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.

did, and the human in front of him seemed to

it certainly

had reached the peak of what his powers

bringing to his side. He had many other subordinates that were of his caliber,

"Don't worry, humans."

the

him. I can tell you care for him, so I'll keep him alive. Though he's useless, he's still quite strong.

Boom—!

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

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

"Hasty, aren't we?"

fell on the

emanated from her sword, which was held by the

"You're not bad."

commented, feeling the power

"However…"

Flick!

sword shut up, and he appeared before the orange haired girl. With

like it when I'm

Boom—!

of the closest dunes with a muffled thud, and sand

all out, she

Woom—! Woom—!

"Oh, my."

her body was flung, the Prince was confronted by

and a complex

the perpetrators while observing each

Xiu!

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

"Uh?"

the unexpected situation, a figure appeared next

orange-haired girl whom he had

Swoosh—!

than she had previously demonstrated. Upon seeing her, the prince frowned and veered off to the side, narrowly escaping the arrow that had appeared beside

didn't pose a threat to him, catching the arrow dead-on

"Your struggle is meaningless."

was heading his way, the blade's direction

Twamp!

"Akh!"

advantage of the opportunity and kicked her in

as he believed it was over, he felt a gentle force

"Stop it."

stopped dead in its tracks before it could even touch him. His eyes wandered toward the woman with purple eyes, and he

understand. I offered you a good deal; why

deal was

his life, he had never mistreated

in front of him were doing was, to say

didn't like

quickly dissipated, and his

what? Nevermind. I'm no longer interested in taking the lot of you as

dispersed into thousands of particles,

palm. The very air around him came to a sudden standstill, and demonic energy burst

case, I no longer have the need

Rumble—! Rumble—!

off, the entire pillar began to shake violently. Not only slightly, but the entirety of the structure shook, and as a consequence, several

"What's going on?!"

the situation, as evidenced by the serious expression

something like this to happen… is it his majesty? No, but he

have to wait for long to get

Cr…Crack—!