After his conversation with Aurelia, a new plan formed in Red’s mind. Still, there was not much he could do in the way of preparation, so instead, he investigated the office he was in.
Other than the Nine-Star pendant, Cassemir wasn’t carrying any cultivator items on him. Red asked Emer about this, but the merchant couldn’t offer any useful information about it. Apparently, his brother’s identity as a cultivator was hidden from the city, and most people just thought of him as a recluse. If he carried any treasures, the merchant never saw them.
Red thought the notion of a middle-stage Lesser Ring Realm cultivator with no resources was absurd, which was why he started to work with the possibility of a hidden stash. The youth had some expertise in the matter himself after training with Rimold, so he was confident he could find it if it was hidden by some sort of mechanism.
Still, after carefully examining every nook and cranny of the room, he failed to find anything out of place.
Red returned to the center of the office after an hour, looking around with furrowed brows.
‘Did I miss it?’
He found that to be unlikely. The manor was squeezed between two other houses, so there wasn’t the possibility of a hidden passage, or any sort of coffer hidden in the walls. Red also trusted his senses, and after examining every book and piece of furniture, he was sure he didn’t miss anything.
‘Is it in another room?’
There was still Cassemir’s bedroom, but according to his brother, the man rarely left his office. Would he keep his precious belongings out of his sight? Maybe it was exactly because it was an unlikely hiding place that he thought to hide it there.
Whatever the case, Red didn’t go looking for it. He wanted to wait until after the meeting tomorrow to do a thorough inspection of the house, as he fully expected to encounter some traps wherever this hidden stash was. Right now, he needed to focus.
He sat down cross-legged in the middle of the office, circulating his energy in cultivation while watching his surroundings with his crimson sense. Although the cultists agreed to a meeting, he wouldn’t count on them to keep their promises, so he stood on guard against any assassins or scouts that approached his surroundings.
Emer and the maid were in their rooms, obeying his orders to not live the house. Neither of them were sleeping, but Red wasn’t worried they were plotting something behind his back. His blood connection to the merchant was still there, after all.
Hours passed as Red split his focus between cultivating and keeping watch. The Spiritual Energy in the city wasn’t bad. In fact, it was much better than in Bestrem, but it still couldn’t compare to the density of the place he used to break through.
Spiritual Energy density was very important for cultivators, much more so after opening their Spiritual Sea. If Red wanted to keep up a decent cultivation speed, he needed to either rent a cultivation abode within the city or build a gathering formation himself. Neither option was cheap, from what he knew, but he was leaning towards the latter.
‘With my skills in Arcane Scripture, it shouldn’t take too long to gather enough resources for that type of formation.’
As Red was pondering his options, he felt something enter his crimson sense range. His eyes shot open, staring outside the window.
The curtain were drawn, and he had turned off the lights in the room. Yet, a few hundred meters away, from the other side of the street, he felt a fluctuation approaching this building. A mortal man, with quite a few open veins by the looks of it. This didn’t seem like an assassin, so Red presumed him to be a scout here to observe the place at the cultist’s behest.
Red didn’t stand up, examining the fluctuation. He didn’t mind if a scout tried to examine the house from afar, but if he got too close or tried to peek into the building, then the youth wouldn’t stay his hand, either.
Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be his intention. The man stood approaching once he was within some hundred meters of the house, only standing on the roofs and observing the situation. He stood there for almost two hours before retreating and disappearing out of Red’s detection range.
Only when he was gone did the youth continue to cultivate.
The night went on with no further accidents until the first rays of sunshine appeared through the window.
…
“Would you like breakfast, my lord?” Emer asked.
“No, just leave me alone.”
Red waved the man away from his office.
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As soon as morning arrived, the merchant barged into his office, trying to fulfill his every need. It seemed this was what he was used to doing for Cassemir, but Red just wanted to be left alone.
The old man hesitated. “B-But, my lord! We need to prepare to receive the guest…”
“Prepare?” Red frowned under his mask. “What’s there to prepare?”
“W-Well, your clothes, my lord… Wouldn’t it be better to replace them? P-Perhaps a bath is in order too.”
The youth looked down at his garbs. Only now did he remember he was wearing rags, now smeared with cultist blood, too. Red was never one to care much about appearances, but he didn’t take pleasure in walking around smelling like earth and blood, either.
“Sure.” The youth nodded. “Prepare a set of practical clothes and a bath.”
Emer smiled in relief. “At once, my lor-”
“But only after we receive our guests.”
“This…” The old man’s eyes widened. “A-Are you certain, my lord?”
“I am. Now leave me alone.”
Red thought his appearance worked well with the part he was about to play, so there was no point in wasting it.
The merchant nodded in resignation and left the office, closing the door behind him. There were still quite a few hours until midday, so Red took that time to examine the movement in the streets below through the curtain.
