Red did not dwell on this issue either. If he ever asked for help regarding this strange problem, it wouldn’t be until he verified some venues first.

Soon enough, he was back at his manor. He opened the door under the watch of spies waiting on the roofs of the neighborhood and walked in. His eyes shot over to an empty corner, where he knew the imp was hiding in his invisibility.

Emer’s figure materialized out of thin air and ran over to Red.

“Master! You’re back!”

The imp was carrying a bundle of formation plates in his arms, some of them almost half-the-size of his own body.

“Did anything happen?” Red asked.

“Not at all, master! I kept a close eye on the plates the entire time, and nothing out of the ordinary appeared.”

“Good. Continue keeping watch. I need to rest.”

“Ah- then is master’s task over?”

“It is.”

Red refused to elaborate further and walked over to the Spirit Gathering formation. He sat down cross-legged and examined his inner body with the help of his expanded awareness.

Although he hadn’t been harmed by the trap, he couldn’t forget the kind of enemy he was facing: a cult known for illusions and subterfuge. Red didn’t know their capabilities, but it might be possible that he had fallen under some kind of effect without being aware of it.

On an initial examination, however, he didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary in his body.

Still not satisfied, though, he touched the crystal core in his pouch.

“Can you check my body for anomalies?” he asked.

Aurelia scoffed. “After what happened with that third eye of yours?! Do you want me to die, you bastard?!”

‘Right…’

Red almost forgot about that issue of his third eye, as it had been inactive for a long time. It was bound to absorb Aurelia’s spiritual energy as soon as she entered his body.

“Don’t be too concerned, though.” She said. “If something tried to invade your body, I would have detected it.”

Red sighed. It wasn’t the reassurance he wanted to hear, but it was as much as he would get in this situation.

After making sure nothing was out of the ordinary with the rest of his equipment, he closed his eyes and started to meditate with the Celestial Current. He did not use much spiritual energy in studying the formation, but just trying to access the memories of the infernal runes took a lot of him mentally.

He needed to be well rested before considering his next move.

…

The night passed and morning arrived.

Before Red could even start to contemplate his day, he sensed someone approaching his manor. Ten seconds later, and there were some knocks at the door.

This wasn’t a fluctuation he recognized, but he didn’t sense any ill intent behind their actions. Once he opened the door, an old servant greeted him.

“Master Viran!” He bowed. “Young Master Leon invites you to have breakfast with him. He says he has some important matters to discuss with you.”

‘That quickly?’

Red had been expecting this kind of invitation, but he thought it would arrive at least a few days later. It seemed, however, that the situation was more urgent than he imagined.

He took a look behind himself and spotted the imp behind a crate. Emer gave him a thumbs up and a smile, as if he knew exactly what his master was about to ask.

Red frowned at this, but paid the imp no mind.

He turned back to the old servant and nodded.

“Lead the way.”

…

A carriage brought Red through a familiar path towards the district of the nobles. Along the way, though, he couldn’t help but overhear the conversations on the streets.

“The Empire attacked us!”

“Those bastards! Didn’t we have a treaty?”

Red frowned at this.

‘Why are they only learning about this now?’

Bestrem was conquered well over a month ago. From the time Red arrived in the capital, it had already been long enough that he had assumed they would have known about this some time ago, either through the Crystal Sky Sect or through the lack of communication with the town. The fact the public didn’t know about this made him presume the court had a reason to keep the information hidden - most likely to avoid panic.

The Empire hadn’t pushed their invasion any further than Bestrem, so perhaps the king thought it wouldn’t come to all-out war again. Yet, it seemed the information was leaked, intentionally or not.

This didn’t bode well for Red’s peaceful cultivation.

Soon enough, he arrived at the Northvale manor. This time, though, he sensed a new fluctuation belonging to a Greater Ring Realm cultivator.

‘Either a visitor, or perhaps Duke Northvale himself.’

Did Leon mean to have Red break bread with his father? If that was the case, Red would have to find an excuse to leave.

Thankfully, though, the servants led him to the same gazebo from the last time. This time, though, only Leon was seated at the table, with an assortment of pastries and other delicacies spread in front of him. He didn’t seem to be very interested in the food, though, and as soon as he spotted Red, he shot up from his seat.

“Ah, Master Viran, you are-” Leon seized, his expression filled with embarrassment. “I mean to say welcome, Master Viran, and thank you for accepting my sudden invitation.”

Red took a moment to study the young master’s expression before nodding.

“You told me there is an important matter to discuss.”

“Ah, yes.” Leon pointed at the chair across from him. “Please, sit first.”

Red did as much, but his gaze stayed trained on the man across from him.

Leon couldn’t hide his worried expression, but he still kept a forced smile. “Would you like something to eat?”

Red sighed. “Young Master Leon-”

“Just Leon, please.”

“… Leon, then. I do not care about such pleasantries. I entertained you out of respect for you as my host the first time, but I dislike wasting my time when it could be better spent cultivating or attending other important matters. So if there’s something important to be discussed, go ahead.”

Leon chuckled, as some of the tension in his posture disappeared. The concern in his expression, though, remained there.

“It’s a habit, Master Viran. I hope you can forgive me.”

He did not wait for a reply, instead pushing a small ornate box across the table towards Red.

“First of all, this is for you.”

Red examined the box with curiosity, but also didn’t stand on ceremony. He lifted the lid open, and a rich scent of Spiritual Energy flew to him.

A pure white pill was inside the box, resting on top of an embroidered cloth.

Red’s eyes narrowed as he sensed the large amount of energy in this immaculate medicine.

