Maoyu ~ Archenemy & Hero

Hero and the Queen are finally reunited after she manages to keep the ancient spirits at bay and regain control of her body. Female Magician appears before the Winter King and delivers him instructions from Crimson Scholar to develop a vaccine for Smallpox and reveals that reveals herself as a demon. Crimson Commander invades the press building and attacks kill Elder Sister Maid, believing that she is Crimson Scholar, but she is rescued by Warrior Youngster who confronts the invader and have him fall to his death. After restoring Chief Maid's arm, Hero explains the situation to the Queen. Meanwhile at the surface, with their horses sick, the Central Army is stationed with their leaders arguing about the yet unclaimed spoils of the war, until a mercenary force makes the first move. Female Knight leads the battle to quickly defeat the mercenaries, and with the arrival of winter, the Central Army is forced to retreat.

The Southern kingdoms join forces to defy the Central nations by ending serfdom and lower taxes to encourage people to immigrate to the South and the Lakeside Convent separates from the Central Church to form the True Church of the Light Spirit with pamphlets and bards spreading their message. Meanwhile, Young Merchant begins buying wheat from the Central nobles with futures contracts which causes food prices to rise as part of his plans. Fearing their food supplies will run out if Central continues importing their food, the South enacts trade tariffs and taxes on exports. Meanwhile in Gateway city, Fire Dragon Princess informs East Fortress General that the Blue Demon clan are up to something while she later meets with Young Merchant in the Human Realm to buy salt as the demons are running out of salt.

Young Merchant pays a visit to the Crimson Scholar's villa and by her instructions, Elder Sister Maid tries to impersonate her with the magical ring, but is unable to deceive him. Hero then intervenes and takes him to the Demon realm where he shows him that the now liberated Gateway City became a thriving metropolis inhabited and ruled by humans and demons alike and have the Fire Dragon Princess hold a banquet to them, where he offers him the right to explore the commerce in the city in exchange to help in his and Demon King's efforts. Meanwhile, the Queen has a short meeting with Female Magician at the Royal Library, before entering into the ritual chambers, instructing Head Maid to kill her should she loses her sanity in the process. Back at the villa, Female Knight offers herself to be properly knighted by Hero in a sign of offering him her eternal loyalty, to which he reluctantly accepts.

The Crimson Scholar offers plans to the Winter Kingdom to capture Aurora Island. Hero liberates Gateway City by terrifying the nobles to an extent which makes them flee the city. The commander flees after selecting the new commander of the city, of which this new commander decides to make Gateway City a new government that allows humans and demons to live together. The Crimson Scholar unfolds the plan to create an artificial land bridge linking the Winter Kingdom and Aurora Island. After capturing the beachhead, they learn that the Ice General is currently awaiting to be besieged, with an army of 8,000. However, the Winter Kingdom only has an army of 12,000; when normally three times the amount, 24,000, is necessary to successfully siege a castle. However, Hero arrives with a grand army of 9,000 of the best soldiers the Humans have. These soldiers are actually those who had fled the Gateway City, led by the previous commander of Gateway City to aid the Winter Kingdom.

Several months had passed since Hero's departure and Female Knight moved to the villa to teach swordsmanship to the Crimson Scholar's students. A member of the Trade Alliance, Young Merchant, pays a visit to Crimson Scholar and she introduces to him another crop then unknown in the Human Realm, corn, claiming that it will help boost mankind's food production even further. Before leaving, he proposes to Crimson Scholar much to her embarassment. With half a year since Hero left to the Demon Realm, the Queen's anxiety increases, unaware that he has made use of his teleportation skill to return regularly to the villa behind her back, a fact only known by Chief Maid, to whom he confesses that he refrains to meet her out of his drive to become useful to her. Meanwhile, the southern nations are assembling a huge naval force to recapture Aurora Island, the only territory in the human world in possession of the Demon Army.

The Demon King’s plan is met with heavy resistance from uneducated humans. The Hero gets to witness and the darker side of the Head Maid and questions the validity of the grand plan.