Path to Transcendence

Chapter 730: Elven Favor

Julius would have never expected this. Certainly not in the middle of a road at night. Not that he was complaining. This was certainly a warmer welcome than he ever expected.

He gave Lily a mental tap, letting her know that she was choking him, and she let out a soft exclamation, getting off and allowing him to stand up. However, he noticed that she didn’t leave his mind; she stayed there like a warm fire gently illuminating his soul. Like normal, she was sharing small flashes of her emotions, letting him know just how much she missed him and how worried she had been.

He sent back similar flashes. He was a little bit rusty, but she didn’t seem to mind. She gratefully embraced these emotions with a bright smile.

He thought he had sensed something familiar from the carriage, but her features were somewhat shrouded by the white cloak around her shoulders. [Absolute Spatial Perception] wasn’t the best at identifying people by facial features. The only real clue was the shimmering violet eyes glinting in the darkness.

However, when he felt the gentlest little wisp brush up against his mind, he was almost certain of it. That was why he invited her inside to take a look; he wanted to get a better understanding as well.

And who would have known that it was indeed Lily after all? Why would she be all the way out here in Goldmere? From what he felt from her emotions and her mind, it almost seemed like she was out here to search for him.

He shook his head; that wasn’t important at the moment. He could ask about that later. For now, he just wanted to enjoy this reunion, and he grabbed her by the shoulder, hugging her once again.

“I missed you,” he said with a sigh, letting her comforting presence soothe him.

“I missed you, too,” she said, squeezing him very tightly.

He was a bit surprised by her strength. He knew that she had been working on her physical abilities before he left the Empire, but she had clearly gotten stronger. Not to mention that he got the vague feeling that she was Tier 4 now. It was shrouded, but he got the faint impression that only came with people who had a Seed of Authority.

“Why are you here?” he pulled away and finally asked after a few minutes.

Her smile turned into a scowl. “I’m here because of you!” she said scoldingly.

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” she said, jamming her finger into his chest.

He put his hands up. “What about me?”

“You went missing for the past several months. None of my house’s agents could figure out where you went. The only thing I knew was that you were last reported in Goldmere and then vanished.”

He scratched his head awkwardly. He didn’t know how to explain to her what he’d been up to. He then noticed the other people with Lily finally walking up to them. They seemed to realize the touching moment had somewhat passed.

Julius waved at the one-armed man with a broad smile. “Hey, Marcus.”

Marcus didn’t seem that surprised to see him; he just shook his head with amusement. “I see you are alive after all.”

“You really thought I was dead?”

“Even an unkillable cockroach like you might have met something outside your abilities to handle. Much like Lady Lily, I was worried, but also believed that you were simply preoccupied. Still, once she made up her mind, there was no stopping her,” Marcus said with a glance at Lily.

He nodded and gave him a shallow bow. “Thanks for watching over her.”

“I fear that I won’t be needed in the near future. She has gotten quite strong in her own right. She constantly said that she had to keep up with you,” Marcus noted with a smirk.

Lily’s face reddened slightly, and she snapped her head to Marcus. Julius could recognize the telltale signs of a mental wack when he saw one.

Julius looked over at the two other people. “I see you brought company,” he said with a complicated look on his face. Did Selene recognize him? He was wearing a mask and a different face, but who knew? He was more curious why she was here with Lily.

Lily seemed to understand his confusion and quickly explained why Selene was there and that she was helping Lily find him. She also explained that the man next to her was Arthur, her uncle. The same one that Selene had talked about previously.

Deciding not to hide his identity from her, he walked over to her and bowed to them. “Thanks for helping out, Lily. I hope she wasn’t too overbearing.”

“Overbearing?” Lily grumbled. She had followed right beside him and didn’t seem pleased by his wording.

“She might have rifled through my memories,” Selene said under her breath.

Julius turned back to Lily accusingly. “Really?”

“I needed information,” Lily said without shame.

He hid a smile and instead looked over at Selene. “How long have I been gone?” he asked.

She frowned deeply. “You don’t know?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later,” he explained plainly.

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“Around four months,” she said with a tilt of her head.

“Four months?” he repeated and scrunched up his nose. That was a little longer than he hoped, but not as bad as he feared. At least it wasn’t the year plus he experienced inside the vault. He might actually have killed Thorik if that were the case. He still wasn’t sure if he shouldn’t.

That being said, he needed to find Thorik before he needed to make that decision.

He saw that everyone had questions for him, and he raised his hand. “Look, I can answer your questions in a little bit. But can we deal with these girls first? I found them being transported by these thugs and helped them out,” he explained and pointed at the pile of bodies in his wagon.

Unsurprisingly, Selene was the first to go over and help them. As he’d learned beforehand, she was always looking to help people with her healing skills.

She knelt down and healed whatever damage or fatigue his own healing potions were unable to do. She also released a comforting aura into the air, letting the girls feel more at ease. However, he noticed that Elaria was the only one who still seemed a bit wary. She was looking over at Arthur and Marcus distrustfully.

