Affinity:Chaos

'*Sigh* I should never have ordered a second plate,' Grey complained as they walked out of the restaurant.

'But the food is nice,' Void said.

'Expensive, it's nice and expensive, I'm never coming here again!' Grey said.

'Now, all I need to do is find a way to get the recipe for the soup,' He added.

He didn't want to come to the restaurant again doesn't mean he didn't want to get a taste of the food again. The food was just too good, he wanted to learn how to prepare it so he could eat it whenever he wanted.

He knew of some of the ingredients used in the food, but some were things he had never tasted before. They are obviously things found only in the Aurora continent.

'Come on, we still have a few hours before the auction starts, why don't we sneak into the kitchen?' Void suggested.

'No, there's a sophisticated array there, and sneaking in wouldn't do us any good, we will still need to get the recipe from the cooks. We'll have to stay behind and follow one of the chefs home,' Grey said.

After the duo came to an agreement, they started plotting how they would kidnap the chef if he didn't agree to give them the recipe if they asked for it. Void was even coming up with all sorts of torture techniques that actually scared Grey as he listened to them.

They asked around and found out that the restaurant usually closed late in the night, and opened early. From what they found out, the chefs were all in the Origin Plane.

Grey and Void hung around the restaurant a little longer to get to know the possible routes of the chefs before heading over for the auction. Void was no longer interested in the auction since there was something they wanted to do in the night that was more exciting, Grey was still angry over the stones he was asked to pay for the food, on getting to the place of the auction, his anger increased because the price he paid just to go in was once again high.

The price he paid to get into the auction was well over ten times the stones needed to be paid to get into an auction in the Azure continent. He had to pay five hundred high-grade essence stones, and what was surprising was that it was just a regular seat.

The auction was held for almost three hours, closing just before midnight. Grey and Void didn't see anything that caught their attention, well, actually, they did, but the prices were terrifying. Even if Grey emptied the vault of the Mayor of Lapis City, there was no way he would've been able to get a single good item.

He might be able to get some small items, but those were things he could easily find in the Azure continent, and cheaper as well!

After leaving the auction house, Grey felt a tinge of pain when he recalled the stones he paid just to get in. It was even higher than what he was paying in the tavern he's staying in.

They headed straight towards the restaurant. Since things were already like this, at least he would feel a little bit of consolation if he manages to get the recipe for the soup easily.

On getting there, they were forced to wait for a while before they saw someone leaving the restaurant from the back door. It wasn't time to close yet, but the duo was already tired of waiting.

With some simple movements, they appeared behind the person, knocking him out.

….

In a hidden alley not far from the restaurant.

Splash!

Water was splashed in the face of the person.

"What… where am I?" The man said while scrambling to his feet.

"Are you one of the chefs in the restaurant?" Void was the one who asked.

Grey used a black material to cover his face, making sure the man wouldn't be able to see his face. Even his eyes were covered from the man's view.

"Rest… yes, yes, I'm a chef in the restaurant," The man replied after taking a few seconds to process the question.

"Good, now, drop the recipe for your best dish," Void requested.

"Recipe for the best dish? You mean the soup?" The man asked, clearly very confused by what was going on.

From how the people took him, it was obviously a kidnap, yet they were only asking for the recipe of their best dish? What has the world turned into? Now they kidnap people just to get the recipe to a meal? Unfxxkingbeliveable!

"Yes, do you have it?" Void answered with Grey nodding his head.

"That's all you want?" The man asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah, do you have it? I'm running out of patience," Void asked angrily.

"Yes, of course I do, I'm the one who even modified it to make it better," The man answered hurriedly.

Since this psycho would let him go if he told him the recipe, of course he would tell him. It wasn't like people didn't already know that their restaurant was the first which made it, so even if someone else starts selling it, it wouldn't gain as much traction as theirs, and this would also make him know who kidnapped him.

If only he knew that the reason Grey was doing this was so that he could cook it whenever he wanted, he would be even more astonished by how his head worked.

Grey quickly took out a sheet of paper, handing it over to the man and also a brush and some ink. The man hurriedly wrote down the ingredients for the recipe and passed the paper back to Grey.

"If I find out you're lying, I'll kill you," Void threatened after Grey kept the paper.

"I'm not, that is the recipe, if I'm lying you can come to find me in the restaurant, I even wrote down the instructions on how to prepare it," The man said.

"Good, now, scram!" Void said, trying to make his voice as big as he possibly could.

The man didn't stay in the alley any longer, running away quickly.

"So, can we go now?" asked Void.

"Yeah, with this recipe, our journey will be quite fun," Grey replied.

He had already gotten the general knowledge he wanted from this city, now, it was time to head in the direction of Ellis. During the course of his journey, he would find out more about this continent.

….

The next morning, Grey and Void left the tavern, heading towards the gate.

He still wore the mask he wore when he came to the city, and he was also wearing it when he was fighting in the arena, so some of the people who attended the event that day recognized him as he walked past them.

On getting to the gate of the city, he encountered a familiar face. It was the guard who blocked him from entering the city when he first came here.

"You, when did you get in?" The guard jumped in front of him when he saw him walking out.

"Huh?" Grey raised his head, staring at the guard weirdly.

He didn't think this guard will still recognize him.

'I need to start changing my masks now,' He decided internally.

"How did you get in? There's no way you can enter this city without me being aware of it," The guard said.

"But I did, and you were lazying around in the corner," Grey lied without a second thought.

His calm voice made it seem as if he was telling the truth.

"I never rest," The guard refuted.

Just as Grey was about to start arguing with the guard, he suddenly recalled something. A token soon appeared in his hand which he showed the guard.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked gently.

"It's… an Abyss token," The guard replied with a long face.

"Good, now, be a good boy and move to the side," Grey nodded before tapping him on the shoulder.

"Hmph! If you think that would scare me then you must be joking," The guard snorted coldly.

"You're scared by this?" Grey asked, a little confused by the guard's reaction.

Given how the host of the event was towards the Abyss Faction, he felt they must be well respected in this area.

"Others might be, but I'm not," The guard said with arms folded in front of him.

"Oh really?" A cold voice came from behind the guard.

Looking behind the guard, Grey was surprised to see Ray.

"Hello," Ray waved at Grey.

"Cousin, it's you!" The guard jumped in fright when he saw Ray.

"Why are you stopping him?" Ray asked coldly.

"Actually… cousin… you see, he snuck into the city, I was only asking what he had in his bag when he first came, but he ran away, who would've known that he would sneak into the city," The guard said with a faked smile.

"Heh! With the likes of you here, why would I want to sneak into the city? I could just stroll right through the front gate," Grey scoffed.