"Well, that went well.", Daniel says, explaining to me. "You can say that Minerva has a bias against you formation types. The fact that she did not fight me on this particular judgment is a good thing. That means she is at the very least willing to give you a chance."
"Why would that be?" I ask, my mouth shooting off faster than my mind can catch up.
"Well, some things are better if you don't know about it, kid." says the man, the man still with the same body language as before. He certainly does not seem to have taken any offense at that. That is good. "Still, since you have asked. Lady Minerva has a problem with those who practice formation magic. Especially those that work at the formation corps."
"I have never worked at the formation corps", I reply. "My master has never allowed me to do it. Will that help with Lady Minerva?"
"Well, then, I should mention it to Lady Minerva one of these days. I don't know how much it will help you, though.", he replies. "I would suggest that you try and keep to her positive side. The head office will be sending her with me for your future performance reviews. They are of the feeling that I will be biased in your case. Minerva is meant to counter that. Well, then let's focus on the mission. It is not going to be anything easy."
"How long will this take? I assume that I won't have a lot of time to prepare.", I reply to the man, as I remember what my master told me.
"Well, you will be leaving for this mission when your troop makes it here from the Snowwind Empire." he speaks. "I normally would try to get a break for you. It would not be wise now. Everybody is already pissed off about the mess they had to deal with at the Snowwind Empire. Also, the nature of the mission is an emergency. You should have left yesterday if I am honest."
"That is fine, I kind of expected something like that to happen.", I reply. "What is the mission?"
"An emergency beacon has been triggered in the soldar plains.", he replies, a smile on his face as if he has won the lottery. The man hates politics. An emergency is about as nonpolitical as it can get in the soldar plains. "Firstly, it is going to be much closer to the hexmountain. So that would be a good thing. You will reach there within the week."
"Which power triggered their emergency beacon?" I ask. "And is the guard corps still handing those things out?"
The emergency beacon is something that the guard corps has given to many powers in the soldar plains. They can be triggered to get the help of the black mountain. Very few tend to use it since owing a debt to the black mountain is something that no one likes. No merchant ever wants to be in debt to his customer. Makes for a bad business, and the black mountain is good at making you pay.
As for how I know about this, it was the formation corps that crafted those beacons. My master personally worked on a few of those beacons.
"Yes, we still hand those out. Nobody expects anything from them, though. The Mayfire beacon has been triggered. They are also not replying to any of our attempts to communicate with them.", he speaks.
Now that might lead to a problem. The mayfires are our only pure ally in the soldar plains. I can't remember beyond that about them, just that they are pretty important. I will need to hit the files once I return to my room. I really should memorize those files one of these days.
"There must be someone better to lead this mission. I don't think that I am either strong enough or diplomatic enough to deal with the mayfires.", I ask the man.
Making any mistakes with the mayfires will result in disastrous consequences for me. It is something I don't want to speak about.
"They saw a blood moon over the Mayfire castle, soldier", he speaks. "It is annoying, but we can only send you right now. The only other option is to request help from the legion."
"I have only hunted vampire grunts in the legion. Not one of them was capable of using such a degree of blood magic. I am about as useless as any soldier you can send against a vampire using this type of blood magic. They would most likely be a part of the court." I reply.
"Yet, your name is associated with the blood moon. Didn't you create that sword of yours after hunting a vampire in the blood moon?" he speaks. "You are better equipped to deal with them than any guard we can send."
"Well, we were there to clean up the place. It was the troop leader who fought against that vampire. We were mainly tasked with getting the villagers to safety.", I reply. "Killing somebody from the court is not easy."
"That is fine, kid. We don't need you to fight anybody. Your primary task is to infiltrate the place and scout our enemies.", he says. "Along with that, you are supposed to get into contact with the mayfires."
"I need to rush to the location. I can leave now if there is a need to. I will be a bit underprepared in case of a combat situation if I leave now, though.", I ask the man. "If you could buy me some time, it would be helpful. Even a day more to prepare will be worth it."
"Well, you have to leave once your troop has returned to the hex mountain.", he replies. "I can delay their return to the hexmountain by about a couple of weeks. Beyond that, though, delaying could be dangerous."
"Isn't it an emergency? Will this delay not cause any problems?" I ask.
