After breakfast, Rebecca excused herself. The guild president had insisted that she come in by noon to deliver her report. She needed to prepare, especially for the face to face later. She had never had to give a direct report to the president herself and she knew these weren’t going to be easy waters to traverse.
Eva called Maria’s cell and asked that they bring Kailan in immediately. She sounded urgent so they all rushed to get ready. Edward and Elias decided to go with them to the Hunters Bureau. They all rushed out of the door, Rebecca getting into her Honda Civic H and the rest piling into Edwards company car, the Ford Occult.
The Hunters Bureau was located at 249 W New York St, downtown. What was once the Indiana Government Parking Surface Lot. It was converted into the bureau building 9 years ago after the world got a handle on the dungeons. The first year after the Merger was utter chaos and caused the collapse of several smaller countries. Even the larger nations suffered quite a bit of loss and it took a while for them to build back up. Even now they haven't fully recovered.
However, the resources mined from the dungeons aided in expediting that recovery. This was one of the reasons the governments sanctioned the guilds. The guilds played a pivotal role in raiding dungeons and bringing back the resources they needed. Not to mention the role they played in managing those dungeons.
The worst thing that could happen was a Dungeon Break. Once the dungeon completed it’s 30 day cycle and the two gates connected directly the entire environment within several miles would change into the same type of environment that exists on the other side. Everything from the land, to water, atmospheric conditions even the plants and animals. It would be its own self-contained ecosystem. To make matters worse, the enemy from the other side would be able to freely pass through the gate into Earth, and not just the creatures that populated the dungeon before but any creature from the other side.
Although there were still some restrictions. For instance, the level and Talent Rank of the being coming across the threshold could not exceed the average level and Talent Rank of the world they were entering. But the number of beings that could come through the gate was not limited unlike dungeons. Meaning that they could easily send an invasion force even more powerful than the one they faced in the dungeon initially.
This also meant that the amount of inhabitable land would decrease. Imagine several miles within a circular area suddenly becoming a wild domain.
Edward drove into the North side parking lot and parked on the second floor. Eva had told them to come in through the business lobby. After checking in with the receptionist they took a seat and waited. Eva would be down in a couple of minutes to receive them.
They didn’t wait long before Eva came rushing out of the door to the North hall.
“Good, you’re here. Come with me.” She seemed to be in a rush. Apparently something had happened as she was a bit frantic, grabbing Kailan by the arm and pulling him along.
After they went through the doorway into the North hall she had come from, they passed by several office doors before stopping. Eva pointed to the office and said “The three of you can wait in here. This is my office. I have to take Kailan up to the Director’s office for the debrief. We’ll be back in about 30 minutes to an hour. If you need anything, Suzie across the hall can assist you.”
She didn’t wait for them to agree and simply continued pulling Kailan down the hall to an elevator. The Hunters Bureau had 4 floors with the top floor being the administration offices. As they exited the elevator to the 4th floor, Eva let go of Kailan’s arm and proceeded down the hallway after straightening her shirt. There was only one hall on this floor and it split the floor in two. There were 6 doors total on opposite sides, 3 offices per side. And at the end of the hall was a large double door. This was where they were heading.
After arriving in front of the large double doors, Eva pulled one side open and invited Kailan in.
There was a large scenic window on the far side of the office that let light in. The office itself wasn’t as wide as it should have been which gave Kailan the impression that the two doors on the opposite side of him must lead into different rooms as well. Still, the size of the office was impressive. Director Morris was sitting in a large leather office chair behind a desk that was directly in front of the window. The desk was at least 10 feet wide and was in the shape of a semicircle. Even then there was still at least twice as much space on either side of the desk.
There was also a lounge area with leather chairs and a couch. And to the right of the director was a group of large monitors hanging from the wall. There were people sitting in their own offices on these monitors and many were wearing either military uniforms or suites. Douglas was also here standing on the left side of the director’s desk. He seemed to be a bit nervous as his face looked very taught.
