Red approached them and helped Rog tie up Rimold. The rogue struggled beneath them like a mad bull, despite his half-unconscious state, and they needed to tie his body multiple times before they were certain he wasn’t about to break through. Even then, Rog stayed on top of the possessed man.

He nodded at Red. “This should be enough for now.”

“Where did you get that talisman?” The boy asked.

“Rimold gave it to me.”

That made sense. The last time Red saw it was in the rogue’s hand, and he was quite certain there was no such talisman in the sect’s coffers.

Still, Red remembered when he had first used it against the merchant and his bodyguards. It knocked them completely unconscious, while the rogue still was awake, and was already recovering from his groggy state.

‘Rimold’ contorted himself, trying to escape. “You bastards! You don’t know who you’re messing with! When I get free, I’m going to kill you lot!”

Rog frowned in annoyance and looked over at Red. “Can you shut him up?”

Red nodded. “Gladly.”

The boy took out his insectoid core again, upon which the rogue’s expression changed.

“What is that you have there?” The ghost asked in a fearful tone.

Red didn’t respond, focusing on the crystal while getting ready to repeat the necromantic words. At last, the situation he found himself in seemed to dawn on the possessed Rimold.

“W-Wait! Don’t do anything rash! We can talk!” He looked at Red with pleading eyes.

The boy continued to ignore him.

The ghost insisted. “Listen, don’t you want to know why I was digging around in the forest?”

Red paused. He looked over at Rog, but the hunter just shrugged.

“Why were you digging around in the forest?” The boy asked.

“That’s because I was looking for a treasure!” The ghost said.

Rog frowned. “Treasure? In this forest? Whatever treasure worth discovering here was taken by sects hundreds of years ago.”

The ghost laughed. “That’s what they want you to think! Of course, all the ruins in this place are empty by now, but it’s exactly because of this that this is a good spot to hide treasures! They would never think to look for it.”

Red frowned. “Before we proceed any further, I need to know something. Do you know about the Empire?”

The rogue scoffed. “Of course I know about the Empire! They’ve been threatening to invade our kingdom for the whole time I was alive!”

The boy was surprised. This was a question meant to gauge the ghost’s age, but not only did he seem to be aware of the Empire, he seemed to be a local to their kingdom, of all things.

Rog also seemed curious. “You’re a native?”

“I am!” The ghost nodded. “I used to live in the capital, but I’ve done more than my fair share of wandering around the kingdom!”

“Who was the king while you were still alive?” Red asked.

“King Thomas the III, of course!”

The boy frowned. This was the current king, which could only mean one thing - this ghost was probably no more than a few decades old, which lent some credence to his claims.

“What is this treasure you’re talking about?” Red asked.

“It’s a dagger!” The ghost said with fervor. “A very special dagger! They say it was carved by the bones of a cultivator who died on the verge of ascending! Even if that’s not true, it’s still an incredibly powerful weapon! It’s a work of art!”

Red now had a good idea about what this ghost’s obsession was.

Rog frowned in thought. “You say this dagger is right here?”

“It should be!” The possessed Rimold nodded. “I was carrying it around this part of the forest when I was attacked back then, and I ended up hiding the dagger in a deep hole!“

Red shook his head. “And what makes you think the dagger is still there after all this time?”

“This…” The ghost hesitated. “It is here, you have to trust me! Just help me find it and we can split the profits from it!”

The boy sighed. If the ghost was so certain about the dagger’s location, why would they need to dig up dozens of holes in an attempt to find it? If this weapon was indeed real, they clearly had no idea of where it was.

Red looked at Rog, and the hunter also shook his head. They were of the same mind.

The possessed Rimold seemed to notice what they were about to do, and he immediately went into a frenzy. “You bastards! You’re trying to cheat me! I won’t let you! I won’t let you keep her for yourself!”

The ghost struggled with renewed strength, and Rog had to do his utmost to keep him down. He looked at Red with an urging gaze.

The boy needed no more prompting. He started to recite the necromantic incantations, and soon enough, the exorcizing process started.

The insectoid crystal glowed with a flaring green brightness, and specks of grey smoke started to exit Rimold’s body and enter the core. The ghost seemed to be completely unaware of this, struggling to get free and spewing nonsense about this dagger.

A few seconds later, though, his fight began to wane, until it eventually had completely disappeared. Rimold's head fell down on the ground, as the rogue blacked out.

Red still continued to recite the incantation until he couldn’t see the slightest trace of gray smoke. Only then did he relax.

He looked over at Rog and nodded. “It’s done.”

