“Mizuki and Marcel, welcome back. You’re early this time.” The girl around my age said, raising her hand, waving at them.

“We finished our tasks before the time limit, so we might as well arrive in time.” The man named Marcel responded, moving his head around as if searching for something.

“Estelle, why is Andreana holding onto the slave with dear life. Did something happen?” asked the demi human known as Shinozaki. She stared at Serge, and sighed. “While I don’t want to jump into conclusions, I probably already have an understanding about this situation.”

“Do you? How can you gather so much information in such a short time?” Marcel inquired.

“Well, when being near a certain scumbag, you tend to learn their behavior patterns,” she replied, distastefully talking about them.

“Ishmael, I’m trying to get the slave back yet these women in front of me are disobeying his orders,” said Serge.

“Oh, wow. Don’t blame me if you receive punishment. In fact, don't even involve me in this.” Ishmael raised his hands in mock surrender.

He gave Serge a thumbs up and went towards a nearby table. Before sitting down, he went next to a corner of the building which contained a small bag. Ishmael took out some food rations, proceeding to eat them as he took a seat, watching the scene unfold. He casually chewed his food, savoring the taste.

“You know, Ishmael is correct. I don’t fucking care about what you two with the slave. Go fuck the slave if you really want, sluts.” Serge clicked his tongue, giving up.

The group of female’s didn’t respond to his provocations. Not caring, Serge took a seat at the same table as Ishmael.

“By the way, Serge.” The man started. “When is the next shipment?”

“Apparently it’s being held back until next week. From what I’ve heard, there will be two new additions tomorrow morning. They must be special if they need to postpone the products.”

“Definitely, it’s not everyday when they postpone the shipment. Still, if two slaves are arriving this morning then does that mean what I think it means?” Ishmael leaned back in his chair, looking up.

“Probably. The dates are too aligned for it to be a mere coincidence. Though the problem is who gets custody of the new slaves.” Serge said.

“Although custody isn’t the correct word to describe it, I get your point nonetheless. The verdict is all up to the higher ups.”

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“Even so, I have a feeling that I will end up with them,” said Serge, before shaking his head. “No, I’m confident.”

“I mean, confidence is key. I know I don’t need to tell you this, but don’t be too harsh on them.” Ishmael yawned, rubbing his eyes. “Profits will decrease if you continue beating them up.”

Ishmael pointed towards the injured slave, his eyes opened wide in surprise. “Ah, they left already?”

“Eh, who cares. Anyways, I understand. The reason I hit the slave was because I was punishing the runaway. This should send a message to the others who attempted the same.” Serge explained, throwing jabs at the air.

“The thing I don’t get is why are they trying to escape. Our treatment is heaven compared to how most treat their slaves.”

“That’s why I’m saying! If it wasn’t for a loss of profit then I would’ve let their ungrateful selves go, only to get captured by another group. Then they’ll learn how much of a dumbass they were when they decided that escaping was a good idea!” Serge sadistically smiled.

While they continued conversing, I went back into the poorly kept room. The walls were old, worn out, seemingly going to break any second. I placed my hand on the documents, sorted them out by certain requirements.

When sorting it, I accidentally moved the papers a bit too fast, cutting myself with the paper. The paper cut made my finger bleed a little, but other than that it didn’t bother me too much.

After finishing my task, I headed downstairs, casually strolling through the area as I was familiar with it. As I arrived into the main room, both of them were gone, leaving trash on the table which must’ve been the food rations that Ishmael ate not too long ago.

Finding an exit, I looked to both of my sides, making sure nobody was close by before I left. The chilly air blew throughout the sky, my breath froze a bit whenever I huffed.

I stared at the night sky, watching the dots all around me. Stars, they were so far away that they looked tiny yet they were big enough to be seen by the naked eye.

The beautiful sight made my breath stop, I was mesmerized by it. A smile made its way to my face.

Since I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, I had no idea when I came into contact with something. I say this because there was no force that moved me, it should be an object because if it was a person then I would’ve stumbled back.

Contrary to my expectations, when I moved my head downwards, a tiny demi human girl stood there clutching her head far away from me. I assumed she was in a hurry since she was quite the distance from me. She also probably fell on her butt since her left hand was on the ground stretched out as if she was trying to lessen the impact.

“Watch where you’re going! Who—“ She jerked her head upwards, catching a full view of my face. The second she saw me, color drained from her face as if she saw the devil himself.

She gasped, mouth closing and opening. Her already pale skin was even paler. She swiftly stood up, and immediately bolted. A wall was straight in front of her yet she didn’t let this slow her down as she used the surroundings as stepping stones. The fox demi human never looked back, focused on escaping.

I, on the other, watched this whole thing as I stood in pure confusion. I ran my hand through my hair, absolutely clueless on my next action.

I…guess I should head home…?