Their enfeebled bodies couldn’t really hold up the pickaxe anymore, arms shaking as they drew it high up before smashing at the rock, only for mediocre pieces to come out in response.


    However, no matter if their bodies broke in the process, they kept on plowing through their own flesh, getting rid of the huge block of black rock in front of them, in minute bits at a time.


    Regardless, there were bound to be mishaps in their disposition. One of them started to fall, free of strength and with barely no break in between, he started screaming.


    “ARGHHHH!” One of the slaves wriggled along the tainted sand, grasping onto his back, where the hemp shirt was ripped to shreds.


    “Ges! Teug vte kiz vyrc!” Standing behind them, near the boulder, the demon possessed a long, bendy strip of leather in his hands, promptly shouting at the human with a stern look.


    Although he tried to heed his words, wobbling about, his arms gave up in the middle of the action, falling face first onto the rough sand before some of it got into his mouth, screaming yet again.


    “What the hell are you looking at?!” The demon shouted all of a sudden, turning to his left and facing the white-haired human a few steps away from him. Glaring at him with his square face, the demon quickly eased his ferocious eyebrows after seeing the coin in his possession.


    “I’m here to buy coal for Lady Zyponia. Where is your boss?” Lutiel asked, making the man shake immediately, stuttering for a reason he couldn’t explain.


    “H-he’s not here today. Please excuse the lady on our behalf. W-we were the ones responsible for providing that batch,” he said quickly, lowering his head to a point where the human couldn’t see his eyes.


    “Alright, I will go look in the docks,” he said, only for the demon’s head to shoot back up, shaking his head vigorously.


    “I told you he’s not here already. You’re only wasting your time,” adding quickly, the demon threw away his whip onto the sand, conveying his rash thoughts with arms.


    Looking to his side, in the middle of turning around, Lutiel stopped before opening his mouth. “I know he’s here. Lord Zyponia has already informed me,” he said with blank eyes, only for the demon to clutch himself by the head, pulling onto the loose hairs.


    Before he could say anything, the human had already shown him his straight back, heading to where the ships lay casually.


    Left behind in the sand, the demon didn’t take the whip back for a while, his eyes focused on the white-haired slave of the demon lord. However, as the sounds around him eventually eased up, he decisively turned back to the humans, returning with a rapacious gaze harsher than ever.


    Meanwhile, when the slaves tried to gain back their previous potency, Lutiel watched the small, wooden hut furthermost left along the platform catering most of the shore. Walking amongst tens of boulders similar to the first one, he attracted a lot of attention, especially from the demonic bunch.


    And, as he walked through, as if to antagonize him, he saw and heard the slaves’ agonal wails and bellowing. With the sound breaking apart at the tip of their weapons, so did the flesh around the slaves’ backs, only adding to the plethora of scares entwined within their bodies. Tainting their skin crimson, sand got all over the wounds as they writhed against the ground.


    Quickly, the man clenched his jaw before angling his head straight ahead of him, gazing at the skies that could break loose any given moment. Unfortunately, even with the glyph, he wasn’t able to do anything here, not with the herd of a hundred and more demons loitering about.


    Refraining from any hasty thoughts of his body, Lutiel kept on walking towards the platform where the docks and ships were connected. Tens of breaths had flowed through and back as he finally stepped onto the short stairs, gradually ascending towards the flat platform.


    Yet, just as he was about to advance towards the hut of the coal merchant, his steps lessened their nippy cadence. In the open gaps between the ships, he watched, stopping suddenly for whatever reason. ‘What’s that?’ He asked himself, but the answer never came. Instead, an image of a large ship moving at a snail’s pace reverberated inside his eyes.


    Nonetheless, he simply rolled his gaze to the side, once again focused on the task at hand.


    Out of nowhere, the man’s body moved to the side, holding onto the platform’s railings while covering his ears with one arm, once again already turned towards the steady sea. Before he even knew it, his confused sight turned into terror when a cloud of white waves raised itself, towering over the ship’s height in a facile manner.


    At the same time, undulations spread through the surface of the water rapidly, pushing towards the shore in a threatening manner. Tightening his grasp around the ears turned futile, the sounds ringing dastardly through his head.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Attacking the sands and the beams holding up the platform, higher than usual waves flowed and went away in concise succession.


    Staring at the cloud of water slowly descending, Lutiel’s obtuse eyes shook clouded, his mouth agape as there was not really any idea in his head. ‘What sort of scale was that explosion?’ He wondered, glancing back and forth at the slaves travailing through the coals and the ship wobbling along the waters, his eyes couldn’t believe their lack of concern about the matter.


    Even though the ship was almost destroyed by the sudden attack, they continued doing their task, as if nothing ever happened.


    ‘Did the revolutionaries attack the coal port?’ An immediate thought flashed inside his mind, but straining his eyes to take a better look at the demons, the composed looks on their faces gave him a different insight.


