Path to Transcendence

Casidus Easten POV

The boy in front of him was quite an interesting case.

His usual analysis skill wasn't working on the boy, which wasn't exactly unusual, a lot of people had skills or items that could shield them from skills such as his [Eyes of Zephyr]. In any case, being able to prevent his skill from working said a lot in itself.

That was why he ended up using his domain on them. It was a bit overbearing on his part, but he wanted to know why these two were found with his grandson or if this was some kind of plot.

Just as the boy was interesting, the girl was interesting too. She clearly had some good training. Her mana control, aura control, and overall power of her soul for a Tier 2 was quite impressive. There would be very few people her age who could say they were her equal.

At least that was what his brief examination of his domain showed.

The boy, on the other hand, he wasn't able to get a clear sense of. When he had tried to investigate with his domain, it had met an obstruction.

He was somehow able to resist his domain, something that didn't happen often. Not from anyone below Tier 5 and certainly not from someone at Tier 2.

That was why the first thing he checked was to see if the boy was in fact only a Tier 2. Casidus had seen many people try and fake their tiers. Whether that was because of an item or a special skill, it didn't matter.

Despite this, he did not detect any skills and he didn't detect any items either. From everything he could see, this boy was a legitimate Tier 2.

Does it have to do with the same reason why I can't use [Eyes of Zephyr] on him?

Usually, he wouldn't do this, but he cranked up his domain a bit. If he couldn't slip through the boy's defenses he would just overpower them.

However, as he did, he felt a pulse from the storage ring on the boy's finger. It wasn't just a normal pulse either, it was something that he was familiar with. It felt exactly the same as the thing he gave an old friend a while back.

I see he's still up to his old tricks, he thought to himself amusingly.

Even though he had already made up his mind about what he was going to do with the boy, he let Arthur continue his usual shenanigans. Letting him try to get some answers out of the boy. He was even using that silly aura trick to try and scare the boy into talking. The one where he would flare his aura while acting relaxed.

Casidus didn't blame Arthur for this trick, he was always surprised at how well it worked on people.

He was more curious as to how this boy would react.

Why would that meddlesome old man give him that item? There had to be a reason. The old man did things for specific reasons. Reasons that Casidus didn't always agree with, but there was always an explainable purpose behind his actions. And he wanted to see if Arthur could get the boy to demonstrate that for him.

So he sat by and watched as Arthur tried to bully the poor boy and then inwardly smiled as the boy stood his ground against one of the more scary elders of House Easten.

It was only when he noticed that Arthur was about to take things a little too far than he was comfortable with that he stepped in.

"I want everyone but these two children to leave the room," he commanded suddenly.

"..."

He saw the others all look at him with skeptical faces and didn't immediately follow his orders.

"You want us to leave, Casidus?" Beth asked as if she could understand why he was asking that of them.

"I want to speak to the two of them alone," he instructed, making sure there wasn't any room for them to argue.

Arthur who had been pressuring the boy stopped and gave Casidus a look like 'What the hell? I almost got the answers out of the boy'.

Casidus sent him a quick message with his aura. Don't worry. I don't think they are our enemies and the boy might be more willing to say something if it's just the three of us in the room.

Arthur thankfully understood immediately and didn't argue with him.

Understood Lord Patriarch, the man replied. Then he stood up and left the room without another word.

It was a reason why Casidus loved Arthur, the man was loyal and adept, two traits that were honestly hard to find nowadays. There were too many people who worried about lining their own pockets and increasing their influence over doing what was best for the House or for the region.

After Arthur got up, it sent a signal to the others to follow suit. The others, including the representative from the Adventurer's Guild all promptly left the room and shut the door behind them. The only people remaining were the two children and his daughter who had remained.

"Becca, I would like to talk to these two alone," he said to her.

"I have some questions for them myself, father. I won't budge on this," she said stubbornly.

For a second he was going to insist but when he saw that trademark look on her face, he ultimately decided not to. He knew when to pick his battles with his daughter, and this wasn't something he felt he was going to win.

"Okay, but you won't speak a word of what is said to anyone outside of the room, got it? I am serious about this," he said giving her a stern look.

Thankfully, she seemed to understand his seriousness and nodded firmly.

"And also try to be a bit more polite if possible. By all signs, they saved Cory. Therefore, showing some restraint, no matter how skeptical you are, would be appropriate."

This time she hesitated, but eventually nodded her head and did her best to relax.

He finally turned to the two children who were waiting in front of him. The boy was strangely calm considering the situation he found himself in. While the girl was also pretty calm, she was obviously a little annoyed at how they were being treated, but she maintained her poise with confidence.

There's no way she isn't some high-born. Her demeanor is exactly how I would expect someone trained in etiquette would behave. The boy on the other hand, I don't know. His manners say he is a commoner, but it's too soon to say. Commoners don't typically have indicators of such impressive training.

