Almost as soon as Lone and Soph returned to Castle Hrogar's war conference room, he got a signal from the communication orb that he'd left with Envy.

"Wow. They were just as quick as us, huh? Sloth's power... I kinda wanna see it in action myself," he muttered before he looked down at his adorable lover. "Soph, go bring them back here, please?"

Happily nodding, Soph got on her tiptoes and gave Lone a kiss. "I'll be back soon." With that said, she disappeared via her Remembrance Teleportation after Lone handed her The Glade's key and after she had squeezed a few tails for good luck.

Lone, now alone in the room with Greed wrapped around his arm, found a chair and took out the divine starlite sword.

He began closely inspecting it as he waited for Soph to return. A solid five minutes passed as he was silently sitting there. He was starting to get a bit worried that something might have happened, but at that exact moment, Soph reappeared.

She activated The Glade's key, released Envy and Sloth before she gave the pendant back to Lone.

Still playing about with his new sword, Lone made room for Soph to worm herself onto his lap. Resting his chin on her head, he asked, "What was the hold-up?"

Knowing that it would take Sloth a while to answer, and aware of Envy's practical inability to speak, Soph cuddled a tail as she answered, "Um, well, the place where Sloth and Envy were, was, um, a bit further away from where I'd left them. So, uh, I used a barrier to reach them. After that, I picked up a bunch of armour and weapons, a few, em, steamforged?"

Lone nodded. "Yup, that's the term, 'steamforged'."

Smiling bashfully and a bit proudly at having remembered the name of something she didn't care for but knew was dear to Lone, Soph continued, "Yeah, a few steamforged items. The kingdom of... I forgot what it was called, but they had a lot of, uh, dwarven and elven slaves it seemed. I left all of that stuff in Eolande's workshop in The Glade. Envy helped me carry it."

The tall man grunted as confirmation. "Thank you, Envy. I appreciate you helping Soph out," Lone said as he looked at the pink-haired girl in his arms. "And? You just wipe out their army and nobility or something?"

Sloth very slowly replied, "Yeah... Sarah... will... handle... It. It... was... a... small... kingdom... so... it's... fine..."

Lone shrugged. "No need to make excuses to me. I'm sure the grand guildmaster knew how you'd fix this war, so she was probably expecting to set up a few more regencies like she did with Milindo if you sided with the beastkin."

Sloth didn't reply to that and just put one of her thumbs in her mouth and fully closed her eyes, but she didn't fall asleep.

Lone dug his chin into Soph's head of soft hair lightly and moved his jaw in thought. "I wonder why the Kingdom of Westground was involved with this war if they only had dwarven or elven slaves? Were they expanding their slave enterprise or something?"

"I can answer that, Young Mageling," Archon Milos said as he strolled into the conference room with Lossa Redtail and Makatoo Ironwing.

The elderly mage took a seat next to Lone while Lossa chose to stand nearby as she covered her face with a fan, Makatoo Ironwing, on the other hand, very blatantly gave all of the humans in the room a patronising glare before he positioned himself as far from them as he could, while still being in the room.

Archon Milos stroked his beard as he said, "They were pressured into joining by the collective alliance. The Kingdom of Westground refuse to deal with demis in any capacity, the only exception being ones that look almost identical to humans, like the dwarves and elves. I think they might have wanted to back out of this war which they had very little to gain from, but their pride and speciesism didn't allow them to deal with you, a mere animal in their eyes."

"Hmm..." That was a very interesting cultural mindset to consider for a former history teacher like Lone.

Makatoo Ironwing scowled. "If you had the power to force the Aymtar Empire which has a Divine backing it into a corner, then you should have erased all of those filthy human countries from the map."

Lone rudely pointed at the ravenkin with his new divine starlite sword. "You, stop being a baby. I'll beat that speciesism out of you if I have to. Don't force me to kill you and find a more open-minded ravenkin to lead your clan in your place."

Before the eight-foot-tall man with six wings could even respond, another person had walked into the room and immediately spoke upon seeing Lone's weapon.

"Whelp, how on Altros do you have a weapon made almost entirely out of divine starlite?" Brahman Elksworth, the exceedingly old White Dragon with a white, grey and black tail and set of horns, asked.