Kailan wasn’t nervous at all. As a God it was common for him to address people in a public setting. In fact in Asgard it was practically a requirement to be good at public speaking. All of the Gods loved stories so meal time was filled with laughter and dozens if not hundreds of faces watching you as you recount your own. He held his bearing straight and confident as he followed Eva to right in front of Director Morris’ desk.
Eva gave him a glance telling him to stay put before she walked over to step beside Douglas.
“Kailan, thank you for taking the time to join us today. I apologize for not giving you a heads up but the situation progressed at a far more rapid pace than we had expected. Everyone, this is Kailan Jones, the one called a God-Level being by Gaia.” Director Morris introduced as he turned towards the monitors.
“Oh, so this is him.”
“I was expecting him to be taller.”
“He seems human to me. Can we be sure that he is in fact a God?”
“Everyone, please settle down. We will have time for that shortly. For now, let’s focus on the more immediate incident.” When the middle-aged woman on the center screen spoke out, everyone fell silent.
“Director Morris, please continue.” She said as she seemed to be looking through her own monitor with great interest.
“Thank you mam. Kailan, as you may have surmised several of the people on these monitors are higher ups in the Hunters Bureau, specifically the board of directors. While each individual bureau branch office is headed by a director, the main office for each nation is run by a group of directors that are above us. In addition, the gentleman on the top right monitor is the Secretary of Defense. On the top left monitor is the Secretary of Homeland Security. The far right monitor is the Vice President of the United States. And the woman who just spoke on the center monitor is the President of the United States.” Director Morris introduced.
This was a very heady group. It consisted of some of the most powerful people in the US. Even the board of directors for the Hunters Bureau possessed a great deal of power. So much so that the executive branch of the government was wary of them. It wasn’t this way originally, but after the dungeon business started to boom it afforded the Hunters Bureau a great deal of authority and power. Especially since they could rally the various guilds and Hunters throughout the nation if necessary. This was a part of the contract all guilds signed to be sanctioned.
Then there’s the fact that the bureaus are now under UN jurisdiction. Every nation had to tread carefully around their Hunters Bureau branch.
Kailan looked at each of the faces on the monitors, memorizing them one by one. He knew the importance of social networking as well as getting to know those in power. In lower realms like Midgard the ones in power were the ones you had to be most wary of.
“Hello. My name is Kailan Jones, please call me Kailan. It’s a pleasure to meet everyone.” Kailan smiled as he greeted them. He knew many strategies to deal with situations like these, but he always chose the one that gave people the benefit of the doubt. Be polite and expect people to choose the higher path. It was naive, but he refused to allow others to compromise his own beliefs and morals.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Besides, he was a God. Mortals should be wary of him, not the other way around.
The various faces on the monitors gave different responses. Most nodded apathetically. Some just stared at him emotionlessly, not bothering to return the greeting. The President smiled as she nodded. Kailan didn’t really care about their responses, he had fulfilled his own responsibilities to his ideals.
“Now that the obligatory introductions are out of the way. Let’s get down to business.” Director Morris spoke in an official manner.
Kailan’s attention returned to the Director.
“Firstly, although this should be coming from the guild themselves, I would personally like to thank you for rescuing the stranded members of Twilight Garden’s 5th Raid Team.” Director Morris said honestly. With this he had also implied where his interests lie to the others watching remotely. It was a form of protection, though it may account for little.
They of course took note of this. Eva also grinned when she heard this. Kailan smiled as he nodded his head indicating he’s response.
“Secondly, as I am sure you are aware, the matter of you breaking into a sealed dungeon is what we are most interested in. We’ve already received copies of the reports about what occurred in the dungeon from Twilight Garden.”
Kailan was a bit surprised. Based his observations on how the guilds and the bureau interacted, he didn’t think that they would be included in the loop so quickly. Not to mention his sister’s report should have only just arrived to her guild.
