The Trap of the Heavenly God
Seere von Devata, the Lord of the 72nd Floor, waved her hand toward the sky.
“Teacher!”
Her bright, beaming smile as she waved made her look like an adorable young girl. If one ignored the severed elf’s head rolling at her feet, the blood-stained sword, and the carnage surrounding her.
The subjugation army that had lost its Hero crumbled in an instant. The only reason soldiers from different nations had been able to unite was the central figure known as the Hero. With that central figure now utterly defeated and gone, there was no one left to hold them together.
The few experienced and skilled appointed knights who had stayed close to the Hero had already been killed in the explosion. The subjugation force that had crossed into the Demon Realm was slaughtered wholesale, with only a handful surviving to be taken prisoner.
Nahen could only smile faintly. He had been ready to step in the moment Seere found herself in danger, but there had been no need. It was proof that Seere had grown that much stronger.
To be honest, she was even stronger than he had expected. She had managed to defeat Belial, but he never imagined she could take down a Hero all by herself. She had received help from items during the fight, but that was a minor detail. After all, it was Seere who had maintained the upper hand from start to finish.
Thanks to her, Nahen hadn’t needed to risk revealing his presence to the Heavenly God.
With a gentle smile still on his lips, Nahen softly stroked Seere’s hair.
“Was it hard?”
She nodded. It didn’t seem like a lie. In fact, Seere didn’t look particularly exhausted.
“You worked hard. You did very well.”
“Then… did I also do the favor you asked of me well, Teacher?”
“Of course. Perfectly.”
Nahen chuckled warmly.
“I think I can trust you with more from now on.”
“Really?”
“Yes. When did you become so dependable?”
Though her appearance was still youthful and her actual age was young, she was maturing into a proper Demon King far faster than Nahen had anticipated.
“Then, Teacher…”
“Hm?”
“Does that mean it’s about time for me to start giving off a mature charm?”
“…Hm?”
Nahen’s mind went blank for a moment. He couldn’t understand what connection there was between what he had just said and Seere’s question.
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it?”
Seere tilted her head. Her thoughts went something like this:
‘Now that I’ve become someone Teacher can trust and rely on… shouldn’t a mature charm come with that too?’
It was an interpretation born from Seere’s still somewhat pure heart after receiving Rea’s education. While Rea had given her proper sex education, she had carefully chosen her words so Seere wouldn’t misunderstand.
“When His Majesty becomes someone others can trust and rely on, maturity will naturally follow.”
That was what Rea had said. Naturally, the first part referred to becoming a proper adult capable of fulfilling a role as a person, and the latter part meant that once one reached adulthood, not only their mind but their physical growth would also be complete.
However, Seere, with her young mind, had failed to grasp that nuance. She had taken Rea’s words literally.
Watching Seere tilt her head, Nahen pondered how to explain this. Even though they stood in the middle of a blood-soaked battlefield, none of that registered in his eyes.
“It’s true that you have a mature mindset and way of thinking for your age, Seere… but you’re still a child. You’re only twelve. There probably isn’t anyone who would feel a mature charm from you yet, right?”
“B-but Teacher just said you could trust and rely on me now…”
“That has nothing to do with it. It’s an undeniable truth that I can now trust you and sometimes even rely on you. But that has no connection to the ‘mature charm’ you mentioned.”
Nahen asked why she had thought that. Seere repeated exactly what Rea had told her, and Nahen finally understood where the misunderstanding had come from.
‘She really is still just a kid…’
Nahen explained the latter part in detail so that Seere could understand properly.
“There is certainly charm that comes from mental maturity, but usually when people talk about mature charm, they’re referring to physical development. When a child becomes an adult, their body shape is completed too, right? That’s what Rea meant.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Seere realize she had misunderstood. With a slightly pouty expression, she muttered quietly.
“I thought I could do it faster… then to do it the original way with Teacher… I have to wait until I become an adult…”
“Seere, what did you say?”
“N-nothing! I was just thinking to myself for a moment!”
“…Mm, I see.”
Nahen let it slide for now, but something felt suspicious. What he had heard when Seere muttered just now was…
‘…What does she want to do with me?’
The word “Teacher.”
Nahen quietly observed the battlefield where the war was drawing to a close.
Ceres Eastwood, the Hero of the Bow who had received a divine weapon from the Heavenly God. In the original Evil Queen Maker, she had appeared as the second Hero. However, because of Nahen’s actions, Luke—who should have become the first Hero—had died early, making her the first Hero instead.
‘But…’
Something felt off. In Evil Queen Maker, the first Hero was supposed to be significantly stronger than those who came after. Since Luke had died and Ceres had become the first Hero, Nahen had assumed her abilities would be far greater than what he remembered.
‘But that wasn’t the case.’
