This was the same man Red had met when he first reached town, and also the person he saw walking amidst the bandits while accompanying Narcha.

“Oh, what’s with those faces?” Reinhart stared at the boys with an unbothered smile. “Aren’t you going to thank me for saving your lives?”

Red and Allen tightened the grip around their weapons. The man laughed at their reaction.

“Oh, come on! Do you think that that I would have gone through the trouble of saving you if I wanted you dead?”

Allen thought that was sensible, but looked at Red for reassurance. Red, however, still had a cautious stance with his cleaver raised in preparation. This left the young master feeling lost on how to act.

“… Thank you for saving us, Mister Reinhart.” Allen said. “Can you let us go now?”

“Let you go?” Reinhart looked confused. “I’m not holding you hostage or anything! You can go whenever you please.”

“Really?” the young master was taken aback.

“Of course! But you should be careful. The zombies might still be around.”

“Ah, that’s true.” Allen nodded with a frown.

“You don’t need to worry, though. I’ll make sure to escort you to your destination safely.” Reinhart’s words and tone made him seem genuine in his intent.

“You would do that?”

“Of course, you just need to tell me where you’re going.”

“Ah, we were going to-”

“Enough!” Red pulled Allen back with force.

The young master looked back at him with a shocked look on his face. “What is it? What happened?”

Red shook his head. “Can’t you see he’s just trying to trick you?”

“What?” Allen’s eyes widened.

When the duo looked back at Reinhart, a mocking smile had returned to his face.

Allen’s body shivered once he saw the man’s expression. “B-but… He said he wasn’t going to kill us.”

Red sighed. “Just because he doesn’t want to kill us, doesn’t mean he has any good intentions.”

“You wound me!” Reinhart interjected in an exaggerated tone. “I was merely offering my help!”

“In that case, bring us back to town.” the boy stared at the man unwaveringly.

“Ah, but the town is so far away…” Reinhart scratched his beard in thought. “Really, it would be a lot of work to get back there after I just left.”

“What do you mean?” Allen looked confused. “The town is actually just an hour’s walk that way.”

Both Red and Reinhart looked at the young master as if he was stupid. This only left Allen more puzzled but he fell silent under their gaze.

“What do you want from us?” Red went straight to the point.

“You’re being rude, kid!” Reinhart looked amused at the boy’s attitude.

“I’d rather not waste any more time here.”

The boy knew what situation they had landed in. Although Reinhart probably didn’t plan on killing them, this didn’t mean he had any good intentions in mind, either. Red knew from what he had seen and all he had heard from others that this man’s strength was on par with Domeron’s. That being the case, he was also aware he couldn’t win against him in a fight.

“You’re no fun, kid!” Reinhart said. “You have to learn how to play along! If we always went straight to the point, then every interaction would become quite boring, wouldn’t it?”

Red didn’t respond.

“Fine!” the man shook his head in resignation. “How about you answer a couple of my questions first?”

“That depends on the question.” the boy decided to play along, but he didn’t promise the man anything.

“Right then. How about you start by telling me why a bunch of zombie beasts were attacking you?”

“You heard about that necromancer, right? He was probably behind that.”

“You’re right, but that doesn’t answer my question.” Reinhart frowned.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Red shrugged.

The man, however, didn’t seem satisfied with his response. Instead of pressing Red, though, he turned to look at Allen. “What about you, do you know anything about these zombies?”

“I-I don’t…” the young master struggled to get his words out.

“Come on! Spit it out!” Reinhart showed signs of losing his patience for the first time.

Allen shivered “I-I mean, I don’t know either.”

“I see.” the man closed his eyes in contemplation. “So this necromancer, who had been hiding for almost a month, just happened to come out to kill two brats with an army of undead critters for no apparent reason?”

“Yeah, it really doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Red shrugged.

Reinhart squinted at the boys, trying to see any tells of a lie. Allen, however, was being honest, and Red’s expression lacked any kind of emotion. In the end, the man just sighed.

“I suppose I’ll have to find that out by myself in the future.” he said. “Either way, that’s not really what I want to know right now.”

“What do you want to know then?” Red asked.

“What is the young master of the Water Dragon Sect doing all the way out here in the company of just another brat?”

This time, the duo’s replies didn’t come immediately. Allen looked even more nervous after the man’s question, while Red was also thinking about how to respond. Reinhart didn’t press them for a reply, though.

