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.

human in front of him seemed to at most have fifty years left

short, but it certainly wasn't very

the peak of what

side. He had many other subordinates that were of his caliber, if not even

"Don't worry, humans."

in the human's expressions, the Prince

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

Boom—!

force was powerful, shattering everything nearby, but the Prince effortlessly repelled it by raising his hand

faint reflection of himself on the blade that had

"Hasty, aren't we?"

fell on the human

of mana emanated from her sword, which was held

"You're not bad."

commented, feeling the

"However…"

Flick!

the sword shut up, and he appeared before the orange haired girl. With his hand pressed against her abdomen,

it

Boom—!

into the distance, colliding with one of the closest dunes with a muffled thud, and sand

hadn't gone all out, she

Woom—! Woom—!

"Oh, my."

flung, the Prince was confronted by a series of

an arrow, a whip, and

Prince's brows furrowed as he shifted his gaze toward the perpetrators while

Xiu!

and the arrow

"Uh?"

he was about to react to the unexpected situation, a figure

he had thrown not too

Swoosh—!

faster than she had previously demonstrated. Upon seeing her, the

a threat to him, catching the arrow dead-on would

"Your struggle is meaningless."

the blade that was heading his way, the

Twamp!

"Akh!"

the opportunity and kicked her in the stomach,

felt a gentle force beside him,

"Stop it."

it could even touch him. His eyes wandered toward the woman with purple eyes,

understand. I offered you a good

deal was rather

to work for him. In his life, he had never mistreated his subordinates and had given them a

were doing was, to

didn't like

for them quickly dissipated, and his eye flashed

longer interested in taking the lot

the air beside him dispersed into thousands of particles,

around him came to a sudden standstill, and demonic energy burst out of his body,

that's the case, I no longer have the need to keep you alive. Say goodbye

Rumble—! Rumble—!

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

"What's going on?!"

startled by the situation, as evidenced by

No, but he can

for long to

Cr…Crack—!