Path to Transcendence

They didn't only just have dinner but somehow Danny's wife, Angela managed to convince them to stay the night. As Danny had mentioned several times beforehand, she could be very convincing when she wanted to.

Not only that, but Cory didn't seem to want to leave them either. Thus, Reinera made the executive decision to stay the night. Julius wasn't complaining though. The stew was one of the best stews he had in a while and Angela had promised to make some of her biscuits the next morning.

The same biscuits that Julius was currently devouring alongside Reinera.

"Are you guys sure that you don't want to come with me?" Danny asked them after sipping on his cup of coffee.

"I'd think it would be better if we didn't get too involved with nobility," he replied to Danny after he finished chewing his food.

Danny had told them the plan for young Cory when they were riding in the carriage. Apparently, Cory wasn't just some regular local noble. He was the grandson of Marquis Easten, the presiding lord of Blumand and much of the region.

Julius was a little taken aback by this revelation. He had thought Cory was just an unfortunate noble's son, but being the grandson of the current Marquis was much more serious than he had been expecting.

Hmm, now that I think about it, don't I have a similar status? He asked himself wonderingly.

Never mind that.

How had the group that took Reinera managed to capture the relative of such a prominent figure? He was starting to think that this group was much larger than he initially believed.

He also didn't think it would be best for them to get too involved with the Marquis. If he and Reinera wanted to take some time and explore some of the Empire before returning they would be better to remain low-key.

"Why?" A soft and adorable voice called out.

All heads swiveled to the young boy who had spoken for the first time. Reinera's eyes got especially wide. She had been trying to get a word out of young Cory the entire time yesterday but never was able to.

Reinera stood up and went over to where Cory was sitting. He was still playing with his new toy, completely ignoring the food on his plate.

She crouched down and spoke in a soft tone. "When we saved you from those bad guys, we had to be secretive about it. If they found out we did it, it could cause problems for us. That is why we are going to let Danny handle getting you back to your family."

Cory looked up with his big bright eyes and reached out his arms to her. "But I want you guys to," he said while also glancing at Julius with pleading eyes.

Oh, that's not fair.

Reinera seemed to think so too, because she was folding faster than a lawn chair after all of the food at a barbeque was gone. He could see it in her face.

She looked toward Julius and gave a hesitating bite of her lips. He already knew what she was thinking in her head. She was most likely believing that it wouldn't be that much of a risk to go and personally deliver Cory to his family.

"We probably shouldn't," he said gently, not sounding very convincing himself.

He saw both Reinera's and Cory's faces drop down in disappointment. Their sadness was evident.

"I wouldn't say it would be that much trouble," Danny interjected.

Quiet, Danny. Don't make this any harder for me please, he begged the man.

Reinera's and Cory's faces brightened up at that and gave another hopeful look toward Danny.

"The contact I have from House Easten is supposed to meet me at the gates for a dropoff of some goods for the property. He will sneak us through and take us to a place where I can drop Cory off. Then the guard will take him to his parents quietly. You won't have to worry about dealing with his parents or any nobility at all. The only people who will know you guys came along would be me and Cory himself. It will be simple," Danny explained confidently.

Reinera gave Julius a pleading look. "See? It will be easy. We escort Cory to his family's estate and leave just as easily. That would make him feel better, right Cory?"

The little boy nodded his head so vigorously that Julius thought his head might come off on accident.

He recognized when he had been beaten. So he gave a small defeated nod. However, he had to hide a smile as Cory ran out of his chair to wrap Julius in a hug with his small arms.

***

The plan was for Julius and Reinera to pretend to be workers for Danny while keeping Cory hidden in a small compartment underneath the merchandise. Some stealth enchantments should help hide the boy, but they shouldn't need them according to Danny.

"Are you sure this will work?" Julius asked again.

"Yes, I am sure. I do deliveries here all the time. They know who I am, plus my friend is on duty today. He will make sure we get through without trouble," Danny said confidently.

He turned to Reinera.

"Do you know anything about House Easten?" He had already asked Danny before, but he sounded kind of biased, not to sound too distrustful of the man.

"I haven't met them before, but I do know their entire family is generally considered honorable and extremely competent," she said to him.

Well, that's good news. I would have really been against it if it was a corrupt noble.

When they got to the gates of the estate, Julius could not help but be impressed. It was quite the place.

Even though, he had grown up on a similar-sized estate, House Hyperius's Estate was lacking in comparison to Easten's. Many people were running around, all busy doing something. The estate was also in much better condition.

Was House Hyperius poor? Julius realized with a short gasp.

As he was having a miniature existential crisis, he stopped to observe the metal gates that surrounded the property. Every inch of metal on the gates was polished to the point that Julius had to squint at the glare. It was made of some sort of metal that gave Julius the feeling that he could spend a lot of time trying to break it but find himself unsuccessful.

They approached the group of guards who were all wearing dark blue uniforms displaying the crest of House Easten. Some sort of bird-like creature was proudly adorned on the chests of the guards.

The guard who greeted them walked up to Danny with a smile. "Hey, Danny! You here to make another delivery?"

