A/N: Sophia's pn is dumb. But in all fairness, we DID establish she's a bit of a mess.

  -x-X-x-

  She was right. Oren didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. In fact, he’d been so opposed to this pn Sophia had implemented that he’d tried harder to talk her out of it then he’d done for anything since she found out he was the God Killer.

  Unfortunately, his words had fallen on deaf ears. Either that or more likely his attempts to change her mind had ultimately backfired on him and done more harm than good. Sophia didn’t want to hear about how her pn was ill-conceived from the man that slew her father. More than that, she clearly felt like she was trapped in a situation with no good options because she had to rely on him, but at the same time did not want to rely on him.

  And so, despite his protests, despite his objections, here they were going through with Sophia’s pn. Her magical accessories have been removed and safely tucked away and the Celestial Dagger is sheathed on the small of his back. Finally Sophia herself hands bound behind her in hemp rope, as Oren escorts her by the arm up to the entrance of Goldriver’s former Temple District.

  There, men who are clearly associated with the God Hunters guard the entrance, though it’s not until Oren and Sophia have ascended half the steps leading up to the Temple District that they finally get noticed. Jolting out of their zy stupors, the God Hunters move to block their path.

  “Halt! This area is off-limits. State your business.”

  Oren doesn’t like this. He really doesn’t like this. But… it’s too te to back out now.

  “You’re God Hunters, aren’t you? Well I’ve caught myself a Goddess.”

  He makes a show of jostling Sophia’s arm, causing her to stiffen up a bit. But he has to sell it. This was the great big pn that Sophia had come up with. They were going to infiltrate the God Hunters’ territory together or not at all, or so she’d decided. Oren had still argued for them to both try and sneak in through the dead of night, but Sophia hadn’t been interested in that either. No, for all that one of her domains was supposed to be Wisdom, the Minor Goddess had set her mind on this front and refused to be swayed.

  The God Hunters exchange looks before studying Sophia a bit closer. Oren half expects one of them to pull out some sort of device to scan Sophia and confirm her divinity, but that doesn’t happen. Instead… he sees what he probably should have known he would see. A bunch of men enjoying the view and realizing that their positions might allow them to enjoy even more if they pyed their cards right.

  “Well now! Good on you, citizen. You’ve done very well bringing this dangerous goddess here…”

  The one doing the talking licks his lips in a truly despicable manner as he hungrily stares at Sophia. Like a fucking hyena staring at a goddamn gazelle. Stepping forward, he reaches out to take custody of the goddess, but Oren isn’t about to let that happen.

  “I’ll just-hey!”

  Oren’s hand fshes out fast as can be and grabs the wrist of the particurly frisky God Hunter. The other God Hunters drop their own hands to the weapons at their waists, but far slower. The talkative one tries to pull his hand back, only to find it caught in a grip that might as well have been stone.

  “No. I know the value of what I’ve caught. You’ll take me to your superior so I can negotiate proper pay… or I’ll turn and walk away with my prize.”

  The frisky God Hunter continues to fruitlessly try to pull himself free of Oren’s grasp, so Oren squeezes a bit until the sound of his wrist bones grinding together is audible in the hushed silence that’s fallen over all of them in the wake of his decration.

  “… F-Fine! Fine! We’ll take you to the Commander! Just let go of me!”

  Oren does so, only to drop his hand to the pommel of the brand new sword at his waist. Every eye follows his hand down, noting the sword. For a moment he can see the collective God Hunters contempting their chances of being able to take him or not. Oren almost hopes they do, if only so he can drive home how stupid this whole pn was to the Minor Goddess next to him.

  As, it’s not meant to be. The one who’s wrist he nearly broke has been intimidated enough that he’s not willing to chance it.

  “You heard me, you lot! We’re going to the Commander. You two are with me, everyone else stays at their damn posts!”

  Oren watches as two of the God Hunters peel off to join their comrade. They take up positions behind and to the right and left of him and Sophia, even as the two of them follow the first God Hunter into the Temple District.

