Eiwin frowned, struggling to come up with a response. This only left Narcha more confused as she sat up.
“I don’t know what happened…” She massaged her temples. “There was only darkness at first, but then… but then…”
Narcha trailed off as she looked at her surroundings. The destruction around the area was evident, but her gaze lingered on the dead knight a few meters away from her.
“Did we kill him… No, wait!” She shook her head. “It wasn’t us, it was… It was.”
“It was you.” Red completed her sentence. “Your body, that is. A ghost possessed you while we were fighting the floating head and we needed to take it out of you.”
“A ghost?” Narcha paled. “Wait, you’re all bleeding… Does that mean?”
“There’s no reason to linger on this,” the boy cut her off. “We need to cover our tracks and get out of this place as soon as we can before more Curse Breakers appear.”
Narcha nodded with a dazed expression. Uncertainty and fear lingered in her eyes, and Red had never seen the headstrong woman so dismayed as she was right now. Her fluctuation told the same story, stirring into an emotional turmoil stronger than when the ghost was possessing her body.
Eiwin noticed this too and seemed eager to console her friend.
“Eiwin,” Red called out to her before she could say anything. “I need your help.”
Eiwin looked over at him with a frown but was only met by the boy’s impassive expression. She seemed reluctant, but still nodded.
Eiwin looked over at Allen. “Look after her while we deal with this.”
“Huh?” Allen looked surprised. “Sure, I guess.”
The woman seemed satisfied with his response. She walked over to Red, who was standing over the knight’s corpse.
“Do they have some kind of technique to keep track of their companions?” Red asked.
“Most likely.” Eiwin nodded. “It’s standard practice for large factions. It’s very likely they also have trackers on their equipment, so looters can’t profit off of their companion’s deaths.”
‘So they know where he died…’
Red frowned. “We need to wipe our traces from the scene. If they find out one of us was involved in killing this knight, then I can’t imagine we will survive this.”
Eiwin also seemed worried. “It will be nearly impossible to hide his body, and even if we did, they would still act under the pretense their companion was dead when they can’t find him.”
Red shook his head. “We don’t need to hide the body, we just need to make sure no one can discern the cause of death.”
The woman seemed hesitant. “… What are you suggesting?”
“Use one of our talismans and burn everything.” Red said. “Including the trees and the corpse. It’s the only way we will be able to hide the saber slashes.”
Of course, this was all under the assumption the Curse Breakers didn’t have a way of discerning the truth even after all that, which was entirely possible in the cultivation world. However, Red couldn’t prepare for things outside of his realm of understanding, so he could only opt to be as thorough as possible within his capabilities.
For a second, he thought Eiwin was about to protest the act of desecrating this corpse. Yet, the woman’s gaze turned towards Narcha, who still seemed to be in a state of denial.
Eiwin gritted her teeth before a look of resignation appeared on her face.
She looked back at Red and nodded. “We’ll do as you say.”
The boy was relieved Eiwin didn’t argue with him. He looked around the area. “I will lay some lantern oil around. We will need something to set a strong fire, though.”
“We can use a fireball talisman.” Eiwin said. “It’s the only way we will be able to get a fire strong enough to burn everything away.”
Red nodded. “Then let’s set about it.”
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It didn’t take long for them to set everything up. Red spread oil around the tree stumps, while Eiwin took care of the corpse. She took off their armor, which probably wouldn’t melt in the fire, and made sure to smash the area where Narcha’s saber cut into so no one could recognize what happened.
Upon seeing the two of them do this, Allen looked confused. “What are you two doing?”
“Hiding the evidence.” Red said. “We can’t let the Curse Breakers know what happened here.”
“Ah, right…” The young master looked over at Narcha with an expression of realization.
Narcha seemed to snap out of her daze as she heard these words. “… What can I do to help?”
“Nothing for now.” Red shook his head. “We are almost done.”
Indeed, the task wasn’t particularly hard. Once Red made sure that everything was covered with as much oil as he could muster, he walked back to Eiwin, who was looking over at the corpse with a pale expression.
The weight of what they were about to do only hit her now.
“Take Narcha and Allen away.” Red said. “I’ll do the rest.”
Eiwin nodded and turned around to look at Narcha. “Let’s wait some distance away.”
Narcha frowned once she saw the young woman’s expression, but she still just nodded.
Both she and Allen followed Eiwin after collecting their equipment, leaving Red alone with the knight’s corpse. In truth, the boy didn’t tell the extent of his plans to Eiwin, even if the woman might have an inkling about it.
