“What do you mean?” Allen seemed confused. “Aren’t you free already?”

“I thought so too, but…” Red trailed off. “It turns out things are never as simple as they seem.”

His response only left the young master even more confused, but he had no intentions of explaining his troubles. At least not in this situation.

“We need to move.” Red said, looking over to the north. “Before those monsters catch up to us, that is.”

“Ah, right!” Allen nodded. “We should hurry!”

Red agreed, leading the way through the trees. Right now, they were far away from the main road, but even if they had been closer, the boy had no intention of taking it.

While they were walking, the youth was also considering how to proceed with their immediate future.

‘I wonder if Narcha and the others will run into the demon.’

Indeed, if his companions followed Red’s tracks, their path would likely lead them through the region the creature had just ambushed them in. If that happened, could they still meet up? Or better yet, would they be able to survive a fight against that demon?

‘I can’t worry about them right now.’

His situation wasn’t any better, all things considered. Red was the one with two monsters hunting him, after all.

…

An hour passed by as the duo continued to travel through the forest. They had yet to meet with any of their companions, however.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Allen asked, the silent travel taking its toll on his psyche.

“There’s no right way.” Red shook his head. “We’ve done a roundabout trip to reach our destination, and we should be closer by now. All we can do is search for traces left by the others…”

“But isn’t Rog a specialist tracker?” the young master frowned. “Isn’t it going to be hard to find them if they try to stay hidden?”

Allen’s logical deduction shocked Red to no end. Of course, the boy had considered that problem too, but the fact that these words came from this less than “brilliant” young master was a genuine surprise.

“You’re right.” Red nodded. “But they might be in a hurry right about now, since hours have passed since the agreed upon time for our meeting. Even Rog wouldn’t have the time to clean up all their tracks.”

“Ah, that’s right.” Allen looked relieved at the revelation. However, his expression suddenly worsened as if reminded of something important. “What about the demon? Aren’t they going to find it?”

“Maybe. But there’s nothing we can do about it other than to try to reunite with them as quickly as possible.”

Allen didn’t look happy at his response, but he could tell Red was telling the truth.

Luckily for the boys, the necromancer’s creatures had yet to reappear in Red’s crimson senses. The youth wondered what might have prompted this change when the undead master had been so insistent on following them earlier.

‘Could they be afraid of the demon?”

It was that monster that had killed the zombie the last time around. However, Red found the notion ridiculous. Was there any sign the necromancer would be afraid of someone else when they had an army of disposable pawns at their command? Chances were, they were simply preparing another ambush to kill Red once and for all.

‘I can’t lower my guard.’

That went without saying, but the boy felt he needed to be particularly attentive to anything out of the ordinary this time around. If they fell into an ambush again, there might be no Reinhart to save them.

Just as Red was having such thoughts, a few strong fluctuations appeared in the range of his crimson sense.

“Stop.” he put a hand in front of Allen.

“What is it?” the young master looked at him with alarm.

“There’s someone ahead.”

“Is it our friends?!” some measure of joy returned to Allen’s expression.

Red frowned, trying to recognize the fluctuations. Suddenly, though, more signals appeared, until there were eight of them, all walking in their direction from the east, with sneaking, slow steps. The boy tried to spot the owners of these fluctuations in between the trees, but he saw nothing and came to a grim realization.

‘Professionals.’

Red turned around. “We need to run.”

“W-what? What do you…” Allen caught himself, remembering their earlier conversation. Instead, he just nodded with a resolute expression. “Lead the way.”

His attitude surprised Red, but he wouldn’t complain. He led them back the way they had just come from in a hurry. That was, however, when a shrill whistle came from behind them.

“I see someone!” a man’s voice called.

“Hurry!” Red abandoned the modicum of sneakiness he had been trying to keep and broke out into a full sprint.

Allen did exactly as he was told and rushed ahead, gaining ground on Red with the help of his Spiritual Veins. However, once he saw his companion lagging, he slowed down. Red felt ashamed at being the one responsible for holding back their efforts on this occasion, but there was little he could do about it.

He could hear the steps and screams of men from behind them, keeping pace in their chase. Red stole some glances backwards and saw the appearance of their pursuers more clearly.

‘Bandits.’

Just his luck. At that moment, some of them were holding their bows up, trying to get a clear shot at the boys while still keeping up the chase.

Red looked over at Allen. “Follow me and weave between the trees! Be ready to dodge!”

The young master nodded in acknowledgement, even with a panicked expression. Red led them into evading their enemies, and a few moments later, he heard the shrill sound of arrows being let loose.

“Now!”

