Lone met the criticizing and scornful gazes of the elves as well as the relieved and somewhat impatient looks of the fairies. He met them all and promptly ignored them.

Once he had reached the base of the world tree, he took Ele'hunda's now perfect body out from his Dimensional Storage and gave it to the elves in charge of burying him with his ancestors who also rested at the foot of the world tree, the safest place for them since there was a small garden warded via Elestia's full power on the eastern side of the world tree's base.

Lone made slow and careful steps as he approached the trunk of the world tree. He placed one hand on Saturn and asked it, "Can you give me his soul, please?"

Happy to serve, Saturn spat out Ele'hunda's Divine-rank soul.

Everyone - Lone's companions and Lipsilk included - felt an overwhelming pressure from being so close to a raw, undamaged, and not even slightly faded, Divine soul. Lone himself was unphased as he moved the soul via his raw soul oracles abilities and lightly pushed it into the world tree's bark.

"May you rest in peace, Ele'hunda," Lone said in a voice so quiet that only he could hear it. "You were a good friend and a father figure to me." He raised his head and stared up and through the crown of the world tree up to the sky. Tears streamed down his face for the first time since Ele'hunda death. "I'm sorry that I couldn't bring you back."

He stayed there for a while before he brought his sleeve up to his face and wiped his stained face. "Elestia, take good care of him. I hope he can grant you strength even in death. He's a Divine-rank soul, after all," Lone said with a bitter smile on his lips.

'I shall... Thank you, Lone. My residents may one day forget what you have done for us, but know that I never will,' Elestia spoke into his mind. 'My body is yours to command. Should you ever need an ally, know that this world tree, Elestia, stands by your side now and forever.'

"Idiot," Lone muttered as he turned his back to the bark and shoved his hands into his pockets. He weaved his way through the unhappy and depressed crowd as he felt his eyes getting wet again. "What good can an unmoving tree do for me? How stupid. I can look after myself..."

----------------------------------------

"A-Are we really just gonna leave like that?" Alisa asked with a hesitant voice.

Lone just nodded. "There's nothing left here for us now. it's time to go."

Eolande shrugged. "You could use all of the techniques and skills locked up in that technique hall of theirs..."

Lone sighed heavily. "I already explained how I don't want too many more skills, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes," Eolande waved her hand dismissively. "You want to specialise and stop being such a generalist. I know. It hardly helps that you have a skill that literally lets you learn everything beyond racial exclusives. Seems like a waste to me. There's no harm having a million skills that might be useful later on over not having them at all."

"I'm not a fucking scumbag thief. I won't steal from my friends. And yes, before you say that they're not my friends, they are. At least Lipsilk, Luckful, Letty and the king and queen are," Lone said in an exhausted tone.

"... Potty mouth..." Soph whispered as she squeezed his tails.

Lone rubbed her head to placate her. "Anyway, like I said. We're leaving. Remember, Eolande, we still need to have a long talk about your attitude and your 'request' sometime soon. Maybe tonight."

The Elder Tylwyth Teg's face paled a little bit. She was hoping he'd forgotten about the 'attitude' part of that talk that he'd arbitrarily added after her rudeness back in the war tent.

"Wait!" a loud and feminine shout yelled. It sounded distant.

Lone looked to Soph as he felt four souls approaching them. She looked back up at him and said, "It feels like Lipsilk, Al'ka, Her Highness and... General Sal'ta?" She cocked her head in confusion. Why was the general there?

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A few seconds later, the four of them were upon Lone's group.

Her Highness spoke no words when she arrived and simply wrapped her arms around each and every single one of The Wanderers before she smiled gently towards Hazel's group. "I'm glad we caught you before you disappeared."

"Yo." Lone waved his hand in greeting. "I expected Lipsilk, but Your Highness and Al'ka are a surprise. Sal'ta even more so."

Her Highness had a wry smile on her lips. "I don't blame you for Father. I'm not blinded by my grief. I know that it would have been all of us, not just my father had you not weakened Ythmagobla enough for him to die at my father's hand."

She closed her eyes and held her palms to her chest. "I know you and the rest of The Wanderers only acted in our best interests." She opened her eyes and there were tears slowly dripping out of them. "I'm just sad that you never came to say goodbye."

Lone scratched his cheek shamefully. "Your Highness-"

She raised one of her hands to stop him from talking. "Ela."

