“You can speak?” Allen’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Of course, of course I can!” the monkey said with a joyful laugh. “I possessed the last zombie in haste, vocal cords all destroyed! But this one I modified myself - crafted by hand! Now it can speak, laugh, smile!”

The creature’s voice resembled that of a small child, and it made the situation even more eerie for the trio. Red was still keeping a careful watch on the surroundings with his crimson sense, while Rimold eyes were filled with worry as he looked at the undead creation.

“We should run…” the man looked at the boys, and his voice had a tinge of fear to it.

"No!” the monkey screeched. “Not yet!”

The sudden outburst from the creature sent a shudder down their spines, and they raised their weapons to prepare for combat. The monkey didn’t move though, and continued to hope around the branch while looking at the group.

“Aren’t you curious?” the creature asked. “Don’t you want to talk? Find out more about me? What I’m doing here?”

“And wait for your zombies to surround us?” Rimold sneered. “I’d rather not.”

“The zombies aren’t going to do anything! They’re staying still! Look, ask him!” the monkey pointed at Red. “He can tell!”

“What do you mean by that?” Rimold frowned, looking over at the boy.

Red’s eyebrows twitched, but he didn’t respond.

“He knows, he knows!” the undead creature hopped around. “Every time I approach, the small one always knows where I am! No matter how hard I hide, he always knows! Must be some kind of treasure, or hidden power!”

Rimold eyed Red with suspicion. “Is what he’s saying true?”

The youth hesitated, but ended up nodding. “Yes. I can do something like that.” he refused to elaborate any further, though.

The monkey laughed. “See?! I knew it, I knew it! No way a kid could spot me!”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Allen stared at Red in awe. “I knew there was something special about you!”

Rimold ignored the children’s outburst, still looking at Red with a frown. “What about his zombies? Is what he told true?”

Red hesitated on again on how to answer. “For now, he wasn’t lying. We still should be careful, though.”

The man nodded. His suspicion of Red didn’t seem to have diminished, but he was willing to believe the boy on this point from the looks of it.

“What do you want to talk about with us then?” Rimold asked, looking back at the monkey. His trepidation hadn’t disappeared, but he seemed more secure after confirming they weren’t being surrounded by zombies.

“Us?!” the monkey shook its small rotting head. “Not us! Just him!” it pointed at Red again.

The boy once more frowned at being singled out.

“Him again?” Rimold’s expression worsened. “Why do you want to talk to him?”

“Bah, none of your business!” the monkey looked angry. “Now just stand aside while the grown-ups talk!”

“You little…” the man was about to raise his dagger, but thought better of it. He looked over at Red with an angry expression. “Well then, go ahead! I’m very interested to see what this necromancer wants of you!”

Red frowned, but he ignored Rimold’s veiled threats. He stared at the monkey. “What do you want?”

“You! You!” the creature jumped around in eagerness. “You have it, don’t you? The thing?”

The boy didn’t respond.

“I know you have it!” the monkey said with insistence. “I can sense it!”

“What do you want?” Red asked the same question.

“You’re from that place, aren’t you?” the undead nodded to itself. “Yes, that can only be it! That’s the only way you can have it!”

‘Is he talking about the mines?’

The boy felt his heart skip a beat.

“What is he talking about?” Rimold eyed them with suspicion.

Neither Red nor the monkey responded, though, and the man could only grit his teeth and remain in silence.

“Yes, yes! I have been looking for it!” the zombie clapped. “So long ago, so many leads… Only dead ends! But here you are, a living one! Living proof!”

“… What do you want?” Red refused to play along with the necromancer’s games.

“What I want?!” the monkey asked with a laugh. “More like what do you want?! I’m not the one who’s cursed!”

His words shocked the boy into silence.

“Cursed?” Allen looked at Red in worry. “What does he mean by that, Red?”

The youth didn’t respond, still contemplating the monkey’s words.

“Yes, I saw it! Felt it!” the creature was the one to respond. "The stirring in the Moon! Even if other people can’t see it, it’s as obvious as the Sun for me! I knew it must have been you! Could only be you!”

‘He saw the monster in the Moon?’

“I was worried! Worried, yes!” the monkey looked to be on the verge of tears. “Worried that my only hope was dead, the thing lost! But here you are, yes! And brought the thing with you, you have!”

“… For the last time, what do you want?” Red asked once more, tired of the necromancer beating around the bush.

“You might be alive for now, but things will get worse! Much worse!” the zombie nodded. “Has happened before! You’re not the only one who escaped! All died, and you will too, unless you get my help!”

