The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

"You're going to be leaving the Capital!?"

When she found out about Shien's plans, Lucy leaping up from her seat with an expression of shock on her face.

That particular look even ended up giving Shien, who was seated facing Lucy, a scare.

"What are you getting so excited about?"

Shien grimaced like a person who was about to collapse after a fight.

"Ahem-"

Lucy also realized that her reaction was a bit too strong, so her hurriedly faked a few coughs in an attempt to cover up her lack of composure. However, despite sitting back down, she still did not let go of the topic just now.

"What do you mean by leaving the Capital? Are you saying that you want to go back to Lamdrion then?"

Lucy asked that question in a forceful manner, and she also stared intently at Shien. She seemed anxiousness and worried, while also somewhat upset. She was the very picture of an upset wife who gave her everything but gained nothing in return.

Truth be told, Shien got a bit scared from that.

He was absolutely certain that if he replied "yes" to that, then the carpet in the princess's room will be stained with blood the very next second.

That said, he really never imagined that Lucy would end up so shaken by this news.

It can't be-

"Are you thinking that I'm not going to be coming back after leaving or something?"

Shien asked a probing question.

"Am I wrong?"

Lucy glared at Shien like she was going to eat him alive.

"Of course that's not it." Shien was somewhat speechless at her reaction as he spoke resignedly, "I'm just taking a trip over to Duke Stalim's territory, that's all."

"Duke Stalim's territory?" Lucy paused for a moment before asking in confusion, "What are you going there for?"

"Well, to do a few things." Shien answered vaguely, "Before, didn't that Duke talk about how there's Old Demon Faction activities there?"

"In other words then, you're going there to deal with the Old Demon Faction?" Lucy frowned, "Could this be a request from Lady Sara or Lady Airi?"

"So you guessed it huh?" Shien just nodded without bothering to hide it, "I promised Airi before that I'll take a trip to the Stalim ducal territory and deal with the Old Demon Faction making a mess there after I finished learning the astro and enchant magic. And now's basically the time to go carry out that promise."

"Is that so?" Lucy finally understood the entire train of events and, after a brief silence, looked at Shien, "The opponent are those Old Demon Faction who are capable of anything. Will you be alright dealing with them?"

"What?" Shien wagged his eyebrows, "You worried about me?"

"A little." Lucy continued frowning without hiding her worries, "Although there shouldn't be any problems given your power, I still get the feeling that your upcoming trip won't go very smoothly."

Lucy's words made Shien start frowning.

That's not something that he can just pretend to have not heard.

"Is this a premonition from your blessing?"

Shien turned slightly serious now.

"Maybe?" Lucy did not confirm or deny it. She herself didn't seem all that certain as she spoke, "It might also be that I'm just overthinking things."

Shien started thinking in response to her reply.

He wasn't actually all that worried himself.

After mastering astro and enchant magic, Shien's powers have greatly improved. At this point, he had risen up to level 55 in a single shot. At this point, even if he didn't unseal the Holy Sword or use the powers of [Limit Evolution], he still had the confidence to match blades against Lucy.

Given all that, Shien really didn't think that he could encounter anything actually dangerous to him within the Stalim ducal territory.

Besides-

"I'll be bringing Yulin with me, and Airi will also be coming along. Will there still be problems even then?"

Shien looked over at Lucy for confirmation.

"Her ladyship the Dragon Demon will be going too?"

Lucy seemed rather surprised by that.

If Airi really did also go along with, then Lucy really wouldn't believe that anything could possibly happen to Shien with this Demon Lord around to help from the side.

The only ones capable of facing off against a Demon Lord are the Three Great Goddesses. In fact, two of the Three Great Goddesses are actually weaker than the Demon Lords. Only one of them is truly stronger than the Demon Lords. It was also because of that one that the gods have the capability to stand in balance against the demon race.

Therefore, if Airi also followed along, then there was basically no possible way that anything could happen.

Besides-

"I already said it before, but I only felt like your trip won't go very smoothly, that's all." Lucy so stated, "I never felt like something bad would happen to you. I just felt like something unexpected might happen."

In other words, this trip may end up having some ups and downs, and problems might occur, but all in all, it should end up as nothing more than a scare without any dangers, right?

"In that case then, I'm actually a little interested now." Shien not only did not back down, but instead started getting a bit excited, "Something capable of making things troublesome for even Airi and I. That basically means that something pretty big will end up happening, right?"

"That's right." Lucy spoke with some seriousness, "Most probably, the Old Demon Faction within the Stalim ducal territory are likely planning something."

If it was something like that, then it may be only natural that this trip will end up with some ups and downs.

That said-

"The more it's like that, the more it proves that this trip is necessary." Shien smiled, "I believe that not only will that little brat Airi not be worried, but she would want to smash them up even more now, huh?"

"Little brat." Lucy immediately rolled her eyes at that.

This is the only guy in existence who would dare to call the Dragon Demon of the Six Great Demon Lords by something like that.

It has to be said, that personage is not someone so easy to get along with.

Lucy herself had only gained a bit of understanding about Airi recently. She learned a lot of things that even history had never recorded.

