Path to Transcendence

After Julius was done retelling their journey, with a few omissions of course, he was asked some clarifying questions.

"How did you get into the warehouse? I can't imagine they just allowed you to stroll right in?"

"I ended up stealing an access card from one of the people who left," Julius admitted.

"You stole an access card from a Tier 3?" The man asked questioningly.

"I took her by surprise," Julius said truthfully with a wince, recalling his ambush on the unsuspecting woman and that he never checked up on her afterward. He had just left her there lying face down in her spit.

"Her?"

"Uhh… yeah."

"Then you snuck in and made it down to the basement where you were found out by the local Tier 4 guard, Dustin right?"

"Yeah, he then proceeded to kick my ass," Julius admitted.

Marquis Easten frowned and looked at him. "See, that's what I don't get. I can behind you sneaking into the warehouse and past some low-life Tier 3s, but the fact that you said you fought this Tier 4 is odd. How is it you were even able to actually 'fight' him?"

Julius's mouth opened about to reply but nothing came out. He failed to mention that he not only did he fight Dustin, but that he fought off Dustin's authority, forgetting that he shouldn't have been able to fight at all. Most people crumble like a house of cards the moment a Tier 4 used their authority against them.

He just shrugged his shoulders. Honestly, Marquis Easten had already used his domain against him, which meant that he should already have an idea that Julius had something to fight against a powerful person's influence.

"I have certain abilities that allowed me to fight back against his authority," he said. Marquis Easten simply nodded as if he understood.

"Is there any way for you to prove that?" he heard Cory's mother interject from the side. Unlike Marquis Easten, she wasn't as quick to believe Julius. He didn't blame her though, his story did sound a bit odd.

He didn't have a response for that. It wasn't like he was just going to list off every one of his skills and Concepts for her.

His silence didn't seem to bother her. "I see. Do you mind if I verify your claim?" She asked politely.

"What do you mean?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"I want to see if you can withstand my authority. I promise I won't use my domain just my authority," she said to him, sounding sincere.

He frowned and looked at Marquis Easten to see his thoughts. The man held up his hands. "I believe you, but if you want my daughter to believe you, it would just be easier if you showed her. But if you don't want to, then you have no need to."

Julius just shook his head. It didn't sound like that big of a deal. It wouldn't hurt them if they knew and if it allowed Julius to convince her to trust him more then all the better. "Okay, go ahead."

He saw the woman give him a weird look at how readily he agreed. It was as if she was expecting him to be more resistant to the idea. But soon, he felt the woman reach out with her authority. Unlike Dustin's, her's was much more… full.

That was the best way to describe it. Her authority felt like it was complete, not necessarily more powerful even, just more real.

Despite her admittance of not believing him, she didn't use her authority at full strength. She held back quite a bit, at least that was what Julius suspected. It didn't feel aggressive or oppressive, it merely felt like she was prodding him gently with it. It immediately gave him a better impression of her. She could have easily used her authority with much more power, but didn't. She was just testing him.

It was almost ticklish in a way and he playfully slapped it away.

He did enjoy the way her face curled into confusion. He barely needed to use Inexorable Resolve to fight against her influence. He simply smiled at her, while withstanding her authority.

In spite of his belief that she would push him harder, she didn't. Instead, she pulled back and tilted her head at him. "You're telling the truth," she said dumbfounded.

"I haven't told you guys a single lie yet. I may not tell you everything, but I won't lie," he said to her.

"Plus, I feel like I have been the one doing most of the sharing." He swiveled to her father and decided that it was time for him to ask Marquis Easten a few questions of his own.

"Do you know who is backing this Conclave?"

The man gave his daughter a quick glance before answering.

"Not yet, but it is safe to say that there are high ranking nobles among them, as well as several groups from outside of the Empire helping them."

"What is their goal?" Julius asked.

"That's one of the major problems. We don't really know what their goal is. They seem to just be a large criminal organization whose focus is to gain influence and money. But honestly, we suspect there is something more to it."

I wonder if House Greyson is involved? He mentioned that several high-ranking nobles were a part of this organization. It wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that House Greyson is involved somehow. I already know that they are sketchy, Julius thought to himself.

If House Greyson was indeed involved, he would be much more incentivized to bring them down.

"Do you think it's possible that a Ducal house could be a part of this group?" Julius asked after thinking for a moment. He saw Reinera give him a disappointed look as if she couldn't believe how tactless his question was.

The Marquis rubbed his chin, his blue eyes gazing into Julius's with intensity. "What? Do you have an idea about who might be involved?"

