"So, would you care to at least entertain me by voicing your request?" Headmaster Erion asked.

His face was a perfect picture of relaxation. The eyes behind his low-rimmed glasses gave nothing of his emotions away.

Divine Spirit nodded. "Of course, Divine Time. Eldest Brother would like to extend an invitation to your two disciples. He wishes for them to join him at his home to learn more of the soul, specifically, to help them alleviate the mortal girl of her particular condition."

Erion furrowed his brows and he shook his head lightly. "I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am not their custodian nor their owner, I am their master of magic, nothing more. Well, perhaps their friend too, though it's a rather one-sided relationship, hahaha."

Divine Rend gave Erion a scrutinising look. "You treat them as equals? Mere mortals?"

Erion sighed. "How old are you?"

"Hmm? I forget," Divine Rend answered the unexpected question.

Divine Weeping - the youngest of the three - said, "We were born on the 18th Sun of the 4th Moon 320,321 rotations ago."

"Such an archaic form of telling the date," Erion complained softly. "Regardless, my next question... Were you born as Divines?"

"A foolish question, Divine Time," Divine Rend answered. "Of course we weren't."

"I see." Erion nodded lightly as he looked out of his tower office's window. "And you would have me treat mortals - that which we all originally were - as lesser beings? Can you recite for me the definition of hypocrisy? Perhaps irony? Perhaps idiocy?"

Divine Spirit immediately saw where this was going. "We apologise for our... lacking viewpoint. The facts, however, remain unchanged. You are naturally free to treat those weaker than you as equals, we only hope you shall do the same with us and properly relay my brother's request."

"Equals? Yes. With respect? We'll see," Erion answered with a chuckle. "I happen to already know the answer of my disciples, as it would so happen. Would you like to hear it from myself, or from the horse's mouth?"

Divine Weeping could feel the mirth overflowing from Divine Time's soul and it worried him. Their eldest brother could become... socially uncooperative if he did not get his way. This was only worsened when he felt he had taken the diplomatic route to acquire his desires only to fail regardless.

Divine Rend frowned - an uncharacteristically emotive response from such an aloof man. "How do you do the things that you do? How is that you seem capable of seeing into the future? You are no summoned hero, of that, I am sure. Fate magic has very limiting restrictions. Such precise predictions... Impossible is what you claim to do should be."

Erion smiled warmly. "I claim nothing but what I know. You are free to speculate. You are also free to leave my office, assuming our business is done? As much as I would love to entertain you more, gentlemen, leading a school can be rather paperwork-intensive. It's an unpredictable job, you see."

Divine Rend stood up and furrowed his brow in confusion more than in annoyance. "Is it something to do with your soul, ordinary as it appears? No matter. I do not believe your taunts. We have your permission to talk to your disciples. That is one of the favourable outcomes we hoped for."

"Indeed. I won't speak for you to them on your behalf. I do hope you don't get upset when you have a friendly conversation with my disciples, however," Erion said.

Divine Rend didn't respond. Instead, he spun on his heels and made for the door, opening it in one swift motion. He almost knocked Alice and the cup of coffee she was holding over since he didn't put her in his eyes at all. That habit of getting lost in his own little world could come across as rather rude at the best of times.

Divine Spirit sighed. "I'm sorry for Eldest Brother's attitude. He gets very focused when an idea that interests him fills his mind. You'll have to excuse me and my younger brother."

Erion nodded and watched as the two Divines fled the room. A moment later, Alice entered with shaky steps.

"Y-Your coffee, Headmaster," Alice stuttered.

"Ah, thank you. You were right on time. Whatever would I do without you? Haha," the Divine teased as he took a sip, adjusted his glasses, then got back to work.

'... Divines are terrifying... Headmaster Erion must be an oddity... He's so approachable in comparison to those three... monsters. Such power...' It would be a while before the girl could shake her newfound fears, that was for sure.

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"The mole's really gone? I almost can't believe it..." Gilbert had his hand pressed against the back of his neck as he rubbed the spot the mole used to occupy.

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Lone laughed. "Hahaha, I go and fix your practically life-long mana organ injury and you're in shock over a missing mole? You really haven't changed much since Milindo."

"Unlike you, Son," Gilbert countered with a smirk. "Y'know, I'm proud to have seen you grow so much."

Lone sighed as he pushed open the backdoor leading into his store. "It's a shame it didn't come free. Honestly, I'm lucky to be alive."

Gilbert nodded, following Lone through to the shopfloor. "It also came with its slew of enemies, hmm? I'm a bit upset in all honesty that you never got rid of that tick of yours - effortlessly antagonising people."

"Ah, you kids are here, huh?" Lone said in greeting, ignoring Gilbert's remark, as a flock of 20 or so children wearing rags encircled him in excitement.

"Slummers?" Gilbert asked.

His appearance surprised the children and resulted in then scurrying away, hiding behind every shelf and item large enough to cover their frames.

Lone nodded. "They come by once or twice a day and I feed them."

"Hmm... Why haven't you given them something better to wear?" Gilbert noticed that all of the children were adorned in little more than rags.

