Ryn
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Chapter 277
🕑 Added 2025-02-08 19:00:07 +0000 UTCHe and Marcus went their separate ways. Marcus still had to take care of some things but he made sure to remind Julius that they were leaving the next day.
When he got back to the living quarters where he and Reinera had been living, he sensed the girl in question immediately.
She was pacing back and forth in front of the entryway, fiddling with her fingers like she always did when she was nervous.
He took a deep breath before he finally grasped the doorknob and opened the door.
Reinera immediately swiveled to where he walked in and strolled toward him with an aggressive pace. At first, he thought she was going to hit him in or at least give him a good wack. He had already closed his eyes, accepting his fate. But he was pleasantly surprised when she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
She continued to hold onto him for a while before she finally spoke up. “Aren’t you going to hug me back?” She asked offendedly.
He grinned and proceeded to wrap his own arms around her.
“How was your mission, huh?” He asked.
“Surprisingly, not awful. That boy they wanted me to spy on didn’t really pan out. He tried to hit on me and tried to get me alone several times, but he wasn’t that bad. Just a little too arrogant and cocky but then again what noble boy isn’t? Sadly, I didn’t catch him saying anything about his father’s operations or if they were the traitors. It seemed like the son had nothing to do with it and was merely a spoiled teen,” she explained to him.
“How about you? Nobody has told me anything yet. Did everything go to plan?” She asked.
“It went about as I expected. We got some vital information and even captured a number of their stronger members, so hopefully, they have some things that might help House Easten,” he said truthfully.
She must have been skeptical though because she pulled away from him so that she could stare him in the face.
“So you weren’t in danger or anything?” She asked, looking directly into his eyes.
Seeing that he was being scrutinized he ended up telling her most of the details. Even the ones pertaining to the Tier 5 he fought briefly. As well as Marcus and Stella showing up to save him at the last moment.
When he was finally done retelling the events he found himself getting smacked ontop of the head.
“What did I say before you left?”
He closed his eyes and made an honest attempt at trying to remember what she had said to him. To be fair there was a lot of things to review and he couldn’t remember everything. But when he failed to answer her, he had to take another smack to the head.
“I had you promise me that if you were in any danger, you would prioritize your life over everyone else’s. That includes not taking on a Tier 5! What were you thinking?”
He put his hands up placatingly. “I promise you, it’s not like I had a choice. I promise I tried to run. He just ambushed me before I could even try. Plus, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone that strong going. It’s something that Marquis Easten and the others are going to figure out though.”
“They better! They could have gotten you killed.”
“I know,” he said with a solemn nod. He knew better than anyone just how close he was to death once again. While he liked to pretend it wasn’t that dangerous, the fact remained that he got lucky once again.
“There is something more important that I wanted to tell you,” he said to her before she could continue berating him.
“What? What could be more important?” She asked sarcastically.
“They know,” he said simply, knowing that she would understand what he meant by that.
Her eyes pinched together. “What do you mean they know?”
“I don’t know how, but it seemed like they had realized it a while ago,” he said softly.
She grabbed her hair and pulled on it. “So they know that I am not Grace but Reinera?”
He nodded hesitantly at her, not knowing how she might react.
She stalked around the room angrily and kept on muttering to herself, but after a few minutes, she calmed down.
“I had a feeling they knew,” she finally admitted with a frown.
“Really? Why’s that?” He asked with a tilt of his head.
“Because they prevented me from going on that mission with you. The one they had me assigned to didn’t even seem like it was a real mission. It was more like I was just supposed to dress up and mingle with the other noble children. Looking back on it, it was probably just an excuse for them to not risk my life on that mission,” she said, shaking her head.
“Huh, I hadn’t thought of it that way before.”
“Yeah, which is also why I think that they knew how dangerous it could potentially be and that makes me mad because they still decided to send you anyway,” she grumbled angrily.
“That’s not the whole reason,” he tried to calm her down. “I insisted on going to. I wanted to find out some answers for myself and I did.”
“Yes, but are you really that surprised? House Greyson sounds like it's full of greedy nobles. If a noble House like House Townsen is a part of them then it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that other influential Houses are connected too.”
“No, it wasn’t exactly a surprise, but it was nice to confirm some of my feelings as well as get some more information for House Easten,” he pointed out.
“Yes, and for that they better reward you properly. I will ensure that they will be pay for it if they don’t. And since my identity is already known, that just makes it easier for me to do so.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that Marcus promised he would make sure that they kept their word. Plus, House Easten doesn’t seem to be that kind of House so far,” he said to her.
