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

certainly wasn't very much

reached the peak of

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

"Don't worry, humans."

the human's expressions,

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

Boom—!

was attacked by a terrifying force. The force was powerful, shattering everything nearby, but the

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

"Hasty, aren't we?"

gaze fell on the human girl with

was menacing, and a strong surge of mana emanated from her sword, which was

"You're not bad."

commented, feeling the

"However…"

Flick!

finger, the sword shut up, and he appeared before the orange

it when I'm

Boom—!

off into the distance, colliding with one of the closest dunes with a muffled

he hadn't gone all out,

Woom—! Woom—!

"Oh, my."

body was flung, the Prince was confronted by a series

an arrow, a whip, and a complex

brows furrowed as he shifted his gaze toward the perpetrators while observing

Xiu!

about to speak when the space behind him began to tremble, and the

"Uh?"

about to react to the unexpected situation, a figure appeared next to

orange-haired girl whom he had thrown not too long

Swoosh—!

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

a threat to him,

"Your struggle is meaningless."

of the blade that was heading his way, the blade's direction changed, and the orange haired girl

Twamp!

"Akh!"

kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying

he felt a gentle force

"Stop it."

His eyes wandered toward the

offered you a good deal; why won't

was rather

his life, he had never mistreated his subordinates and had given them a lot of

front of him were doing was, to say the least,

didn't like

for them quickly dissipated, and his eye

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

floated in the air beside him dispersed into thousands of particles, and the

opened his palm. The very air around him came to a sudden standstill, and demonic energy burst out of his body, encircling the entire area around

I no longer have the

Rumble—! Rumble—!

only slightly, but the entirety of the structure shook, and

"What's going on?!"

obviously startled by the situation, as evidenced by the serious expression

No, but he can directly go in…

wait for long to get an

Cr…Crack—!