I remember the benevolent voice I heard in the darkness.
I could not know whether it was the voice of the mother who had given birth to me, but there was one thing I knew instinctively.
I was one of countless seeds, yet the most superior being among them all.
And among countless seeds, I alone was the being capable of surpassing limits and reaching transcendence.
And so I seized the stars.
I absorbed life, expanded my legion, and repeated adaptation and evolution.
I had never failed. Not even once—until a strange human suddenly appeared.
「Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.」
The human, who had appeared from who knew where, possessed an oddity fundamentally different from any living being I had ever seen.
「Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.」
「Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.」
「Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.」
“I know, so stop.”
「I thought you couldn’t hear my voice.」
For one thing, she had easily pierced through my mental barrier and kept repeating her greeting with a perfectly clear mind.
I had thought Han Yuyeon was vulnerable in this regard, but I was mistaken.
Only now did I understand why she had left her mind wide open and revealed her thoughts so transparently.
Even if someone infiltrated her mind and attempted hypnosis or brainwashing, she was confident she could simply withstand it, so she had made no defenses at all.
That part was so deeply bizarre that it frightened me.
Only after facing Han Yuyeon did I understand what fear was.
「VV.」
The fear I experienced for the first time in my life presented me with a new judgment.
I had to abandon this star and flee.
So long as Han Yuyeon was my enemy, I could not seize this star.
Therefore, fleeing was not a judgment born purely from fear, but an extremely rational decision.
“Han Yuyeon. I apologize for entering your mind as I pleased.”
「Gasp. I’m sorry too. Shall we make up?」
“Good. I will never enter as I please again, so please leave.”
「Why? Is communicating with me uncomfortable for you? You can come into my head anytime.」
“……”
How was I supposed to answer that?
I felt immense pressure from the survival instinct honed through countless evolutions.
It would be best not to say anything that might provoke hostility.
“It is not uncomfortable.”
「Then let’s keep communicating.」
“Why?”
「Just because.」
“There is no ‘just because.’ Why?”
「I just want to communicate.」
For some reason, I felt that if this conversation continued, the possibility of escape would vanish.
“I will leave this star, so let me go.”
「Gasp. That’s not allowed.」
“Why?”
「If you go to another star, you’ll just repeat the same thing again.」
“That is not your concern, is it?”
「It is my concern. Because Mr. Seed’s actions drove humanity to the brink of extinction.」
I see. Touching humanity had been my mistake.
Had I known there was a being like Han Yuyeon, I would never have touched them.
But even if I realized it now, Han Yuyeon did not seem to have any intention of simply letting me go.
“Are you going to kill me?”
「The mages will decide what to do with you, Mr. Seed.」
“If I resist until the end, your losses will be great as well.”
「I don’t care about things like that.」
“The legion is strong. Even if you survive, all the other humans will die.”
「The mages are strong too. And I don’t intend to let even one of them die.」
Han Yuyeon’s presence felt far too immense.
My body tingled with the sensation of being overwhelmed as a living being.
Prepared to suffer internal damage, I forcibly severed the connection and raised my mental barrier even more firmly.
My survival instinct, sharpened to its utmost limit, presented the answer.
If Han Yuyeon had no intention of letting me go, then I had no choice but to wage war with all my strength, if only for the sake of negotiation.
For adapting, evolving, and ultimately achieving victory was the way of the legion.
“Next time will be different, Han Yuyeon.”
Analyzing the cause of the legion’s defeat, I began a new evolution.
The magic the mages had suddenly come to handle after Han Yuyeon appeared.
To counter the magic known as Flame Peace, merely increasing the legion’s fire resistance was not enough.
To oppose that Peace, we had to fight back with the same Peace.
We had to understand and reproduce the philosophy contained within the Peace.
***
Droop. Mr. Seed forcibly severed the connection.
I could reconnect if I wanted to, but I stopped in order to respect Mr. Seed’s privacy.
While I was watching the mages’ Flame Peace in the sky, the trial was suddenly cleared.
