Their first meeting was clearly an ‘ill-fated encounter.’

A Corps Commander of the Demon King’s Army and a mere soldier.

Hemis even knew that Choi Hyun-seok was a hero.

Perhaps that’s why.

All she did was throw Choi Hyun-seok out as bait.

A position with 0% survival rate.

It was essentially the same as sending him to die.

However, Choi Hyun-seok survived.

He endured and endured.

‘One month. Within that time, fight and win against the one I choose. Each time you win, I’ll extend your protection period by a month.’

Thus began the survival game that couldn’t be refused.

Each mission was extremely difficult, impossible to accomplish at his level at the time.

But, Choi Hyun-seok succeeded.

He survived every time and grew stronger each time.

At some point, Hemis’s attitude toward such a Choi Hyun-seok also began to change.

She seemed to have some strange expectations beyond simple amusement.

Unlike before, she began to help directly.

All of these things continued and Choi Hyun-seok grew stronger.

And now he was able to meet her again in this place.

‘If it weren’t for Hemis… Such growth would probably have been impossible.’

Given the characteristics of this world, he would probably have died somewhere with high probability.

Perhaps that’s why complicated emotions surge when he sees Hemis.

Resentful yet grateful.

If forced to compare, it resembled love-hate.

Suddenly, Choi Hyun-seok wondered what she thought of him.

“Lady Hemis.”

After the war of words with Park Hyun-a.

When Hemis said she was leaving because she had something to do, Choi Hyun-seok stopped her.

“What is it?”

Hemis turned around.

Choi Hyun-seok scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

Now that he was facing her, he didn’t know what to say.

“Um… You were beautiful before too, but now you’ve become even more beautiful! Hahaha…!”

Choi Hyun-seok’s chest burned.

‘Idiot! This isn’t it!’

After calling her over, all he could say was compliment her appearance.

Of course, it was true that Hemis had become insanely beautiful.

But this wasn’t what he wanted to say right now.

“Ohohoho! Your tongue is still the same.”

“You flatter me! Hahaha!”

As their awkward laughter continued.

Suddenly Hemis became serious and continued speaking.

“So. What business do you have?”

“Uh… Are you returning to the Demon King’s Army?”

“Well. I’m not sure yet.”

Hemis raised her head to look at the sky.

“After leaving the Demon King’s Army, I found this quite fun too.”

“Is that so?”

“Human cities are interesting. They give much more diverse and rich experiences and fun than demon race life.”

Choi Hyun-seok nodded.

If Hemis’s identity was revealed, the city would be turned upside down and even the king would tremble, but what of it?

If she quietly enjoyed herself and left, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for everyone.

After all, Hemis is now a beauty.

“Um… Are you not returning to your previous form anymore?”

“Previous form? Ah, you mean this?”

In an instant, Hemis’s features disappeared and her lips began to become huge.

She had become the lip monster he knew.

Choi Hyun-seok felt like his heart had dropped.

‘Is this PTSD or something…’

No matter how strong he became, just seeing that form made him break out in cold sweat.

“This was a form I created out of necessity. My power became too strong and my body’s form couldn’t be maintained.”

Hemis shrugged and continued speaking.

“It was annoying to keep recovering a constantly collapsing body, so I just changed it to a form that could be maintained. Now there’s no need for that.”

“I see.”

Power so strong that the body collapses.

Although he didn’t understand what that meant exactly, he could understand one thing.

That what Park Hyun-a said was true.

‘You’re the one who feels very different from before? Your demonic energy has decreased by a third.’

Hemis had become weaker.

Although Choi Hyun-seok couldn’t feel much difference, at least the current Hemis didn’t possess power strong enough to collapse her body’s form.

‘Though I still don’t think I could win…’

Just earlier, Choi Hyun-seok had secretly checked her combat power.

The result was, as expected, unmeasurable.

The current high-grade combat power meter can measure up to 600,000.

In other words, even weakened Hemis’s combat power exceeds 600,000.

“So. Are you done with everything you wanted to say?”

At Hemis’s words, Choi Hyun-seok awoke from his thoughts.

“Ah, so…”

While dragging his words, Choi Hyun-seok suddenly bowed his head.

At that sudden action, Hemis’s head tilted slightly.

“What are you doing?”

“Thank you for everything until now.”

After giving his thanks, Choi Hyun-seok raised his head again.

His expression looked somewhat relieved.

“Thank you? For what?”

