William was heading to meet with the leader of this city, to meet the representatives of other cities, to facilitate the ownership of many lands in this continent.
The talk he heard along his path towards the royal area and mansion didn't appeal to him. It was all negative words, all speaking about how a big war would erupt thanks to the fear, doubt, and hatred towards what was different.
"You are considered our hero, so anything you want is granted," the leader of this city met with him over his throne. He was with the other two identical twin masters, sitting on both of his sides.
This time the hall wasn't filled with tons of masters, only a group of a hundred or so. They included the big shots in the city, and other big shots from other cities.
William arrived here, asked directly for something in return for what he did. And as the leader accepted, he spoke about owning pieces of land here and in other cities. He didn't hide his real intentions, speaking about his guild.
"I have to be honest with you, I never heard of a guild before…" the king was confused by William's words, "what does that mean?"
"It's like an impact, but one with grand goals…"
"I never heard of impacts before," the leader of the city seemed to grow a bit sceptical towards William, mistaking him for someone who got their memories changed, like many in the world.
"Let me explain then," but William was quick witted and instantly recognised such a suspicion. He started to thoroughly explain everything, saying this was the idea of his master, Sloth.
The latter had a very hard time in the past thanks to William. Everyone wanted to meet and speak with him, wanted to know lots of stuff, wanted to hear his opinion about the current weird situation in the world.
Sloth was having fun at first until he was thrown in the middle of such a tricky situation. He found himself responsible for deciding the fate of millions, even hundreds of millions of people without knowing a thing about what was truly going on here.
He tried to contact William, but the latter closed his room on himself and didn't accept or respond to anything. Things kept going south especially when the formidable masters all agreed to listen to his words, his opinion about this matter. They asked him to investigate this situation, provide them with explanation, or else a war of existence would start.
People didn't like the unknown, actually hated and feared it. People never liked who was different from them, and they took this matter totally in the wrong way.
"I get the general idea…" the leader of the city felt more interested in such a new way of using masters, the same feeling many also felt in this hall, "I agree. And this is a promise to you, I'll support your guild and your people, hopefully this will lead to helping our humans in these hard times."
"Speaking about hard times, I have something to say," William was waiting for a window to speak about the troubling issues he heard in the streets while coming here.
"Are you saying that this is a great opportunity?!!" The leader was surprised by these words, as everyone else. If anyone else said such words, no one would take them even seriously. But this was William, the one who created miracles in their world one after another.
"These people had different memories, but lots of what they know is true," William used the value and weight of the name he built over his stay in this world to try to save the situation, "just try and collect this information, try to use these new techniques, formulas, blueprints, arrays, and other stuff. And I promise you'll get a surprise from them."
"..."
"We tried to speak with your master, but he kept his silence about this matter," one of the masters who came from other cities suddenly spoke up.
"My master… He is a bit shy when dealing with others," William apologised in his heart for speaking in such a way about Sloth, "he doesn't feel comfortable with others around who he doesn't know. Not to mention you must have asked him to decide the fate of tons of people, and such a thing is something he won't dare to do."
William already guessed what happened, linked all the messages and attempts for communication Sloth did in the past days with the words of that master.
He inwardly sighed. He already told Sloth to act like a mysterious and formidable master, one who knew tons of stuff that others didn't. But he never thought he'd be cornered like this, asked to handle a situation that even William wouldn't willingly step in.
"Did he send you here to speak about that?" the king asked with shining eyes. If William had a very good reputation, then his master had a much higher stance in their hearts.
"Yes," William knew this was the moment he was waiting for to convince them, "he recognised lots of the knowledge he heard from others. These are all authentic ways in other worlds, according to him of course."
"I see…" the king went into long silence, and the hall kept its silence for long minutes without anyone saying anything, "let me and others think thoroughly about this. But be assured, we will take your master's valuable advice and try out these ways. If what he said is true, then this is a great opportunity indeed."
"He also advises you of something," William paused, not continuing his words while winking to the leader of the city.
"Oh, I get it," the king didn't get it at first, not until William took a scroll out, reminding him of what that leader did in the matter of the mysterious scrolls.
And then the king got what William meant. He got that he wanted him to start amassing such knowledge. After all, this was something that could be least described as a golden chance, one that this city shouldn't miss.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m