“The Human Who Helped the Demon Princess Reclaim Her Kingdom”

 

A few stars still twinkled faintly in the sky above the border city-state, like a fading poem in the night sky.

As the first light of dawn quietly arrived, a soft redness spread across the horizon, draping Lanqi's mansion in a hazy hue.

In this tranquil moment, Lanqi's bedroom was especially peaceful. Light filtered through the sheer curtains, as if pure spirits were dancing in.

However, Lanqi was already awake.

He shifted his body, pushing the blanket aside, and dangled his feet down, gently placing them on the carpet, feeling its soft texture beneath.

"How did I dream about being in the underworld, with the King of Hell on a long vacation, and me signing the Book of Life and Death in his place..."

He rubbed his eyes, recalling the dream, mumbling to himself,

"Oh right, I can return the borrowed law code now."

After stretching vigorously, a feeling of relaxation spread throughout his body. Lanqi straightened his back and stood up from the bedside.

After washing up, he didn't immediately go downstairs for today's breakfast.

Instead, he drew back the curtains by his desk, basking in the perfectly warm morning sun.

A gentle breeze caressed the leaves outside the window, and birds chirped on the treetops nearby.

A series of crisp notes drifted through the windowsill into Lanqi's bedroom, permeating the entire pleasant dawn.

It had been two weeks since he borrowed the law code on his desk from the border library.

During these days, the books on his table had piled up more and more.

Besides the law code, he had asked the butler to buy him several basic books that were directly available for sale at the Card Makers Association in this city-state.

The learning and use of magic in this world was as obscure and difficult to understand as doctoral-level mathematics - if you can't learn it, you just can't.

Lanqi was pretty sure that he didn't have much talent to become a "traditional mage who could use magic well relying solely on himself."

But the good thing about this world was - everyone could use magic through "magic cards."

However, magic cards that could be bound to the soul had a carrying limit.

So they wouldn't affect the uniqueness of combat professions, but would only make the strong stronger.

Ordinary people could also use various convenient small life magic through magic cards.

It was precisely because of this that magic artisans who could make magic cards were a very popular profession!

Compared to making other types of magical items, card-making required not only a thorough understanding of magical engineering principles, but also extremely high creativity and brainpower, as well as highly trained drawing skills.

What made Lanqi grateful was that he found the knowledge of related magical engineering, such as the production of magical items and the principles of magical machinery, surprisingly easy to read. He could understand quickly even when skimming.

"Of course, it's also possible that the textbook compiler's level is quite high," Lanqi sighed, looking at the stack of reference books on his desk.

Coincidentally, these textbooks were all written by the same author:

"Fundamentals of Magical Engineering in the Kingdom of Houghton, 7th Edition - by Polao"

"Common Mistakes in First-Order Magic Card Making - by Polao"

"Ethical Standards for Card Makers - by Polao"

He had heard from people at the Card Makers Association that this Professor Polao was actually an instructor at the Magic Engineering College of Icerite Academy.

Unfortunately, Professor Polao didn't take students.

Otherwise, Lanqi would have been a bit tempted to study hard for 100 days and apply for the Magic Engineering College.

However, compared to the complex and heavy coursework of the Magic Engineering College with its dedicated instructors, he still preferred the free and relaxed course structure of the Sage College and Knight College: fewer required courses, more electives, and graduation possible as long as all required courses were completed and enough credits earned.

As for those Magic Engineering College courses suitable for him, he could add them to his course schedule as electives when the time came.

This was the conclusion Lanqi had reached after carefully studying the information about Icerite Academy.

"Alright, after studying the theory, it's time to experiment with making magic cards."

Lanqi felt that the thing called "mana" that he had consumed in drawing Talia's portrait over the past few days should have recovered quite a bit by now.

Today he could go to the Card Makers Association to rent a card-making workshop and try practicing.

Also.

Since he would be leaving the city-state for the capital in two and a half months,

He needed to make arrangements for Talia as well.

Although she was a demon, they had mutual needs.

Perhaps they could become good trading partners in the future.

Lanqi looked out the window.

Soon, his gaze found a gray figure outside his family's courtyard.

In the corner of the street where sunlight had not yet reached, a young woman stood gracefully like a vivid art statue, her posture as delicate and gentle as fine porcelain.

In the breeze, the dark gray cloak covering Talia fluttered lightly, adding to her mystique.

In this quiet moment, she seemed to blend into the surroundings like a painting, yet it was as if her presence was the only thing in the picture.

Lanqi rested his chin on his hand, gazing from afar at this demon princess perfectly disguised as a human.

"It's a pity she's so old, at least several hundred years old," he sighed.

Although Talia was also a young demon among the demon race,

According to human age concepts, it wouldn't be wrong to call her an old lady.

Of course.

Lanqi wasn't sure what the consequences would be if he actually called Talia an old lady.

......

In the distance.

As if sensing Lanqi's gaze, Talia's eyes also glanced towards the direction of the second floor of the mansion.

"Good morning."

After their eyes met, Lanqi smiled and waved gently at Talia in the distance.

Talia didn't respond to him.

Her gray hair slid over her shoulders like silk, quietly falling onto her cloak, her eyes calmly looking ahead.

She just wanted to check for any movements that might threaten the residents of this mansion.

Since it was Lanqi himself, and not someone else who might threaten Lanqi, she had no intention of paying further attention.

It was as if she only cared about completing her job - protecting her employer.

And not about the employer himself.

However...

For some reason, she always felt that the young man's inner thoughts were unusually active just now.

And he seemed to be thinking about some very damnable things.

But Talia couldn't quite pinpoint where her intuition came from, or what exactly the young man might be thinking.

Clearly, no matter how you looked at it.

He was just giving a friendly greeting.

Maybe it was just her imagination.

After all, since the fall of the demon realm... she had begun to hate humans.

Even with harmless humans like Lanqi, she would occasionally have misconceptions, suspecting that he might be an extremely vicious person in perfect disguise.

But her lie detection magic, as well as her own observations, all proved that this human had absolutely excellent character.

"Sigh."

Talia sighed softly.

She had thought that after wandering in human lands for so many years, she had come to understand these human creatures a bit.

But now it seemed that if she wanted to perfectly integrate into human society while enduring humiliation, in order to seek opportunities for restoring her country,

She still had a lot of work to do.