"No objections here. I’m in no particular rush, especially since things are nice and peaceful in our world," Responded Jaden with a thumbs up.

"Y-Yeah, um, I-I don’t mind either," Added Cleo quietly.

"Rex is a bit grumpy, but he’s okay with it too," Remarked Ciel after a brief pause.

"Who is this Rex you speak of?" Inquired Reritea curiously.

"My boyfriend. He died in our world, but I reunited with him here, he’s a Spirit now."

"What? That’s actually possible? Is the Spirit Realm where the souls of dead people from Earth end up?" Responded mom in bewilderment.

"No, I don’t think so. It’s kind of a special case...Samsara turned him into a Spirit and made sure I’d summon him after we ended up in this world."

"Ah, I see. That’s really nice, you must have been over the moon. I’m incredibly grateful and indebted to Samsara myself. She gave me the opportunity to speak with Kai again after my death, and then gave me a second chance at life in this world.

And I have to say, this Demon body is great! I don’t age, I don’t have to workout to stay in shape, and I’ve got these cool superpowers too. I mean, sure, the war isn’t exactly ideal, but for the most part, I’ve really enjoyed this second life," Mom replied with a grateful smile.

"Oh, that reminds me...it now makes sense why you reacted the way you did when we told you our plan for ending the war," I recalled thoughtfully.

"Yeah...it didn’t exactly thrill me to see how nonchalant my son is about killing people. But, well, I suppose the circumstances made that inevitable. And, well...I’ve had to kill in self-defense my fair of times too. I didn’t want to do it, but in a kill or be killed situation, there’s not much of a choice," She sighed wistfully.

"By the way, how did you end up becoming the Demon Lord?" Ciel asked her.

"It’s simple, the strongest Demon becomes the Demon Lord. About thirty years ago, after the previous Demon Lord was killed by a summoned Hero, Lord Kavi appeared and killed the Hero before he could kill any more of us. She was hesitant to take on the role, but we were quite insistent," Chimed in Kritak.

"We did think she was strange one, since she claimed to be a former human, we just assumed she was making up a wild story so that we would change our minds about wanting her as the next Demon Lord," Added Deilelne.

"The four of us and a handful of others did eventually believe her though. When we really thought about it, it wasn’t all that far-fetched...after all, the Heroes are summoned from a different world, so it wouldn’t be inconceivable that a soul from another world could reincarnate in this one. And there’s also the fact that she possesses power on par with the Heroes we’ve previously faced," Remarked Reritea thoughtfully.

"Furthermore...her very presence was having a clear effect. Ordinarily, Demons on the level of the four of us Generals are incredibly rare. As far as we know, there have never been more than two such Demons at a time. But the four of us found ourselves pushing beyond what we thought were our limits not long after we became her Generals. And more recently, we’ve also noticed that a few others in the castle are displaying signs of potentially reaching a similar level to us," Spoke up Zevek.

He’s been kinda awkward around us, probably due to him attacking me and refusing to hear me out when I first stepped onto the castle.

He’s struggling to make eye contact, and there’s a clear tension in his shoulders right now. Well, whatever, he’ll probably ease up sooner or later.

"Anyway, once I realized that the Heroes were being tricked by the humans into thinking all Demons are evil, I really wanted to avoid killing them. So, I had Reritea here come up with the ritual to send the Heroes back to their world.

We sent a team of spies to infiltrate the Kingdom and Lynocyes and steal a copy of the summoning ritual, and Reritea reverse-engineered it so that it’d send the Heroes back where they belong. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to maintain this stalemate for quite a while now.

But...I suppose it can’t continue indefinitely, something’s going to give sooner or later, so continuing to passively maintain the stalemate isn’t going to solve anything. I know that, and yet...I just can’t bring myself to command others to die on my behalf," Mom admitted with a bitter grimace.

"You’re right that it has to end. The humans will just keep summoning more Heroes, and from what we’ve heard, before us, they only summoned one at a time previously. Next time, they could summon a whole army of Heroes and overwhelm your forces," Pointed out Aria.

"Well, that’s a scary thought," Muttered Deilelne warily.

Oh, the food’s pretty much over, I should re-up the supply.

"And while the stalemate has minimized casualties, we are still suffering a small number of losses among our forces at the border. The same goes for the humans too, of course, but their population, and thus, their forces, far outnumber us. The most powerful of our forces significantly outclass theirs, but they make up for that with sheer number," Kritak sighed wistfully, before promptly digging in as I set out a bunch more food onto the tables.

"From your perspective, I suppose it’s a good thing that the humans prohibit women from using Magic, they’ve essentially limited themselves to about half the amount of forces they’d otherwise have," Remarked Jaden with a wry smile.

"Yeah, their blatant sexism definitely works in our favor. Really glad I ended up a Demon, definitely wouldn’t have had a good time if I’d reincarnated as a citizen of Lynocyes," Mom smiled sheepishly.

"I can attest to that, speaking from experience. It’s one of the many reasons why I want to change the Kingdom of Lynocyes...it’s why I’m here," Responded Zelmira with a grimace.