Pawahara Seijo no Osananajimi to Zetsuen Shitara, Nanimokamo ga Umaku Iku Yō ni Natte Saikyō no Bōke

[Queen of the Monsters]

We all swallowed our saliva at the mention of the word ‘war’. Fluga-sama then said while scratching her crossed legs, “Humans, demi-humans, and monsters were all created by the Goddesses of Genesis, yet the monsters were attacking the other races. That’s the root of the problem. You may think that we can just kill all the monsters then, but things aren’t that simple. Not only they are Phinis’s children, but they also play the role of absorbing the ‘filth’ in this world.”

“Fumu. Now that you mention it, when we went to purify Terra-sama, we saw monsters being born from mud that was formed of ‘filth’. Could it be that Phinis-sama was trying to create a new lifeform from ‘filth’?”

Fluga-sama nodded deeply to Arca’s question, “Yeah, she was. Back in the days, ‘filth’ built up so much that even the twin goddesses were concerned. In order to suppress it, they came up with the idea of purifying and incorporating it into the cycle of life. Hence, Phinis created monsters from ‘filth’.”

“But ‘filth’ is negative energy produced by living beings. I don’t think the outcome would be good,” Tirna said.

Her doubt made sense.

If Phinis-sama created something out of it, it’d likely end up exacerbating the downside of her power instead.

“Yeah, it was disastrous, in fact. The monsters became extremely brutal. Well, it was a given considering that they basically became a mass of negative energy. Then they grew by absorbing ‘filth’, resulting in the overpopulation of monsters so ferocious that they were practically walking disasters,” Fluga-sama said.

Magmell wore a sad look on her face, “It’s ironic. They were originally created in good faith.”

Ophir shrugged her shoulders, “Well, nothin’ we do can change it. So, what came after that? Did the other races then subjugate monsters en masse, and caused that goddess to flip out and turn hostile or somethin’?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Though before it reached that point, the goddesses managed to make humans and demi-humans arms for purifying the monsters. They’re Sacred Treasures, the original form of what you guys called ‘Hallowed Sacred Treasure’.”

“So that’s how the Sacred Treasures came to be…” I muttered as if to chew on the information.

“That’s right,” Fluga-sama nodded and continued, “Phinis’s power was used as the basis so that they work more effectively against monsters, then Olgou’s purification power was added into the mix—they are literally ‘gods’ weapons’.”

“P-please hold on a second. My Hallowed Sacred Staff was born after the Holy Staff was absorbed by the Sacred Treasure. But according to what you say, it sounds like Hihiirokane wasn’t required in the making of Sacred Treasures, so how…”

“Haha, quiet perceptive of you to notice that,” After making a bold smile, Fluga-sama said, “That’s because ‘Holy Armaments’ were made after Phinis turned against the rest of the world. Hihiirokane is simply the only metal that can adapt to and amplify Olgou’s power. Furthermore, Hihiirokane’s base material is a monster created by Phinis, it’s a given they can become one.”

“I see. So, she took back the Sacred Treasures when she turned hostile.

“Hmm…” Arca made an inscrutable expression.

Fluga-sama then continued her explanation, “At first, all races lived in harmony while saints and saintesses like you suppressed the monsters with the Sacred Treasures as the messengers of the gods. But then the population increased, wealth inequality appeared, and a part of humans began to make money from monster materials. By colluding with a saint, that is.”

“Then order began to collapse, yes?” Zana asked.

“Indeed. Of course, doing something like that would bring down divine punishment on them one day. The saint and his followers got ahead of themselves and went to the nest of a powerful monster, resulting in their annihilation—and the region under his supervision ended up trampled by monsters.”

““““““……””””””

It could be said that they got what was coming to them, but I couldn’t help but had mixed feelings about it…

“Those who didn’t know the circumstances naturally ended up being implicated. Hence, all races could no longer live in harmony, and each began to seek power to resist monsters to prevent the tragedy from occurring to them.”

“B-but that’s…” I said.

“Although it all stemmed from humans’ greed, the monsters were unconcerned by that. The fire that had been lit couldn’t stopped, three of the six remaining saints chose to stay by the humans’ side. On the other hand, the demi-humans who had a strong faith in the goddess began to distance themselves from the humans in fear of her wrath.”

“And the war with Phinis-sama began…” Magmell concluded.

Fluga-sama nodded sorrowfully, “Yeah… Why would they try to kill her children, why would they use the Sacred Treasures she herself gave to them to prevent that in order to fulfill their desires—she was enraged.”

“Well, it wasn’t her fault for getting angry. Then what did Olgou-sama do?” Zana asked.

“Of course, she tried to calm her down. But Phinis wouldn’t listen to reason. It was a given, though. By then, she was already treated as the Queen of the Monsters.”

“That’s horrible… Phinis-sama was just trying to protect her children…” Magmell said sadly.

“Yeah… Thus a gruesome war began. Without the support of Sacred Treasures, a great number of humans died. But despite what they did, Olgou still thought of the humans as her children. At her request, a dwarf gave their assistance to the ‘Sword’ Saint to create Holy Armaments.

“Speaking of which,” Fluga-sama looked at me with a bold look on her face and said, “That Phoenix Robe of you’re wearing used to be the Sword Saint’s, you know?”