The Earl family elders looked at Grey in shock. People would usually run away if the Smith family was after them, well, people without sufficient backings. Yet, here Grey was, offering himself up so that they would be pardoned. This further increased the beliefs in their mind that Grey's background was terrifying.
"Hmm, although handing you over to the Smith family would help us pass through this difficult time, I don't agree with it." The leader replied after a moment of silence.
The reason for his refusal was simple: what if the strong backing behind Grey decided to act against them because they put him in danger, then what? They could still somewhat deal with the Smith family, although barely, they were still holding on. But if the terrifying force behind Grey decides to act, then they might be doomed.
All these were just his assumptions after adding up all he added when he tried searching for Grey. If even the Smith family couldn't get Old man Gerald to tell them where Grey was, that meant he wasn't someone they could mess with.
Grey noticed the sense of apprehension from the leader and was kind of stupefied.
What's he afraid of? I'm already here to help, why's he rejecting my help?
He didn't think much about it though, "I plan on going to meet the Smith family anyway so it doesn't really mean much who hands me over to them. But I'm doing this just so that your family wouldn't be disturbed by them again,"
Aldreda and Elda looked at Grey, they knew he had no idea what was going on, so he didn't even plan on visiting the Smith family. He's only saying this so that their father would agree to take him to the Smith family.
They couldn't help but feel grateful inside. If their father were to reject Grey's suggestion, there was nothing the others could do about it. And given what's happening, it would only suffice if he was the one who personally handed Grey over to the Smith family, the Smith family was that unreasonable.
"Father, you should consider what he said. This would definitely help resolve our problems with the Smith family, and as you've heard, he planned on going anyway," Elda stepped in to plead with her father.
This was her chance to redeem herself in front of the elders, although she wasn't particularly welcoming towards them, there was no way for her to live in the manor peacefully given how they currently treated her.
"Family head, I think it would be best for you to take the boy over to the Smith family,"
The elders joined in to try to convince the leader to take Grey over.
"Go outside while we discuss this, you'll be summoned when we're done," The leader sent them away.
He truly didn't want to hand Grey over to the Smith family, so he wanted to tell the elders about his reasons. If they still decided to hand him over to them, then he would accept it, after having a chat with Grey.
Grey and the girls left the hall, stepping outside.
When the guards saw them, they were a little tense, after all, they didn't spend a long time inside, so there was probably the possibility of them being chased out.
They exchanged gazes while simultaneously swallowing down a gulp of saliva.
'All he had to do was say yes, what's the use of having a meeting with the elders?' Grey thought inside as he walked out.
The trio sat down on the bench not too far from the hall, while awaiting the head of the Earl family to summon them.
After around ten minutes, the head of the Earl family came out from the hall, accompanied by the elders. He surprisingly had a look of disappointment, it was as if the outcome of the meeting wasn't what he wanted.
"Zeke Hoover, come with me," He called out.
Grey walked forward to meet him, and they went to the side of the hall, away from the ears of the others.
"To be honest, I don't want to hand you over to them. Think about it, the Smith family would most likely want to kill you, do you still want to go?" The head of the Earl family asked.
"I'm grateful for your concern sir, but do not fret, they will not dare to kill me, so you have nothing to worry about," Grey replied confidently.
It seemed like the head of the Earl family was worried about the same thing as Aldreda, that the Smith family would kill him the moment he was handed over to them.
"Hmm, since you say so, I'll do as you've said," The head of the Earl family replied.
The duo came back to where the Earl family elders were gathered, just as they were about to leave, Grey suddenly felt something vibrate in his storage ring.
He sent his spiritual sense inside and noticed it was the communication device Gerald gave to him.
'He must've known I'm in the city,' He thought.
He didn't take out the device, but he was able to assess the message there.
'Why have you come to Frost City, again?' Gerald's voice resounded in Grey's head, and for some reason, Grey felt like he seemed to be in pain when he said the word 'again'.
'I came to see someone, I'll be leaving soon,' Grey replied.
As soon as he replied, he suddenly felt the device vibrate again, it was like Gerald had been waiting for his reply again.
'Why are you handing yourself to the Smith family then? You know they obviously want you dead,'
Gerald was currently caught between tears, he thought he had been able to chase the little demon out, who knew he would come again, he didn't only come, he even wanted to hand himself to the Smith family who obviously wants him dead.
'Yeah, but they're troubling the Earl family, I can't sit by and watch them suffer because of my deeds,' Grey replied.
'You could've told me, I'll settle it. In fact, I'll summon the head of the Smith family now, they would stop causing troubles for the Earl family,' Gerald said hurriedly.
'No need, I have a plan to take them down,' Grey said.
