Affinity:Chaos
chapter-384

'I think it's best to make an array that will cover the entire Smith manor.' Grey thought rigorously.

He was seriously contemplating on how to literally wipe off the entire Smith family, but on thinking about it properly, he really couldn't.

The reason for this was because not everyone in the Smith manor knew about this, and killing some innocent people wasn't really too good for him. And making such a big array would take him weeks to complete, given the size of the manor.

After going through some plans, he decided to speak with Gerald and see if there was an easier way to do this.

….

'There's a bunch of women kept in cages in the Smith manor?!' Gerald's stunned voice reverberated in Grey's head.

Clearly, he didn't expect Jean would actually do something like this. There had been lots of rumors about his deeds while he was younger, but according to what was known, he had stopped those things when he was about to vie for the position of the clan head in the Smith family.

Given such characters, there's no way some of the old folks in the family would agree to it.

'Yes, there's even a young girl around eight to ten years old…' Grey told him what he overheard the little girl saying while he was there.

'Are you sure about this?' Gerald questioned seriously.

This was a very serious matter, so there was no way he was going to just charge to the Smith manor if he wasn't sure of it.

'Yes, I saw this personally,' Grey affirmed.

'But how did you… *sigh* Never mind, everyone has their secrets. You said you could escape anytime you want?' Gerald asked.

'Yes, but I want to wait till the Emperor's people arrive first before leaving,' Grey replied.

'Hmm, the Crowned Prince would be the one leading the charge, so if you could, leave now. According to what I've found out, they had already set off yesterday, so they'll be arriving before noon,' Gerald advised.

'The Crowned Prince?' Grey was slightly taken aback, not expecting the Emperor to send someone so important.

He heard of the Crowned Prince coming to Lunar Academy while they were still in the trial land. Other than the Twelfth Prince, he hadn't come in contact with any of the other princes.

'Yes. He's a very cunning individual for his age, and I don't think it would be possible for you to escape under his surveillance when he gets to the manor, so I propose you leave right now,' Gerald urged.

It was already almost sunrise, but most cultivators rarely sleep, especially him due to being in a hot seat right now. Since Grey went to the Smith manor, Gerald found it extremely difficult to close his eyes for too long.

Whenever he does, he would always see something like a vision of Grey being killed, and Chris charging into Frost City, causing a massacre, and he was among the people who were killed!

So the sooner Grey left, the safer he would feel.

'Okay, I'll be leaving then. Will you be able to take care of this matter then?' Grey asked.

Since Gerald had advised, he wouldn't take the risk of staying. If the people coming were ordinary, then he might have continued staying, but since the Crowned Prince was coming, then other experts at the Overlord Plane would be coming as well.

'Yes, the Crown Prince coming will make things easier. I'll expose Jean in front of him after they've been unable to provide you. Since he would already be in a tough situation, this matter will send him to his grave, as well as those involved,' Gerald said confidently.

Given his status, there are few people in the empire he couldn't see whenever he pleases, and the Crown Prince was not one of those people.

'Okay, I'll leave this matter to you then. Thank you,' Grey said before keeping the communication device.

He looked at the walls around the room with an emotionless face, the Smith family were lucky he wasn't strong enough, or else, he would've directly razed the manor to the ground.

Time flew by, and the sun was already up. Grey was still seated in his room, there were around three hours or so before noon, so he was already preparing himself to silently exit the manor.

To be honest, he was a little tired because of the high frequency at which he was using the space element lately. After escaping, he planned to rest for a day or so before visiting Alice.

Initially, he only wanted to visit her, but after seeing the progress Reynolds made, he changed his mind. There was no way Alice would be able to grow quickly if she was left in the secret room.

So he wanted to take her out of there, that way, she could explore just like Reynolds, and get fortuitous encounters that would make her improve faster. She would also be able to fight against people and magical beasts during her journey, so her battle prowess would also increase from that.

Just as Grey was about to leave the room, he heard the door opening, and one of the guards stepped in.

"Come let's go, they will be here soon,"

Grey stood up and followed them, his expression was calm as always, only his eyes betrayed his face. He still couldn't help it, whenever he thought of what the little girl said, all he felt was unbridled rage.

The guards took him through different pathways before they got to a small room at the back of the hall. Given how it looked, Grey was sure it hadn't been long since it was built, most likely because of his earth element, so it was built completely from wood.

"You'll stay here, for now," The guard locked the door after saying this.

Grey noticed that over six Overlord Plane experts were currently outside the small room, and from what he knew, the other side of the room was where the main building's hall was located.

'Heh! They think I wouldn't be able to escape even in this place?'

Grey scoffed, not bothered by all the people outside. It wasn't like they could sense him anyway, so he was not bothered.

Two hours later.

The Smith manor.

Jean and eight elders from the Smith family could be seen standing at the front of the manor's main building, all with a smile plastered across their faces.

They just received word that the Crown Prince would be arriving soon, he made a stop at the Lenz manor to visit Gerald, so they all came out to welcome him.

Before long, the guards at the gate saw the Lenz manor's carriage coming in their direction.

The manor guards didn't dare to be unruly like they were when Grey came with the Earl family, even if the Crown Prince wasn't in this carriage, they also wouldn't dare to tell Gerald to walk into the manor.

They quickly opened the gates with heads bowed to show their respect as the carriage went into the manor.

Jean and the elders were taken aback when they saw the Lenz manor's insignia on the carriage.

They knew the Crown Prince made a stop there, but they didn't expect that Gerald would actually come along

"Why's that old man coming along?" Jean asked while still keeping the smile on his face.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's anything good. I heard he housed the kid the last time the kid came to the City," An elder behind him replied.

"Hmph! If he's here to make trouble for us, then he should prepare himself." Another elder snorted coldly.

They didn't have any good relationship with the Lenz organization, things turned for the worse after the incident that occurred during old man Gerald's birthday ceremony when Grey severely injured the family's prodigies.

The carriage stopped in front of them, and old man Gerald was the first to alight the carriage, after alighting, a young man came out as well.

The young man was dressed in gold and white clothes, with a lion embroidered on the left chest pocket of the shirt. His handsome face as well as long curly black hair was a sight to behold.

Although he wasn't on the same level as Grey and Klaus when it came to who's more handsome, he could definitely be regarded as a handsome figure wherever he went. That was all on the premise that the people didn't encounter Klaus and Grey first.

"Greetings His Highness the Crowned Prince, it's the pleasure of the entire Smith family to be graced by your presence," Jean bowed, accompanied by the elders.

Although all of them were older than the Crown Prince, in respect of status, they were below him. Since he would be the one to rule them later in the future, they were all below him.

The Crown Prince nodded, "Take me to him,"

He didn't plan on staying here for long, after seeing Grey, he would immediately return back to the Capital.

Grey's use to them was just too precious. If they could get the Great Earth Essence Liquid, it would be better, if they couldn't, then they had to find a way to make sure Grey supported them. If not, well, they'd just eliminate the threat.

Of all the possibilities, the Crown Prince was sure that the last of them would be the most viable one, after all, there might be a stage Grey grew to, then controlling him would be impossible.