“You know, in all the years I’ve been in this town, I’ve come to know Hector very well.” the man said. “Well, not like friends, but more like enemies. He’s always been our biggest enemy and the most powerful cultivator in town, after all. We always need to stay on our toes around him and his subordinates. Thankfully for us, Hector never had too much of an interest in the town’s daily affairs, or else things would be dire for Gustav, even with his backing.”

“What’s your point?” Red frowned.

“Hey, relax a bit, kid! I was not done with the story!”

The boy sighed, having no choice but to listen to Reinhart’s prattling.

“As I was saying, Hector is dangerous, but he doesn’t care about mundane affairs. As long as we don’t step over the line, he will not stop our activities, even if we scuffle around with some of his subordinates. There is, however, one thing in particular that is absolute taboo, such that no one deigns to even dare or think about doing…” Reinhart trailed off. “Do you know what that is?”

Red didn’t respond, instead looking back at Allen.

“What is it?” the young master looked confused.

“You guessed it!” Reinhart said with laughter. “Everyone in town knows that the one thing you absolutely shouldn’t do is try to or threaten to hurt the young master of the Water Dragon Sect!”

“Me?!” Allen looked surprised.

“Who else but you? What, do you doubt me?”

“I never heard anything about it, though.” the young master frowned.

“Of course you didn’t! Why would anyone tell you about the things Hector did to people who tried to hurt you?” Reinhart looked back at Red. “Do you remember the merchant and his guards that you stole from?”

“How could you know that I am the one who stole?” the boy frowned.

“Oh, come on, kid! That’s not the point. Do you remember them?”

Red nodded.

“Have you heard anything about them ever since the incident?”

The boy was taken aback. Indeed, since that day he had never heard a word from that merchant again in town or even around the guild.

“What happened to him?” he asked.

“What do you think?” Reinhart did a motion of cutting his neck with his thumb. “They all disappeared from the face of the world a few days after that incident. We couldn’t even find any traces of them in their rooms, and up to this day we still haven’t found their bodies.”

“And you think Hector did this?” Red frowned.

“Who else could move unnoticed and not leave any clues like this? Even our Lesser Ring Cultivators couldn’t find anything on the scene.”

The boy fell silent, coming to a grim realization.

“Why would Hector ever do something like that?!” Allen, who had been trembling in fear up to this point, looked upset at the direction the conversation was heading.

“Why?” Reinhart said with a grin. “Because one of the guards threatened to hurt you, of course.”

“So what? You mean he killed the merchant and all his guards just because one of them threatened to hurt me?” the young master remained unconvinced.

The man, however, just smiled in response.

Allen’s expression also worsened as he noticed Reinhart might not be lying after all. “T-there’s no way Hector would do something like that. He’s not that cruel.”

“Not cruel? Oh, he’s very cruel, but not because of that.” Reinhart shook his head. “I honestly admire the lengths he would go to in order to protect his successor, but that’s not the point. Tell me, young master, what do you truly know about Hector?”

“W-what do you mean by that?”

“I mean, do you know anything about his life prior to settling down in this town? You don’t even need to go that far back, honestly. There are plenty of things he did to establish his presence in the region after he arrived. Horrible, ruthless things he did to everyone who stood in his way or tried to challenge his presence. He tortured, slaughtered, threatened… Even innocent bystanders were not spared! Killing a dozen idiots for threatening you doesn't even measure up to the other things he's done.”

“B-but, he never told me any of it…”

“Why would he? His ruthlessness is something that scares even me. What would it do to a kid like you? Hell, I bet the only people in your sect who are aware of it are Domeron and Rog.”

Allen fell silent, his eyes wide in shock.

“What do you want from us?” Red finally spoke up again, cutting into the conversation before it did more damage.

“Well, I asked you a question earlier, didn’t I?" Reinhart said with a smile. “Why would Hector allow his most prized possession to travel into the forest with only another brat as escort?”

“If you know Hector that well, why do you even bother asking?” Red shook his head. “We obviously came here without his permission.”

“That much I could gather. I bet you were even going to meet your other companions before all this happened.” Reinhart nodded. “The real question about this is, why did you bring him along?” he pointed at Allen.

Red hesitated. “… We were to bring him with us so he could have a real training experience.”

“Really?” the man looked surprised. “That makes sense. Even a young master with talent shouldn’t be coddled too much… So you were going to meet those three somewhere in the forest, correct?”

Red didn’t respond, but, evidently, Reinhart had already deduced that much.

“Well, then.” the man smiled. “Why don’t you tell me where they are? I’ll take you there safely.”