Objectively speaking, Ceres had been strong and had even created threatening situations. But her strength was not much different from what was shown in the original story. Even though she had become the ‘first Hero.’
If anything had truly changed, Nahen would have been forced to intervene. But there had been no need at all. She had been threatening, but no more so than if she had not been chosen as the first Hero.
“…Does becoming the first Hero not actually change anything?”
He had even begun to wonder that, but no matter how he thought about it, that couldn’t be right. Considering how abnormally strong and how rapidly Luke had grown after being chosen as the first Hero…
‘No matter how I look at it, she should be much stronger than this.’
He couldn’t figure out the reason, but aside from her position changing to ‘first Hero,’ Ceres had become a Hero with no other changes whatsoever.
“Maybe there’s some separate condition. Perhaps it only applies to the Hero of the Sword…”
While Nahen was pondering this, something caught his eye.
“Hm?”
The bow that the Heavenly God had bestowed turned into a handful of light and vanished completely. And in the spot where the divine weapon had disappeared, a white gem remained.
“What is this?”
Nahen approached it, then paused. He wondered if touching it might alert the Heavenly God. Left with no choice, he called for someone else.
“You called for me, Lord Nahen.”
It was Lynn, commander of the Fourth Legion. In this battle alone, she had cut down more than twenty knights with her own hands, and even more soldiers, yet…
‘Not a single drop of blood on her.’
It was proof that Lynn’s skill was on an entirely different level from the other executives. Nahen inwardly thought it was fortunate she had remained as Seere’s subordinate and spoke.
“Commander, could you pick that up for me?”
“Pardon?”
“That white gem over there.”
Nahen pointed at the ground, but for some reason Lynn tilted her head in confusion. Nahen found her reaction strange as well.
“Commander?”
“…I’m sorry, Lord Nahen. I don’t understand what you mean.”
“What?”
“Are you saying there’s some kind of gem there?”
Nahen’s eyes widened at Lynn’s words. From her tone and behavior, it seemed she genuinely could not see the white gem.
“You can’t see anything?”
“Is there something there?”
“Ah, no. Sorry for calling you when you’re busy. You may go.”
“It’s no trouble, Lord Nahen. Then…”
Lynn bowed politely and left. When Nahen looked back at the gem, he could only frown deeply.
It was invisible to Lynn but visible to him. Nahen was not foolish enough to fail to understand what that meant.
‘The Heavenly God… did this on purpose.’
It seemed the Heavenly God was suspicious. Suspicious that an Archdemon might be interfering in the Human Realm through the Demon Realm. That was why this trap had been set.
“Good thing I didn’t pick it up myself… that was close.”
If he had carelessly picked up the gem without thinking, the Heavenly God and the Archangels would have realized an Archdemon was directly involved in the Demon Realm. They were already itching to destroy both the Demon Realm and Hell. Nahen knew all too well that giving them any excuse would immediately lead to the Heavenly Demon War.
‘Not yet.’
Though the Heavenly Demon War would happen someday, it was not yet time. At the very least, Seere needed to reach adulthood and rise to the rank of a mid-tier Demon King.
“Come to think of it, the Great Demon Assembly is coming up soon…”
The Great Demon Assembly was a little over two years away now. If he could reach mid-tier Demon King status before then…
‘…Wait a moment.’
Nahen’s mind began to turn. He always claimed he wasn’t particularly skilled at schemes, but in truth, others saw him as quite an excellent strategist. Especially when he made plans based on information from the original story that only he knew, it often looked extraordinary to others.
Of course, his plans weren’t always perfect, but this time a rather plausible one had formed.
“Aha.”
Nahen smiled. The conditions lined up perfectly.
There existed a place higher than anywhere else in the world. If the lowest place in the world held the Tree of Evil, Klipoth, then this place held the Tree of Good, ‘Sephirot.’
The highest point of Sephirot, unlike Klipoth, was not its roots but the highest branches, and the master of that place was the being known in the Human Realm as the ‘Heavenly God.’
A pair of wings sprouting from her back were so enormous they filled the entire room, pure white like the long lace dress she wore.
“Hmm…”
Though her face was covered by a pure white veil, her beauty seemed to pierce right through it. A man standing beside her, noticing her seemingly troubled expression, asked.
“Is something wrong?”
“No… it’s not so much a problem as it is disappointing that he didn’t take the bait.”
“There’s no way an Archdemon would be that careless.”
The man’s words seemed to have touched a nerve. Sensing her sharp gaze, he quickly corrected himself.
“I didn’t mean that you were careless.”
“Then you try it.”
“Huh?”
The man looked flustered. And he could tell for certain. Though he couldn’t see her expression through the veil, she was definitely smiling right now. That was just the kind of angel she was.
The man could only sigh. It seemed one slip of the tongue had landed him with a troublesome task.
“I’ll trust you and wait, Kamael.”