Red held his worry back and stared at Rimold. “What does the necklace mean?”

“It’s a symbol of a demonic cult.” the rogue said with some apprehension.

“What do you mean by ‘cult’?” Red was confused. “They also worship demons?”

“Of course they do, you brat!” Rimold looked at him as if he was an idiot. “Look, I don’t feel like giving you a history lesson right now! We first need to figure out what we are going to do!”

Red frowned, but he knew the rogue was right. He reined in his curiosity. “Aren’t we going back to the sect?”

Rimold sneered. “And getting caught red-handed by Hector? I’d rather not!”

“What else would you suggest?”

“We go hide somewhere, of course!” Rimold said. “They’ll kill that demon really quickly anyways, and once things have blown by the morning, we can return to the sect!”

Red stared at the rogue in confusion. “Isn’t that just delaying the inevitable? Besides, how are you so confident they will kill that demon?”

The boy was actually aware from the demon’s fluctuation that it wasn’t even in the Lesser Ring Realm, so the town’s cultivators wouldn’t have much issue killing it. However, Rimold didn’t know about that, so Red didn’t know where his confidence came from.

“Do you really don’t know?” Rimold once more regarded the boy with some derision. “There’s an ancient formation covering the town that the Baron controls. As long as the demon is not in the third realm or above, it won’t survive under it.”

Red faintly recalled hearing some information about that.

“What about the others?” the boy asked. “Won’t they think something happened with us if they don’t find us at the sect?”

Rimold hesitated before picking out something from his pouch. It was a communication talisman - something they had in large stock since they robbed that imperial agent.

“I will send a message to them.” the rogue said.

“What are you going to say?” Red asked.

“I don’t know!” Rimold threw his hands up. “I’ll figure it out!”

The rogue activated the talisman, which glowed in a soft blue light. His whole countenance and air suddenly changed as he began to speak.

“It’s Rimold…” the man trailed off. “Me and the kid are safe… By kid, I mean Red. Uh… It’s not convenient to come back to the sect right now, but we’ll be back in the morning… Bye.”

The glow dissipated as the talisman deactivated.

Red was looking in bewilderment at the rogue.

“What?!” Rimold glared back at him.

“I thought you were supposed to be good with words.”

The rogue seemed offended. “Of course I’m good with words! I’m just not really good when it comes to speaking to-”

Suddenly, the talisman began to glow again, and an enraged, and familiar, elderly voice came from it.

“WHAT HAVE YOU FUCKING DONE?! I SWEAR I’LL SKIN YOU ALIVE IF YOU DON’T COME BACK TO THE SECT RIGHT NOW!”

The glow disappeared, leaving Rimold’s pale expression and a heavy silence behind.

“… Aren’t you going to reply?” Red asked.

Rimold cleared his throat. “I don’t think so. Either way, do you still think it’s a good plan to go back to the sect right now?”

Red shook his head. Even if they were going to be punished upon return, he would rather it wait until Hector had somewhat calmed down.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“I have some hideouts around town prepared for this kind of occasion.” Rimold said. “We can wait in there until things blow over.” the rogue examined the strongbox in the boy’s hand. “Did you get the key, by the way?”

Red shook his head. “I got out of there as soon as I noticed something was wrong.”

The rogue grunted. “That’s fine. At the very least, you got the strongbox. Do you want me to carry it?”

The boy hesitated, but still nodded. He would rather not be weighed down by anything if they needed to flee.

Rimold took the box in his hands and looked back at Red. “Now, follow me closely. The last thing we need is to be caught up with guards.”

The boy nodded.

Thankfully for them, the guards were too occupied with the demon appearing in the middle of the night to be on the lookout for a couple of thieves. Soon they made it to a couple of ruins and abandoned houses on the edges of town.

“It’s here.” Rimold pointed out a building in particular.

He led Red into the ramshackle room. The place seemed to have been abandoned for a long time - the roof had partially collapsed and the wooden furniture was in different states of ruin.

Red frowned. “Is this your hideout?”

Rimold glared back at him. “Do you really think I would just pick a random abandoned house for a hideout? Here, just hold the box for a second.”

The boy did as he was told. With his hands free, the rogue walked over to a certain corner of the room where a large collapsed wardrobe was toppled on the floor. Rimold pushed the piece of furniture away, and below it a trapdoor came into Red’s vision.

The rogue fished around at his waist before picking out a key and unlocking the hatch. He swung the trapdoor open before looking back at the boy in arrogance.

“See? I told you I had my means.”

Red didn’t respond.

The rogue climbed down the ladder. The boy watched as he descended over five meters into the ground before finally hopping down onto the floor. Red lost sight of the rogue as he wandered away, but soon enough, he noticed a white light illuminating the shaft.

“I’ve lit up the room.” Rimold said. “You can come down now.”