Lone stared at the man's multicoloured limb and horns for a minute before he grinned. "I'll tell you if you answer a question of mine."

"So little respect for your elders despite being an esteemed nine-traited beastkin..." Lord Elksworth grumbled in dissatisfaction before he sighed. "Very well. What do you want to know, Lone Immortus?"

Smiling, Lone pointed at the dragonkin's four horns, his eyes, then lastly his tail. "You've awakened a fuckton, right? Do you know what Primal gave you that greyness? I already know that black is void, but yeah, I'm clueless about whatever Primal gave you power on that grey awakening of yours." He then looked at Lossa and her yellow-centred red irises and yellow-tipped ears and tails. "Same goes for you, Lossa. What Primal is yellow associated with?"

Lord Elksworth just stroked his chin thoughtfully and motioned with his head for Lossa to answer Lone's question. "Well, Lone-ro, I first awakened when my daughter, Tama, was born. I was so happy that I can't rightly put my feelings at the time into words..." A warm smile filled the SSS-ranker's face as she delved into her memories. "Since the emotion I was feeling during the awakening was joy, the Primal Essence of Life afforded me some of her powers and granted me a primal skill, as I'm sure you're already aware considering how many awakenings you have experienced."

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"I still have no idea how you have yet to explode, Whelp," Lord Elksworth grumbled. "It was bad when we last met, but now you even have Radiance within you, the recently lost Primal who is infamous for never inducing awakenings."

As a beastskin who had yet to awaken due to his relative youth, Makatoo the Iron Ravenkin kept his mouth shut and simply listened to everyone talk. Of course, he also kept a close eye on the humans in the room.

Lone just grinned at Brahman Elksworth.

Lossa's smile soon faded and was replaced by a frown. "I almost awakened for a second time to my rage when I learned that Tama and her Husband, Lars, were dying. Thankfully, I managed to avoid that. All beastkin know it is not wise to allow the Primal Essence of Void to get anywhere near you. He has not spawned any creatures or birthed any kin in quite some time, but he is still a threat to us beastkin due to how volatile and self-destructive his powers are."

The seven-tailed foxkin had a mildly concerned expression on her face as she glanced between lone's sole black tail and Elksworth's black features.

"There was another time where I should have awakened, in truth," Lossa claimed.

Lone gave her a confused look. "Should have?"

"Indeed," nodding, the matriarch of the Crimson Foxkin Clan explained, "When Rachel, my first grandchild was born... The joy I experienced was no less than when I gave birth to Tama... I felt the exact same when Breena, Tiera and Trella were born. Rightly, I should have reawakened three times with the help of the Primal Essence of Life. I have poor control over my emotions when they are positive, so I am confident that I didn't block the awakenings like most beastkin try to do."

Lone looked down as he nuzzled Soph's head with his chin and squished her very squishable sides with his hands after putting the divine starlite sword down onto the table. "Right... Since beastkin lose their immunity to growing old and start rapidly ageing, which only gets worse per awakening... Strange why you never awakened those extra times, but thanks for the info."

Lossa smiled warmly, showing the few wrinkles on her forehead that had already returned despite Lone repairing her body less than half a year ago. "You are welcome, Lone-ro."

'I should restore her again... I've got the mana,' Lone thought, but first, he gave his attention to the silent White Dragonkin. "And you, you old goat? How'd you get all of that grey?"

"None of your business, Whelp," Lord Elksworth spat back. "Grey is to do with the Primal Essence of Death. That's all I'll tell you, so tell me how you got that sword, would you?"

"Such a grouchy old fogey," Lone muttered. "Sure. I got it from a double-X-ranker in the Aymtar Empire. I paid for it, mind you."

"That's it?" Lord Elksworth asked in surprised.

Lone grinned. "For what you told me, yeah, that's it."

He then gently stood up and took Soph's hand in his, and he then put the divine starlite sword in his Dimensional Storage. "Well, we'll be going back to Mystopolis."

Archon Milos quickly stood up and shook Lone's free hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Young Mageling, and I look forward to teaching you in the future."

"Teaching me?" Lone wore a confused expression. "You're going to The Academy?"