“Speaking of that. I am shocked that Lily and Derek sent Marcus Avery and Stella Quincy after you,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Why’s that? You’re not the only one who seemed to think highly of them.”
“Because they are quite renowned throughout the Empire. Even my family doesn’t have many people with their skills. I believe that my father has made multiple offers to both of them to work for the Royal Family. But they both are loyal to their Houses. Something that is rare amongst nobles. The fact that Lily and Derek sent both of them just to find you must mean they value you very highly, way more than simple friends.”
“Are they really that impressive?” Julius got the sense that both of them were strong. But honestly, they acted very normal and nothing like he would expect from the people she was describing.
She nodded her head firmly. “Very much so. Stella is a ridiculously talented mage who is skilled in both time and spatial magic. Two very different and complex fields, making her one of the most sought-after individuals on the Continent. Whereas Marcus is an absolute demon on the battlefield. There have been reports of the man taking down Tier 6s and even clearing Tier 6 rifts all by himself. I can say with confidence that the two of them are some of the most extraordinary Tier 5s in the Empire.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, so bash those thoughts you are having right now.”
“What thoughts?”
“The ones I know you are thinking about,” she said with a stern look.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he insisted but failed to convince her of his honesty.
"Whatever ideas that involve you trying to run and escape them, throw them away in the trash. You will only just piss them off. I for one have no plan to piss them off and now that they know who I am, it makes things much more difficult,” she said with a meaningful look at him.
Okay, how did she know what he was thinking? Was he that predictable?
He had been thinking about ways to avoid going back to Heston right away. He still had more things he wanted to explore and to be honest he wasn’t looking forward to the scolding he was undoubtedly going to get from all of them. Mainly Lily.
With that being said, he realized that he was just being a coward. He could avoid them forever. He would have to see them again one day and it honestly might be better to just rip the bandaid off before it got any worse.
“Okay, okay. I won’t try to run,” he promised her which made Reinera sag her shoulders in relief.
“But are you okay with going back to Heston too? I thought you wanted some freedom?”
“I have had more freedom in the past couple of months than I have ever experienced. I have been able to go to places without people hovering over my shoulder and try new food without someone tasting it for poison. However, I have also realized that I miss some things. People like Amelia and things that I once took for granted,” she said with a sad frown.
Julius didn’t reply right away and simply stared at her with a soft dip of his head, acknowledging her point.
“So back to Heston?” He finally asked.
She smiled at him. “Yeah, I guess it’s back to Heston.”
He chuckled. “I guess our vacation is over now. I was getting used to the freedom.”
“Me too, but I think it might be good for us. Who knows, maybe we will be back in time for the end-of-year tournament,” she said with a smirk.
“I’m not joining any tournament,” he said with scoff.
“Why not? You would probably win and get a bunch of nice stuff for it,” she said with a confused glance toward him.
“First off, I am only a first year which means that I won’t be able to join the upperclassmen tournament. Secondly, I doubt the school is going to allow me to join the underclassmen tournament either since I am a Tier 3 now,” he explained.
She gave him a look of exasperation. “You do know that it's only called the upperclassmen tournament because most people who join are upperclassmen right?”
“Well, yeah. I kind of figured that from the name.”
“It’s mainly upperclassmen because they are the only ones who are Tier 3. The real requirement is the tier one is at, not the year or how old you are. That includes the Inter-School Tournament with the other schools in the Empire. As long as you are still in Tier 3, you can join.”
“Wait that’s how it works?” He didn’t know that. He had believed that only third or fourth years were able to participate.
“Yeah, I can’t believe you didn’t know that.”
“I just hadn’t paid attention, I guess.”
He wasn’t planning to participate either way so it didn’t matter to him.
Reinera gave him a small look and turned to walk away. “I know you don’t care, but I did hear that one of the rewards might be something that helps one transition their Emblem into an Authority,” she said casually.
He knew what she was doing, but she was smart enough to believe that even if he knew what she was doing, she would interest him regardless.
And she was right because he looked at her disappearing back with a piqued smile on his lips.
Comments
gray matter
I know as a reader I pay more attention than Julius might, but it was mentioned already that Aden won the entire tournament as a second year.
meu 32
You know they really do make a cute couple. I hope I am right and they get together at some point in the future.
Thomas Grimshaw
I don't remember them holding back towards then end, and even believe he was the one giving them pointers. I would like to see him vs the martial teacher though to see how much he has grown as i think that would be somewhat of a challenge still. I say that thinking that he was better than any of the t4s he beat up in the raid and that he was always holding back being a t4 against a t2 (at the time).
Thomas Grimshaw
Also means that his name will get out there for any survivors of the house Hyperion disaster to latch onto. Including Edwin, or indeed anyone who knows he is be the only survivor of the house.
