The Demon, Cole

Alder was a town famous for its harbor. The seagulls were flying on top of the harbor. The ships were docked on the harbor. Most of the ships either came from the north or the south. It was very rare for ships to come from the West which was where the demonic continent was located.

The demon was conscious all the time. He was sitting laying down with the goods that the merchant brought to Alder. Laire kept an eye on the demon while Del kept an eye on the road.

"What do you want from me? Let me go!" The demon shouted.

"Say what? Listen, I don't know what you're talking about but you about to get me some cash," Laire said.

"You evil creature, you'll pay for this!" The demon shouted.

Laire kicked the demon's face, "Shut up!"

Del didn't have any idea whether Laire pretended that she didn't understand the demon or not. However, he eventually remembered that [Language Comprehension] skill made him able to understand both of them.

Del decided to strike a conversation with the demon.

"Hey, you, what's your name?" Del asked the demon.

"Cole, call me Cole. Hey, you save me, right? Can you save me from this deranged woman?" Cole said.

"Oh, so your name is Cole. What are you doing in this continent anyway?" Del asked.

"I'm just doing my research, I swear. I'm just a student. I have nothing to do with the military," Cole said.

Del was surprised to see someone with some intellectual background. Laire seemed not to have any intellectual background after all. Inspecting him again, it looked like the demon was not as dangerous as he thought nor as old as he thought.

"Research? Research for what? Are you a university student or something?" Del asked.

"You know university. I'm surprised a barbarian like you know something such as university," Cole said.

Del smacked Cole's head with his hand, "Damn, I saved you and you dare to call me a barbarian?"

"Sorry, sorry, I was joking, I swear," Cole said.

Laire looked at Del with displeasure. She didn't say a word, but she kept an eye on Del. Being to speak in demonic language was something uncommon in that world. Del hadn't realized that Laire also overheard the conversation.

"Del, excuse me, but why are you speaking with that evil creature?" Laire asked.

"Oh, sorry, no, I am just wondering who he is," Del said.

"And… did you find out who he is?" Laire asked.

Del thought for a second. He needed an answer that wouldn't arise any suspicion from Laire. He couldn't tell that Cole was just an innocent little demon.

"Wait a minute, I haven't dug too much info from him," Del said.

"Oh, take your time then," Laire said.

Laire kept an eye on the road this time while Del kept an eye on Cole. Del continued their interrupted conversation.

"Cole, I have never heard about the demonic continent. Can you tell me one thing or two about it?" Del asked.

"It's just like this continent with the exception that nobody tries to kill me there. Well, we do have a more advanced technology level than this continent. Why do you ask? Are you going to visit the continent anytime soon?" Cole asked.

"I think the answer is no," Del said.

"A barbaric like you won't understand our society anyway," Cole said.

Del responded with another smack on his head, "Damn, keep calling me barbaric and I might think to pull the bandages that I have stuffed there."

"No thanks," Cole smiled.

"What's your expertise anyway? What are you researching in this continent? Is there even a necessity to do research where you would be killed in any opportunity possible?" Del asked.

"Listen, the thing that I have to research is only available inside of this continent. That thing happens to be a material called Darium. What is Darium? Darium is a catalyst for magical stones. It has the capabilities of increasing the efficiency of magical stones 85% more than using an ordinary catalyst," Cole said.

"Oh, you took Engineering?" Del asked.

"Ah, you're very smart," Cole said.

"Chemical Engineering, I presume," Del asked.

"Exactly," Cole said.

"Why are you researching about this Darium anyway?" Del asked.

"It's something very interesting and might be useful for our continent. Still, I'm only here to get a cheaper price for Darium," Cole said.

"I see," Del said.

"Well, I had known the risk of coming here. I guess, it's hard labor all the way for me," Cole said, referring to his capture.

"Hahaha, sorry friend, I don't know how to help," Del said.

Del finally arrived at the guild building in Alder. Carriages were crowding the city. The streets of the city were jammed by the number of carriages in that harbor town. Most of the carriages were filled with cargoes.

