Chapter 124 : Atonement (2)

“Birthday?”

“Yes, it seems the children living in Elysion want to celebrate the day the Divine Maiden was born.”

“Unnecessary. It would be better to declare a holy day for the Successor to exert influence instead.”

“Is there a need to reject it so flatly?”

“…I’m just a part of the plan created last among the goddess’s children anyway.”

“…”

“The Successor and the first children don’t need to worry about me. Even though the direction of the plan has changed, if the Successor exists, there’s no need to be conscious of me.”

Swish

The Divine Maiden expressed that there was no use in talking further and turned around completely to lie down. Then she quietly pulled the white blanket piled on the top floor of the lighthouse and hid.

Rustle

A slender hand stretched out from inside the blanket, fumbling around the box for something, then took out a pack of grape juice, inserted a straw, and went back inside the blanket.

Slurp

Stubborn refusal.

When she didn’t want to talk anymore due to fatigue from overwork, the Divine Maiden issued an order to leave while eating something.

It seemed like there was no point in talking to the Divine Maiden who had switched to recovery mode, making straw noises inside the blanket.

“…”

After resolving the small rift that opened in America after the second trial, the Divine Maiden collapsed again.

‘She’s prepared grape juice and blankets on top of the lighthouse in anticipation of collapsing.’

At first, I deliberately dumped all the hard work on her and used her shamelessly, feeling upset by the Divine Maiden’s indifference to humanity and mechanical attitude shown in the past.

‘But from some point on, it was really just work that only the Divine Maiden could do.’

Seeing her take it for granted that she would collapse from starlight depletion due to my orders, and setting up the room layout considering optimal energy recovery, I felt somewhat pitiful.

An attitude of not caring about anything but the orders given to her.

Obedience to me, who was designated as the successor of the goddess of [Beginning].

A life of following and carrying out what was given.

[Revelation]

The Divine Maiden had always lived listening to the voice from above.

‘While Yuki found her own new fate, the Divine Maiden is still empty.’

An apostle who grew up mechanically for the orders given by the goddess of [Beginning] from inside an empty girl from the beginning, different from the apostles who grow up watching the fate of the world with the girl dwelling within.

An apostle indifferent to the world. The weakest apostle.

The Divine Maiden was also a magical girl..

Clumsy, indifferent, unskilled, inconsiderate, but.

The magical girl of [Revelation] clearly tried to prepare everything for me to adapt to this world.

School, identity, apartment… and Elysion.

As long as I had the will to save others, she was willing to hand over everything. She tried to help me move forward, albeit clumsily, watching the flow of stars from atop the lighthouse.

If I had been a girl who came from an era other than modern times; if I had been someone who hadn’t read <Magical Girl HAZARD>.

Could I have laughed at the things the Divine Maiden had prepared?

This girl too was born ignorant, and just moved forward making mistakes according to the orders of the goddess of [Beginning].

Suddenly, looking at the Divine Maiden closely again, she was very different from my first impression.

The Divine Maiden’s face visible under the hood looked especially young and youthful.

The feet sticking out from the white cloth priestly robe looked especially small.

With this frail body, she desperately endured the destroyed world to carry out the orders of the goddess of [Beginning], led Elysion, and reached this point.

For me who knew the future and Yuki who lived the present fiercely, the Divine Maiden’s efforts seemed alien and obstructive.

But can we both deny her very life?

“…”

“…You’re still not gone. I’m not needed.”

“Alright. Rest well.”

Slurp

Leaving behind the sound of drinking grape juice, I headed outside the white lighthouse.

I thought that perhaps there was one best gift I could give to that girl.

* * *

July 11

“Successor, this is…”

The Divine Maiden was wearing ordinary modern clothes.

Her silver hair that was always let down was neatly gathered and tied, and the Divine Maiden’s appearance in bright casual clothes was quite fresh in its own way.

Above all, modern clothing suited her very well.

“Happy birthday, Divine Maiden.”

“Happy birthday!! Divine Maiden!!”

“Happy birthday!!”

[Congratulations on the birthday of Elysion’s Unnamed Divine Maiden!]

The Divine Maiden, who had woken up with a disheveled face, was caught by me and the magical girl of [Wings] waiting at the entrance and changed clothes in an instant. And she was delivered to the square in that attire.

“This is very perplexing.”

What was prepared in the square was a birthday party.