Thomas Grimshaw
i think it was removed on the RR version to give it a bit more suspense, having read the comments on Chapter 80 they suggested as much. perhaps we will find out more in chapters to come. The outcome may or may not have changed?
Radek Homola
Paul Smith, you are right, I stand corrected.
Hufflepluffle
good point
il
Still weird that Julius & friends can't know who official (or de facto) leads his old house. those nobles are part of an ecosystem and this seems artificially obscured in the writing. But I may just not understand.
Paul Smith
Ah, I guess that makes a lot of sense. Well I guess we’ll see :)
Adrian Auriat
can you give a chapter tonight please
Jennifer Leigh
Definitely. I read on RR first and later reread on patreon. I think there are multiple differences but the Edwin POV was the biggest.
Hamfist
Interesting. That is "patreon-only" because on royal road the chapter only includes the first section with Julius.
Paul Smith
I just found the Edwin POV. It starts about half way through chapter 80.
Hamfist
This is not the first time I've heard references to the teacher making it somewhere but I don't remember reading it except in user comments like these. I don't remember anything about the uncle blowing himself up either but two people have said it happened. I just did a google search targeted at the chapters on royal road to find all the mentions of Lukas and Edwin and nothing came up that matches these comments. After Julius was teleported out the only mentions of Lukas and Edwin are from Julius. Am I missing something? Was there a patreon-only chapter from before I started subscribing?
Hamfist
Each of his friendships have brought benefits and the math is as simple as more friendships == more benefits. House Easton can't send him to one a challenge rift each month so what could being friends with 10 more "House Eastons" do for him? And while he has made contacts like Alice, Dante, and Marcus none of them have offered him an apprenticeship. A strong performance in the tournament is likely to bring offers that could introduce him to an official mentor or maybe pressure one of the existing contacts to make an offer.
Paul Smith
I remember a PoV with this in it, just don’t remember where. The uncle killed himself to take out the elders after ordering Edwin to shadow teleport away. Think it ended with Edwin deciding to kill everyone responsible or something like that
Kevin McKinney
Heh
Hamfist
@Hufflepuff It is my belief that: 1. The uncle adopted Julius as his son and named him his heir 2. The traitor elders' p[an was to kill the uncle, install Julius, then use the young and weak Julius as a puppet, forcing him to follow their orders to implement the scheme. This is why during that fight they targeted the teleportation array to prevent Julius from escaping but never sent an attack at Julius. It is possible that those elders are the only ones involved in the plot and they could be telling everybody that the uncle was injured in the fight and needs to be kept secluded in a "medical ward" until he recovers. 3. Since Julius escaped they didn't kill the uncle. They captured him and are keeping him locked away until they get Julius back under their control. That's why there's been nothing from the uncle but also nothing about a replacement being named. 4. At some point we are going to have Julius on a rescue mission to save his uncle and maybe the teacher.
Jennifer Leigh
The teacher made it somewhere. I don't think we've seen him since? Pretty sure his uncle blew himself and assassins up.
Hufflepluffle
What more attention would he want? He's already friends with some of the most influential families of the kingdom.
Hufflepluffle
What's your theory?
Conrad Manaugh
You are gonna do the tournament and your gonna like it julius. Been hype for the tounry arc since it was foreshadowed. A classic for a reason, bring on the alt pov mid round of julius being a badass. Am ready
William Johnson
The tournament arc or not seems like a good time for Ryn to establish how much of an outlier Julius is. I tend to agree that from what we have seen so far he's unbeatable at the same tier, but we've seen a fairly small slice of the world. Heck we haven't even seen him fight his upper classmen friends post-upgrade when presumably they won't be holding back anymore. Julius is definitely at the top of the tier 3 power curve, but if the tournament reward is actually good enough to draw out all the secret top disciples of various old monsters it would give a good opportunity to introduce Julius' true peers and maybe a rival or two.
Hamfist
That's the thing: nobody outside the family knows. Even Lily with her family's wide network is not able to find information. There have been assumptions by Julius and his friends that if the uncle had survived the attack then he'd have been sending out some kind of messages maybe even just chatting with other families but there has been silence. But if he were killed then I'd expect Lily to find something about one of Julius's other uncles being named as the new marquis so it's all a mystery. I have my own theory about all of that but it's just my own thoughts and is probably wrong.
Radek Homola
There was no confirmation. The House should be under the protection of house Greyson, after the revolt againts Lukas. The new leader of House Hyperion is not known but I think it would be the most prominent Elder we saw betray Lukas.
il
I don't remember if we had confirmation his uncle and teacher died. What's the status of his house? Who is leading it now (if it survived at all). Any reader can refresh my memory please?