Red doubted they could hide the body from the Curse Breakers. However, he needed to make sure any kind of investigation of the scene was made as difficult as possible, and for that, they needed to do more than just burn the body.
Red picked up his short sword and looked over the corpse. He sighed.
Even for the boy, what he was about to do wasn’t very pleasant. Even if this wasn’t his first time doing it.
‘It’s for the good of the sect.’
He no longer hesitated and set about doing his butcher’s work.
…
It took him no longer than five minutes to be done with his task. After that, he used a fireball talisman to hit the center of the battlefield.
A huge explosion happened, throwing wood and body parts every which way. The fire was quick to spread, much more so with so much oil and under this dry season. Soon enough, a raging inferno was in front of Red, which was likely to spread even further beyond the areas of the battlefield.
Satisfied, the boy turned around and walked in the direction Eiwin and the others had run off to. He found them waiting for him a few hundred meters away.
“… Is it done?” Eiwin asked.
Red nodded. “I did all I could. I can only hope it works.”
On the side, Narcha gritted her teeth. “Can you tell me what happened now?”
“No, we can’t.” The boy shook his head. “We don’t have time for this discussion. We need to run away from this place and also find Rog and Rimold. They might also be possessed.”
The woman grimaced but didn’t say anything.
“We have no idea where Rog and Rimold could have gone to.” Red said, staring at Narcha. “Do you remember anything before you fell unconscious? Maybe you saw them run in a certain direction.”
Narcha hesitated. “… I don’t remember much. However, before everything… happened, I’m sure all of us stood our ground to the very end, including Rog and Rimold.”
“So we have no idea where they could have gone?” Red frowned.
The woman nodded with a crestfallen expression.
Red sighed. “This makes looking for them even harder than it was looking for you. We can only look in the general directions we haven’t searched yet and hope we stumble on them.”
Eiwin nodded. “Maybe they weren’t possessed. In which case, they might also be looking for us.”
‘Or maybe they already stumbled upon the Curse Breakers.’
Red left that last part unsaid. This wasn’t the kind of guesswork that would help their shaken spirits.
“We’ll continue heading east.” Red said. “Maybe a soldier along the road could have spotted them.”
The entire group agreed with his assessment.
They set about their return trip towards the eastward towards the road, a journey that took them a few more hours. By then, night had fallen and the Moon gaze set its focus upon Red.
The boy had gotten used to this pressure, but this time, he felt something different about it. This time he felt as the gaze was conveying its emotions onto him. Red could feel it.
The creature was angered and the boy could make a good guess as to why.
The result of this anger was that its hateful gaze pressured the boy like never before, and he found himself slowing down as they walked through the forest. He still felt a lingering soreness where Narcha had punched him, and adding this pressure on top of it, Red felt as if he was on the verge of collapsing.
“Red!” Allen was the first to notice it. “What’s going on with you?!”
“It’s fine.” The boy waved him off while massaging his temples. “We need to move.”
“Are you feeling the aftereffects of your injuries?” Eiwin asked in a worried tone. “We need to address it before it’s too late!”
Upon hearing this, Narcha gritted her teeth.
“That’s not it.” Red shook his head. “It’s… complicated. Just trust me, there’s nothing medicine or treatment can do to help.”
“… Hop on my back.” Narcha said with a serious expression.
Red hesitated.
The woman glared at him. “You said it yourself, didn’t you? We need to hurry, and you’re in no condition to walk.”
Red nodded with a sigh. “I suppose you’re right.”
Without hesitation, the boy hopped onto the woman’s back, holding onto her armor and backpack straps for support. Narcha barely seemed to feel the added weight on her back.
“Point the direction and I’ll head in it.” She said.
Red did as much.
Eventually, the group made it back onto the road, but they saw no signs of anyone around.
“We shouldn’t be more than a few hours away from the river.” The boy said.
“There're no soldiers around.” Allen frowned in worry. “Does that mean the horde…”
“We can’t be sure.” Eiwin shook her head. “But if the guards lost at the river line, I assume there would be far more chaos even this far from the river.”
Allen nodded in relief.
It seemed, however, that they had spoken too soon.
As they walked for ten minutes further, they heard the sounds of combat not too far from them.
Narcha gritted her teeth. “We need to-”
She was interrupted by a deafening howl. Red felt a shiver run down his spine.
He felt like he recognized this howl. Or at least, the creature it belonged to.