Soon enough, everyone was gathered inside the sect hall, except for Narcha and Rog. Goulth was glaring at Red, but the boy ignored it for now.

Domeron rubbed his eyes. “What have you two done this time?”

The swordsman looked more bothered at having been woken up in the middle of the night than anything else.

Goulth grunted. “Do you need to ask? They probably went stealing something again!” he looked over at Rimold in anger. “I knew you would be a bad influence for my disciple!”

Rimold put his hands up in defeat. “Look, you can admonish me however you want after we are done reporting our situation, okay?”

Hector, who was weighing up the two of them in silence, snorted loudly. “Then go ahead! Explain to me how the two of you managed to summon a demon in the middle of town!”

Allen’s eyes widened in shock. “So it was a demon?!”

A glare from the elder was enough to silence him.

“We were uh… Acquiring something from a merchant in the adventurer’s guild.” Rimold tried to put it in the vaguest way possible, but that already earned him plenty of unfriendly looks. “Look, it doesn’t matter! What matters is what the kid saw once he entered the merchant’s room!”

Goulth’s eyes twitched. “You sent him inside by himself?!”

“Not the point.” the rogue shook his head. “Tell them, kid!”

Rimold looked at Red with pleading eyes.

The boy sighed and turned to look at the others. “I was searching the merchant’s body for a key when I found an opaque dark pendant around his neck.”

Everyone’s expression changed once they heard this, except for Allen, who looked confused.

“A demon worshipper?” Domeron asked in a heavy tone.

Red nodded. “I didn’t know it at the time, but Rimold informed me afterwards. That’s not all, though…”

Goulth’s expression fell as he seemed to realize something. “Did you look at it?”

The boy frowned and nodded.

“This…” the blacksmith put one of his hands to his head in dismay. “Did it react?”

Red nodded again. “It did. I felt dizzy and my eyes started to bleed… I saw something inside that pendant. It wasn’t until I left that I heard the demon inside the room.”

There was a prolonged silence as Goulth’s countenance paled. Eiwin too looked anxious, while Domeron was pondering to himself with his eyes closed. Hector was frowning and looking at Red.

The boy was quick to understand there was more to this matter than Rimold first told him, but when he looked over at the rogue, the man seemed just as confused as him. Before he could question them, Allen spoke up.

“What’s with your faces?” the young master noticed the strange atmosphere in the room and was starting to become worried himself. “Isn’t Red safe?”

Hector ignored Allen’s question, gazing at Red deeply. “Do you remember what you saw inside that pendant?”

Red frowned, trying to remember the image, but before he could respond, the old man cut him off.

“Don’t try to visualize it too much.” Hector said. “Just tell me what you can remember off the top of your head.”

The boy nodded. “… It was a reptilian eye.”

The elder frowned. “So a draconic demon, then.”

“Can you stop beating around the bush and tell us what the issue is?” Rimold looked nervous. “Why does it matter what the kid saw?”

Hector ignored the rogue and continued to focus on Red. “Do you know why it’s so dangerous to practice demonic arts, kid?”

Red hesitated. “… Isn’t it because of demonification?”

“That is certainly one reason.” the elder nodded. “But not the only one. In truth, practicing demonic arts makes you more susceptible to… Outside influence.”

The boy understood where this was going.

Hector continued. “Some strong-willed cultivators can fight off demonification, and as such, they choose to rely on these demonic arts. They say that there is no such thing as an evil technique, only an evil cultivator. To some degree, they are right, but these people grossly miss the true danger of the demonic arts.”

The mood around the hall continued to get heavier and Red felt cold sweat running down his back.

“Throughout history, great cultivators fell victim to demonification and became horrible monsters.” the elder said. “These people were extremely strong willed, even more than any of us in this sect, and yet they still fell to this dark curse. Why do you think that is?”

“… Because of outside influence?” Red said with uncertainty.

“Indeed.” Hector nodded. “Using demonic Spiritual Energy will inevitably open one up to the influence of demons from the Infernal Realm - creatures of primordial evil beyond our understanding. Intrusive thoughts, whispered words, strong bouts of unexplainable emotion - these demons can push a person to the brink of a mental breakdown without them noticing, and even if they do, sometimes there’s nothing they can do to stop it. Under the pressure of such vicious beings, these cultivators find themselves unable to fight back against the demonification and they all end up falling in the end.”

“But Red doesn’t practice any demonic arts!” Allen said with a nervous look. “Why does that matter to him?”

“If these demons were only a risk to demonic cultivators, they wouldn’t be as dangerous as they are.” Hector shook his head. “In truth, even normal people can be influenced by those demons if they’re exposed to them.”

The young master’s expression fell. “You mean…”

The elder nodded. “When he looked into the pendant, it’s very likely a demon took notice of him.”

‘So that’s what happened…’

Red felt some trepidation at this discovery, but he didn’t let it show.