"Hmm?" Lone raised an eyebrow in surprise before his face was filled with realisation. "Ah, right. You two got married, so your name got revealed," Lone said aloud as he glanced back and forth between Ela and Al'ka. "Congrats, by the way."

The two High Elves looked bashful. "Thank you, Lone," the two said in sync.

He laughed at that. "Anyway, I kinda thought you'd have some bad feelings over it. Even if we weren't responsible, I did kinda hoard Ele'hunda's body and soul for three weeks."

Lipsilk chuckled. "For good reason. We all know that."

The two High Elves and single Wood Elf nodded in agreeance. It was at that point that Sal'ta approached the glum-looking Swind. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You've gotten stronger, Swind."

"Yes, Miss Sal'ta," Swind replied with a noticeable lack of vigour.

She couldn't care any less about his decisively more humanoid appearance. All she saw was his character and his endless potential. "No matter what happens, Swind, I will always welcome you back." Her words were simple and clear.

Swind smiled faintly in response. "My place is by Mr immortus' side."

Sal'ta stiffened momentarily before she sighed. "Loyalty is a powerful weapon indeed."

"Likewise," Al'ka suddenly said towards the whole group. "Ela and I would welcome you all back at any time. The people will come to understand that you did nothing wrong."

He smiled warmly as he squeezed his wife's hand. "No matter what the world makes of you - or perhaps what you make of the world - you will always find a friend in the eastern world tree."

Lone held back his emotions as he grumbled, "So many sappy promises. For fuck's sake. This is why I wanted to leave as soon as possible." He then walked forwards briskly and threw his arms around Ela and Al'ka. He lowered his voice and said, "You have a way to contact Lipsilk even if he's away from the tree, right? Get him to tell me if there's any problems in the future. Also, contact me if the Taslo Empire makes a move. I'll crush them the second they do."

Ela was stunned before she laughed and returned Lone's embrace while Al'ka held many complicated feelings about Lone's words. "We will," was all he could say in response to Lone's heartfelt offer.

Stepping back from the royal couple, Lone glanced at Lipsilk. "You want a hug too?"

Lipsilk smirked. "Nah." He stuck his hand out. "A handshake'll do."

Lone returned the fairies smirk and grabbed his hand. "I'm counting on you, Lipsilk."

"Don't worry. I have a few contacts that know some of the elusive Divines. I'll find out if any of them know anything regarding these 'true gods' you're curious about. I'll be taking Elder Talion as well as the other outsiders with me anyway," Lipsilk responded.

"Make sure you don't rile up any hornet's nests," Lone advised.

Lipsilk's dimples only grew. "When I do, I'll make sure to give you a call. I'm looking forward to seeing you put those arrogant fuckers in their places."

"Swearing, from you?" Lone asked with a short laugh.

Lipsilk scratched his nose. "What can I say? You're rubbing off on me."

"Haha... Anyway, tell Fep, Eko and the Demon Princess that I'm sorry I didn't stick around to say goodbye. Since they're going with you anyway, I'll talk to them whenever you contact me to catch up," Lone said.

"Sure," Lipsilk replied with a grin covering his face.

At this point, Eolande flew between the two men. "Okay, that's enough bonding and lovey-dovey farewells. We should really go, right?"

Lone nodded his head. "Right. No point elongating this any further. It's hard enough as it is."

"I wish I had a parting gift for you lot," Lipsilk complained. "It's a damned shame that Lone is practically a god at crafting."

Saturn hummed happily after hearing its master getting praised.

"I'll just give you some words instead." He pointed his finger at Lone and beamed from ear to ear. "Show those stuck-up prunes at The Academy what true magic is! Knock their damned socks off!"

Lone scoffed. "I'd have done that even without you asking." He turned his back away from them to hide his emotion-filled face as he looked at his group and the teens. "Alisa, Scott, if you wouldn't mind."

Mutely nodding, Scott poured his skill into Alisa, and she opened a massive yellow rift as a result. George picked Scott up and the two groups walked through the magical portal, disappearing.

Lipsilk's face immediately looked saddened as his arms trembled. Tears trickled out of his eyes while he slowly made his way back to the world tree with Sal'ta and the new rulers of the eastern world tree. "Don't die on me, my friend. One Ele'hunda is more than enough for my entire lifetime."