Amanda
I LOVE tournament arcs they are popular for a reason they are so fun and Julius being the underdog/underestimated/the odd one out going in makes it so much better. Ahhhhhhh can’t wait for that. He’s like so reluctant but i’m so glad he’s going to be maybe bribed into it for the prizes. The alternate POVs when we get there are going to be SO GOOD
Hamfist
The thing is that his cover is not likely to survive past returning to the academy as a tier 3. That alone is going to draw a lot of attention to him, especially standing beside her. I'm not the biggest fan of tournament arcs and I doubt the tournament rewards are really worth the effort for him, but I suspect that getting attention from the right people could be the true reward for him. As for this chapter, I love it. Not looking for a big love story between them, If I wanted a romance story I'd read a romance story, but I do like their friendship and want to see it grow.
Ben
He should make a clean break from the Academy after he gets back and leave with either Alice or Marcus. There’s no reason for him to stay in the academy anymore. Marcus is investigating the conclave and clearly has skills which overlap with Julius and Alice would 100% take him in as a disciple now after what she’s seen. It’s a perfect opportunity to say goodbye and keeps all the ties he’s made with his friends intact as he’s leaving with people who already work with their family.
Paul Smith
I think it’s already at a tipping point for him. He has backing now that he didn’t have when he “died” during the coup. He had a purpose for hiding, I believe it was along the lines of hide until he’s strong enough to get revenge. it seems like with the way elder Han talked about their penchants for trouble etc. that fate has other plans for him. He won’t be able to take the conclave and duke Greyson on his own any time soon, and I don’t think that’s the direction this has been going. I think it’s much more likely that there’s already no more truly hiding for him. He has been making waves everywhere he’s gone, and I think it’s only a matter of time before he’s uncovered. Especially with where elder Han sent the shadow.
Ben
I hope before he makes a decision to join the tournament he talks with Alice or Marcus and asks if the reward is something which is worth it. As it could be a reward they could easily acquire for him without having to blow his cover for no real reason. He also needs to seriously questions at this point if staying in that Academy is worth it for his growth as he’s so far ahead of his peers. And he’s got a good opportunity to make a clean break and travel with Alice or Marcus and learn more about his spatial concept and affinity. Marcus is also clearly investigating the Conclave so travelling with him would be such better plot development and add more tension then a tournament we know he will win.
Voral
I really hope Julius gives the tournament a try and absolutely shocks the whole school, I think it's time to gain some recognition!
Dylan Sutton
TOURNAMENT ARC!!!!!!!!!!! No seriously the setup for a tournament is perfect here.
Derek Walker
I don’t see how the tournament is really going to do much for him. His friends are the strongest in the school, or in the strongest tier at the very least, and at this point they aren’t really a match for him. All he gains from this is needless exposure, which is exactly what he wants to avoid. The reward seems not that much of a draw for him since he already has a special emblem and just worked out probably the major step in turning an emblem into an authority
TUSF
> He could avoid them forever. could -> couldn't
deus vault
Also, considering how much he fucked over the conclave, it should put him way more over the radar than if they simply recognized him.
deus vault
Like, qhy would he go through all of this trouble to hide his identity, just to blow his cover at the first opportunity.
Finn
But, but, tournament arc.. You want him to just train in seclusion, maybe run dungeons, until he is tier 7? Just find a good reason for him to join.
RedLeaf
This is Julius we're talking about though. Since when has he followed the "sane/logical" path???
Adrian Auriat
maybe he can do it in disgise
Adrian Auriat
julius just can’t keep himself low it is this nature
Derek Walker
I think him forming his authority is the trigger for tier 4
Adrian Auriat
i see julius fight with just this armement of the arcane within the matches
Lukke Sweet
Same, there’s no way he could keep hiding, especially with his cousin in Heston.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Be kind of interesting to see if he forms his authority on his own as a tier 3, with that hint Reinara just dropped, with the obligatory soul injury, which seems to be kind of his thing at this point…
Zenty
I hope he decides not to participate. No amount of rewards is worth having his peaceful academy life ruined and having to deal with more politics. It will have an impact on his training which is by far more important. If there's really something he needs I'm sure one of his tier 6 patrons can get it for him in secret.
Orthneil Kelley Jr.
TFTC!
Bosparan
Thanks for the chapter! And now we walk straight into the dreaded tournament arc ^^ Kind of wonder what the challenge/obstacle will be
Oskar
Thanks for the chapter 😁
Usernames_are_annoying
TFTC
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