Hector sighed. “Most of these pendants cultists carry with them are fake, and even the real ones don’t work all the time with establishing connections to the infernal realm. However, you just so happened to stumble upon a real one. You are very unlucky, kid.”

Somehow, Red felt this had nothing to do with being unlucky.

“What does this mean for me then?” the boy asked.

“It’s hard to say.” the elder shook his head. “You see, there are many types of demons. Draconic demons in particular are very prone to bouts of anger and violence, so their influence is easily noticeable in other people. If you do end up suffering under its influence, it will be easy to notice.”

Red frowned. “And what can we do about it if something does happen?”

“I will call one of my colleagues.” Hector said. “There are actually treatments for demonification in this world. As long as it’s detected in the first phase, it can still be cured. So you don’t need to lose heart yet - although your situation might be dangerous, it can still be remedied.”

The boy nodded, but in actuality, he was worried about something else. Red had the crimson mist inside his body which, as far as he understood, actually prevented the demonification from affecting his mind, so even if this demon did try to affect him, perhaps he would be immune to it.

However, the same couldn’t be said for his physical demonification. If Hector’s colleague came to treat his demonification and noticed the boy was actually already in the second phase of transformation, what would happen to Red? Would they kill him on the spot?

He couldn’t let that happen, but he couldn’t deny them outright, either.

“I’m feeling fine for now.” Red said. “But I will inform you if I feel something out of the ordinary.”

“Red has excellent control of his mental state.” Eiwin said, looking over at Goulth and Allen. “I doubt any sudden changes will pass by unnoticed by him.”

“R-Right.” the blacksmith nodded as the woman’s attempt at consoling him seemed to work. He looked over at Red. “You are my disciple! No pesky demon will be able to bring you down!”

“Y-Yeah!” Allen’s expression lit up. “You already fought a demon before! What’s one more?!”

Hector cleared his throat, interrupting their conversation. Everyone looked over at him.

“Previously, I was intent on punishing the two of you, but how can I still be in such a mood after learning such dire news?” the elder said. “I would say that you have learned your lesson already, but in truth, the punishment seems to be overly severe for your infractions. So instead, let the lesson be to be more careful about how you approach complete strangers. Demon worshippers hide amongst common people all the time, so one should always be on their guard if they find any strange signs, much more so if they see those dark pendants.”

“You’re right.” Rimold nodded with a frown. “But that isn’t all…”

Hector’s anger threatened to reignite. “What else did you do?!”

Everyone looked at them with anxious expressions.

“Uh…” Rimold hesitated. “I did say we were trying to steal from this merchant. However, we found… Something strange in his possession.”

“We found a decapitated head.” Red said.

“You… You what?!” Hector’s face fell.

The boy continued. “We found it in his strongbox. Rimold theorized it might be something they would use in a demonic ritual, but that’s when something strange happened.”

Red described the experience to them. He told them about how both he and Rimold felt like they recognized the face in the desiccated head and how the rogue felt compelled to touch it before the boy stopped him.

Rimold had an embarrassed expression once Red was done recounting the story.

This time, there were a lot of confused expressions around the hall. From their initial reaction, no one seemed to have any idea what that thing was.

“There are all sorts of strange evil items in the world.” Domeron shook his head. “By your account, it seems as if this ‘head’ was trying to compel you to touch it. It’s not that uncommon for cursed items like these to exist, much more so in possession of demonic worshippers.”

Rimold frowned but didn’t say anything.

“You said this thing was inside a common strongbox, right?” Goulth asked.

Red nodded. “Indeed. As far as I could tell, it was made of common steel and there were no traps or special locks to speak of.”

“Hm, that is strange.” the blacksmith scratched his beard. “Cursed items like these are generally capable of influencing people even if multiple walls are placed between them. Even if one was only affected by looking at it, I can’t imagine what kind of idiots would feel safe locking it away in a common container.”

This was something that confused Red too, but he didn’t dare stay too close to the box to investigate it.

“Where did you say you left it?” Hector asked.

“In my hideout by the edge of town.” Rimold said.

“At least you kept it hidden.” the elder nodded and got up from his chair.

“What do you plan on doing, old man?” the rogue frowned.

“I will take the box and throw it into the river.” Hector said. “It’s too dangerous to keep something like that in town, and I don’t feel confident in dealing with such a demonic item with only the resources I have in hand.”

“Aren’t you curious to know what that head is?” Red asked in surprise.

He didn’t really expect Hector to be so eager to get rid of the item.

“Of course I am curious.” the elder nodded. “But I know better than to meddle in things I neither understand nor am prepared to deal with. It’s a useful survival skill, kid. You should try learning it someday.”

Hector turned to look at Rimold.

“Show me where the hideout is.” the elder said.

The rogue nodded, and soon enough the two of them had left the hall, leaving behind a bewildered Red.