「You have cleared the 14th floor of the Tower of Trials.
- Eldrion survived.
- Riet survived.
- Seria survived.
- Dorman survived.
- The mages of Ragnavel have joined.
- The mages of Lumerion have joined.
- The mages of Serenium have joined.
- The mages of Drakeln have joined.
- The mages who received your support eliminated all enemies.
- The Isrein Empire Repository was not destroyed.
- You resisted Omega Seed’s mental domination.
- You were not mutated.」
“?????”
Tower, are you all right?
I’m worried you might have collapsed from overwork.
So you really can do it when you try, Tower.
This was the first time I’d seen such a long clear log.
But what was this?
- You resisted Omega Seed’s mental domination.
Mr. Seed had tried to dominate my mind? When on earth?
I hadn’t sensed even the slightest sign of it, so the shock was quite big.
I was about to cry, “Hing-ing-ing,” from the sense of betrayal, but stopped.
Now that I thought about it, it was a little strange to feel betrayed when we weren’t even on the same side.
Once again, the “increased resistance to mental abnormalities” included in Maid’s Dignity had done a great job.
「You awakened the pride of the Isrein Empire once more.」
I did?
「By maximizing the mages’ reasoning abilities, you created a means to oppose Omega Seed.」
Tower, why don’t you try doing Peace once too?
It would be terrible if you collapsed from overwork.
「Thanks to you, the final light of human civilization was not extinguished.」
I truly am the paragon of maids.
「You were truly the paragon of maids.」
VV.
「Overall Evaluation: EX」
「Ability Points +25」
Oh. I received an EX-grade evaluation again.
However, unlike with the True Ancestor, there was no message saying I had satisfied a hidden condition.
Maybe that hidden condition was joining Mr. Seed’s legion.
Mr. Seed had said that if I joined the legion, he would grant me the power to adapt and evolve.
「Additional reward options are provided to you, who have shown an exemplary standard.」
「1 - Clone Technique (D)」
「2 - Mind’s Eye (D)」
「3 - Maid’s Cheer (C)」
Droop. Maintenance didn’t appear again, so I chose Maid’s Cheer.
「You will be moved to the ‘Rest Floor’ in 10 minutes.」
「Nothing is provided on the Rest Floor. Please prepare any necessary supplies yourself.」
Before I got dragged off to the Rest Floor, I had to quickly do what needed to be done.
If I wanted to prepare lunchboxes in advance for as many mages as there were, I had to diligently take them out.
I stopped flying and landed in front of Eldrion.
“Hello. I’m Han Yuyeon.”
“Ooooh!! Everyone, look here!! The pioneer of Flame Peace has come!!”
“What!!!!!!”
“The pioneer of this insanely seductive magic has come?!!”
“The Flame Peace we’re doing is nothing but ordinary compared to Lady Yuyeon’s.”
“Ahh!! Please grant me the honor of seeing your Flame Peace as well...!”
Mm. I hadn’t expected them to like Flame Peace this much.
For the mages, I specially showed them Maid’s Dignity Flame Double Peace.
“This is Maid’s Dignity Flame Double Peace.”
“Uwoaaaah!!”
“How can she cast Flame Peace with both hands while maintaining dignity?!”
“The fact that it doesn’t even take 0.1 seconds to cast is astonishing...!”
“To secure that stability and casting speed, what on earth must be done from here...!”
Seeing the mages’ eyes sparkling brightly, I asked them once.
“Would you like me to tell you?”
“No!!! Please let us figure it out ourselves!!!”
“I was born to research Flame Peace!!!”
“If you tell us the answer, I will die!!!”
“Gasp. That’s not allowed. Please live a long, healthy, happy life.”
“VV!!!”
This was the power of Peace.
Beyond doing Peace in order to be happy, the moment of doing Peace because one was happy had already arrived.
To give them the lunchboxes, I stopped doing Flame Peace and put my hand into my subspace pouch. Suddenly, all the mages from every Magic Tower drooped.
