Mao

Mao (マオ) is a character from the "Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai Saikyō" series.

She is an elder of the beastman nation Verbergen and the leader of the harpies. She is also in charge of news distribution for the nation in the form of monthly magazine publications.

Appearance
As a harpy, Mao has fathered wings and talons.

Despite being tabled as an "elder" of Verbergen, Mao is actual young as compared to some of the others.

Personality
Mao likes to sensationalize the news that she reports on. She will add drama to the facts in order to captivate her subscribers. She can sometimes be hypocritical and bias when writing an article, having excluded her role in exiling the Haulia Tribe for concealing Shea well writing about the unfairness and difficulties Shea faced because of it.

Like most beastmen, Mao worships Kaori as a goddess after she uses her powers to restore Verbergen and heal its citizens.

Biography
Mao, along with the rest of the Verbergen elders banished the Haulia Tribe for concealing the existence of the "cursed child" Shea.

Mao was present with the other elders when they were discussing whether or not to aid Hajime Nagumo in his search for the Great Labyrinth in the Sea of Trees after he had proven that he had conquered the Labyrinth that belonged to Oscar Orcus. After Hajime severely beat up the bearmen elder, Jin Vanton, after he tried to attack him, Mao was quick to acknowledge Hajime as someone who had successfully completed one of the Labyrinths. Ultimately, the elders decided to banish Hajime from Verbergen due to his refusal to part with the exiled Haulia Tribe.

When Verbergen was recovering from the attacks of the demons and the Hoelscher Empire, Mao decided to revive the nation's monthly news publication in order to raise the spirits of its citizens. She did an exposé on Hajime, Shea, and the rest of their companions since they were the ones responsible for saving the beastmen. Her article, however, left them all embarrassed as a result of her journalistic sensationalism.

When the mad god Ehit, was preparing to wipe out all life on Tortus, Mao was among Verbergen's leader that had accompanied its army to join forces with the other nations that were planning to fight back. The night before the battle, Mao paid a visit to Hajime while being escorted by the tigerman Gil and the bearman Regin Vanton. Mao revealed that Gil had actually been promoted to one of Verbergen's top generals thanks in part to Hajime's first encounter with him that would eventually lead to the salvation of all beastmen. Gil then said his piece and then gave Mao her chance to talk with Hajime one-on-one. Mao wanted to do another exposé on Hajime, to which he instantly rejected after having been humiliated from her previous work about him. Their conversation was then interrupted by one of the Heiligh Kingdom's knights that was completely enamoured with Shizuku Yaegashi. Hajime soon ordered members of the Haulia Tribe to eliminate both the knight and Mao, which immediately prompted the winged beastwoman to retreat.

Relationships

 * Ulfric Heipyst - Like the rest of the beastmen in Verbergen, Lua is very respectful towards Ulfric.
 * Shea Haulia - At first, Mao considers Shea to be cursed and agrees have her entire tribe banished for concealing her existence. After the Haulia Tribe frees all the beastmen that were enslaved by the Hoelscher Empire, Mao becomes very supportive of Shea, and even refers to her as."Princess" in her publications. She evens goes so for as attempting to prop Shea up as Hajime's primary lover.
 * Hajime Nagumo - Hajime does not think highly of Mao's journalism due to having been embarrassed with an article she wrote about him and his companions.
 * Yue - Mao has earned Yue's ire due to her attempts to break up Yue and Hajime in order to make it look like Shea is his only lover.
 * Kaori Shirasaki - Mao idolizes Kaori for all that she has done for Verbergen's people.

Quotes

 * (To Hajime Nagumo): "I’ve already started advertising that the next issue will have an interview with you! It’s going to be titled, ‘Victory Special! A Bright Future Awaits Nagumo’s Mistresses! Follow These Easy Steps, and You Can Join His Harem as Well!’ What do you think? Doesn’t that pique your curiosity!?"