The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

"You're right...we should have said it sooner, to share the burden." Gray's gaze held a hint of apology.

Seeing this, Aieta sighed softly: "I'm not blaming you. Let's start working together from today to find a solution..."

"Is it alright to notify the other ten Kage?"

"Hmm." Gray thought it over a bit and agreed to Iota's proposal.

"I'll contact them again later..."

Aieta added, "At present, killing the hero doesn't seem to have much effect; at most, it will only delay the rise of the next hero."

Moreover, the more setbacks a hero suffers, the faster he grows; allowing him to develop freely will actually allow him to grow at the slowest possible pace.

To maximize time, we can wait for the hero to grow stronger, and then defeat him when he reaches a certain level…

Iota, without batting an eye, proposed a plan to stall for time.

To be honest, this stalling strategy is actually feasible. It buys Gray as much time as possible. The only thing to be careful about is to kill him before he grows strong enough to fight against you.

No, it needs to be done a little earlier.

The brave have a high luck value, often managing to escape danger and receive a significant boost after escaping perilous situations.

The hero must be killed only when he is old enough to escape from the Demon King.

This is a solution that maximizes time gains while ensuring safety.

But Gray had no intention of doing that.

If the hero were someone he didn't know, Gray wouldn't feel guilty about attacking a hero whose mission was to defeat him.

But the other party was Philippa, the princess of the Olmec Kingdom who had been his close friend since childhood.

Gray just couldn't bring himself to do it...

Iota noticed Gray's hesitation. She believed there was nothing wrong with the plan, but seeing Gray's expression, she still asked, "Is there a problem with this plan?"

“Um…” Gray said helplessly, “You could call it a problem… but it’s not that the plan itself is flawed… it’s just that I don’t really want to do it this way…”

Upon hearing this, Aiota's pretty face showed no surprise: "Well, the Gray I know wouldn't just take someone down without reason just because they're a hero, but if a hero insists on defeating you, you won't show any mercy, right?"

Gray gave a wry smile. Should he be happy about how well his fiancée knew him?

"If possible, I don't want to be an enemy of the hero..."

Gray sighed, knowing full well that it was unlikely, but he was just grumbling.

"The current hero has already appeared, right? Should we send someone to monitor him?" Aieta continued.

Gray has only revealed the Demon King and the Hero's predicament to Eiota; he hasn't yet told her the Hero's specific identity.

Aiotah was engrossed in his research and basically only interacted with the servants sent by Gamma (to provide some products for the Grand Merchant Guild). Apart from that, he was "oblivious to everything else" and had no interest in heroes or demon cults.

But her fiancé is the Demon King, and the existence of the Hero will affect Gray, and the situation is very serious.

Now that the matter concerns her, Iota can no longer afford to remain indifferent.

“Philippa Ravenhill, you should know this surname, she is a member of the Olmec royal family, and the only princess of the current Olmec Kingdom.”

Gray then recounted information about the members of the Hero Squad.

"Accompanying the hero and forming the hero's party are Sophia Aurora, the current saintess of the Holy Light Church, and Taric Novak, the young master of a border noble family."

“Oh…” came Aiota’s weak voice: “I don’t recognize the last two, but I have heard of Philippa. After all, she is a princess of a country, and moreover, the only princess.”

It's normal that Aieta hadn't heard of Sophia or Taric. She was the daughter of an orchard owner, not from a noble family, and rarely came into contact with anything related to nobility. Besides, she herself wasn't interested in such things.

It's more surprising that she had even heard of Philippa.

"We don't need to worry about the two people other than the hero, right? They don't have the same ridiculous protection as the hero, so killing them wouldn't be a problem..." Aiota didn't care about the members of the hero's team other than the hero.

Gray simply ignored his fiancée's constant use of phrases like "kill" and "get rid of," dismissing them as "rough words but reasonable truths."

"Sophia still needs to be careful. The Holy Maiden of the Holy Light Church is a light attribute talent, which is a bit troublesome."

Considering the absurdly strong counter effect of the Light attribute on himself, Gray felt that he should pay some attention to Sophia.

The Saintess, who was hostile to him from the start, left an indelible impression on him.

I don't know if Philippa also likes that kind of thing...

In short, let's not discuss the matter of Sophia being a saintess in public.

"I see, then execute them, shall we?" Aiota said matter-of-factly.

Yes, that makes sense. It's only problematic if you kill a hero; the Holy Maiden of the Holy Light Church can kill anyone she wants without worry...

Gray said helplessly, "So don't always bring this up in the direction of fighting and killing!"

His fiancée turned out to be a conservative.

The following scene comes to mind.

Iota: "Gray, you're too conservative."

"Actually, there are other methods we can try."

Gray had had a similar idea before and now he planned to talk to Iota about it.

"Actually, I've known Philippa since we were little, much longer than I've known you. We met when we were about six years old, at a banquet in the capital. I consider myself to have a pretty good relationship with her."

If she knew I was the Demon King, she might have shown mercy... Well, I can't be sure, but we do have some kind of friendship.

I think I could try to get along well with the hero…

Aiota suddenly wore a thoughtful expression.

What...is she thinking about?

Gray stopped talking and waited for his fiancée to think it over, hoping she could come up with a solution that would impress him.

As it turns out, it wasn't just eye-opening, it was blindingly bright!

"That makes sense. It seems feasible to capture the hero, take him as a wife, and reform him with love..."

Iota made a shocking remark. Luckily, Gray wasn't drinking water, or he definitely wouldn't have been able to hold back and sprayed her face.

That's not what he meant by "getting along well with the hero"! Eota completely misunderstood.

And he even heard from his own fiancée that he had brought another woman back to be his wife...

It's simply stunning!

Iota herself doesn't seem to mind, but Gray still wants to explain.

"You misunderstood. We were just friends to begin with. What I meant was that if we became even closer, like best friends, maybe she would spare my life if she saw that I was the Demon King?"