Path to Transcendence

There were several boxes of pills and other alchemical products, some of which Julius would not be surprised to learn were for more perverse activities. One specific red box was right next to a pile of handcuffs seemed awfully suspicious.

There was also a small area where miscellaneous items were kept, things like cores and jewelry. As well as a couple large chests with some sort of enchanted lock around them.

Once he thought he had an idea of what was inside, he willed himself to leave the spatial device. When he came out of the ring, the first thing he did was tell Declan, "I don\'t think it is alright that I keep this."

"Why\'s that?" Declan asked confused.

Julius threw his hands up in the air and had an exasperated expression on his face. "There\'s way too much money and then on top of it, there\'s a bunch of stuff that I don\'t feel comfortable holding on to," Julius replied.

Declan held out his hand, asking for Julius\'s permission to look through it. He passed it over to Declan without a second thought, allowing him to see for himself. To be fair, Julius was not that surprised by the contents of the ring. The money was the most surprising, but the other stuff was kind of expected.

He imagined that Geoffrey was not the only noble son who liked to play those types of games in his free time. He did wonder how Lord Lagos would take this. Declan made it sound like it was a normal thing for nobles in this world. As if bribery was the lesser evil or something.

Declan took some time to search through the ring. He probably saw all the money, because he said to Julius, "Oh, that\'s not that much. It is mostly just platinum. A fortune to most normal people, but anyone Tier 4 or above like his father doesn\'t worry much about regular currency. This is nothing to Lord Lagos."

Regular currency, what does that mean? I thought several gold coins were nice after selling those cores, but he makes it sound like dozens of platinum is nothing. Declan is Tier 4 as well, does that mean he is also filthy rich?

Julius was thinking about what kind of currency higher-tiered individuals used when he observed Declan\'s face flinch and turn to disgust, probably seeing all the special items that the young Lagos had on his person. However, Declan all of a sudden turned incredibly still and serious.

He must have found something.

Declan\'s consciousness returned from the ring, and he took a deep breath, calming himself. Julius was curious as to what he might have found that caused that type of reaction.

Was it one of the cases of pills or something? Or was it something else?

Julius didn\'t go through everything, but that was mostly because he had no idea what most of the items were in the first place. He could tell that some of the pills or elixirs were for healing or were some sort of life-attributed products. But other than that, he wasn\'t knowledgeable enough to analyze the items within the spatial ring.

He was very interested in how the ring worked though. He knew that there were specialized enchanters and mages who worked primarily in spatial enchantments, but he had no idea how they worked. It was something that he wanted to eventually learn about. He thought it would be very insightful and practical to know how they worked.

I mean what person doesn\'t want the ability to teleport at will?

There were many practical applications for spatial enchantments. For example, spatial teleportation circles were unbelievably useful for emergency travel. They were extraordinarily expensive and restricted to a very limited amount of licensed people, but the ability to travel instantly had immense value. Some companies have tried to use spatial teleportation to transport goods and materials. However, the cost of the travel was sometimes more than the goods themselves.

What was the point of having the materials and products there days or weeks earlier if you lost money in the end? That was why most merchant companies used traditional methods for supply chain management. You could fit many thousands of tons of materials on a ship, like the ones that Lord Lagos makes. On the other hand, teleporting that much weight would cost more than building a couple of ships combined.

Julius watched as Declan paced around the empty square where he had lured Geoffrey. Declan didn\'t seem like he was in a good mood either, whatever he had found inside that ring must have been something bad or important.

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Julius\'s patience eventually ran out and he asked, "What happened?"

Declan paused his pacing and looked at Julius as if he had remembered that he wasn\'t alone. "Things might have gotten a bit more complicated than I initially thought they were," Declan somberly said.

"What does that mean? What did you find inside of that ring?" Julius wanted to know what was going on.

"I found some things that this man should not have and could suggest several very bad things," Declan replied vaguely.

"Well, what is it?" Julius asked impatiently. He didn\'t like not being kept in the loop.

"It isn\'t something you should know. No matter how much you have already gone through and how mature you are for your age, it is better for you not to know the details. Trust me, you will thank me later," Declan said very convincingly, almost begging Julius to not ask any more questions about it.

Julius didn\'t like it, but he respected that Declan was doing it for his own benefit. His curiosity was yelling at him to try to pry the truth out of Declan, but he wasn\'t a child, not really. He might appear to be a young boy, but he was already an adult mentally. He knew that someone like Declan was looking out for him. Also, Julius already had a tingling suspicion about what it might be about, considering the other items within the ring that he was able to identify.

