Lily POV
“What do you think?” she asked Marcus telepathically while she watched Selene walk away.
“It’s hard to tell. She has decent defenses, and it's difficult to discern if she’s hiding anything. Did you try to search her mind?” he replied.
“No, not yet. I didn’t want to accidentally tip her off. We have tomorrow to try and get more information then. You’re sure that this Arthur person is trustworthy?”
She got a pretty good feeling from him, but when it came to Tier 5 people, it was always hard to discern the truth about their nature. Her gut told her that Arthur was a good person, but she’d been wrong before.
“He appears to be the same person I remember. If he knows anything, I think we should be able to find out tomorrow,” Marcus said to her.
She nodded to herself and plastered on a fake smile for everyone to see. She’d come a long way for this, and she wasn’t about to leave anything to chance. If there was a lead on where Julius went, she was going to find it.
Several months ago, she received news that Julius had gone missing. It was hard to keep track of him while being in another country, but with the help of Derek’s family, they were able to get updates about Julius’s location via his adventurer’s badge. It was sort of illegal, but since the Guildmaster of the Capital Branch was helping them, there wouldn’t be any issues, other than a loss of trust among the members of the Adventurer’s Guild if they ever found out.
However, she was glad she did because he’d gone missing. It took a while to confirm it, but since it had been several months since his badge was last activated, she was pretty certain. Not to mention, he had just taken out a mission while here in Goldmere.
That was why she immediately grabbed Marcus and came to Corvus. She knew that Julius wanted some time to explore alone, but she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. The others all wanted to come too, but Derek was currently involved with advancing to Tier 4. He’d been really pushing himself to complete the final preparations for his bloodline ritual for the past several months, and no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t leave to come search for Julius with her.
Aubrey was forcibly taken by her mother for some extra training. Knowing that woman, Lily suspected Aubrey wouldn’t be free anytime soon. Edgar was already employed by Derek’s family, and until Derek finished his advancement, he wasn’t allowed to leave either.
However, she wasn’t worried. She had already advanced to Tier 4 months ago. Her bloodline had been fully nurtured for a long time, and it was only her own stubbornness about working on other skills that prevented her from advancing. But thanks to some intensive training and real combat experience, she finally felt comfortable enough with advancing to Tier 4.
The advancement itself was very simple and very easy. It was the after effects that were a bit complicated. Her bloodline was very potent, and she had a higher purity of it than anyone else in her family. Not even her grandfather had such a powerful connection to the Astral Mindweaver Bloodline.
That caused a few issues for her. For one, the ability and control she had worked so hard on were thrown into chaos. It took a lot out of her to contain her psychic energy and block out the noise while around large groups. Not everyone was trained to hide their thoughts, so in a city, she always struggled with it. There was just too much information for her to deal with. She sometimes didn’t understand how Julius was able to sift through all of the information his perception skill granted him.
However, these new struggles also brought some benefits. For one, she had been awarded a very powerful and dangerous skill that originated from her bloodline. It was something she hadn’t expected to gain for a long time, if at all, but it would certainly become a pillar of her path.
She didn’t have the requisite strength of soul or even the strength of body to handle it yet, but she would one day. After all, [Astral Gaze] was a legendary skill, and her grandfather was the perfect example of how the skill could turn even a decent mind mage into a monster.
She shook her head, reminding herself not to get too distracted. She wasn’t just here to rub elbows with some of the most influential people in Goldmere, but because she wanted to get a feel of who to look out for and who might have had a hand in Julius’s disappearance.
So far, there have been many morally dubious people. Almost everyone who approached her had some training in the mind arts or had a powerful item protecting her mind, but with the help of her skills, she was able to categorize them into various groups.
Those who were concerned only with money and profit.
Those who wanted to foster a relationship with her and her family.
Those who wanted to marry her. A shocking amount, considering half of them were men double or even triple her age.
Those who either didn't really care too much about her and only came here because they were forced, or because they wanted to satisfy their small curiosities.
And then there were those whom she could say with confidence were bad people. People whom she would never work with. She made sure to take note of these people.
In fact, she was surprised to see that one of them was from the Empire. Celestine Cromweld did a very good job of hiding her sadistic tendencies, but hints of her emotions flickered just enough for Lily to pick up on. She also noticed that the woman seemed capable of using mind magic to some small extent. Some might even say she was skilled at hiding it, but under Lily's scrutiny, it couldn't have been more obvious.
While she couldn’t read her mind, that was enough to get a clear picture of the woman and to make her distrust her.
She had just about met everyone who wanted to approach her and was about to start leaving when someone else approached her. Unlike most of the people invited, this mind was much more menacing. It was well hidden, but that was like someone throwing a blanket over a tiger, leaving the several-inch, sharpened claws out in the open.
“Ahh, it is Lady Lily, isn’t it?” The man addressed her with a soft smile.
She returned the smile with one of her own. “Yes, and you might be?”