People moved the cargoes from the carriages into the ships in the harbor. Del was carrying the wounded demon on his back and Laire was inside of the guild building. Blood wasn't dripping out of the gauzes so it was good.

"Ouch, can you not move so much?" Cole asked.

"Why?" Del asked.

"My thigh hurts man," Cole said.

"Shut up, you are my prisoner," Del said.

"What are you going to do with me?" Cole asked.

"Well, I am thinking of selling you or something. You will make me rich!" Del said while grinning.

"Please, I beg you, don't sell me," Cole said.

"Nope, money is money," Del said.

"I can be useful to you. My knowledge will be helping you a lot, I promise," Cole said.

"Helping me like what?" Del asked.

"I can make you something that can go boom. I can make painkillers. I can do anything man, just please, don't sell me," Cole begged.

Del thought for a moment. If Cole worked for him, he might be able to make some interesting chemicals for him in the future. However, he would also miss the opportunity to get a decent amount of gold coins from selling him.

As Del lost in his thought, Laire came out of the guild building with six gold coins in her hands. Laire gave Del two gold coins. It was a good amount of payment since it was equal to 200$ just for escorting a carriage from a threat that didn't exist.

"Now, let's go to the slave registration building. Any captured demon should be put inside of the database before they can be sold," Laire said.

"Slave needs to be registered first? I never know that," Del said.

"Of course they need to be registered first. Where do you think we can get a slave collar for the demon?" Laire asked back.

"Oh, they provide it?" Del asked.

"Yes," Laire said.

Both of them walked to the slave registration building. Del followed Laire from behind since he didn't know where the slave registration building was located. As he walked, the passenger on his back kept begging him not to be sold.

"Please, don't sell me as a slave, please," Cole begged.

"You need to be more convincing than that, pal," Del said.

"I already said earlier, I can make you explosives or painkillers," Cole said.

"Unless you can make a combustible powder, I don't care," Del said.

"Please, I can try to make it, just let me go, I will do anything that you want," Cole said.

"I'll think about it," Del said.

They continued walking to the slave registration building. Del gave a thought to Cole's proposal. If he could make an improved combustible powder, Del might be able to enhance the capabilities of the bullets that he owned.

Not to mention the potential investment of having someone with a Chemical Engineering degree on his team would certainly help him in his efforts in making money. He might also be able to make an explosive stronger than a standard military explosive.

However, there was also a real possibility that this one demon would be able to stab him in the back, killing him while he slept, or worse. It was not something that Del could predict with ease at the moment.

Del needed to think of a solution. It was between gold coins or a demon as a potential ally. It was a tough choice. Laire was the leader of the party so it was really up to her whether Cole would be sold or not.

"Alright, we finally arrive, can you put the demon down?" Laire said as she opened the door of the building.

Inside the building were many reception tables. Those reception tables were the place where slaves were registered. Looking at the people in that building, many demons were smaller than him, even as young as Lisa.

Del was disgusted, but there was nothing that he could do. Underaged slavery was more than common in that world. Matching the standard of that world and Earth was not something that he should do.

"What can I do for you?" The receptionist asked.

"I'd like to register a new slave, here's the slave," Laire said.

"Very well, we just need to write some details," the receptionist said.

The receptionist wrote some details. From the looks of it, the receptionist was writing the general detail of Cole from his heights, his weight, his appearance, etc. Basically, if he got lost, it wouldn't be hard to find him.

"Who will be the temporary owner of this slave?" the receptionist asked.

"This kid," Laire said.

"Wait a minute, why do you use me? I don't even want to own a slave," Del protested.

"Listen here, kid, if I register here, I will have to pay some amount of extra taxes while you are just a new slave owner which means no taxation for you, got it?" Laire said.

"But I don't want to own a slave," Del said.

"Kid, just follow what I said, will you?" Laire glared at him.

Del sighed, "Fine, my name is Del Moore."

"Congratulation for your new slave, sir," the receptionist shook Del's hand.

Del accepted the hand but he felt disgusted about it.