Alister shook his head, brushing his fingers through his hair to fix the mess it had become. His parents would handle the politics of this. He was just a kid to these people. Tears came to his eyes again. Heh. He was being such a crybaby in this body.

He had people he could rely on.

He needed to get stronger to protect them. He wouldn’t let people he loved get killed again.

With the side of his arm, he rubbed away his forming tears, “Thank you, Miss Koll.”

She patted the top of his head, “It’s my job. Don’t worry so much. I’d say you’re too young for grey hair but I think it's a little too late for that. Little cotton ball.” The teacher gave him a cheeky grin before she turned to face the priests again, hands on her hips, “How many more students do you need to check, Priest of Iker, Leinn?”

The gruff old man that had such a loud and demanding voice from before huffed at her question, “Four.”

“Anyone else catch your eye?”

Leinn glanced at the other temples’ priests, who then glanced at a girl, “One, yes. The little girl with black hair.”

The girl in question, who had hair as pure black as onyx and eyes to match, looked to be a little older than Alister. Her eyes flitted from priest to priest with that comment, “Why me? I am not a faithful of any of your gods...”

Her bold response earned a smirk from most of the older priests. Leinn continued to handle that conversation, though, “Because you can handle a lot of divine essence. Why else? We might argue over you kids, but that doesn’t mean that the other lesser gods don’t take an interest too. I’ll try to change your mind, of course, but you can choose to walk the path of another god as a faithful instead.”

Alister glared at the grey hair of the back of the old man’s head. The way he spoke made it sound like they wouldn’t have a choice - they’d be someone’s faithful, one way or another. It gave him a bad taste in his mouth.

The scowl on the girl’s face said it gave her a similar taste. She stood from where she was sitting with the other kids, “No thank you, sir. I’ll take into consideration what you’ve said, but I have no intentions of picking a path like that until I’ve turned thirteen.” The girl gave a polite bow and walked over to Alister as if to cement her choice.

Alister gave her a pleasantly surprised grin. This girl was bold. Where he was stunned, she was so fierce for her age.

“Well, then that’s that,” Ms. Koll said, polite smile glued to her face, “I’m sure her family will receive the temple correspondences later. Both of their families will.”

Leinn huffed again, clearly annoyed, “Yeah. I suppose they will.”

The last four kids were much the same as those before them. One was of mild interest but was average compared to the other two. That boy, one of the blond-haired ones, was actually interested in serving the gods. So they got one out of the group, at least. Still, one could tell in the eyes of the priests that they felt like they were failing. They looked at Alister and the girl beside her with frustration and greed. Alister avoided eye contact. He didn’t want more trouble.

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Class ended, and the girl continued to follow him.

“My name’s Wisteria,” she offered up without being asked, “I finished the mana core meditation thing before you. I heard you exploded or something though. Some of the other kids thought you were dead. I didn’t expect you to be back in class today. You’re the son of the Duke and Duchess, right?”

She was noisy. He nodded, eyes forward as he walked, “Yes. My mother and father are the lady and lord of the region. And yes, I suppose exploded is a good way to describe what happened.”

“You don’t sound like you’re eight.”

“What a surprise…,” he quipped, rolling his eyes, “You don’t sound like you’re eight either.”

“I’m not! I’m twelve!” she chirped back, like a loud bird that had fallen from a nest. Girl, where are your parents? Could he just drop her off at them?

“And I’m physically eight.”

She went quiet for a few precious moments, “...Did you remember a lot about your past life from your mana getting unlocked?”

“They called it full recall, so yes.”

“Huh… were you an old man when you died before?”

Alister actually stopped walking, mouth partially open in perturbed surprise, “Child… You shouldn’t just ask people things like that so freely. You could upset people. You don’t know how someone has perished. It could… ugh… That depends on your definition of an old man.” He gave her an annoyed look, no longer heading toward his destination.

She looked pleased with herself, “I dunno. Like… anyone over thirty?”

He wheezed, “Girl… no. That’s hardly old! I was over a century old.”

Wisteria’s eyes widened, “Woah… that’s older than my grandpa. How did you live so long?”

“Effort and magic,” he responded, “Why are you following me?”

“Because you said no to the temples too.”

“I had my reasons. I had not expected to be of such interest to them,” he grimaced as he continued walking, “Why were you uninterested?”

She shrugged, “I don’t follow any of their gods. My mother and I follow a small goddess. If I was ever going to become a priestess, it would be for her.”

“Who is your goddess?”

“Vera. She’s a goddess of luck,” Wisteria beamed, “She’s a kind goddess! We have a shrine to her in our house. Do you wanna see it? She’s not worshiped very much in this kingdom, but in the kingdom my mother is from, she’s more popular.”

“I’ll pass,” Alister stated, “I wonder if as a goddess of luck she also approves of gambling addicts and alcoholics. All gods are kind while it’s convenient.”

She tilted her head, “I dunno. My mother says she prays to her often. When she was a refugee, she prayed a lot. She says that the goddess is the only reason she got out alive.”

“Mm,” he stopped at the gate to his family’s property, “This is where we split ways. Have a pleasant walk home.”

Wisteria pouted at him and squinted her eyes, “You’re not very fun.”

“I’m tired. I did hit my head, recall?”

“Yeah… I guess so… Fine. But I want to hang out with you later. Okay?”

“Fine. Goodbye then, Wisteria,” he said, giving her a slight bow of the head before he slipped inside the gate.