Hero or Villain, Both

On one side…

"Don't they look terrifying?"

"Right, those are real demons…"

"But we're being paid for a job, it's not as if we're being paid to judge, so get to work."

On the other side…

"Those humans, those weapons…"

"I've encountered something similar when we fought the humans before, but these weapons seem stronger."

"Do you really think that they'll do what that demon said?"

It really was a strange group that was traveling through the land, but this was just how it was.

One group was the group of ice demons that had been hiding in that mountain.

The other was a group of merchants, but really they were only dressed as merchants. This group was actually a group of underground thugs that had been tasked to bring these ice demons to the demon territory.

These humans had suddenly shown up in the territory of the ice demons and had shown the symbol that demon had told them about.

Even though the ice demons knew that these humans were coming, it was still a surprise to them that these humans were actually willing to take the risk to transport them back to the demon territory.

After all, this was equal to betraying the human race.

There was still a war happening between the demon race and the human race, so it wasn't as if there weren't any consequences to doing this.

But it didn't seem like these humans were hesitating at all as they transported them through the land of the humans.

The leader of the group of humans came to check up on the ice demons from time to time.

During one of those times, the leader of the ice demons couldn't help asking, "Why would you take such a risk? Is there anything to gain from helping whoever requested you to transport us?"

The leader of the human group just said with a bitter smile, "Do all demons get along with each other?"

The ice demon leader was surprised to hear this, but he slowly shook his head in the end.

The human group leader just calmly answered, "Then you have your answer. For those of us that don't fit in, we do what we need to do to make money. It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, it's all about surviving."

A deep look of thought appeared on the face of the ice demon leader that also had a complicated tone to it.

The words that the human group leader said were deep and the ice demon leader could relate, but they were still separate races.

Still in the end, they couldn't help drinking with each other as they became closer.

Perhaps there was some common ground between demons and humans, but it wasn't as if this would ever change anything.

…

"The transport is going well?" I asked Kasim when he came to report.

Kasim just gave a simple nod in response to this without giving too many details, but the look on his face made it clear that there was something on his mind.

Seeing this, I said, "Just speak if you want to say something."

Kasim gave a nod before asking, "Where did you get demon contacts like this?"

I had been expecting this question, so I just calmly said, "I've been around a bit. It's not as if you've known me my entire life, just like I haven't known you your entire life. There are things that I've done before I set up this company."

Kasim narrowed his eyes to look at me before slowly giving a nod of acknowledgement.

But once he stopped nodding, he still said, "That's true and I have no problems with it. However, do you think that it's the best move to get involved with the demons at a time like this?"

I knew exactly what he was referring to, but I still said, "It doesn't matter, no one will find out."

Kasim couldn't help knitting his brows when he heard this, but I spoke before he could say anything, "The other side won't be able to rat us out. Even if they did, there wouldn't be anyone that would believe him. Trust me when I say that they won't be able to do anything to us."

Kasim narrowed his eyes as if he still had some doubts, but I just looked back at him with a confident look on my face.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept it since that was part of our agreement.

Though I knew that it was more that he was confident that he would be able to run even if something were to happen.

I didn't mind it since this was what I had already agreed to when I invited Kasim to work for me, so I wouldn't get angry if he were to act this way.

"What will you get out of it?"

"A channel for the demon race. We'll be able to get rare items from the demon territory that we won't be able to get anywhere else."

"But that kind of stuff will be hard to sell."

With a shrug, I said, "Maybe, but there's always a market. Since it's rare, we'll be able to earn quite a bit from it as well."

"Well, as long as you know what you're doing." Kasim said before turning to leave.

I just revealed a faint smile without saying anything.

The reason I was so confident was because I was the other side as well.

Since we were transporting for the demon king, it meant that we were transporting for my avatar.

There was no way that my avatar would betray me.

At the same time, we made sure that there was no one else that knew about us.

So there was no way that information could leak from anyone else.

But from a bystander perspective, it was normal to be worried since they didn't know any of this.

"It seems like the network that we've built is starting to have its use. Now we just need to see if we can push the limits of it."