After discussing it with the rest of the group, it was decided that Rog would scout the way ahead for them. Although Red wasn't part of their discussion, they didn't try to hide it from him either. The hunter had found tracks of around a dozen people in the surroundings, which gave the boy alarm. That was about the size of Viran's group of direct subordinates back in the underground, and if they were armed with better weapons then they would be a huge threat to him.

However, not once during their whole conversation did Red notice any kind of fear or hesitation in their actions. He gathered these people were more powerful than the average slave, but they seemed confident enough to not worry about taking on enemies four times their number. This gave him more assurance of their chances, considering he was in no state to fight.

After the remaining three of them had started to travel again, Eiwin approached him.

"You don't need to worry, Rog is just going ahead to make sure the way is safe." She reassured him. "We don't want to fight against them if we can help it."

"How strong are you guys?" Red asked, hoping to gather more information.

"We're strong enough to protect you from anything in this forest, so don't worry." The woman replied with a smile on her face, confusing his curiosity for concern.

The youth didn't bother correcting her. He could see she had the wrong assumptions on the kind of person he was, but talking to her about it would be more trouble than it was worth.

"What are these bandits doing here in the forest?" Red shifted the conversation topic to something else.

"...They're wicked souls who have chosen to rely on theft and violence to get by in life." Eiwin's expression changed. "They prey on travelers passing through this area, robbing them of everything they have, including their lives..."

Her voice trailed off.

"Unfortunately, the disappearance of the monsters in the forest didn't bring us safety like others would have hoped for. Instead, it only replaced one danger for another. Except one is a mindless beast doing things out of instinct and for survival and the other..." She shook her head. "Is a thinking individual who knows what they are doing is evil but chooses to do it all the same."

The boy could hear uncharacteristic anger behind Eiwin's words. He had touched upon a sensitive topic for the woman, and for a moment she seemed to have changed into a completely different person. However, right after that, her expression returned to normal.

"We shouldn't talk about topics like these." She smiled at Red. "You're still too young to have to worry about the evils of the world, so it's best if you just let your seniors handle it."

The youth was unsure about how to answer, so he simply nodded instead. Eiwin was the polar opposite of Viran, and the boy didn't necessarily know what to think of her. Yet, at the very least he was not worried she would backstab him any time soon.

The trio continued to walk in silence, sometimes interspersed with short conversations between Red and the younger woman. The forest still held countless things that took him by surprise, and the boy's curiosity had barely been sated. Before he knew it, though, the sun was close to setting, and Narcha called their march to a stop.

"We need to find somewhere to make camp before night comes." The warrior turned towards Eiwin.

"Are we not waiting for Mister Rog?" Her companion asked.

"How many times has he traveled with us before? He should know we don't walk after dark, so he's probably coming back soon." Narcha commented off-handedly."He'll be able to find us then. Now let's hurry. I don't want to trip on any roots if I can help it."

With that, she was already walking away. Eiwin turned towards Red, noticing the boy staring at her.

"She's right. Even with no monsters, it's bad to get caught up in the trees in the middle of the night." She motioned to him and smiled. "Let's go. We don't want to hear any more of her complaints, do we?"

"I'm still right here you twerp!"

The younger woman's grin widened, and she followed her companion with Red in tow.

...

Since they seemed familiar with the forest, they were able to find an appropriate clearing before long. Narcha gathered branches and dry leaves for the bonfire, a task that was relatively simple in this place. However, she didn't immediately light it, and instead sat against a tree and waited in silence.

Red stared at the woman in confusion.

"We're waiting for Rog." Eiwin said, seemingly able to read the boy's mind. "We need to know if it's safe to light a bonfire first, or else we'll just be telling the bandits our position."

The boy understood and sat down somewhere nearby too.

One hour later, though, and there was still no sign of the man.

The sun had completely set, and the youth was again greeted to the clear night sky. Red didn't seem to be bothered by the complete darkness, too occupied with watching the stars, but his thoughts were interrupted as Narcha started to march around the camp.

"That idiot is late." The warrior grumbled to herself.

"Do you think he found something?" Eiwin, who was sitting nearby, asked.

"How could I know?" Narcha threw her hands up. "Only the gods can guess what goes on in that man's head."

"Do you want to go look for him?"

"Hm..." The tall woman hesitated. "No. I'm more likely to get lost and end up needing his help."

As he listened to their conversation, Red noticed the two of them seemed to be completely nonchalant.

"Aren't you worried?" He asked them.

"About what?" The warrior looked at him with a confused expression.

"About your friend. What if something bad happened to him?"

"Something bad happening to Rog?" Narcha snorted. "If anything in this forest can hurt him then I can guarantee you that we won't make it out aliv-"

"What she means to say, Red." Eiwin interrupted her, before looking at the boy. "Is that Rog is a very experienced hunter. He spent decades living off of this forest, hunting down all kinds of monsters. There's probably no one in the world who knows it better than him, so you don't need to worry."

If that was indeed the case there really was nothing to worry about. The youth had not seen any of the surface monsters yet, but if they were anywhere near as dangerous as those from beneath, then the man was truly capable.

