"We should keep moving," Rog warned the group. "We aren't in the clear just yet."

"Right," Narcha nodded in understanding. "I just can't shake off this weird feeling about this whole situation..."

Red felt the same way, but the group was not prepared to go against a whole army of bandits just to find out why they were so adamant about chasing them. At least, not yet. They continued traveling for a while longer, and night soon arrived. The lunar gaze set upon Red, but this time the boy was barely affected by it.

'It's still getting weaker.'

The youth began to wonder if something special would happen once the Full Moon arrived. Still, just the fact that the gaze was weakening was enough for him.

Rog had them march for quite a few hours into the night before he felt comfortable with a camping spot. The hunter dropped his things on the ground and looked back to the rest of the group.

"No campfire tonight," the man instructed. "I'll be keeping watch until the morning."

Red was not used to such a solemn attitude from Rog, which only indicated to him how dangerous their earlier encounter had been. No one in the group protested his decision, and soon enough, they had settled down for the night.

"...Do you mind telling me now what happened?" Eiwin, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during their whole trip, asked Red and Narcha.

"It was his idea!" Narcha accused Red.

That was, however, met only with a frown by Eiwin.

"She owed me a favor, and I asked for her help with recovering something I lost in the forest." Red explained succinctly.

"Why didn't you ask me?" the younger woman looked troubled. "You know I would have helped you."

"Maybe, but I needed to get it back quickly," the boy replied. "And even if you did help me, it might have taken a lot of convincing and time. Whereas with Narcha, I could just force her hand to do as I wanted."

"Is that why you chose me, you little brat?!" the warrior barked at him in anger.

Red simply nodded, but that just made Narcha angrier.

"You know that you could have died back then, right?" Eiwin interrupted her companion's outburst.

"I do." the boy was obviously aware of that. The mission turned out to be more dangerous than he expected in the end.

"And you're fine with risking your life like that?" she asked with a frown.

"...If it's for the right reasons, then I don't mind it." Red replied after some thought.

Eiwin glanced at the ground and remained silent for a few seconds. She seemed to be in deep thought.

"I understand..." she sighed. "However, in the future, I would ask you to put more trust in us."

Red didn't respond.

"I don't know what you went through in the past," she continued. "And I don't know how hard what I'm asking for is, but... Everyone in this Sect is willing to die for each other - all you need to do is ask. Your secrets, your past - as soon as you entered our Sect, we decided to take all of that aboard too.

"That's the responsibility we took on the day we decided you would join. Even the ones that protested," she looked at Narcha. "Will still stand at your side in your hour of need, even if they didn't owe you a favor."

The warrior didn't meet her gaze.

"I'm not asking for the same devotion out of you," Eiwin continued. "But I'm asking you to try considering us from a different perspective. It might take time, and you may often find yourself unconvinced, but... When you feel the time is right, I ask this of you: give us a chance, alright?"

Red, who was still skeptical of her words, simply nodded. In the end, that seemed more than enough to raise her spirits again.

"Great," she smiled. "And did you find what you were looking for?"

"I did." the boy nodded.

"Is it that blade?" Rog suddenly interjected himself into the conversation.

Everyone's attention was drawn to Red's dark cleaver. It was stained with blood, and part of the blade was corroded. However, its sharpness was still evident for all those who laid their eyes upon it.

"Yes." Red confirmed, and as far as he was concerned, it wasn't a lie.

"Hope that thing was worth having us face a zombie!" Narcha grumbled.

Suddenly, the atmosphere around the camp changed.

"What did you say?" Eiwin's newfound joy immediately disappeared.

"Uh, yeah, we found a zombie while we were traveling," the woman explained. "Not only that but a demon too."

Eiwin's frown only deepened.

"No way, a zombie and a demon?!" Rog yelled from nearby. "You're telling me I ended up missing all that?"

"...Tell me the story from the beginning." The younger woman looked at Narcha and asked.

The warrior, who didn't want to anger her companion, started to inform them of the details of their trip. All the way from the bandit corpses to the dead forest and their final confrontation. Narcha skipped a lot of the gritty details, but she still made a point of explaining the oddities.

"It didn't act like a normal zombie," she concluded. "I thought the whole dead forest might be the cause of it all, but I didn't have time to explore it."

"The forest is dying?" Rog commented with a frown on his face. "That's not good."

"Could that be why the monsters disappeared?" Narcha proposed.

"No way," the hunter shook his head. "Monsters may migrate at times, but the whole problem with the monsters disappearing is that they left no tracks behind. They just went, poof, gone, no traces left behind..."

Red, who was clearly aware of the reason behind the dying forest, silently observed the conversation.

"What you told me about the undead," Eiwin continued. "Are you certain it was a zombie?"

"I'm no specialist in undead, but it sure did look like a zombie." Narcha shrugged.

"And yet it was intelligent, as you claim." the younger woman sighed. "That can only mean one thing... Necromancer."

Narcha's expression changed.

