The Author's POV

"It looks like another talented one has arrived."

His gaze landed on a human girl with long, glossy black hair and thin lips. By demon standards, she could be considered quite beautiful, though the Prince had no interest in her.

There were other things that piqued his interest, and that was not one of them.

The fact that her powers affected a large area was one of the things that piqued his interest and was something he could not allow to continue.

She needed to be disposed of before she became a serious problem for his plan.

In fact, everyone who belonged in the group she was in need to be taken care of.

"Let's see."

His eyes swept over the three women before pausing on the elderly man. He was the strongest of the group by far. His strength was comparable to that of a young Prince, and he posed the greatest threat.

He was not a significant threat to him, but he could still affect his plans, so he had to be dealt with first.

Swoosh—!

Prince Konjak was a decisive individual. The moment he figured out what he needed to do, he set himself into motion.

Taking a step forward, he appeared right before the group.

"Humans."

He called out in a soft voice. His sudden appearance startled them, but not significantly. They appeared to have somewhat anticipated his imminent arrival.

This was good…

"There's no need to panic. I mean no harm… as of yet."

The Prince's voice was amicable.

With a calm smile on his face, he addressed the four people in front of him.

"If possible, I would like to avoid killing you all. You are all incredibly talented in your own right, and it would be a shame to kill you all, so I am here to propose an offer officially. One, I'm sure you won't be able to refuse."

Bringing his hand forward, three contracts appeared in his hand.

"I'm certain I don't have to explain to you all what these are, so how about it? Will you join my side? …I really don't want to kill such talented people."

While he brought the contract forward, the others gazed at the contracts before turning to face him. The shortest of them, the woman with orange hair, spoke with a frown on her face.

"I don't think you've done the proper math."

She turned to look behind her.

"There are four of us, but only three contracts. Do you seriously believe you will be able to recruit all of us if you cannot even count?"

"About that…"

The Prince smiled.

"It wasn't a mistake."

"What?"

"There's no mistake in the number of contracts that I'm offering."

The Prince repeated himself, his gaze falling on the elderly man.

"In the end, I've decided to offer three contracts to the three of you, excluding him. He is already past his prime and has reached his limit. I have no use for a person whose limit only amounts to this much. There are many other demons with more talent than him that I can recruit."

Demons lived for a very long time.

him seemed to at most have

certainly wasn't very much by

peak of what his powers could

worth nurturing or bringing to his side. He had many other subordinates that were of

"Don't worry, humans."

a noticeable change in the

him alive. Though he's useless, he's still quite strong. Perhaps I'll have him serve as some

Boom—!

finish his sentence, he was attacked by a terrifying force. The force was powerful, shattering everything

his eyes, he could see a faint reflection of himself on the blade

"Hasty, aren't we?"

the human girl

surge of mana emanated from her sword, which

"You're not bad."

the power contained within the

"However…"

Flick!

of his finger, the sword shut up, and he appeared before the orange haired girl.

like it

Boom—!

the

hadn't gone all out, she was

Woom—! Woom—!

"Oh, my."

after her body was flung, the Prince was confronted by a series of formidable forces,

whip, and a

he shifted his gaze toward the perpetrators while

Xiu!

speak when the space behind him began to tremble, and the arrow that had been floating in front of him vanished,

"Uh?"

to the unexpected situation,

orange-haired girl whom he had thrown not

Swoosh—!

at a rate considerably faster than she had previously demonstrated. Upon seeing her, the prince frowned and veered off to the side, narrowly escaping the

it didn't pose a threat to him,

"Your struggle is meaningless."

heading his way, the blade's direction changed, and

Twamp!

"Akh!"

opportunity and kicked her in the

it was over, he felt a gentle force

"Stop it."

in its tracks before it could even touch him. His eyes wandered toward the woman with purple

you a good deal; why won't you take

was

him. In his life, he had never mistreated

were doing

Prince didn't like stupid

dissipated, and his

Nevermind. I'm no longer interested in taking the

the air beside him dispersed into thousands of particles, and the Prince's terrifying

brought his hand forward and opened his palm. The very air around him came to a sudden standstill, and demonic energy burst out of his

the case, I no longer have the

Rumble—! Rumble—!

Not only slightly, but the entirety of the structure shook, and as a consequence, several dunes dispersed in

"What's going on?!"

Prince was obviously startled by the situation, as evidenced by the serious

No, but he can directly

didn't have to wait for long to

Cr…Crack—!