“?”
“Uu... I still didn’t see enough...”
“Du...”
“Ah, I felt like I would realize something if I just watched a little longer...”
“Oh dear. Still, you need lunchboxes, don’t you? You should eat while you research.”
The mages of Aistrea spoke as representatives.
“Why must we eat?”
“?”
“If there is something to skip between research and meals, it is meals.”
“???”
“If you skip food, it only ends with hunger, but an enlightenment missed once will never return.”
“?????”
“My stomach is full from research alone, so I do not understand why I must bother eating.”
Oh dear. It seemed their minds had become a little strange.
Was it because they had spent too long as zombies?
The mages of the other Magic Towers also desired Flame Peace more than food.
Urgh. But now was not the time to show them Flame Peace.
“Everyone. You can only research for a long time if you’re healthy. I’ll take out the lunchboxes and leave them here, so please don’t skip meals and take care of your health while you research.”
I felt like they wouldn’t listen if I only said that, so I added one thing.
“If you research while taking care of your health, I’ll show you Maid Cosmic Triple Flame Tornado Peace later.”
“What...! You mean the Peace that burned up the Predator in one second...!”
“I am the incarnation of health management.”
“It is only natural to have breaks from time to time.”
“Of course meals must not be skipped, even for the sake of brain function.”
Persuasion complete.
As I neatly stacked the lunchboxes, I suddenly grew curious and asked.
“But everyone. Aren’t you amazed by my subspace ability?”
“Mm?”
Until now, the people who had seen my subspace ability reacted with things like, “An item came out from between her breasts...?!” But.
They were so focused only on Peace, as if it was too natural—or rather, as if they simply weren’t interested—so I was curious.
Eldrion, who had blankly confirmed my subspace ability, immediately answered.
“To us, Flame Peace is more fascinating than subspace.”
“Aha.”
It was a truly simple answer.
“And I will say this on behalf of all the Magic Towers. Thank you, truly. For turning us back into humans, for teaching us Flame Peace, and for giving us lunchboxes... We will surely repay this grace.”
“As long as the mages are happy, that’s enough for me. Ah, please make sure to play card games with me later.”
“Of course...! If you wish it, we can even burn the world.”
“Please refrain from that.”
Until I was dragged to the Rest Floor, I took out as many lunchboxes as possible.
It made me happy too, seeing the lunchboxes I had made in bulk on the Rest Floor before become useful like this.
***
I immediately came up to the 15th floor.
“Riet!! Fall back and reorganize!!”
“Why are these things only attacking me?!”
“The flow of mana is unusual! We must not waste mana!”
- What what’s going on
- We just came up to the 15th floor and what is this
Before I could even check the objective of the trial, I heard urgent voices and immediately flew up.
Within the blazing flames, I saw the mages in battle with the mutants.
What kind of evolution had the mutants, who had been helpless against Flame Peace, undergone this time?
When I examined them, I saw three characteristics.
1. Bodies that could resist Flame Peace better.
2. They scattered the surrounding mana and interfered with magic casting.
3. VVVV.
The mutants were also casting Flame Peace.
They didn’t seem to have mana circles, so how was this possible?
When I looked more closely, I felt the energy of sorcery from the mutants’ Peace.
By offering their life force as a price, they had manifested Flame Peace in a different way from me.
If the mages’ Flame Peace was a high-power, high-efficiency, slow-casting Peace,
then the mutants’ Flame Peace was a high-power, low-efficiency, fast-casting Peace.
On top of that, unlike humans, many mutants had four hands.
The firepower of mutants who could cast Quadruple Flame Peace alone could not help but be enormous.
「Are you flustered, Han Yuyeon?」
“?”
Mr. Seed’s voice rang out in my head again.
「You are not the only ones who can use Flame Peace.」
“!!!”
I swiftly cast Maid’s Dignity Double Peace.
It was the beginning of the Peace War.