The boy pushed his Upper Leg Veins and dashed to the side, with Allen following in tow. An instant later, and a handful of arrows stuck to the ground where they had just stood. Most of them, though, had been off the mark, and wouldn’t have been a threat to the boys even if they hadn’t dodged. It was no simple task to hit a moving target, much more so in the middle of a dense forest.

“Fuck!” a curse came from behind them, but Red didn’t pay it any heed.

After that disastrous attempt, most bandits gave up on shooting the kids and gave chase on foot instead.

Red and Allen continued to run, and while their pursuers couldn’t close the distance, they were still able to keep on their trail. Not only that, but they seemed intent on catching the boys, even after they had covered almost a kilometer in distance.

Red frowned at this realization and started to think of another plan. He looked over at Allen. “How confident are you in a fight?”

“W-what-” the young master almost gagged. “I mean, I have never fought anyone before! Not for real!”

“Do you know how to use that sword?”

“I-I think so!”

“Then be ready.” Red gazed forward. “We’re going to strike and then keep running.”

Allen looked like he wanted to say more, but he just followed instead, unsheathing his sword in panicked movements.

Red also took his cleaver out and focused on his crimson sense to determine the bandits’ positions. They didn’t chase the boys in an orderly line and instead spread out to surround them, to no avail as yet. Red saw an opportunity as one bandit strayed too far from the rest, hoping to cut their path up head.

“Follow me!” Red said to Allen, before changing directions.

The young master looked like he was about to cry, but he still followed his steps. This sudden action didn’t go unnoticed by the bandits.

“They’re changing directions!” said the bandit in the lead.

There was a stir among the brigands’ ranks, but they didn’t know how to react other than to continue their pursuit. Red continued running ahead towards the one fluctuation, before the figure of a bandit finally appeared a few moments later. The man also noticed the duo approaching him, and a look of pleasant surprise came to his expression.

“I got you now, you little shits!”

The man raised his axe up, ready to strike down the prey who was charging in his exact direction. Red narrowed his eyes and right as they were about to clash, he pushed his Upper Leg Veins to the limit.

The bandit swung down, but hit only air. Before he could even process what was happening, his balance buckled, as Red lopped off his left leg at the knee with his cleaver.

On the other side, also using the opportunity, Allen dashed forward and slashed at the man, cutting a large gash around his belly at almost the same time. The young master’s movements were sloppy, but he made up for it with strength unbefitting a child his age.

“AAAAH” the man screamed in agony, tumbling to the ground as blood poured out of his stump and large gash.

‘That wasn’t that hard.’

Red had expected more of a challenge, but the man fell down with extreme ease. His movements were obvious and unnecessary, allowing the boy to sidestep the bandit’s attack and counter it in a single fluid motion. It was like night and day in difficulty compared to his training with Domeron.

‘Now’s not the time for this.’

The other bandits heard and saw what he had just done, and were hurrying towards them. Red started running again.

“Come on!” he looked back, calling to Allen. “Faster!”

“R-right!” the young master followed behind him, but his expression was troubled and his eyes lingered on the dying bandit for a second too long.

And that was when the arrows came.

“Look out!” Red dashed forward, pushing a distracted Allen out of the way. However, it was too late.

“Ahh!” the young master screamed in pain as an arrow shot into his left shoulder.

The duo stumbled to the ground as Allen held onto his bleeding wound.

Red looked him over and noticed the arrow hadn’t hit a vital organ.

He frowned, but as he heard the steps of the bandits getting closer, he promptly got up and tried to pull Allen to his feet. “We need to go, now!”

“I-I…” the young master looked to be in a state of shock, staring at the growing bloodstain on his uniform in horror. He didn’t seem to listen to what Red was saying.

'There's no time!’

Red gave up on trying to bring the boy out of his daze and got ready to stand his ground. The first few bandits were already within a few dozen meters from him, staring at the boys with maddened, vengeful gazes.

Right as Red was preparing for an inevitable battle, however, the bandit in the lead suddenly stumbled, crashing face down onto the ground. This immediately alarmed his companions, who all froze on the spot.

The man wasn’t moving. A dagger was stuck in the back of his head, blood slowly pooling under his body. The remaining bandits all looked shocked, before their gazes wandered back, towards the direction the dagger had to have come from.

“Well, bullying two children, are ya?” a man’s voice said. “That’s low even for bandits, I must say.”

The voice came from one of the brigands who had previously been chasing Red and Allen. He stood there, twirling a small dagger between his fingers. Apparently, he had killed the bandit leader despite being a bandit himself.

“Why don't you dance with me instead?” the traitor smiled, sending a shiver down the bandits’ spines.