"No way!" she exclaimed with a look of apprehension. "Wasn't their sect destroyed hundreds of years ago?"

"It was, but it doesn't mean survivors haven't been left behind." Eiwin explained. "Still, they have been extremely secretive since then. I just can't imagine what might have prompted one of them to reveal their presence here."

"What's a necromancer?" Red, who wasn't familiar with the term, asked.

"It's someone who cultivates using Death Spiritual Energy." the younger woman explained. "By manipulating said energy, they can create undead and control them freely."

"So someone was controlling that zombie?" the boy was surprised.

"That's the only way an intelligent zombie may come to be." Eiwin nodded. "However, undead thralls can't move too far from their master. You're certain you didn't see anyone else nearby?"

"I’m certain," Narcha was the one who replied. "But either way, don't they have to be at least in the Lesser Ring Realm to control undead? Someone like that could have easily hidden from us."

"Yet, if they wanted to kill you, why would they need to rely on such a weak zombie?" Eiwin shook her head. "There's something we're not seeing here... I'll ask for Master Hector's advice once we return to the sect."

Red was concerned about the existence of said necromancer. Still, he wasn’t about to go searching for them in the forest.

"What about the demon, the bandits, the dead forest?" The warrior exclaimed. "There are too many weird things going on here. They have to be connected."

"Indeed." Eiwin nodded. "We'll likely have to organize some sort of hunting party. Once the Baron learns about what's happening in the forest, he won't stay still either."

"How will he deal with Rickard?" Red asked.

"I'm not sure." she shook her head. "It depends on the stance Rickard takes. There's no doubt, though, that if the Baron really wanted to, then he could kill him... The problem is how big of a price he is willing to pay for it."

The boy still wasn't too clear on the Baron's strength. However, to keep peace in the region, he would definitely need to be very powerful.

"There's something else too," Narcha spoke up. "We saw Reinhart and Gustav's men walking with the bandits."

At that revelation, Eiwin didn't even know what expression to assume anymore.

"To think he would stoop as low as to cooperate with the bandits..." the young woman shook her head. "I would like to say that makes matters more complicated, but that might instead simplify them."

"How so?" the warrior asked.

"The Baron has always been looking for conclusive evidence against Gustav," Eiwin explained. "If he is in fact working with the bandits, then the Baron would be able to act on the King's authority to arrest him."

"There's no way it could be that easy." Narcha commented.

"I'm afraid so, which is why looking deeper into this matter is a priority." Eiwin shook her head. "Unfortunately, there's no way we can explore this region while Rickard is out and about."

"Wait, that's right!" The warrior piped up as if suddenly remembering something. "How do you even know Rickard is here?"

Eiwin didn't respond and instead turned to look at Rog.

"If the way is clear, we can show it to them tomorrow." the hunter shrugged.

"What do you mean by that?" Narcha frowned.

"You'll see." Rog just smiled.

...

Once morning arrived, Rog scouted the way ahead for them. After confirming everything was safe, the man eventually led them towards a clearing.

"What the hell..." Narcha was shocked once she saw the scene in front of her.

Indeed, not even Red had seen such a display of destruction. Multiple trees were completely destroyed as if they had exploded from the inside, making the whole area almost devoid of vegetation. Still, there were no burn marks in what remained of the wood, indicating it had been destroyed through other means.

The boy approached a tree stump, looking for any marks that might indicate what had caused this.

"Don't bother, kid." Rog told him from behind. "This is a trademark technique of Rickard. He can cause an explosion of energy at the tip of his spear, blasting everything it comes into contact with."

"Can you even do that with a weapon?" Red asked, fascinated by the possibility.

"That and much more." Rog simply smiled.

Nearby, though, Narcha didn't look nearly as thrilled with this discovery.

"Was he fighting someone?" she asked.

"We thought so too, but we couldn't discern marks of any other Spiritual Arts." Eiwin shook her head.

"Then what, was he just destroying these trees for fun?" Narcha scoffed.

The younger woman simply gave her a helpless smile.

"Did you guys find his tracks?" Red asked.

"I tried but quickly lost them." Rog responded. "That guy is smart enough not to leave any obvious trails."

This wasn't unexpected from someone who had broken through to the Lesser Ring Realm.

"We shouldn't linger here too long," Eiwin spoke up. "The bandits might still be about this region, and the last thing we want is to meet Rickard himself."

The rest of the group promptly agreed, and they continued their journey.

...

Going back to the town still took them a few days. However, to their surprise, their journey was devoid of accidents. Rog and Red were able to identify other bandit tracks, but it was almost as if all of them were doing their best to stay out of the group's way.

It was a strange matter, but the boy wouldn't complain about being able to return to town without a fight. The lunar gaze continued to weaken throughout the next few days. After confirming it with Rog, Red was assured the arrival of the Full Moon would happen soon.

As they began to enter the town's busy streets, though, the boy's senses were suddenly assaulted by dozens of fluctuations.