“Let’s be on our way.” Red said.

“Great!” Allen looked eager to start their journey.

Before they left the building, though, Red stopped at the entrance and turned back to stare at the young master.

“Did you take the sword too?”

“How did you…” Allen trailed off. “I mean, of course not.”

Naturally, Red did not believe him. “Put it back. We don’t want that to get stolen.”

Allen looked unwilling, but he still took out the covered sword from his backpack and went upstairs. When he returned, the weapon was not in his hands anymore. Red nodded, and only then did the two of them leave the building. They did not see Domeron on the way out.

“Are we taking the same path?” Allen asked as they made their way outside the courtyard.

“It’s the only reliable path I know of.” Red nodded. “But we’re not sneaking out at night anymore, so it will be impossible to stay completely hidden.”

“What do we do if we get spotted?” the young master asked in a worried tone.

“There is no problem in getting spotted, so long as we don't get identified. Besides…” Red trailed off, looking back at Allen’s bright blue uniform.

“What is it?”

“Did you bring spare clothes?”

“Of course I did!”

“Are they all as colorful as the ones you're wearing right now?”

“Uh… Maybe.”

Red sighed. "Give me one set."

“What are you going to do?”

“Just give it here.”

Allen finally relented. Red picked up the bundle of clothing and smeared it around the dirt.

“What are you doing?!” the young master’s eyes widened in shock, but he didn’t try to stop Red.

“Trying to disguise you.”

After he was done dirtying the clothing, he also cut a few holes into the fabric, just in case. Thankfully, they weren’t as durable as the special uniform.

“Here, wear this..” he handed the clothes back to Allen.

“But… They’re dirty.” the young master frowned.

“That’s the point. If you go out wearing your normal clothing, everyone will recognize you.” Red examined the boy. “Actually, we should also throw some dirt on your face for good measure.”

“No way!”

…

Eventually, Allen followed Red’s instructions. They both disguised themselves with dirt and grime, trying to pass as two street orphans. Of course, it was harder to disguise the large backpack. Ultimately, they decided to cover it up with some sheets. As long as the contents of the bag remained out of sight, it was improbable that anyone would suspect them.

Even if they did, Red didn’t intend on staying around too long for them to investigate.

The duo finally arrived on the street proper, and pedestrian traffic was as high as they had expected. This, however, didn’t deter Red. Even with his aversion to crowds, he used the pedestrians as cover instead of avoiding them.

Allen, who was following behind him, was far more nervous than Red. Still, once the duo entered the street, no one spared them more than a passing glance. They were all too absorbed in their daily tasks to pay attention to what two dirty-looking boys were doing in the middle of the street.

“It really worked!” the young master said with an enormous smile plastered on his face.

Red, however, flinched at the boy’s loud voice. “Be quiet!”

“Oh, sorry.”

The two of them continued to weave through alleys and streets without issues until they finally arrived near the edge of town. At this point, Red called their march to a stop.

“What’s the problem?” Allen looked at him, confused.

“We are about to leave the town, which means we are also going to lose our cover. No one suspected us up until this point, but if anyone sees two kids wandering into the forest all by themselves, it is possible that they might investigate.”

“Then what do we do?”

Red hesitated. Once he looked at the farmland surrounding the town, though, an idea popped into his head. “Just make sure to follow me.”

…

A few minutes later, the duo was making their way through a tall field of corn. Allen, however, was not faring as well as Red.

“I can’t see anything!” the young master said.

“Just keep running straight ahead! Be careful of the dogs, though!”

“Dogs?! Since when are there dogs?!”

Eventually, after they made their way through multiple fields unnoticed, they came to a stop near the forest’s edge. Allen was breathing heavily, still trying to recover from the scare he had gone through.

“Are we safe?” the young master asked once he recovered his composure.

Red didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he concentrated on his crimson sense, searching for any fluctuations. Other than Allen’s, though, the boy detected no more signals.

“We should be fine.” Red nodded. “But we should still keep an eye out just in case.”

Indeed, it was not like people would need to be within one hundred meters of the duo to stalk them. Once they were in the woods, though, Red knew any pursuers would need to stay close if they didn’t want to lose their prey. Allen smiled in joy at his words.

“Great, so we can finally meet Eiwin and the others!”