"Not really, but is it possible?"

"Possible? Absolutely. Likely? It's hard to say. I would like to say no, but in reality, this organization has some deep ties that would be easily explained if a Ducal house was involved."

"And if one is?"

"If one is, then there's a chance it's the same House you are thinking about," the man said to Julius with a knowing look.

"How do you know I am thinking about one?"

"Because there are not many reasons why you would think it was a Ducal house unless you had one in mind. Since there are only five Ducal houses within the Empire, that list is pretty short. Duke Zenith is ruled out, there is no way that monster would do something like this. Duke Silver enjoys his peace too much to jeopardize it. Duchess Willow might be a scheming woman, but she wouldn't be caught dead kidnapping children. That only leaves House Greyson and House Argus. I can see both of them being involved in some way. So which one do you think it is? I'm sure you have a reason."

"I have had some issues with House Greyson in the past, but I might be biased."

Marquis Easten nodded in agreement. "In my opinion, if there is a Ducal house working with this group, House Greyson would be my bet. I told Dolan before he went into seclusion that he needed to take care of his house politics," Marquis Easten sighed. "He didn't listen. Dolan hates anything that doesn't have to do with fighting."

"Do you mean Duke Greyson?" He asked the man.

"Yeah."

"Father, you shouldn't be talking about this with these people," Rebecca lightly chided him.

"It doesn't matter that much Becca. Young Julius here is being very helpful, so it would be rude not to extend the same favor. Propriety has its place, but sometimes you can't be held back by it," the Marquis said gently.

"We don't know them, though."

"If Han gave them the token, then we can trust them."

"Who is this Han person anyway? What makes his word so valuable?"

Marquis Easten smiled at his daughter, his expression looked teasing. "He's gone by many names. But you will likely know him from his title as the Curse Lord."

Lady Rebecca's face went from confused to stark white in an instant. "Han? As in Hanson Roth? The former Sect Leader of the Fallen Spire Sect? I thought he was dead?"

Julius chuckled. "Close, he looks like he's gonna keel over any minute now."

Lady Rebecca jerked her head at him and looked fearfully as if he was going to summon the 'Curse Lord' at this very moment.

Haha, Curse Lord. Such an edgy name for an old man. I bet he loves it, Julius confidently thought to himself.

Marquis Easten on the other hand, found it extremely funny. He let out a boisterous laugh. "Haha, you know I always suspected that he allowed himself to age just so he could pretend to be a sagely old man."

Julius felt someone poke him in the side. He turned and saw it was Reinera.

"I told you Elder Han was bad news. He's known for killing entire Sects and Houses just because they offended him," Reinera whispered to him.

Entire Sects and Houses? I gotta say, that's pretty dark.

Julius whispered back to her. "You didn't say anything back then. Why didn't you mention it before?"

Reinera shrugged her shoulders. "He seemed to like you, so I didn't want to make him mad by telling you all of the awful stuff he's done over the years."

"You didn't seem to have a problem yelling at him though."

"It probably wasn't my best decision at the time, she admitted with a frown"

Marquis Easten spoke up, hearing their conversation. "Don't worry, girl. Hanson isn't like that anymore. Not to mention that many of the stories you have heard about him are highly exaggerated and used more as a deterrent than anything else."

The nobleman turned to his daughter, saw her incredulous look, and sighed. "Okay, maybe not everything is exaggerated. But to be fair he has calmed down in the past several decades."

Reinera gave him a 'see, look what I told you', type of expression.

Julius saw the Marquis's attention turn to Reinera. "By the way, Grace was it? What House do you hail from?"

Julius saw Reinera not react too outwardly as she heard the man's question, but he couldn't help but notice her fingers pinch together.

"I am the illegitimate daughter of a noble, as for the House my father belongs to, that is not something I wish to divulge," she smoothly explained.

"That sounds exactly what I would train my children to say when hiding their identity," the Marquis smiled.

"Pardon?"

The man continued to smile at her. "You see, I don't actually care too much about what family you are from. You are obviously noble born, but I only really care about if having you here will cause me or my house any trouble?"

Reinera had already put her princess act back on and controlled her reaction as well as her aura, not giving away any signs for the man to read from.

"No, you won't get any trouble from my family," she said to him.

They won't cause trouble as long as we don't tell them, he thought to himself.

The Marquis stared at her for quite a while, as if he were deciding whether to believe her or not.

He was thankful when Marquis Easten finally nodded and turned his attention back to himself. Though Julius had a feeling that the man hadn't totally believed Reinera's claims. He only hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite them.