The intense sandstorm raged on for a long time, burying everything that stood in its way under the crimson sand of the wasteland.

The collapsed tent of the ogres was eventually ripped apart by the wind, making them endure all of the incoming flying debris with their bare bodies.

When the storm finally stopped, the group of ogres lying motionless under the thin layer of sand slowly started to stir.

"Ugh...how long did it go on for?"

"*cough*...*cough*... Definitely longer than I would have liked it to..."

Faint conversations drifted into my ear, while the ogres sitting near us shook off the sand from their bodies.

"Gruuh... See if those two are alive or not under that cover. Urgus will kill us if they're dead."

"Haah... And we got caught up in that storm because of that little shit! The pay better be worth all this suffering!"

I heard someone approaching us, making crunching noises as they stepped on the thick layer of loose sand deposited everywhere by the storm.

*Whoosh*

Someone pulled off the cloth covering our heads, scattering all the sand accumulated on top of it in the air.

"…*cough*…*cough*…*cough*…"

"…*cough*…*cough*…"

Some of that sand found its way into our airways, sending both of us into a coughing fit.

As I opened my eyes with a grimace, I saw the ogres staring at us with irritation visible on their faces.

The twin red suns had long since disappeared behind the distant horizon, while a large, crescent blue moon now hung from the starless night sky.

'Wow…'

The dark, rumbling clouds had moved far away from us, taking the fierce sandstorm along with them, leaving behind the cold night's landscape in front of me buried under an ocean of rust-red sand.

Without wasting any more time, the two ogres threw the cloth to the side, before unlinking our chains from the stake planted on the ground.

*clank~* *clang–!*

"Be grateful to your tribe. If it wasn't for that, you would've been through some real pain for making us all suffer like this..."

The ogre that was put in charge of me grumbled while removing the shackles from the stake.

*Sigh...*

I heaved a small sigh, too tired to keep my stupid act going. So I simply closed my eyes once again, keeping my head lowered to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.

After all, the strain of establishing a proper contract was a bit too heavy for me to handle in my current state.

But no matter how troublesome they were, certain things just HAD to be done.

If I wanted to reduce my future life's hassles even by a small margin, I had to remain as low-key as possible before leaving the Demon Realm.

Suddenly, I felt a piercing stare stabbing into my back from the Lycan woman's side.

'Ah, right. You were here too....'

She was probably wondering what exactly I did after slipping out of my chains.

Well, there was no problem in letting her keep wondering. Telling her everything would only create more hindrances.

The ogres soon finished their work, before the other two joined them along with their leader.

However, from the scowling look they directed at their backup unit members – with their lips tight and their nostrils flared – did not seem pleasant at all.

"You two....what kind of tent were you carrying that breaks in a storm?"

"Grr.... Did you two do it on purpose, to make us suffer because we looked down on you before?!"

The ogres holding onto our chains immediately started shaking with anger, resting one of their hands on the machete hanging on their waist.

"Of course not, you dumbass! Why would we suffer ourselves just for that?"

"Yeah. If we wanted you to suffer, we could've just refused to show ourselves when the storm hit!"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The two backup group members responded to their accusations with scoffs and derisive smirks, making the ogres in front of us even more enraged.

"Then, aren't you two just incompetent? Useless bastards!"

"What did you just say?"

The situation looked tense, as if a brawl could break out at any time.

"Hey, shut up and do your job first. We are already late, and I don't want us to be even more late."

Fortunately, their leader stepped into their feud before it could escalate further, earning him dissatisfied glances from the backup unit members.

He simply dismissed all their grievances with a wave of his hand.

"You can settle everything when we reach our base. Until then, do as I say."

"Gah...!"

"Yes, leader..."

As the backup unit's ogres started collecting everything nearby that wasn't whisked away by the storm, the remaining two ogres walked closer to their leader, pulling us along with them.

Casting a sweeping glance over all of his subordinates, the leader of this ogre gang addressed the ones currently holding onto our chains.

"We are leaving with the prisoners first. Those two will follow us after they are done with their work here."

""Ohh...""

Just as he was about to turn his back on us and walk ahead, the ogre holding onto Yera's chains suddenly paused with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Uh.... Urgus. Why are you covering your arms like that?"

