Red’s response made Goulth sigh in relief, while Hector nodded with a satisfied expression.
The elder looked over at Allen. “Do you still have any objections?”
The young master gritted his teeth, but in the end, he shook his head with a resigned expression. “I don’t.”
“Great, then we can-”
“However,” Allen cut him off. “It doesn’t mean I’m okay with you throwing your lives away! I want all of you to live. Do you understand me?”
Hector frowned at these words. “Who are you to give us orders now, you little brat?”
“I am your sect master. Or have you forgotten the title you gave to me?”
It was the elder’s turn to be unsure of how to respond.
“You don’t need to concern yourself, Allen.” Domeron said. “While we recognize the possibility of death, no one here is eager to throw their lives away.”
Rog grunted as if he wanted to say something, but a glare from the swordsman was enough to silence him.
“Then, if everything is settled, when exactly do we depart?” Rimold asked with eagerness.
“When your escort arrives.” Hector said.
The rogue seemed confused. “Escort? I thought it was just the three of us that were going to leave.”
The elder scoffed. “What, did you think that I was just going to send the three of you out on your own? You would definitely be captured or killed before you even arrived in the next town. No, I intend on asking for a favor from someone who can not only escort you somewhere safe but can also grant you sanctuary as long as necessary.”
“… The Crystal Sky Sect.” Red was able to guess who the old man was referring to.
Hector had kept this trump card for years on end, refusing to use it even when the situation might have called for it. Back then, he helped that female cultivator deal with the Beast Tamer and the monster horde, and without his help, the culprit could have likely escaped. This all resulted in one of the most powerful sects in the world, or at least one of its elders, in owing Hector a favor.
The elder smiled. “It’s time they pay back what they owe me.”
“How long have they promised to protect them for?” Domeron asked.
“I don’t know.” Hector shook his head. “The details will be discussed tomorrow with their representative.”
“They have a representative in town?” the swordsman seemed surprised.
“Yes. Probably one of their mortal agents. I can only imagine how many of those they have spread throughout the world.”
This was the first time Red was hearing about this, too. He was under the impression that the sects didn’t get involved in mortal matters, but it seemed like this was a naïve outlook on things. Even if they chose not to interfere with certain matters, that didn’t stop them from keeping tabs on everything that happened on the continent, and employing agents for that was much easier than making use of their limited number of cultivators.
“Are we going to be brought to Skycrown Peak?” Allen asked, displaying undisguised curiosity.
Hector, however, didn’t look too happy at the question. “Entrance to the peak is only granted to members of their sect. Do you intend on joining them?”
“That’s not what I-”
The elder raised his hand to cut him off. “I know what you mean. The answer is no. The favor they owe me is not enough for them to grant you entrance into their holy land. It’s more likely you will be taken to one of their subsidiaries around the foot of the mountain chain.”
Although these sects were rather isolated from the world, they still maintained settlements around their holy land to house Outer Disciples and mortals that provided tasks most cultivators considered menial. Upon learning this, one might think that these mortals were kept as slaves, but the truth couldn’t be further from that. These settlements provided a quality of life for them that they would struggle to find in any secular country, and a lot of people would kill to have the opportunity to move there, since that meant the security of them and their future generations would be assured. Not only that, but if someone in their family eventually displayed talent for cultivation, they would be offered priority in joining the sect rather than having to wait for another recruitment wave.
It was a dream for any mortal to be able to move into one of these places, but such an opportunity didn’t come by just any day.
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Even knowing that, though, Allen still looked somewhat disappointed.
Hector, however, chose to ignore his expression. “There is not much to discuss for now. I suppose I don’t need to say this, but while we are preparing these matters, no one is allowed to leave the sect for their own safety. Not even you, Red.”
Red frowned. “I might have no choice.”
“That’s right!” Rimold seemed to remember something. “The dagger is still out there, isn’t it?! We need to go collect it!”
Hector looked somewhat confused at this.
He looked over at Domeron, but the swordsman just shook his head. “We can discuss this later.”
The rogue looked dismayed. “But-”
“I said we will discuss this later. I can assure you that the dagger is very safe.”
Domeron glared at him, causing Rimold to fall silent.
Hector watched all of this with a frown, but he didn’t interject. Only when the matter seemed settled did he move on.
“The representative of the Crystal Sky Sect will visit us tomorrow, according to the Baron.” the elder said. “Until then, you are all dismissed.”
Although there was a general air of uncertainty around the room, most of the sect members seemed to be in relatively high spirits, which was not how these meeting usually ended. All of them still had things they wanted to ask about, but none of it seemed important enough to cause them to discuss it right now.