Red just nodded in response. If Allen knew the dangers that awaited him on this mission, perhaps he wouldn’t be so eager.

Finally, after changing back into their sect uniforms, the two of them continued their travels into the forest. Red used Domeron’s information and the map he had been provided with to navigate through the trees, while Allen was excitedly examining the forest

“Look at this plant!” the young master pointed out. “What is it called?”

“That’s a bramble.” Red said in response.

“What about that one?”

“Bluebell.”

“What about…”

Red continued to answer the young master’s questions, reciting information he had only memorized over the last month himself. Unlike most other times, though, the boy wasn’t annoyed by Allen’s questions. He had been in a similar curious state when he arrived on the surface, and he could understand the kid’s eagerness.

‘Wait, that’s not right…’

“Have you never been to this forest?” the youth frowned.

Unlike Red, Allen had lived his entire life on the surface, so how could he be as clueless about the world around him?

The young master looked embarrassed. “Well, I’ve been a few times… I think.”

“You think?”

“Well, I was very young. I don’t really remember much from back then, though. Hector doesn’t really let me leave anymore, either…”

Red didn’t know how to respond. He had never expected Allen to have been sheltered to this extent. It was no wonder Domeron was worried about his future. After all, what would happen if Allen came to lead the sect after having grown up like this?

‘What is Hector thinking?’

The elder wasn’t stupid, so Red didn’t believe he couldn’t see how this kind of upbringing could be detrimental to Allen in the long run. Yet, for some reason, he still insisted on doing it.

“What is it?” the young master asked once he noticed Red’s silence.

The youth shook his head. “Let’s just keep going.”

Allen didn’t press the issue and simply followed him deeper into the forest.

Finally away from town, Red relished this opportunity to use his crimson sense freely. He felt the distinct life forms that inhabited this biome and how their fluctuations differed from the human ones he was used to sensing. The boy also noticed an interesting fact about his power.

Even though there were arguably even more fluctuations in the forest than in the town, Red didn’t feel the least bit of pressure on his mind when parsing through them. He concluded this had to do with the intensity of the fluctuations, rather than the number of them. Every animal fluctuation the boy sensed in the thicket was much weaker compared to a human’s.

Red couldn’t tell why that was the case, but it meant he didn’t have to fear being incapacitated from dizziness while walking through the forest.

“How much longer until we get there?” Allen asked. His interest in the plants and animals had already run thin after barely an hour of walking, and it was replaced by an eagerness to arrive at their destination.

“It is an hour to two-hour trip. So there’s still a while to go.”

“That’s too long!”

Red ignored his complaints and kept walking. After the young master noticed he wasn’t getting a response, he could only remain silent. In the meantime, Red continued to study the fluctuations in his crimson sense, trying to discern what animal each one represented, and the differences between them.

Suddenly, though, the boy felt a peculiar fluctuation enter his senses.

‘What is this?’

From what he knew, the fluctuation was too weak to belong to a human, but there was something about it that Red felt he could faintly recognize. He stopped walking and looked in the fluctuation's direction.

He saw no signs of any creatures in between the trees and vegetation.

“Is something wrong?” Allen asked.

“No.” Red shook his head. “Let’s keep going.”

Although the boy said that, he still kept his focus on that fluctuation. It still hadn’t left the range of his crimson sense. In fact, Red felt it getting closer to his location, which put him on guard. Still, he continued to walk normally, waiting for the right moment.

Finally, once the boy felt the fluctuation was close enough, he unsheathed his cleaver and turned towards the signal. Red noticed a small shadow hiding between the bushes and swung towards it. The figure was quick though and jumped off the ground up a nearby tree with incredible agility.

The boy didn’t give up and was about to give chase. Once he could see the creature’s clear image, though, Red froze in his steps.

It was a monkey, barely a meter long. Yet, there was something different about it. Its body looked to be in a state of decay, and large patches of its fur had fallen off, revealing bone and rotting flesh instead. A word came to Red as he stared at the creature.

‘Undead.’

The zombie monkey didn’t run away like the boy was expecting. Instead, it continued climbing higher up the tree before it turned around to look at Red. At that point, he noticed an expression forming on the animal’s rotting, but still human-like face. A smile.

And then an inhuman laugh.

Red shuddered.

This all seemed very familiar.