Monster Taming Broadcast

One of the strongest survivors of the War Between Humans and Monsters.

The Saint, Maria Jane Johnson.

Now that the S-Class Saint standing shoulder to shoulder with the Hero is dead,

A-Class Saint Maria has now emerged as one of the key figures at the center of Elemenzia.

And she’s also playing a pivotal role among the humans striving to rebuild their nation.

After biting the others around her,

she spoke to Alice, who had come looking for her, with a gentle smile.

“Devoted Warrior, what brings you here?”

“In this day and age, calling someone a Hero is quite grand. Just call me by my name; let’s keep it simple.”

“Sure, Alice.”

“I didn’t say to drop the formalities…”

“Just kidding. Anyway, what brings the esteemed Alice to me?”

“…I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor? If it’s from you, Alice, I’ll definitely help. So, what’s your request?”

“It feels a bit odd to talk here; can we go inside and discuss it slowly?”

Alice pointed to a building with a gesture.

Maria nodded.

“Alright. But…”

Maria’s gaze drifted to Alice’s side.

A monster with the body of a spider and the face of a puppy.

The Peaceful Demon King, Heksil, who saved many lives during the War Between Humans and Monsters, stood naturally beside Alice.

In the Ancient Labyrinth, he was a species called Dog Spider.

“Why is the Peaceful Demon King here…?”

I was confused from the start.

But I wasn’t scared.

Maria knew that Heksil was a harmless monster.

“Oh, I forgot to introduce. The Peaceful Demon King started traveling with me recently. So, he’s my comrade.”

Alice patted Heksil’s head.

“Heksil, say hello. This is Maria Jane Johnson, the Saint.”

[Sii! Nice to meet you! Hek Hek Sil Sil Sha I I Ik!]

“Oh, uh… nice to meet you… I’m Maria Jane Johnson.”

Maria awkwardly greeted back with a smile.

Clearing her throat, she guided Alice toward the building.

[Take your time talking; I’ll be waiting here patiently! Sii!]

Heksil couldn’t enter the building.

Unlike in the Ancient Labyrinth,

he was quite large over here.

“By the way, Alice, have you found the Fallen Hero?”

“Not yet. They might really be all dead.”

Maria and Alice entered the building, conversing.

*

Maria had heard about a man named Gauntlet quite a bit.

Though she had never met him in person,

she had heard stories about Gauntlet several times from the S-Class Saint she served.

Thanks to that, Alice had no trouble explaining about Planet Earth to Maria.

Gauntlet’s situation.

The world of the Ancient Labyrinth.

Gauntlet’s homeland, Earth.

The state Earth’s in.

The guardian Nohkya.

The impending disappearance of the Dimension Barrier.

The fact that when the Dimension Barrier didn’t exist, life forms couldn’t live properly on Earth.

When Nohkya was born, humans didn’t exist, and it was presumed to be an environment where life itself struggled to survive; various life forms began to emerge after the Dimension Barrier was created.

Since then, attempts to invade the Otherworld have increased, and the history of continuously reinforcing the Dimension Barrier began.

The reason for Sage Lunaris’s absence.

And the Great Migration Plan.

Alice conveyed all this in detail, ensuring Maria could easily understand.

“………”

After hearing the story, Maria fell silent for a moment.

After a little time passed,

Maria, having organized her thoughts, finally spoke slowly.

“Alright. Saving lives doesn’t require a special reason.”

“…Isn’t that a bit too easy a decision? Shouldn’t you think it over more? You can’t go back on your word later, right?”

“I won’t go back on my word. It’s a decision I made after sufficient thought, so don’t worry. And leave convincing others to me. Using your name will make it a breeze.”

“I’d appreciate that…”

Alice was bewildered.

She had confidently said persuading Gauntlet would be easy, but she never imagined it would resolve this smoothly.

She expected at least a few arguments.

‘Looks like you have more trust in me than I thought… Well, I’ve been working hard to help others, after all.’

Relieved that things were going well, Alice let out a sigh.

“Ah, but there are a few conditions.”

“Huh? What kind of conditions?”

Maria unfurled a map on the table.

Thump. Thump.

With her finger, she pointed at a continent on the map.

“First, if you bring the people from Earth, we’ll give you the continent right next to ours. But just giving you the continent doesn’t mean they’ll get to build their own nation.”

“You’re saying they can’t build their own nation? So you’re saying you’ll take them as your own citizens?”

“Yep. As you know, we’re planning to create a united nation in Elemenzia. We have no intention of allowing the birth of other nations, nor will we recognize them. This was agreed upon by the other four heroes, excluding you, Alice.”

“Those guys didn’t care whether a nation was built or not…”

Alice muttered as she manipulated the floating status screen in the air.

She was relaying Maria’s words to Gauntlet in real-time.

After sharing Maria’s condition via chat,

Alice looked at Maria and said,

“…In any case, that should be acceptable. We’re in the position of saving the people of Earth, after all.”

