William watched the demoness walk away, and sighed. It was a sigh of relief, but also… something William didn’t understand at first. Then, he figured it out. “Chris, I’m cursed.”

At this point Chris started flipping around even more than he had been. During the whole encounter, he hadn’t wanted to stay still. “What? Cursed how? What do I need to do?”

William sighed again. “No, it’s nothing like that, don’t worry. It’s just… I thought I had it figured out. There wasn’t any woman who made me really interested. I’m still not sure if I have a ‘type’, but if I do… she was it.”

“What? No no! She’s a bad woman!”

“I know, she’s a demon. That’s why I said I was cursed. There wasn’t anybody I wanted, but now that I find one I might want, it’s a stupid idea to even consider.”

“No no no! I’ve seen her before! When I was made!”

“... Ah. That’s… probably bad.”

“It’s bad! Really bad! What is that scroll? Show me!”

“Umm, if it actually did something bad to me, won’t it hurt you to?”

“I’m invincible!” Chris exclaimed.

“...Only if it’s trying to break you or kill you, right? It put something in my head.”

“... I’m invincible. I should be fine, probably.”

“Chris…”

“I’ll be fine! Really! Show it to me so I can see if it’s a trap!”

William wasn’t sure it was a good idea. However, even if she was a very bad woman, and had been somehow involved in Chris’ creation… he still felt like she hadn’t been trying to hurt him, and definitely had intentions that weren’t helpful toward the Demon King. Though, if she had been around since Chris was made, she would have had a lot of time to practice deceit. Assuming demons lived that long. The data he had said they lived a long time, possibly forever, so it seemed likely. “This may be a very, very bad idea,” William said as he unrolled the scroll for Chris to look at.

William wasn’t sure what he expected to happen. He held the scroll open, and Chris “looked” at it. Words flew off the page into Chris. Then, Chris started spinning circles on the ground. This behavior didn’t bother William, since it was basically Chris’ way of going “hmmmmmmm…”

“So?”

“...It’s not bad. I’m not really sure what it is though.”

William nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Do you think we should show it to other people?”

“Only those people we can trust.”

William nodded. “If she was telling the truth… one of them will have to pass it down to their descendants… So far, only Marius fits that bill. Hopefully, someone will figure it out by the next… cycle.”

-----

William pondered the situation he found himself in. The best hope he had found for defeating the Demon King… and it was from a demon. In addition, he had basically no idea how it would help. If it wasn’t a trap that neither he nor Chris could figure out. This scroll did something, but as far as William could tell, it just injected some knowledge-that-was-not-knowledge into his head. In short, William was confused. However, William was going to hope that Lila had successfully found someone that truly would help. Speaking of Lila… they would have to talk once he got back.

-----

It was obvious that Lila was attempting to avoid William. She would spot him at a distance, then suddenly turn and go down another hallway. Although she had many strong suits, subtlety was not one of them. Another one that was missing was running speed. Thus, after several occasions of her avoiding him, William decided not to let her walk away. He dashed down the hallway, stopping in front of her where she couldn’t pretend to have not seen him. “Oh! Err… Hi, William.”

“We need to talk.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure we will, but I’m very busy right now and…” Lila was also not good at lying, especially since her eyes completely avoided looking at him.

“That’s fine, I’m sure we can talk about where you were out in this hallway, as you head to… wherever it is.” William glared, to make his point.

“Umm…” Lila looked around for an escape route, but finding none. Especially since William could run faster than her normally, and at almost ridiculous speeds for short bursts. “Okay. We’ll talk.”

After they moved to an area where they could talk freely, William started, “Now, since you’re obviously an adult now and thus have the right to make your own decisions, I would have no right to yell at you for your decisions.” William paused to take a deep breath. “WHY THE HELL DID YOU GO TO THE DEMON COUNTRY ALONE?!” The force of his shouting almost knocked Lila off of her feet. Once she regained her balance, she just stood there shocked. She hadn’t heard William yell before, at least not in any serious manner.

“Well…” Lila’s eyes grew determined, “it was necessary, wasn’t it? After all, the Demon King is a problem that has to be dealt with. Yes, I could die, but it was a necessary risk.”

William understood that, but it didn’t stop him from being upset. “You could have died.” William nodded. “However, did you consider that something worse could have happened? Consider the very reason the Demon King is a problem. Might there not be other demons who can destroy the soul, or worse yet, harness it to make themselves stronger? You might not realize this, but you are very important to the future of the wizards here.” Chris started moving, and William tried to read what he was scrawling on the floor, though it was a bit hard without anything to actually write in, since he had to just follow the motions. After consulting with Chris in a whisper to figure it out, William shuddered. “Lila… they could have used you to make some sort of object that the Demon King could use to increase his power on his next reincarnation.” William sighed. “Well, it’s already done, isn’t it? Just… please, don’t do anything like that again.”

“That’s fine. However, you’re also not allowed to go do anything reckless in the future. You would, if you thought it would help.” William couldn’t deny that. Lila tilted her head questioningly, “So, was it worth it? I barely managed to get anything…”

“Well… I met with someone. The value of their help is somewhat hard to determine at this point.” William pulled out the scroll he had received. “Read this.”

“Convert the soul to power. Destroy the cycle of reincarnation. Shattering of the soul.” Lila tilted her head. “Is that right? I don’t think it particularly means much.”

William was confused. Lila had the most potential for magic he had ever seen, but unlike with himself and Chris, the words just laid flat on the paper. William shook his head, “I don’t particularly understand it either, but it’s probably important. I just don’t know how, yet.”