    Right as his head tinkered with reality, Lutiel turned towards the ever reaching ocean yet again. Although in the far distance it looked feeble, compared to the ship itself, he witnessed a sizable chunk of black rock wriggling outside of the waters before silently making its way onto the ship, flying through the air.


    One by one, each chunk needed a hefty portion of time to be deployed around the ship, but regardless, he could immediately tell all of this was planned by the demons that must have been onboard, along with the man stationed in his hut.


    As much as he wanted to stay there and see the magic be used for such feats, he shook his head slightly before motioning towards the hut. Within a few steps, he already appeared next to the worn door, opening them without a care for knocking.


    Immediately, a new sight unraveled before him. Standing next to the window beyond the desk, the man’s rotund back faced Lutiel, undisturbed by the squeaky open.


    Sweeping across the office with his vision quickly, other than the table filled with papers, there wasn’t much to the room except for a small dresser on the right and the desk. And, right as he ended looking throughout, the man’s voice spread around the area.


    “So you were Zyponia’s slave? You could have told me. The healing cost quite a bit,” he said through a thickened voice, the sound of his cigar burning away at the tip intensifying while the man inhaled harshly.


    “You didn’t do anything for me to reveal it,” the slave spoke calmly, making the other party release a pall of gray smoke from his mouth, eventually turning around before glaring at him with his deeply red eyes.


    A hint of irritation spread amidst the black scales dotted around his face before he once again opened his lips, talking with the cigar still inside it.


    “You took advantage of my hospitality,” he spoke, furrowing his eyebrows at the indifferent looks he received. “I welcomed you, yet you send that bitch after me? My right arm couldn’t function for a few days after.”


    However, Lutiel had no reaction to his shallow words. “You were the one to sell me the coal powder,-”


    “It was just fine, you picky bastards! Ah,” the merchant interrupted, quickly becoming aware of his own words at the end. “Eh-ehem! What I meant is the coal was perfectly usable. Besides, I had no idea what was inside. If the lord wanted to complain, she should have sent Raeyine after the coal men.”


    “It should have lasted for a month, but it’s depleted after a week,” Lutiel spoke with a cool face, stating whatever he had heard from the maid. “Also, there were chunks of sand mixed in at the bottom of the crates.”


    Finally, the man’s face caved in with rage, glaring hatefully at the human head shorter than him. “Fine! I used you for money! Is that what you wanted to hear?”


    Shaking his head, he further fueled the fury of the demon, but he showed it only around his head and arms, clenching the fists.


    “My lady wants the best quality of crates for their usual price, unlike last week,” Lutiel stated, making the man puff out the smoke in anger yet again. Quickly, he stepped towards the human.


    “Two silvers per box, follow me,” moaning below his nose, the squeaky wood had been flung open again.


    …


    Through the sparse skies, the sun took in hefty peeks, rummaging through his room whole and permeating about. Two figures remained in the place, one maid with black hair and a butler.


    Sat on the bed calmly, he stared at the very one in front of him, standing next to the wall between the door and the window. With her usual attire and hairstyle, Raeyine stared at him diligently, pointing towards the pale wall behind her with a random stick in her hand.


    Scraping against the plaster, she unveiled the bricks lay within the walls while drawing shapes into it. Quickly, a plain face with meek details showed itself, but she didn’t focus on that. Heading up on top of the head’s outline, she stopped the stick’s motion.


    “What have you noticed about demons?” She asked suddenly, quickly locking her eyes with him. Yet, as his mouth flinched, her voice drowned the man’s ears. “I don’t mean their attitude towards slaves like you. Something specific to them.”


    Shutting the lips tight at the words, Lutiel’s eyes lingered down for a second before springing right back up at her. “You have horns,” he spoke in a collected tone, immediately receiving a brisk nod.


    “Yes, and what have you learned about them so far?” She asked once again, a ponder of silence permeating through the room thereafter.


    “There are many demons with one horn, but most of you are without one. And, I have only seen two of them on Lady Zyponia’s head,” he said before her spry nods embraced his sight.


    “Mhm,” she hummed in confirmation, swiftly moving her lissome wrist and digging through the pale gypsum. Right atop the simple head, a single, curved horn settled itself. “As you may have noticed, that sort of thing comes with another idea. A status of sorts, I could add.”


    “Just as those with a single horn are treated with a greater regard than the hornless, the same goes for demons with two horns,” she continued, letting the man indulge in her words. Still, before she could add, he tinkered with her speech.


    “Like Magon,” he uttered, slightly distracting her line of thought.


    “That’s right. As a matter of fact, all of the demon lords have a pair of horns. But like I was saying, the ones with two horns are incomparably more regarded and respected compared to both single and non-horned demons.”