Sure enough, half an hour later and Red was startled by a low whistle that sounded from somewhere around them.

"He's here." Narcha said, looking in a certain direction.

Rog walked out from behind a tree trunk, carrying the bow on his back. Surprisingly, the man had been within 20 meters of them, yet no one noticed him until he made his presence known. Looking him over, the hunter looked none the worse for wear than when they last saw him.

"Where were you?" The warrior asked, annoyed by her companion's lateness.

"Was out scouting." Rog replied.

"I know what you were doing!" His response didn't help with her mood. "I mean, why did you take so long to return?

"Oh. Found bandits camped up ahead."

Red perked up at the man's words.

"Did they see you?" Narcha's expression turned more serious.

"No. At least, I think not. Had to drop the bird so they didn't smell it though, so no cooked meat for us tonight." He pointed at his back, clearly missing the skinned owl.

"How many?" Eiwin approached the both of them and asked.

"10 initially, 13 by the time I left." Rog replied, indifferently. "More might have joined since then, but I couldn't tell you. I saw them snooping around the place where we camped a few days ago."

Narcha's expression worsened.

"Can we travel around them?" Eiwin asked.

The man scratched his chin in thought.

"...It's possible, but we would need to make quite a detour."

"We can do that then, right Miss Valt?" Eiwin asked, staring at her companion.

The warrior didn't respond immediately, occupied with her own thoughts. Finally, she looked at Rog again and broke her silence.

"How strong are they?"

"Miss Valt-"

The younger lady tried to interject but was interrupted by a wave of the warrior's hand.

"How strong, Rog?" She asked again.

"Run of the mill. Probably a few with opened veins, but nothing too tough..." The hunter trailed off, before grinning with a horrible smile. "Do you want to kill them?"

She paused in thought but eventually nodded her head.

"...Yes, we'll do it."

"Miss Valt, we hav-"

"I know, I know." Narcha interrupted her once again. "We have orders, priorities, and everything else, but think about this, Eiwin."

She turned to look at her companion, pointing at the path they had just been walking on.

"These people already have our trail. The next time we pass through this place they could be waiting in ambush for all we know. Isn't it best to take them out while we still have the element of surprise?" She approached her younger companion. "I mean, what if they kill more innocent people after we let them go? Isn't it our responsibility to get rid of this evil?"

At that, Eiwin couldn't help but frown. Red noticed her throwing a quick glance at him.

"You don't need to come." Narcha said after noticing her eye movement. "Me and Rog are more than enough to deal with a few scoundrels. You can look after your new little brother in the meantime."

"You..." The younger woman's voice filled with anger for a moment, but she caught herself and took a deep breath. "Very well, but make sure to be careful."

The warrior smiled.

"We will." She walked over to her bag, picking up her large steel saber and turning towards the hunter. "Come on, Rog, lead the way!"

The man smiled. Tossing his bag aside, he took his bow and quiver of arrows and dove into the trees with Narcha in tow.

A few moments later and Red couldn't hear their steps anymore.

"I'm sorry you had to listen to that, but she is right."

Eiwin approached the boy and sat across from him.

"These bandits are a blight on this land and if we don't get rid of them there's no telling who they might hurt next." She shook her head.

The youth, however, had other concerns on his mind.

"Can't we go watch?"

"Excuse me?" Eiwin stared at him in surprise.

"I mean..." Red trailed off, thinking of a way to rephrase his question. "I want to see Narcha and Rog fight against the bandits. They look really strong."

"Oh." The woman shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea. Those two are... Very violent when they fight and even I prefer to avoid watching them in action. Besides, it would be hard for you to keep up with their pace and by the time we arrive there it might already be over."

Red couldn't help but recall the scene he witnessed when the giant insects had ambushed the slaves near the mine's exit. However, he wouldn't confront her about that, and she still had a point with their difference in strength.

Yet, this conversation created a good opportunity for him to ask what had been on his mind for a long time.

"How many veins have they opened?"

"All of them." Eiwin seemed more than willing to sate his curiosity. "Both of them have already opened all 12 of their Spiritual Veins."

This revelation was surprising to the boy. Were each of them as strong as Viran then?

"What about you?" He direct his question at the woman this time.

"I have opened eleven veins, so for the time being they have me beat." She smiled.

'No wonder they are so confident.'

"Are they trying to open their Spiritual Sea then?" He followed up with another question.

"Uh..."

Eiwin's expression became awkward and Red frowned. Had he asked something that shouldn't have been said?

"Did your teacher not teach you about the age limitation to open Spiritual Seas?"

The boy simply shook his head.

"Well, it's a sore spot for many practitioners in the world, so you should be careful about asking these types of questions around them." She continued. "The way it works is that the older you get the harder it becomes to open your Spiritual Sea. Once you reach a certain age, the task becomes so difficult that it's virtually impossible to accomplish it through training alone. Mister Rog is already far past that age, and Miss Valt is fast approaching it."

"And what is the age limit?" He asked.

"There's no exact number, but the oldest person I've ever heard opening their Spiritual Sea was 26 years old."

'Great.'

A time limit was imposed on top of all the worries Red had.