Affinity: Chaos

Southern Continent.

Reynolds got to meet up with the duo after a few days. The reason he took so long was due to the duo always being on the move. According to them, they were on the verge of uncovering a secret about the Gnomes, so they could wait for him and just directed him to the place they were headed.

In a forest.

Grey and Klaus could be seen hiding in the trees, Reynolds on the other hand was standing on the ground, subtly murmuring about being used as bait.

"Klaus has always been a better bait." He continued complaining under his voice.

He was standing on the path that was in the forest. Before long, a carriage was seen coming his way. He heaved a sigh as he looked at the carriage.

He was currently at the side of the path, seeing the carriage approach, he raised his hand, hoping to stop it.

"Please, can you assist me to the next town?" He asked as soon as the carriage stopped.

The coachman was a Peak Venerable, he looked at Reynolds in disgust and said coldly, "Get away from here. I don't have the time to entertain the likes of you."

"Please, I don't mind riding at the top, I have an intense injury that will make traveling out of here on my own impossible. I've been here for a few days." Klaus begged.

The man was about to use the whip on Reynolds when a delicate voice came from inside the carriage.

"Just take him along, he might be useful."

When the coachman heard the word useful, a look of realization appeared on his face as he replied, "Yes, Milady."

"Thank you." Reynolds bowed in the direction of the carriage and went to sit with the coachman. He didn't try to go to the carriage which the coachman nodded in approval to.

"Interesting, come inside, he doesn't need company, but I do. Staying here alone for long rides is always boring."

The soft voice said once again, inviting Reynolds into the place.

Reynolds looked at the coachman, as if asking for permission. The coachman nodded and Reynolds came down, heading into the carriage.

When he opened the carriage door, he saw a fair hand by the door.

"Come in, I don't bite." There was a little hint of amusement in the soft voice.

Reynolds knew the person inside was a lady after hearing the coachman refer to her as Milady.

Reynolds entered and was greeted with the scene of a middle-aged lady, beautiful yet very mature. She had a different kind of beauty that stunned Reynolds.

He bowed slightly before sitting opposite the lady.

The lady licked her lips and said, "I'm curious as to what injured you. Can you indulge me?"

Reynolds thought about it and spoke about his battle with a ferocious Wolf. His aura was reduced to that of a Second stage Venerable. The lady sitting before him was at the Peak of the Venerable Plane.

"I see, such a dangerous situation. Didn't you take any healing tonics with you?" The lady asked.

Reynolds shook his head and scratched his chin awkwardly as he explained the reason he didn't, which he found a bit embarrassing.

The carriage continued on its path, while Grey and Klaus followed behind from above.

"He's good at this, are you sure he hasn't done something like this when we weren't together?" Klaus couldn't help but speak up about Reynolds' acting.

"He might've been taking acting lessons, besides, you do things like these on a frequent basis." Grey replied as they followed the carriage.

"Why don't we just intercept them and force them to tell us the location?" Klaus didn't understand the reason behind Grey wanting them to take such a route.

"Simple, from what I found out, they'll die if they try to divulge this information to anyone else…" Grey explained.

He didn't understand this and wanted to get behind the lady's identity. She looked to be from a respectable Family, well, at least that's what the carriage showed. He didn't know if she was or not.

He used the man to gather information from the previous hideout they destroyed, and according to the people, only this lady and the coachman knew of the secret place to meet with the Gnomes who were having an important meeting. It was said that occasionally, these Gnomes would want a human servant to take back to the Gnome world.

Grey naturally didn't have any plans of letting these people take Reynolds into the Gnome world. He only planned for this so as to try to see if he could gather any information about the woman. He wasn't able to get anything from the hideout. It was almost as if the woman was nonexistent and only appears when it's time to meet with the Gnomes.

He didn't understand this and wanted to get behind the lady's identity. She looked to be from a respectable Family, well, at least that's what the carriage showed. He didn't know if she was or not.

"So the Gnomes still have more secret portals connecting to this region." Klaus frowned.

"It's expected. I didn't expect them to tell the Necromancers about all their portals." Grey didn't think much about this.

They've found out about a few portals in this region, but this one wasn't recorded. Since this portal wasn't known by the Necromancers except for this lady, it meant that this lady had a closer tie with the Gnomes. Grey wanted to gather as much information as he could before dealing with the lady. He wanted to put her under his control before they got there, but he needed to make sure he knew a few things before doing so.

Klaus finally understood why Grey opted for this plan. But he didn't think Reynolds would be able to gather enough information about this lady. And from the looks of it, Grey didn't want to ruin the chance of finding out about the lady once he had put her under his control.

"We should take Reynolds out of there after some time." Klaus said.

Grey didn't think much about it, he felt Reynolds would be fine. Klaus was just worried over nothing.