So William took inspiration from what his master used to say after every failure, after every battle with losses in his team back then, "We will train, we will pour every sweat we have to get stronger, and in the end, we will survive and prevail! Raise your heads high up, we are the Fox guild!"
The moment he said his last piece, the one he improvised at the spot, he raised his fist high in the air, and shouted while releasing all the frustration swelling deep inside him.
And yet his shout was perceived in a different way to everyone else. They all shouted, raised their fists in the air, and shouted in defiance and courage.
They were excited about what he said, and the new members knew they made the right decision to be here. As for the old ones, they knew their master was the best master in the world.
His friends heaved a silent sigh of relief when they saw him do this. It meant at least he was having total control over himself, but they didn't fall for his words.
From his shout, they all could feel his pain, his agony, and how he terribly blamed himself for what happened.
"Let's go," After letting his friends do this, he knew he had done enough and it was time for him to release his repressed emotions, with the people he mostly trusted, "Show me where they are buried."
They didn't say anything to him and just walked by his side, passing through the large number of masters who gathered there. They heard shouts, filled with excitement and hope, coming from all, and said nothing.
They led him through the fort, heading back towards the place where all this went wrong. When he saw where they buried them, buried all the ones who fell here, he couldn't help but sigh.
"Sorry guys," he said this to the ones who were under dirt now, and said this to everyone who stood by his side, "I… I hold total responsibility for what happened to you…"
"William…" Berry from the side felt like her heart ached, as if someone got a blade and cut it into tiny pieces in the slowest and most brutal way possible.
But he didn't respond to her, leant to the ground, grabbed a handful of the dirt, and hardly clenched on it.
Deep inside, he took a vow. All his time, he dealt with them as just given facts, as if they were just going to follow him forever, head with him towards the outer world. He took their talents as something for granted, and didn't focus on personally training and guiding them the way his master previously did.
He thought this was the main mistake his master fell into, or the only choice she had back then as she couldn't train to grow strong enough and fight that enemy back then.
But now he knew he was wrong, and he learnt it the hard way. He vowed to take care of those remaining by his side, totally focusing on supporting and growing them, the same way his master did to him and others, the same way he should have done it before.
"Don't take it on yourself like this," as he kept looking at the graves around without saying anything, Sloth suddenly appeared, "They are masters, and they knew what they were up to. They selected to follow you, listen to your orders, and knew this was going to happen at some point."
"I still didn't do what I was supposed to," William said these words in a heavy tone without even turning towards Sloth, "change of plans… We are going to stay here and train. Send the word back, and let everyone at the Scorching Lands come here to train. We are going to close on ourselves for a year, and I won't let you have a single moment of rest!"
His tone wasn't loud, but it held all the determination in the world. His friends could feel how he changed, how he seriously meant what he said.
"Cool, we are going to have a hellish one year of our lives then," Ro tried to joke, but no one laughed, not even smiled. Even William ignored what she said, and remained standing in front of the graves, feeling the responsibility he had to shoulder, feeling the pain of their loss.
His friends started to move around and spread the news. According to what he asked them to do, he was going to train every one of them separately, devise a plan for them and for their teams as well.
He stated it clearly, from now on, the entire guild would get reformed. The guild would be rebuilt over a pyramidal structure, one that would be led by him at the very top, then his friends and vices, next their selected masters, and then everyone else.
His vices and theirs would all have teams of their own. He'd train his friends, and they'd train their vices, and all would train their team members. As for William, he'd be lying on top of all that, watching and observing, leading the training, and doing nothing else but to mentor them.
He also would take periods of time to go and train, and that would happen at the Scorching Lands. Sloth stayed by his side and gave him tips and instructions about what he should and shouldn't do. William didn't need much help, as he got the coolest master in the entire world from his past life. And yet he appreciated what Sloth was saying.
"Listen up," In one week, everyone from the Scorching Lands and other branches around the world came and joined. The new branches were still recently built but didn't have that much development yet. But they got masters there and needed to train.
William gathered everyone around. He already moved and examined the entire area of the fort, his guild's new home.
It was filled with hills, ones that he didn't leave intact, and kept digging tunnels there to make sure there wasn't any hidden base somewhere.
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