From his way of speaking, he used to order others. And that meant he was someone with real power and authority here. That didn't make any sense to William, as he didn't see anything remarkable about his guild and achievements.
He did indeed do something big, but it was a long time ago. If the kingdom wanted to reward him or something, they should have moved much earlier than today.
"May I ask for the reason?"
"Perhaps when you meet our excellency, you'll understand," these words were enough to change the calmness inside William's mind.
His thoughts drifted towards one man, the king of the entire kingdom. He was wrong, slightly mistaking the person who he was going to meet.
"Lead the way then," William wanted to ask further questions, but he knew beforehand he wouldn't get any answer. And as he tried to speak with that master, he did indeed get nothing useful.
Unlike what he expected, the master and his grand number of a force led them not towards the capital, but away from it.
They came from the west, and now they were heading north. William thought they were going towards a secret path towards the capital. After all, it wasn't easy to walk inside such a grand place with such a large number of masters without causing a stir.
Yet after half an hour, William started to doubt this. "We are heading away from the capital," William asked in such an indirect way, and this time the old man answered with something of value.
"We are going to a secret place, a place away from the eyes of the common people."
William knew such a reason did indeed make sense, but he felt this wasn't true. He didn't buy it, and yet he kept his silence, and vigilance.
He slowly started to switch his rings with others filled with elixirs and war supplies. In any given moment of danger, he'd use his full might to get away from here.
They walked through the forest, heading further away from the capital. After taking lots of turns, William lost track of where he was right now. Yet he was sure he was getting further away from the capital.
"We are here," after long hours they finally arrived at a place filled with trenches and holes, "let's go, her excellency is waiting for you inside."
"Her?" William was surprised by the way the old master addressed the monarch he was going to meet. Yet even when he asked directly about the identity of this person, the old master stayed silent about it.
William had no other choice but to follow that old man inside one of the holes which led to a tunnel. He noticed that only little of the masters he brought with him followed, and the rest just stayed outside, protecting the entrance towards that tunnel.
The tunnel was leading everyone towards the depths of the ground. And after a few minutes of walking inside, William noticed the weird blow of wind.
When he was outside, he noticed the wind, but it wasn't that fierce. He thought it was a natural phenomenon, something that was happening thanks to the presence of all these trenches and holes in the region.
But when he walked inside the tunnel, he couldn't help but notice the wind coming from the hole, and it grew stronger the deeper they walked into it.
When he asked, the old man answered with nothing much, saying that he'd get everything when he'd meet her excellency.
William grew more curious than vigilant from meeting this person. He didn't know much about the kingdom or its royal family, and yet he knew the current ruler was a king not a queen.
"From the way he addresses her, it's safe to assume she is the daughter of the king, or someone who has a high chance in ruling over," William thought to himself, while resisting the fierce blows of the wind.
"What's that bad smell?" less than ten minutes later, Alfred suddenly spoke up, stirring William's puzzlement.
"What smell?" he turned to Alfred, and the latter just pointed to the air around.
"It's natural to sniff it by now," before Alfred would speak and explain things over to William, the old master spoke up first, "just endure it and keep walking forward."
"I don't smell anything," William spoke again after a couple more blows of the wind. By now, the expression over Alfred and his team was clear about how bad this smell was. And yet no matter how he tried, William couldn't sniff anything.
"You'll smell it soon enough, don't worry," the old master wasn't surprised by this. After all, different people had various resistance to such a smell.
Yet even after arriving at the end of this tunnel, where a small room appeared, one that was similar to the ones he spotted before at the Cult branches he visited, he didn't sniff anything abnormal.
William didn't know that the reason behind such a thing was the spirits he had. They were strong enough to resist any toxin, especially that snake.
When he arrived in that room, he noticed the presence of a gathering of formidable masters. None was weaker than dark gold grade, and William felt from their aura and pressure that almost half were at the high stage, or even at the pinnacle.
There were around fifty people inside, all surrounding someone young in the middle, seemingly showing respect towards her. The moment his eyes landed at her; he could tell she was the person he was supposed to meet.
She was elegant, yet she didn't show any air of weakness around her. Instead, he could see the pride and prestige of someone who came from a great background, someone who used to order scary figures around without batting an eye.
"You are finally here," the moment she spotted him, a weird anxious expression appeared on her face, before a deep and long sigh of relief was released from her, "where did you find him? You are stationed around the capital…"
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