“I’m Ian Del Chersi. Please feel free to call me Ian.”

“Ah, yes.”

Ian gave a bright smile and gracefully bowed.

Every movement overflowed with dignity.

Watching her, Choi Hyun-seok nodded blankly.

“I look forward to working with you, Lord Dugal Polkil.”

“Ah, yes.”

Choi Hyun-seok, who was standing there with a stupid expression, suddenly thought.

‘Is this love?’

Ian Del Chersi was the ideal type Choi Hyun-seok had been dreaming of.

Bright and clear skin.

Her wavy blue hair was like clear streams flowing down.

Her blue eyes, matching her hair, were large and sparkling, containing energy that made people feel good just by looking at them.

Along with her constant smile, she gave off an overall bright and pleasant atmosphere.

“I heard from Father! That you’re an incredibly strong knight.”

“Ah, yes.”

Her expressions and tone were gentle and cute, yet not too light, giving off an elegant, graceful atmosphere that he really liked.

‘This person is truly my ideal type!’

There were many beautiful women around Choi Hyun-seok.

Abelson Mariette was so beautiful she could be mistaken for an angel.

Even Rachel, just considering appearance, is prettier than any celebrity he’d seen on Earth.

Sara Dunphy and Sidriel were a bit different, but they were clearly great beauties as well.

‘I may have given my heart before, but now I know. Ian here is my real ideal type.’

Right now, at this moment.

Choi Hyun-seok realized it.

That he had been mistaken all this time.

You could call it a kind of wandering.

Before meeting his real ideal type, he didn’t even know his own preferences.

“Are you listening?”

“Ah, yes.”

Choi Hyun-seok nodded with a blank expression at Ian’s question.

“…So according to the current international situation, the factions are divided…”

Ian’s voice entered one ear and flowed out the other.

‘Her voice is pretty too.’

In Choi Hyun-seok’s mind, only Ian remained.

“… That’s the situation. This is where Lord Dugal’s role becomes important.”

“Ah, yes.”

“You’ve only been saying ‘Ah, yes’ for a while now. Are you alright?”

Ian asked while waving her hand in front of his face.

Choi Hyun-seok still nodded with dazed eyes.

“Ah, yes.”

“Pfft…!”

At his robot-like consistent response, Ian finally burst into laughter.

The sight was so lovable that Choi Hyun-seok felt his heart might stop.

“Let’s stop here for today. I have an important schedule. If you have any more questions later, please feel free to ask anytime.”

“Ah… Yes…”

“Then, goodbye.”

Ian left with a fresh-eyed smile.

Choi Hyun-seok blankly watched her departing figure.

Thud…!

The door closed.

When Ian completely disappeared from view, the focus gradually returned to Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes.

“Lord Polkil. Are you alright?”

Choi Hyun-seok nodded at King Mollin’s question.

“Your daughter is a beauty.”

“Hahaha! My daughter’s beauty is indeed famous. Even the Empire covets her.”

King Mollin, who was laughing pleasantly at the praise of his daughter, suddenly showed a sad expression.

“But unfortunately, she’s too intelligent, that’s the problem.”

“Being intelligent is a problem?”

“Well, to be precise, her ambition being too great is the problem.”

Having great ambition is the problem.

It was a vague statement, but Choi Hyun-seok nodded as if he understood.

‘To be precise, a woman having great ambition is the problem. Since this era has strong patriarchal ideology.’

Most people here are like that.

Women should be passive and never take the lead in anything.

A woman’s proper place is merely to assist men.

This thinking is strongly embedded in everyone’s minds, regardless of gender.

Especially for positions like the throne or head of noble families, 99.9% are succeeded by men.

It seemed that Ian Del Chersi wanted to break this mold and soar high despite being a woman.

“It’s a world that doesn’t easily accept women doing great things.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Still, I’m secretly thinking of passing the throne to Ian.”

King Mollin wants to pass the throne to Ian Del Chersi.

Though Choi Hyun-seok already knew this, he pretended not to and asked again.

“Is that allowed?”

“There will be strong opposition. But Ian is an intelligent child. For the future of the kingdom, I believe Ian becoming king is right.”

“I see.”

“Ah, please keep what I just said secret. Even my daughter doesn’t know yet.”

“Of course.”

Then King Mollin looked at Choi Hyun-seok with a subtle gaze.