Alice agreed to Maria’s condition.

Although technically, it was Gauntlet who accepted it.

“I didn’t expect you to accept this condition right away. Didn’t you say that humans living on Earth don’t have a class system? So I thought you’d ponder it a lot.”

“What’s there to ponder? If they’re saved and come to Elemenzia, they’ll have to follow our laws and adapt. If they don’t want to follow our conditions, they can stay on the perishing Earth.”

This wasn’t a thought that came from Alice’s mind either.

She was merely echoing Gauntlet’s words.

“More importantly, have you decided who will sit on the throne of the new nation?”

Alice asked.

This time, she spoke after thinking for herself.

“You’re asking such a sensitive question without any prior notice…”

“Oh, sorry. If it’ll cause trouble, don’t feel obliged to answer.”

“No, it’s not that it’s troublesome. The person to sit on the throne hasn’t been decided yet anyway. Only candidates are being mentioned.”

“Are you among those candidates?”

“Yes. I am, and Alice, you are too. You’re the only one among the heroes being mentioned as a candidate.”

“…Huh? Why me?”

“Because you’re the Devoted Warrior.”

“But I’m not contributing at all to the reconstruction of the nation.”

“Still, you’re the Devoted Warrior. Not just any hero, but the Devoted one.”

“………”

Under normal circumstances, she would have said to exclude herself from the candidates right away.

Alice wasn’t particularly interested in the throne.

But now she remained silent.

The people from Gauntlet’s homeland,

the trustworthy leader capable of governing them without discrimination was only Maria.

If Maria couldn’t become the queen,

she couldn’t entrust the humans coming over from Earth without worry.

Therefore, Alice was also considering the idea of sitting directly on the king’s throne herself.

“Got it. So in any case, the conditions we just talked about are all there is to it?”

“No? There’s more.”

“…There’s more?”

“I can’t just accept the humans coming from Earth blindly. So I think I’ll use my ability to screen them.”

Maria’s ability.

It was the power to distinguish between good and evil.

Though subjective,

Maria could see the souls of humans.

More precisely, she could see the colors of their souls.

And those with black souls were clear villains in Maria’s eyes.

Additionally, she could vaguely feel the sins they had committed.

Of their sins committed to satisfy their own desires.

Alice was of course aware of that ability.

“So you mean you won’t accept villains?”

“Yep. I don’t have any intention of saving villains. I hope for your understanding on this part, Alice.”

Alice immediately brought this condition to Gauntlet to relay to him.

And after hearing about it, Gauntlet had a positive reaction.

He thought filtering out villains with Maria’s ability was actually quite beneficial.

[Alice. But is that ability reliable?]

[Boglebogle] — Yep. Maria hasn’t harmed any innocent beings even once until now, so don’t worry. I can vouch for that.

[Pururu] — Does that mean if someone was forced to kill, their soul would still be black?

[Boglebogle] — Ordinary murder, accidental killing, and killing for protection or survival aren’t sins. Murders committed to pursue pleasure or satisfy one’s greed are classified as sins. Killing someone to eat is also obviously not a sin.

[Boglebogle] — And Maria’s ability discerns those detailed aspects as well.

[Well, that’s a relief. Then please convey that condition is accepted.]

[Boglebogle] — Understood.

After finishing the consultation with Gauntlet,

Alice conveyed that the second condition would also be accepted to Maria.

Later on, Maria said she would inform her of any additional conditions if she thought of any, and then she took out a bunch of golden keys she had stored in her pocket.

“Alice, you mentioned that Gauntlet has many powerful monsters, right? Can you send them to other worlds too?”

“Yeah. But why?”

“Then could you perhaps ask him to send powerful monsters later? We need a huge amount of magical power to operate this sky ark.”

“Oh? That’s the key to the sky ark?”

Alice’s eyes went wide.

The sky ark, also known as the Heavenly Ark.

It was a legacy left by the Archmage when the War Between Humans and Monsters broke out.

The sky ark was a gigantic ‘ship of salvation’ that flew through the sky, safely absorbing humans on the ground.

And the keys Maria was holding were the devices that could summon that sky ark.

“Why do you have it?”

“I was one of the people who operated the sky ark during the War Between Humans and Monsters.”

“Ah… is that so…? Why can’t I remember?”

“It’s only natural you wouldn’t remember. You were constantly on the front lines, and I received the sky ark only towards the end of the war. Anyway, can you request powerful monsters?”

“Sure, I just asked, and they said they could send them right away.”

“Is that so? Good to know. There’s no rush. Just send them a few days before Sage opens the dimension portal.”

Afterwards,

Alice and Maria continued a deeper conversation about the Great Migration Plan.

—

Maria Jane Johnson

Danger Level: A-Class.

Ability: Good and Evil Identification, Execution of Justice.

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