"Welcome to my world," William said with a calm smile over his face. He turned and looked at them, not sparing the place where the dead Lawrence was, a single glance, "come, follow me or else I won't guarantee your safety."
The master sent one of his group to collect Lawrence belongings. He felt bitter about the entire situation, feeling that bad luck was already on their side.
He feared to cause problems with William through this, never expecting that youth to be William himself. He looked at where Lawrence died, shook his head, then they followed William.
Everywhere they went, they saw how everyone around greeted William with respect and veneration. They even felt little fear in a few of them, as if William was some sort of a ferocious beast.
William calmly led them all the way towards a big building in the centre. Since he started expanding his guild, purchasing this huge space outside the fort five years ago, and he decided to build a central building there.
It was a symbol of the building in the centre of the Fox territory at the fort. Right now, that old fox territory garnished extreme fame, and was known now as the Lair of the fox guild by many.
William planned with Remy and others the expansion of the guild, ending up limiting access to the Lair of the fox in the fort to the selected members whom he personally picked and trained.
"So… What are you doing here? And where did you come from?"
Inside the grand building of ten storey high, William sat over a big seat that was elevated from the ground by two metres. He designed it to be like the throne he used to sit upon in the outer world.
The team of ninety-nine members stood in front of him, with different emotions expressed over their faces.
The master who led them here stood at the forefront, not knowing how to describe the current situation.
He came here, aiming to recruit William to their team. But things started all on the wrong foot by Lawrence's foolish actions. His best chances now were gone, and hopefully William would stick to the words he said before clashing with Lawrence.
"Ahem… We came from the Black Scale academy," the master cleared his throat, pushing away all the worries inside, "and we came to speak with you about a matter."
"The Black Scale academy?!" William frowned for a moment, "isn't it situated far to the north? You surely have some stressing matters to cross all this distance and come here."
The old man could only smile, a pale and faint one. He indeed came here travelling for almost a month. "We came to give you an invitation," the old man paused, "last time we checked, you didn't join any academy, correct?"
"Oh, so it's about that stupid spirit master competition after all," William sighed. In fact, this wasn't the first time he'd get such a kind of visit.
Before this master from the Black Scale academy, many others tried and yet they all failed. "I'm sorry, but it seems you wasted your time."
"Sorry to be rude but isn't it true you don't belong to any academy?" the master didn't give up, just the same as many others.
"Well, formally speaking, I don't belong to anything… However…" William paused, recalling the old promise he gave to Kong and the former Aspire academy's headmaster, "I do have an academy that I belong to."
"Who?" the master seemed a bit startled, "I never heard of you joining anyone."
"It's the one I hailed from actually," William calmly smiled, snapped his fingers before a servant appeared from the door, "please follow him. You'll rest for a day at a private hotel the guild runs. Then you are free to go back to your academy."
"But…"
"Just drop it," William didn't feel any rage or insult from this old man, "I already said I belong to an academy."
"I have to say you don't stand a chance with them!" One of the Black Scale team couldn't control himself anymore, "the Stardust academy isn't that famous!"
"At least you heard about its name," William's smile grew bigger, "and with me and others on my side joining them, things will be different. Believe me, we are more than enough to crush flies coming from anywhere in the continent."
"How dare you…?!!"
"Silence!" The last thing the master would love to see was for another member of his team to get slaughtered on this cruel fox's hands, "thanks sir William for your generosity. We'll leave right away."
William didn't say anything to stop them from leaving. However just as the team moved away, a group entered from the door.
They were ten in number, wearing the same uniform and emblem as William. "Another desperate academy to recruit us?" a tall young girl said with a mocking tone while giving the team from the Black Scale academy a cold gaze.
The team of that academy didn't retort back, under the strict orders from their master.
"They want to recruit all of us without even bothering to ask about where we came from! Tsk! What a bunch of bold spirit masters they are!"
William looked at the strong looking, tall and muscular man who said these words. He held a heavy glaive in one hand, and a rod of metal like a short stick in his other hand.
"Ibra, stop seeking trouble with anyone coming here!" William rolled his eyes, before checking the ten who came here.
They were part of his Black Tails elite team, the most trusted ones in them actually. They were the ones who accompanied him from the Aspire academy all the way to here, members of his old team, plus a couple of new faces as well.
Berry grew to be a fine girl indeed. She didn't keep her red hair long and loose like before, cut it short and banded it to form a ponytail.
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