“So, how about Lord Polkil helps? To help Ian achieve her dream.”

“What?”

Choi Hyun-seok blinked his eyes.

Him helping Ian achieve her dream.

“What does that mean?”

“Our Kingdom of Chersi has no legends.”

Choi Hyun-seok nodded calmly.

This too was a fact he already knew.

To begin with, legends aren’t that common.

It’s strange that empires have four or five of them.

In small to medium-sized kingdoms like this, it was extremely difficult to even see a hero.

“If Lord Polkil were to arrange a marriage promise with Ian, wouldn’t those who oppose Ian’s succession to the throne have no choice but to keep quiet?”

“What!?”

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes widened.

Marriage promise.

Literally promising marriage.

In other words, talking about marriage.

“Ho, ho, ho, a marriage promise. Suddenly such…”

“Hahaha! Since Lord Polkil seems to like my daughter, I just thought I’d suggest it.”

“I need time to think…”

“Take all the time you need!”

King Mollin said with a kind smile.

“If this matter is resolved well, I’m willing to support it anytime. I’ll actively speak to Ian about it too.”

Choi Hyun-seok kept nodding.

In his head, he was already imagining a happy retirement life in the palace as the king’s son-in-law, together with rabbit-like children.

‘Choi Hyun-seok! Finally, sunlight is coming into your life!’

***

After meeting with the king.

Choi Hyun-seok was guided to a room where distinguished guests stay.

“You can freely come and go whenever you wish. Servants are always on standby, so please let them know if you need anything.”

The maid in charge of guidance gave a mechanical greeting and left the room.

Choi Hyun-seok was left alone in the room with no one else.

At that moment, Rachel appeared with a ‘poof’ from thin air as if she had been waiting.

“Hero!!!”

Rachel shouted from the start.

Choi Hyun-seok looked at his dedicated fairy indifferently while lying on the bed.

“What?”

“What on earth are you doing!?”

“What are you complaining about now.”

“You’re completely bewitched by that blue fox! Drooling with a stupid face like Jjang-gu!”

Choi Hyun-seok frowned and pointed at himself.

“Me?”

“Of course, it’s you, hero! Is there anyone else here besides you!? Do you have any thoughts at all, or don’t you!? You took on the concept of being a stupid Demon King’s soldier and actually became stupid! Now I see you’re not a hero but a master of method acting! A great actor!”

“Let’s calm down and take a deep breath first. You seem too excited.”

Choi Hyun-seok said, showing his palm.

However, Rachel showed no signs of calming down.

“I’m not finished speaking yet! Okay, fine. Let’s say it’s okay that you couldn’t maintain the stupid Demon King’s soldier concept! Fortunately, the king doesn’t seem to think much of it. But that blue fox’s words. Did you listen properly? Do you remember what she said!?”

Choi Hyun-seok kept his mouth shut.

Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember anything Ian had said.

‘What did Ian say…’

It seemed like he had asked and answered something during the conversation, but he couldn’t remember.

‘Her voice was pretty.’

Ian’s voice was so elegant and refreshing!

That was all.

Rachel raised her chin as if to say ‘See?’

“Tsk tsk! How can you accomplish anything great when you lose your mind over just one woman!”

Rachel clicked her tongue and shook her head, then muttered in a small voice.

“And… She’s not even that pretty…”

“What?”

For a moment, Rachel’s face turned slightly red.

She shouted loudly as if she had made up her mind about something.

“That’s right! Rachel is much prettier and cuter than that blue fox!”

“Why is the conversation suddenly going in that direction.”

“Rachel is prettier! A hundred times! A thousand times cuter!”

“Okay. Let’s say that’s true.”

“Don’t just say it’s true, it is true! Admit that Rachel is cuter! Hurry!”

Choi Hyun-seok looked at Rachel with a blank face.

‘I wondered why she was so upset…’

After staring at Rachel for a while, Choi Hyun-seok let out a deep sigh.

“Okay. Rachel is pretty and cute.”

An expression and tone that anyone could see was reluctant.

Still, Rachel’s protruding lips retracted a little.

“Hmph! I’ll let it slide with just this much for now.”

“Uh… Really, thanks.”

“Anyway, Rachel remembers everything that blue fox said, so listen well.”

“Okay.”

Fortunately, Rachel seemed to remember all of Ian’s words.

