1123 Mentor
pAn,D a-n0ve1,c-o-m Date- 4 April 2321
Time- 10:48
Location- Central Region, Central Capital, Unknown, Field Marshal Office
“General, Field Marshal will be seeing you now,” the assistant to the Field Marshal informed Demigod Baylor as she opened the door to the Field Marshal’s office.
Demigod Baylor nodded to the assistant and walking into the office he heard a thud as the assistant closed the door behind him. Then he searched the room to find the wrinkled skinny figure of the Field Marshal occupying the office couch holding an expensive old bottle of rum instead of his chair, his throne. And saluted, “Field Marshal, General Baylor reporting sir.”
“Son, for once can you not be so uptight? I called you here as your mentor, not as your Field Marshal,” Henricks said as he fetched two frozen glasses from the office bar and filled each one to the brim with the expensive old rum. Then looking at demigod Baylor who was still standing by the door he added, “What? Are you waiting for an invitation?”
“Mentor, only you would prefer to drink rum in a frozen glass,” demigod Baylor commented as he walked to pick up the glass of rum offered by his mentor.
“It reminds me of drinking cheap rum from my frozen military-issue mug from my time at the way beyond, did you know that back then before we sealed the Storm Supreme, the Frozen Peaks used to be frozen and so cold that even mugs created from A-rank ingredients would break because of the temperature. Imagine being stationed there,” Henricks spoke reminiscing his time as a soldier, and then added, “You are one to speak, I offered my good rum believing you would reject saying you don’t drink on duty. Look at you emptying the glass in one chug, was your visit to the southern region that bad?”
“Yes, I finally understood why you call the royal families arrogant bastards,” demigod Baylor used to believe that the Royal families deserved small privileges compared to the common man because of the sacrifice made by their ancestors for humankind but today his encounter with soldier queen Colleen had him develop a small opinion about that. He did not have an opinion about the privileges given to royal families but the fact that they act as if they were above the law.
“I heard,” one of his Generals creating a scene at one of the royal warp arrays, it was near impossible for Henricks not to hear about what happened. His question earlier was just to hear what demigod Baylor thought about the incident.
“I take it that’s the real reason you called me down here,” demigod Baylor doubted.
“Hey, I meant it when I said I called you here as your mentor, not as your Field Marshal,” Henricks was proud seeing his student doubt him, he was always worried his student was too kind and good for his job but now he took pride on being proven wrong and then continued to say, “Before you go judging me I have a good news for your unfilial ass, you can continue your investigation into the silver milk fraud incident.”
*Cough* demigod Baylor choked on his rum hearing his mentor say that he could continue his investigation into the silver milk fraud incident. This was a huge deal as it meant he could head to the southern region and ask the southern royal family to arrange a meeting with Ellen’s orphaned son.
“Before you get too excited I have bad news too,” Henricks added immediately before the joy of the good news could sink in.
“What are the conditions?” demigod Baylor was smart enough to know that nothing good comes without a price so he did not beat around the bush and directly asked his mentor to rip the bandaid off.
“Your investigation into the silver milk powder fraud will be unofficial, meaning if you get caught red-handed by the southern royal family I will deny any knowledge about it, and depending on the evidence your punishment will vary. Which is to say any investigation you will conduct about this case will be at your own risk. Knowing this, are you still going to continue with your investigation into the silver milk powder fraud?” Henricks asked demigod Baylor.
“…” hearing Henricks demigod Baylor was confused and could not help but wonder if Gilliam was not working for his mentor.
“And one more thing, you will have to write a 1000 words letter apologizing for your behavior toward Colleen, this is non-negotiable. If the other three Heatsends learn you leaked your baleful aura towards their family member, they will not hesitate to slaughter a blood river from way beyond and southern region to the central capital just to claim your head, so if I were you I would make the letter of apology my priority,” Henricks added.
“So, Gilliam is really not your rat?” demigod Baylor asked Henricks because if Gilliam was the spy his mentor kept by his side to monitor him then he should have known that he had ordered Gilliam to visit and personally tell soldier queen Colleen that he had opened an investigation into the Heatsend Royal family.
“Kid, what did you do?” Henrick asked in distress seeing the confused expression on his unfilial student’s face.
“Well, I…” demigod Baylor went on to explain his misunderstanding with regard to Gilliam and his orders to Gilliam.
“Fuck, call him back right now, they will kill him. The Heatsends are not to be messed with,” Henricks yelled at this unfilial disciple but seeing him not take action he shouted, “What are you waiting for? Gilliam’s corpse? Just call him already.”
“Calm down, if you are not behind Gilliam then who is his real master?” The only reason demigod Baylor doubted his mentor was Gilliam’s master because he recommended Gilliam to him as his assistant. So thinking about it for a second he asked his mentor, “If not to monitor me then why did you recommend Gilliam to me?”
“Y-you, why would I keep spies next to my disciple? I recommend him to you because I felt he would make a good tool for you but instead of using him, you sent him to his death. Now, I am starting to regret not having sent Gilliam to monitor you instead,” Henricks almost forgot to breathe hearing his disciple, he no longer took pride in the new side of his disciple, and he prayed it was not too late for him to get his kind disciple back. However, seeing his disciple still not summoned to call Gilliam and retract his orders, he yelled, “Call him off already.”
Demigod Baylor did not react to his mentor’s yells, instead, he silently enjoyed his rum as he found the caring side of his mentor appetizing. To see the great field marshal who was famous for being rampant at the way beyond act like this, Baylor found it cute. The reason he was so casual about this was that he still had his suspicions about Gilliam, he could never trust a man who would use a transformation card to wear his uniform.
Seeing his disciple not move a muscle Henricks summoned his grimoire to call off Lt General Gilliam from walking to his death but before he could make the call his grimoire rang, hearing that demigod Baylor said, “You should pick it up, it must be Gilliam’s real master.”
…