Affinity:Chaos

At the Lenz manor.

Ten minutes after Grey entered the Earl manor.

Gerald was casually sitting in his office, enjoying tea while playing a game of chess with Diluc.

After Grey left, things had gone back to the same for Gerald, he would occasionally have business meetings, but nothing really too serious to worry about.

The few weeks Grey stayed with him really stressed him out, the fear of Chris made things difficult for him. So when Grey finally left, he was beside himself with joy.

He was about to make a move on the game when someone suddenly knocked on the door.

"Strange, I don't recall having any meetings today," Gerald muttered to himself, but still gave Diluc the nod to go see who it was.

Diluc went to their door and after speaking with the guard, he came back to take his seat.

"Master Gerald, Grey's back in Frost City," He reported what he was told to him.

"What do you mean Grey's back in Frost City? He was supposed to go to the Magical beasts' forest," Gerald said, not too worried.

Even though Grey was back in Frost City, it was only because he knew him well, that was why his people were able to notice him, it's not like the Smith family would be able to find him.

He decided to let people monitor his movements while he continued playing the game of chess with Diluc.

A few minutes later, the communication device he had with him vibrated, and when he heard the message, he almost fainted.

"What?! I'm dead, the boy wants me dead,"

Gerald was flustered.

The message stated that Grey wanted to hand himself over to the Smith family.

Gerald had a good few people in each family, so he was always caught up with whatever was going on. Although, he never intervened unless he had something to gain from it.

He hastily sent a message to Grey, hoping he would reply immediately. When he heard Grey's reply, he almost went crazy.

Diluc was calming him down, while he replied to Grey, trying to persuade him not to go.

After almost ten minutes of persuasion which seemed futile, he hastily sent Diluc after them. Grey and the head of the Earl family were already in a carriage, headed to the Smith manor.

"No matter what, nothing must happen to him," He ordered with a flustered look.

He drank what was left of the tea on his cup, trying to use it to calm himself.

'They shouldn't be able to kill him immediately, knowing the fool, he would want to torture him first. That would be even worse, what if Chris finds out?'

Gerald's fear of Chris was stopping him from thinking rationally. But knowing there was nothing to be done, he poured himself another tea, trying to use it to calm his mind once again.

The cup didn't seem to be doing a good job, so he threw it away and started drinking directly from the jug. This for some reason seemed to have an effect on him, as he visibly calmed down.

'Aish, since knowing this kid, my peaceful life has been ruined. I really shouldn't have called him over that day,' He sighed with a melancholic look.

….

Frost City.

The head of the Earl family was the only one who followed Grey as they headed to the Smith manor. They didn't speak on the way, with Grey looking at the city as they moved on.

Although he stayed in Frost City for over a month the last time he visited, he had only been to a few places, so he was taking his time to commit the route to memory so that after escaping, he wouldn't wander around.

It took them around twenty minutes or so to get to the Smith manor from the Earl manor, it wasn't close by, but it couldn't really be said to be far either.

The carriage got to the manor gate, and they were stopped by the guards.

"What's your business here?" One of the guards asked the coachman.

"The Earl family head wishes to see the head of the Smith family, he has important business with him," The coachman replied calmly.

"No carriages are allowed into the manor, if your Earl family head wants to come in, then he'd have to walk inside," One of the guards said with disgust evident in his eyes.

He didn't put the Earl family in his eyes, even though he was only a guard at the gate, the Smith family's pride ran deep through his veins.

'Such blatant disregard, heh! This Smith family really is something,' Grey scoffed when he heard this.

The coachman was about to protest when the head of the Earl family's voice came from inside.

"Since Master Jean has given this order, it's not wise to go against it,"

The head of the Earl family highlighted the carriage, accompanied by Grey who had his robe on, and they entered the manor.

He didn't want to make a ruckus at the gate of the Smith manor, especially given what has been going on lately.

With his hand behind his back, he gently walked forward, with Grey behind him. A guard led them inside after they passed through the gate.

The Smith manor was almost double the size of the Earl manor, even the Reiss and Lenz manor didn't match up to it in size. This showed the proud and dominant attitude of the Smith family.

Grey even guessed that they were the ones with the biggest manor in the entire Frost City. Even, other than the Palace, he wasn't sure he had seen any manor as big as this one.

'These guys must be rich. *Sigh* If only Void were here, then he'd be stealing everything while I was held captive,' He thought to himself.

Because of his arrays, he currently has a need for huge numbers of essence stones, and what's the best way for someone who's as poor as him getting them, stealing of course!