Sidriel asked back with an expression of incomprehension.

“Humans are petty?”

“Yeah. Similar words would be mean, cunning, cowardly, despicable, and so on.”

“Hmm, those are all negative words. How is that the secret to humans defeating stronger beings?”

Sidriel was puzzled.

Being able to defeat a being stronger than oneself.

It was incomprehensible by her common sense.

If something is strong, it’s simply stronger.

It’s natural for the strong to be victorious.

There’s no other way to defeat the strong except by becoming stronger.

Or unless that strong being naturally weakened due to aging or such.

Either way, I need to become relatively stronger.

“Well, let’s think about this simply.”

Choi Hyun-seok stood up from his seat while taking out a pen he wasn’t even going to use.

Sidriel sat up straight in her chair and listened attentively.

“You were originally planning to go to Dorithugs and challenge him to a one-on-one fight, right?”

“More precisely, I was planning to meet him privately and quietly settle things. It’s not good to show behavior that might cause discord among other demon folk.”

“That kind of thinking is wrong from the start!”

“Huh…?”

Surprised by the sudden criticism, Sidriel blinked with a bewildered face.

She thought she had come up with the best solution, so she wondered what exactly was wrong with it.

Surely Choi Hyun-seok must not properly understand the situation.

She continued her explanation.

“Hyun-seok. As I said, this is a situation where I cannot assert my authority as Demon King. If we’re not careful, it could lead to civil war.”

“And?”

“Meeting just the two of us and quietly coming to an agreement is the best option. And demon folk’s agreements are usually settled through duels.”

“Tsk tsk! How can demon folk be so pure!”

Choi Hyun-seok clicked his tongue.

“Sidriel. Can you win in a one-on-one fight against that Dorithugs?”

“It’s not that I have no chance. Though it’s very small…”

“Very small? You’re willing to bet your life on a very small chance? That’s just suicide.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Simple. We need to increase the odds.”

“How?”

“Give him poisoned food to put him in a critical state, or set a trap to put him in danger, or secretly call reinforcements. Or we could just assassinate him so there’s no need to fight. There are countless other methods too.”

As Choi Hyun-seok’s explanation continued, Sidriel’s eyes grew wider.

She jumped up with an expression of shock.

“H-how could you do such things…!?”

“What do you mean how? This is why you can’t succeed!”

Choi Hyun-seok instead got angry at Sidriel.

He felt the need to fix this frustratingly rigid-minded Demon King’s way of thinking.

“Don’t you need to win? You need to survive by any means necessary!”

“That’s true, but… Such actions go against demon folk’s honor…”

“What? Honor? Hon~or?”

Choi Hyun-seok thrust his heavily distorted face forward.

Sidriel shrank back like a turtle.

“W-why are you doing this, Hyun-seok… Step back a bit.”

“Who cares about honor?! Who’s going to acknowledge it after you’re dead!?”

“Demon folk’s honor is important!”

Sidriel clenched her fists.

She thinks.

Choi Hyun-seok is saying such things because he doesn’t understand demon folk’s nature.

Here, she needs to speak strongly.

“A demon without honor can never reach high places. No matter how strong they are, other demon folk won’t follow them. If I do the kind of actions you mentioned, other demon folk won’t acknowledge me as Demon King.”

“So. If other guys find out about your cowardly acts, they’ll hate it?”

“That’s right!”

“Then just don’t get caught.”

“Huh…?”

“Go kill Dorithugs, and say you fought honorably. What can Dorithugs say when he’s already dead?”

“H-how could you do such things…”

Choi Hyun-seok let out a deep sigh.

“Do you actually want to win?”

Sidriel silently nodded at his question.

“Then you shouldn’t be picky about your methods!”

“But demon folk’s honor…”

“That’s why! Let’s take him out without the other guys knowing! A lie is the truth until it’s exposed!”

Sidriel’s eyeballs began rolling around busily.

She seemed to be thinking about the meaning of how a lie is true until it’s exposed.

“I, I…”

“I’ll handle all the preparations. You just need to contact Dorithugs and ask to meet privately. Say you want to settle things between the two of you.”

After checking the situation for a moment, Sidriel whispered in a small voice.

“… Is that all I need to do?”

“Yes! You just need to lure him to the meeting place! I’ll take care of everything else!”

“Hyun-seok… Maybe we shouldn’t use too cowardly methods…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Just leave it to me, don’t worry!”

“Alright. Then I’ll contact Dorithugs right now.”

“Great! I like your decisiveness.”

Choi Hyun-seok smiled with satisfaction.

Sidriel picked up the communication crystal with trembling hands.

***

1st Corps Commander Dorithugs.

He exercised absolute control over the 1st Corps through his outstanding charisma.

At the same time, Dorithugs was also the de facto leader of the three traditional noble houses that produced council members among demon folk.

The 1st Corps and the three noble houses.

The power of these two groups was so great it reached about 20% of the total demon folk’s military strength.

This was because the 1st Corps was the Demon King Army’s most elite corps, and most members of the noble houses were high-ranking demon folk.

Naturally, Dorithugs’s influence as their representative was tremendous.

This background was what allowed him to boldly declare he would establish an independent nation.

“Hmm.”

Dorithugs leisurely picked up his glass.

It was a glass filled with fresh demon beast blood.

As if savoring the blood, he slowly smelled its aroma and wet his lips, then put down the glass and turned to his adjutant.

“Still no contact?”

“No, sir.”

“Must be deliberating.”

Dorithugs held back a sneer.

“No matter how much that young demon thinks, she has no choice.”

In the current situation, Sidriel’s actions were predetermined.

Either give up the Demon King’s position.

Or challenge him to a fight.

