Path to Transcendence

Julius had immediately noticed her when she got within his skill's influence. She had been watching them silently for the past several minutes, ever since Frank took them back here.

Julius didn't know for sure that it was this Lady Rebecca, but he was pretty certain that it was. She was wearing a fancy dress and had all of the signs of a noble lady. Also, he didn't see a reason why someone like her would be just hanging around this area at this specific moment unless there was a reason.

Therefore, he speculated that this woman was Lady Rebecca or at least someone who was related to Cory. He didn't know how they managed to get wind of his drop off but the fact remained that she was here.

She also knew that it was Julius and Reinera who brought Cory back. That could potentially be a problem for the two of them.

Danny whipped around as did Frank. Reinera was thankfully a little more reserved, however, she also knew about Julius's perception ability. So she probably wasn't that surprised that Julius was able to notice her intrusion.

Well, not intrusion exactly. This is probably her home to be fair. More like snooping, he decided.

"Who's here?" Frank asked confused.

Julius didn't respond, he just continued to look exactly at the spot where the lady was hiding.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Eventually, the lady seemed to understand that Julius had noticed her and slowly removed whatever stealth skill she had active, appearing in front of them.

"I thought you said you had to help out with gate duties today, Frank," she said accusingly.

Frank seemed to both simultaneously relax and tense up. He was probably glad that it wasn't some enemy but was also nervous at being caught red-handed.

"I'm sorry, Lady Rebecca. As you can see, I-I had good reason to," he said with a small stutter.

Ah, so it was Lady Rebecca, Julius mentally noted, giving himself a small pat on his back for his deduction skills. She even had the same bright blue eyes as Cory as well as sharing some of his facial features.

"Yes Frank, that is the only reason why I am not upset with you or the fact that you were totally willing to lie to my face," she said meaningfully before turning to Danny. "Hello, Mr. Hollins. Rest assured, I will also be having words with you regarding your continued services at a later date."

Danny didn't dare to look her in the eyes and suddenly found a smudge on the floor very interesting. Then there was Frank who was practically shaking in his boots and was about to say something but she waved her hand, interrupting whatever he had planned to tell her. Instead, she quickly crossed the room, moving in the blink of an eye.

In fact, she did. Julius didn't sense her moving, she had used some sort of teleportation skill to move. One moment she was across the room and the next she had Cory in her arms drowning the poor boy in kisses.

Cory was obviously happy to see his mother, but on the other hand, he looked like he was trying to escape as well. He was clawing his way out of her arms with such fierceness, that it was like seeing a totally different boy. He gave Julius a look that was a clear plea for help, but Julius, the smart man he was, purposefully ignored the boy.

He was not getting in the middle of a mom and her reunion with her precious baby.

Once the mother seemed to get her fill and Cory was gasping for air, she turned to them with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"I heard most of your guys' talk, but I noticed you failed to mention the details of my son's kidnappers," she said.

Julius gave Reinera a look, letting her know that he would take care of it. He didn't want her accidentally saying something that might endanger them or even worse, Elder Han and the orphanage.

"I'm sorry, it is Lady Rebecca correct?"

She nodded.

He took a deep breath. "I wish I could tell you everything, but honestly, I can't," he could immediately tell that she didn't like hearing that, so he put a placating hand up. "But… I can tell you that a group of men from a town we visited had your son imprisoned and had plans to ransom him back to you. We ended up running across them and saving them," he explained as carefully as he could.

He probably could have told her more, but he didn't want the remote chance of someone figuring out that the orphanage had anything to do with saving them. That group was able to hire a Tier 4 like Dustin to protect the place, which meant there were undoubtedly more Tier 4s or those even stronger involved. He didn't want them looking for trouble and then ended up having the orphanage directly in their scope.

Then again, Elder Han was protecting the orphanage, so it might have been one of the most protected places in the region.

I am kind of interested to see what Elder Han would do if they tried, he thought humorously to himself.

He only had sympathies for anyone who dared to attack the orphanage. He doubted that there would be anything left of them if they did.

Still, there was no need to tempt fate. Who knew what could happen outside of Elder Han's control? It's not like the children stayed inside the orphanage forever.

This was just overall safer for everyone involved. He didn't really care if the lady didn't like it. They had saved her son, so that should be enough for her. If she couldn't accept that, then that said enough about what type of person she was.

"We are already aware of the group that kidnapped my son. They messaged us a while ago. I am asking you if there are any details that you could share with us that could help us get some retribution against these scumbags," she said murderously while also covering Cory's ears with some mana, ensuring the little boy didn't hear her curse.

"They're all dead. I am not sure you are going to get much revenge on them any time soon," he said semi-truthfully. He didn't include Dustin with them because the man had been the reason they had even been saved. So according to Julius, Dustin was a new man and had no relation to this group anymore.

The noble lady clenched her fists. "I don't just mean them. I want to get revenge on the whole group itself. We have been doing some investigation of our own and apparently this isn't just some small group of criminals. They are a part of a much larger group that has been doing this with other noble families on top of some other activities. They are a parasite to society and I want to eradicate them," she said menacingly.

