Affinity:Chaos

"I recalled telling the senior I wanted some time to think about it," said Reynolds.

The young man's expression changed slightly when he heard this, but he quickly hid it from Reynolds. He was about to speak when he noticed Reynolds was about to continue.

"But… I'm done thinking about it now. I planned on heading to the Capital and request to join, to think I was recommended by that senior. I'm very grateful for her goodwill." Reynolds added with a grin.

The young man heaved a sigh when he heard this, the others weren't here yet, and according to their intel, Reynolds was a high-grade summoner, someone the likes of him couldn't deal with.

"You see how awesome big bro is? Even the Crowned Prince has heard of me," Reynolds said with a big smile to Carl.

"Wow! Big bro is so cool," Carl exclaimed with a look of worship on his face.

He aspired to be like Reynolds, someone who was strong and powerful.

"Of course, now let's go home and tell mom the good news," Reynolds said to Carl.

After Carl had turned around, he said to the young man, "I'll need to drop him at home, then get some of my things, then we can leave together."

"Okay, but I'll have to follow you to your house." The young man replied.

"Sure, there's no problem with that." Reynolds shrugged before patting Carl in the head and heading to the city.

Reynolds played with Carl along the way, laughing happily, and telling Carl how awesome he was. He told him cool things about the empire's forces as well as their duty, there were different units in the empire's forces, and each unit is very important to the empire.

When the young man saw how enthusiastically Reynolds was speaking about the empire's forces, he felt he truly wanted to join them. This made him less worried about him. When they were sent on this mission, he thought it would be a bit difficult since Reynolds was a high-grade summoner and the chances of him refusing weren't low.

They soon got to the city and headed straight for Reynolds' house. It wasn't the most luxurious house in the city, just barely above average. When Reynolds returned, he suggested they move to a better house, but his parents refused, saying they were already attached to this one. They moved to this house a year after Reynolds was admitted into the Lunar Academy, and for people who originally didn't have much, it was perfect.

The house was a story building with three rooms. The compound wasn't really much since there wasn't even up to ten meters of space between it and the next house.

"You want to come in?" Reynolds invited the young man when they got there.

"No, there's no need. I'll just wait out here." The young man rejected the offer, he wasn't comfortable with going in, after all, he and Reynolds weren't really friends.

"Okay, your loss. I'll be back shortly." Reynolds replied before taking an excited Carl inside.

As soon as they got in, Carl's voice could be heard calling for their mother.

Five minutes later.

The young man was still standing outside, waiting for Reynolds to come outside. Just as he was starting to grow impatient.

Creak!

The door opened and Reynolds brought out his head, "Please give me a little more time, it hasn't been long since I came home, so my parents are a little reluctant to let me go."

"Oh, I understand. But don't take long." The young man nodded in understanding. He also knew the feeling of leaving one's family.

Reynolds thanked him before going back in.

"How considerate," muttered the young man.

Inside Reynolds' house.

"Come on mom, you don't need that. Dad's already on the roof." Reynolds said in a low voice when he saw his mom carry her box of clothes.

"But… but… fine." His mother replied.

Reynolds' mother was a lady who was in her late thirties, but due to the hardships she faced during her early life, she looked older than forty. She had long blue hair, just like that of Carl, and brown eyes. She had a small build with an oval-shaped face.

"They've already carried everything we need," Reynolds said before hurrying his mother upstairs.

He had zero wishes of joining the empire's forces or anything for now, but he knew if he refused when the young man asked him previously, then the young man would've attacked. He didn't have any problems with killing the young man, but he wasn't sure if he would be able to kill him instantly, and there was also the issue of protecting Carl. He also didn't know if the others that came along with the young man would be able to locate his house and use his family to threaten him, so he had to play it safe first.

When he was still in the Academy, he recalled Klaus telling him not to join the empire's forces or the Academy as an Instructor. He could already guess there was something going on, and seeing the young man's reaction when he wanted to refuse confirmed his guess.

The only thing that was baffling him was what connection he had with what was going on, after all, his family background wasn't the best, and there were tons of people who were at the Third stage of the Origin Plane. There were also other high-grade summoners in the empire, so it wasn't like he was the only one.

'I'll think about that later. First of all, I need to make sure my family is safe.' Reynolds thought when he got to the roof.

"Are you sure about this son, I don't think running away from the Crowned Prince would be possible," Reynolds' father said.

He was a normal citizen of the empire, with a poor background and a little sense of inferiority towards those of higher statuses. Opposing the Crowned Prince was not something he would dare to do.

"Trust me, dad, will I ever do something that would put you all in danger?" Reynolds asked with a reassuring smile before continuing, "I may not know what they want, but I can tell it's not anything good for me."

"Okay son, I'll believe you since you say so." His father replied.

"Great, now jump."