"What do we do now?" Allen asked, dumbfounded.

Red hesitated too. The situation looked so urgent that Eiwin had dashed off before even telling the two of them what to do.

"...We watch from a distance." The youth decided once he noticed Allen wasn't about to make any suggestions.

"Right. Good idea." The older boy nodded. "Uh... Well, follow me then!"

Allen took off down the street, and Red followed. They hid behind a few large boxes and arrived just in time to see the situation develop.

Narcha noticed Eiwin's approaching presence before the others. The mercenaries were surprised by the sudden intrusion, but before they could react, the woman was already in their midst. Eiwin didn't strike, though, and merely stood side by side with her companion. Narcha, however, didn't look too happy at her sudden appearance.

"Been stalking me through town, have you?" The warrior snorted.

"Stalking you?" Eiwin frowned. "What's the need when you make your presence so obvious, Miss Valt?"

Although their conversation suggested otherwise, the two women were staunchly united against their would-be opponents. There was an unspoken trust and coordination between the two, and Eiwin hadn't even felt the need to ask about the situation before stepping forward to support her companion.

"Another one of your brigands?!"

The merchant across from them bellowed.

"I thought your lot stuck to highway robbery! Now you're even trying to extort merchants inside the city?" He continued.

"Extort you?!" Narcha looked like she was about to explode. "I'll show you extortion, you bastard!"

The warrior started to advance, and the mercenaries in front of the store tensed.

"Wait!" Eiwin put a hand in front of her companion. "Miss Valt, what is going on?"

"What do you think?" Narcha stopped. "He's lying, of course!"

"Please." Her companion shook her head. "Explain it to me."

"The pill I ordered months ago!" The warrior snarled. "He said he sold it to someone else!"

Eiwin frowned, and her expression became conflicted.

"What's she talking about?" Red asked Allen in their hiding spot.

He had never seen Narcha so angry before, not even during the meeting in the day prior.

"Narcha's trying to open her Spiritual Sea with the help of some pills." The older boy explained. "Goulth can't make the medicines she needs, though, so she has no choice but to search for people outside the Guild to do it."

"Is this pill rare?" Red asked.

"Very." Allen also looked angry. "Narcha puts aside a lot of her money for it and is always searching for it around the market."

The youth frowned. It was no wonder the woman seemed ready to come to blows with the merchant - if Red had his cultivation path blocked by someone too, then maybe he would be just as angry. His attention returned to the confrontation in front of the store.

...

"I already told you the decision came from my higher-ups! There's nothing I could do about it!" The merchant shook his head.

"Bullshit!" Narcha roared. "What about the month-long delay from before?! Now the pill is suddenly going to someone else?!"

"These types of setbacks are common in alchemy!" The man kept his composure. "I've tried to be reasonable with you! I've even offered to put you at the top of the priority list, but you seem keen on making this an issue!"

"I don't care about your damn priority list!" The warrior rebuked him. "I want my wasted time back! I want to know who you sold my pill to!"

As the conversation shifted to that topic, the merchant's expression changed. A few moments later, though, and he seemed to have recovered.

"It's confidential." He shook his head with a well-practiced sorrowful look.

"Hah!" Narcha laughed. "We both know who the bastard you sold the pill to was! I bet he paid you very handsomely for these delays too, right?"

"I won't have my dignity insulted!" It was the merchant's turn to be angered.

The guards around him responded to his outburst by stepping forward in a display of intimidation. Narcha, however, was all too happy to see it.

"Miss Valt, please." Eiwin kept holding her back.

"God damn it, Eiwin!" The warrior directed her anger at her companion. "We both know what they're doing!"

"I know." The younger woman shook her head. "But we have our orders. The time is not right."

"'The time is not right'?!" Narcha snarled. "When will it ever be right?! The only reason Gustav keeps doing this is that we don't do anything in return!"

"Miss Valt..."

"Goddamn it! You still have your talent and almost a decade to open your Spiritual Sea, but what about me?!"

That gave Eiwin pause. She looked down with a troubled expression, unable to meet Narcha's eyes.

...

"Red."

A voice abruptly interrupted Red's observation. When the youth looked back, he saw Allen staring at him with a resolute expression.

"We need to do something."

"What?" The younger boy frowned.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Allen exclaimed. "This is unfair! We have to help the both of them!"

Red was at a loss for words.

"They're part of our Sect, Red!" The young master continued.

"They don't need our help." The youth shook his head. "They're much stronger than the both of us put together."

"Maybe, but are you okay with just sitting around here while they steal from Narcha?" Allen insisted. "It's our responsibility as Sect Members to help her."

'No one told me about this when I joined.'

The boy's words, however, resonated within Red. He didn't feel compelled to help out of a sense of justice, but he recalled what Hector had told him about obligations. Since the youth had agreed to stay and benefit from the Sect, his words weighed on his mind now. Still, did the elder have this kind of situation in mind when he talked about responsibility?

Red wasn't too sure.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked.

"We go and fight them!" Allen grinned courageously.

"They have weapons." He continued. "They'll kill us."

"We can take them by surprise!"

"We're not doing that."

"Come on!" The older boy complained. "Okay, then what about..."

Allen scratched his head, observing the group from afar.

"I got it!" He smiled. "We can go and destroy his shop!"

"Why?" Red frowned.

"He's a merchant. He cares about his shop and his money the most."

"He's right in front of his shop. He would definitely notice if someone started breaking things inside." The youth shot him down. "Besides, how do you propose we get past the guards?"

"Uh... There's a window down that alley, though!"

"We still have to get past them to reach it."