The hunter grunted back and got off Rimold’s unconscious body.

He looked at Red with a raised eyebrow. “What kind of technique was that?”

“A necromantic technique to extract ghosts.” Red said without hesitation.

Rog didn’t display shock, instead only frowning slightly. “Really? Was the whole demon thing a few days ago not enough?”

“Trust me, if I had a choice, I never would have interacted with either of these things.” Red said. “Right now, though, I need to continue juggling these problems to keep them from falling on my head, at least until I’m strong enough to eliminate them.”

The hunter grunted. “Seems like a good approach. Just make sure you don’t turn into a demon or something, will you? Would hate to have to kill you.”

Red shook his head. “If I turned into a demon, you definitely wouldn’t be able to kill me.”

This boy always had the feeling that if he truly let go of all his inhibitions of absorbing blood, then he could become stronger very quickly, even faster than the demon lizard back then. Yet, of course, these kinds of shortcuts never came without their consequences, and Red would rather not lose his mind and self-control in the process.

Rog ignored his words and looked over at Rimold. “Is he going to be fine?”

“Should be.” Red nodded. “Unless you broke one of his ribs in the process of immobilizing him.”

“… I don’t think so.” The rogue didn’t seem confident.

The boy sighed. “I would rather not use any more healing pills for this. We should wake him up and let him speak for his own state. Oh, but be careful. I’m not familiar with this technique yet, so maybe the ghost is still hiding in his body.”

Red didn’t think that was the case, but it was always better to be safe.

Rog seemed to agree with him and nodded.

The boy then picked some medicinal powder off of his pouch and opened right below Rimold’s nose. The reaction was almost instantaneous as the rogue drew in breath and began to stir.

“Ugh…” A groan came from Rimold as his eyes slowly opened. “What is that terrible smell?”

The man looked around in confusion, spotting Red standing right in front of him.

“Red?” The rogue frowned. “What are you…” He trailed off as he tried moving. “Wait, why can’t I move? What is going on?”

“You were possessed by a ghost.” Red said. “We took it out of you, but we needed to make sure it was truly gone.”

“A ghost?” Rimold seemed confused. “Wait, the head! What happened?! Where are the others?! And untie me, goddamnit!”

They did as much after double checking the ghost was truly gone, to Rimold’s dismay. After the rogue was done collecting himself, Red gave a rough explanation of what had happened since he encountered Allen.

“Y-You mean Narcha killed a Curse Breaker knight?” Rimold shivered in fright. “Do you have any idea of what that means for us?!”

Red sighed. “I can take a guess. Still, I did what I could to hide her involvement.”

“Even if you hide our involvement, they will never let this go!” The rogue shook his head. “When one of their own is killed, their order will go to any lengths necessary to find the culprit! Sometimes they even kill every potential suspect just to make sure the true killer doesn’t get away!”

“Don’t harp on the kid, it’s not his fault.” Rog cut him off. “We can figure this out after we reunite with Hector. The old man has plenty of connections to call upon if need be.”

Rimold gritted his teeth and nodded. “I can only hope it is enough when an army of inquisitor knights comes knocking at our door.”

“There’s something else I’ve been meaning to ask you too.” Red said. “The others all claimed to have had strange dreams while they were possessed, possibly of the ghosts’ previous lives. What about you? Did you see anything?”

Rimold frowned. “I do remember some strange dreams… They seemed really fuzzy, though, and yet I can tell you they were definitely no normal dream.”

“And do you recall anything about a dagger?” Red asked.

He was still curious about what the ghost said, and even if he thought the story was far-fetched, it was still worth looking into.

“A dagger?” Rimold frowned. “There was something like that, but when I think about it… I can’t really help but feel like it was way more than just a dagger.” The man had an uncertain expression.

“Like it was an individual?”

Red still remembered how the ghost referred to the dagger as “her”.

Rimold nodded. “Something like that. I just felt like it was really important. Even now, I can’t help but feel a craving to just go around and search for it.”

Rog grunted. “Is it another haunted item? I mean, I can’t imagine something made of bones would be anything good.”

“It’s quite possible, in which case it’s probably for the better that we just leave this place as soon as possible.” Red said.

The boy’s experience with these types of items was already very poor. Then again, there was probably never a positive interaction with a cursed treasure.

The others seemed to agree with his suggestion, and they all set out back the way they came, without further ado. Red still felt the gaze of the Moon, now seemingly having somewhat calmed down.

Yet beyond just that, the boy couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being observed by something beyond the reach of his senses. What bothered him the most, though, was how many potential candidates could fill the role of his stalker.