Right now I am standing in one of the many offices of the head office. Among the many palaces that lie near the storm line, the head office looks almost ordinary. Not that it isn't impressive if you were to compare it to an ordinary fort.

Yet every person in the hexmountain knows that it is the beating heart of the place. The reason for that is not due to the work that is done here, nor only due to the people stationed here. The reason is due to the quantity of work that is being done here.

Almost anything that you need to be done has to go through the head office in some form or the other.

You need some kind of funds, either to build a formation or an airship, you come here. You need refunds for breakfast and dinners eaten during a mission, you come here.

Basically, as long as you have a problem in the hexmountain, you come to the head office.

The only people that tend to be relatively independent of the head office are the legion and the formation corps. Both tend to be doing their own things anyway.

As for the guard corps, they function almost exclusively through the head office. This is to a point that the head office and the guard corps are synonymous with each other. To speak of one is to speak of the other.

Right now I am in one of the many meeting rooms that you can find in this place. It is a standard design, a table that is placed at the center of the room, with chairs on either side. The room would do just as well for a group of equals arguing with (or sharing drinks) with each other and just as well for a supervisor to chew out his underling for failing at his mission. Knowing my luck, I will get kicked out today. I just haven't decided yet if it is going to be good luck or bad luck.

I am waiting for my supervisor right now. Every ten guards in the guard corps has a supervisor. The supervisor deals with all the matters of arranging things for the guards including things like mission assignments and mission reviews.

A fun fact that I remembered is that the supervisors are the very first people to read the logs that we send. They do this to sort the information that we are sending and also to make sure that sending reinforcements in a timely manner is possible.

Naturally, what they do is more complicated than that. Let's not get into that now, all you need to understand about it is that you do not try to mess with your supervisors. They can make your life very hard if they want to.

On top of that, the problem with the supervisor is that the man holds the authority to punish, remove or reward their charges.

Only a committee of supervisors will then have the ability to override a supervisors commands when it comes to their underlings. When everybody speaks of the head office, it is this commitee that everybody is referring to.

Right now the major source of my worry, is that my supervisor is considered to be a bit of a hard ass among the many supervisors that can be assigned to the guards, with quite a few enemies. He usually isn't even assigned to a new guard like me.

Well, I can't really blame him though. Daniel is usually assigned to the guards that take on more combat oriented positions such as in the bone pits or towards the eastern desert. If the rumours that I have heard about him are true, the man is supposed to be able to chew through his underlings. I haven't seen that side of him yet.

He doesn't really have the experience to deal with a new guard like me, who are usually put in politically sensitive positions. (Places where sending a strong person can have disastrous consequences) So there is that as well.

On top of that the old ass really doesn't have the patience to deal with politics of the head office. I mean, the man looks like a young man that might have passed of as my uncle if anybody were to see him.

I swear, that I have yet to see a white hair on him and he certainly doesn't move like an old man, but the way that my master behaves around that man he must be at the very least as old as my master. The man certainly treats him as his equal. For reference, my master must at the very least be as old as the commander.

Anyway, I have complained about the man enough. I am sure that he must not be reading this log right now. Even if he did, I am sure that he won't take offence. You can't really tell with the man though.

(After about ten minutes.)

Looks like they are not calling the entire committee on me at the very least. There are only two people here for my review. The first is naturally Daniel and the other is a lady that I have never seen in my life.

How do I describe her, she has a kind of beauty that does not feel real, like she is a statue brought to life rather than a human.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Well, from the time that they have entered into the room, they have been sitting in the table in the room just studying my logs. I guess that I should say something. I don't think that they will be able to or are willing to hear though.

They have covered themselves with a cloak, which is completely muffling whatever they are speaking. It is a fascinating piece of magic, one that is very commonly used in formations. Place a cloak or one of its many variants on a mask and you suddenly have a mask that will be able to completely stop you from speaking, or make your voice only heard by a specific or my favourite, make sure everybody can hear you. (It is a pretty useful spell to inscribe onto crowns.)

Anyway, where was I. Yeah, they are right now speaking with each other behind a cloak. It is the spell variety of a cloak, the kind with which I can look at the other side, though I can't hear their voice.

Just based on their body language, I can't really tell what they are going through though. I would say that they are pretty civil to each other talking calmly. That is a good sign

I could be completely wrong though. (After all, even we at the legion would have lessons to mask our body language. Why won't the guard corps who work at more sensitive places have something similar.)