Perhaps she was scared of them. They were Tier 5s after all, and could forcibly take her if they so desired, much like the group of thugs had done.

Lily walked over with him and started to weave a more relaxing aura onto Selene’s.

“What were you planning to do with them?” she asked him telepathically.

“I was planning to take them to Elaria’s people. Apparently, she already has people who are looking for her. She contacted them and will meet us outside the city. Once we drop them off, I can tell you what happened to me, okay?” he responded.

“Fine, but I have a lot of questions. Including why your mind and soul feel like this,” she said to him with a pulse of emotions full of worry and curiosity.

“Deal,” he said with a nod and then took out a few treats from his dimensional space. They were the ones she had liked when they had explored the capital during the tournament. He only had a few left, but he didn’t think there was any better time to eat them than now.

“Cookie?” he asked with a smile.

She brightened up and took the cookie, but quickly shook her head and passed it back to him, barely restraining herself from devouring it.

“Save it for later. I want to enjoy it with something to drink,” she said with an eager grin.

He chuckled and put it away.

“Actually, do you think you can help with something?” he asked.

“Sure, with what?”

He pointed at the person who had almost stolen Elaria right from under his nose. “Can you help me figure out who she works for?”

Lily smiled with full confidence. “I’ll see what I can do.”

***

Turns out that she was right to have confidence. Within a few minutes, she had already broken into the assailant’s mind, and despite the presence of several oath-binding contracts, she was able to extract some information.

Some of that information was quite revealing. For one, the woman was apparently from Clan Yoshu. Which wasn’t too shocking when he recalled the advanced wind magic she’d displayed while fighting him. But he already had a feeling which person in Clan Yoshu she worked for specifically.

They also finally came across the people who were looking for Elaria. Julius was curious about whether the people coming for her were elves, and he was half right and half wrong. Some of them were elves; he could see some pointy ears sticking out of their cloaks and hats.

Unfortunately for him, he was immediately put under scrutiny by this group. There were at least ten of them, but he could sense that there were just as many hidden further away at a distance, ready to attack if needed. He didn’t blame them either. He did the same.

Lily, Marcus, Selene, and Arthur weren’t beside him. He had asked them to stay back near the trees. Partly because he didn’t want to come off as a threat, but also because he didn’t want anyone to recognize Lily or his associations. The girls might say something, but he didn’t think they knew enough about who they were in the first place.

They immediately checked on Elaria and ensured she was safe. A very tall blonde man who looked very similar to Elaria cradled her face and examined her body to make sure nothing was wrong. And what Julius suspected was to check and make sure there weren’t any spells placed on her.

Then the questioning started.

Most of the questions were very reasonable and were ones he had already anticipated. He explained where he had found them and that he had taken care of the people who had kidnapped them. However, these questions quickly began to move in a direction he wasn’t comfortable with. Asking about his skills and abilities.

They seemed very dubious and skeptical when he told them he alone was able to take out the entire group of kidnappers.

It wasn’t until Elaria spoke up for him that things managed to calm down. She assured them that he was a good person and that everything happened as he said it did. When she told them that, he got a surprisingly large number of impressed stares.

“You really defeated over half a dozen Tier 4s all on your own?” The blonde male asked with a slight lift of his brows.

Julius nodded. Honestly, he didn’t think it was that big of a deal. It wasn’t like the people he’d taken out were all that strong. They were really quite weak compared to the usual opponents he faced.

And while they seemed impressed, he got the distinct feeling that they had also suddenly become a lot more wary of him. He could sense that they were communicating with people in the area, but not what they were specifically talking about.

“Okay, in that case, we owe you an immense debt and our whole-hearted gratitude. My sister was told not to go out alone, but when she went missing, we feared the worst,” he said with a dark look at Elaria. To which she looked away guiltily.

“What would you like as a reward?” the elven male asked him.

Julius scrunched up his nose and shook his head. “It’s no big deal. I was on my way back to the city anyway. I wasn’t going to ignore them when I saw they were being held against their will.”

“Still, I insist that we repay you in some way or another. Would money suffice? I am very wealthy.”

Julius shook his head again. “It’s fine. I don’t need money, I got more than I know what to do with already,” he said the last part with a mutter.

“Again, my honor demands that you be compensated equitably for your actions.” This time, the elf's voice was much firmer. Julius could see that he wasn’t about to get out of this without taking something. So he went with his good old reward.

“How about this, you can owe me a favor equal to what I did here today. Is that acceptable?” he asked.

He heard a few people gasp and a few look almost offended that he asked something like that. Was it bad manners to ask for favors in Elvish society? He grimaced; he had no idea.

Luckily for him, Elaria’s brother didn't seem offended in the least. Rather, he nodded emphatically. “That is an acceptable proposal. Should you ever need my help, you will have it," he said and handed over a small wooden pellet to Julius.

"If you come across a clan of elves, just give them that, and they will help you."

There was more whispering amongst his people. Julius was starting to suspect that Elaria and her brother were even more of a big deal than he suspected.