Hiyomu

"The shape of her face, the way she applied makeup, her intonation, her choice of words, her gestures, none of it fit together. None of them felt like they were part of this person named Hiyo. It wasn't natural. She was working pretty hard to be this way, wasn't she? Playing the role of a person named Hiyo. If so, then why?"

- Haruhiro, describing Hiyomu, Level.16

Hiyomu (ひよむ, Hiyomu) is responsible for introducing Haruhiro and the others to Brittany and to the city of Alterna.

She is Ainrand Leslie's disciple, she is the one doing the manual work when a new batch of future volunteer soldier is "capture", giving them the memory-erasing drug.

After the fall and subsequent re-taking of Alterna by the Expeditionary Force forces, she acts as Leslie ambassador to General Jin Mogis, the Leader of the Force who go on to become to betray the kingdome of Arabakia declaring himself King of the Frontier.

She seems to have been the one who proposed the idea of an alliance with the Goblin to Jin Mogis and is as such part of the diplomatic team Send to the old city of Damuro.

Her age is currently unknown but she despite her look she is at the very least around 35 years old, probably older.

Personality
Hiyomu has an outward peppiness and energy, talking in a third-person speech, acting cute, and making herself look like a ditz.

However that only one side of her personality, the one she shows when acting as the guide for new volunteer soldiers. When acting as Ainrand Leslie 's disciple she shows her true personality: still energetic and peppy but also arrogant, uncaring, and cruel.

She is also rather vain as she seems to accord a great deal of importance to her beauty, her position as Leslie's disciple, and the secret knowledge that comes with it.

At times, however, when things don't go her way or when talking to Leslie she can be serious or act emotionlessly.

Moreover, it seems like her whole personality altogether could be a creation of hers, that Hiyomu could just be a completely created personality.

Appearance
Hiyomu most notable feature seems to be her Twintails hairstyle has it what Haruhiro notice first during both of their first meetings and when he first see her in the forbidden tower.

Because of her clothing, build, hairstyle, and the way she acts, Hiyomu looks like a girl in her mid-teens. At first glance, that is, upon closer inspection, she looks more like she is in her twenties, and looking at the right place she looks even older. Because of all those contradictions, Haruhiro ultimately decides that it's more appropriate to say that she is of indeterminate age.

She speaks of herself as a "young beautiful girl" but is never described that way by other characters, except for Kejiman but he said that based solely on her voice.

Before Level. 1
We don't know exactly how old she is but it's clear that Hiyomu is older than she looks and way older than she claims as she was active as a volunteer soldier 20 years before the event of Level. 16 (so around 14 years before Level. 1).

At the time she was part of a "great party" (according to her) which was planning to take the new city of Damuro and managed to infiltrate the city, creating a map and setting up 5 secret bases inside.

That said it's likely that Hiyomu is even older, as she admits to having been a paladin, a thief (for a brief time), and a warrior, plus that it would likely take time for a party to be proficient enough to take on the new city.

It's unknown what becomes of that party, but it seems like that party is or was something important for Hiyomu. As, despite saying that she hated working as a paladin, thief, and warrior; she seems really concerned with the creases in the old map and stared intensely at it, something completely different from her usual attitude.

Level. 1 Whisper, Chant, Prayer, Awaken
She appears once, taking Haruhiro 's group of newcomers from where they came to Grimgar, to the city of Alterna. Based on what she says, it is suggested this is a regular occurrence. After escorting the newcomers, she is dismissed by Brittney.

Level. 13 Heart, Open, A New Door
She is the one who welcomes Haruhiro's party and Kejiman in the Leslie Camp, although at that time only her voice is heard and no one seems to recognize her.

Level. 14 Parano-mania
She appears before Haruhiro in a strange room after he and the rest of his group cross the Door to Heaven and are "capture" by Ainrand Leslie, she is the one giving the memory-erasing drug.

Level. 15 A Fleeting New Game Plus
When Team Haruhiro and Team Io wake up memoryless in the Forbidden tower, Hiyomu is with them trying to pass herself as another unlucky member of their group unable to remember anything but her name "Hiyo". It seems that she was acting on Leslie's order, trying to have the group climb up the tower probably to temp them into working for him. However, her poor acting skill combined with Merry having kept her memory (something neither Leslie nor Hiyomu were expecting), lead to the group exiting the tower.

