Path to Transcendence

Chapter 449: Buffet House Zenith Style

Aliyah didn’t say anything right away, but Julius suspected that she knew something. Perhaps, she recognized who Cain and Freya were. It wouldn’t be too surprising, considering that she was the wife of the next duke. Cain and Freya had also mentioned they knew Derekʼs grandparents, but he didnʼt know if that extended to his other family.

If she knew, he was curious about why she kept quiet about that information. The only explanation he could think of was that she wanted to respect Cain and Freya’s wishes to be discreet.

Or maybe, she didn’t know who either of them was and was just a little suspicious about their true identities. Julius didn’t really know for sure.

It was nice to see that his friends were getting along well with both Cain and Freya, though.

“Are you guys hungry? We are going to eat dinner soon. You are more than welcome to join us,” Derek offered.

Cain’s eyes brightened, and he chuckled. “That sounds like a wonderful idea. I am starving. Plus, I am a little curious what kind of food House Zenith feeds their own people.”

Derek smiled and waved at them. “Then come on in, we have other people coming as well, but we will make room for you.”

Julius was a little interested when he heard that there would be other people at dinner as well. His interest didn’t go unnoticed either. Lily must have spotted it, and she gave him a little nudge before he could even ask.

“It is supposed to be a small dinner party. It’s mainly for Derek’s cousins, who just arrived in the capital as well. I think he is trying to bring us with him so he doesn’t have to suffer alone,” Lily said conspiratorially.

“Cousins?” Julius asked with a tilt of his head.

“Yeah, I haven’t met them yet, but apparently they are an ‘acquired taste’. Oh yeah, and they are twins. Their names are Cyrus and Christina. There should be their parents attending as well, but I am not sure who else will be joining,” Lily replied with a shrug.

Julius nodded as he took this new information in. “Is Derek’s father or grandfather going to be there?” He asked.

She shook her head. “No, they are busy with other things. But they should be here by the time the tournament begins. Likely in the next couple of days, though.”

Julius shrugged and followed the rest of them deeper into the estate. While he was curious about meeting Derek’s other family, he didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. To be fair, he believed that his perception had changed when he began to meet so many powerful people that he had become a little bit numb to the awe of them.

He was thrown off guard when he saw Aliyah slow down to walk next to him. He looked on curiously as she placed a barrier around them.

“I never got the chance to thank you,” she said wistfully.

He frowned. “For what?”

“For saving Derek,” she said while glancing at her son with doting eyes.

Julius chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t ever have to thank me for doing that. He’s my friend, I am not just going to let someone kill him in front of me.”

She laughed sardonically. “He said you would say that.”

“Who? Derek?” He asked her.

She ignored his question and looked him dead in the eye. “House Zenith owes you a great favor. If you need anything, please let us know and we will take care of it. We pay our debts,” she said passionately.

He laughed awkwardly. “I will keep that in mind,” he said to her with a grateful nod.

***

Julius stood there with an awkward look on his face. When Lily and Derek had explained the dinner event, Julius hadn’t been expecting something this elaborate and grandiose.

“Is this normal?” He asked Lily quietly.

Lily gave him an apologetic smile. “Not really, I didn’t know Lady Aliyah was going this far either,” she said to him as they looked at the extensive spread in front of them.

The dining room was more akin to a massive ballroom, and it wasn’t just a table or two. But it was a huge buffet style. Dozens of tables where staff and chefs were preparing various dishes on spotless silver plateware. It was luxurious and entirely over the top, but Julius couldn’t help but admit that it looked absolutely delicious.

He took a deep sniff and hummed brightly when the alluring smell of food tickled his nose. He usually didn’t like things like this, but since there was obviously so much fantastic food around, he couldn’t have been happier.

There were a good number of people as well. Apparently, it wasn’t just Derek’s cousins and other families attending. There were around a couple of dozen other people here as well. He didn’t know who they all were, but Julius could surmise that they held some importance.