"Guard Antonio, you have left us with something of a mess. After all, it is not like you pulled of any major scandal in this mission. You just have pretty bad luck. ", it is Daniel who speaks, his voice oddly excited. "Honestly what we should do with you is a question that nobody really wants to answer."

As he speaks, I can see the man dismantle the cloak spell. It happens instantaneously as the barrier dissolves and the voices it hid are now revealed to me.

"Focus, Daniel. The quicker this mess is dealt with the quicker that we will get to leave.", the lady speaks, her voice very robotic and slow. It feels the exact opposite of Daniels. There is also very clear animosity in her tone. She either doesn't like me, doesn't like Daniel or both.

"Guard Antonio, we have studied your performance on this mission and I find you lacking on many points.", the lady speaks at me. The words are not directed at me, she speaks it like she is addressing the room rather than me. "How do you defend yourself?"

"My lady, well if I was given a better description about my supposed mistakes I will be able to justify myself.", I reply, as a sense of nervousness creeps into me. It is a funny sensation, as I shouldn't particularly care if they remove me from the guard corps and that is the worst that they can do to me.

"Well, there are three things. The first is your willingness to abandon the scholars in enemy territory.", she replies.

"My lady, I did as I was instructed by the behaviour of the people that took the mission before me. In most cases the guards and the scholars were separated when we go to that place. That is what my supervisor would had adviced me to do. That is what I have done.", I reply, as calmly as possible. "The soldiers at the frozen peak have always escorted the scholars to the magical ruin, without the guards. The other side have never done anything worth suspecting them for and they have never failed at their duty as well. Meanwhile, I was not resting. I was situated in a outpost quite near the ruin fulfilling the hexmountain treaty. If anything did happen, I was in a position to quickly send reinforcements."

"Still, have you not abandoned your scholars.", she replies, an edge to her voice that warned me not to push it with her. Before I can reply.

"Leave it, Minerva. You known as well as I when a demigod kidnaps you, there is little you can do to save yourself.", Daniel speaks. "The kid did pretty admirably in my opinion. After all, he left the rest of his troop to protect the scholars. Few in his position would do that. Also, he is right about being in a position to send reinforcements. He could have sent soldiers to their position in two days. I can vouch for that."

"Fine, on to your second mistake. You have leaked formation magic to our enemy, especially the snowwind empire.", she speaks. "If any of our allies were to find out about that, it is going to be another mess for us. It will break a set of agreements that will fill a hundred sheets."

"My lady, the man asked me to do it invoking the hexmountain treaty. It is not like I can go directly against the hexmountain treaty.", I reply to this. "I still tried my best to limit the damage. The formation that I have placed at the temporary fort is a druidic formation. Unlike other formations, it will take too long for it to be of actual use to the enemy."

This is a bit of a lie, as any person that has dealt with or studied druidic magic would know. After all, regardless of how gentle druidic magic seems to be it has a dangerous edge that only those that have seen it can understand.

The guard corps has a pretty thin link with the druids, so let's hope that this lie won't be caught. Based on the twinkle in Daniels eye, the man knows clearly that I am bullshitting. At least he seems to be on my side.

"Fine, the last thing is a complain from the snowwind empire.", the lady speaks. "Regarding the way in which you have broken treaties between the snowwind empire and their enemy, the snow tribe. The snowwind empire were pretty offended on this as well."

Well, I don't really have an answer for this. I can't really waive this away.

"Well, I can't really justify this, my lady.", I reply, hoping that she can't hear the slight tremble in my voice. Again, I don't know why that tremble exists. "I was as much a victim of the circumstances in this case. The other side were there with the clear intent to attack us."

The instant that I speak this I can feel a tingle on my back. The same feeling that I would get while hunting cornered vampires with the legion. Looks like I have misspoke here.

Thankfully, I don't need to reply to her as the cloak appears around the lady again.

I can feel my heart pounding by the time that the cloak is opened, which is not that long actually. I am sure that the other side can hear it as clearly as drums. If they do they don't give me an indication of noticing it.

"Well, guard antonio, I have to admit that lady Minerva has made certainly good points. Meanwhile, you have provided reasonable justification for each of my colleagues worries. As your supervisor, I don't see any reason for us to remove you from the guard corps.", he speaks. "Lady Minerva will be taking her leave now, as I present you with your next mission right now. I think that you will find it more suited to your skillset."