“What could you possibly do for me?” Red frowned.

“I know things! Things about the place you came from! About the Moon! About the curse! Long-lost knowledge, but I still remember! I will always remember!” the monkey tumbled around the branches, laughing to itself.

“That does not answer my question.”

“Answer doesn’t come free! Meet me, down below! Bandit tunnel! I’ll show you the truth and then we can make a deal! I’ll show you how to handle curse and you show me the entrance! Only fair, right?!”

“You want to meet me in the dark, monster-infested tunnels down below?”

“Yes! That one!”

Red shook his head. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Haha! I knew you would say it! But you have no choice!” the monkey looked at the boy with a smug grin. “You will look, look, look, but will find nothing! Hope will fade, and the only choice will be to find me! If not now, then in the future! Yes, you will see! You will see!”

“… I have nothing more to say to you. If you have told your part, then be on your way… Unless you’d like to fight here.”

“Haha, no fight, no fight…” the monkey shook its head. “I’ll go, I’ll go!”

It tumbled around the trees, swinging on the branches as it travelled away. Red felt the undead fluctuations in his crimson sense slowly distance itself from them until they had left his detection range.

The boy turned around to face his companions. “They’re gone.”

None of them responded, all staring at Red in silence. Rimold with a gaze of undisguised suspicion, while Alen had a worried expression.

“What was he talking about, Red?” the young master asked. “Do you really have a curse on you?”

Red shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not something to concern yourself over right now.”

“Not to concern ourselves?!” Rimold’s gaze of suspicion seemed on the verge of turning into one of hostility. “If this necromancer is to be believed, the only reason they are in the forest is because of you! How could we not concern ourselves with it?!”

The boy didn’t respond. Or rather, he didn’t know how to respond.

“Even if we are to believe you are not associated with some demonic forces, you’re still indirectly responsible for a lot of the bad things happening in the forest!” the man didn’t hold back on his berating. “We are on the verge of an undead outbreak because of you! And that’s not the only thing! What about the demon?! He just so happened to make an appearance once you left town! Are you going to tell me that’s just a coincidence?!”

“Rimold, it’s not Red’s fault!” Allen interjected.

“Not his fault?!” Rimold still seemed unconvinced. “He knew about it, and he still hid it from all of you! He put all the sect’s lives at risk!”

“H-he… He must have had his reasons!”

“I’m sure he did!” Rimold said with a sneer. “He wanted to use the sect to protect himself, of course! If the others knew about it, they would have never let him join the sect!”

“T-that’s not true!” Allen shook his head. “We all talked about it that day! We all decided that even if he was a risk, we would still take him in!”

“But that was before any of you knew his risk involved an extremely powerful necromancer!” the man looked at Red. “But maybe Allen is right, so I’ll give you a chance. If you tell us about your curse and about the place the necromancer said you came from, then maybe we can still forgive you! What do you think about that?”

Red, however, didn’t respond, still staring at the place where the monkey had disappeared into.

Rimold sneered. “As I thought. Still holding secrets and still risking all our lives in the process.”

“That’s because you’re pressuring him!” Allen said, firing back. “I’m sure he will tell us when he’s ready!”

“Maybe he will, but that’s not the point.” the man shook his head. “I understand you, Red. It’s hard to open up to others, even more so when these secrets concern your survival, but I can’t allow you to risk the lives of our sect members because of it. Once we reunite with the others, I’ll tell them all about it and you’ll be expelled from the sect.”

Allen was red in the face, on the verge of tears. “That’s not fair! You can’t-”

“Fine.” Red said, interrupting him. “We will do as you say.”

“B-but Red-”

The boy held his hand up to silence his companion. “Enough, Allen. We need not discuss this right now.” Red looked over at Rimold. “I will do as you say, but the priority right now is still to reunite with our companions, isn’t it? We can handle this matter after the fact.”

“Hmph, it’s as you say.” Rimold nodded. “We can handle this after we return to the sect.”

The man turned around and walked ahead, no longer waiting for Red to scout the way.

“He can’t expel you, Red.” Allen looked at the youth, shaking his head in denial. “You are- you are…”

“Allen.” Red interrupted him. “Focus on the mission. Our first concern is to get out of this alive, what happens after matters not.”

With these words, the youth also followed behind Rimold, leaving Allen behind to collect himself.

A few minutes later, and the trio was back on their travel. This time, though, a heavy atmosphere surrounded them.