The Author's POV

It's been about ten days since Kevin destroyed the food warehouse and I killed Zornaraugh.

...and a lot happened since then.

-Rumble! -Rumble! -Rumble!

Staring towards the distance, thousands upon thousands of orcs all equipped with heavy armor and weapons marched towards the gates of Gud Khodror.

An oppressive aura enveloped the whole of the city as bloodlust exuded from the bodies of each of the orcs in the distance.

Watching the spectacle from afar, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

...the plan was a success.

After I had Angelica kill Zornaraugh directly, everything went as I envisioned.

The orcs traced everything to the demons due to Angelica's residual demonic energy lingering on the corpses of Zornaraugh and the bodyguard.

Prior to killing Zornaraugh, I had specifically asked Angelica to do that so that the orcs wouldn't question who killed Zornaraugh.

Moreover, with the fact that Zornaraugh was killed at the same time that the food supplies were destroyed, the orcs came to the conclusion that the demons were responsible for the incident despite the fact that there was no evidence to support that conclusion.

Everything was perfect.

...well almost everything, if I had to be honest, these past few days have been quite scary.

Naturally, because of the incident, the orc chief was beyond enraged.

The aura he exuded the past few days was something beyond frightening as every time I glanced towards the tower in the middle of Gud Khodror it felt as though I was staring at death itself.

...and because of this, Kevin and I had no choice but to lay low for that period of time.

Every day felt as though there was barely any oxygen in the air.

Suffocating.

Staring at the army of orcs from afar, Kevin who standing next to me, glanced towards my arm which was currently bandaged, and asked.

"...Is your arm really okay?"

Ever since Ren had come back from his mission, Kevin noticed the state of his arm.

Although he wasn't particularly concerned as arms could be regrown with modern potions, Kevin was concerned that it might affect their future plans as he was now injured.

Glancing at Kevin, I shook my head.

"Honestly, it hurts like hell"

I wasn't lying.

The pain I experienced right after Monarch's indifference deactivated almost caused me to pass out.

...it was mortifying.

It was so painful that I couldn't even describe the feeling in words.

What made matters worse was that even after ten days had passed, I could still not move my arm properly

I think it may be due to something like the nerve endings of my arms not being fully connected, but I wasn't too sure. I wasn't an expert in this kind of stuff.

Frowning slightly, Kevin curiously asked.

"How long do you think it will take before you can use your arm like normal again?"

Staring at my left arm for a couple of seconds, I mused.

"Hmmm, maybe a couple of days?"

...no, that was unrealistic.

Unless I consumed an advanced potion I wouldn't be able to have the same degree of control as before.

Although my arm was in fact healing, every time I moved it, it felt as though electricity was coursing through it.

..the feeling was almost the same as when you accidentally hit your funny bone.

Not very pleasant.

Staring at my arm for a couple of more seconds, Kevin nodded his head. Turning his head around, Kevin proceeded to look towards the orcs in the distance.

"What do you think the chances of the orcs winning are?"

Without hesitation, I responded.

"Slim to none honestly"

Sharing a similar thought, Kevin nodded his head.

"...I think so too"

Although the orcs were strong and fierce, their chances of winning the fight weren't that high.

Especially since their numbers were far lower than that of the demons.

If they were going to have an all-out war against the demons, the chances of them winning were practically null.

They may be able to reclaim some land, but that was the most they could accomplish...and that would be at the sacrifice of countless orcs.

Thinking thus far, shaking his head and glancing at Ren next to him, Kevin asked.

"So what's next?"

Placing my hand on my chin as I fell into deep thought, I frowned.

"Well, now that we've pretty much accomplished the hardest part of the plan, all that we have to do next is reap our rewards..."

Well, still not quite there, but almost there.

...although this was indeed the hardest part of the mission, infiltrating Setin was going to pose quite a challenge.

Even though most of the demon forces would be sent out to face the orcs, they would still leave behind some of the stronger demons.

The reason I was saying it was easier than what I had just done was because there was a high chance that the strongest demons residing in Setin were not going to be there.

With the orc chief Omogulg leading the battle, the leader of the demons in charge of Setin would have no choice but to move out as well.

...Otherwise, they were bound to lose as he was the only demon nearby that could fight on equal terms with Omogulg.

Hearing the word 'rewards' being mentioned, Kevin looked at me with a look of surprise.

"Rewards?"

"Mhm"

Seeing the surprise in Kevin's face, whilst still staring at the army of orcs in the distance, I proceeded to add.

"Mind breaker curse cure of course, and a couple of other things. Don't worry there are things for you too"

Taken aback, Kevin pointed towards himself.

"Me?"

"Yeah"

Seeing me confirm, frowning, Kevin said.

"...but I've already gotten my five-star sword manual, it wouldn't be an even deal if I took something"

He had already gotten a five-star sword art, if he took rewards wouldn't that mean that their deal was unfair?

Although Kevin trusted Ren, he was apprehensive at the thought of owing someone as it could lead to complicated situations arising in the future.

Glancing at Kevin from the corner of my eyes, understanding his thoughts, I shook my head.

"Well if you're not going to take it then suit yourself, I'll just leave it there since it has no use for me"

"No use for you?"

