=====Narrator POV=====

The crescent blue moon of the dark night soon disappeared behind the distant horizon, signaling the beginning of a new day in the Demon Realm.

The twin red suns were also slowly rising up in the gloomy sky, their crimson light bathing the nearby apocalyptic wasteland in a vicious, bloody hue.

The ogre slavers' base soon started buzzing with activities as the ogres sleeping in their underground quarters woke up one by one.

Since many of them had returned early yesterday because of the massive sandstorm ravaging the outside landscape, they were also the first ones to awaken.

Refreshed from the long period of rest, they immediately began preparing for another day of stalking the vast barren lands in search of new prey.

Fortunately, today it seemed like the weather near the wasteland wouldn't be too harsh for the dreamy newcomers to venture outside, making it an ideal day for these ogres to lay their traps for those oblivious demons!

Urgus too, woke up early in the morning along with the other ogres.

However, unlike the others in the base, it wasn't because he had plenty of rest already, but because the anxiousness he had been feeling all night long was making him extremely tense and restless.

With his head still pounding with dull pain thanks to the repeated nightmares, he stepped through the narrow passageways of the underground ruin.

'Urgh... Dammit, why did I have to get tangled up in a high-ranking demon's schemes...?!'

His fists were clenched tightly, as he persistently tried to break free from the unfounded sense of fear and anxiousness he was feeling.

Lost in his own mind, he didn't even notice that one of his ogre comrades headed towards him from the opposite direction, causing both of them to bump into each other.

*Thump*

"Ugh..."

"Gwoh! Who the hell–? Damn it, Urgus! Look where you're going!"

Urgus immediately fell to the ground with a grunt, while the other ogre just took a few steps back before recognizing him and cursing out in irritation.

The ogre he bumped into was another squad's leader as well as an old member of their slaver gang.

His body was a bit more bulky compared to Urgus, and he wore a thicker leather armor on his body. Two short light-brown horns jutted out of his head, both of them facing forward like spikes.

Old battle scars marred the exposed parts of his body, hinting at his superior experience in the arts of combat to a certain extent.

A long time ago, he used to be a poor scavenger fighting day in and day out to make ends meet in one of the scavenger cities nearby. But after their gang's leader invited him into their fold, he quickly became one of the most accomplished squad leaders amongst all of them!

Urgus seemed dazed for a moment, looking down at the stone floor for a few seconds before he recovered and slowly stood up.

The other ogre furrowed his brows at his reaction, thinking that maybe something was wrong with this colleague of his.

"Hey, what happened? Don't tell me that I broke something in your body...?"

The last question was meant as a joke, but Urgus only lifted his head to look at him with a rigid expression on his face.

His slightly bloodshot eyes silently stared at the ogre standing in front of him, making the other ogre frown even deeper.

"What's with that look you're giving me? You want me to smash your face in?"

Thinking that maybe Urgus was trying to intimidate him, he slowly clenched his left fist while showing an angry grimace on his face.

That seemed to do the trick, as Urgus shook his head and spoke in a tired voice.

"Sorry, Reigos. It's because I couldn't sleep last night."

Heaving a long sigh, he pressed down on his eyelids and rubbed them in apparent frustration for a moment.

Hearing his words, Reigos raised a single eyebrow and finally loosened his clenched fist.

"Huh.... I heard you brought in some nice goods last night. Were you guys stuck in that storm?"

As he saw Urgus nodding to his question, he showed a small smirk on his face.

"Ah, so that's why! The aura of the cursed lands is pretty sickening for sure. But I didn't expect you to be so pathetic to break down just because of that. Gahahaha!"

Urgus didn't pay his laughter any mind, instead clicking his tongue in a subtle manner and starting to walk away from the other ogre.

"Hey, where are you going? I heard the leader is looking for you..."

"I'm going to see the leader right now!"

Reigos blinked, seeing that Urgus was becoming impatient about leaving all of a sudden.

"Oh... Good, then. Also, remember to invite me to dinner when you get your cut this time!"

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"..."

Urgus didn't even look back, walking forward like a zombie until he disappeared in the winding passageway.

Reigos narrowed his eyes as he belatedly noticed the strange state Urgus was currently in.

Normally he didn't behave like this. He would usually behave respectfully in front of the strong senior members of the gang.

Though he was a little confused about Urgus' sudden character shift, in the end he just chalked it up to him being exposed to the wasteland's aura, even if Urgus was strong enough to completely ignore those effects.

After all, you couldn't fully predict what kind of abomination the cursed lands would throw at you to make your life hell.

"Oh, well. He will get better in time."

Reigos simply went about his own business, soon forgetting about the sudden changes in Urgus' behavior.

…

…

…

A few minutes later, Urgus found himself in front of a wooden door.

He was still inside the underground ruin, but this place was far more illuminated compared to the other parts of the base.

All thanks to the glowing stones embedded in the stone walls.

These light-emitting stones were one of the magical items imported from the other side of the dimensional gate, a privilege their gang enjoyed due to their amicable 'business' relationships with the Etherian side.

