“Ha! Does our name invoke such reactions these days?” the knight in front said with a laugh.

“No, no!” Rimold hurried to correct himself in a panic. “I mean, we are all very grateful for your presence in our province!”

This reaction only made the man laugh even louder. One of his subordinates, however, didn’t seem to be as happy with the situation as their leader.

A woman’s muffled voice spoke from beneath that suit of armor with disdain. “Hmph, how soon do mortals forget. When undead were rampant on the continent, they sang us praises and cooperated with us at every opportunity. Now that they think the threat is gone, they dread our very presence.”

“This is not what I meant! Not what I meant at all!” Rimold said in a fearful tone. “I mean, it’s just that your presence here took us by surprise… Right, guys?”

He looked back at his companions. Narcha seemed to be readying herself for a fight, while the others all had worried expressions. Only Rog seemed to be focused on something else as he continued to scratch at his naked chin.

“There is no need for such theatrics.” the leading knight shook his head. “We know our reputation in the mortal world. Still, we must do our job.”

Narcha frowned. “And what is your job? Are you intent on razing our town to the ground too?”

“Hold your tongue, mortal!” the female knight stepped forward, one of her hands grabbing onto the hammer on her back.

Immediately, Red and the others felt a force pressuring against them. A feeling of danger radiated from the woman’s figure, and none of her companions seemed intent on stopping her.

“Enough.” the leader pulled her back. “We don’t want to make them scared, do we?”

Red could imagine the man’s smiling expression, even though he couldn’t see his face. Eventually, Eiwin stepped forward to speak for the group.

“We understand your duty, fellow cultivators.” she said. “We are not seeking any conflict. We were merely surprised to meet you in the middle of the forest after everything we have gone through.”

“I see.” the man nodded. “And might I ask what you were doing in the middle of the forest? You seem to have gone through some fighting yourself.”

Eiwin hesitated. “… We were pulled into a hidden realm as we were investigating the bandits.”

Red frowned as he heard this. Some of his companions also stared at her with dubious expressions, but none of them interrupted the woman.

“A hidden realm in this place?” the man seemed surprised. “Was it an inheritance ground?”

“It was indeed an inheritance ground.” Eiwin nodded with no apprehension.

“That is surprising…” the man contemplated about it. “Do you know which cultivator it belonged to?”

“I’m afraid that…” she trailed off as her expression changed into one of confusion. “I’m afraid that… I don’t remember.”

“Hm?” the knight was taken aback by her words. “You don’t remember?”

Red could feel an air of suspicion rise amidst the knights, as Eiwin said that.

“I’m being truthful.” she shook her head. “Now that I think about it, there is very little I can remember about that place… It’s like there’s a fog covering the appearance and trials I went through in there.”

As the woman said this, a yelp came from behind her.

Allen slapped the top of his head. “I-I can’t remember it either! There was that stag but… I can’t remember what it looked like!”

The same realization came to the others. Narcha and Rimold had ugly expressions as they noticed they had missing memories, too. Rog continued to show no reaction.

‘So the hawk really did wipe their memories…’

Red was not sure how the process worked. It seemed that his companions were aware of the fact that they had been in a trial, but seemed fuzzy on details. In fact, they didn’t even notice there was anything amiss in their memories until Eiwin tried to think back on the details and brought it to attention.

The boy would need to pay attention to their companions so he could act convincingly.

“None of you remember it?” the leading knight asked with some suspicion.

“… I’m afraid so.” Eiwin nodded with an expression of resignation.

The man went silent. He looked over at one of his companions on his immediate left.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“They seem to be telling the truth.” another grave man’s voice responded. “These types of techniques are not uncommon either. The owner of the trial might have been trying to hide their identity.”

The leader grunted. “Hm, that’s unfortunate. You think it could be connected to the necromancer?”

His subordinate shook his head. “Unlikely, or else I doubt they would be alive.”

The man sighed from beneath his armor. “What a mess… Still, it is none of our concern.”

He looked back at Red’s group.

“The tall woman and the child with the red hair.” he pointed at Red and Narcha. “Tell me about your encounter with that zombie.”

Red shivered, and Narcha’s expression became ugly.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Some bandits survived the encounter in the dead section of the forest.” the knight said. “It was a simple matter getting this information from them, considering how much your appearances stand out. Of course, I never really expected to run into the two of you in this forest, but our investigations led us to this place, so…”

“Answer the question.” the female knight interjected, showering the group with another powerful wave of pressure.

Narcha gritted her teeth, staring at the knights in anger.

Red spoke up before anything else could happen. “We saw some of the bodies that zombie had killed and followed its traces to the dead forest. We saw it fighting against a few bandits there and noticed it wasn’t moving like a normal undead. It noticed us from miles away and we were forced to flee. It eventually caught up to us, so we fought it a bit before running away.”

“And?” the leader looked at the boy from beneath his visor. “Is that it?”

Red nodded. “That’s it. We later assumed it was a necromancer, but we weren’t willing to investigate it further.”

