William, his elder sister Yu Li, and his Master Dong Xin all continued their fleeing from the capital city of Canta as quickly as they could, without exhausting their six horses too much so that they could no longer continue. Along the journey, because she hadn’t been involved with the assassination of the Archmage, Yu Li was the only one who entered the cities for supplies. Though it was still possible that her connection to William and Dong Xin was noticed and their trail would be found, they needed supplies- grain for the horses if nothing else. Those who would be looking might not be able to find her connection to them, however. Dong Xin had offered the innkeeper where they stayed a bribe, to only tell those who asked about the two of them and not Yu Li. The exception was given that the innkeeper could tell the knights, who obviously already knew about the connection, and were the official law enforcement in the area. Thus, it gave more of an image of being followed by suspicious characters than evading the law, which was half true.

Regardless of whether their trail would eventually be found, they travelled quickly. When they reached the border city of Domaro, Yu Li also showed herself in the city, to give the indication that they would be passing through and returning to Liaoyang, if anyone was paying attention. Then, the three of them headed to the Cyril manor. William was worried that they might be rejected, though he supposed they could just actually flee to Liaoyang if that were the case. Though they had a letter with them from the city, the Cyril household might not want to take on potential trouble. William would not blame them for that.

The guards at the front gates recognized the group, and immediately one went to find the master of the house. Really, the current Cyril manor acted more like a fortress, for all the comfort the actual manor had. Before the guard could return, Daniel arrived at the gate. “William, Mister Dong Xin, what a surprise to see you! Come in!” Technically, he had called him Hui’lam, since William had kept his former name secret here. It was still similar, however if he called himself William he would be more likely to accidentally use his full name of William Stevenson, which was significantly less coincidental than just a first name. It could still be written off as coincidence, but William didn’t want just anybody to have more clues at his reincarnated status. Even some people he liked.

“It is good to see you again too, though the circumstances of our return could be better.” They were invited inside the gate, but they waited for Zachary Cyril, Daniel’s father, before they proceeded further inside. When he arrived, William handed him the letter. “This might help explain why we are here.” William waited patiently but nervously while he read.

Upon reading the letter, his face barely changed, but William saw him get a slight frown. “These are interesting circumstances indeed.” He smiled. “You are of course welcome to stay here. I just wish to clarify one thing…” He looked down at William. “You are Yu Hui’lam, correct?” William nodded. “This letter says it was you who killed the Archmage, but…” his eyes flicked to Dong Xin.

William nodded again. “I don’t look like I could do it.”

“That is not quite accurate. Daniel himself has attested to your combat capabilities. However, I would have thought that Mister Dong Xing would have been the one to make such a decision.”

“Well…” William paused to consider his words, “I didn’t so much decide to do it as it just happened when he casually mentioned that he burned all the records the wizards had on the Demon King.”

Zachary Cyril smiled. “I can’t say I wouldn’t have tried to do the same… though I doubt I would have been as successful. Certainly, I would be unable to perform the same tactics as you.”

Dong Xin laughed. “I wouldn’t particularly call kicking someone out of a window a ‘tactic”, but this kid did a good job of taking advantage of a wizard’s need for preparation.”

Daniel looked around at everyone conversing. “Wait… he kicked the Archmage out a window? … Wow. All we had heard was that he died.” William was surprised that they had heard at all. On the other hand, they probably had messenger birds that could quickly deliver information… though not without risk of interception. That was why they had carried the letter with details themselves.

Zachary Cyril nodded. “Though we hadn’t heard of that particular transgression, Cecil Lockridge’s time as Archmage hasn’t been filled with anything good, though until that particular bit of news he wasn’t particularly worse than his predecessors. That is, until back in Archmage William’s time.” He looked over Dong Xin, William, and Yu Li. “The three of your are certainly welcome to stay here, as long as you like. We can always use more people who take the threat of the Demon King seriously.”

-----

William found himself in his semi-permanent room, lying on the bed. This was the first chance he’d had to actually relax in some time. It was possible that there had been no need to be worried on the road, but he couldn’t know for sure. Here, he felt safe. In fact, though he didn’t believe in destiny at all, he still felt himself drawn here. As he had returned closer, the feeling had also returned. He still wasn’t sure what it was, but he would have time to figure it out. Maybe too much time. How long would it take for things to settle down? William doubted that the wizard’s guild would ever stop looking for him, but at some point they would become exhausted and devote less resources to it. He wondered if they knew about his “escape” yet, or if that was still being kept a secret. He hoped that the knights handled the situation well. This wasn’t just because their leader looked like Lila somewhat, but also because they had treated him well, considering the circumstances.

-----

At breakfast the next morning, William remembered one thing that made him feel unsafe. The demoness, Lorelei. Even though they had been allies in the past, and were still probably allies, she made William feel uneasy. She was too smart, and her intuition was too good. Plus, William could only really trust her to help as far as it suited herself. Though, that did include the destruction of the Demon King, so there probably wasn’t anything to worry about until after that. Still, when she looked over at him he felt somewhat terrified. It might have been because her face showed very little expression. William imagined it was harder to maintain an illusion on an expressive face. Still, she didn’t glare at him or even do anything negative, but William still became nervous.