Kong took what William said here as a way to change the tide of this discussion.
But he never expected that William wasn't trying to do just so. In fact, William had another motive for shifting the topic over this issue.
He wanted to achieve another goal by speaking about this topic right now.
"What if the one who stole these belonged to the agents of the dark spirit masters in the academy? The real traitors?"
Kong eyed William in suspicion before asking:
"What makes these traitors eye my Berry's things? What's so special about your training manuals?"
Kong already knew what Berry missed were the training manuals provided to her by William. And in his eyes, no matter how special these things were, there was no real motive for those traitors to act and risk exposing themselves for them.
"What if I told you that I got these from my master…" William paused for a long moment, letting the silence add more weight to what he was going to say next.
After all, he shifted the topic to this issue not to divert the attention of Kong away from suspecting him, but to wipe out such suspicion once and for all.
"... What if I told you that my master got these manuals from the outside world?"
"Bullshit!" the answer came swiftly and decisively from Kong, "no one can reach out there! It's our dream to reach such a stage!"
William knew he piqued the interest of that old man, despite his show of rage and rejection of what he just said.
"I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but dark spirit masters are this strong and unique thanks mainly to their ability to get in contact with the outer world," and William knew he had to spill part of his beans if he wanted to clear up his name.
Living in the academy while someone scary like Kong was suspecting him? That would be a life William wouldn't desire at all! "And like them, my master has her own ways to get in touch with the outside world."
"Stop saying nonsense!"
"That's why the methods that I learnt from my master look weird and unheard of in your eyes. That's why anything I did would look alien and suspicious."
"Bullshit! What if you are one of the dark spirit masters? What if the one you are calling as a master is one of them?"
"Then tell me, why two mighty and formidable training manuals, two which my master described as being one of the rare manuals that held true paths towards the gate of this world to the outside one, got stolen from the hands of Berry?"
"..." This time, William managed to silence the old man in front of him after exposing his true colours.
William suspected that Kong was questioning his loyalty and thinking of him as part of the dark spirit master world by a slight amount before. But after pushing this old man to shout and expose his inner thoughts like this, William became one hundred percent sure of that possibility.
And so, William decided to wrap all the disasters he met so far and twist facts to serve his goal.
"Then explain to me why the dark spirit masters will place such importance at framing and even killing someone like me?"
"Because you jumped over ranks, turning from a porter to a bronze spirit master rank!" Kong fumed out his rage, answering William openly without showing any reservation like before, "or else this is all a show, for us to believe in you!"
"A show that can end my life? No way! If not for the headmaster's intervention and protection, I'd have been branded as a traitor and got killed or imprisoned for my entire life! How come the dark spirit masters frame someone belonging to them and wanting him to get exposed in the first place?"
"I don't know, you tell me!" Kong meant that as if William was part of their circle. So, William should know the answer to that question, not him.
"And on top of that," yet William didn't directly answer him, "I'm just a bronze spirit master! Even if I created a miracle of transcending ranks, I'm still too damn weak to affect anything in the entire world's grand affairs! And yet they placed a mark over my head and wanted me dead. Even the things I left for your Berry ended up getting stolen! Why is that? Why?"
William kept calmly speaking, yet his words seemed quite heavy and explosive. Against such will and confidence, against such logic and strong words, even Kong was out of options on how he should answer this kid.
So Kong remained silent, and William returned to use his protective spell: "It's because of my master. It's because of what she is capable of. It's because of what she knows."
"Who is she then? Why didn't she show herself up here and meet me and the others?" Kong finally couldn't hold back his other suspicion about the true identity of William's master.
"She doesn't want to meet you, any of you," and when William made up such an answer on the spot to extricate himself from such a tricky question, he never expected what he said to stir up storms inside the old man sitting in front of him.
"When you say it this way…"
Just when the old patriarch was speaking, wanting to learn more about the identity of his mysterious master, he paused. William mistook it for something he realised, a clue or something. Or perhaps he got convinced by what he said and finally cleared all suspicion off him.
Least he knew that things were going to turn for the worse in this part of the world.
"This…" and when the old man stood slowly on his feet, William knew things weren't like what he guessed.
"What happened?"
"Something big is coming…" Kong looked at William for a long minute, "don't tell me… It's related to you!!"
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