The evil god Malphas created a religion in the Intermediate World.
Yulicia, the Holy Maiden of Piggero.
Yulicia thought she was born from mud.
When she turned ten, her mother died, leaving her and her younger sister all alone in this world. The place was the Kingdom of Wirend on the continent of Gehergen.
Yulicia lived fiercely, taking care of her three-year-old younger sister.
She could endure being an orphan, but being despised because of it was unbearable.
Still, she had no thoughts of selling her body, as all her friends who had done so ended up in ruin.
So, she did hard labor. She unhesitatingly carried bricks and climbed mountains to gather and sell wild greens and mushrooms.
A woman with large breasts at a tavern leaned in, selecting the greens.
The strong scent of perfume wafted into Yulicia’s nose.
“Look at this silver hair and face… If you came to our shop, you’d be an ace right away! Do you think you can provide for your six-year-old sister while doing this nonsense? No way! If you both don’t die on the streets, that’s a miracle.”
Her words made Yulicia want to rip her mouth apart, but she didn’t show it. She had heard this many times before. Instead of vague anger, she desperately needed a way to navigate through this hopeless situation.
An old woman with gray hair hobbled over, limping on her left foot.
“If you can come up with some money, will you work for me?”
The old woman was a drug dealer ruling the underworld.
Was it pity for Yulicia, struggling to survive day by day, or just curiosity?
The wrinkled old woman suggested that Yulicia become a low-level dealer.
At seventeen, Yulicia became a drug dealer.
She resisted the temptation of selling her body to the very end, but she couldn’t shake off the allure of selling drugs. It brought in way too much money compared to the labor she was doing.
Yulicia’s job was simple. She checked the drug customer list and handed drugs to the people on that list. Since someone else collected the money, she only had to deliver the drugs.
Yulicia moved during the early hours when the guards, who had connections with the old woman’s drug operation, would purposely turn a blind eye to their activities.
She returned to the communal living quarters for drug dealers provided by the old woman only when morning arrived.
“Sister.”
Yulicia stroked her younger sister’s hair, which was just like her own silver hair, and drifted off to sleep.
Two years passed. Yulicia became responsible for providing drug supplies. Although it was called responsibility, her job hadn’t changed. But she was paid more. There was enough money left over to support her sister, Yulian, properly.
Yulian, whom Yulicia had sent to school to learn to read, was soon to be accepted into a research institute to study magical engineering after being recognized for her sharp intellect.
I was supposed to be fruitful.
Yulicia couldn’t give up her drug dealer job, not even for Yulian.
“…Y-you little brat! Why aren’t you coming to our house!”
A scrawny man lunged forward, arm outstretched.
Smack!
Yulicia roughly shook off the man’s grip on her hair. The reason she hadn’t visited his place was painfully simple.
She hadn’t paid him.
Yulicia knew that ignoring him in this situation was the best choice.
Just as she was about to dart away.
“If you just walk away, I’ll tear your little sister apart! I know where she is working! She’s at the bookstore!”
Yulicia froze in her tracks.
It was true that her younger sister, Yulian, worked at the bookstore before heading to the Magic Engineering Research Institute.
The man, seeing Yulicia pause, seemed to think his threat had worked and kept talking.
“I’m going to enjoy a nice bite starting from her toes! If you don’t want to see that, hand over the drugs quickly!”
Ugh.
Her teeth ground together.
Yulicia rummaged through her clothes.
Inside her hoodie’s pocket, there was a dagger that could be considered a weapon. She toyed with it for a moment, deep in thought.
But then she changed her mind.
Instead of pulling out the dagger, she picked up a wooden plank resting on the railing.
If it had been a bulky customer, maybe she wouldn’t have done it.
But this guy looked too pathetic. Just a mere bag of bones.
Step by step—
The man stepped back, dragging the wooden plank on the floor as Yulicia approached.
“W-what the hell is this, you crazy…?”
Yulicia swung the wooden plank down onto the man.
Crunch!
“Gyaaaah!”
The man immediately collapsed to the ground, struck by the falling plank.
Yulicia aimed for his stomach.
Whack!
“W-wait a second!”
Crunch!
She kicked the man in the jaw.
Yulicia took a moment to reflect on her anger.
This was foolish rage.
She’d heard threats like this a thousand times. If he was just threatening her body, she’d have brushed it off.
But the target of his threats was her younger sister.
And this guy’s body looked weak.
She could easily squash him.
The steps of her foolish violence were as follows.
Only then did Yulicia’s brain cool down.
She raised the wooden plank high.
And struck down on the man’s right leg.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
The nails embedded in the plank dug into his leg.