Since that plan failed, Hiyomu decides to just drop the act and asked the group to work for her master, tempting them with the prospect of discovering the truth about the mysteries of the world. Probably anger by her attitude and the fact that the one who took their memories is now trying to have them work for her, Kuzaku starts to shoot at Hiyomu but before he is able to say much she bit him using the Paw of Terror.

After that act of violence and a bit more convincing she is able to recruit Team Io but when Team Haruhiro refuses her offer she attacks a second time, targeting Merry with what would likely have been a lethal move had Hauhiro not push her out of the way. Frustrated by that failure, Hiyomu decides to retreat within the tower with Team Io.

Before she is able to reach the tower, however, Merry target her with one of her special magic missile taking Hiyomu completely by surprise as she wasn't expecting a priest to use magic, she is saved by Gomi who cut the spell down. Fully realizing that something is amiss with Merry she decides to report it to Leslie immediately.

Abilities
Over the years Hiyomu has had multiple classes, starting as a paladin, then being a thief for a short time, before ending up as a warrior.

She now describes herself as a Relic Master, and as such, seems to mostly fight using relics (see below). But it doesn't mean that she has lost her skills from other classes, as while it's unclear if she can still use light magic, she does consider herself to be good enough of a thief to sneak undetected in the heavily guarding Damuro. Haruhiro also noting that she is skilled at handling a large knife.

Hiyomu claims that as one of Leslie's disciples she is armed with a number of really powerful relics and could easily kill a member of Haruhiro's Team.

While Haruhiro doubts her claim concerning the numerous relics, we know for sure that she possesses at least two:


 * The Paw of Terror: That relic is actually the hair ornament Hiyomu wears, it was given to her by Leslie but she was the one who chooses the name. When used as a weapon Hiyomu throw it at the enemy, despite being less than fist-sized and looking like a stuffed animal, it can inflict some severe blunt damages on impact (enough to incapacitate Kuzaku wearing armor). Moreover, that relic is able to move on his own coming back to its user after having been thrown and following them around.
 * Unnamed "magic pouch": A pouch which can store way much than the exterior make it look, a relic given to Hiyomu by Leslie.

Despite her rather frail appearance, she may actually be physically really strong as she was able to force open Haruhiro jaws with her bare hand when he was trying to keep it shut with all his strength.

Airand Leslie:
Unlike with almost everyone else, Hiyomu shows great respect for Leslie, obeying almost immediately his order and even speaking normally. In return, it seems like Leslie trust her quite a lot since she is the one acting as his ambassador and was bestowed at least one relic. Based on what Shinohara says she could have been created by Leslie.

Shinohara
As both are servants of Leslie, they're technically on allies but it doesn't seem to be enough to deter Hiyomu from annoying Shinohara to which she doesn't show a once of respect. Similarly, Shinohara doesn't trust Hiyomu, to the point of asking Leslie if he is really sure that he wants to employ Hiyumo.

Haruhiro
Haruhiro despises Hiyomun. While he thinks nothing of her the first time he meets her at the beginning of volume 1 (probably because they barely interact), he is immediately wary of her during their second first meeting in volume 15. After discovering her ties to Leslie, fighting her, and having to work with her under Jin Moris' orders he comes to truly hate her, calling her "That bitch". Later in an effort to ignore her and cope with Hiyomu's presence while they work together, Haruhiro decides to convince himself that she is a carrot referring to her as "the moving carrot" or "the talking carrot".

Merry
Hiyomu hates Merry, mainly for: having kept her memories despite Leslie's drug, being able to use strange magic despite being a priest, and overall for being an unexpected wrench in her plan.

Quotes

 * "I'll tell you. I'm sixteen. Beauties never age. Hiyo is forever sixteen. Understooood?" - Hiyomu to Kuzaku after he asked her about her age, Level. 16

Trivia

 * Hiyomu appears in both Light Novel and Manga versions but is never mentioned in the anime.