Whatever the case was, Finnley then replied, “Indeed. He had hidden himself so well that I almost didn’t notice him! Thankfully, at the time, I had already encountered your grandfather once before a few decades ago…”

“…You’ve… known him for that long?” asked the surprised Gerald.

“I have, and from the second I met him, I knew he wasn’t worthy of becoming my acquaintance. For context, when I first met Daryl, I was still investigating the Soluna Deus Sect. At the time, I figured that there’d b