  The first thing Oren notices is how ruined the pce is. Not just ruined… the Temple District is in literal ruins. Most of the buildings have been half torn down, every statue has been completely defaced, and the pce is littered with rubble and debris from the demolition. However, from what Anna had told them, the God Hunters had shown up and taken over the Temple District several months ago.

  By now, demolition should have been finished and new construction should have already begun. Oren doesn’t see any of that though. There’s no scaffolding, no new buildings, no nothing. He shouldn’t be surprised really; these are the God Hunters they’re talking about. Even still… it’s a little disconcerting.

  Most of the Temple District looks abandoned too. It’s not until they get down the street to the biggest building in the area that they start seeing more God Hunters swarming around the pce. There are dozens and dozens of them, and from the look of things they’d repurposed an entire Cathedral into their Headquarters.

  Oren narrows his eyes, half-expecting their ‘guide’ to try something now that they would have way more reinforcements if they decided to pick a fight with him. But instead, the God Hunter he’d nearly broken the wrist of just walks up to the men guarding the Cathedral’s front entrance and speaks with them quietly for a moment before motioning Oren and Sophia through.

  The eyes on Sophia at this point are too numerous for Oren to count with a single gnce. He can feel them coming from every direction, can practically sense their hunger. She’s a very beautiful woman, goddess or not, but her divinity just makes her all the more enticing. And these men… well, they’ve been occupying a city that clearly doesn’t like them for several months now. Maybe the local whorehouses have been taking care of their needs… but maybe not.

  All Oren knows for sure is that he’s not leaving Sophia alone with any of these men. Not even for a second. Thankfully, they don’t try to force the issue. Both he and his ‘catch’ are led through the repurposed Cathedral, where it seems the God Hunters actually have done some construction. Enough to partition the rge central room into several smaller rooms at least.

  As they’re walked down a hallway that definitely hadn’t existed on the Cathedral’s original floor pn, Oren is still on high alert, waiting for the inevitable ambush. As, it doesn’t come… at least not before they finally reach the ‘Commander’.

  Stepping into what would probably have been the church leader’s office back when this was actually a pce of worship, Oren immediately clocks the greying man behind the desk at the end of the room. He also notices that someone has gotten word somehow, because there are already several God Hunters lining the walls of the office, on top of the three who have escorted him and Sophia here.

  Indeed, the talkative God Hunter from the Temple District’s entrance doesn’t even have to say anything before the man behind the desk rises to his feet with his hands csped behind his back.

  “I am Commander Hogarth. And you, I’m told, cim to have brought us a goddess. I hope you understand that the consequences of lying to our organization are quite… severe.”

  Oren smiles thinly at that.

  “I’m sure they are. But I’m not lying. She’s a goddess, I’m confident of that much.”

  There’s a pause as the God Hunter studies him. Is Commander Hogarth looking for some crack in Oren’s fa?ade? Because he’s not going to find it. Or maybe he’s trying to intimidate him with silence. That’s not going to work either. The other God Hunters in the office shift from foot to foot, clearly feeling antsy.

  Finally, Commander Hogarth smirks and reaches for a circur device on his desk. It looks almost like a pocket watch, Oren notes, even as the God Hunter flips it open and holds it up towards Sophia, studying the inside for a moment before slowly nodding.

  “I see… you are correct young man. This is indeed a goddess. Well done.”

  One might think if the God Hunters in the room were true to their own creed and cause, then finding out what Sophia was would cool their passions. But Oren isn’t an idiot, so he’s not surprised when Sophia’s true nature only seems to enfme their vile lusts even further. They don’t care that she’s a goddess… or maybe that makes it even better for them.

  It doesn’t matter though, because he’s not going to let them have her.

  Commander Hogarth smiles thinly as he sets the device aside.

  “Well now. I’m told that you wished to… negotiate payment with me? Tell me, what exactly do you want in exchange for your captive Mister…”

  Oren grunts.

  “Coal. You can call me Mister Coal.”

  Obviously he’s not going to give the bastard a real name. The Commander just nods.

  “Very well. What can we offer you Mister Coal?”

  “One of those devices, for starters.”

