stand, he collapses backwards onto my foreleg, before quietly standing back up.

『As…as long as you understand…』





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