'They seem to have ramped up the security, that doesn't seem good.' Grey thought while he was heading over to Hugh's house.
He only thought the guards at the gate were the only ones increased, but now, he noticed even the ones patrolling the city were increased as well. There were even more groups this time.
When he got to the alley before Hugh's house, Void told him that there were guards hiding around the place.
'Damn it! What do they want me for?' Grey cursed out.
There is no way the guards were here because of Hugh, that leaves only one possibility, they were waiting for someone, and given how they have been searching for him, he felt he was probably the one. There's also the possibility that he wasn't the one though, but he wouldn't want to take that chance.
'Is there a way we can go inside undetected?' asked Grey.
'I can, but you can't.' replied Void.
'Shit! If only I've comprehended the space element, I wouldn't even bother with any of these people, I'd just go in and out as I wish.' Grey thought sadly.
Since meeting Void, and training with him in the trial land, he had been trying so hard to comprehend the space element. Currently, it was the most useful element he knew of, but it was harder than the other elements. Luckily for him, he not only had Void, but he also had a spatial ring, this had greatly improved his contact with the element.
But even after so long since discovering the space element, he still hasn't been able to sense it in the Chaos Space. He had tried comprehending the Great Void Technique but had been unable to. Although, he felt that he wasn't far from sensing it in the Chaos Space given how much he uses the spatial ring. Without the spatial ring, Void, and the Great Void Technique, it would probably take him months, if not even years before he would be able to make any progress with the space element.
'I'll have to disguise myself,' said Grey.
With a plan in mind, he walked back into the city. Since he was coming to this part of the city which was the slums of the city, he decided to dress like one of them. He even decided to put a scar on his face just in case those guards knew what he looked like.
Two hours later, Grey was back in the alley. Now, he was different from how he previously looked. He had a scar on one part of his face that slightly entered the other side, like that of someone who suffered from burns. The scar covered almost half his face and went past his nose to the other side of his face, ending just under his right eye, added with the clothes he was wearing, it was hard to associate him with the previous handsome-looking Grey. Now he was wearing casual plain-looking trousers with a loose shirt. He even found a way to make his skin look tanned, unlike his previous pale-like skin.
'They shouldn't be able to recognize me with these, right?' Grey asked Void.
Void nodded with a tired look, this was the ninth time Grey was asking this question. Grey was the most cautious person he had ever seen, even after disguising himself to the extreme, he was still scared of being recognized by people who might've only seen a drawing of him. Even those who had been with him for so long would have a hard time recognizing him, much less these people.
After getting confirmation from Void, Grey walked out of the alley and walked straight for Hugh's house. He told Void to go in on his own. He noticed different spiritual senses observing him when he was approaching Hugh's house, but he remained calm and collected.
'I really need to thank Teacher.' He thought.
He used a cloaking array that was able to perfectly hide his Plane from people, even those in the Early stages of the Overlord Plane. The guards around this place were only in the Mid stages of the Origin Plane, so he had no problem with his disguise. To them, he was only a Sixth stage Arcane Plane Elementalist.
Knock! Knock!
Grey waited after knocking, he sensed that the spiritual senses were still locked on him.
After a few seconds, he heard Hugh's footsteps. When Hugh opened the door, he was taken aback by the person who was standing outside his house, he didn't recall ever knowing or seeing this person.
Grey looked at him and said only one word, "Spiracotanue."
Hugh quickly connected the dots before welcoming him inside with a smile, he closed the door the moment Grey stepped in.
"I don't mean to pry young master, but did you offend the new Mayor?" Hugh asked as soon as he turned around.
"I don't even know him, but, why do you ask?" Grey answered before asking.
"Firstly, you're disguised, which means you're hiding from some people." Hugh said before taking a seat, "Secondly, the..."
According to Hugh, three days after the new Mayor took charge, he personally came to see him, asking him some questions about his relationship with Grey in particular. He asked what Grey wanted when he came to visit him the last time he visited him.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell him anything," Hugh said when he saw Grey's expression.
Grey sighed in relief but didn't say anything, he waited patiently so Hugh would continue speaking.
Hugh said the Mayor left after promising to give him a reward of fifteen thousand gold coins if he could provide them with any information concerning Grey.
Hearing the amount the Mayor offered, Grey sucked in a cold breath. That was a lot of money, even some families wouldn't mind betraying a family member, much less someone they knew nothing about. Grey's impression of Hugh skyrocketed when he saw how loyal he was, it was just as Klaus said, these people were more trustworthy than those two-faced rich people he knew.
"So, what brings you here?" Hugh asked after he was done telling Grey about the guards that came looking for him.
"I'm out of wood. I need more, a little bigger than the one I took the last time." Grey went straight to the point.
"Okay, come with me." Hugh stood up before walking in the direction of where the secret passage was located in his house by the end of the passage after leaving the living room.
"Huh!" Hugh exclaimed softly when he saw Void on Grey's shoulder just before they entered the secret room. He didn't recall seeing Void with Grey when he opened the door for him to come inside.
"When did the cat come in?" He couldn't help but ask.
"I hid him," replied Grey.
"Oh I see, it'll be easy for people to recognize you since you're known for always having a small black cat on your shoulder, so you hid it," Hugh nodded in enlightenment before turning around to open the secret passage.
As soon as he turned around, Grey's expression changed, 'Shit! How did I forget about that?'
'Luckily, I wasn't on your shoulder when you came out of the alley,' said Void.
'Yes, but they must already be aware of me coming into the city. Why exactly are they looking for me?' Grey asked.
He felt Hugh wasn't the only one who the new Mayor must've visited, he might've gone to see the other few people he was acquainted with in the Academy. This was already past just because of his Teacher, for the Mayor to move personally meant it was more than what he thought.