"Ugh..." Allen looked disappointed. "If only they weren't right there."

The plan didn't seem to have any chance of going forward. Red began to observe the confrontation again. However, as he thought about Allen's suggestion, he suddenly had an idea.

"Allen." He turned around to look at the boy. "Tell me, how much do these two care about you?"

...

"I understand what you're feeling, Miss Valt." Eiwin spoke in a solemn tone. "But we have to look at the big picture."

"Stop speaking like him!" Narcha rebuked her. "I have been looking at the big picture my whole life, and look at where that got me! Just another guild busybody with no future!"

"You shouldn't speak of our colleagues like that." Her companion frowned. "They've always done their best to help you. You know this is not their fault."

"Ugh... DAMN IT!" The warrior pulled back in frustration.

Eiwin watched in silence while the older woman paced around the street. Narcha looked eager to punch the first person she came across, but none of the mercenaries were stupid enough to step forward at that moment. The merchant had a smug grin on his face while watching the developments as if this was the exact scene he wanted to see.

"Then, if you're done with your childish outburst, I would appreciate it if you lot left the prem-"

"GO TO HELL, YOU BASTARD!" A kid's voice echoed through the street.

"Is that...?" Narcha looked up in confusion.

A small figure was charging towards the merchant with impressive speed. All the people in the vicinity were too bewildered by the sudden intrusion to react, including the women.

"What the... Ugh!"

The merchant's voice was abruptly silenced. Allen's small but surprisingly powerful fist crashed into the man's belly and sent him sprawling onto the ground. The boy proudly raised his fist into the air while staring down at his victim.

"This is what you get for messing with our Sect!" He bellowed.

The mercenaries around them all unsheathed their weapons at the same time. They surrounded the kid, and one of them moved forward to strike with his mace.

"You little bastar-"

Before the mercenary could finish his sentence, a fist connected to his jaw and sent him flying into the side of a building a few meters away.

"Don't you dare touch our Young Master!" Eiwin roared, her fist still extended. The mercenaries around her all took a step back but didn't lower their weapons. It was clear, however, that they were hesitating.

"Get them, you fools!" The merchant screamed while clutching his belly. "They were the ones who attacked first!"

At the man's command, the mercenaries lost some of their fear. They didn't attack immediately, but they started to surround the group in preparation. The younger woman took this opportunity to get to Allen's side before anyone else could attack him. The boy smiled at her.

"Hey, Eiwin, did you see that?"

Eiwin, however, only responded with a stern glare that sent shivers down the boy's spine.

"Hey, I thought we weren't fighting!" Narcha yelled at her companion a few meters away. The soldiers had also included her within their encirclement even though she had yet to attack.

"No killing!" Eiwin responded.

"Ugh, fine!" The warrior complained, but she approached her companions to stand at their side. "Gustav always manages to find more fools for these kinds of jobs, anyway."

A dangerous smile flashed across her face as she stared down the mercenaries.

"I guess you'll have to find out why he was paying so much in the first place."

Narcha moved, and the sounds of battle echoed through the street.

...

While everyone was distracted, Red took the opportunity to slip into the shop through the window. He first confirmed that no one else was waiting for him in the building before dropping down inside.

Looking around, the youth noticed that the area near the window was sandwiched by wooden shelves. They were all stocked with plants, fruits, mushrooms, and other things that Red had never seen before. The smell inside the shop, however, was strong and unpleasant to the senses. The boy wondered what kind of place this store was.

He hadn't come here to destroy the shop like Allen thought. He was instead looking for the pill Narcha had bought, that is if it was still at the shop in the first place. It was a long shot, but one worth taking in the boy's opinion.

Red didn't know what he was searching for. He did not really have the time to figure out the specifics about the medicine, and Allen didn't know what it looked like either. All the information the young master could give him was that these pills were contained within glass vials, and that they generally looked like pellets. It wasn't much to go by, but it was better than nothing.

A cursory glance through the shelves was enough to confirm these pills weren't being stored here. This room was probably where the merchant sold his common goods, and he would likely never put a pill as valuable as that in here. Looking around, Red saw a door behind the counter and after a moment of deliberation headed straight for it.

Thankfully for him, the merchant had left it unlocked in his haste. The youth walked into another corridor that branched off into three more doors. Opening the closest one, Red entered a storage room of some sort. More of what was displayed in the storefront was in these boxes, but the boy didn't have the time to search them one by one.

He went to check the other room. This one looked like a lounge - a large table, playing cards, sickening smell, and cups full of dark liquids was all Red could see. He closed the door and went to check the last one.

Here he saw an office - wooden desk, chair, papers, and a large number of decorations. There was even a shelf lined with wine bottles similar to the one Red saw Rog and Narcha drinking, as well as a different window leading into another alley that he hadn’t seen before. The youth saw other miscellaneous items on top of the desk, but there was no sign of the glass vials Allen had mentioned.

'Are they in the storage?... Are they here at all?'

Red hesitated, but he knew the man wouldn't just leave such a precious item lying around. He searched through the room in a hurry, and it didn't take long for him to find an object that he could direct his suspicions at - a drawer in the desk. Something seemed to keep it fastened in place, though, and no matter how hard he pulled, it didn't budge. The boy considered breaking it open, but it was reinforced by metal plates along its surface to his dismay.

Red noticed a keyhole at the front of the drawer, but after a glance around the room, he still couldn't see any key to open it with. Just as the boy was wondering what to do, though, he heard something. The slam of a door and the sound of approaching steps.

"Crazy bitch!" The voice of the merchant rang out.

He was heading in this exact direction.