"You know you are biassed towards them, right?" Sloth already arrived one day before, and he kept watching how William attentively cared for his masters.
"They are my guild members, right?" he laughed, "and how can I be compared to you, old man? You are far stronger and much better at educating others than me, hahahaha!"
"A bully at such a young age isn't a good sign," Sloth rolled his eyes, "but I got copies of the recording crystals that had your teachings, hahahaha!"
"You… this fast? Anjie did that?!!" William was surprised at how fast these crystals spread and reached the old man. And he could only think of one person capable of doing this.
"Don't meddle my princess into this, it wasn't her."
"If she didn't do it herself, then masters in her faction did," William shook his head, and Sloth felt worried over his princess.
"Don't take it on her, it was all my request…"
"It's ok old man, just make sure only capable masters, ones you trust and want to support, have these," William's warning was direct and its meaning was clear. These crystals were like a treasure, and not everyone should have them.
Not to mention it was also a warning from other kingdoms. After all, it'd make the Novistic kingdom in a better spot if they were the only ones holding on to these.
"Don't worry, we highly value your crystals."
"We?!" William didn't miss the way Sloth used to speak of himself, and the latter just laughed and said nothing.
This was enough to tell William that his crystals went all the way back to the capital, and perhaps the king also had them. It was true, and the king was listening and watching William's lecture, alongside many others back there.
"Are your batch ready?" William dropped thinking about what Sloth and the kingdom could do with his crystals. It was destined for them to spread, and he wasn't really that stuck to keep the knowledge to himself.
Such knowledge was essential to let masters of this world grow up and get the needed requirements to go out of here. And yet that was in case this world survived the upcoming turmoil in the next few years.
"We are ready," Sloth seriously said, "I selected five thousand, mixed from my people and the city's."
"And their age? Don't tell me you selected old men and left the youngsters behind!"
"I'm not like you, humph!" Sloth raised his head to the sky, as if he was going to touch it with his chin, "I've selected mostly the young ones. But I selected one thousand of the old men, and I'm going."
"I knew you'll butt your head into this!"
"Stop speaking nonsense! It's as if you wouldn't have invited me along!" Sloth was speechless for a few seconds, before bellowing onto William's face. And the latter laughed.
"It's time to bring them out of this city," William then went to his vices, asking them to gather up all the ones who learned the techniques he taught. In the next few hours, a small army of ten thousand masters marched out of Lara's city, led by William and Sloth.
The citizens of the city already knew William's face. And seeing him alongside the famous names and faces of his Black Tail team members made everyone hyped.
Many tried to follow, and William asked Sloth to send masters to stop them. He asked him to use any lie to convince people to stay back, not follow, as it was going to be extremely dangerous for them.
Sloth asked his men to spread out the truth. If anyone wanted to risk his life, then he wasn't responsible for him.
As Sloth expected, many didn't leave the moment they heard about this. They speculated tons of stuff, including the presence of an immense dark master camp nearby, or the gathering of tons of monsters or something.
They even invited more of their friends over, increasing the number following them instead of making it lower. When William learnt about this, he couldn't help but glare at Sloth.
"Old man, how unreliable you are!"
"You asked me to warn them, right?"
"I told you to tell them lies, not the truth!" William was speechless. He knew telling masters there was danger up ahead was like issuing them an invitation to follow and invite others! Masters weren't like dark masters, wouldn't run away from danger, weren't cowards!
"I just wanted to make them learn about everything before deciding to follow…"
"If anyone dies, it's on you, not me…"
"It's their responsibility to think about this thoroughly, they aren't kids!" Sloth scoffed, "Let them follow if they wanted. I won't say no to a big audience watching us kill that monster!"
"..."
William knew speaking with Sloth wasn't going to work. That place wasn't dangerous for him, for everyone following his orders. But to those outsiders, it was going to be highly deadly.
He hoped no one would be crazy enough to follow them into the depth of that storm. Or else bad things would happen to them.
As the army marched with the grand gathering of masters following and tagging from behind, an entire week passed. During this, William spread out something to all the masters around, some sort of a technique and array combined.
"Won't you explain what these are for?" Sloth kept asking this, and William continued to remain silent about saying anything about it.
"You'll see for yourself once we are there," William rolled his eyes, "why be so impatient?"
"I want to understand what I'm doing," Sloth looked at William as if he wanted to punch him in the face or something, "and that's the case of many masters here."
"You mean old ones, right? That's why I hate dealing with old men!"
"You…"
"Just be patient, we are almost there!"
In a few more hours, they finally arrived at the location of the Blue Hills. After that grand war that happened here many months before, the entire area looked different than what it used to be.
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