He looked up at Leon.

The young master seemed to have an apologetic expression. “Pierre told me what happened yesterday. You risked yourself and were exposed to some amounts of corruption, beyond the safe amount.”

“This is a cleansing pill?” Red asked.

“Indeed. It’s the only way I can repay you for taking a risk you didn’t need to.”

“I do not need it. The corruption didn’t affect me much, and this pill would be wasted on me.”

“In that case, think of it as a gift. Something you can use in case of an emergency.”

These words made Red reconsider. It would be disingenuous to pretend this wouldn’t be useful for him in the future, though perhaps not in the way Leon might be thinking.

He nodded. “I will take it then.”

Without ceremony, he closed the lid and stowed the box away into his pouch. Then he looked back at Leon.

“I assume there must be something else.”

“There is.” Leon nodded. “Have you heard the news of the Empire’s attack?”

“I heard something about it on the way over. Where did they attack?”

“A small town in the southern region of the kingdom. It seems they left the place not soon after the attack, though, and they might have taken the citizens there into custody.”

‘They left?’

This was news to Red.

Leon continued. “Truth be told, though, this isn’t new information. The court had been aware of it for quite some time already.”

“Why did they keep this from the public, then?”

Although Red knew the likely answers, he still needed to pretend.

“It was not a unanimous decision, but… The court thought since the Empire didn’t seem to have plans to push their invasion further, there was no need to spread further panic in the city. They would investigate this sudden attack, and when they knew the reason behind it, then they would tell the citizens…” Leon shook his head. “Well, at least that was the supposed reason. Truth is, they just wanted to let this matter go since they didn’t think anything of much value was lost and that looking into it would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

These words echoed in his mind, and a feeling Red wasn’t used to rose in his mind. Still, he was quick to push it down and return to normal.

“Why did they decide to reveal this information now, then?” Red asked.

Leon frowned and looked down. “Well, they didn’t. No one knows how the information leaked, but by dawn, the news seemed to have spread like wildfire. People sought to confirm it with their contacts, and by then the strangenesses and lack of response from this Bestrem town started to raise suspicion. The court then decided to come ahead of the matter and reveal everything before matters got out of hand.”

“I assume there was a very dedicated effort to keep this information hidden.”

“Yes. In fact, I have only learned about this myself this morning from my father. Only a handful of officials in the court even knew about it in the first place.”

Red started to notice the strangeness of the situation.

“Could this have been a deliberate leak to cause unrest in the city?” he asked.

“That is what my father suspects. Any unrest would benefit the Empire when the time to invade came once more. However…” Leon hesitated. “I have some of my own suspicions as well.”

Red could somewhat guess at his thoughts. “You think someone from the court leaked it?”

“I think that could be a possibility, much more so with what I know.”

At this, Leon fell silent and looked around, as if making sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. This, in turn, also made Red stand more on guard.

“Pierre is being punished for insubordination as we speak, but he managed to relay the information you two found to me before that.” Leon said. “He told me about the tunnel beneath that house, and how it is likely connected to the sewers. It also happens that quite a few influential families in that area use those sewer tunnels for conducting illegal transactions.”

Red followed along his logic. “You think one of them might be involved with what this cult was doing?”

“Pierre told you about the families that own that district, didn’t he? At first, I thought it strange they were so opposed to us investigating that formation, but it would start to make sense if they were involved with that cult in the first place. Not to mention, they have a deep knowledge of the tunnels beneath that district. Would they not have noticed cultist activity in that area? Or better yet, would the cultists have managed to dig that space without their help?”

Red shook his head. “I’m unqualified to speak on their capabilities, but if they know those sewers that well, then it does seem like a strange coincidence that they wouldn’t notice the cultist’s movement.”

“Those were my exact thoughts.” Leon nodded. “Which is why, before dawn even arrived, I was already preparing to present a motion to investigate the sewers in that district to the court.”

A realization came to Red. “And before you could do that, the news of the Empire leaked.”

“That is the case. And now, the entire court is occupied discussing how to respond to that, and my motion will not be discussed until tomorrow, at the very least.”

‘That gives them enough time to clean those sewers of any clues.’

Red looked at Leon. “Are you certain about these assumptions?”

The young master shook his head. “Not at all. However, even if it’s just a coincidence, this still gives anyone down in the sewer the opportunity to hide any important clues from us. Even if the motion to investigate is accepted tomorrow, I fear we won’t find anything of use.”

Red could only imagine. In fact, it was likely those sewers were being scrubbed clean as they spoke, which explained why Leon had called him so early in the morning. This also explained another matter.

“You want my help.” Red said with absolute certainty.

Leon smiled with a difficult expression. “That is indeed the case. The enemy most likely has a very skilled formation master on their side, and you have proven to be capable enough to see through their schemes. I’m afraid only you can help me and my companions to see this through in one piece.”

A silence befell the surroundings as the young master revealed his intentions. Leon noticed Red’s lack of response and started to show more worry in his expression.

“I know I’m asking a lot of you, but trust me, should you accept not only will you be helping the entire city, you will also be more than appropriately compensat-”

“I’ll do it.” Red cut him off.

Leon’s eyes widened. “You will?”

“Yes, but I have some conditions of my own.”

“Anything, Master Viran! As long as we can buy it, we will-”

“What I want can’t be bought.” Red shook his head. “I need a Spirit Contract. Something that will bind you to your word if you agree to my terms.”

This time, Leon seemed at a loss.

“I will only accept the job if you agree to that.” Red said.