"Do you... have the ce to say that again?"

  Behind Misako, a mature beauty exuded an overwhelming aura of terrifying pressure.

  The mere residual force of this pressure was enough to make the surrounding demihumans colpse, uo withstand it, and they fell unscious.

  The target of this pressure, the tiger-man who had just been speaking, was no exception. His most basic survival instinct prevented him from losing sciousness; instead, he remained painfully aware of the force directed at him.

  Even when he was a mere child, powerless and unarmed, fag the forest's stro mohe fear he experienced was inparable to what he felt now.

  It was as though he saw a great dragon in front of him—ohat stood shoulder to shoulder with gods, a dragon sung of in legends, revered by geions!

  He wao speak, but could not breathe; he wao think, but his mind failed him. He was nothing but prey waiting to be sughtered... no, not even that—just a fragile ihat could be crushed with a flick of the wrist.

  "Farkonia, calm down."

  "..."

  At the sound of Misako’s voice, Farkonia gradually withdrew her oppressive aura. The moment, the tiger-man colpsed to his knees, greedily gasping for air, apanied by a series of coughs and gasps.

  "Don't let this happen again."

  Farkonia spoke coldly, and the tiger-man, hearing her, stopped gasping and began nodding furiously.

  "...I apologise, I lost trol for a moment."

  "It’s fine. After all, I’m just as angry. You’ve already taken care of this 'i' for me. I haven’t even had a ce to get angry yet!"

  In truth, Farkonia hadn't been this angry in a long time. The st time was when she heard that Misako had been targeted by a former noble. But sihe matter had already bee with—Misako and Aris had taken their reve was quickly suppressed.

  But this time, an i had dared to say Misako should bear his children, and even inteo involve herself, as well as the others who came with her, including Veridith and Aris. How could she possibly tolerate susolence?

  Dragons are terrifying when it es to their kin!

  As the saying goes, those whentle most of the time bee terrifying when they are angry. Farkonia erfect example of this, as even Misako, who had known her for a long time, was startled by the iy of her wrath.

  "Alright, now, let's... Hmm? Aris, why are you... no, I should say, Arymm?"

  Misako turo face Aris and Veridith, but to her surprise, Aris’s face was not its usual ral expression. The sharp-witted Misako quickly realised that this wasn’t Aris, but Arymm.

  However, Arymm, pretending to be Aris, showed a slight ge in expression—something akin to guilt, or perhaps embarrassment.

  "...You’ve made a mistake."

  "...Oh no~"

  Seeing Arymm, who had beeending to be Aris, Misako's mischievous radar was suddenly activated. A long-lost sense of amusement appeared in her expression, repg the serious one she had been wearing due to work. Her usual pyful smile surfaced, ohat could be described as mischievous and teasing.

  "I hought that someone like you, who’s been indifferent to everyone else, would actually feel anger because someone spoke santly about your 'friends'... Is this a miracle? Will the sun rise from the west in the Abyss?"

  "You... shut up! I’m not angry about someone speaking arrogantly to me!"

  "Hm? I wasn’t talking about you?"

  "Uh..."

  At this point, Arymm couldn’t hide her disfort any longer. As a former heart demon who had little iion with others, her posure could not pare to Misako’s, who had lived for over ten thousand years and was the leader of the demon . It only took a few words for Misako to expose Arymm.

  "Oh dear, you're blushing now. e o me see."

  Misako leaned slightly forward, tilting her head as she looked at Arymm, who was so embarrassed she wished she could bury her head in the ground. Misako's smile was utterly dismissive, as she gazed from below with a look of pure mockery.

  "Mm! Don’t bully Arymm-!"

  "Pupu!"

  Suddenly, Veridith squeezed between Arymm and Misako, standing in front of Arymm like an armoured aer, ready to defend. Even Pupu emitted an angry growl.

  To ag, it might have seemed like a sensible younger sister and a small dog were proteg a helpless older sister.

  However, they couldn't know if their as were correct. Arymm, at that moment, was sinking into an even deeper level of humiliation. What had started as a desire to bury her head in the ground now became a wish to retreat into her deepest subscious and never emerge again.

  As a former heart demon, her pride was immense. Yet, here she was, being toyed with by a little girl shorter than her, and even another little girl and a small creature were proteg her. It was enough to make her feel utterly humiliated.

  "...Fet it, the important matters e first."

  Misako g them a few times before abruptly deg to stop teasing Arymm.

  ‘...They o uand these things on their own...’ she thought, as she turned her attention to the tiger-man, who had finally regained his posure, stopped coughing, and was now dry-heaving.

  "Hey, you over there."

  "Cough... ugh?"

  The tiger-man lifted his head to look at Misako, but his face was smeared with various fluids from his earlier coughing fit—saliva, snot, and tears.

  "...You should yourself up first."

  Uo bear the sight, Misako instructed the tiger-man to tidy himself up before they could tiherwise, they wouldn't be able to proceed without feeling sick.

  ...

  After the tiger-man washed his face, they could finally begin their versation.

  "I sincerely apologise for my disrespect!"

  The tiger-man, known among the demihumans as "Lambda", k before Misako and the others, both hands on the ground, his forehead pressed to the floor.

  "...Alright, let's get to the point. You've seen the tents of the letter, haven't you? What is your decision?"

  Misako, wanting to avoid wasting any more time, went straight to the critical question.

  "I have indeed seen it... Holy, I didn't uand anything about nations or demon s. At first, I thought this was just some childish prank..."

  "Hm?"

  "Uh! I thought it was all fake. But now, having witnessed your strength, I uand that all of it is real."

  Lambda rose slightly, shifting from kneeling on both ko kneeling on one, supp himself with one hand on the ground.

  "If joining you will allow us demihumans to stop suffering, to stop living in poverty, never knowing if we will survive another day, then the demihumans under my leadership are willing to join your ranks."

  "No problem. I promise we will ehat demihumans, monsters, and other oppressed weaker races will be able to live a normal life."