"If it is that bad, why don\'t we just forget about the whole negotiating with Lord Lagos, and just send off this douchebag off to the deepest prison in the middle of nowhere and throw away the keys?" He asked Declan.

Declan shook his head. "First off, we don\'t have any substantial evidence that he has done anything that I suspect he has. Second off, I don\'t think that would stop Lord Lagos from doing what he has to in order to prevent his son from rotting in a dark hole for the rest of his life."

"I thought you said that Lord Lagos was a pleasant man?" Julius was confused, if Lord Lagos was a good man to work with, then why was Declan making him out to be like an Italian mob boss?

"He is, under normal circumstances, he is a good man with integrity, something that is hard to find nowadays. However, he is somewhat irrational when it comes to his family. They could burn down an orphanage and he would still try to protect them," Declan said disappointingly

"What if… you know… Geoffrey goes missing?" Julius threw out the suggestion that he wouldn\'t be surprised if Declan hadn\'t already thought of it. Julius didn\'t like the idea of cold-blooded murder but if the things inside the ring and Declan\'s disgusted reaction were any indicator, Julius did not mind for someone like that to get sent off to the cycle of life early. Rape, sex trafficking, and anything to do with children was a big no-no for Julius and most people, even the worst of criminals. And Julius suspected that whatever Geoffrey had done was on that type of level.

Julius remembered hearing stories from his old world about rapists and child molesters getting slaughtered in prison and many had to be kept in solitary confinement for their own protection. Even the most brutal murderers had a line they didn\'t cross.

"We don\'t really know if he has actually done any of it," Declan said, but Julius could see that Declan didn\'t really believe that. "If he really has done it, then I would normally have no problem cutting off his head. But it is not my job to act as an executioner. Negotiating with Lord Lagos is already pushing the boundaries far enough. But the main reason is that there were witnesses who saw the entire thing, so it would just cause Lord Lagos to go after you first."

"So our best option is to just hand over this scumbag over to his father and then forget about it?" Julius was discontent with the whole situation and the idea of just killing the guy was becoming more and more tempting as he looked at him.

"To be honest, other than killing him, the best way to ensure Geoffrey is punished would be to hand him over to his father. Lord Lagos, as biased as he is to family will not stand by and allow his son to continue to act in such a manner. I would not be surprised if he put Geoffrey under house arrest for the rest of his life if I showed him the things I found."

Yeah, house arrest in a mansion with everything he could possibly want. That seems like a real punishment. Is there really not a better way? Forget about the money or favor I might have from Lord Lagos. What if something happens to another person because we chose not to kill him here and now?

"How do we guarantee that something like this doesn\'t happen again?" He asked Declan.

"That will be my main concern and requirement. I will have Lord Lagos sign a contract that requires him to place appropriate restrictions on his son," Declan said.

As much as Julius thought that killing him was the simplest answer, he understood that it would not be the wisest course of action. As Declan had said, people had already witnessed Julius involvement, not to mention he didn\'t want to make any more enemies of powerful people. He already had Duke Greyson as an enemy, no need to make more of them. He needed to stay alive so that he could get stronger and take revenge on his own. Not to worry about some low-life noble.

Julius nodded at Declan, giving his consent for him to take the scumbag away and give him back to his father. Declan walked over to the unconscious noble and was able to grab him when the guy suddenly woke up, flailing about. When he noticed Declan in his uniform standing over him, he didn\'t even try to talk his way out of it and tried to run away immediately. It was like he knew he was busted.

However, Declan didn\'t allow him to get further than several feet before he unleashed his aura.

Julius always knew that Declan\'s aura strength was amazing, but he didn\'t know how frightening it could be as well. It was always restrained and controlled, but not this time. It was not even being used on Julius but he could feel the absolutely enormous power of his aura. It was so oppressive he could barely breathe. He was able to sense the bulk of Declan\'s aura focus in on the retreating back of the noble and smother him, drowning him in the dense aura. Geoffrey never had a chance, his entire body seized up, frozen like a statue and his knees hit the ground so hard that they cracked the stone beneath him. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and passed out immediately.

After that, as if nothing had happened, Declan retrieved his aura and tucked it away nonchalantly like he was putting away the groceries. Then slung the once again unconscious body of the noble\'s son over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes and brought him toward the direction of the guardhouse, with a casual stroll.