Breakfast was rather pleasant. It was quite tasty, and it had been some time since William had eaten an Ostanan style breakfast. It might have been even better if the demoness hadn’t been looking in his direction occasionally. Lorelei was probably not her real name, but William supposed it could be, given her apparent decision to help the humans long term. Then, William considered that it might not be long term if she knew something that he didn’t- or more specifically when the Demon King would return, or if he already had. That thought bothered William, and he could barely even enjoy his conversation with Ivy.

After breakfast, he found himself seeking out Lorelei. Though it risked exposing his identity, William wasn’t sure whether or not that mattered. William wouldn’t say he trusted the demoness, in general, but he would say that he absolutely believed she wanted bad things to happen to the Demon King. If she found out that he was reincarnated… William wasn’t sure what would happen. It might be perfectly fine, but he decided not to find out. However, he also felt it was worth risking the possibility of it happening to get possible information on the timeline of the Demon King’s return.

Based on past experience, William felt it would be better to be straightforward in his inquiries. If he tried to be subtle in his approach, he’d probably just give more chances for his identity to be exposed through some mistake. William managed to find her in an empty hallway again, though it was probably not an accident. “So, do you have any idea when the Demon King is returning?”

“Should I know? Just because of who I am?”

“Not because of that. Do you know?”

She shrugged. “A couple dozen years. How do you know who I am?”

“That… is a secret, but I can say that it’s very unlikely anyone will have the same information to recognize you.”

“I suppose that will have to do.” She leaned forward and patted William on the head, and also smiled in a way that would have been pleasant, if not for what she said afterwards. “Just make sure it stays that way so I don’t have to find you and kill you.” Then she waved goodbye, still with a seemingly pleasant smile on her face.

William hoped that her identity wouldn’t be exposed, but there really wasn’t anything he could do about it. It wouldn’t be his fault, and nobody could even use his method. He’d just seen her in person and then reincarnated with his memories, so anyone who knew that information in this generation had found it out on their own. William supposed that Lila had seen her, but William wasn’t sure if she had reincarnated into this time, or even if she would keep all or any of her memories. Probabilities pointed to that not happening, or reincarnations would have more common knowledge. Technically, Chris had also seen her, but William thought that the chance of anybody getting the information from Chris was very low. Unless he happened to like them and they asked nicely. William found it unlikely that anybody would think to ask him that, even if they actually found him. Plus, his description would probably not be very helpful.

After his final interaction with Lorelei, William wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about staying in the Cyril household any longer. They had already planned to leave that morning anyway. William hoped that they could handle any trouble that came from the disappearance of the two members of the Lockridge family. However, since it was just a disappearance, they would have little choice but to throw accusations. The Cyril family would be more cautious about moving about without guards, and if anybody actually tried to attack the manor… well, William didn’t think it would go well for them.

William’s group didn’t advertise that they visited the Cyril manor. That way, if the deaths were somehow tracked to either side, it wouldn’t implicate the others. The servants and guards at the Cyril household were also very trustworthy, so there wasn’t a risk from that side. Thus, the group spent the next few days in slightly lower quality accommodations- that of inns in the city.

-----

After their trading was done, the caravan continued on the road. Though William’s group could have travelled without the caravan, it was much more convenient to move with it. William wasn’t sure how much bandit activity they might run into. During his previous life, banditry had been extremely low, but it could have changed. Besides, everyone agreed a small group of foreigners traveling through the land might have seemed suspicious, even if they were perfectly innocent.

William took the opportunity to survey the prosperity of the land. People seemed to be living well, and at least all of the villages along the main trade road seemed prosperous. That was about all William could say. It seemed very similar to how it had in his previous lifetime. William was somewhat disappointed that there didn’t seem to be many technological advancements, but on the other hand William wasn’t sure what he expected from such advancements. Guns? People wouldn’t see much need for new weapons in a world with magic, so it was unlikely to develop in that direction. Besides, better weaponry wasn’t necessarily a good thing. That would mean having a reason to use it. Though, William had to admit that it might be nice to have some kind of guns in the fight against the Demon King, as long as his side didn’t also have them. That was the problem though, because information would likely find its way to the demon lands. On the other hand, perhaps the demons were developing faster than the humans, and the humans were just falling behind. It was an awkward situation to think about.

In general, the trip was uneventful. That was a good thing, but it was so uneventful that William would have even called it boring. He didn’t have access to any new books to read or any new ideas to discuss with Dong Xin or Big Sister Li. All there was were hundreds of miles of plains and hills and fields, with occasional villages and cities to break up the scenery. However, William felt the journey was worth it in the end, when he saw the skyline of Canta. It was different from what he remembered, but more impressive. In fact, it even seemed that there was a new tower for the wizard’s guild. William was filled with a feeling of confidence. At least the country was prosperous, so they could fight against the Demon King. William sighed, wishing he could be happy at it being prosperous for its own sake, but he couldn’t help but feel that it would all be for nothing if they lost the upcoming war- or didn’t win in the right way.