“Is your name Lee Shin?”
“Yes.”
“Weren’t you Kaiser?”
“That’s kind of like a nickname for me.”
“I see.”
Gremory didn’t make a big deal out of it.
“So, it’s time for me to fulfill the contract?”
Probably meaning the wrist treatment.
“Come here.”
Lee Shin approached Gremory.
As they got closer, her beautiful face became more detailed.
A flawless complexion with not a single blemish, and features in perfect proportion.
Unknowingly, Lee Shin’s face turned red.
Seeing him like that, Gremory smiled as if she found him cute and raised her hand.
Her delicate touch was placed above Lee Shin’s head.
After a while, Gremory spoke.
“You have vision degradation and dry eye syndrome. Your back is showing early symptoms of a disc, and your wrist already had carpal tunnel syndrome before it got injured.”
“…Yes?”
“How did your health get so poor? It seems like you’ve been sitting still for a long time, staring with your eyes open and moving your fingers vigorously.”
‘That’s exactly what happened…’
Only then did Lee Shin realize that his body was already in shambles before the attack.
He had a comprehensive gift set of professional gamer’s occupational diseases.
“But now, I’ll treat you, so don’t worry. And as a commemoration of our contract, I’ll make sure such symptoms never occur again.”
“Th-thank you.”
For Lee Shin, it was a relief that such occupational diseases would never occur again.
Whoosh!
A black light flowed from her hand into Lee Shin’s body.
Naturally, Lee Shin closed his eyes.
He felt a warm, foreign energy rummaging through his body.
After a moment, she removed her hand and spoke.
“Now, check it out.”
Only then did Lee Shin open his eyes.
‘Oh?’
Lee Shin was startled.
Everything in front of him was much clearer than before.
‘Were my eyes always this good?’
The world felt different.
It felt as if a cloudy mist had cleared, leaving him feeling refreshed.
“My wrist?!”
Lee Shin carefully rotated his right wrist.
It moved smoothly, astonishingly so, without any pain.
“It can’t be!”
It was hard to believe.
The wrist that had caused him so much despair had healed in an instant.
How difficult had it been?
How many times had he prayed to the gods for his wrist to heal?
‘This woman did it so easily…!’
Only then did Lee Shin realize the significant presence Gremory truly was in front of him.
As promised, she not only informed him about the problems throughout his body but also healed them thoroughly.
‘She seems to be a woman who keeps her promises, though I can’t be careless.’
Anyway, his body felt as light as if he was going to fly away after receiving the healing.
Feeling refreshed as if reborn.
It was thanks to the disappearance of physical problems he hadn’t even been aware of.
His condition was very good.
“It seems it’s my turn to fulfill the contract now.”
Lee Shin said.
“I need to know about the ranking battles. Who is our next opponent, and what is our strength level?”
Gremory, pleased with his proactive attitude, said with a satisfied expression.
“First, I need to explain the origins of the ranking battles.”
Her explanation began.
The origin of the ranking battles traced back to the Great Demon War long ago, a fierce conflict between the angels of heaven and the devils.
After their defeat in the Great Demon War, the Demon Realm was in shock.
The Demon Realm was supposed to be stronger than Heaven.
However, due to the angels’ meticulous strategies, the devils were utterly defeated. Contrary to expectations, it was the angels who were adept at warfare.
Lucifer, the Demon God, was furious and declared,
“I will reorganize the rankings of the 72 demon lords to befit a war!”
Thus, the 72 demon lords began to constantly fight for their rankings. It was a measure that naturally led to the downfall of those who were inept at warfare.
However, fighting each other for re-ranking would only weaken the power of the Demon Realm.
To prevent this, Lucifer, after much contemplation, devised a special form of warfare.
“And so, the current ranking battles were born. These ranking battles will be quite different from any war you’ve known so far.”
Gremory then taught him all the rules of the ranking battles.
As he listened to the explanation, Lee Shin’s expression became puzzled.
‘It’s exactly the type of warfare I’m very familiar with?’
The ranking battles of the 72 demon lords.
It was strikingly similar to the real-time strategy games (RTS) he was obsessed with in his previous life.
Gremory had unknowingly brought in the perfect contractor due to a misunderstanding.
***
The ranking battles waged by the 72 demon lords closely resembled a real-time strategy game (RTS).
To prevent the Demon Realm’s lands from becoming desolate due to warfare, the ranking battles took place in different dimensional spaces.
There were a total of 12 such dimensional spaces.
‘This is basically like a map.’
The ranking battles were initiated through challenges.
The qualification for a challenge was to possess magical power that was at least 90% of the opponent’s. Once this condition was met, the challenged party could not refuse the challenge.
Once a ranking battle was set, both parties wagered an equal amount of magical power, starting the war on equal footing, regardless of their rankings and powers.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely fair.
To compensate for not being able to refuse a challenge, the challenged had two rights:
1. They could choose the battlefield.
2. They could decide the amount of magical power to wager, between 10,000 and 50,000.
Being able to fight on a chosen battlefield provided a geographical advantage, and depending on their confidence, they could wager more or less magical power.
The magical power wagered by both sides turned into magic stones and was dispersed across the battlefield.
Although demon lords themselves could participate, it was usually their contractors who fought the ranking battles.
Contractors would gather the dispersed magic stones on the map and summon warriors with the accumulated magical power for the battle.
Naturally, collecting more magic stones resulted in larger forces.
‘This is just like mining resources to produce units, isn’t it?’
The war lasted until one side was annihilated or declared surrender.
In summary, the rules were as follows:
1. The game is initiated when a challenger with the required qualifications challenges the lord directly above them in ranking.
2. The map and the amount of magical power to wager are decided by the challenged.
3. The game is fought by the lord or the lord’s contractor.
4. The wagered magical power is dispersed across the map, and both contractors collect it to produce units and wage war.
5. The winner takes all the wagered magical power.
After hearing the rules of the ranking battles, Lee Shin asked,
“Since Lady Gremory is at the lowest rank, she wouldn’t receive challenges, would she?”
“That’s not the case. I have to accept challenges from higher-ranked demons who aspire to become lords.”
Gremory sighed and continued,
“There are several higher-ranked demons who have been eligible to challenge for a long time. Each of them has been coveting the status of a lord.”
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