William went to see Lorelei and the others as soon as possible after the peace treaty wrapped up. It was a practical choice, as they would be able to work on a number of things that needed doing much better in person… but he didn’t hurry for that reason. He just wanted to see her again. It also happened to bring him closer to Lila and his sister Sarah, which was nice. He hadn’t seen them in years, along with the rest of his family. He wasn’t sure how long of a ‘break’ he would have, so he wanted to take the opportunity right away.

Though he had been in indirect communication with Lila through Lorelei, it wasn’t even close. He found her in her office, surrounded by piles of papers. “Hello, headmistress.”

Lila blinked and looked up, “Oh, you’re alive. I mean, you’re back. It’s weird to hear you call me that.”

“Is me being alive surprising?” William shook his head, “I got back yesterday afternoon.”

“And you’re just now coming to see me? Where were-” she shook her head, “Ah, no wonder she disappeared suddenly. You could have at least come to meals or something…”

“Well, we were… busy.”

“For a whole day?” Lila raised her eyebrow, “Actually nevermind don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. You know, you sure know how to make waves.”

“And you don’t? I remember a manor falling into a sinkhole…”

Lila shrugged, “That’s the most I’ve done in a long time. Gevai learn to take their time with things.”

“Didn’t you have to deal with some of the other academy heads? What happened to them?”

“Oh, I merely crushed them… in a debate.” Lila shrugged, “It was much slower than the other way, but more… acceptable. Also, it got them to stop calling themselves archmages.”

“Wow, and you didn’t even beat up a single one?”

“Well…” Lila grinned, “There was one. He said women were only good for talking and… anyway, now he can’t talk anymore. You, though… you killed another lord, took his army, and then went off to negotiate the first ever peace treaty between humans and gevai.”

“It helped to know I had backup… and they were already very in favor of peace. The war was sort of a rash decision on the part of the humans. The representatives from Ustil were very helpful, and Liaoyang sent two people from the Order. That made some things… easier.”

“Didn’t you essentially found the Order of the Watchful Sentry?”

“Not really. I just sent letters to some people and hoped they would prepare to fight the Demon King properly. Most of them would have done basically the same thing.”

Lila shrugged, “Maybe. It’s hard to say what a few small actions will cause down the line a few gross of years. I mean, look at the Demon King.”

“I’m not sure that starting a series of wars counts as ‘a few small actions’. That seems pretty significant.”

“Who’s to say the wars wouldn’t have started anyway? The wars just were dumber than they should have been… though if they weren’t, I wouldn’t have been born. At least, not as a human.”

“I… probably wouldn’t have been born here at all.” William frowned in concentration, “At least, I couldn’t have become a gevai so…”

Lila laughed, “Do you think the Demon King knows he caused himself to be destroyed by accidentally bringing you here?”

“I mean, don’t people always have to deal with the consequences of their actions? He made a lot of enemies, and Marek had long since come up with a technique to destroy him. Someone would have destroyed him eventually.”

“Would they have? Marek had given up, and nobody else was really looking for that kind of solution. Nobody even bothered to look that in depth on the records but you. If the Demon King hadn’t been destroying souls left and right, you probably wouldn’t have even appeared here, right? You would have just gone into the cycle of reincarnation back on Earth or wherever. Weren’t you the one convinced that the gevai would win in one or two more wars?”

“I remember some people from Eclea had the same idea…”

“But you were the one who did something about it. Plus, you were the one who actually destroyed him. Nobody else was strong enough for that… and actually willing to do it.”

“Alright, the Demon King brought about his own destruction. I doubt he knows that though.”

Lila shook her head, “And now you’re planning a civil war to wipe out all of the oldest, most powerful gevai.”

“I mean, I’m preparing for a civil war. I’m sure they’ll start it.”

“But you would if they didn’t. The thing is, even if I did a lot of flashy stuff like killing a dragon, you’re causing a lot more ruckus… of course the thing with the Demon King outflashed everything I’ve ever done. Just because only a handful of people know you did that doesn’t make it different.”

“Right. Is there a point to all this, or did you just want to point out I’ve gotten up to more stupid stuff than you?”

“Well, some of that… but mostly I wanted to say that you’ve been a pretty wild success so far. Don’t give up before you’re done with all of this, or things are going to turn to hell. Lorelei and I will support you until the end. Just make sure it’s a good one.”

William shook his head, “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to come in here and get a motivational speech. What brought that on?”

“Oh, I just thought you could use it. You’re the guy who became Archmage of Ostana just because nobody else could fill the boots. We’ve already got an Archmage here, but please… don’t hesitate to step up and fill a role if it needs to be done.”

William shrugged, “Sure, I can do that. Though to be honest we’ll probably just need a good general, and I’ve already got one of those.”