As Gustav said, the store wasn’t big, but it had more than enough space for Red to set up his merchandise. There were around four large shelves in the main room, a wooden counter, and a door behind it that led to an office and storage that occupied the other half of the store. The youth inspected every part of the building, including windows and potential hidden entrances, and only after he had a good mental map of the place did he return to the storefront.

The servant was looking at him with an expectant expression. “Is the store to your liking, my lord?”

“It is.” Red nodded. “You can return to your guild now.”

The man hesitated. “This… Are you sure you don’t need any help, my lord? Master Gustav told me you might need a clerk.”

‘A clerk…’

It would be good to have someone handle the storefront for him, but how could Red trust anyone with his products? Even if he needed to take time off of his own day, he would rather just tend to the store on his own.

“Just go back.” Red shook his head. “I’ll handle it all on my own.”

“A-Are you sure, my lord? Wouldn’t it be wiser to-”

“Leave.” The youth cut him off with an intense gaze.

The servant shivered and bowed towards him before leaving in a hurry. Red closed the door, now alone in the middle of the empty store.

Night had already arrived, but the street movement was still rather high. There was a large tavern in the plaza across from his own store, and the sound of conversation and laughter reached him even here. Red scouted the place with his crimson sense and was surprised to find quite a few Lesser Ring Realm cultivators in there, and just looking through the window, one could see the place was full to the brim.

It reminded him of the Adventurer’s Guild back in Bestrem, except quite a few times bigger.

“I never did like places like these.” Aurelia said. “I think the peace and quiet of sects suit cultivators more.”

Red turned around, spotting the woman’s figure materializing out of thin air.

“What happened in there?” he asked.

Aurelia smiled. “Try to guess.”

Red frowned. “I didn’t show anything out of the ordinary.”

“Bah! This is what happens when you don’t have a proper teacher.” She shook her head. “You might not have shown much skill, but what matters is talent! Talent!”

“That still doesn’t explain it.”

Others could tell he was young even with his mask, but it didn’t mean he was some kind of supreme genius for his age. As far as he understood, his level of skill was about the average for an Arcane Scripture disciple from a sect, or at least this was what he was led to believe.

The woman looked at him like he was an idiot. “You drew an entire talisman in ten minutes without a single pause while in a lobby and with another cultivator staring at your work the whole time. Do you think that’s easy to accomplish for everyone?”

“It isn’t?”

Heryd was rather quiet while he was drawing, so Red didn’t understand the problem.

Aurelia snorted. “Of course it isn’t! One of the biggest issues in Arcane Scriptures is gathering focus and avoiding distractions to not make any mistakes. Some masters back in the sect prepared for whole years before drawing a powerful formation or talisman, and even something as basic as a chain lightning talisman still requires most people some time to still their mind. You, though, did it all in as soon as you got the ingredients, and with a stranger breathing down your neck. Do you realize the issue now?”

Red frowned. This was something he had never considered before and that wasn’t mentioned in his manuals, either.

He knew the Celestial Current meditation technique by instinct, and as such, stilling his emotions was a rather simple task for the youth. It didn’t mean he never needed focus, but for something like a basic talisman, a single breath was more than enough for him to gather all his concentration and get rid of distracting thoughts.

What he failed to consider, though, was that not everyone trained their mind like him, so of course he stood out when he drew that talisman so easily. Other masters might could draw a talisman as quickly and as expertly as he did, but that was only in their own safe space and with enough time for preparation.

“This…” Red looked over at Aurelia. “Do they think I’m from a sect?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “I’m not a big expert on Arcane Scripture, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they thought you had some special background with your talent. Even if that isn’t the case, though, they clearly think you are worthy enough to cultivate some good will with.”

The youth sighed. While there were benefits to such a treatment, bringing more attention to himself was the last thing he wanted to do. He knew that the more he stood out, the more people would take an interest in his background, and by then, he couldn’t guarantee his true identity would remain hidden.

“This might be good for you.” Aurelia said. “Now you can have a famous shop in the capital, and they won’t even bother you if you try to undercut their prices a bit.”

“The shop is only a means to an end.” Red shook his head. “As long as I have enough Spirit Stones, it doesn’t matter how much I sell my products for.”

It wasn’t like his dream was to establish a famous shop in the capital. He only cared about cultivation, and once he had a sufficient amount of money, he planned to close this shop and focus completely on training.

“So, have you already decided what you are going to train next?” Aurelia asked with evident curiosity.

“I have.” Red nodded.

To rise in cultivation realm was a constant effort, a matter of accumulating energy over long periods of time. All cultivators were always working on that any time they could, but it was possible to overexert yourself during this too and risk injuries, which meant one needed to absorb energy in moderation. That left a long amount of free time for cultivators to train other skills not directly connected to their cultivation level.

The youth was constantly planning around that in the back of his mind while dealing with these matters, and he already had a rough path to follow for the foreseeable future.