Behind this wooden door he was currently standing in front of was the leader of their entire slaver gang.

Today, even if he wasn't already called here by him, he would still have to meet this person no matter what!

'...Right. I am not betraying anyone. I'm just looking out for a few extra benefits for myself...'

With his eyes closed, he took in a deep breath to calm his chaotic mind, and pushed the door open.

*creaak~*

"Uugh...whew..."

Inside, a huge bundle of muscle was busy repeatedly lifting and putting down a jet-black rod, with two heavy metal disks slotted on both sides of it.

His medium-sized horns were a darker shade of brown, sharply pointing forward like a pair of menacing weapons. His torso was left bare, soaked with numerous droplets of sweat.

"Mmgh...gah...whew..."

Slight traces of corrupted mana leaked from the dimly glowing runic inscriptions engraved on the metal disks, while Urgus made a confused face at their leader grunting as he pointlessly lifted that magical artifact over and over again.

"...Uh, leader. What are all these...?"

And it wasn't just a single rod-disk artifact their leader had lying around in that room. A few other smaller versions of them also could be seen stashed away in the corner of his room.

"Oh, it's you."

Finally noticing his presence, the leader of the slaver gang released his hold on the weird artifact, causing it to fall on the ground with a banging noise, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"Yes, I heard you called for me. But, what are these....artifacts? I haven't seen them before..."

"You mean these? They are training artifacts from 'that side'. I heard they can rapidly increase your strength if you regularly train using them. Also, it didn't cost me too much, so..."

Pointing to the equipment lying on the ground, he explained their origin, before looking back at Urgus with an "Ah!".

"...So, I heard your squad captured a female Lycan and another exotic demon with her. We never supplied any Lycans to that side, let alone a female one. I wanted to know how you managed to catch them..."

Urgus' eyes twitched imperceptibly, mentally saying that he didn't actually 'capture' those two.

But he couldn't disclose that in front of the gang leader, so he only told him about the events that transpired on that day from the perspective of his subordinates.

....Of course, he didn't mention anything about how their plan was to ransom the demon boy, and that for some reason, the demon boy wanted to get sold to 'that side' like their usual slaves.

As he explained how their squad captured those two demons, the gang leader showed an impressed smile on his face, before nodding with a satisfied expression.

"Very good. You can later get some extra bonus for that Lycan, and if the other demon sells for a good price, your squad will also get a bo—"

But before the gang leader could finish speaking, Urgus interrupted him with his head bowed.

"...No, leader. I came here to request something else from you..."

It seemed that the gang leader didn't like being interrupted, as his happy and bright face slowly darkened a little.

"To request something.... Don't tell me, you want to retire after this? Your cut will probably be quite big, but not big enough to retire already..."

Urgus shook his head, denying the gang leader's words.

"No. It's just that, this time, I want to be the one in charge of selling the goods to that side..."

The gang leader slightly tilted his head.

"Hmm? But why? You know that it's nothing interesting. On the contrary, there is always a risk of someone from that side noticing you and trying to kill you..."

The gang leader's argument was valid, but Urgus had to make sure that he still took on that role.

After all, the risk of being noticed wasn't that big, otherwise, they couldn't continue their trade for so long.

"I....I-I want to make sure they don't scam us, and also me, from the correct price of such goods I caught. I think I will be more desperate to get a better price for myself!"

"Hmm...."

The gang leader indifferently looked the ogre in front of him up and down for a few moments, before opening his mouth.

"Are you sure you want to do this? If you bring back anything less than what our usual guy does, you're the one who will have to pay for that, you know? Both in money and...."

"Ugh...!"

Urgus gulped under the invisible pressure radiating from the bigger ogre in front of him, but he couldn't back out now.

If he couldn't complete the terms of the contract, his life would literally be on the line!

"...Yes...I understand, leader. I will not bring in anything less than what you expect!"

Hearing his words, the gang leader showed a vicious smirk on his face.

"Huh.... Then remember those words you said very carefully. If you do well this time, I will even let you become our seller on that side, so don't disappoint me."

"Yes, leader!"

Urgus let out a relieved sigh in his mind.

Now, at least one of the contract terms on his side was already fulfilled.

'Right. This is also a chance for me...'

A small glint flickered in his eyes as he thought about the little demon boy imprisoned in the dark room.

'...No matter how high-ranking, I don't have to fear him as long as I stay on our turf, not when our boss is staying in the base. If I'm going to gamble with my life anyway....the reward also has to match that risk!'

After meeting the gang leader in person once again, his restless mind was finally reassured. No matter how strong that demon boy might be, he wouldn't be able to beat the boss so easily on his own home turf.

And since he had to sneak into their base so secretly yesterday, there had to be a serious reason behind it too.

A reason that would let him renegotiate the terms that the demon boy had set the day before while holding his life hostage.

...Surely, that demon wouldn't dare to make a scene with the gang leader still present in the base, right?