"Thanks, Berry, you are such a kind-hearted person!" This thought flashed simultaneously in the minds of every youth present.
In their eyes—fueled by the flickering shadows of the yard and the strange, predatory intensity that had crossed William's face—everyone genuinely believed he was on the verge of torturing them, eating them alive, or perhaps worse.
To them, he was no longer just a porter; he was a monster in a porter's skin who had somehow tamed the Fourth Elder.
"Ah, I didn't mean anything bad," William said, snapping out of his momentary daze. He realised, with a slight inward twitch of his lips, that everyone had taken the wrong impression from his display of excitement entirely.
He cleared his throat, shifting back into the role of a taskmaster. "Until the new team promised by the Fourth Elder arrives, let's start preparing the stoves here. We don't have a second to waste."
"Yes!"
