Chapter 189: Experimental Marker

When the weekend rolled around Julius had managed to ask Declan about a couple of things. For one he managed to get back the rift access card with a little bit of arguing. However, luckily for him, he had come prepared. He spent the entire week beforehand coming up with logical arguments that Declan would find difficult to refute.

Thankfully, it worked out perfectly. His preparation allowed him a landslide victory, poor Declan didn’t even have a chance. He handed over the access card to Julius with a defeated look. Knowing that he had been outsmarted and outtalked by a young boy.

He had also discussed the potential idea of using Lord Lagos’s favor with Declan. The older man hadn’t really understood why Julius would waste such a favor on learning about what House Greyson was doing in Heston.

After all, Julius still hadn’t fully told Declan what happened at the estate. He didn’t really know why he still hadn’t after all this time. A part of him rationalized it by thinking that it was to keep Declan and his family safe.

In a way that made some sense. Julius didn’t know how far House Greyson or Wesley Greyson would go in order to cover up what happened. The others he felt more safe about telling. For one they were under a magical vow and secondly, they each had powerful backings of their own. He had much more confidence in their families being able to protect themselves if anything came out.

Declan on the other hand had a wife and two kids to care for by himself. Julius knew that Declan would disagree and would want to know what happened to Julius regardless, but Julius was selfish. He made sure that Declan would never have to choose between Julius and his family by making the decision himself.

The discussion between Juilus and Declan was fruitful though. Declan had brought up a good point about why he shouldn’t use Lord Lagos’s favor on something like that. Declan thought that Julius would be able to find the information by using some sort of information broker or through Declan’s own contacts in the city guard.

Considering that it was within Heston’s own walls, the likelihood of the city guard or someone else who resides in Heston knowing what was happening was pretty high. So Julius had to admit there was some logical reason within that.

He just didn’t like involving his friends with his own problems. That was a huge reason why he hadn’t asked for Derek, Kyle, Aubrey, or Lily’s help. In fact, he had made them promise to not do anything that could be interpreted as help. Julius’s reason at the time was that he didn’t want to tip off anyone as well as he didn’t want to do anything just yet.

That was a small white lie. He mainly didn’t want them involved in any way because he didn’t know what would happen if they did. This was his problem and he would find a way without potentially endangering them. If they chose to side with him that would mean they would be siding against House Greyson. A Ducal House within the Luminous Empire.

It was too much thinking to do this early in the morning. Julius was still in bed relaxing as the rising sunlight poured through his room, hitting the crystal dangling in the window. The crystal gave off a soft aura that made him want to stay in bed even longer. It was the perfect room decoration for lazy morning people.

He had taken it down for that very reason. However, to his immense amusement, he had found the thing hanging from the window the next morning. Henry must have put it up while he was gone, Julius always knew that the boy liked it, though Henry wouldn’t admit it to Julius.

Speaking of Henry, he was already gone. Which was unusual for the boy. Julius was normally the first one out of bed. Julius sat up and looked around the room. He heard a whistle of panic and felt Drasil slip from his chest, falling down to his lap. A fall like that was like Julius falling from a three-story building so he understood Drasil’s panic.

He offered Drasil a small dense orb of Phoenix aspected life mana as an apology and the little spirit completely immediately forgave him.

Huh, Henry really is gone, Julius thought to himself surprisingly.

He and Henry had been getting along a little better ever since that last run-in. They weren’t friends or anything, but Henry never acted outright rude to Julius anymore. He would actually sometimes greet Julius in a friendly manner when they crossed paths.

Julius didn’t know how he felt about that yet. It was nice, but kind of weird considering how Henry first introduced himself.

Julius didn’t know if Henry’s apparent run-in with Aubrey had a large influence, but Julius certainly wasn’t going to complain.

***
Julius walked into the library with a pep in his step. He had recently read an interesting account of a chef-turned-fighter the other day. He had looked it up after he had met Johan, trying to see if there was any connection or people who had used chef-specific skills to good effect for fighting monsters. Julius was hoping to finish up the book this morning before class started.

It was more for his own curiosity than anything. But he found a person who had been quite successful. They used a similar combination of Julius’s own abilities. The person had a fire affinity but several sharpness-focused skills that he used to great effect.

Apparently, he was quite the monster to fight. Slaughtering his way through waves of monster floods with nothing but a kitchen knife. His signature was that he left most of his opponents neatly diced up into precise cuts.

He sat down, took out the book from his storage ring, and began reading.

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Half an hour later, he sensed someone approaching him. It was Grace with Amelia following beside her. As he watched them walk up to his table, he smiled at Grace and gave Amelia a soft nod of acknowledgment.

They quickly caught up, talking about their weekend and other small things before they both got started on their own books. An hour passed by like this. A comfortable silence where Julius and Grace read their books and Amelia sat there doing whatever she wanted.

Eventually, Grace broke it. She must have just finished her own book and looked over at Julius. “What are you reading?” She asked him suddenly.

He told her all about the chef turned battle maniac with enthusiasm. Grace was certainly amused by his recounting of the book, attentively listening to Julius’s explanation, while Amelia gave a scoff.

“That almost sounds closer to a fictional story than an accurate historical account,” Amelia said with a chuckle.

Julius gave her an agreeing chuckle of his own. “Yeah, I kinda agree. Some things do sound pretty outlandish and it’s not like it’s a firsthand account. The author is most likely just some person who heard some of the stories of this person and compiled them into a book,” he said.

“Why are you reading it then?” Amelia asked curiously as if she couldn’t understand why he would be spending his time reading fantasy.

“Eh, it’s entertaining imagining a chef taking out an entire horde of monsters,” Julius casually said.

“That’s the only reason?” Grace asked.