In the worst case, she might start a war, but that possibility was low.

Even if things went that way, Dorithugs was confident.

“No matter how this plays out, I have nothing to lose in this fight.”

In truth, this is a fight with a predetermined outcome.

In the end, this story ends with Sidriel stepping down and himself ascending as the new Demon King.

“If I had to guess, she’s most likely to challenge me to a fight. She must be drunk on the power she gained from becoming Demon King. It’s obvious she’ll ask for a duel like a proper demon.”

A demon acknowledged as Demon King gains power incomparable to before.

Sidriel, who already had corps commander-level physical abilities, must have gained tremendous power.

Looking at numbers alone, she might have power similar to or exceeding his own.

But Dorithugs didn’t care.

‘She’s still just a kid. Doesn’t even know how to handle power.’

Sidriel who rotted in the Demon King castle’s underground her whole life.

He who fought on battlefields for nearly three hundred years, was evaluated as having inherited generation-defining talent throughout the history of the three noble houses.

This fight wouldn’t even be a proper match.

‘It’ll be good enough for a warm-up.’

Dorithugs crossed his legs while lying back on the sofa.

He calmed his excited heart.

He hoped Sidriel would make her decision and contact him soon.

He wanted to see that young and arrogant demon crushed and dying.

It was then that another adjutant returned from outside.

“Commander. There’s a message from the Demon King’s castle.”

The adjutant held out the communication crystal.

Dorithugs raised the corners of his mouth as he received it.

At his signal, all adjutants left the room.

Left alone, Dorithugs opened his mouth.

“Have you decided?”

-Yes…

“What do you plan to do?”

-Let’s settle this like proper demons… Just you and me… Only the two of us…

Sidriel’s voice was trembling so much it was noticeable even through the communication crystal.

Holding back his laughter, Dorithugs spoke.

“Fine. Tell me the time and place.”

Sidriel specified the meeting place and time, and Dorithugs ended the communication.

“Then, I’ll see you then.”

-Alright.

As the light on the communication crystal went out, Dorithugs burst into laughter.

“Kuhahaha! Just as expected!”

The conversation didn’t deviate one bit from his predictions.

“She must have been quite nervous. Even her voice was trembling. Tsk tsk!”

To think someone so incompetent would arrogantly take the Demon King’s position before him.

Dorithugs planned to make her feel the difference in class.

In his mind, he had already killed Sidriel several times over.

There was no scenario where Sidriel could win.

‘You’d better not think about surviving, Sidriel!’

***

After the communication ended.

Choi Hyun-seok patted Sidriel’s shoulder.

“You did great! Not so hard once you actually do it, right?”

Sidriel shook her head with a still stiff face.

“I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing…”

“Of course, you’re doing well! Everything was difficult at first. Let’s get used to it gradually.”

“I don’t think it’s right to get used to things like this…”

Sidriel kept mumbling.

Choi Hyun-seok let out a deep sigh.

How naive and rigid could this Demon King be?

She was so nervous about a mere lie that her voice trembled.

She was incomprehensible by Choi Hyun-seok’s common sense. No, by demon standards.

‘How can a demon be this nice.’

Humans lie as easily as breathing, but this so-called Demon King’s face turns bright red over a single lie.

If Dorithugs had been here, he would have noticed something was off immediately.

“Well, anyway, it worked out. Leave everything to me from now on!”

“What are you planning to do?”

“We need to call reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements? We can’t involve other demons in this.”

“I know that much. The reinforcements I’m talking about aren’t demons.”

There was no one among the demons who could help anyway.

Reidrun, the only one they were close with, was ten times more rigid than the Demon King before him, so he would surely oppose.

Hemis couldn’t be contacted at all.

“Then who are these reinforcements?”

“First, our companions in the Mariette Kingdom.”

Abelson’s holy power would be a great help for the job.

Not to mention Sara Dunphy.

Park Hyun-a was still uncertain as her body hadn’t fully recovered, but he planned to ask anyway.

“I should contact them right away.”

Striking while the iron was hot, Choi Hyun-seok immediately activated the communication crystal.

After a moment, Abelson’s voice came through the communication crystal.

-Mr. Choi Hyun-seok. What brings you to call?

“I called because I have a favor to ask.”

-A favor?

Choi Hyun-seok explained the current situation and asked if his companions could come help.

-Ah… I’m sorry. Everyone’s busy right now.

“I see.”

He had expected them to come help, but an unexpected answer came.

Choi Hyun-seok nodded calmly without showing his feelings.

-I’m busy with state affairs… Sara also has something come up… And Park Hyun-a hasn’t recovered yet.

“Then there’s nothing we can do. I understand.”

-I’m sorry we can’t be of help.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it! I’ll figure something out somehow.”

After ending the communication.

Choi Hyun-seok stroked his chin with a puzzled expression.

“I understand about Md. Abelson and older sister, but what could Sara be busy with?”

Sara Dunphy’s only schedule was typically holing up and doing magic research.

Because of that, she had always been the first to come running when help was requested, but this time it seemed she couldn’t.

“Hyun-seok. Is something seriously wrong?”

Sidriel asked carefully.

“No. It’s fine. We still have our last resort.”

“Last resort?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to use this because it’s a bit uncomfortable… But we have no choice.”

Choi Hyun-seok activated a different communication crystal.

Woong…!

As soon as the light burst forth, a familiar voice came through the communication device.

-Oh! If it isn’t Lord Choi Hyun-seok?

“It’s been a while, Duke.”

-What brings you to contact me?

“I have a favor to ask.”

The one who received the contact was Duke Orlaben Grimier of the Drason Empire.

It seemed he would need to propose a new deal to him.

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