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The news that he had been assassinated was startling to William, and he didn’t particularly believe it. However, he was going to listen to the whole thing before deciding whether it was a fabricated story or not. “Hmm, when did this assassination happen?”
Big Sister Li paused to think. “It was while he was still unconscious from his wounds, after the battle with the Demon Lord. His friend, Marius Cyril, betrayed him and sent an assassin to kill him. Geoff Lockridge found out about the assassin, but was too late to save Archmage William, so all he could do was have Marius arrested.”
“Hmm… you have the names swapped around there, though. Marius wouldn’t kill me. It was definitely Geoff.”
Big Sister Li shook her head back and forth. “No, I definitely remembered correctly.” She went and retrieved a book from the shelves, and opened it. Then, she showed William. “See? This clearly says he was betrayed by his friend. This is a very accurate source, too.”
William looked it over, and it was indeed as she said. Marius sent an assassin to kill him, and Geoff arrested Marius. However, Marius wasn’t executed for the crime, due to lack of evidence. However, the incident greatly reduced Marius’ status, and increased Geoff’s.
Since it was from an accurate source, William was briefly confused. Then, he realized that it could have indeed happened exactly like that. At least, as far as anyone could find out. Obviously, though, Marius wouldn’t have sent an assassin. He had nothing to gain from it, and a lot to lose. However, William wouldn’t even hesitate to attribute that same action to Geoff. Then, Geoff managed to blame Marius for the incident. Marius was let go for lack of evidence, specifically because he had nothing to do with it.
Incidentally, the assassin had been found dead in the room, seemingly bludgeoned to death. William didn’t have to put much thought into who did that. William wasn’t sure whether Chris killing the assassin was a good thing or a bad thing, since if he had been caught he might have been able to testify against Geoff… or possibly he would have testified against Marius. It had been decade since William had engaged in serious conflict with Geoff, just continual opposition. He’d forgotten what he was like, and apparently he had been very patient. William gained a renewed hatred for Geoff… who was now long dead.
It had been almost 150 years since William had died, according to what he was reading. He wasn’t sure if it was a coincidental amount of time, but it matched the time cycle for the Demon King’s reincarnation. That is, more than 144 years; 12 squared; 100 in base twelve. It was also less than twice that, but that was a large time frame window. It could also be a coincidence, but William thought it was more likely that was just the time range that people naturally would reincarnate into. Though, he only had 2 known instances of people reincarnating with memories into the same world, so it wasn’t really something that could be studied. Especially since William didn’t want to ask the Demon King any questions.
The Demon King. William’s face fell. “The Demon King could already be alive.” He said to nowhere in particular. He turned to Big Sister Li. “Have there been any reports of a Demon King recently?”
She shook her head. “No, they only appear rarely. It’s big news, though, so everyone would have heard.”
William did some quick calculations. He had been 45 when he died, and the Demon King and been killed another 6 or so years before he had been born. Plus another 150 years, and the total was over 200. “The Demon King has an extremely high probability of appearing in our lifetime, otherwise he is guaranteed to appear shortly after.”
Big Sister Li looked down at her strange but seemingly confident little brother. “What makes you say that?”
William couldn’t directly give an answer. Instead, he gathered up all of the properly historical books about the times the Demon King appeared. William was very glad that there was such a completely library available, but was surprised at how little others used it. William showed how the numbers worked, and how he had previously come to the conclusions he had about the time frames on the Demon King’s incarnations.
Big Sister looked down at him, surprised. “When did you find the time to learn all of this?”
William looked up at her, and said matter of factly, “In my previous life, as the Archmage William.”
It seemed like a bold statement coming from a 2 year old child… but the evidence was starting to build up. At this point, William’s new sister was starting to consider that he was telling the truth about reincarnating.
—–
In his previous life, William had trained to fight because it seemed like the right thing to do as a wizard. Now, he was probably going to have to fight the actual Demon King, and it might be the last real time the war would happen, if things went poorly. “So, when is it that I can go train outside with them?” William asked, gesturing to those training in the yard.
“You have to be at least eight… preferably ten or twelve. Otherwise, your body can’t handle it,” Big Sister replied.
Unfortunately, that made sense and William had no way to argue.
“In that case… can I start doing that… internal energy thing? Ki?”
Big Sister laughed. “Ki? There’s no way anybody will lend you any of the manuals at your age… you’d probably need to be even older than for physical training.”
“Hmm… then… can I read one that you borrow?”
Big Sister frowned. “I’d let you, but… I can’t get one either. I have no martial talent, and can’t cultivate ki. That’s why I’m taking care of you, instead of out there.”
William patted her on the head, since he didn’t know what else to do. “Sorry. I know what it’s like to not be able to do what you want. After all, I can’t use mana, and you can’t use ki… Wait, you must have learned some method to sense ki, right?”
“Sure, but I couldn’t do more than a tiny little bit.” She looked even more sad now.
“You know how, though.” William thought for a moment. “Then, teach me what you know, and I’ll teach you magic.”
Big Sister laughed. Then, she looked at William. His face was very serious.