Seeing her pretty face this close made William feel a little conflicted. He knew such a good person had a horrible end, an end that no one would have ever seen coming.
Back in William's past life, he knew she ended up claiming her own life inside the Blessing Forest. It was a grave incident that caused much trouble for the academy back then.
People spoke a lot about her depression from such long time stagnation, a depression that forced her to take out her life with her hands.
William gazed up at her. From his past life he recalled rare occasions where he came in contact with such a high figure. And without exception, she stepped in and helped him in each single time of them.
She had such a famous pure heart and kind soul to step in and help those in need, even if they were porters like him. Standing this close to her made him frown. He didn't feel any depressive aura at all coming from her, only confidence and steadiness, like the air he felt from any mighty figure.
'What's going on?' he couldn't help but wonder in doubt. After all, that dark incident of suicide would only occur less than one month from now if he recalled things right.
"Don't overestimate yourself!" what she said managed to enrage Guanin who had his face all red, "if not for your grandfather, who would even put you in the eye?"
"Let's go," she seemed to not care about what Guanin said, or the least interested in continuing such useless talk, "we are late for our business."
"A loser's business is always a failure," Guanin said in mockery, yet he cleared a path for her and William to walk in between his group. "Mark my words, the heavens will never show mercy to those deemed unworthy!"
"...!!!"
This time it was William's turn to be shocked. He sharply turned and gazed up at Guanin, a move that was misinterpreted by Berry on his side.
"Keep walking, or do you want to die by their hands?" she whispered with care, fearing that weak porter to get impulsive and do something stupid.
However, that wasn't what William was thinking about. At this moment his mind only had the voice of Guanin ranging and echoing, repeating the same sentence the latter just said.
It might seem empty words, but it was a signature phrase that stuck with those spirit master traitors of his past life.
When he managed to barely escape the big fall with much luck, his luck didn't run short later as he met his master.
From the master he learned everything he knew right now. One of the things he learned about was the true nature of this world.
Monsters might be mighty, treacherous and cunning, but they wouldn't be able to do all this damage to the human world on their own.
After all, humans were always wary of monsters, not trusting them, not even dealing with them under normal circumstances. If a spirit master met a monster, then fighting to death would be the sole result of such a meeting.
Yet there was an exception. There was a group of people who sold their souls and hearts to the monsters. The master called them the dark serpents, the dark spirit master. But William found a better nickname for them, the traitors!
No matter which places he met such traitors, they always blurted out one phrase. His master once told him that this phrase was the keystone of their belief, the main reason behind betraying humans and backstabbing them.
'The heavens will never show mercy to those deemed unworthy! … Damn! I never expected to run into one of those traitors once I came back!' he thought to himself before controlling his emotions, while taking a mental note of this Guanin.
"Thanks for the help back there," after walking for a few minutes and getting away from the danger, William honestly expressed his gratitude to Berry.
As his master said: Treat your enemies with wrath and show gratitude towards those who are kind to you.
"You are really insane to try and stand against Guanin," she rolled her eyes, before adding, "what are you doing here anyway? Is there anyone asking for your help as you claimed?" she gave him a deep glance filled with doubt.
William knew she didn't believe his reason, just like Guanin. After all, those who came inside the forest to hunt monsters at night didn't need any help from porters.
Yet even when she knew he was lying, she treated him differently than Guanin. She could have just walked past them without batting an eye, but she didn't.
"I'm going to hunt monsters inside," he honestly said.
"If you don't want to say it, then don't lie," she shook her head as if she considered what he said as a lie. "Anyway, stay safe and don't put yourself into any kind of danger. The forest isn't a nice place for someone like you, alright?"
William didn't know what he should say to her. He told her the truth, but she took it as a way to cover up his real reason behind his presence here.
Despite that, she gave him such sincere and honest advice and warning. William felt slight warmth inside his heart. People with such kind souls were rare, not only in this world, but even in the outside world as well.
Usually, people tend to mind their own business and not meddle with anyone else. But Berry reminded him of a certain person, someone he cherished as a master.
"Thanks for your advice, may I ask about something?" As she was this kind to him, with no speck of ill intentions at all, he decided to try and find out the reason behind her weird incident that was supposed to happen less than a month from now.
Someone who was assessed to have an innate eighty-eight spirit power with an outstanding fire dragon soul wasn't someone to be stagnant in such a low bottleneck for years! Not to mention ending up being so desperate to take out her life with her own hands.
Something else was going on here, and he had a vague feeling he could help her out in the problem she had.
"What? Don't tell me you also want to be my boyfriend!" She said it like a joke and even laughed. However, her laugh showed a tinge of bitterness, like a dark shadow looming over her heart regarding such matter.
"Well, it might be a sensitive topic like that," William said and when she glared at him in a fierce way he hurriedly added, "but it's not the same."
"Then ask…" she demanded and yet her face showed a plain expression without telling William if she was mad about what he just said.
"I want to know more about what Guanin just said back then," William slightly paused and when her face didn't change, he added, "that bottleneck of yours… What's wrong with you?"