“Just. I wanted to say thanks and get it off my chest.”

“Hmm~?”

Hemis sneered.

However even Choi Hyun-seok himself didn’t know why he was saying such things.

Hemis nodded as if she understood everything.

“Is that all you wanted to say?”

“Yes.”

“When we meet next time, I hope there will be more interesting events. Well then, I’m busy so I’ll be going.”

Hemis waved her snow-white hand and left.

Leaving her retreating figure behind.

Choi Hyun-seok returned to his companions waiting behind.

“Hey. What do you have to thank that mouth for? When she’s such an evil woman.”

Park Hyun-a said with a dissatisfied expression.

“That’s right! Hero! Do you have sense, or not!? A hero thanking a Demon King’s Army Corps Commander!”

Rachel, who had been hiding, also crawled out somewhere and agreed with Park Hyun-a’s words.

Embarrassed, Choi Hyun-seok scratched his cheek.

“I’m not sure either. I guess I developed some sort of love-hate relationship. And Rachel. You were hiding and couldn’t say anything in front of Hemis, but as soon as she left you’re making such a fuss?”

Rachel, who would even hold her breath when Hemis was around.

But as soon as she left, she speaks so boldly, it’s ridiculous.

“Hmph! Rachel just knows when and where to be appropriate!”

“Yes~ I’m sure that’s the case.”

“It’s true, I tell you! This is all for the hero’s consideration…”

“Yes, yes. I get it already.”

When Choi Hyun-seok and Rachel were bickering.

Sara Dunphy, who had been just observing the situation until now, approached.

“You seem to have a personal acquaintance with that person.”

“Well, I have received a lot of help in various ways.”

“Is that so…?”

Sara Dunphy kept looking in the direction Hemis had left, as if she had something on her mind.

“Is there some kind of problem?”

“No. I just thought it was fascinating.”

“Fascinating?”

Sara Dunphy nodded and continued speaking.

“After awakening again in this world, I personally researched demon-kind and demon beasts. Since they were life forms that didn’t exist in my time, I was interested.”

Sara Dunphy lived long before demon-kind appeared.

Naturally, she couldn’t help but be fascinated by the demon-kind and demon beasts she was seeing for the first time.

“As a result, I learned the clear criteria that distinguish demon-kind from demon beasts.”

“Oh, I’m interested in that too.”

Park Hyun-a, who had been listening from the side, cut in.

Humans still don’t have clear criteria for distinguishing demon beasts from demon-kind.

Just looking at how they lump various races together as demon-kind shows how ignorant humans are about demon-kind.

“Usually, we say if they can communicate they’re demon-kind, if they can’t they’re demon beasts, but even this boundary is vague. There are specimens among those called demon beasts that possess high intelligence and can communicate.”

“That’s right. Intelligence or ability to communicate isn’t particularly relevant in distinguishing between them.”

“Then what is it?”

“To explain simply, it’s the difference in how they accept demonic energy.”

“How they accept demonic energy…?”

When Park Hyun-a and Choi Hyun-seok made expressions of incomprehension, Sara Dunphy continued her explanation.

“Demon-kind accepts demonic energy similarly to how humans accept magical power, while demon beasts accept it through a completely different system.”

“Hmm, that’s hard to understand.”

“You don’t particularly need to understand. It’s not especially important either. Just, what I’m curious about is…”

At that moment, a strange heat filled Sara Dunphy’s eyes.

“That Hemis person. I can’t distinguish whether she’s a demon-kind or demon beast.”

“What?”

“She possesses characteristics of both. Even as I look with my own eyes, I’m amazed at how such a life form can exist.”

Possessing characteristics of both demon beasts and demon-kind.

Even as I heard it, I wondered what this meant.

Even Park Hyun-a, with her extensive knowledge, seemed to be pondering, not fully understanding.

“Park Hyun-a. I’ll explain it to you later.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Anyway, if possible, could you arrange a separate meeting? I’d like to have a personal conversation.”

“Well… I’m not sure if it will be possible, but I’ll try asking.”

Since Hemis’s personality was so unpredictable, he couldn’t give a definite answer.

Still, considering the help received from Sara Dunphy, he planned to at least try.

“So what do we do now? It seems we’re done here. Shall we go back?”

Putting aside the matter of Hemis for now.

They needed to decide which direction the party should move forward from here.

The goal of making Sidriel the Demon King was achieved faster than expected.

“Since it’s come to this, it might not be bad to stay here and help Sidriel.”