Nodding enthusiastically, making his long beard flop all over the place, the elderly man answered, "Indeed. Since you two fascinating people shall be studying there, I've decided to accept Headmaster Erion's request for me to serve as one of The Academy's vice headmasters. At least, for so long as you two are studying there."

"Huh. I guess we'll see you soon then," Lone casually replied before he walked over to Lossa and put a hand on her shoulder.

A split-second later, the woman looked rejuvenated, all signs of her ageing disappearing from her body. "This... There was no noise and it took you so little time..."

Lone shrugged. "Practice makes perfect. I've fixed your body before," Lone dismissively said before he looked at Lord Elksworth. "You old goat, want me to add a few centuries to your lifespan? You look like a gust of wind could kill you."

"You can reverse the effects of awakening? Bah, like I'd believe something so far-fetched," the dragonkin stubbornly said.

Lone sighed softly. "I owe Gilbert a lot for what he did for me in Milindo, and I'm sure he'd be upset if his dickhead of an uncle suddenly keeled over, right?" he asked with an evil grin on his face.

Lone approached the dragonkin and roughly held the old man's head. "Hey! Release me this instant, you insolent whelp! You may be one rank higher than me and also a master soul oracle, but I will be treated with respect!"

He rambled on and on for a few seconds before he slowly stopped moving and brought his hands up to his face. "I... I'm young again?"

His skin was soft and his cheeks no longer caved in. Moving his hands down to his torso, he could clearly feel his pounding heart loudly in his chest under his now well-toned body. It was like the past five-hundred years of his life had been a lie.

Whether consciously or not, tears trickled out of his eyes. "I... I no longer smell the scent of death on me..."

Lone chuckled. "Sappy old fart. If you ever get wrinkles again, find me in Mystopolis or contact me through Lossa."

Saying that, Lone gave the Crimson Foxkin in question a bit of a hard stare. "And you, fucking tell me about an issue like a war that could threaten your clan. Rachel and Breena are important to me, so I can't exactly let their homeland and family be destroyed, now can I?"

Lone's shadow flickered slightly in response to those works, resulting in a raised eyebrow from Archon Milos.

Lossa felt ashamed. She hid her face behind her fan and nodded gently. "I didn't wish to burden you, but yes, I shall rely on you in the future. I see now that something as monumental as this is just another day like any other to a man of your calibre."

'I really should get remarried... Having a strong and independent man relieve me of some of my burdens would be great... Stefan wouldn't mind now, would he?... It's been three centuries already... He always said that he wanted me to move on when he was... in poor health...' Such thoughts pained the woman, but with the new life that Lone had given her, the prospect of finding love once more finally seemed like one that wouldn't just be a selfish endeavour anymore. At least, that's how Lossa felt.

Lone returned to Soph's side and activated The Glade, allowing Envy to carry Sloth through with himself. "Well, we'll head back now. Milos, I swear to God, if this isn't all neatly wrapped up, I'm gonna be pissed. I don't have the time to dance around 'persuading' people to be civilised."

The wizened man laughed. "The Magic Empire of Petroleum is one of the strongest powerhouses on the continent. Trust me, we'll manage. And with the help of the famed mediators of the White Dragonkin Clan and their racial ability to detect lies, on top of the powerful backing of the Light Tigerkin Clan, well, I doubt either side of this war will go against your or The Adventurer's Guild's will."

Lone nodded happily. "Good." He looked at Makatoo Ironwing one final time and said, "Remember my warning. Temper that bigoted attitude of yours. Things can only improve if both sides admit their faults and work to fix them. Humans and demis are more alike than you might think. At our cores, we're all people that should be judged evenly. Either love, respect, or hate everyone fairly."

With that mini-speech said, Lone passed the anvil and forge amulet over to Soph then entered The Glade.

Smiling a bit awkwardly but still looking adorable, Soph waved everyone goodbye then teleported away.

Milos closed his eyes and tilted his head back as he rubbed his temple. "So much magic that I've never seen nor heard of... The contracts, that teleportation, the healing, the fact that he's an Ascending, that dimensional pocket... There was also that strange shadow movement... I'm so very much looking forward to my time in Mystopolis..."