"Not really, the mayfires are a pretty formidable force themselves. It is unlikely for them to be overwhelmed anytime soon. If they are struggling against an enemy, then I would like you to go in there with your full preparation. At the very least, I need you to wait for the troops. Already, that master of yours has restricted it a bit too much for my liking. Whoever has heard of a troop of only four people?" He speaks. "Right now, the assumption is that it is an active combat zone. I would suggest that you take it seriously."
"Could the situation be that bad? I mean, their fire magic is something that even the legion noticed. That must mean that it must be strong enough to handle anything. I don't think they would struggle against even the vampires. Unless you think that someone of the court is there personally." I reply.
"Well, you are asking the wrong guy here, soldier. Maybe the mayfires can handle it on their own, but they would still appreciate it if we were there. They might not speak about it, but they will remember. I can't tell much about the politics going on here.", he replies. "Still, based on the reports that I have read. The guard corps is sure that something is wrong there. Firstly, the mayfires are good allies of ours. They have ways of communicating with us that do not involve the emergency beacon. None of them is working though. Secondly, you are not the first set of guards that have been sent to this place."
"Which group is that?" I ask.
"One of the groups under Lady Minerva, incidentally. A troop of twenty soldiers. Not particularly strong, but they should be halfway decent at the very least. They have yet to send any logs or communicate with us in any manner, so something has to be wrong. One of their last logs was about the blood moon.", he replies. "That is why they are considering sending you. You have shown resilience in the Snowwind Empire. The guard corps thinks that you should be able to handle whatever happens here. Even if things do end up being worse than we assumed, you will adapt. Also, you are the person who will be able to provide us with the best idea about our enemy's strength."
"Well, am I going to be provided with any resources at least? The mission sounds risky enough to require some help from the head office. Maybe another troop to support me?" I ask the man. I know that it is pretty unlikely, but a man has to try. "Maybe the reward for my previous mission."
"You won't be provided with anything. The legion is already pretty pissed off with you, kid. The snowwind empire has been a fiasco of the highest degree." he says. "I haven't seen the head office this annoyed at somebody for a while, and that is saying something. Better that you don't ask them for anything. I could try if there is a need, but there is a good chance that it is going to backfire on you."
"I need mana stones. I need to buy some stuff, and my reserves will not be enough for it. There must be something that can be done?" I ask the man.
"Fine then, we supervisors are allowed to lend our guards some money for their missions. This is meant mostly to allow people to prepare for their missions. You will not need to pay interest on it, and the amount lent will be cut directly from your rewards of the mission." the man recites. "You can choose not to pay back the head office, of course. I would recommend that you don't do that, though. The stingy bastards are not going to forget that."
"That works for me. What is the use of a reward if it means that I am going to die in the middle of the mission? If vampires are involved, it is better to prepare as much as possible.", I reply.
"You will need to explain to me for what purpose you need this. You also need to provide me a detailed list of what exactly you have bought. I will be submitting all of this to the committee.", he replies.
"Why?" I ask.
"The head office will need a detailed idea of your expenditure.", he replies.
"I mainly need to install a coordination matrix and another cannon on my ship. Right now, the cannons I am using will not be enough.", I reply, explaining as I see the confusion on my supervisor's face. "A coordination matrix will allow me to coordinate all the cannons on the ship and aim them as needed. I can already do that, but it is not very useful in an actual combat situation. With a coordination matrix, I will be able to control multiple cannons as if I were aiming them myself. There is also no risk of delinking."
"Well, your troop could have done this for you, couldn't they?." he asks, explaining. "I need to be able to justify the costs of this to the head office. They will put a penalty on me if they think that I favored you."
"Well, I have only three soldiers. I can't have all of them occupied by cannon duty now, can I?" I speak, pointing out the obvious. "Even now I can't spare them. I have them do vital tasks such as patrolling for boarders and so on. If they were busy shooting cannons, I would need my troops to be expanded at least."
"Well, that is reasonable enough, though I still can't guarantee success completely. The head office can be pretty unreasonable when they want to be.", he replies. "I will try my best, though."
"I know how the head office can get. You have to remember that my master is the one who does maintenance on their formations.", I reply. "My master tends to get less frustrated with the merchants down south than he gets with the guard corps."