For example, this Dragon Demon who looks like a little girl on the outside had once slain two Heroes in the past. She had also singlehandedly stopped two of the Three Great Goddesses. She was unbelievably active during the war a thousand years ago, nearly completely collapsing the battlefront of the gods and mortals and dealing crippling defeats to the gods and mortal forces.

If not for the fact that the strongest one of the Three Great Goddesses had managed to arrive just in time and forcibly crushed any further obstructions from the other Demon Lords while at the same time heavily injuring this Dragon Demon, thus forcing her to leave the front lines, that battle would not have ended in a major divine and mortal victory.

The breath of a dragon is known as something capable of breaking through all defenses, and this dragon king's dragon breath is capable of even vaporizing the oceans. Before her, the great armies of gods and mortals would have no other fate beyond being burned alive.

When the Demon Lord was finally subjugated, this Dragon Demon was said to have been extremely enraged. It was to the point where she nearly went right back to the mortal world to turn the entire mortal world into an endless hell. Thankfully, the Moon Demon and the other Demon Lords were able to stop her. Otherwise, even if the mortal races weren't completely destroyed, they would still definitely have taken crippling and irrecoverable losses.

Afterwards, this Dragon Demon completely went into seclusion within the demon world. She would sometimes sleep away whole centuries in a single nap, so she very rarely make appearances. There was even a period of time where there were rumors that she got sealed by the gods due to secretly attempting to get revenge against the mortals.

Therefore, among the Six Great Demon Lords, the Dragon Demon is the Demon Lord that the mortals and gods were terrified of the most next to the Poison Demon. In many fictional stories, she was depicted as a final boss type character who would be a threat to the world, who made children cry, and also made adults wail in sorrow.

Anyone else faced with such a terrifying great being would likely end up with their knees shaking uncontrollably, yet Shien actually dares to call her a little brat over and over. Nobody else could possibly do something like that.

Of course, the Kingdom would actually rather love to see something like this happen.

After all, Shien is a noble of the Kingdom in the end. A noble of the Kingdom forging good relations with the Dragon Demon is obviously a great blessing to the Kingdom.

Lucy could recently feel that, among the higher ups of the Kingdom, their appraisal of Shien was currently quickly rising.

Many nobles believe that they should improve their treatment of Shien in order to completely chain Shien to the Kingdom. At that point, the Kingdom would also end up with the Dragon Demon of the Six Great Demon Lords backing them up. With that, they'll be able to gain a great deal of prestige and advantages against other nations.

Just from that alone, it was obvious that Shien's status within the Kingdom will only rise higher and higher without dropping at all.

(When that guy becomes a marquis, then the royal family would probably need to properly consider his request even if he was to ask for my hand in marriage, right?)

When she thought that, Lucy's mood turned relaxed before she immediately then got embarrased.

(Wait, why am I thinking about something like that?)

Who wants to marry that piece of shit anyways?

Lucy hurriedly shook her head in order to purge those thoughts from her mind.

Shien just looked at the princess before him do some rather strange things. He thus started turning worried in his mind.

(That girl didn't suddenly turn stupid, did she?)

Turning stupid at such a young age. Such a shame.

Lucy had no idea what Shien was thinking though. Otherwise, she would definitely have let out a roar before letting him have a mouthful.

That said, after learning that Shien was planning to leave the Capital for the Stalim Ducal territory. Even if it was only temporary, Lucy was still a bit bummed out.

This means that, for the next little while, she won't be able to see Shien anymore.

She will have to return to the life she had before. Her days filled with nothing but work and more work, and she wouldn't even be able to expose her true self anymore. She won't even be able to eat Lilet's confections anymore.

That's practically hell!

Aahhh! She doesn't want to work! She wants to go out and play with him! (madly_rolling_around.jpg)

Isn't unknown if Shien managed to hear the things that Lucy was thinking, but he ended up asking one question.

"If you're that worried, then would you like to just come along with us?"

"Yes!"

Lucy replied practically on instinct.

However, then she started tearing up a moment later.

"But I can't. Even if I can resolve the issues of work, I still won't be able to leave the Capital. If the citizenry can't see me show myself, then who knows what kind of mess they will end up causing?"

Lucy sighed and moaned.

"Doesn't that mean that you can't go anywhere other than the Capital then?" Shien spoke, surprised, "If work really restricts your freedoms that much, then you might as well just not do it anymore."

"The lack of freedom is from being a princess, alright?" Lucy continued to sigh and moan, "The higher the status, the greater one's effect on the rest of the world is, and thus, the less freedom one correspondingly have. If not for that, why do you think there are so many people to still go for a free profession like being an adventurer even after becoming a noble?"

"That's true enough." Shien did not refute her, but he did continue on, "In that case, you won't be able to come, huh?"

"I-" Lucy started and stopped with a helpless look on her face.

This made Shien scratch his head a bit.

Sigh, if she's going to look so pitiful, then he would have a hard time going off and leaving her be.

In that case then, how about, before he leaves-

Shien looked at Lucy and, after a moment, said the following.

"Would you like to spend the night over at my place then?"

The appearance of those words completely stunned Lucy.

Right afterwards, her heart started pounding like mad.

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