Affinity:Chaos

Lapis City.

In an Inn.

"So, what brings you to this city?" Jonas asked Grey after they sat down on their table.

"Nothing much, I was curious, so I came to play," Grey replied offhandedly.

Jonas drew closer to him, "You know that you're being hunted down, right?"

"Oh, how did you know about that?" Grey asked, surprised that Jonas would know of such vital information.

According to his understanding, the Emperor is trying to hide this news as much as possible, so the families in the empire wouldn't be aware of what Grey obtained from the trial land.

"I have my ways," Jonas replied.

"Well then, since you know about that, I presume others from your Academy do as well?" Grey asked.

"I'm not sure. I only got to find out due to a coincidence," Jonas shook his head, he didn't think others would know about this, but he wasn't sure, so he couldn't tell for sure.

"Okay. Anyway, I'm not bothered about that though, I'll leave as soon as I'm done here. And besides, you're the only one who knows about my appearance here," Grey said nonchalantly.

"Oh, and your friend too," He added.

"You can be rest assured, I won't betray you," Jonas said.

"I'm not scared about that, if I were, I wouldn't step out to help you. Even if I do decide to step out, I'll just conceal my identity," Grey said.

The young lady watched the duo as they were speaking. They weren't talking loudly, only audible enough for them to hear, so she didn't know what they were speaking about. She only saw Grey raise his head to look at her once.

"Hmm, okay then." Jonas nodded after they finished their conversation.

"So, what brings you to Lapis City?" Grey was the one who asked this time.

"Well, a friend of mine…" Jonas told Grey the reason for his coming to this city.

According to him, the Academy sent them on a mission. Since he was presently the strongest student in the Academy, he was sent alongside two of his friends to come and clear an area.

The young lady was one of the people sent with him, the other one was poisoned after walking into a chasm. Jonas took it upon himself to find a cure for him, and since where they were assigned wasn't far from Lapis City, he decided to come here and try his luck.

He was unable to get anything, so he decided to follow a team that was heading into the Magical Beasts' forest to search for a treasure that could cure him. The main reason he followed the group was because he heard them speaking of something like that.

After following them on the expedition, the group made a deal with him to collect the main items, while he took what was left. When they got to their destination, he helped with fighting against the beasts there and the group managed to acquire what they wanted.

He was also fortunate enough to get something that might cure his friend. On his way out of the cave, he sensed something and went deeper into the cave. Lying inside was a twenty-two meters long giant snake, beside it was one of the best plants used for making the highest tier of healing tonic.

He decided to risk his life to get the plane since the Giant snake was already in the Overlord Plane. During the first phase of his attempt, he was successful, but on trying to escape with the plant, the Snake woke up.

It naturally attacked, almost killing him in the process. The group of four who were outside saw him struggling against the snake, but did nothing to help. When they saw what he acquired, they were overcome by greed and wanted to obtain it.

Jonas luckily escaped from the snake, but was met with another problem, the people he came to the expedition with. He tried escaping, but was blocked.

The snake came out of the cave and started attacking them, Jonas used the opportunity to escape from the clutches of the group. Unfortunately, he was unable to get to the city before they caught up to him.

Apparently, the snake didn't kill the group. It was just like in his situation as well, the snake didn't kill him.

….

"You should know the story from there," Jonas said after getting to the part where the group held him outside the city.

"Yeah," Grey nodded.

He looked around, and noticing that the Inn wasn't filled with people anymore, he decided to take off the robe that was hiding his face.

"Ah… finally. I can eat in peace!" Grey exclaimed before digging into the food.

When Grey removed his robe, his face appeared in front of Jonas and the young lady for the first time.

They both froze, staring at that seemingly otherworldly face. Even Jonas who had seen him before was a little taken aback. Grey was more handsome than he previously was.

The young lady on the other hand couldn't believe that a guy could be this handsome.

'He's even more handsome than what they said,' She thought to herself, her mouth opened, forming a small 'o'.

But they snapped out of their stunned state when Grey dug into his food. He wasn't eating particularly fast, but he wasn't eating slow either.

Luckily, he wasn't talking while eating.

Some time passed and Grey finally finished eating.

What the young lady found astonishing wasn't the fact that Grey ate too much, it was the fact that Grey completely forgot about them while he was eating. He didn't even raise his head once to look at them. If not for his handsome face and his unimaginable strength, she would've thought that he was a beggar.

"Okay, thanks for treating me to a meal. I haven't had a good meal since leaving Frost City," Grey said after he was done eating.

He stood up immediately, preparing to leave. He wasn't close to Jonas, so there wasn't really any reason to stay behind.

"Oh okay. Thanks for your help today, I'll try my best to make it up to you," Jonas thanked him for his help.

"It's nothing. See you next time, I'll be leaving now," Grey waved at the duo and left the Inn with his robe covering his face once again.

He didn't want to stay in this Inn, it was too far from the city gate. He planned to explore the city, going to the Inn that was closest to the city gate.

After finding an Inn, he would think of what to do next.

It took him about thirty minutes or so before he found an Inn he was comfortable with. The Inn was around two hundred meters away from the city gate, and around fifty meters away from the city walls.

….

Grey's room.

After getting into the room, the first thing Grey did was to take a bath. Although he usually takes baths in the forest, he still preferred this one more.

When he was done with his bath, he started thinking of his next move.

'There's still about three weeks left or so before the month ends. Staying idle wouldn't work for me, but if i were to go into the Magical Beasts' forest now, something might come up that would make me miss the auction,'

He thought of every possible action, and before long, he came up with a plan. Since the Lenz Organization were the ones holding the auction, he would try to get old man Gerald to ask if there would be something that has the same effects as the Resurgence Liquid.

If by chance they do, then he would use his influence to keep for himself. Of course, he would compensate the person who brought the item to the auction.

With a plan in mind, he quickly brought out the communication device that was given to him by old man Gerald and sent him a message.

The contents of the message was simple, he should help him find out if there were any items that had effects similar to the Resurgence Liquid. Although he knew it was still too early to ask, since some people might have already dropped the item they wanted to be auctioned off, he felt that there might be a chance.

Old man Gerald quickly asked the people at the auction house according to Grey's request, but unfortunately, there was nothing of such in the place.

'I've told them to notify me if anything like that shows up, so you don't need to worry. Just make yourself available when the time comes,' Old man Gerald's voice resounded in Grey's head.

'Okay, thanks for helping me once again.' Grey thanked him before keeping the device.

Now, he knew he could get the item as long as it appeared in the auction house.

'With that out of the way, I think I should at least explore the outer perimeters of the Magical Beasts' forest before then.' He thought to himself.