Their expensive-looking clothing indicated as much. He tried not to feel too out of place with his own clothes. They might not have the embellishments or formal look to them, but they were, without a doubt, of high quality.

Furthermore, it wasn’t like he had the time to think about his outfit too much. He had much more important things to focus on. Things like trying the food in front of his face.

He didn’t even wait for the others to give him the go-ahead and quickly beelined for the nearest table. He heard Lily call out something to him, but he didn’t hear it. His entire attention was on the food and nothing else.

He swerved in between some of the other people, grabbed a plate, and stood in front of one of the staff members who was in the middle of handstretching some noodles.

As he waited, he looked over to his friends. While he had run off, Lily hadn’t followed like he expected. Instead, she had gone over to Derek and the others. They all appeared to be meeting these cousins.

At least, those whom Julius assumed were the cousins. He was pretty confident, though, considering these two young teens looked almost identical. Both had the same blonde hair as Derek, but had much softer features than Derek. They each sported a pair of dark blue eyes that shimmered in certain lighting, and if not for being different genders, they would have looked close to identical.

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He felt Cain and Freya walk up behind him as he received his food. He bowed gratefully toward the chef before he turned back to them.

“This is quite the feast,” Cain said excitedly through a mouthful of food. It would appear that Julius wasn’t the only person who attacked the food stations at first sight.

“Yeah, the food is amazing,” Freya added. Not even she was able to resist, and she had been similarly attracted to the food. Julius nodded and took a bite of the handmade noodles. They were covered in some kind of savory and sweet sauce.

He let out a surprised moan of pleasure as the flavors attacked his tongue. The texture of the noodles was sublime, with just the right amount of bounciness. The sauce only accentuated their texture.

He closed his eyes as he let out a satisfied groan and swallowed. However, he opened his eyes in astonishment when he sensed Cain’s utensil spear his plate.

The audacity…

There was nothing Julius could do. Cain was much too fast for him to do anything; he could only watch as his food was stolen right underneath his nose. He looked at Cain with a look of disbelief and betrayal.

If that wasn’t bad enough, when he was distracted, Freya made her move. In a flash of movement, she had mimicked her husband’s actions and slurped up some of Julius’s noodles before he could stop her. He could only stare at the two of them with an open mouth.

“Wow! These are delicious!” Freya said with enthusiasm.

Since it was a buffet, his serving was pretty small. So their thievery meant that he had little to no noodles left on his plate. Luckily, he was still next to the table he had gotten them from. He turned around to look at the chef again and gave a pained smile.

The chef and other staff members who witnessed the incident all appeared to find it incredibly amusing. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Julius to receive his noodles once again. This time around, he made sure to protect them with his life.

Freya and Cain thankfully decided to have some mercy and ordered some of their own. Leaving Julius’s plate in peace. For the next little while, the three of them went hunting from table to table, looking for the best food and comparing dishes with one another. Julius even managed to steal some bites from their plates.

It took him using every ounce of his kinetic energy and willpower to freeze Cain long enough to do this, but he was successful. It did help that Cain didn’t even fight back, but Julius pretended like he didn’t notice it.

They bounced around the room, each with their own favorite dishes. They argued passionately about why their favorites were the best or why they didn’t like other food. It even came to blows when Cain insulted one of the dishes Freya enjoyed. She punched his shoulder with enough force to blow a hole in the building.

Luckily for them, Cain was a mountain of strength, and the blow didn’t even tickle him. He had siphoned the kinetic energy like it was nothing and smiled at his wife tauntingly.

Julius couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

All in all, it was delicious and they had a lot of fun.

“Enjoying yourself?” He heard an amused Lily ask from behind.

He nodded emphatically. “Absolutely. I am going to have to come to these dinners every time!”

“Well, I am glad you are having fun, but do you think you can take some time to meet Cyrus and Christina?” She asked tentatively.

He glanced over at where the twins were hanging out. “How are they?” He asked, wanting to see what Lily had to say about them.

She frowned. “They aren’t bad people. But they clearly have some unique personalities,” she admitted.