A fragrant smell rose from the numerous foods filling the tables, and magical girls who had taken time to celebrate the Divine Maiden’s birthday were waiting, dressed in colorful clothes.

“It’s the Successor’s order. Take it easy and receive birthday wishes today.”

“…I’m not the type to relax easily in crowded places.”

“Then you can try a new experience from now on.”

“This is truly unreasonable.”

The Divine Maiden said while fidgeting with her skirt, but her face remained expressionless. Surrounding her, numerous magical girls who had bloomed entertainment and production magic approached.

Some magical girls were holding lots of paint.

Some magical girls were carrying all sorts of exercise equipment.

Some magical girls were holding numerous musical instruments.

In common, they were smiling at the thought of sharing their favorite hobbies with the always gruff Divine Maiden, a fresh newbie.

Stealthily

The Divine Maiden looked up and stared blankly at the hundreds of magical girls who had suddenly surrounded her.

‘It’s like that cover that was floating around the internet a lot.’

Hundreds of veteran magical girls with all sorts of hobbies approaching a silver-haired girl with flushed faces.

The Divine Maiden, who had taken off her hood and changed into modern clothes, had lost her usual intimidating aura, and because her appearance gave off a delicate and pure feeling, it felt strangely erotic even though it wasn’t an erotic situation at all.

-It’s the smell of a newbie.

-My goodness… can I share a hobby with an introverted newbie?

-Th-this is… gulp.

The veteran magical girls seemed to have already smelled something.

“Oh right.”

“Hm?”

“Find one thing you like to do while spending the day with the magical girls.”

“…”

“It’s an order.”

“…I’d rather go to America one more time.”

“Don’t worry, the rifts are safe for now.”

“Haah.”

Rumble

Veterans from all fields rushed in to show the Divine Maiden a new world.

“Di-Divine Maiden!! Do you want to play the sa-saxophone together?”

“Gasp!! No!! Such an instrument!! Let’s paint together with sticky paint!!”

“That sounds dirty!! Get out of the way!! Divine Maiden!! I’ll teach you the joy of beautifully sculpting your body while sweating!!”

“The Divine Maiden is already beautiful!! Get lost!! Let’s learn the pleasure of fishing together!!”

Before long, the Divine Maiden was caught by the magical girls and being dragged somewhere.

At first her hand was grabbed, then she was arm in arm, and then she was being carried.

Finally, hundreds of magical girls carried the Divine Maiden like an audience supporting a rock star who had jumped down, and headed somewhere in a rush.

“Uugh.”

Though she clearly had the strength of a born 3-star magical girl to shake them off, whether because of my order or because she was originally the type not to use violence on people, the Divine Maiden was just helplessly dragged away by hundreds of girls.

As I was watching the sight of the Divine Maiden being gradually dragged out of Elysion’s streets and into the forest.

A golden girl approached my side.

The magical girl of [Wings].

Probably the girl who cares about and thinks of the Divine Maiden the most among the girls from Elysion.

“Thank you.”

“Iris.”

“You intended to give the Divine Maiden a new chance, right?”

“Was it too obvious?”

“Hehe, no… I hoped for it.”

Iris looked at the figure of the Divine Maiden disappearing, led by people, with somewhat regretful eyes. That gaze was directed not at the current situation, but more towards the past.

“The Divine Maiden… certainly ignored people in past history, but it was because of her sense of duty to unconditionally carry out the orders given by the goddess of [Beginning].”

“…”

“We couldn’t blame the Divine Maiden for being indifferent… who lived by orders and protected us according to orders.”

“I don’t hate the Divine Maiden because I didn’t live through that time, I was just disappointed that she didn’t try to find the right path herself. But…”

But

Perhaps because she didn’t even have the freedom to head towards an unknown tomorrow.

Because she could only desperately fulfill the immediate reality.

She had no choice but to ignore things outside of what was given to her.

Now I truly understood that and couldn’t help but sympathize with the Divine Maiden.

An empty life.

A life with nothing but orders.

One of the two girls who walked the hardship that even the goddess of [Beginning] who gave the orders anticipated and apologized for with tears.

I thought that in this world where she had helped so many people, I could no longer resent or blame the Divine Maiden. Because thanks to her indifference and selfishness in the past world, this world was able to receive the huge help of Elysion.

‘Now I truly can’t say that what the Divine Maiden did was unconditionally wrong.’

What remains now is the second chance given to the Divine Maiden herself.

And…

“There’s only one person left who can completely forgive the Divine Maiden now.”