His eyes were staring at the thick piece of cloth wrapped around both of his muscular arms like a makeshift bandage.

"..."

Urgus looked down at his crudely bandaged arms for a moment, before unconsciously locking eyes with me.

Making sure that no one else noticed, I gave him a wide, toothy smile in response, making his bulky body tremble a little.

'Hm?'

...no, someone did notice my smile.

With her eyes wide open, Yera's gaze kept darting back and forth between me and the leading ogre, seemingly unable to comprehend what was happening anymore.

'You don't need to understand right now...'

Turning my head in her direction, I simply showed her a small smirk and lowered my head once again.

Urgus also recovered from his daze quickly, touching his bandaged arms for a moment before he answered his subordinate.

"...It's nothing. I just got some injuries from a few sharp things in the storm. Don't think about it too much."

"Uh...okay?"

The two ogres showed a skeptical look on their faces, not at all believing that their leader's hard skin could be pierced by random flying debris.

But fortunately, they didn't care about him enough to question him about the little details of his injuries.

"Let's go!"

And thus, our march to the base of these slavers continued under the mild bluish light of the crescent moon.

Only the crunching sounds of sand being stepped on paired with the clanking noise from our chains accompanied us on our journey through this barren and desolate nightscape.

It didn't take long before we finally reached their base.

…

…

It was deep into the night when we arrived at the base of the ogre slavers.

A small distance away from the wasteland, we saw a half-broken, ancient-looking ruin standing in the barren lands of the Demon Realm. The ruin was small in scale, not more than a few dozen square meters. A few ogres could be seen patrolling its premises in the dim light of the blue moon.

"Okay, you two. Go and get some rest. I will handle the remaining work regarding the prisoners. And don't tell anyone about our catch, or some idiot might try something funny."

The leader of the ogres forcefully took hold of our chains and sent away his subordinates to rest, saying that he would take care of the remaining work, while warning them not to talk about us.

"Ohh…"

Although the ogres had their brows furrowed, they didn't refuse their leader's commands, silently going off to their resting places without making any fuss.

The ogre leader took us inside the ruin, before taking us to an underground space after passing through the security patrol. Walking through the winding tunnels of the underground space, he soon brought us to the designated place used to keep their prisoners.

*Gwoong–!*

An isolated room greeted us, filled with nothing but rusty iron cages that held a multitude of pale and sickly demons inside them.

I saw Yera shaking slightly upon seeing the scene in front of her, but she soon averted her eyes.

The demons sleeping in those cages stirred awake from the noise of the door opening, before staring at us with a slightly disturbing look of twisted glee and satisfaction in their eyes.

"He...hehe...we have new retards..."

"...yeah. I thought only I was an idiot..."

"Keke...it's good that we will have more idiots to accompany us in hell..."

*Kwaang~*

Without showing any expression on his face, Urgus simply shoved both of us inside a sturdy iron cage before closing its door shut.

He stared at my face for a moment, before turning around with a small sigh and leaving out of the door, plunging the room filled with prisoners into darkness.

Thanks to my previous words and possibly the ogre's reaction, this time, Yera didn't make any fuss about being trapped in the slavers' base.

Walking to a corner, she silently took her seat on the ground, before a piercing stare bore into me from within the pitch-black darkness.

....was she really trying to put pressure on me like this?

'Seriously...? Does she actually believe that I'm going to feel pressured from her incessant stares?'

Her personality really was a mystery to me, seeing that she was making use of such childish antics despite her demonic lineage.

I would understand if it was all an elaborate act, but it was even more confusing because all of it seemed to be her true, raw, and unfiltered emotions.

*clink*

Leaning on the iron bars of our cage, I slowly sat down on the ground...

"Whooo~"

...quietly waiting for a lucky buyer to purchase both of us out of this realm. Not knowing when that time would come.

A unique pair of handsome little demon and beautiful female like us should attract some good buyers, right?

'I wonder who's going to be that lucky buyer?'

With that thought running through my mind, I closed my eyes.

During the earlier storm, I had to keep myself alert for any unexpected variables arising from the subordinate ogres noticing something amiss. Not to mention, the journey till now had been quite tiring, even for me.

Now, I desperately needed a small nap to wash away all that exhaustion...

After all, the days ahead of me promised to be even more tiring.