  The Commander’s eyes flicker to the divinity detector he’s put down on the desk and he makes a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.

  “As well as any leads you might have on other gods or goddesses in the area. And of course, I want some gold too.”

  At his side, Sophia is quiet as a mouse… just as they’d both agreed she would be. However, Oren can tell that she’s wishing she could micromanage him more. If she could communicate privately with him in this moment, the Minor Goddess would no doubt be telling him to watch his tone with the Commander.

  But here’s the thing… Sophia’s pn requires him to leave her here once he exchanges her for what they want. Gold, information, and now that device as well. Then, he’s supposed to come back in the dead of night and ‘extract’ her after she’s checked out their dungeons and made contact with any other divine beings they might have done there.

  It’s a bad pn. Even if the God Hunters didn’t have designs upon Sophia’s body, it would be a bad pn because they would still probably torture her in conventional ways. Or they might just execute her outright if they were truly committed to their own cause.

  Oren couldn’t talk Sophia out of her bad pn, but now that they were this deep in, she couldn’t tell him what to do. And if he just so happened to sour things before they could get to the point where he had to hand her over… well then, that would be such a shame, wouldn’t it?

  “… I see. Interesting that the gold is almost an afterthought for you, young man.”

  Snorting derisively, Oren shrugs.

  “The payday is important, but more work means more paydays. I’m a bounty hunter by trade and the normal bounties have all dried up recently. Adapt or die, right?”

  Commander Hogarth smiles at that st bit, and there’s even something genuine to his smirk.

  “Heh. Adapt or die… I like that. I’m probably going to use that, I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Be my guest.”

  “… Unfortunately, I must be the bearer of bad news. While I appud your ingenuity and gumption young man, with the capture of a goddess speaking highly of your skill… you have not gone through the proper channels.”

  Oh? Oren raises an eyebrow, even as the Commander affects an ‘apologetic’ look.

  “Unless you have a license for divine bounty hunting that I don’t know about?”

  Heh, and here it was.

  “I do not.”

  “I suspected as much since you hadn’t already produced it. You would need to go to the Capital and pay a small fee to take a simple test… I’m sure someone of your caliber would pass with flying colors. You would probably even be offered an officer’s commission within our organization depending on how well you did.”

  Stepping behind his desk, the Commander opens a drawer and pulls out a small pouch that jingles. Coin, though clearly not very much from the size of the pouch.

  “This should be more than enough to get you to the Capital and pay for your test. Unfortunately, you will have to leave the goddess here with us. I’m sure you understand.”

  Heh, of course. Oren doesn’t even look to Sophia as the greying man walks across the room, holding out the pouch. He’s sure if he does, she’ll be giving him some sort of look that says ‘just go with it’ or something. She probably doesn’t even realize the danger she’s truly in at this point.

  No, better to beg forgiveness than ask permission sometimes. Keeping his steady gaze focused on Commander Hogarth, he watches as the God Hunter slows to a stop a few feet away, noticing that Oren isn’t extending his arm to take the coin.

  “And if I refuse your… generous offer?”

  The Commander’s smile becomes a bit sharper at that.

  “Well now… I would certainly advise against that young man. We are charged with the erasure of all that is divine. You’ve brought us a goddess… you can’t possibly think we’d just let you leave with her dear boy.”

  Oren hums for a moment, feeling the shift in the room’s atmosphere as the other God Hunters all put their hands on their weapons, ready for their superior to give the order at any second.

  “Plenty of people watched us walk up here. If we disappear, there will be questions about what became of us.”

  Commander Hogarth furrows his brow for a moment… and then chuckles.

  “You really are new to all of this, aren’t you? We have an arrangement with the City Guard and while they might not like it, they will continue to follow it if they know what’s good for them. They knows not to enter this district under any circumstances.”

  Oren inhales and exhales slowly.

  “I see.”

  Then, he lets the smile he’s been holding back spread across his face. Not under any circumstances, eh?

  Perfect.

  -x-X-x-

  A/N: "There I go a-murdering again" - Oren probably

  "I can't take you anywhere" - Sophia probably

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