Crunch!
“Just a drug addict.”
Crash!
Yulicia didn’t stop. She only kept hitting his right leg.
He struck down.
The plank broke, and with its sharpened edge, he slammed it down onto the right leg once more.
“You little bug.”
Blood flowed down his thigh in streams.
“UAAAAAAH!”
The man’s excruciating scream brushed past Yulicia’s ears.
“A week.”
Just a week of not being able to walk would do.
Yulicia brought the half-broken plank down onto the man’s left foot.
The man convulsed in agony, showing the whites of his eyes.
Her hands were sticky with blood.
There was his blood, but also her own. It was only natural, given she was forcing the broken plank down.
Yulicia rose to her feet.
It was time to finish up and head back.
“I can’t report this.”
It was like a drug addict willingly turning themselves in. And the ties between the drug dealers and the guards were effective at moments like this. The reason the dealers regularly slipped money to the guards was to silence the uproar from broke addicts.
Yulicia finished the remaining tasks and returned to her lodging.
Fortunately, nothing happened the next day. For a whole week, nothing happened. When she eventually ran into the man she’d turned into a cripple, he just avoided her gaze.
“Sis, I’ll come visit often.”
“No, I’m heading to the capital now, you can’t do that. I should be the one going.”
Yulian and Yulicia shared a deep embrace.
Yulian headed off to the Mage Engineering Institute, while Yulicia continued her daily life.
A life lived steadily, even at the bottom.
Three months passed.
Life remained unchanged. She finished work, returned to her lodging, and fell into sleep.
That was the last of Yulicia’s memories.
It was inferno.
The drug dealer’s lodging was ablaze.
Black smoke engulfed the wooden mansion-style lodging in minutes.
“UAAAAAAH!”
Dealers screamed as they rushed outside. Some people were throwing themselves from the building, their bodies aflame. Yulicia covered her mouth with a cloth and ran fiercely outside. Just as she was sure she’d almost made it out—
BANG.
The ceiling collapsed. A support beam fell directly toward Yulicia’s right foot.
“UAAAAAAH!”
Flames raged!
Half of Yulicia’s body was engulfed in a bright red flame. The pain of her flesh burning seared through her mind.
She couldn’t exactly tell the state of her right foot, but it was clear she couldn’t move it normally.
Using her knees, she crawled and barely made it outside.
She felt the pain in her face too. Yet soon, she couldn’t feel that pain at all. She had completely lost consciousness.
Yulicia opened her eyes.
“….”
Her gaze fell on the burn scar that consumed half of her body. Yulicia forced herself to sit up and check the state of her right foot.
“…Ha.”
It was gone.
“Hahaha, damn….”
An expletive escaped her lips.
She touched her hair. The hair on the right side was completely burned away. As she touched her face, it felt as if her skin was melting off.
Was it a bee?
Yulicia cursed the world.
She cursed herself.
Was it because she encouraged her clients to get addicted while selling drugs?
Was it because she avoided the gaze of the very young son of one of the deceased addicts while cleaning up in his room?
Or was it because she had half-killed that scrawny punk who had threatened her with her little brother?
Ah.
“That bastard.”
Maybe it was that jerk who set the lodging on fire in the first place.
Yulicia decided to close her eyes for now. Rage boiled inside her, but she had lost the strength to express it.
Not a bit remained.
Thud—
She leaned on crutches, taking one step at a time.
There was no way a drug gang would keep a cripple who lost her right foot. Yulicia had to be grateful for even the few coins they tossed her way.
Her third job was at a crafts store.
The boss looked at Yulicia with pity, but he was a practical man.
“Losing a leg… it won’t really show because of the desk. And your face… can you cover it with cloth or something?”
“Yes.”
Of course, the pay was bound to be less than when she worked for the drug gang.
Life’s changes came just two months after she started working at the craft store.
A woman with blonde hair, scarlet eyes, and skin so pale it attracted attention walked into the shop.
“What a pretty necklace.”
The woman grabbed a necklace from the display and strode over to Yulicia.
“How much is it?”
“Excuse me?”
Yulicia looked up, completely taken by surprise.
At that moment, the cloth connected to the band in her hair was lifted, revealing her ugly burn scar. Yulicia could sense that she was exposed.
The woman didn’t react to the scar.
“What’s your name?”
Instead, she asked for her name.
“…Yulicia.”
“Could you come with me somewhere after the store closes?”
“Where is that?”
“It’s a place that can ease your suffering, Sister.”
At first, Yulicia thought she might be nuts.
Considering their first encounter, that was a fair thought.
It was the meeting with the first Holy Maiden of Piggero.
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