Qualified

"Thank you for participating. Next."

Joshua had already lost count of how many times he had repeated the same line.

The succubus ladies Zennas had recruited were truly more outstanding than the last—so outstanding that Joshua genuinely wanted to switch careers and start making adult films. In just a few years, he could definitely drag down humanity's average physical fitness by several percentage points.

But that kind of vulgar stuff could never compare to real films. Film was art. Quite a few movies had influenced Joshua's life and given him strength, such as "The Legend of 1900," "Shawshank Redemption," and so on...

So Joshua was unwilling to see the art created by Earth's predecessors defiled in his hands.

"Your Highness, the one you just reviewed was the last."

Zennas spoke quietly beside Joshua's ear. Given Zennas's size, however softly he spoke, everyone in the hall could hear him clearly.

"The last one? Isn't there still someone waiting at the door? Let her in."

Joshua glanced at the register in his hand. He had reviewed thirty-two succubi one after another. Quite a few had left immediately after Joshua tactfully informed them that they had no chance, but the last few he had reviewed were still waiting in the hall. They seemed to have come together.

Zennas had also noticed a figure waiting by the entrance for quite some time, but since the other party showed no intention of coming in, he had selectively ignored them.

"My lord... may I ask what you need?"

The few succubi who had just been rejected took a fearful step back when they saw Zennas's massive body. Sin Demons were famously a race without lust; the succubi's little tricks had no effect whatsoever on Sin Demons.

Thus, Sin Demons had also taken on the role of maintaining order in the city—simply put, they were the police.

"His Highness wants to see that one."

Zennas pointed at the figure behind the group of succubi.

"His Highness wants to see them? Wait, my lord, have you made some sort of mistake? This lowly thing isn't one of our kind..."

"This is not a request. It is an order."

As Zennas spoke, faint green flames spilled from his mouth. The flames instantly raised the surrounding temperature by more than ten degrees, turning the hall unbearably hot.

"...I Nuo, hurry up and get over there."

Unable to endure the overwhelming pressure, that succubus gritted her teeth and ordered the figure behind her.

The figure timidly stepped out from behind them and approached Zennas. The oppressive aura radiating from Zennas made them tremble uncontrollably.

"His Highness wants to see you. Follow me."

Zennas withdrew the flames spilling from his body, and the surrounding temperature returned to normal.

Joshua saw everything that happened at the entrance. The succubi's attitude struck him as rather strange.

Succubi were not considered a particularly powerful race among demons. If Lesser Devils occupied the very bottom rung, then succubi were barely three levels above them, still far from the demonic nobility. After all, their race consisted entirely of females, and aside from magic that controlled minds, their physical abilities were not much stronger than those of humans.

The figure followed Zennas to Joshua, and Joshua was finally able to see them clearly.

They appeared to be a rather beautiful girl, but unlike the succubi from earlier, whose every smile and gesture could stir lust in others, her uneasy expression could awaken any man's protective instincts.

Her clothes were also different from those of the succubi Joshua had reviewed before.

They were old and rough, completely the attire of a servant.

Had she been rejected by her own race? Or had she been born with some defect and was therefore discriminated against?

"I Nuo?"

Joshua looked at her and asked whether the name he had just heard was correct.

"Y-yes, Your Highness."

She clutched the hem of her coarse Cloth Clothes with both hands, keeping her head lowered and not daring to meet Joshua's gaze. Silver-white strands of hair slipped down beside her ears.

"Your race should be succubus, correct?"

Joshua glanced at the bat-like wings behind her and her long tail. Some high-ranking succubi even had goat-like legs, though Joshua had already rejected several such high-ranking succubi.

"Yes." She continued answering in an extremely timid voice.

"Then why are you being excluded by your own kind?"

Joshua wanted to know the answer. This succubus was undoubtedly the one who had pleased him most among all those he had reviewed.

Her appearance alone possessed enough charm for her to serve as the female lead of any film. Her temperament was a little too timid, but it was still far better than the unbearably bitchy air of those previous succubi.

