I let out a sigh as I collapsed back in the chair, feeling relieved that I no longer had cameras flashing at me and no stress about other people watching us.
"Good work, my lord," Olivia praised, handing me a bottle of water.
I took a swig from it before turning to her, "I suppose… It's official. What will happen now?"
"I have already had several Guardians shortlisted for you, my lord. I would first like to do an initial test with them first before they will meet you. Would that be ok?"
"I suppose I will be wearing my mask when meeting them?"
"Yes. If my lord finds any reason that they are unsuitable to be your Guardians, there will not be a need to worry about them exposing your identity."
"Hmm… I see… But do I need to continue wearing this mask all the time when I am not alone? Even while I'm pretending to be a Guardian?"
"That will be up to your discretion, my lord. If I am allowed to give a suggestion, I would recommend not to hide your face in front of your Guardians."
That was normal, since having 'intimacy' was important between the Mortal God and their Guardians.
I nodded, "That's what I was intending to do as well. But I wanted to ask if you have any countermeasures for someone leaking out that information?"
"We will have them sign NDAs of course, but if there are certain more problematic ones… We will make sure to permanently eliminate the problem."
I read between the lines and understood she meant that they will not hesitate to kill anyone who they deem are a problem.
I honestly wasn't surprised considering the fact that they wouldn't want to do anything that might compromise me and make me lose confidence in them.
"When do we start then?"
"If my lord is available, I would prefer that you start as soon as possible. Your quarters in the building are already completed and ready for you to move in at any time. We've prepared two rooms for you, one for when you have to masquerade as a Guardian. I would recommend taking residence there first."
I grimaced, "If I go there now… I think it would be obvious that something is up… I'll wait till a reasonable time to join as a 'Guardian' but I guess I'll commute here in the meantime?"
"That will work," She nodded, before opening her phone. "We have already received several requests from the surrounding countries to deal with their portals. We also have a portal down by Choa Chu Kang that we need to close as well and we have yet to assign someone to close it."
I frowned, "You want me to close it by myself?"
"Of course not, my lord. We will gather Vanguards to accompany you and this would also serve as a test for the Guardian candidates."
"What about the Guardian rule? I thought there's an international rule in place that forbids Mortal Gods from going into portals on their own?"
Unexpectedly, she suddenly sank to a knee while looking up at me with a serious gaze, "My lord… If you find me adequate… I would like to volunteer myself as your first Guardian."
I blinked at her, completely not expecting her to volunteer herself as my first Guardian.
"Umm… You do know what this means right? Wait, of course you do, this is your job. So my question should be whether you're sure about this?"
She hesitated, "My lord… Please allow me to speak freely?"
I nodded.
She let out a sigh, "What do you know of my race?"
"I know that you're called an Oni in our World."
She nodded, "In my own World, we called ourselves the Resh'Tak, or 'The Ones Who Fight', and I have read up your myths about this Oni creature and I have to admit that I was quite surprised that we were quite similar in nature."
I looked her up and down.
Right now, she basically looked every part of a proper office last with her white blouse, grey jacket, tight pencil skirt, black stockings and high heels.
That's why I was having trouble wondering just what similarities she was talking about.
She most likely realized my confusion and further elaborated, "I like fighting, my lord. But as you can imagine… I don't really get much of that while I'm in this position."
In that case, I'm assuming what she meant is that she's probably the type who likes battles and carnage. She might also be really into tests of strength or something which, now that I think about it, might be the cause of the change in attitude for her.
After all, I did spar with her and basically showed that I was at the very least on par with her.
Though now there is one question that I was curious about…
"Why did you even accept this position then?" I asked.
She's the acting director of this branch and I'm willing to bet all my money that this position involved more paperwork than field work, which means that she wouldn't be able to indulge in fighting like she mentioned.
And if our spar was anything to go by, she should be strong enough to fight on the front lines in rift expeditions since she's clearly one of the rare other worlders who awakened abilities that were not inferior to us.
Actually, I don't even know if that strength of hers was her normal strength and not something given to her by her awakening. And considering the fact that she could also shoot lightning… For all I know, she's even stronger than I was.
She hesitated and I could clearly see that this might be a sensitive topic for her.
"It's complicated, my lord… If you wish to know…"
I shook my head, "It's fine. You don't need to tell me if you don't want to, I just wanted to make sure that you aren't just volunteering yourself out of obligation but because you really want to."
She nodded, "You do not have to worry, my lord. I am most definitely doing this voluntarily. If you will have me, I will fight for you as your sword and protect you as your shield."
I paused, "Then… If you were to become my Guardian… Who would be the acting director?"
"The position is an empty one, my lord. Now that you have officially taken position as the Mortal God, the head of the Mortal God Division will naturally be you."
I blanched, "Can I not? I have never even run a DnD campaign before, much less a group this important."
She shook her head, "You do not need to run it if you don't want to, my lord. I will continue to manage it but you will have the final say in any decisions."
"So… No paperwork?"
"Not unless you want them, my lord."
Ok, good. Because if there was, I would have quit as a Mortal God immediately.
"That's fine then. I suppose since I'm still new, I would have to rely on you more in the days to come so I don't see any reason why I shouldn't accept you as my first Guardian."
Her face lit up, as though she had expected me to reject her from the start. But as soon as that spark of happiness appeared on her face, it disappeared just as quickly.
"I… Thank you for your confidence in me, my lord. But… Before you make that decision… I would recommend that you put me on probation first before you accept me as an official Guardian."
Huh… That's strange of her to volunteer herself as a Guardian so enthusiastically but decide to take a step back and tell me to put her on probation first before accepting her as my Guardian.
I'm going to assume that the reason why she was put in this position was because of something related to becoming a Guardian before.
Now that made me worry a little more but the fact that she actually brought this up herself showed that she was at least honest about it. So whatever it was, she was repentant which I felt was a good sign.
Since she already suggested it, then I see no downsides to accepting it.
"I suppose we can see how things work out. As I said, I'm still new to this so I will be relying on you for now."
Once again, her face lit up like she wasn't expecting me to accept her but she quickly schooled her expression again to be a neutral one.
"Thank you, my lord… For your confidence in me despite the fact that you do not know me that well. I will not let you down, my lord."
"In that case… What should I do to make this relationship official? Do I need to sign a contract or…"
She bowed her head, "For now… A kiss on the back of your hand would do, my lord. That would be enough to grant me some of your divinity as protection."
"Is that permanent?"
"No, my lord… To make it permanent would require more… Intimate measures… Which I believe my lord is not willing to do at the moment."
Well… Like I said, I am not that familiar with this so… Go ahead then?
I stretched out my hand and she took it reverently before pressing her lips against the back of my hand.
I wasn't expecting anything to happen but a quite obvious jolt of energy flowed from me to Olivia, which means this was actually something tangible and not just something that was symbolic.
Something new I learnt today I suppose.