Maya Seijyu’s day started with prayer to the branch of Yggdrasil.
She prayed every morning and felt its greatness from the image transmitted from that branch.
The founder, her father, brought this branch from the dungeon.
Yggdrasil was said to have saved people from a world that was ending. The Church of Minsule was created with it as its figure of worship.
The dangers of the dungeon, resource distribution, and control of seekers were nothing more than things that were added later. They were things that many believers would find easier to understand.
The visions brought from Yggdrasil were a giant tree and a large lake, an island in the sky, many monsters existing peacefully with each other, and a civilization that was different from this one.
She prayed that one day she would also go there.
She looked like a saintess, but inside, it was a different story.
“Is he not back yet?”
“Yes, he is still to return from the dungeon.”
She asked a young man as she stayed in her praying pose without turning around.
This young man was the university student that lived in Tanaka’s neighborhood, and was selected to be their contact with Tanaka.
“I see, continue inviting him. We need him.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
She interrupted her prayer to smile at the student, who responded with his cheeks turning red.
To him, Maya Seijyu was an absolute target of admiration, a sacred being. He heard her appearance had not changed in decades, but his faith did not waver. In fact, it deepened.
She saw his reaction, said she would be leaving it to him, and went back to praying.
After seeing him leave, she focused on her connection with Yggdrasil even more.
◇ ◇ ◇
Maya saw herself as a special being.
She was the only daughter of the founder of the Church of Minsule, was revered by the believers, and many obeyed her.
This environment made it natural for her to think she was special, and everyone accepted it. But that was not why she saw herself as special.
Before being old enough to even understand the world around her, she touched the branch of Yggdrasil and saw a strange world. For anyone else, they were fantasies of a child, but when she told her father, he told her to not tell anyone else. That was the world where her mother lived, he said.
Maya saw a world where gods lived, and was told the branch of Yggdrasil showed it to her so she would not be lonely. And being able to see it was very special.
From that point forward, others became irrelevant to her.
She went to school and met people that were like friends, but she always looked down on them and never really remembered their names.
Some did not like this, but she dealt with them all. Not just girls, she could handle boys and adults as well.
Maya was literally special, and at this point, strong enough to be on par with a seeker that passed the twentieth floor.
Her father tried to correct this attitude, but her personality did not change.
All she learned from her father was worldly wisdom. And she used it not to traverse the world, but to avoid annoying things.
It would be fine if that was all, but she figured she could employ it to use other people.
She understood the value of her beauty. She never cared about how others saw her, but understood how they did.
And so, she flaunted a smile that charmed everyone, and it was easy for her to use her words to guide people into doing what she wanted.
It started with timid girls, then quiet boys, then lively girls and boys from sports clubs, then intelligent boys and girls, and she created an environment where no one would go against her.
Of course, some noticed this, but she dealt with them the same way.
Some sacrifices were made, but looking back, she thought she was still pretty docile. And these numbers increased drastically when she became a seeker.
She formed a party of disposable pawns, and worked as a seeker without the seeker association. Her first skill was Charm, and proof that she was special only accelerated her.
She got new party members, and advanced not through her strength but by using slaves she called partners.
She abandoned the wounded and forgot about the dead. Or rather, did not know about them in the first place.
After seeing many bodies and walking on them, she truly seemed special, and a demon. But someone noticed this.
“Lady, what are you doing?”
She met Kuroitsu.
Kuroitsu was a middle school student and not old enough to be a seeker, but was in the dungeon.
“I should ask you that. This is no place for children.”
“Everyone is hurt. Aren’t you healing them? Why aren’t you fighting? They’re all smiling, but are they crazy? Are you controlling them?”
Kuroitsu was far weaker than what he would become, but just as perceptive.
She thought it was annoying and tried to use Charm, but it was deflected for some reason.
That was the effect of an accessory Kuroitsu wore, but she had no way of knowing this.
Then again, even if she did, that would not change her actions.
She snorted at the annoyance and controlled magic energy to create an arrow of light.
“Boy, if you stay quiet and run off somewhere I am willing to let you go.”
“No. My father is a cop, so I can’t let bad people go.”
“Oh? I’m not a bad person. In fact, you look more like a bad guy than me.
Maya saw an ugly smile on Kuroitsu’s face. What a repulsive child, she thought as she launched the light arrow.
“Go.”
She did not think that was enough to take him down, so she sent her charmed partners at Kuroitsu.
The light arrow did not hit him. He read its trajectory and evaded it with minimal movements. But the same could not be said for the seekers.
There were over ten people strong enough to pass the twentieth floor. Even a pro seeker could lose when attacked by all at once.
But her confidence was easily crushed.
“Don’t move.”
Kuroitsu used the curse skill and stopped them all. That included Maya, who was surprised that she suddenly could not move.
But that did not last long. Maya released explosive magic energy and broke through the binding of the curse.
“Damn kid! Where did he go!?”
Maya was freed and clearly shaken as she looked for Kuroitsu. No one had ever shaken her like this in her seeker career. And having her emotions rattled by someone she looked down on made her lose her cool.
And so, she could not see him hidden by the Conceal skill.
A sharp pain ran down her cheek, and she was violently thrown to the ground.
“What…?”
Her brain shook and she could not get up.
She had never felt that pain before, and did not understand she was hit. The idea of being hit by another person never crossed her mind.
“You’re tough. I broke a finger.”
She faced forward from the ground, and saw Kuroitsu was unable to clench his right fist due to a broken finger.
That finally made her understand she was hit. And she felt anger and hatred for the first time.
An insignificant person touched her, hit her, hurt her. Her head was filled with bloodlust.
“Unforgivable, unforgivable, unforgivable!!”
Maya was still on the ground, furious, and her magic energy exploded and blew away that whole area.
But Kuroitsu vanished from her sight again.
“I don’t think I can win, so I’m retreating. I’m reporting this to the association.”
The voice came from somewhere and seemed to be going far away.
Maya could not put strength in her legs, so she could not chase him, and could only look around.
“Uaaah!!!”
He got away. The target of her anger got away.
And so, Maya did something unthinkable. She did not know where to direct her anger, so she fired magic at the seekers that were still immobile.
“What a troublesome girl.”
She had never heard that voice before.
It was gentle, warm, and affectionate. It felt nostalgic despite her never hearing it before.
This person descended where the magic was going, and easily nullified it.
After flapping pure white wings, the seekers moved again, and fell unconscious.
The person who stopped the raging magic looked at Maya with affection.
Maya looked this person in the eyes and was shocked.
“An angel?”
This woman flapped her wings and hovered.
She had a beautiful face and long golden hair. Her body was covered in a white cloth, and her figure clad in light looked divine.
She thought the angel’s face looked like hers.
The angel smiled, and with the sound of something sparkling, light gently illuminated the area, and she was gone.
Once the light settled, Maya’s wound was healed, and so were the seekers.
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