At the very least, Joshua knew how to correct flaws like timidity and cowardice. But a personality like a bitch's... there was no saving it. Absolutely no saving it. Joshua had always kept his distance from girls like that, no matter how beautiful they were.

"Raise your head. Look at me."

For now, the role of female lead was hers. So Joshua needed to start trying to correct her timid personality, and the first thing was to give her a chance to gain confidence.

"Your Highness..."

"You have no right to choose, Miss I Nuo," Joshua said.

For some reason, when she heard the word "Miss," her frail body trembled slightly again. In the end, she slowly raised her head.

"Now answer my earlier question. Why are you being excluded by your own kind?"

Joshua stared into her scarlet eyes and slowly repeated his question.

"Because..."

She gently bit her lower lip, then closed her eyes as if resigning herself to fate and revealed the fundamental reason behind her humiliating life.

"I am a male."

A boy? So the pronoun 'she' from before was wrong—it should be 'he,' then?

Joshua examined the person before him from head to toe once more. No matter how he looked, they were a lovable girl, so after weighing it up, Joshua decided to keep referring to her as she for now.

"A boy? That's fine."

The instant Joshua spoke those words, she opened her eyes and looked at him in astonishment.

"Th-this... Your Highness, you aren't angry?"

The succubus race was composed almost entirely of females. Male succubi were rarely born, and their status within the race was extremely low because they were born without inheriting any succubus talents. They were destined to be unable to increase their strength by drawing the Life Force of other living beings.

I Nuo lived at the very bottom of succubus society, with a status no different from that of an ordinary Lesser Devil. Any customer who had previously taken a liking to I Nuo would fly into a rage upon discovering her gender.

The moment I Nuo learned that the Prince had taken an interest in her, she had assumed that once His Highness the Prince learned her gender, he too would be enraged at having been deceived.

"Not bad. You fit the requirements perfectly."

The moment he said that, Joshua noticed a subtle change in how the demons working in the reception hall looked at him. Even I Nuo, standing before him, covered her mouth in shock.

Of course, Joshua knew what these people had misunderstood. Even in another world, same-sex relationships were still not accepted.

Fortunately, Joshua's sexual orientation was perfectly normal.

"Your Highness, if you like, it's fine to offer this body to you. Just don't send me back there again..."

I Nuo had still inherited a little of the succubi's cunning nature. She remembered the looks in those succubi's eyes as they left. If His Highness the Prince refused to accept her and sent her back... she could not imagine what kind of torment she would suffer.

"Your body? No... what I want isn't your body."

Joshua had no interest in men.

"Your Highness, please don't worry. I am still... a virgin."

She thought His Highness the Prince had chosen to keep her because he had that sort of preference. Besides her body, she truly had nothing else.

"It isn't a matter of how many times."

After thinking for a moment, Joshua came up with a more suitable explanation.

"I want to give you a job. Perhaps you succubi can easily occupy a man's heart with your bodies, but if you do the job I give you well enough... you will easily capture the hearts of countless men and even women! They will come to like you, regardless of race. You will receive the respect you deserve—respect greater than that."

Actors had always been a profession worthy of respect. Veteran performers had left humanity with too many classics through their acting. Those spiritual treasures were far more important than pleasures of the flesh.

"Can I really do it?"

Although I Nuo did not know what kind of work Joshua was talking about, things like being liked and respected were nothing but extravagant dreams to her. The best outcome she had imagined when coming here was surviving as the "Third Prince's toy."

"How will you know if you don't try? But first, change out of those clothes that are only slightly better than rags."

Joshua wrote I Nuo's name on the final White Paper and stamped it with the seal representing his identity, granting I Nuo the Rights to enter and leave the Imperial City in the name of the Third Prince.

"Zennas, take him to change clothes. Remember to put him in men's clothing."

"As you command."

Zennas walked ahead, signaling I Nuo to follow him. I Nuo timidly took a step forward.

"Head up, chest out. Be more confident. Don't forget that you're a boy—don't lose to those women," Joshua said.

Joshua did not know whether this world had a concept like manliness, but on Earth, this was the phrase he had heard most often from his father.