Well, all of them other than Rog, who walked away from the meeting with not a concern in his mind. Goulth, however, once more gave Red a strange look, but walked away without saying anything.
Just like that, they all started to leave the room.
“Domeron and Red, you can stay here for now.” Hector called out to them before they could leave. “We need to talk about what happened out there.”
Domeron nodded. “We really do.”
Red, however, hesitated, looking through the door that Goulth had just left. “… Can this wait for a bit?”
Hector scowled at this. “Why? Do you have more important matters to attend to?”
“Maybe… I’m not sure.”
He didn’t know what his master wanted with him, but there was a certain sense of urgency in his gaze that the youth thought better than to ignore.
The elder seemed to have his own guesses about the youth’s intentions, so he grunted. “Fine. I suppose I can have Domeron brief me on this, then.”
The swordsman shook his head. ”It’s better that the kid is here to explain it.”
“Bah, let’s do it at night then!” Hector threw his hands up in resignation. “We are less likely to get interrupted that way.”
Red nodded. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, just go and do what you must! It’s not good for a cultivator to leave any unfinished business behind before they move on.”
The youth nodded again and turned around to leave the room. No one stopped him from leaving, but as soon as he stepped foot in the courtyard, he saw Rimold and Allen outside. Both of them were waiting for him, by the looks of it.
“Red, I need to talk to you!” Allen said with a concerned expression.
“Did you talk to Hector about the dagger?!” Rimold asked, just as worried as the young master.
Red frowned. “We will talk about this later.”
He ignored their protests and pleading and walked towards the workshop of his master. He could feel the blacksmith’s trembling fluctuation inside of the house. The youth could tell he was waiting for him, so he didn’t hesitate to walk in.
He found the man sitting by his forge, looking at something he had set on top of the table. Red was unable to see it from this angle with all the other equipment and material blocking his sight, so he walked around the table, peering over the man’s shoulder.
A square greyish hide was laying there, with a familiar-looking rune inscribed on its surface in golden-tinted dye. It was one of Red’s infernal runes, yet right now there was something different about it. It was glowing with a soft crimson light, and just by setting his eyes upon it, the youth could feel the potential power hiding beneath its surface.
A shiver ran up his spine as something in his body seemed to resonate with that power.
Before he could do anything else, though, Goulth spoke up. “It has been like this since the Blood Moon.”
As if to show his point, he dragged out another piece of hide from a nearby box, unfurling it upon the table. Another infernal rune was there, of a different kind, and yet it was glowing in a similar manner. The blacksmith set a few more of them on the table and they all were in a similar state, without exception.
“I didn’t know what to do with them.” Goulth shook his head. “I examined them, and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. I thought about dropping my own blood onto them to see what could happen, but I decided to wait for you before doing something so reckless.”
Red nodded. “… You did well.”
“That’s not all.” The blacksmith said. “I have been having… Strange nightmares since the Blood Moon appeared.”
The youth frowned. “What kind of nightmares?”
“Oh, not the ones you have been having. They are all kind of a blur, and it’s hard to remember what they were about. I just remember there being a lot of crimson colors involved.” Goulth said. “I have only slept twice since the Moon, so it’s hard to say it’s a pattern, but… I felt even more tired after every time I woke up, so I thought it better not to sleep and risk it.”
Red was unsure of what to think about this, but a troubling possibility crossed his mind. He shoved his hand into his pouch, grabbing the core and extending his awareness into it.
“What are you doing?” Goulth asked in confusion.
“Just give me one minute.” the youth said.
In his head, he started another conversation.
“Can you check his life force?” he asked Aurelia.
“In my state? That will be hard.” Aurelia seemed hesitant.
“Please…” Red urged her. “I need to know.”
The woman sighed. “Fine. Just don’t expect me to be able to do this many more times before recovering.”
The youth was relieved at her accepting his request, and he pulled his hand away from his pouch.
Goulth looked at him in confusion. “What was that about?”
Red shook his head. “Just wait a bit more.”
It took almost a full half a minute of awkward silence before Aurelia’s voice reached his ears.
“I have done as you asked…” she said, her voice taking a severe tone.
Red was ready for the worst.
She continued. “… It is not good. His vitality seems to be the equivalent of an old man nearing the final stages of his life, which certainly didn’t seem to be the case when I last checked. He might not have sensed it yet, but I can only tell you that it is a matter of time before his body starts feeling the effects of it and he ages the equivalent of thirty years in a matter of weeks.”
The youth’s frown deepened. It was truly as he suspect.
Goulth seemed concerned as he looked at Red. “What is it, kid? Is it really that bad?”
Red hesitated. “… The runes have been absorbing your life force.”
The blacksmith’s expression fell. “… Oh. It’s actually even worse, huh?”