“I see…” the man seemed to be in deep thought. “How old are you, child?”

“Ten… I think.”

“You seem to be very well spoken for such a young child.” the knight said. “Did the zombie say anything to you? Did it do anything strange? We would appreciate anything you can deliver us.”

Red shook his head. “It didn’t say anything of importance.”

The leader looked back at the subordinate on his left. The man nodded.

Red noticed this odd interaction.

‘Why is he looking at that man for confirmation?’

A grim possibility crossed the boy’s mind. He couldn’t tell whether any of his companions had noticed this too, since they were all very tense at the situation. Only Rog continued to be absent-minded.

Red’s attention was placed on Allen and Rimold, however.

‘I can’t let them speak. I need to take the initiative.’

These two were present for the boy’s interaction with the necromancer, so they could implicate Red and perhaps the entire group in the process. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

“We found a bunch of undead animal corpses around the forest.” the knight said, looking back at the group. “Do any of you know about it?”

“We do.” Red nodded. “Me and Allen ran into some of them while making our way through the forest. We were saved by someone else, though.”

Eiwin and Narcha seemed surprised at these words, but they didn’t interrupt the boy. It seemed he had been afforded this kind of trust by his companions.

“Who’s Allen?” the knight asked.

“M-Me…” the young master raised his trembling hand.

“I see.” the man nodded. He looked back at Red. “Did you have any more encounters with the necromancer or his undead while you were inside this forest?”

Red replied without hesitation. “No.”

He didn’t look at Rimold and Allen, as curious as he was to observe their reactions.

The leader looked at the subordinate on his left. The knight didn’t give an immediate response. A few seconds later, though, he nodded.

Red felt relief at this response, but he didn’t let it show in his expression.

Before the leader could turn back, though, the subordinate spoke up. “This boy has a strong will.”

Red was confused at these words, but he had an awful premonition.

The leader hummed to himself. “It certainly seems to be the case. Thankfully, he’s not the only one in this group.”

The man shifted his focus to Allen, and the young master immediately trembled in apprehension. Red felt alarmed at these developments, but he knew he couldn’t do anything about it, or else it would raise even more suspicion on his part.

“What about you, Allen?” the knight asked. “Did you encounter any more of those nasty zombies while wandering around this forest?”

Allen shivered. “I-I…”

Red braced himself, prepared for the worst.

Someone interrupted the boy, though. “I saw them.”

The leader looked over at Rog in surprise. “You did?”

The hunter nodded. “I did. They were walking inside that hole in the ground for the bandits - a whole army of them. I think they were inside the trial too, but I didn’t meet them there.”

The knight went silent for a moment. “… They were inside the trial?”

“I think so.” Rog shrugged. “Never saw them there, though. Got hit by some flames and was unconscious.”

The air around the group of knights seemed to change. They looked at each other, and Red saw an entire silent conversation happen between them.

A few seconds later, the leader looked back at the group. “We’ll need you to take us to this hole.”

Eiwin frowned. “And afterwards? Will you let us go?”

“Certainly.” the man nodded. “As soon as we’ve properly interrogated you about what happened inside the trial, that is.”

Narcha glared at the knight. “You’re going to do what?! Do you think we are lying about our memories being wiped?!”

“Not at all.” the knight shook his head. “I believe you. However, there are ways to recover memories from individuals. Some of the higher-ups in our organization are specialized in said interrogation techniques, so if we judge the danger of this necromancer to be high enough, we could enlist their help.”

“You!” the warrior gritted her teeth. “You can’t do this!”

The man laughed. “Of course we can. If it’s necessary to expunge this world of the undead, we can do much worse. You need not be afraid, though. This technique is quite safe, and as long as we can confirm nothing is wrong with your memories, you will all be allowed to go free.”

Red, who was watching this whole interaction, knew he had to do something to stop this. If they interrogated the boy and looked into his memories, they would find all his numerous interactions with the necromancer. By then, it wouldn’t be just him that would be doomed, but it’s likely the entirety of his group would be implicated too.

Just as Red was thinking about what to do, Eiwin looked back at them.

“There’s no need to be afraid.” she said. “I already warned him when we got out of the trial. He should be on his way.”

Although she seemed to be saying that to everyone, Red felt her eyes focus on him.

“Hm?” the leading knight looked at the woman once she heard this. “Are you talking about that old man? He is in the Lesser Ring Realm, but you mustn’t get delusional. Against the Cursebreakers, there is nothing that he can-”

Before the man could finish speaking, a shrill sound echoed through the forest. The man looked up, his hand going to his hammer.

“Watch out!”

He and his subordinates jumped back from the area. A spear of ice crashed into where they were just standing before shattering into countless pieces. The shards peppered their armor with incredible force and threw them back even further. Somehow, none of the ice shards came in the direction of Red and his group.

“What gall!” an old man’s voice full of rage came from behind the group. “You think I’m afraid of some declining organization?!”

Red and the others looked back, and they saw the source of the voice.

“Hector!” Allen yelled in joy.