Grey walked out of the tunnel and into the valley, hoping to be welcomed by Brown.

“Huh! He’s not here.” Grey looked around when he didn’t feel nor see Brown jumping on him.

After looking around, he quickly discerned that they weren’t around. He thought of the possibility of Chris being sent to become a representative, but he threw that thought away when he recalled seeing youngsters while he was coming here.

“Hmm, looks like he went out.” Grey mumbled as he walked towards Chris’ house.

‘There’s no one here.’ Void said after sweeping the area with his spiritual sense.

“Yeah, looks like Teacher went out.” said Grey as he stood in front of the door.

He looked to the side and noticed the small barn where Chris used to train rabbits and chickens were empty.

“He must have been gone for a long time now.” Grey speculated.

‘Your Teacher lives here?’ asked Void.

Grey nodded, before turning to look at the lake in front of Chris’ house. He gently caressed the chair Chris used to seat on.

‘Like in this small wooden house?’ Void asked scrutinizing Chris’ house.

‘No.’ Grey replied with a blank look.

‘Oh, thank…’

‘Of course, he lives here, what’s so bad about it?’ Grey glared at him.

‘Nothing, it’s great, very peaceful.’ replied Void.

‘How can a bigshot live in such a place? There are no shiny things here!’ Void thought internally.

But of course, he kept his thoughts to himself. Over the time they had spent coming to the Academy, he had seen how lavishly people who regard themselves as bigshots live in those cities and towns, even a small village’s bigshot possessed some shiny things. Yet, Grey’s Teacher who according to him the emperor was wary of didn’t have any, how preposterous!

‘Shiny things are a symbol of power, yet such a powerful man doesn’t have any, such a shame.’ Void shook his head while saying to himself.

“*Sigh* Let’s go, instructor Blake would know where he went to.” Grey sighed before heading back to the tunnel.

He took another look at the valley before stepping into the tunnel.

After leaving the valley, he headed straight for Klaus’ building and was surprised to see the two boys cleaning Klaus’ house.

“Haha, good thing you’re here. Join us.” Klaus invited Grey the moment he saw him.

“Where’s Alice?” Grey asked when he didn’t see Alice around.

“Seeing how dusty my house was, she decided to go clean hers.” Klaus said.

“Then why is he here?” Grey pointed at the hardworking Reynolds.

“Oh, I promised to help him when he’s cleaning his house as well.” said Klaus with a mysterious smile.

Grey looked at him, then at Klaus, before shaking his head. Klaus was probably trying to take advantage of Reynolds, this would most definitely not end well for him. All Reynolds needs to do is summon his Elemental Warrior, and Klaus is toast.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” Klaus asked disapprovingly when he noticed the look Grey was giving him.

“Nothing.” Grey didn’t bother to advise him, sometimes, it was best to just let some people suffer for their stupidity.

“You think I’m not going to help him?” Klaus asked with a long face.

“Your smile said so.” Grey didn’t deny it.

“Of course I’ll help him, it’s a deal after all.” Klaus said thumping his chest.

“Although I don’t believe you, I’m not going to speak about it. But why are you the one outside, and he’s inside.” Grey asked thoughtfully.

“So that I can receive the guests.” Klaus responded, making Grey roll his eyes.

It wasn’t hard to see that Klaus was only trying to avoid doing most of the work.

“Yeah…good luck with that. I’m going to go clean my house now, it must be in a terrible state by now.” Grey said before heading straight for his building, not minding how Klaus and Reynolds were going to settle their upcoming dispute.

“Okay, we’ll head over once we’re done with Rey’s house!” Klaus waved at him before getting back to work, this time, he went inside.

‘I still think Rey is going to beat him up.’ Grey said to Void.

‘Fat chance, Klaus will think of a way around it. Also, I think he’s going to try to get revenge for the time he carried Reynolds, and Reynolds refused to carry him.’ Void speculated.

‘Revenge, that’s very likely. Heh! Rey is still going to beat him up.’ Grey stood by his first statement.

Getting to his house, it was just like he left it, only, dusty. The chairs not only had dust, but cobwebs as well. Without wasting any more time, he quickly got to work.

The wind and the water element were quite useful since they made the work easier for him. He used the wind element to blow out all the dust in the parlor, before using the water element to wipe every part of it clean. It didn’t even take him up to ten minutes to completely clean his house. After all, all he had was a parlor and a single room.

Given the huge space each compound had, it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to build a villa or a mansion in their compound. Even after building it, there would still be some space left.

Of the group, although Grey was the last to come back, he was the first to get his house to its previous clean state. He noticed that the building on his left was currently occupied.

With nothing left to do, he sat outside his house, on a small lawn and waited for his friends to come over so they could all report to the principal’s office.

Klaus and Alice were popular amongst the students, so a few had already started spreading the rumor of their return. Grey was also very popular because of his face, but since he’s not as social as Klaus, there were very few people he spoke with other than his three friends.