With their original base, Ultimoon Fes, now gone.

The power of those gathered here was far from enough to stop the holy war.

Then it didn’t seem bad to join forces with the Demon King’s Army to oppose it.

“Well. We could stay here and stop the Holy Empire with the Demon King’s Army… But do we really need to?”

Park Hyun-a shook her head.

“From now on, Sidriel will unite the demon-kind to resist. It won’t be simple, but at least they won’t collapse as easily as before.”

The Demon King’s Army’s rapid collapse was due to internal problems rather than external factors.

Now that the most troublesome internal affairs have been resolved, future battles will be different from how they’ve been until now.

“So rather than staying here, let’s return to the Kingdom of Mariette first. We’ll just maintain connections with this side, and prepare on our own to bring down the Holy Empire.”

“I also agree with Park Hyun-a. It’s not wise to insist on a head-on battle against a powerful enemy.”

“Alright.”

Choi Hyun-seok also nodded in agreement.

“We need to finish treating older sister anyway, so let’s return to the Kingdom of Mariette and think about what to do next.”

***

The emergence of a new Demon King.

The story of Sidriel quickly spread throughout the continent.

Since it was the first time the Demon King had changed since demon-kind appeared, it instantly became the continent’s biggest topic.

As if responding to the heated reactions, the new Demon King showed an unexpected and unprecedented course of action.

“We want peace.”

Demon-kind wants peace.

Humans found it absurd, and fellow demon-kind found it even more absurd.

Peaceful demon-kind?

It’s a statement that can’t be comprehended by common sense.

Demon-kind is so rough that one could say their entire life is a struggle.

To think that these people, who are essentially no different from war maniacs, are calling for peace.

It was something that would make even a passing dog laugh.

Despite everyone’s mockery, the new Demon King, Sidriel, was serious.

“If you respect demon-kind’s territory, then demon-kind will also not covet human lands.”

“However, against invaders, we will retaliate even at the cost of death.”

The new Demon King’s declaration was bound to generate much discussion.

“Yes. It’s time to stop the war with humans.”

“I’m tired too.”

Some demon-kind agreed with her opinion, and.

“Running away from war! The new Demon King is a coward!”

“Not like demon-kind at all! Weak!”

Some raged that humans and demon-kind cannot coexist.

This situation was no different among humans.

“Hmm, this is a completely unexpected development.”

Pope Orban IV’s brow furrowed deeply.

He was completely bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

“Not only does a new Demon King appear, but they want peace. How could this be possible?”

The cardinals all nodded in unison.

“However, Your Holiness. Public sentiment is wavering.”

“That’s right. People are frequently asking why we need to continue the war when demon-kind has promised peace.”

“Already, organized movements calling for stopping the holy war and seeking peace are arising.”

The wrinkles between the Pope’s brows deepened further.

“To show such movements already… There must be someone behind this.”

Nevertheless, the holy war is achieving the greatest results in history.

Until just a few days ago, people were full of hope that they could erase demon-kind from this land forever.

But to waver so easily at just one word that demon-kind wants peace.

Clearly, someone was conducting a public opinion campaign behind the scenes.

“Shall we arrest them all?”

“No. That could make public sentiment waver even more.”

The Pope tapped his armrest.

“It’s unfortunate. We were almost done.”

“…”

“What was the intelligence department doing? To not notice at all while demon-kind was preparing such a move.”

“We apologize!”

The person in charge of intelligence bowed their head deeply.

The Pope clicked his tongue and continued speaking.

“Tsk, for now, let’s continue the holy war as is and observe the situation. They’re cornered anyway. If we hurry, we can surely end this war in victory.”

“Yes!”

“And investigate those calling for peace. There must be puppets of the Drason Empire or the Kingdom of Domis hiding among them.”

“Leave it to us!”

The intelligence department answered energetically as if trying to make up for their mistake.

They had no choice because if they failed at this too, the intelligence department would lose its value for existing.

And the Pope never lets valueless people live.

“Ah, this gives me a headache. We’ll end today’s meeting here.”

A moment later.

The Pope left alone after the meeting, leaned back in his chair.

“It’s not good for the great work to stumble from the start.”

In response to the Pope’s words, an answer came from the empty air where no one was present.

“I apologize.”

“Your Grace has nothing to apologize for.”

Pope Orban IV closed his eyes with a sigh.

“Sigh, we’ll have to move up the timing of the next operation. Get ready.”

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