William looked at Adrian’s expression and understood, even with the Array, this guy would definitely credit it to Hill’s talents.
He immediately changed the subject. It seemed that for a Mage, defensive Arrays that could be hidden were much more important than offensive ones.
William felt that he had chosen the wrong topic to start the conversation.
He sighed and directly asked, "Has there been any news from Master Fran recently?"
Adrian looked at the king, who seemed to be enjoying the gossip, with a peculiar gaze, "The teacher has been closing off to work on a Demi-God Artifact. Since he’s returned, he hasn’t been in contact with the outside world. He only visited Hill’s Domain once, but soon continued his seclusion.
He doesn’t care about what’s happening here."
William clicked his tongue, "Playing dumb? Does Master Fran know that the queen might be hundreds of years older than him? We are all very curious!"
"Your Majesty, a Mage who can live for tens of thousands of years doesn’t care about how old his lover is," Adrian chuckled, "Just like if you fell for a Goddess, would you really care if she were tens of thousands of years older than you?"
Adrian found it odd, wondering if William had been dealing with nobles too much and still wasn’t accustomed to viewing the world as the deities do.
The only thing that would upset Fran is Viola’s deception, not her age.
He and Hill found it amusing because from Fran’s reaction, Viola must have deceived him.
Fran is not someone easily fooled.
He would certainly have his revenge.
William grimaced, "Alright, different worlds, no fun. Then why doesn’t Master Fran come out?"
"For the Demi-God Artifact," Adrian stated seriously.
"Can you give a straight answer?" William said irritably.
"Of course, it’s to avoid trouble," Adrian sighed, "This queen is not someone who gives up exploiting others easily. Since there are no more relations, why would he want to share her burdens?
He’s just an ex-lover, not her father."
William tilted his head, "So is this equality? When powers are equal, there’s no such thing as chivalry!"
Adrian vaguely understood the point of William’s words. He seemed to say that because Fran and Viola’s powers were comparable, Fran was so cautious with Viola, not displaying much of a noble’s grace, giving way to Viola
"The so-called noble grace is the courtesy of the strong towards the weak.
To do so for a demigod would be foolish—even if conducted gracefully, one would just end up dead.
Queen Viola would probably enjoy seeing such fools more frequently before her.
But the teacher does not hold such a self-sacrificing inclination," Adrian clearly said, "Any Professional reaching a high-level, when the competition begins, doesn’t differentiate between men and women, young or old.
Those who do will never become legendary.
The competitiveness among Legendary Mages is already considered low, but they won’t easily back down. Let alone a woman, even if it was their own mother.
Even Hill, he is mild-mannered, but when it really matters, he doesn’t hold back.
I don’t know what kind of equality Your Majesty is talking about. Any equality is fought for with one’s own strength, not given by others."
William nodded, "Spencer. Next time I get mixed up , make sure to remind me. Sometimes, old viewpoints can cause trouble."
Sitting beside him, Spencer, who had been silent, nodded, then fell silent again.
Adrian curiously glanced over, what was wrong with Spencer?
"Don’t mind him," William sneered, "I’ve told him before not to treat family affairs as his own, just to deal with what needs to be done.
A few days ago, he felt there were no issues here, so he went back to the family estate, and almost got tricked to death.
Luckily, he wasn’t completely foolish and used the Divine Scroll I gave him to save his life.
He ran straight back."
"Why?" Adrian was very surprised, "Has the Spencer Family gone mad? Isn’t the current Clan Leader the brother of Goddess Spencer?"
"It’s not much about the Clan Leader. I went back because my mother was anxiously looking for me. It was something that happened at my own home.
My uncles were not at home, they went out to inspect the lands, it’s an annual routine.
So I ran back, worried something had happened at home," Spencer said gravely, "It turned out they wanted me to bring a few cousins from my mother’s side to Central City. I disagreed, and that’s why we fell out.
Although it was done by my own mother, and my aunt.
But those who incited them were from the Spencer Family with too high ambitions.
Seeing I ignored them and was about to leave, my mother tried to stop me, and that’s when I didn’t notice those guys actually wanted to imprison me.
I was just caught off guard and got injured, it wasn’t as severe as His Majesty said."
"I just never thought my birth mother would watch someone hurt me without even screaming."
All because she believed the girls from her family didn’t qualify to enter the Royal Palace.
"Well, I won’t go back now, and no one can say anything about it."
Adrian glanced at William, "Isn’t that overthinking a bit?"
"You are the one overthinking! They aren’t foolish to that extent," Spencer sneered, "They’re eyeing Saral, who was brought to Central City.
"Since the Spencer Family can no longer rise to power, they think they should keep the wealth within their own field? But I recall that your mother’s family was just an ordinary Baron," Adrian said curiously.
"Don’t use those vulgar expressions you learned from the Undead Tribe; I understand what ’keeping the wealth within the field’ means. I’ve learned quite a few of the Undead Tribe’s curses recently," a muffled voice spoke up.
Adrian looked at Duke Saral crouching in a corner, "What’s wrong with you?"
"The sorrow of wealth," Spencer said sarcastically, "He, like me, went home once. He is the Saral whom His Majesty the King first thought capable of being molded; must be his first time feeling the unbearable weight of a woman, right?"
"Even your biological father thinks those idiots are more important than you, surely ’controlled water’ is stronger than ’waste water’, right?" Duke Saral retorted without hesitation.
"Belter, don’t be so harsh," William couldn’t help but speak up.
"Your Majesty, he started it!" The Duke Saral named Brando muttered.
"Did you forget what you said yesterday? You might as well have changed your surname to Saral, living might be more bearable!" William stroked his forehead.