Lone sighed as he walked over to his forge's stool and took a seat. "Trust me, I want to, but if I give them good quality clothes they'd only get stolen from them by the kids who don't come here, their parents - if they have any - or maybe the gangs operating from the slums."

Gilbert stroked his goatee and nodded. "True enough... And you can't just build an orphanage without the city lord getting involved. You'd need to pay for it, staff it, protect it, supply it... It's such a shame that a perfect kingdom doesn't exist where petty life-threatening issues such as homeless children are simply impossible."

"Yeah. Hence why I give 'em food and heal 'em if they've got any scrapes or bruises. It's not a great solution, but it's better than nothing. My inner teacher won't let me see kids starving even if I can't really fix their situations permanently," Lone replied.

"I'll talk to the Grand Guildmaster. She treated it as nothing when she helped you return those woman to their homes I hear. Perhaps she can do something similar for these children," Gilbert suggested.

"Really? Thanks. I'd appreciate it," Lone responded in a hopeful tone.

He then turned his attention to the children who had slowly stopped hiding and begun gathering around Lone and Gilbert again. "As for you little tykes, who wants a doughnut after their soup?"

"Me!"

"I do!"

"I want one!"

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A few hours later, Lone peeled himself away from his forge as he stowed another steamforged part into his Dimensional Storage.

Gilbert had returned to the guild since he still had a bunch of work left to do before he could officiate his promotion to the nation guildmaster of Milindo.

A handful of guests had appeared during the hours which Lone spent forging and they'd come to congratulate him on his fights against Hubert and Divine Bumblefuck.

Only a very small number of them stayed to actually buy anything so Lone gave them nothing more than a cursory answer in response to their evident brown-nosing.

"Well, I think I've waited long enough. They're in the Soul Hall and it's the perfect time for dinner. Now's as good a time as any," Lone muttered as he got up and brushed off the remaining soot and dried embers from his apron before taking it off and hanging it up.

"Frangila, you can close up shop now. I'm done for the day," Lone said, noting that it was roughly 8 or 9PM.

"Yes sir, Sir Mr Immortus! You enjoy the rest of your evening," the young woman said with a smile.

Nodding, Lone grabbed Saturn and left the shop. If he was going to be meeting with the Divine soul brothers, he felt that bringing along his sentient Divine Soul Prison would be the best negotiating tool to get what he wanted. It was the perfect thing to show off to soul oracles, after all.

Surprisingly, when Lone stepped out of his Wondrous Emporium, he was met by a somewhat anxious-looking Master Millisa.

Stood next to her was Master Dilroy who looked just as worried, though also rather excited.

"Fancy running into you two here," Lone said jokingly. "I assume you're here for me, right? I somehow doubt you guys are interested in my store's products."

Master Millisa nodded. "Congratulations on your performance today. I'm sorry to hear that your lover wasn't feeling well, but both you and Apprentice Swind did excellently. I wasn't aware of how talented with the blade he was and how skilled at wielding magic you are."

"Indeed," Master Dilroy agreed. "Little Breena did incredibly as well. Her Primal magic is quite the sight to witness. Is she around?"

Lone pointed down. "She's sleeping in my shadow. As much as I tell her to use a bed like a normal person, she's a lot more comfortable in there, according to her."

Master Dilroy smiled warmly. "That sounds like her."

Master Millisa interrupted the friendly conversation by saying, "As much as I would love for us to catch up, Master Lone, Master Dilroy and I have come here tonight to invite you to have dinner with the Divine grandmasters of the Soul Hall's central branch. They are awaiting your arrival at the local Soul Hall with Head Guider Owen, Master Rangah and Master Lefrasburn."

"That's perfect. I was just heading to the hall myself to see if they'd give me the time of day. Let's walk and talk, shall we?" Lone offered.

Naturally, the two soul oracle masters happily agreed as the three of them began making their way to Mystopolis' Soul Hall.

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"Huh. I didn't expect only masters or above could properly wield my Divine Soul Prisons. I guess it makes sense in hindsight," Lone said.

Master Dilroy nodded faintly. "Indeed. Due to that little prerequisite, Head Guider Owen has one while Master Lefrasburn possesses the other... Would it be too much to ask for three more? Master Millisa, Master Rangah and I could certainly use them to better strengthen our hall's internal ranking amongst the other halls, hahaha."

"Not for free," Lone replied with a grin.

The three had arrived at the Soul Hall and had just reached the door leading to the chamber where Lone had first met the masters with Swind by his side when Master Millisa stopped them.

"The Divine grandmasters are within," Master Millisa said. "Do not worry about your manners as they aren't ones for mortal concerns, but please do not try to antagonise them. They are highly respected guests here at our hall and it would shame us if one of our members were to disgrace their honour."

Lone shrugged. "That depends entirely on their attitudes, to be honest. I'll try to be on my best behaviour though. Even I can't match three Divines, regardless of if I went all out or not."

"I can ask no more than that. Thank you," Master Millisa responded before she slowly extended her arms and pushed open the ornate double doors.