After the explanations, Daniel took William and the others on a tour of the manor. This was partly to keep them occupied while proper preparations were made. However, William also wanted to see what the descendants of his friends were living like. There was also another reason that William didn’t voice. He’d forgotten about the pulling sensation that had led him to where Daniel and Ivy were immediately after the battle. However, it had returned and strengthened as they moved toward the manor. William was now certain that there was something that was drawing him somewhere specific… but he wasn’t sure exactly why or how. He could have ignored it, but he didn’t want to. It made him curious.
During the tour, William was somewhat disappointed. Not that the manor was not a very nice place. However, it was obvious that the family was rather small. Not that William had anything against small families, but he knew a noble family would have more members if they could. That said, it seemed the family was only small for an established noble line. There were still parents, grandparents, siblings, and cousins- numbering about twenty in total. There were also guards, servants, and retainers.
William interpreted everything for Dong Xin and Big Sister Li. They could understand simple conversation, and were learning quickly, but they weren’t yet fluent. In addition, it was good practice for William’s official cover position. William learned, and promptly forgot, many names. Perhaps if he needed them he would be able to dredge them up from the depths of his mind.
As they entered the library, William was introduced to yet another person. However, this person was not a member of the family. She was also an attractive woman. That meant she was probably at least twice as old as William, but hormones didn’t particularly care about age. “This is Lorelei Banister, a guest staying with us. Miss Banister, these are Dong Xin, Yu Li, and Yu Hui’Lam.”
Lorelei had short trimmed blond hair, and she smiled and nodded. “It is nice to meet you all.” That was all the interaction they had, but William couldn’t help but feel strange about it later. It wasn’t the physical attraction he felt. That appeared all over the place, and besides Ivy was much closer to his age. William sighed, and thought about how much longer puberty was going to take. It was going to be rough. Continuing on his previous thoughts, however, something else was strange. William just couldn’t figure out what it was.
Then, the arrived outside of the room. In fact, they walked past the room. William asked, “What is that room?”
Daniel turned and looked. “Oh, that room? It’s just a secure storage area.” Then, he moved on.
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William continued on with him. However, he knew. Whatever was calling him was in that room. William didn’t know what it was, and whether it was good or bad. William was curious about whatever it was, but he couldn’t just intrude into the room. Keeping up good relations was much more important than satisfying his curiosity.
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Later, there was a dinner to thank William’s group. Although William was the only one who acted, it was presumed that the others also would have helped. This was true in some respects, and somewhat convenient. During the dinner, Dong Xin- through William’s interpretation, managed to slightly shift to topic to bring up the Demon King, and indirectly the Order of the Watchful Sentry. Though it was something of a secret society, it was secret more by convenience than purpose. It wouldn’t do them any good to go around advertising their presence everywhere, but members didn’t necessarily have to be secret. In this case, it was somewhat related to the official reason for visiting Ostana. They didn’t bring up their specific goal of meeting the archmage, both because of the matter of him being a Lockridge, and the growing doubts about how much that meeting would be helpful to their goal. Although William was interpreting for Dong Xin, he also added on some comments of his own.
In the end, not much was said. In the spirit of keeping the conversation polite, they did not go too much in depth. That said, inside William felt like grabbing people and going “Do you believe in the Demon King? Are you ready to fight him when he comes back? It’s soon! Probably!” He didn’t, though. The feelings he got were that the family was aware, at least on some level, that the Demon King was a serious threat and would likely return not too long into the future, but little beyond that.
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It was decided that William and company would stay overnight. It was dark, and while they could probably travel back to the city just fine, their accommodations here would be much higher quality. They could perhaps stay longer, but they wanted to check up on the state of the caravan, and also didn’t want to impose their presence as guests too much.
William lay awake in his bed thinking. What was behind that door? He could sneak into the hallways to check it out, but the door was probably locked. William didn’t know how to pick locks, but he thought he might be able to circumvent it. However, he decided against that plan. He needed a better reason than feeling that there was something to sneak about and break into rooms. He was still quite tempted, though.
In addition to that, he couldn’t help but think about Lorelei. There was only a brief encounter. What was it that William felt was strange. She had politely greeted them. Was that strange? William thought there might have been a slight accent. Maybe that was what bothered him, not being able to recognize the accent. Then, he thought about her hair. That was strange, because William basically didn’t care about hair at all. Her hair had been short and blond, and he couldn’t think of why it would bother him in any way. In the end, William decided that it was probably just hormones making him crazy. That might even have been true of the strange calling he felt.