The neighborhood he was in was not nearly as clustered as the outer city, but it still saw plenty of movement at this time of the morning. Merchants and other high-class citizens left their homes wearing their fancy garbs, stopping horse-drawn cab carriages with loud shouts, being taken to wherever their day led. Kids wearing aprons and other ragged clothes walked around, knocking door to door and offering fresh bread and other kinds of delicacies to these people of higher means.
Even this relatively small street saw more activity than the main square in the town Red came from, so he could only imagine what the rest of the capital looked like.
Hours went by as Red observed this activity with some curiosity. Guards walked by from time to time, as well as all other kinds of peculiar individuals. He was most surprised when he came across a group of what seemed to be teenagers, laughing and joking atop their horses. Two of their number were surprisingly at the Lesser Ring Realm, and judging by their clothing and how people gave way to them, their status wasn’t small either.
Still, Red reined in his curiosity and continued to examine the streets with both his eyes and his crimson sense. As the promised hour neared, he got even more cautious and tense, watching every incoming carriage as if expecting it to be the one that was going to meet him.
Sure enough, as the Sun reached its zenith, Red felt a strong fluctuation enter his senses. His entire body immediately tensed.
‘Late Lesser Ring Realm.’
This fluctuation was even stronger than Cassemir’s, so that was the immediate conclusion he came to.
He looked over at the end of the street as an ornamental black carriage approached his building. It came to a stop in front of the manor as the coach reined in his horses, and a few seconds later, the door at the side opened.
A tall man sporting noble clothing stepped through. He had a long, black-greyish hair tied into a ponytail, with a finely trimmed beard on a severe weathered expression. He seemed to carry himself with much the same haughtiness as Cassemir, but there was something different about it this time, other than his far bigger and more intimidating frame.
‘A soldier.’
Red immediately noticed that. Straight back, squinting eyes, hands held behind his back. This was someone used to the formalities of an army, standing tall with pride and examining his surroundings like an enemy could jump out at him at any time.
That, and he also carried a sheathed saber at his waist.
‘He’s strong.’
Just a simple glance at the man told him that. Not only did he have a higher cultivation than Cassemir, but he probably won over the merchant in battle experience too.
‘There’s no way that I can defeat someone like that.’
This was his judgement.
The man looked over at the building with a frown, but before he could knock at the door, he frowned. He raised his head, looking up at the window Red was at.
The youth was hidden by his shadowed surroundings and the half-drawn curtain, but he was certain the man looked straight at his eyes through his mask. Their eyes squinted, as if they were both measuring each other from their positions, but before this could continue, the front door opened and Emer stepped out.
“L-Lord Nikon!” The merchant bowed to the man. “W-Welcome to our abode! We have been expecting you.”
Nikon snorted and looked at the old man. “Take me to him.”
“R-Right… My lord is expecting you in his office.”
The two of them disappeared into the house, and Red stepped back from the window. His entire body tensed in preparation for combat, even if that was exactly what he was trying to avoid.
There was no way he could underestimate someone like this.
“Just calm down, will you?” Aurelia’s voice reached his ears. “You won’t convince anyone if it looks like you’re getting ready for a battle to the death!”
Red knew she was right, but there would always be a part of him that wouldn’t allow him to let his guard down.
He took a deep breath, sitting down on the ornamental chair that the deceased lord took as his own just the day before. He looked towards the door, counting the steps as he heard Emer and his guest approach.
There was a brief knock at the door.
“Enter.” Red said.
The door opened, and a trembling Emer walked through.
“M-My lord… Lord Nikon has come to visit you.”
The merchant stepped aside, letting the towering figure of the man walk through. He was even bigger from up close, easily reaching over two meters tall and having to duck down slightly to walk through the door. The man reminded him of Gruff somewhat, except maybe a hundred times more dangerous.
Nikon’s eyes were immediately drawn to Red as soon as he entered the room, closing within a few meters of the youth with no signs of caution.
Red pointed at the chair across from him, keeping his calm even as his entire body screamed at him to prepare for combat. “Please, sit.”
The man flared his nostrils as he took the smell in. “You stink.”
“I haven’t had the time to bathe.”
Nikon snorted. “Where is Cassemir?”
“Indisposed.”
A slight smirk came to the man’s face, and he looked over Red’s clothing. “Is that his blood?”
Red nodded. “It is.”
“Bah, to think that man would die to a toddler like you! He truly deserves what he got.”
The youth once more pointed at the chair. “Please, sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”
“No, we don’t.” Nikon’s smile widened. “I know that you’re lying. You’re not a part of any Chaos Dragon cult.”
Red frowned and his entire body tensed. Right from the get go, it seemed his worst fears had come to pass.