Aurelia smiled. “Let’s hear it then.”

“I want to practice a movement technique first.”

…

He returned to the manor after locking the store. On his way back, he paid constant attention to his surroundings and his crimson sense, and sure enough, he discovered a few fluctuations from earlier still following him from afar. The youth wasn’t able to feel them using his senses, which spoke to their skills, but how could they defend against his crimson sense?

Red wasn’t surprised at the presence of stalkers, though. It would be weird instead if no one tried to spy on him.

Once he arrived back at the manor, he checked on the imp. Emer was safe, and according to him, no one tried to break into the house while he was away. Red decided to be safe, though, and scouted the entrances to the manor in search of signs of breakthrough.

‘Nothing.’

This didn’t make him happy. It would have eased his mind instead if he found signs of someone entering the place, but the absence of them meant instead that it was possible a skilled rogue could have broken in and left no traces behind.

‘I need to set up defensive formations in this place as soon as possible.’

With nothing else to do, Red returned to the imp and recounted what had happened earlier.

“Y-You got a store in the main plaza?! That’s fantastic, master!”

“Do you think the Golden Hand might have hidden intentions behind all this?” Red asked.

“I-I can’t say for certain.” The imp shook his head. “They are cunning, and it’s best to never underestimate them, but for now, I think they should have been sincere in their gifts for you.”

It was more or less the same conclusion Red arrived at, so he was relieved that Emer shared the same opinion.

“There’s another matter.” He took out Cassemir’s dagger from his bag and showed it to the imp. “Do you recognize this?”

“I-I do.” Emer nodded with a frightened expression. “It’s a ritual dagger.”

“For what kinds of rituals?”

“S-Sacrificial ones, master.”

Red frowned. “Your cult sacrifices people?”

“S-Sometimes.”

“For what reason?”

“T-The lord below bestows us gifts if the sacrifice is to His liking.”

“Gifts? What kind of gifts?”

“I-I don’t know for certain, master.” The imp shook his head. “I was never at the receiving end of those, b-but my brother told me about it before… He said he was granted the infernal light after the sacrifice.”

“Infernal light?”

“I-I don’t know either, master. I-I’m sorry.”

Red remembered the strange purple light that Cassemir’s Spiritual Energy seemed to form into. Was that the supposed infernal light? He didn’t even have the opportunity to test its might, though, as the man died before he could use it.

He looked down at his dagger.

‘I should try to keep this, just in case.’

…

The youth passed the rest of his night cultivating in his office, until morning arrived again. The streets already moved into life, and Red could finally buy all the ingredients he needed.

He already made a mental list in his mind, and after consulting with Emer, he learned of the best stores to buy these kinds of cultivation resources. Not to his surprise, these were all affiliated with the Golden Hand. The imp knew little about the items Red needed, though, so he wasn’t able to say which of these stores would provide a better price for it. On that note, Red was left alone to figure this matter out.

He left just before midday, tracing his way back to the market district. Even on this outing, he was still coming across many interesting buildings and sights he missed yesterday, but he didn’t have time to explore them for now.

The first store he was aiming for happened to be near the main plaza of the market district, so he decided to pass by his shop to see if anything untoward was done to it in his absence. The youth was glad he did too, because as soon as he arrived, he could see a commotion happening right in front of his store.

Red immediately had a bad feeling about the situation. He made his way through the crowd as he heard the conversations.

“What do you think these people are doing?”

“They’re cursing out the Golden Hand or some such thing.”

“What did those money grubbers do this time?”

The youth’s frown only worsened as he approached the store and when he finally made it to the front of the store, his worst fears came true.

His store front was in ruins. The windows were broken, the door thrown off its hinges, and all the shelves inside the store were shattered into pieces. In front of the store, the culprits stood carrying metal rods and were still in the process of breaking whatever they could.

The culprit, to Red’s surprise, was someone he just met yesterday. The meat-skewer vendor, and alongside him there were three other youths with ragged clothing, taking joy in smashing whatever they could.

“This unfairness has gone too long, I say!” The vendor raise the metal rod up as he looked at the crowd. “Those damn Golden Fingers treat us loyal citizens like trash, while giving damn outsiders everything they want! Are they the citizens?! Aren’t they just cowards who came running out of fear of the Empire?! Why do they get to enjoy good treatment over us?!”

Some shouts of agreement came from within the crowd. Whatever the man was saying seemed to resonate with quite a few people.

“That’s right!”

“And what is the king doing?!”

“They don’t care about us!”

The vendor showed an ugly smile as his speech seemed to work. He looked around the crowd until eventually his sight came to a stop at Red’s figure.

He paled once he met the youth’s cold eyes, and pointed at him with his metal rod. “H-He’s here! The outsider is here!”

Suddenly, the attention of the entire crowd gathered on Red.