Chapter 323: The Audacity

It took more time than he had initially planned, but eventually, he neutralized the poison for the most part. It was a tricky little bugger. He did make sure to leave the littlest piece behind, though. He wanted to see if there was a way for Lily or Derek to find out what kind of poison the assassin had used.

If they could do that, he might be able to figure out who had attacked him.

Once he had sectioned the poison away from his vital organs, he placed his attention back on the two people staring at him.

To their credit, they hadn’t disturbed him a single time while he had been settling things. They simply stood there waiting for something.

Lord Holten stepped forward when they saw he was finished with his task. However, before the man could say whatever he had been planning to say, Julius swung his head backward.

The barrier surrounding the area had dissipated, and some people were already coming inside to investigate. Although they made sure to keep a safe distance from the lord, a weird aura pulsating from the man dissuaded anyone from getting too close.

With that being said, there was one exception. The others must have been worried about what was taking him so long and came to look for him. They paused as they felt the warning from this lord’s aura, but didn’t let that stop them when they saw Julius up ahead.

“There you are! We were wondering where you went off to,” Aubrey exclaimed, strolling up to him with a disgruntled expression. However, when she saw the two men standing in front of Julius, she squinted her eyes at them with skepticism.

“Who the hell are these people?” She asked brusquely.

Julius tilted his head curiously when Lord Holten didn’t seem offended at all and merely smiled behind Aubrey.

Julius frowned and looked over her shoulder. The person the lord had been staring at was Derek, and the Zenith scion walked forward and placed a calming hand on Aubrey’s shoulder.

“Relax, Aubrey, I know this man,” he told her.

She looked back with widened eyes. “You do?”

“Indeed,” he said before waving his arm at the man.

“Meet Lord Demetrius Holten. He is one of my family’s good friends,” he introduced before turning to the older man with a grin. “Lord Holten, I apologize for my friend, Aubrey. She means well, but sometimes has a poor choice of words.”

Lord Holten bowed deeply to Derek. “No offense taken, Young Master. I am glad to see you in such good health. I take it that you are this young man’s friend?” He asked, pointing at Julius.

Derek chuckled. “That is correct. He didn’t do anything to bother you, I hope?”

“No, no. I am afraid it is my own apprentice, Franklin, that caused some problems,” Lord Holten said with a pointed look toward Franklin.

Derek frowned at this. “What do you mean?”

“I am not exactly sure. I was going to ask your young friend myself before you arrived, but perhaps it is better if you get to ask him yourself.”

Derek nodded and looked over at Julius, who had been half ignoring their conversation.

Julius was in the middle of using his mana senses around the area where the woman had disappeared. He was much more concerned about where that woman had made off to and who she was working for than meeting another lord. He felt like he had been meeting a lot of lords and nobles lately.

Plus, he wanted to investigate the mana he sensed left behind before it could fade into the environment.

“Julius?” He heard Derek call out to him.

He put a single finger up to Derek, motioning the other boy for some time to think to himself. There was some kind of residue that he was picking up on. He cranked up his own senses and [Sage of Savagery] to immerse himself in the small piece of mana he was picking up on.

Aubrey being the impatient person as always, was about to walk up and interrupt him. Thankfully, Edgar quickly yanked her back by the shoulder. It would appear that the others understood that Julius was being serious and let him be. Thus, they stood at the side and waited patiently for him to finish whatever he was doing.

He closed his eyes and did his best to throw out his senses in a wide web. Based on what he could sense, he didn’t think the woman went very far. Whatever skill she used might have a limited distance she could move.

Eventually, he picked up something and without hesitating for a single moment, he stood up and dashed toward the back alley where he felt the resonating mana. There he was able to find a small remnant of shadow mana and what he believed where the woman had first escaped to.

However, he assumed she had used her skill almost immediately afterward, because there was a similar feeling of mana off in the corner. He sighed annoyingly because he knew there was next to no chance he would find her if she continued to jump through shadows.

When he saw the others show up behind him, following him in the alley, he finally paid attention to them.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Sorry, I wanted to see if I could pick up where the woman went before it was too late,” he explained.

“What woman? What the hell happened?” Edgar asked worriedly.

Julius gave a quick glance at the two men who had come along before explaining what had just happened.

Their faces went from confusion to anger real quick.

“And this woman really tried to kill you?” Derek asked in an incensed tone.

He nodded and pulled up his shirt to show the small remaining wound from where the woman had stuck him with her needle. The scar was much smaller than it had been, but there were still signs of blackened veins lingering around the small hole.

“I don’t know if the poison she used was a skill or something made by an alchemist, but I made sure to save some of it. If possible, I would like to see if you guys can find out where it came from.”