Julius shrugged. Honestly, that wasn’t too bad. If they were bad people, then Lily would likely take notice with her psychic abilities, but he could handle weird people. Just look at who his master was.

“Sure, let’s go and meet them. Might as well get it over with,” he said with a sigh. “Can you two come with me?” He asked Cain and Freya.

“What? Why do we have to come with you?” Cain asked.

“Because my master should help me with things like this,” Julius pointed out, making up a random reason.

Cain looked around, as if he were looking for something, likely a reason to say no. “But I am not officially your master yet,” Cain argued, looking pleased at his excuse.

Julius gave him a deadpan stare. “Oh? So now you aren’t? Is that how it works?”

Cain deflated. “Fine, but let’s make it quick. There is still a lot of stuff I want to try,” the man conceded and followed right behind Julius.

Their approach was noticed by the group of people gathered around Derek and his family. The group was quite large and had Derek, his mother, and what Julius assumed was his extended family. Edgar and Aubrey were off somewhere else. Likely trying the food like he had been.

Derek smiled when he saw Julius and was the one who made introductions with a polite bow.

“Everyone, this is my close friend, Julius. Next to him are Cain and Freya, they are his guests,” he said and turned to Julius. “Julius, as you might have heard, this is Cyrus and Christina. They are my uncle’s children. They are a year younger than me, but have already qualified for the Tier 3 tournament alongside us.”

They all exchanged short bows and curtsies to each other in greeting.

The woman next to the twins smiled proudly. “Yes, although they are only third years at Silver Lake Academy, they managed to each get themselves a spot. We are very proud of them.” Julius wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but it seemed like she was emphasizing the third year part.

The cynical part of him wondered if this was a subtle jab at Derek, who had only managed to qualify when he was a fourth year.

Christina sighed. “Mother, you are forgetting that Derek is attending Goldencrest. I doubt either of us would have managed to snag a spot if we were in similar circumstances,” she said humbly.

“Yeah, if you say it like that, it sounds like Derek isn’t on the same level as us,” Cyrus added.

Julius immediately liked the fact that they defended Derek. He could see why Lily hadn’t written them off entirely. They obviously had a sense of honor and respect for their cousin.

The mother smiled kindly at Derek, but Julius couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to come off that way. I am just excited for my lovely children,” she explained.

Derek waved it aside. “No worries. I didn’t take it the wrong way,” he said, and continued to make some introductions.

Next, Julius met Derek’s uncle and aunt. As Julius had already concluded, the woman was indeed Derekʼs aunt, and her name was Holly. However, much of Julius’s attention was on the uncle whose name he learned was Kayden. The man was powerful. There was no doubt about that.

His aura was very well controlled, yet it still carried the heavy weight he had come to associate with powerful people. He was Tier 5 and likely wasn’t one that had been force-fed treasures to get there.

The man’s attention wasn’t even on Julius. It was on Cain and Freya.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe I caught your names,” Kayden said respectfully, bowing slightly, something that Julius noticed had Derek frowning in confusion.

Cain looked at the man with a polite smile. “My name is Cain, and this is my wife, Freya,” he said while hugging Freya at the hip.

At first, Julius thought that the man would recognize their names, but he didn’t sense any outward reaction. Perhaps, he just noticed the shroud over both of their auras, and that was what had caught his attention.

Julius didn’t really mind sharing the true identities of Cain or Freya, but they seemed to enjoy keeping it a secret, so Julius played along. He doubted they had many opportunities to act like regular people anymore, and he wasn’t going to deprive them of this chance.

However, he wondered what people’s reactions might be when they learned that both of them were powerful Tier 6s. He also hoped that nobody would offend them because they didn’t know Cain or Freya’s real strength. Julius suspected that things would get messy if that were to happen.

In the end, the introductions went off without too many issues, and more importantly, Julius was able to return to eating his way through all of the tables with zero shame. This time his friends had finally joined him. And as a team, they attacked the tables of food.

It was a nice little reunion, and the rest of their night was filled with laughter and joy.