While listening to her explanation, Choi Hyun-seok secretly clicked his tongue.

‘She usually looks so stupid but is unnecessarily smart at times like this.’

It could have been an opportunity to see Ian again under the excuse of not remembering the conversation.

Rachel explained everything so precisely that there was no need for that.

‘Let’s be patient for now. If I mention meeting Ian again here, she’ll foam at the mouth.’

In any case, he came here to do a job.

No matter how much he fell for a woman, public and private matters should be kept separate.

‘I should focus on romance after resolving this matter.’

He could already envision the future.

The blue-haired royal princess.

The children born between her and himself would surely be as beautiful as angels.

“Alright! Let’s go!”

Choi Hyun-seok jumped up from the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“Now that I know the situation, I need to face it directly on the scene!”

He needs to resolve the case as quickly as possible.

Only then can he spend sweet time with Ian comfortably.

“Hero, moving out!”

For the first time in a while, Choi Hyun-seok’s will was burning.

***

After the demon race’s declaration of peace, Gatren and Drason are conducting public opinion campaigns across the continent to expand their territories.

Perhaps because of this, the current situation in the Kingdom of Chersi was similar in many ways to the former Kingdom of Mariette.

Hardliners who say demons must be completely driven out.

Moderates who say they should stop the war with demons and pursue peace.

The hardliners center their activities around the Holy Empire of Gatren.

The moderates move around the Drason Empire.

“The upper class of the Kingdom of Chersi naturally split into two. Most of them didn’t split because of their beliefs or thoughts, but simply based on whether they sided with Gatren or Drason.”

Though people might not know, those behind them didn’t care about war.

It was just a fight for territory and scraps.

Nothing more, nothing less.

“This kind of situation is difficult to resolve with force. We can’t just kill all innocent citizens either.”

“Then what will you do?”

“Honestly, my first thought was to assassinate all the nobles and upper class who support Gatren…”

At the word assassination, Rachel narrowed her eyes.

“Hero! Saying you’ll kill all those people! Should such words come from a hero’s mouth!?”

“That’s just a figure of speech. I don’t plan to actually do it. It’s too dangerous anyway.”

Assassinating the upper class.

This could end up lighting the fuse of a bomb if not careful.

The king wouldn’t want to resolve things this way either.

Personally, Choi Hyun-seok wasn’t fond of it either.

He wanted to resolve things as peacefully as possible.

“For that, we need to win public sentiment like we did in the Kingdom of Mariette, but that’s difficult too.”

“Right. The situation was different then, and many other people helped!”

The Kingdom of Mariette is similar to Chersi but different in many ways.

The dispatch of Gatren Empire’s cardinal.

And the help of Sara Dunphy and the Drason Empire.

All of these combined created the scenario in the Kingdom of Mariette.

The situation didn’t support blindly copying it in Chersilton.

“In the end, we either need to naturally let them know Gatren is the villain. Or make Gatren withdraw first… What would be the best way?”

As Choi Hyun-seok’s worries deepened.

A commotion began to be heard nearby.

“These fanatics!”

“Shut up! You stupid pacifist!”

Choi Hyun-seok clicked his tongue.

“How many times is this just today.”

How long has it been since he came to Chersilton, and he was already tired of it.

It seemed like wherever people gathered here, they would split into sides and fight.

“Fanatic! Do you love war that much!”

“Nonsense! To end the war, we must completely eliminate the demon race!”

“The demon race promised peace!”

“You fool! Do you believe the words of demons!”

Choi Hyun-seok turned his steps away from the fight.

The first few times he watched carefully thinking there might be something to gain, but now he knows.

These street arguments just repeat the same words from both sides, eventually leading to fistfights.

And ends with both sides being arrested when the guards arrive.

At that moment, a man’s voice pierced Choi Hyun-seok’s ear.

“Unless the Demon King comes personally to promise, we can never believe their words!”

Simultaneously, lightning struck Choi Hyun-seok’s head.

“That’s it!”

Rachel blinked her eyes at Choi Hyun-seok who suddenly shouted.

“What’s it?”

What nonsense was this hero going to say now?

The answer far exceeded her expectations.

“Let’s summon the Demon King here!”

“Whaaaat!?”

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read advanced chapters, you can do so by unlocking chapters. [br] Full novel is available for purchase @ /IppoTranslations. [/br]

https://ko-fi.com/ippostranslations