Affinity:Chaos

Grey took the map from Ellis while studying it properly.

Just as Ellis was about to continue speaking, he paused for a second and looked at the sky.

'Hmm, who's that, and why is this person following Grey?' He thought to himself.

He could sense that someone has been following him since he met Grey. He initially didn't think much about it, but now that he was about to leave and Grey wouldn't have anyone to protect him, it would be better to take care of the problem now.

"Hey, can you give me a minute, I want to go take care of a small problem," Ellis said.

Grey nodded, he didn't ask what the problem was, after all, if Ellis wanted to tell him, he would.

Ellis smiled before disappearing.

Boom!

An explosion rang out in the sky that drew Grey's attention. He couldn't help but wonder what this problem was. The possibility that this was the problem Ellis was speaking about was very high since the explosion occurred immediately after Ellis disappeared.

'Could it be that the old man was secretly following me?' Grey thought, a little frightened by the thought.

He stood no chance against the old man, so it was understandable why he felt apprehensive towards him. Encountering the old man showed him how weak he still was, now he knew if Alice's father wanted, he could've killed him. Then there was also the Smith family he took a huge risk with.

….

In the sky.

Boom!

After the explosion rang out, two figures shot towards the south at breakneck speed. It was so fast that Grey didn't even notice it.

"Stop right there, old man!" Ellis shouted while going after an old man.

The old man looked at Ellis, a little surprised by his strength. After moving a good distance away from where Grey was located, the old man stopped.

This was the man who Grey's mother told to watch him after she left three years ago. He naturally followed Grey into the Magical Beasts' forest to protect him.

When Grey escaped from that old man back at the cave, he was already prepared to kill the man if he decided to give chase or if Grey didn't have any way to escape. Fortunately, he's still able to keep his cover since Grey was quite special in these cases.

The old man had to admit it, when it came to escaping, he hadn't seen anyone who was at the level of Grey.

"What is a genius such as yourself doing in this place?" The old man asked calmly.

On seeing how the old man didn't seem to be bothered or worried, Ellis heaved a sigh of relief. From that exchange, even though the old man looked like someone who retreated, he knew the old man was stronger than he was.

"Accident. The real question is why someone like you will be following after Grey. If I'm correct, you're not from this small place, right?" Ellis asked.

"I'm not, the only reason I'm here is to keep watch over the young lord," The old man replied sincerely.

He could tell that Ellis had no ill will towards Grey from the duo's interactions all these while, so there was no use in hiding Grey's identity from him. Thanks to Ellis, Grey got to find out about the continent on his own, and he could tell Grey would leave this place soon enough.

"Young lord?" Ellis asked with a confused expression.

"Yes, there's no need in me telling you which family we're from. But he'll come to the continent with or without your intervention. I'm glad he could make a friend even before going," The old man said with a kind smile.

Even though he doesn't communicate with Grey, he was quite doting towards him. He had been with him for three years now, and given his relationship with his parents, it was normal for him to be doting towards Grey. The only thing he found unfortunate was that he couldn't speak with Grey much.

Although, during Grey's travels, he would encounter him as a weak old man who would speak with him whenever they met. He would always change his disguise, so Grey hadn't been able to figure out he has encountered the same old man multiple times now.

"Haha, such a coincidence. I knew such a genius couldn't be born from such a small place," Ellis laughed out.

"As much as I'd like to agree with your statement, unfortunately, I can't. If you've encountered his friends here, then you'd know that there are some exceptional geniuses here. If they were to grow in the Middle continent, then they would be at the top amongst others their age," The old man said.

He had seen Grey's friends and what they could do, and he felt impressed by them. There was also that young lady he killed back at the capital who wanted to assassinate Grey.

"Hmm, okay. I haven't really adventured much in the continent since this is the only place I've seen which piqued my interest," Ellis didn't refute the old man since he didn't know Grey's friends.

Grey was the only person he had met who was this powerful at such a young age in this place, so he felt maybe he was the only one or one of the few.

"I guess there's no use speaking with you anymore, I'm leaving now," Ellis turned around, preparing to leave.

"Don't tell him about me, he's not to know I exist, for now," The old man said.

"It's okay, I'm not a blabbermouth," Ellis replied before taking flight.

"Wait, which family are you from?" The old man chased after him and asked.

"The O'Brien family," Ellis replied.

The old man paused for a few seconds, staring at Ellis' back as he went further away from him.

"How could this be?" He muttered while staring in Grey's direction.

"Forget it, his parents will sort it out. At most… *Sigh" Why did he have to be from that family?" He shook his head sadly.