"Yup, that's why I thought you could use it. You don't have to owe me anything if you take it"

It was true.

The item I was giving Kevin was something that I couldn't use so there was no point in me keeping it.

"Just take it as me giving a friend a gift"

Taken aback, Kevin asked.

"...we're friends?"

Smiling at Kevin, a chuckle escaped from my lips.

"Well, we've pretty much been through life and death situations, it wouldn't be strange to call ourselves friends...or is it just me?"

I wasn't lying when I said this.

Having spent a lot of time with Kevin and going through a lot of life and death situations, I pretty much considered him a friend.

Staring at me deeply, Kevin proceeded to nod his head.

"No, you're right"

He also felt the same way as Ren, but he never really dwelled too deeply into it as he thought perhaps it was just him and Ren only thought of him as someone with who he had made a deal.

...honestly, Kevin was secretly glad Ren felt the same way as him as despite his popularity had never had a proper friend in the academy.

He was quite happy.

Unaware of Kevin's thoughts, smiling as I glanced at him on my right, I teased.

"So you're going to take the reward or not?"

Smiling bitterly, Kevin shook his head.

"...Ill take it"

"Good"

To be honest, the item was supposed to belong to him anyway so it was only natural that he got it. After all, the stronger he got, the happier I was.

He was the one with the highest chance of defeating the demon king after all.

Although I acknowledge the fact that if I continued this way there was a chance for me to be able to be on par with the demon king, with Kevin as reassurance I wouldn't have to worry too much.

...that was as long as we had enough time to grow.

But if there was one thing I learned from being in this world for the past seven months it was that life was a bitch.

When you expect something to happen, the world would suddenly flip its middle finger at you and present you with a scenario outside of your prediction catching you off guard.

Therefore, I stopped expecting.

...if the world will throw something that does not match what I envisioned I'll just get strong enough so that I could retaliate in kind.

I was no longer planning on being passive like before.

Staring at the army that had started moving out of the city, recalling something as I glanced at Kevin who was standing next to me similarly looking at the army in the distance, I said.

"Wait here, I've still got something to do, I'll be back shortly"

Taken aback, Kevin asked.

"What? Where are you going? They are about to leave?"

Glancing at the army below us, I rolled my eyes.

"So? It's not like they are running?"

We were talking about an army of thousands upon thousands of orcs each wearing large bulky metallic armor.

They weren't going to be the hardest people to follow.

...although yes, their strong bodies allowed them to move fast despite the fact that they were large armors, it still took time for them to go out, so we still had half a day.

Realizing this, Kevin scratched his head in embarrassment as he said.

"Ah, I guess you're right. How long will it take?"

"About an hour? Maybe less who knows"

"Alright, I'll wait for you"

"Cool, see ya soon"

Moving out of the area we were in, I stared towards the distance as a faint smile appeared on my lips and thought to myself.

'Hopefully, what I'm about to do next plays out nicely...'

...

Inside of a dark confined location, kneeling on the ground was a figure whose hands and legs were bound by thick metal chains that connected all the way towards the ceiling.

The figure had its eyes closed and if not for the faint movement of his chest, someone would've easily mistaken him for dead.

In the dark world, silence prevailed the surroundings.

-Clank!

Suddenly, the silence was disrupted as a hooded figure calmly walked in and stopped right before the figure that was kneeling.

Staring at the figure kneeling down on the ground the hooded figure whose features were obscure called out.

"Silug..."

"khrr..."

A minute after his name was called out by the hooded figure, slowly raising his head, the features of the figure kneeling on the ground became more apparent revealing a white orc with a massive scar tracing over half of his face.

His deeply sunken green eyes were rather hazy as a result of the isolated confinement, however, the boundless bloodlust hidden within them could not be masked.

Staring at the hooded figure before him, Silug's deep yet groggy voice resounded across the space.

"Who are you?"

"...who am I?"

Raising his head, the hooded figure slowly said.

"Someone who can help you"

"Help me?"

Nodding his head, the hooded figure slowly said.

"Yes, I can grant you freedom"

"Freedom?"

Taking a couple of seconds to understand what the hooded figure was talking about, after a couple of seconds, lowering his head, Silug responded.

"...no, I do not wish for freedom"

Unbothered by the denial, the hooded figure once again spoke.

"Revenge...I can grant you revenge"

Raising his head once more, Silug weakly asked.

"Revenge?"

Nodding his head, the hooded figure once again said.

"...yes, I can grant you revenge"

"Grant me revenge?"

"Yes...I can help you get revenge on Omogulg, the orc chief"

Hering the name Omogulg being mentioned, as if some life returned in his eyes, Silug asked.

"...Is what you said true?"

"mhm"

Weakly clenching his fists, Silug deeply stared at the hooded figure before him.

"What do you want in exchange?"

"What do I want?"

Smiling behind the hood, the figure slowly spoke.

"In exchange, I want your loyalty...no, that doesn't sound right"

Raising his head, the features of the hooded figure became more discernible revealing a pale youth with deep blue eyes.

"A human?"

Staring a Sigul who was looking back at him with a trace of shock in his eyes, the youth extended his hand forward and slowly clenched it.

"...All you need to do is be my piece"