"Yep, just dropping some things off, Reg. You know, the usual."

The guard looked over at Julius and Reinera who were doing their best to come off as non-threatening as possible.

"New workers?" The guard, Reg asked questioningly.

"Yeah, owed their parents a little favor," Danny lied.

Reg shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care. "That's fine. But you know the drill," he said while waving his hands at the two of them.

Julius and Reinera were already warned of this. They were to exit the carriage and get scanned by the guards. Apparently the enchantment worked so that anyone with malicious intent would be prevented from entering.

It was a general enchantment and it unfortunately couldn't decipher the reason why there was malicious intent but it was very effective at detecting any of it. Thus, anyone who showed any of it would be stopped and interrogated. Since they weren't planning to do anything bad, they had nothing to worry about.

While that was happening the carriage would be scanned as well for any unauthorized entry or people being smuggled in. Fortunately, for them, since Cory was the grandson of Marquis Easten he was already keyed into the enchantments and wouldn't set off any alarms. At least that was what Danny told them.

After they got scanned they were led into the gates by another stern middle-aged guard and were taken to the back of the estate to unload their goods, Julius finally let go of the breath he was holding.

Once they were alone with the guard, their demeanor got much more friendly. They smiled at Danny and gave him a quick hug. "You got the young master?"

"Yeah, I got him. He's inside. This isn't going to cause you too many problems is it?" Danny asked.

"Nah, Lady Rebecca knows I wouldn't do anything to harm her family. She trusts me. Remember, she was the one who took me off the streets," the guard said reassuringly while giving Danny a pat on the back.

"And she won't ask why?"

"Of course, she will, but she also will understand you want to stay anonymous. Which I don't get why you would want that, she will happily reward you for bringing back her son."

Danny nodded before chuckling. "I don't need any reward, I'm already getting paid," he said before his eyes widened and turned to Julius and Reinera. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce you all. This is Frank, he's been a guard for House Easten since he was a young lad."

Frank gave them a formal bow. "Nice to meet you," he said.

Julius reached out his hand on instinct. "Julius."

"Grace," Reinera bowed.

Frank reached over and gave them a firm shake. "Are you the two who saved young Cory?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Julius said with a grin, giving a quick glance toward the side of the room.

Frank nodded. "Of course not, how silly of me," he said with a smile before turning to Danny. "Is he in there?" He pointed at the carriage.

Danny nodded and promptly went over the the carriage. Julius and Reinera also went on over as there were still actual goods to be taken out of the carriage. Although it was just a pretense to get in, they still had to show that they were delivering something.

Once, they got the goods out of the way, they made enough space for the compartment to be opened.

When they finally did, Cory's little head popped out, and smiled when he saw Julius and Reinera. Julius reached down, helped the little boy out, and dusted him off with a gentle pat. As he did that, Cory's eyes lit up as he saw Frank off to the side and ran over to the man as fast as his little two feet could take him. Clearly recognizing the man.

Frank smiled widely and laughed as he picked up Cory in a big hug, swinging the boy around excitedly.

When he finally stopped spinning the boy around, he placed him on his hip and bowed. "I can't tell you how grateful I am for you guys saving him."

"We're just happy to see that he's in good hands," Reinera said with a smile.

Julius smiled as well. He was glad he had chosen to come along and drop Cory off with his own hands. No matter what followed, seeing the smile of the young boy as he hugged Frank made Julius's day. It reminded him that he had made the right choice.

He glanced at Reinera who looked like she was thinking the same. She was also looking at Julius with a knowing smirk. As if trying to let him know that she was right when she said they should drop him off. He didn't say anything, but he gave her a conceding eye roll.

Frank spoke to them again. "If you guys need anything, just ask. I might only be a simple guard of a noble house, but I will do anything to repay this debt," he said while bowing slightly, still holding onto Cory with one arm.

Julius waved him off. "There's nothing to thank. We only did what was right," he said with a smile toward Cory, who was trying to wiggle out of Frank's arms.

Frank allowed the boy to get down and watched as Cory ran back to Julius and Reinera giving both of them hugs around their legs. They both crouched down so that they could reciprocate.

After Cory released them, the little boy fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out the figurine that Julius made. He made a gesture to hand back the soldier to Julius. But Julius shook his head and closed Cory's hands around the construct.

"You keep it, I am not sure how much longer it will last, but you should keep it until then," he said to Cory, much to the young boy's delight. The boy jumped up and down, giving Julius another hug that was surprisingly strong for a boy only around seven years old.

The figurine would likely remain existing for quite some time. The sheer amount of mana and Concepts he used while making it would allow the construct to exist for some time.

Frank had walked up to the two of them with a tearful expression. "I can't offer you guys much, but I can promise you that I won't let anyone know it was you who saved Cory, not even Lady Rebecca."

Julius gave the man a reassuring pat on the back. "I think it is already too late for that," he said with a nod toward the direction he had glanced at earlier. Frank's eyes furrowed in confusion, before widening in surprise as he realized what he meant.

Julius on the other hand didn't panic, he just calmly turned and stared directly at the woman who was shrouded in the corner.