"Why did he give you the token?" he asked the boy, who for the first time this entire time, looked confused.

***

Julius POV

Token? I don't know about any token.

"I'm sorry. Who's 'he'?" He asked the man. He was also confused as to how quickly the man got the rest of the people to leave the room. Now it was just four of them, even little Cory was gone.

He saw the Marquis give him an assessing look. As if he was trying to see if Julius was playing dumb or not. Evidently, the man must have come to the conclusion that Julius was being honest.

"So you're saying that you didn't meet any… meddlesome old men recently?" Julius heard the man ask.

Meddlesome?

There was only one person that came to mind when that word was brought up.

It was only then did he recalled the black card that Elder Han gave him before he said goodbye. He knew that the old coot, had something in mind when he gave that to Julius. He should have questioned it a bit more before he took it.

His face must have given away his thoughts because the Marquis actually interrupted his thoughts and laughed. "That jolted your memory, huh? Yeah, Han does that type of stuff," the man like he knew exactly what type of person he was.

Ah, so does know who Elder Han was, Julius smiled to himself. It made him chuckle as he realized that this Marquis not only knew Elder Han but also knew him exactly how Julius would describe him… meddlesome.

"You know Elder Han?" He asked.

"Elder, huh? That's what he's going around calling himself nowadays? He always thought it was so amusing to act like a mysterious old grandpa," the man grumbled. Julius watched as the man's previously purposeful attitude changed into one more disgruntled as if remembering the old man brought up some bad memories.

Julius wouldn't blame him if it did. He had a feeling that Elder Han had that effect on a lot of people.

"You said he gave me a token? Do you happen to know what that token is?" Julius tested him.

The Marquis smiled, knowing exactly what Julius was asking for.

"A black card made of a unique metal."

Okay, so he does know. I am starting to suspect that Elder Han gave me this 'token' knowing full well that I was going to meet this man in front of me. The question is how was he so certain that was going to happen?

"Meddlesome old man indeed," Julius muttered.

"I know the same feeling. He's like that."

"I feel like this is his little piece of revenge for inconveniencing him," Julius admitted.

Actually, it is probably more accurate than I suspect. He seems like that kind of petty person, he thought while shaking his head.

"You mean the rest of the children?"

Julius's eyes widened. "Rest of the children?"

"Yes, I imagine you didn't just save Cory while you were there. You must have saved the other children along with him."

Julius laughed and shook his head at how easily the man had seen through things. Honestly, he didn't see much reason to hide that much from this man. The fact that he was able to sense Elder Han's token already spoke for him. The fact that he and his family seemed like good people so far helped as well. Julius's gut told him he could trust this man.

"Yeah, I wasn't alone though. There was another person who worked for their organization that helped me rescue Cory. He deserves more credit than I do, if I am being honest."

"Oh? Someone had a change of heart?"

"Yeah, without him Cory wouldn't have been rescued."

"I will make sure that reward him properly if I ever come across him. Does he have a name?"

Julius bit his lip as he hesitated. "His name is Dustin and he was the Tier 4 who was supposed to oversee the warehouse where they kept Cory. He mentioned that he had to go back to the organization to lie about what happened. So I really don't want his name out there while he is still among them."

"You have my word that his secret is safe. My daughter will make sure to do the same."

"That would be much appreciated."

The nobleman waved his hand. "That's the least I can do for you after saving my grandson. If he needs any help getting away from the organization, he can come to us for help."

Julius smiled. "If I see him again, I will make sure to tell him that. I think he might take you up on that offer."

He was about to continue but paused as he thought of something. "What is this organization's name anyway? I haven't heard them call themselves anything."

The Marquis nodded his head. "They go by a few names, depending on their region, but from what I and my people were able to find, they are a large group that is present within many regions within the Empire, not just the Aegos Region. However, from what we can tell their main calls themselves the Conclave. We don't know where they came from, but they must have several powerful nobles and groups as a part of their circle. Otherwise, there is no way they could have such a large presence."

The Aegos Region was the region Blumand was currently in. Just as Celestia was the main city of the Valorbury Region, Blumand was the main city of this region. Each region was quite large on its own, so that meant this group was pretty big if they were able to span over multiple regions. He could see why the Marquis was worried about them and wanted to know more.

The Marquis walked over to a chair to sit down and gestured for Julius to sit down alongside him.

"If there is anything you can tell me about what you noticed or what you know about the activities of this group, I will make sure you are well rewarded for it," Marquis Easten promised.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Julius didn't see a reason to hold back. He didn't like organizations that kidnapped his friends or other children very much. And so he explained what had happened in Stonewall to the noble in front of him.