Domeron was quick to rein in his shock, staring at the man with a serious expression.

“What happened?” he asked.

The soldier shook his head in dismay. “We don’t know for sure… Well, most of us don’t know. The Baron has restricted entrance to his room.”

Red frowned. “He was killed in his room?”

“Y-Yes, we believe so.” The man looked anxious as they broached the topic. “I… I don’t know what happened. Most of us didn’t even get to see the body itself, and there were no sounds of battle, so we…” he trailed off.

Domeron looked around at the soldiers doing the rounds on the town’s outskirts. “You haven’t found the culprit?”

“No…” The soldier shook his head with an ashamed look.

“Do you have any suspects at least?” the swordsman asked.

“N-No.” Every question seemed to make the guard recoil even more. “We were just told to look for suspicious individuals… No one knows who could have done it.”

Domeron and Red exchanged knowing looks.

Captain Orvin was someone who had opened all twelve of their veins. In the entire town, other than Lesser Ring Realm cultivators, perhaps only Domeron could be considered stronger than him. This made the list of possible suspects very small, and in truth, the man never seemed afraid of those stronger than him either. He stood his ground when one of Gustav’s bodyguards tried to strong-arm Red and Allen, and the youth was quite sure he must have had his own trump cards to fight against a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator.

As such, while he could have definitely been killed by such a cultivator, it was hard to think he would have been dispatched without offering any resistance. This meant the killer was either a sublime assassin or someone much stronger than Orvin.

Red could have fit this description if he wasn’t out of town. However, even beyond that, he wasn’t entirely sure that he would have been able to kill the captain in an ambush, or at least not without making a ruckus and putting a lot of effort and preparation into it. This meant there was only one person in town that fit this description that he knew about - that being Hector himself.

‘I can’t think of any reason as to why he would do this.’

The elder had the means, but he lacked any sort of motive for doing something like that. This meant that this was very likely done by an unknown individual, which was much more dangerous for their sect.

From Domeron’s expression, it seemed like the swordsman might have arrived at a similar conclusion.

He looked back at the soldier. “Do you know if the members of our sect have been informed?”

“I… I don’t know.” The guard shook his head. “I have been here since the break of dawn.”

Domeron paused, thinking to himself for a few seconds, before speaking up again. “… Could you have someone bring us to the crime scene?”

“Ah…” The soldier hesitated. “I can ask one of my superiors about it, but I can’t do it without permission.”

“That’s fine. Just tell him to come speak with me if he has any reservations.”

The guard nodded and galloped away towards the barricade at the entrance of town, leaving both Red and Domeron alone.

The youth looked at his companion. “Shouldn’t we speak with Hector before doing anything?”

The swordsman shook his head. “We can’t afford to waste any time. Someone might try to interfere with the crime scene and every passing second there is a chance that precious information could slip between our fingers.”

“We should still try to communicate with Hector and our sect to let them know about our arrival.”

“We will.” Domeron nodded. “Well, I will. I will return to the sect while you go and inspect the crime scene.”

Red frowned. “Why me?”

“You have a good eye for details. Besides, who knows if one of those strange powers of yours might reveal something that we can’t see?”

The youth wanted to argue against that, but he had to admit that the swordsman was probably right. Before they could part ways, though, he wanted to ask Domeron something.

“Is everything alright?” Red asked.

“Hm?” The man looked at him with confusion. “Why do you ask?”

The youth hesitate. “… I can tell the news shook you.”

It didn’t matter how well an individual was at hiding their emotions, their fluctuation would always tell the truth to Red. Even Domeron’s faint and hard to detect fluctuation was still trembling in a strange way since they had learned of the news despite his outward expression and speech not changing one bit.

The swordsman frowned. “Why would I be shaken? We weren’t really friends.”

Red shook his head. “And yet, you clearly are in the most perturbed state I have ever seen you in.”

Domeron continued to stare at him with a scowl before sighing in resignation. “It’s just that we have known each other for over a decade. We even fought side by side on a few occasions and I thought of him as a peer and always admired how he managed to keep the order in town despite our sect and Gustav being at each other’s throats all the time…. He was a great warrior, and it just never crossed my mind he could die just like that.”

“Are you afraid that you’ll end up like him?” the youth asked.

The swordsman looked at him with a smile. “Does it seem like I am afraid of death?”

Red shook his head. If anything, this trip proved how willing Domeron was to put his life in danger for just about any reason.

The man continued. “No, if anything, it just surprises me that this happened in the middle of town. Mind you, deaths happened every now and again in this place, but Orvin’s death is just about the biggest one that has occurred since we arrived in this place. It means things have changed and our peace is gone.”

The youth frowned. “I thought we were all under the assumption that something like this could have happened at any time.”

Domeron shook his head. “I was expecting this change to start in a more explosive form. Maybe an invading army or another monster horde, something that would force our hand to do move or die… Not this game of shadows and assassinations. This means that things will be even more complicated than we first thought.”

“I thought you were always training me to take part in that kind of environment.”

