Chapter Twenty-Nine: Call Me Teacher Hurst!

"Hmph! Obviously, all boys love creatures that are both bashful and cute!" Migo said, puffing out her cheeks.

Swell, standing to the side, nodded approvingly. "That is indeed a truth recorded in my books."

Fim sat in the corner of the long table, blinking, looking somewhat bewildered.

Fim... is she cute?

She thought for a moment, then pointed to a manga. "The person in here... is also very, like, Migo."

Migo looked closely through the ghostly flames. It was a character type defined in the glossary as "tsundere," a template figure for beautiful girl manga.

"Wh-what the hell are you talking about?! I'm nothing like that! Besides, who would like someone so sharp-tongued who doesn't even like the protagonist at all? It makes absolutely no sense!"

The mist in Fim's eyes grew denser... They don't like him? No matter how she looked at it, this character clearly adored the protagonist.

But seeing Migo so adamant, Fim began to doubt herself—could it be that she had misunderstood?

Human emotions were so hard to grasp.

At this moment, Swell, who had been pondering for a while, spoke up.

"Speaking of which, this reminds me of something else."

"The explosion in the production of goods by the border demons seems to be a phenomenon of only the last few years. Before this, whether it was earth-demon dolls or manga, they were merely simple inventions within the Earth Demon and Paper Demon tribes, with no signs of mass production being dumped into the human kingdoms..."

Claitina looked slightly surprised. "Compared to works from previous years, the quality—both of the dolls and the manga—shouldn't be this refined..."

"Swell, do you have any leads?"

"There is a rumor," Swell said uncertainly. Being a book demon did not mean he could hear everything; in reality, there were many limitations, so he often did not place full confidence in the source of his intelligence. "It is said that Hurst Kuhl, the rebellious third prince of the Kuhl Kingdom, is lurking in the territory of the border demons."

"The rebellious Prince Hurst?" Claitina frowned.

As an important member of the royal family, she had naturally seen his files. He was a prince with a thin build and a somewhat cold, gloomy temperament.

Because he had consistently fared worse than the first prince, Otta, in the long-standing struggle for the throne, and was dissatisfied with the old king's gradual favoritism, Prince Hurst had led some factions to defect from the kingdom three years ago. However, he had not been able to cause much damage to the kingdom, and had disappeared from public view over the last few years.

In the eyes of demons, this was a classic trope they had seen too often, merely human gossip to be mentioned in passing.

If he were an ambitious schemer who had successfully divided the kingdom, they might have been in the mood to assist him, but now it seemed the rebellious Prince Hurst had little power left, even resorting to associating with those weak-magic border demons.

"No need to pay him any mind."

Claitina quickly made a decision. "Our current primary plan is to exert pressure on the royal, Otta, while seeking opportunities for infiltration."

"It's a pity. If the Sixth Demon hadn't been so severely injured, our plans in the royal capital wouldn't be so passive." She shook her head with regret.

Swell said softly, "Lady Secretary, please don't say that. If we hadn't paid the price to take down the hero Mino, we wouldn't have obtained so much critical intelligence."

"Hmm, you're right. In that case, it's up to you, Swell."

"Rest assured, Lady Claitina." Swell's ghostly flames flickered in anticipation.

"I will ensure that not a single volume... of the manga in Otta's study remains."

...

The wilderness.

Disordered divine energy and residual magic were entangled in the air.

An endless, howling wind formed a laminar flow, leaving passing merchants breathless. The pitch-black sky stopped abruptly at a certain dividing line on the barren land.

On one side was the human territory, slowly being rebuilt amidst broken walls and ruins; on the other side lay the border outposts of the Demon King's army and the dwellings of low-level demons hidden deep in the darkness.

This was the Mino Holy Border Line.

Ever since Mino was born as a hero and reclaimed the kingdom to its original border, this dividing line had been crowned with that name.

On the other side of the line... lay the territory of the border demons.

Within the core of the Paper Demon tribe's territory.

Inside a crudely built tent, the leader of the Paper Demon tribe, the Gold Paper Demon, cautiously knocked on the dwelling of that human lord.

"Lord Hurst, about that... I wonder... is it finished yet?"

Inside the tent, the lamp flickered. At a messy desk covered in molted paper demon skin, a man with black-rimmed eyes, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and exuding a scholarly air, looked up with dissatisfaction.

"What's with the rushing?! Are you that impatient?!"

"Also, call me Teacher!"

The Gold Paper Demon's face fell. "Teacher Hurst, how can I not be impatient? The scheduled release date for the tenth volume of our 'Super Me' is a deadline for you at this point!!!"

"If it can't be released on time, the reputation of our 'Border Library,' which we worked so hard to build, will be ruined! Sigh!"

During the conversation between the man and the demon, the black-armored knight guard, Cyril, stood by, his expression one of numbness mixed with a hint of agony.

He had originally defected to this gloomy-minded, ruthless third prince.

He didn't sign up to be a part-time guard who fills in black ink while the prince discusses manga details with demons!!!

Just look at this!

Border demons!

A traitorous prince!!!

What a grim and evil scene these two combined, only to be ruined by the complete lack of gravitas in their conversation!!!

And another thing, isn't it a mistake to shorten the title of the manga "The One Hundred Great Demons Who Love Me Super-Super-Super-Super-Super Much" to just "Super Me"? Since you're publishing a manga, at least come up with a better-sounding abbreviation!

The Gold Paper Demon haggled with Hurst for a while longer, and only after receiving a promise from Hurst that he would "definitely submit the manuscript on time" did he breathe a sigh of relief and exit the tent.

Only then did the Black Knight Cyril sigh.

—The traitorous Prince Hurst, whose pen name is "Ai Guo-jun," is the actual author of the hit monthly beautiful girl romance manga "The One Hundred Great Demons Who Love Me Super-Super-Super-Super-Super Much." He is known in the industry as a master of delicate emotions, a genius of "moe" art styles, a specialist in "accidental exposure" close-ups of beautiful girls, and is hailed as an emotional master with deep life experience... Like hell he is!

Heaven have mercy, Hurst is just like that guy Otta; he's still a lifelong single loser to this day! It's just the fantasy of a shut-in prince. Readers, don't be deceived by this guy!!!!

You're a dignified traitorous prince, why are you doing a side hustle here?!

Seeing Hurst pick up his pen and tap the desk lightly, Black Knight Cyril took a deep breath and stopped his internal monologue.

Immediately after, he heard Prince Hurst ask a profound question.

"Cyril, what do you think? For the next volume, should I have the clumsy tsundere succubus show her panties, or have the mature and seductive vampire duchess take a bath?"

"I'll give you a bath, you idiot!!!" Cyril roared through gritted teeth.