She knew exactly who this man was. This man was the Patriarch of Clan Kaizen, one of the city's more powerful clans. Though Lily hadn’t expected to see the man at an event like this. He was known to avoid these kinds of things. It was a curious development, that’s for sure.
Angelina was also nice enough to send over a report about the man telepathically, and with the aid of [Thought Acceleration], she was able to review the information within a few seconds.
The man looked like everything the report said. He wasn’t the tallest man, but he stood as if he were a giant. Scars from countless battles were scattered across his skin, and his hair looked like he had cut it off himself. All in all, not someone you’d expect to be the patriarch of a powerful clan. But Lily knew how dangerous this man was; she needed to stay on her toes around him.
“Patriarch Kaizen, it is a wonderful surprise to see that you made it,” Lily greeted with a polite curtsy.
“None of that,” the man said with a wave of his hand. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to explore a new opportunity within the economic market of Goldmere. My house plans to gradually form stronger bonds with its neighboring country, and Goldmere is one of the best places to do so,” she responded easily.
“None of that bullshit. Why are you here?” the man asked bluntly.
Marcus was tense at her side, thinking about intervening, but he was also well aware that it wouldn’t end well for either of them if the Patriarch actually did something.
Lily subtly looked around to see if anyone was trying to listen in on them.
Patriarch Kaizen scratched his neck and continued to stare at her. “Don’t worry, I already placed a barrier that is hiding this entire conversation. Most people won’t even understand that we talked. So I’m asking you again. Why are you here, and does my clan have any need to be concerned?”
She was slightly taken aback; she hadn’t sensed any barrier being placed. “Concerned?”
“Yes, because I doubt House Violet would send their prized jewel to Goldmere just to initiate business ventures,” he said as if this were obvious.
“I need the experience,” she said truthfully.
“Reasonable, but perhaps there is another, more important reason why you’ve chosen to come to Goldmere,” he said with a sharp grin.
Thankfully, she wasn’t given the chance to answer this, as she was saved by someone else's approach. They entered the barrier Patriarch Kaizen erected, taking note of it.
“Hmmm, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you at one of these functions, Lucian. Whenever I invite you, you always seem to be busy. Yet here you are…” City Lord Tyrian said with a knowing smile.
“That’s because you throw lame parties. They are always so boring. Not enough women or booze,” Patriarch Kaizen said with a shake of his head, not bothered by the use of his first name at all.
“Yet you made time to appear today despite the invitation being specifically extended to your daughter.”
“She was busy.”
“I’m sure she was,” City Lord Tyrian said with a calm smile.
“You weren’t supposed to be in attendance either. I heard you were busy with another one of your projects,” Patriarch Kaizen accused.
“I finished early.”
Patriarch Kaizen hummed, clearly not believing the excuse, and bowed to Lily instead. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Lady Lily. But I won’t take up anymore of your time,” he said and quickly walked away across the hall.
“Such a difficult man,” Lord Tyrian said with a sigh and turned to Lily. “I hope you’ve been enjoying yourself. My chefs did their best to replicate popular dishes from the Empire.”
“It’s been a wonderful time, thank you for indulging me and my family’s request, Lord Tyrian.”
“It’s not a problem at all. Dealings with your house will benefit everyone in the city, even the Golden Cauldron Sect, who are very happy that you approached us. So whatever you need, please just ask.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” Lily said with a slight bow.
“I won’t keep you any longer, so I’ll excuse myself. If you don’t mind, I would like to have another meeting later this week. Is that acceptable for you?”
“It is, I will contact you with a good time,” she said with a smile.
He gave her a short bow and nodded towards Marcus and Angelina before strolling off. Many of the spectators saw the interaction and were looking at City Lord Tyrian and her with complicated expressions.
She had already met Lord Tyrian when she first arrived, and she found herself liking the man. While he was too involved in politics for her tastes, he seemed like a good man, and from everything she read in the information report, he was a fair city lord. Something rarer than it should be nowadays.
But that didn't mean she shouldn't be wary of any dealings she had with him.
***
The next day after the little party, she walked side by side with Marcus as they headed for Arthur Verdigras’s home. The night before, she had sensed apprehension from Selene. And it was warranted. Lily wasn't just there to make friends with her. She had come over because she had gotten the full mission request Julius had taken before he disappeared.
The request included details of the mission to exterminate the orcs and the area where it occurred. But more importantly, another person was on the request who joined Julius on the mission.
That person was none other than Selene Verdigras.
While she would have to actually do some work on the project she had proposed to her father, Lily's first priority was still about finding Julius. She would find out what the girl knew and whether she knew what had happened to him.
Lily was going to get answers one way or another. And if that meant she had to step on the toes of the Verdant Willow Sect, then that was the way it had to be. Sacrifices must be made, and when it came to stuff like this, she was willing to sacrifice quite a lot for her friend.