Slender fingers formed a stark contrast against the broad, five-foot heavy sword.
"Who exactly are..."
Schulek could not understand how this unremarkable-looking fellow could effortlessly catch his heavy sword.
"Surrender. I can spare you before you cause any casualties."
Nanoda's tone was relaxed. Rather than letting Schulek throw his life away at Macht's hands, it was better to bring him under her wing to expand her combat power.
"No! I will carry out the Demon King's orders! As long as humans remain, I will fight to the end!"
Roaring, Schulek released his grip on the heavy sword. He clenched a fist the size of a sandbag, intending to smash it down onto Nanoda.
"Idiot. Did you forget I was here?"
At the same time, Lugner unleashed his Blood Manipulation Magic. Blood transformed into chains, binding and pulling at Schulek's limbs, rendering him immobile.
"Schulek, you really are a reckless and foolish fellow. The Demon King is already gone. With just your current strength, what can you possibly achieve? Moreover, even if you killed all the humans and completed the order, what would you do after that?"
"I..."
Nanoda's words caused the struggling Schulek to calm down.
"If I wanted to, your head would have already hit the ground."
She tossed the heavy sword she had been pinching into the air. As it fell, Nanoda reached out and grabbed the hilt. With the sound of clashing metal and stone, the heavy sword was ruthlessly jammed into the ground.
"Then what should I do from now on?"
Schulek completely gave up struggling. No matter how dull he was, he could see that he couldn't win at all.
"Become stronger to defeat me, try to learn more knowledge, exchange and research magic with the Demons in the Association. You have many choices instead of sticking to meaningless slaughter. There are many things you can do here."
"Of course, if you still insist, I respect your choice. But for the sake of my peace, I will kill you immediately, letting you be buried alongside the former Demon King."
Schulek was very calm at this moment, seemingly in thought, yet also struggling internally.
A moment later, he sighed.
"I am willing to submit. Before that, may I know your name? Even in the past, aside from those Great Demons, there were not many who could catch my sword."
"You can just call me Nanoda," Nanoda said casually.
Lugner released the magic controlling Schulek's movements and added:
"She is the Demon who will become the New King in the future."
This was a phrase Qual often said, and this time Lugner brought it out.
"Heh, become the Demon King? Then I will wait and see."
Schulek sat directly on the ground. The wounds Lugner had left on his body were stained with blood and had already scabbed over.
The regeneration and constitution of Demons had always been excellent, let alone a warrior like Schulek.
"Everything down below is resolved."
After dealing with the swarming Demon soldiers, Aura ascended the city wall.
"You are... the Seven Sages of Destruction, Lady Aura the Guillotine?!"
Schulek, who was resting on the ground, hurriedly stood up. With his burly frame, he bowed respectfully toward Aura.
Nanoda felt a bit perplexed. Why was Aura's face always more effective than hers? The moment he saw Aura, Schulek started worshipping blindly again.
"It's all over. This guy is called Schulek. Aura, use the Magic of Obedience on him and the group of Demons down below. The orders for obedience are the same as before."
After arranging things for Aura, Nanoda praised Lugner who had arrived in time.
"Old Lu, nice work."
"I wouldn't dare accept such praise. It was just a coincidence that I was patrolling near the city walls."
Lugner bowed very gentlemanly. Although it might have been an act, Lugner had obviously become much smoother and more humble during his time in Gaderia.
Walking down the city wall, over a hundred Demon soldiers belonging to Gaderia were lined up neatly, carrying farm tools on their shoulders.
Meanwhile, Schulek's subordinates were lying on the ground in disarray. A few were even still hanging from the city wall, teetering precariously.
Linie stood leaning on her double-sided battle axe with one hand, looking majestic.
"Linie, thank you for your hard work. Good job. Everyone else too."
Nanoda revealed a faint smile and praised the Demons.
"Linie, you've become stronger!"
In the past few years, whenever she had free time, Linie would ask Nanoda to practice martial arts with her at night. Her strength had improved significantly; she was no longer just for show.
At this moment, a very subtle feeling rose in Linie's heart.
"I'll leave the rest to Aura and Lugner. These Demons will also integrate into the main force in the future, so everyone should get along well."
After speaking, Nanoda acted as the hands-off manager again.
It wasn't that she was slacking off; it was just that Aura was too convenient.
With the addition of Schulek's batch of Demons, Gaderia's Demon Special Zone could no longer fit them all.
Fortunately, Gaderia was located on the border of the Empire. Between the Northern Empire and the Central Lands, there was a large area of wasteland because the Demons had once besieged the Empire.
Since Gaderia was already independent from the Northern Empire, Nanoda and Aaron decided to simply organize an expedition to reclaim wasteland. They would just expand the territory themselves; after all, these lands didn't belong to any place.
The expanded land could be used to produce crops, while infrastructure could be built to form Gaderia's outer warning perimeter.
Thus, a very magical scene appeared: a team composed of over two hundred Demons escorted a large group of Gaderia's subjects out of Gaderia's territory.
The subjects carried hoes and various tools, walking and chatting with laughter, completely disregarding the Demons surrounding them.
The bright sun shone high, and the air was scorching and dry.
A bird-shaped Magic Beast hovered over the team. Its ferocious red eyes stared downward. It seemed that due to the presence of those Demon soldiers, it was still hesitating whether to dive down and attack.
Although Magic Beasts were creatures made of mana just like Demons, they did not possess the high intelligence of Demons. They only had the predatory instincts of beasts and were even more ferocious.
For them, not only humans, but sometimes even Demons could be their prey.
However, in the next moment, this hesitating predator was hit by an extremely fast black and white beam, directly obliterated in mid-air.
At the very front of the team.
Qual curled his raised finger and continued his stride. On his shoulder, Nanoda sat amidst the fluff, swinging her legs. Her eyes were narrowed as she felt the breeze brought by Qual's movement.
Aaron, wearing a straw hat on the side, was also walking on foot. This time, he couldn't bear to bring his beloved horse out, so he simply walked with everyone else.
At the very back of the team, Aura sat on an open-air sedan chair. Eight relatively muscular, expressionless Demons were carrying Aura, marching slowly.
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