Julius sympathized with her, he really did. He would like nothing more than to see this group gone for good. But he also wasn't about to tell them that Dustin would be able to tell them everything they would need to know.

"I wish I could help you more," he said, genuinely remorseful.

She nodded her head. "Me too. I wish you would be more forthcoming, but I see you insist on hiding some things," she said disappointedly.

"What does that mean?" Reinera called out, sounding very displeased but not surprised.

"It means I am not going to let you leave until you give us some actual answers," Rebecca said calmly.

"We saved your son and now you are going to imprison us?" Reinera asked.

"You can't really expect me to just let you go, right? You snuck into our estate and had my missing son in your possession. I want some answers and if you're not willing to help me, then I guess you will have to stay here for the time being."

Reinera maintained her poise, acting every bit like a dignified noble. "Are you sure you want to do it like this?" However, a bit of anger leaked into her tone. He couldn't blame her either. It wasn't exactly a fair thing to do, but he could understand her point of view.

Lady Rebecca glared at her. "Two Tier 2s come back with my son who had just been kidnapped, saying that they managed to save him. Do you think I am ignorant or something? You guys are hiding something. I want to know what it is or you guys are never leaving here."

Julius walked over to Reinera before she could get any more furious and tried to calm her down. "It's okay. I don't think she means us any harm. She just wants to find out what happened to her son," he quietly explained, knowing full well that Cory's mother could hear them.

There wasn't any need to try and fight their way out either. They wouldn't stand a chance. Julius was able to tell that the moment she teleported to Cory. He had been able to sense immensely profound Concepts and aura from her during that brief moment.

She was undoubtedly a powerful Tier 5, which was honestly a bit surprising. Tier 5 wasn't just something you could spend gold to get to. It required talent and hard work. Whoever, this Rebecca was, she wasn't just some pampered noble lady. She was a fighter.

He also knew that this situation had always been a possibility. In fact, he had been expecting something like this to happen. Knowing Reinera's luck and then added to his, he had a gut feeling that something would go wrong. That was why he was against coming here in person.

Still, he couldn't say no to such a cute face like Cory's. He also didn't think they were in any real trouble. It would most likely just be an annoying inconvenience.

That was why he was perfectly calm, even without the aid of [Sage of Savagery].

He took out a couple of chocolates from his storage ring and handed them over to Reinera.

"Eat these, it will help you calm down," he told her with a grin, popping one of them into his own mouth.

She looked like she wanted to hit him, but with an angry expression indulged his request, taking a couple of pieces of chocolate for herself. She angrily chomped down on the perfectly tempered piece of chocolate and glared at the blue-eyed noble lady. Thankfully, the moment she started to eat them, her furious attitude calmed down just a hair.

What can't chocolate fix? He thought to himself with a grin as he enjoyed his own piece.

He saw Cory try to wiggle his arms free from his mother's arms, reaching out to Julius. He still had the earmuffs made of mana over his head, so he didn't understand what was going on, but he saw Julius taking out chocolate. It was the same chocolate Julius had snuck to the boy during their ride to Blumand and the boy loved it.

Without any hesitation, he walked over to Cory with a smirk, taking out a nice generous hunk from his ring. Julius ignored the death stare that Lady Rebecca was giving him as he approached, having full confidence that she wasn't going to hurt him.

Once he was within a couple of feet of Cory and his mother, Julius offered the chocolate to the boy.

"What do you think you are doing?" Lady Rebecca asked threateningly.

Julius never took his eyes off Cory. "You really think we have any intentions of hurting him after all of the trouble we went to saving him?"

"I don't care. It might be poisoned or have some kind of mind-altering effect to it. I did just say that you are now our prisoners after all, I wouldn't be shocked if you decide to harm him now," she said sharply.

Julius finally looked at her. Taking in her beauty. She was tall and had the same dirty blonde hair as Cory as well as his blue eyes. Only his were a bright innocent blue, while her's were an ice-cold blue. Still, up close he could really start to see the resemblance. They had the same lips and nose, there was no doubt that they were related.

Instead of handing it to Cory, he handed the piece of chocolate over to her. "Here try it for yourself. There's nothing in there except for chocolate and sugar."

When she didn't take it and stared daggers at him, he sighed and talked quietly so that only the two could hear.

"He has just gone through a traumatic event. He didn't eat and barely blinked when we found him," he saw her clench her teeth at that. "That's why I think he deserves any bit of happiness he can find right now," he told Cory's mother with a saddened smile.

She didn't say anything in return, but she did up taking a tiny bite of the piece of chocolate him giving it a taste for herself. Once she ensured it wasn't contaminated with any external elements she nodded her head and passed it over to Cory's eagerly awaiting hands.

The boy gleefully nibbled on it as his mother smiled at his actions.

Eventually, Lady Rebecca turned to look at Julius. "Follow me, please," she said to him in a much more civil tone.