“Y-You… You killed him.”
Emer stared at his brother’s corpse in terror, unable to move even a muscle.
Red looked over at him. “Do you want to die too?”
“A-Ah, no! Please!” The old man fell to his knees. “Please spare me! I will do anything you want!”
The merchant showed no amount of hatred for the killer of his brother, instead only caring about his own life. It did not surprise the youth, since their relationship resembled more of a master and his slave, and even examining the man’s fluctuation, Red saw no signs of ill-will or anger.
“Who else did he call here?” Red asked.
“I-I don’t know.” The merchant shook his head.
The youth frowned. “Can you check?”
Emer looked at his brother’s body. “H-His pendant. It’s how we communicate with each other.”
Red looked at Cassemir’s neck, spotting the blood-covered medallion. “Do you know how to use it?”
He would never touch the symbol of an archdemon if he could help it.
The old man hesitated. “… I-I don’t know. He said only people touched by the Emperor can use it.”
The youth frowned. “Try it.”
“M-Me?!”
“Yes. Since you carry his medallion, you fulfill all the requirements.”
Of course, it was possible that there was more to using this communication method than Cassemir told his brother, but Red didn’t care. The situation was already a mess, so he would take any opportunity to salvage it.
The merchant approached his brother’s corpse. “W-Won’t they be suspicious? I never communicated with my brother’s peers on his behalf.”
‘Of course they will be suspicious.’
“Just do as I say.” Red said. “Whatever they think will not matter.”
The youth was not sure about what the situation was. He didn’t even know if Cassemir had asked for reinforcements or if he felt confident in dealing with this stranger on his own, but if there was the possibility more demonic cultivators were heading to this house at this moment, Red needed to prevent it.
The merchant let out one last trembling sigh before grabbing the pendant from his brother’s neck. His movements were careful, as if he was afraid to touch the blood of his family member, but it wasn’t like he had an option. He unclasped the pendant before holding it between his hands and closing his eyes.
The nine-pointed star symbol began to glow a few seconds later, startling Emer. His face paled even further a moment later, and he looked up at Red with a begging expression.
“S-She’s asking me what the situation is.” The old man said. “T-There are multiple voices… They think I’m Cassemir.”
‘So it’s a mental communication.’
This wasn’t good. In this situation, Red wouldn’t be able to know what the merchant was saying to these people, but at the very least, if Emer held any thoughts of betrayal, he should be able to detect it through his fluctuation.
“Tell them you master has killed the cultivator and now the situation is handled.” Red said. “They don’t need to worry anymore.”
Emer closed his eyes again in concentration. A few seconds later, he looked back at Red in fear.
“T-They’re asking me who I am and where Cassemir is…” The man hesitated. “… One of them sounds really angry.”
“Tell them you’re Cassemir’s brother.” Red said. “Tell them he sustained heavy injuries during this confrontation and he is in no condition to speak with them.”
“I-I don’t think they will believe that.”
“Just do as I say.”
Emer nodded and closed his eyes again. Five seconds later, he looked at the pendant with a confused expression.
“T-They’re not responding. I think that they- Ah, wait!” He shut his eyes, focusing on the pendant. “T-They’re asking me… Which archdemon the cultivator Cassemir killed served.”
‘Which demon?’
“Do they sound angry?” Red asked.
“I-I don’t know… They sound cautious and suspicious.”
The youth frowned. They would need to be stupid to not notice something was wrong with the entire situation, but Red didn’t set out to fool them, either. This question of theirs, though, seemed to imply that they were afraid of the interference of another archdemon in their territory. This wasn’t surprising, considering worshippers of different demons weren’t always on good terms with each other.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
‘Maybe this could be an opportunity…’
Red was in thought for a few seconds before looking back at Emer. “Tell them… The cultivator Cassemir killed was a worshipper of the Chaos Dragon.”
Emer’s eyes widened in terror. “B-But you said…”
The youth kept silent, staring at the merchant with his impassive eyes.
The old man trembled, focusing back on the pendant. Almost ten seconds later, he looked over at Red.
“They say they want to come visit tomorrow…” Emer said. “T-To discuss why a Chaos Dragon worshipper is in the city.”
“Say Cassemir is indisposed to receive too many guests… It’s best if they send only one person.”
Emer nodded, relaying the message through his mental channel. Then he lowered his pendant as the glow faded away. “They ended the connection… They said they will send someone over tomorrow, around midday.”
Red nodded. “Good.”
“Red, what are you trying to do here?” Aurelia’s voice reached his ear.
The youth couldn’t respond, because even he was not too sure yet. At the end of the day, he was too reluctant to give up on the opportunities this city presented him, so he decided to make a gamble.
Since they knew he was a demonic cultivator, Red would be hard pressed to stay uninvolved with that world, so instead he opted for going the opposite way. He would pose as a demonic cultivator, not an unaffiliated one, but someone with a big background representing the interests of another archdemon. That way, even if they were keen to act against him, they would hesitate somewhat.