The swordsman smiled. “I am sure you will thrive. The rest of us, though, not so much.”

Before they could continue their conversation any further, the soldier from earlier returned to them, galloping on his horse.

“My sergeant has given you permission to go to the crime scene.” he said. “He will personally escort you.”

Domeron nodded and pointed at Red. “Only he will be going. I will be returning to my sect and joining him later.”

“R-Right.” The soldier nodded, looking at the youth with some hesitation. “Then if you will follow me.”

Red exchanged glances with Domeron one final time.

The swordsman nodded at him. “Make sure to be thorough.”

With those words, the two parted ways, each going in different directions as they entered town.

…

The sergeant that was escorting him was someone the youth was faintly familiar with. They fought side by side against the monster horde many years ago, and he stood out as one of the stronger soldiers under Orvin’s command. Now, however, he probably couldn’t even measure to Red in strength.

The man himself didn’t say much, only exchanging short greetings with the youth before escorting him uphill on foot.

The townsfolk were clearly on edge, and the presence of the guard in the streets was even heavier than normal. Red was able to catch some conversations, the news of Orvin’s death quite clearly already spreading through town.

“It’s a demon worshipper, I’m telling you! They have already begun their sick rituals!”

“A cultist?! B-but doesn’t that mean they could be hiding in the guard too?”

“They might be everywhere! If not even the Captain himself is safe, which of us is?”

Such discussions and speculations were rampant wherever they passed. The Blood Moon was still fresh in people’s minds, and as such, they immediately assumed their captain’s assassination was related to demons. The worst thing was that the youth couldn’t discard the possibility either.

If what Aurelia spoke about the Blood Moon emboldening demon worshippers was true, then it wouldn’t be farfetched if one of those was behind Orvin’s death. Still, Red refrained from making any assumptions until he had seen the crime scene.

The location, it seemed, was at the guard’s barracks right by the Baron’s castle - a fenced off building with a large courtyard for training and housing the soldiers. There were plenty of guards and other people at the entrance of the courtyard, staring at each other and talking in nervous and hushed tones.

From afar, Red could sense the presence of even more people inside, including the Baron himself. As he approached, the crowd gathered at the entrance went silent as they slowly recognized his figure and the sergeant bringing him along. No one tried to bar their entrance, and they entered the courtyard.

Inside, there were far fewer people, all spread in the yard filled with training dummies and equipment boxes. Amidst them, Red recognized a few other high-ranked guards and personnel that served the Baron. They were all standing around with grim expressions on their faces, as if unsure of what to do. Likewise, none of them tried to stop the duo as they moved further in.

They were only stopped at the entrance to the large main building, which was fashioned like a small fort with its structure made up of a chaotic mixture of stones as most of the other structure in town. Two guards stood at the entrance, holding large halberds on either side of the large wooden door.

One of them greeted Red and his escort as they approached. “Sergeant. The Lord Baron has ordered that no one is to enter the building for now.”

“Tell him I have brought someone of the Water Dragon Sect with me.” the sergeant said.

The two guards exchanged glances and nodded. One of them opened the heavy wooden gate before wandering inside and closing it behind him. A few minutes later, the same guard came out and nodded at them.

“He can come inside.” the guard pointed at Red. “You will have to wait here, sergeant.”

The man didn’t protest and simply nodded at the youth.

Red walked inside, and the guards closed the door behind him before he had even taken in the environment. The inside of the building wasn’t much different from the outside - lacking in any sort of decoration or fancy furnishing as one would expect from military men. The place itself was big, containing a mess hall and plenty of rooms and ladders that led to a basement and to an upper floor. There was no one in any of these rooms at the moment.

‘They didn’t tell me where I was supposed to go.’

Of course, it wasn’t a problem for Red with his crimson sense. He detected that the Baron was upstairs and made his way to him.

The second floor seemed to be where the soldiers slept as the stairs led directly to a wide corridor with plenty of doors and rooms on both sides. Some of these doors were open, offering a gaze into the messy dormitories that were left undone in a hurry - where the common guards lived most likely. Towards the back, he found individual bedrooms, and at the very end of the corridor was a closed door.

Red could detect the Baron’s fluctuation from behind this door, and the smell of blood became clear to his improved senses before he even got near it. As he approached, he wondered whether he should knock, but soon enough, a voice came from the inside.

“You can enter.”

The youth didn’t hesitate any longer. He opened the door and walked inside.

His gaze was immediately drawn to the Baron, who stood in the middle of the room with a deep frown, turned towards a wall. He was looking at something in front of him, and Red followed his gaze, already knowing what to expect.

Captain Orvin’s lifeless body slumped over and sat on the ground against a wall, a pool of blood beneath him and staining his nightshirt crimson, making it impossible to tell the cause of death at first glance.

Red frowned at the sight. This was truly an assassination, just as the guard from earlier told him. Before he could do anything else, though, the Baron spoke up.

“Did you do it?” he asked. “Did you kill him?”

The youth didn’t quite know how to respond.