Red didn’t need the light in the first place, but he saw no reason to comment on that. He climbed down the ladder while holding onto the strongbox.

When he reached the bottom, he was surprised by what he saw.

‘As it turned out, this really was a hideout.’

Red found himself in a relatively small square room, no more than five meters across. Stone bricks lined the walls - a large shelf full of sealed wooden boxes and all sorts of paraphernalia stood against the right side, while a makeshift bed stood on the other. There were also all kinds of tools strewn about the place, and Red could barely walk without stumbling over something.

Rimold looked back at him with a smug grin. “So, what do you think? I’ve built this myself.”

“It’s impressive.” Red nodded.

He was being honest. The room, of course, was a mess, but it served its purpose in being a hideout, much more so when it was all done by one person.

Rimold nodded in satisfaction. “Finally, you acknowledge my skills. Now stand back, I need to close the hatch.”

Red did as he was told. The rogue climbed back up and lifted the wardrobe over the trapdoor before slowly closing it down.

A few seconds later, he was back in the room.

He patted the dust off his clothes. “Now that we finally have some time, tell me exactly what happened. Oh, and take off your mask, will you?”

Red hesitated, but he still followed the man’s instructions.

The rogue yelped once he saw the dried blood running down his face. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“I’m not sure.” the boy shook his head. “I did everything as you told me, but when I was looking for the key, I felt my gaze drawn in by that dark pendant… After that, I was dizzy and barely made it out of the room before another bodyguard came in. When I was back in the alley, I felt that demon appear with my power and I heard the screams of someone dying.”

Red obviously omitted some details, but he saw no reason to lie to the rogue otherwise.

Rimold frowned. “Did you ever see the demon? Or how it came to be?”

Red shook his head. “I got out of there as soon as I could.”

The rogue looked troubled. “I’m not a demon specialist, but even then this whole story sounds weird to me.”

The boy was confused. “Why is it?”

“Well, there are two ways for demons to be created.” the rogue said. “Either they are summoned in rituals, or someone becomes a demon over time. Neither of these happens spontaneously, though, and from what you told me, it didn’t look like the merchant was in the middle of a summoning ritual, was he?”

Red shook his head.

The rogue grunted. “That’s what confuses me. I never heard of something like this, but then again, I suppose I don’t know much about demons in the first place.”

“What about the pendant?” Red asked, noticing Rimold had brushed past what he thought would be the most pressing matter in his story. “You said it’s a symbol of a demonic cult, didn’t you?”

Rimold’s frown deepened. “It is. They say it’s crafted from obsidian mined from the Infernal Realm and that if you stare deeply into it, then something on the other side will also look back. I thought it was all bullshit, of course, and I came across quite a few of those pendants in the past that belonged to demon worshippers and they didn’t do anything like that. However, if what you said is true…”

“Then it means they work.” Red completed his sentence.

And it also means that the eye he saw belonged to a demon from the other side.

The rogue nodded in dismay. “Maybe the ones I saw in the past were all fake… Or maybe they don’t work all the time. I-I never imagined that this merchant… I’m sorry, kid.”

“… Do I have to be expecting anything else to happen?”

“I… I don’t know.” Rimold shook his head. “But just coming into contact with a demon worshipper… That can’t mean anything good for any of us.”

Red frowned. “Those Spirit Stones… Do you think they were meant for a demonic cultivator?”

“That’s my worry, yes…” the rogue nodded. “Of course, it could be that the Spirit Stones and the demon worshipping thing are unrelated, but even then we still have messed with something we should have stirred clear from.”

“You think other demonic worshippers will come investigate?”

“Probably, but not yet. A demon appearing in the middle of town is a pretty big deal, and I don’t think the Baron will leave it alone.”

Red realized something. “You think they could find out we were involved?”

Rimold shook his head. “They shouldn’t be. We left no traces behind, and-”

The man suddenly froze.

Red had a bad premonition. “What is it? Did you leave something behind?”

“N-No but I…” Rimold stuttered. “T-The bodyguard in the stables, he…” the rogue trailed off.

“You had a deal with him, didn’t you?” the boy frowned.

“I did…” the rogue nodded. “I was supposed to give a cut of the profits from the items in the carriage to him. He didn’t even know about the Spirit Stones we were trying to steal…”

“Does he know your identity?” Red asked the most vital question.

“I didn’t reveal it to him, but… If he does some digging around, he might find some clues.”

The boy felt his blood run cold. It didn’t seem likely that this bodyguard would investigate this matter, considering it involved a demon, but leaving a loose end like this on such a serious issue didn’t sit well with Red. Not to mention, this bodyguard was likely to be questioned due to his involvement with the merchant, whom Red didn’t even know was still alive.

Rimold’s expression suddenly became determined. “We need to do something about it.”

The boy frowned. “You mean…”

The rogue nodded. “We need to kill him.”