His choice to represent the Chaos Dragon was not random either. This archdemon was the one he was most familiar with since he dealt with the lizard demon a long time ago. Her worshipers were the ones responsible for attacking the sects at the Skycrown Mountains in the past and creating a new monster horde. They were known for their viciousness, their love of destruction, and their erratic and prone to anger temperaments.
Her worshippers weren’t the type to act out conspiracies and resort to secrecy, but rather to do everything by force and directly. It was hard to reason with them, and that was why Cassemir’s peers showed some hesitation to Emer and approached the situation more carefully.
At this point, they probably took it as certain that Cassemir was dead and the one behind Emer’s words was the one who killed him. After all, even if the man was wounded, what was the difficulty in sending mental messages through their connection? He wouldn’t need a mortal to do that for him.
From Red’s conversation with Cassemir, he guessed those people were enacting some kind of secret plan, and for that, they needed to be discreet and to keep their identities hidden. Now, they just learned that a Chaos Dragon worshipper was in the city for whatever reason and killed one of their own. If those lunatics had designs on the capital, they could threaten all of their carefully laid plans, so these people had no choice but to probe the situation rather than deal with it forcefully.
Of course, this was all because they couldn’t see Red in person. Cassemir could tell the youth had no relation to the Chaos Dragon, so he wasn’t certain he could fool his peers either. At that point, his plan would fall into shambles.
There was already a chance that it could happen either way, but the youth was willing to take a risk. Even leaving the city wasn’t necessarily the best option, since it wouldn’t clear him from the eyes of these demonic cultivators, and instead could provide them with the opportunity to kill him without concerns of having their identities discovered.
‘I need to prepare… And deal with any unnecessary risks.’
Red looked down at Emer. “How did you figure out I was a demonic cultivator?”
The merchant trembled, kneeling in front of the youth. “I-It was the medallion! It can detect demonic corruption!”
Red frowned. Not even Hector could detect his demonic corruption, so how could a mortal carry an item capable of such a thing?
He put his hand in his pocket, grabbing the crystal core and extending his awareness towards it.
“Is that possible?” he asked Aurelia.
“It’s definitely possible, but that’s not something a common detection item can do.” The woman also sounded confused. “With the help of that bracelet of yours, not even people in the Spirit Core Realm should be able to see it without careful observation. Either this medallion this old man is carrying is very special or…”
She trailed off.
Red frowned. “Or what?”
“This is a religious medallion. It contains powers that belong to… someone else, in another realm. The owner of this power could have been gazing through it, and they were able to spot you and direct the mortal to you.”
The youth trembled. The possibility suggest by Aurelia was too terrifying to think about.
“… Am I in the gazes of an archdemon?” he asked.
“Possibly. Or maybe you were just close enough to the capital to attract their attention.”
“Why?”
The woman sighed. “How would I know? I can’t claim to understand the will of deities, nor do I dare to. Just be thankful there is a dimension separating you from them.”
Red sighed. He retracted his hand from the crystal, looking back at Emer.
The merchant was still kneeling, trembling in fear and not daring to stare directly at the youth.
“What did you say to that guard from earlier to convince him to allow me into the capital?” Red asked.
“I-I told him you were related to my brother’s businesses…”
He frowned. “His demonic businesses?”
“Y-Yes.” Emer nodded.
‘So even the guard is infested with demonic worshippers?’
The youth fell silent.
With his two immediate concerns answered, Red considered his next step. More importantly, he thought about what to do with the merchant in front of him.
On one hand, this was a merchant with knowledge about the city and of the events that could be useful to him. Perhaps he could even help with fooling these other demonic cultivators, since Red wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about it either. Yet at the end of the day, there was a tremendous problem with this idea.
This merchant knew his identity. At any point, he could reveal it to a member of the city and ruin all his plans. The youth simply couldn’t allow such a risk to live, and even if his disappearance attracted the attention of the guard, it was safer than having his identity revealed.
‘I should just extract whatever information I can from him right now and then kill him.’
Red would be hesitant to be so ruthless to an innocent person, but this was a demonic worshipper. Who knew what kind of atrocities he was complicit to in the past?
He looked down at the old man. “I need you to answer me some ques-”
“I’m willing to swear myself to you, my lord!”
The man cut him off with a wail.
Red frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I-I’m willing to serve and help you, my lord… I-I just want to live.”
“… You think I’m going to kill you?”
“I-I don’t mean… My lord, I just…”
Emer stumbled over his words, trying to come up with a way to not offend Red.
‘Of course he knows.’
This was someone used to dealing with demonic cultivators. How could he not figure out that Red would do anything to keep his secrets from being revealed? At that point, Emer would be a variable he would evidently need to get rid of.
“Since you’re not stupid, there’s no point in pretending.” Red shook his head. “Of course I need to kill you to keep what happened here a secret.”
The man shivered, hitting his forehead against the ground, disregarding even the blood that pooled around him. “P-Please, my lord! I will do anything you wish! J-Just don’t kill me!”
“What are the uses for empty words? Even if you were the most honest person in the world, I would not take the risk, and you are a demonic worshipper. Tell me, how am I supposed to trust you?”
Emer hesitated. “… I-I can swear a blood oath to you, my lord!”
This was the first time Red heard of the term.