"Hahahaha, young generations are always interesting," the one who supported William from the start decided at last to intervene, "don't be upset. This old friend of mine is just jealous because you are going to be a rising, strong spirit master. And you don't belong to his clan."
"I'm not this pitiful!"
"If you don't feel this is all true, then I'm glad to confirm it to you, hahahaha!" the two seemed to be on the verge of fighting before Berry's grandfather interfered and said:
"Old friends, we just got out from such a hard fight. Let's go back and rest, shall we?"
William looked at all this and he knew this was all an act. One acted supportive, the other acted neutral, and one acted hostile.
The three were working in tacit understanding together, just like how friends should. William knew they were curious about the identity of his supposedly formidable master and were trying their luck in getting anything from him.
'That was… Amusing…' William inwardly laughed. The exact master they were looking for was just right under their noses. But even if he told them the truth, they wouldn't buy a single bit of it!
Yet he kept watching in silence while the old man walked them away before returning back. And there the old patriarch looked in silence towards his son. And without the need to say a single word, Berry's father had to walk away.
One glance was all it needed for Berry's father to retreat in defeat.
Yet even with the presence of the old man, that father gave William a warning glance before vanishing.
It was like: I'm watching you kid, watching you closely!
And William returned the same look with a light smile on his face, as if he was saying: If you have the guts, let me see what you can do to stop me!
From the side, the old patriarch noticed these silent exchanges and couldn't help but sigh.
In fact, he was approving of William's approach to his granddaughter. He could already foresee the bright future William was going to have.
He knew if William had ten more years, he'd be a figure that the entire world heard about his name and deeds.
It wasn't a bad idea to entrust his precious girl to a man capable of defending her, a man destined for greatness. Even when he was just eight years old he managed to clear all the dangers surrounding her, including the incurable disease of hers.
If he did that at such a young age, what would he do later on?
"Come, we have things to talk about," as the old patriarch watched the vanishing silhouette of his son in one of the corridors inside the mansion, he turned to the meeting room and invited William in.
William entered the room which he had visited before. Last time, things went out of hand, and their meeting ended early on.
"You did great deeds in that battle, but let me ask you this… Did you already know about the type of monster tide and the tactics of this army from the start?"
the old patriarch sat opposite to William, while his gaze was locked at him.
"Quite straightforward about it, aren't you?" As the two were together again, and all alone, William didn't hold back his real attitude and acted out of his age once again.
"Don't blame me for this, what you did back then was a great help to my clan and I'm grateful for it. However…" The old patriarch paused and didn't continue, while his eyes held a lot of words for William.
It was as if he wanted to say that what William did was simply defying any logic and sense in the world. And he wanted to hear the reason behind such miraculous actions.
"I just told you out there," William could get what the old man in front of him wanted. And that proved to him that the weird meeting that happened minutes ago was indeed some sort of a show.
And so, William motioned his head to the outside of the closed doors, implying that he got what that little show was for.
"You can't expect me to believe that your master is behind all this!"
"Then I'll ask again, if not for my master, what other reasons can be there to explain such a situation?"
"Perhaps…"
"Don't give me that bullshit about me being part of the dark spirit masters… Just from what I did here I'm sure such an allegation turned into a funny joke, right?"
William knew what the old man in front of him was going to say, and so he interrupted him and said in a calm tone, without missing such a soft laugh to close such a page once and for all.
If he was still getting suspected even after doing all this, then it'd be quite hilarious! An agent to the dark spirit masters acted to foil their grand plans against one of the strongest clans in the kingdom… That would place him at the top list of the most foolish and idiotic people in the entire world!
"I heard you asked for rewards," Suppressing the urge to ask about the identity of William's master, and if she was the person Kong had in mind or not, and as continuing down the path of doubting William was futile as the latter expressed, the old patriarch decided to shift the topic towards something else.
"I indeed did ask for such a thing."
"Then help me understand this… You helped my granddaughter and cured her illness but never asked for a reward. And now you are asking for one… Why?"
'Dammit! Dealing with such a formidable figure is really hard!' William wanted to slap his forehead for missing such a tiny detail.
He just asked the butler to deliver such a request when he was half awake. He didn't think deeply about it and thought it was just a normal thing to do.