“One of the tenets the guilds are bound to is that all reports on major incidents such as this must be immediately emailed to the Bureau for review. So the moment the members of the 5th raid team submitted their reports, they were scanned and emailed to us. Although we haven’t received copies of everyone’s reports, there shouldn’t be too many differences so we’re going off of what we have presently.” Director Morris understood Kailan’s confused look.
“You should know that this incident has been blown quickly out of proportion. News outlets here in the US and in foreign nations have been airing footage of you demanding that Gaia unseal the dungeon gate and entering the dungeon, non-stop since early this morning. The bureau has been receiving a lot of pressure from both local, national and international media to provide an explanation as well as privileges to interview you. Let alone the pressure from foreign governments.” Director Morris got to the point.
This had become a very big issue and the bureau was having trouble managing it. It was impossible to unseal a sealed gate while a raid party was still inside. This was a fact that the entire world knew. Now they all wanted to know how to replicate it. If they could unseal gates at will then they could send in any number of combatants they wanted.
“It should also be noted that the UN board is now very interested in you as well.” The President stated as an addition.
“If you’re asking me if I have the ability to make Gaia unseal dungeon gates at will, then the answer is obvious, I do.” Kailan responded without even the slightest fluctuation in his expression. He was still staring straight at Director Morris.
“This is incredible. If we can open sealed gates it would change many things.”
“Agreed. And he’s the only one who can do it so even among the foreign community we would improve our level of power and authority.”
The various people on the monitors began discussing the possibilities. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages. Kailan expected this. These people, even though they were supposed to be working with the global Hunters community, were really only interested in their own profits and benefits to this one nation.
“However, I won't open them for anyone.” Kailan interjected with enough volume that everyone could hear him, even over their chatter.
The voices stopped as they turned towards him in confusion.
“Mr. Jones. Are you saying that you won’t assist your country in securing a power that could not only save countless lives but also improve our presence among the other nations? Do you not realize the importance of…”
“Allow me to explain.” Kailan interrupted the woman who was just speaking. She was on the board of directors for the US Hunters Bureau and she had several American flags hanging on the wall behind her surrounding a cross. Clearly a strong Christian patriot. Kailan didn’t mind the cross but the 6 American flags were a bit much.
“Gaia is a system of law that was created as an aid to primitive species, allowing them to develop and evolve rapidly in response to invasions when the Dimensional Lock is breached every 10 to 15 thousand years. It was designed by the immortal race known as the Vintari and created by the Gods. But the Immortals and the Gods are all beings of equality and fairness. So naturally they included the invaders in their calculations, setting Gaia up to aid all life, but giving restrictions in order to protect lesser developed species.” Kailan turned his head to stare straight at the monitors as he continued.
“As a God I naturally have administrative access to Gaia. But that doesn’t mean that I will abuse that power. I am not a corrupt politician. I am not a general leading armies to defend the world. I am not responsible for the safety of this nation, this world or it’s people. I am a God, as such I treat all life fairly and equally. That includes those who are trying to invade this world. Normally neither the Gods nor the Immortals will break the sacred laws that govern Gaia and the other realms. However, in this case it was my sister, a family member of a God that was in distress, thusly I had the right to bend the rules.” Kailan’s smile never faded, he didn’t waver and he didn’t stutter. He simply laid out the truth before them.
If they didn’t accept that then there was nothing he could do to convince them, but it didn’t matter either way. He didn’t really owe them an explanation in the first place, he was only being considerate of the Indiana Hunters Bureau since they had already shown him a lot of kindness.
The woman who spoke with great patriotic gusto moments ago was about to say something, but before she could The President already began to speak.
“Am I to understand that under normal circumstances even you cannot unseal a sealed dungeon gate. It was only because your immediate family member was in danger that you were afforded an exception?” The President asked calmly as she watched Kailan intently.
“That’s roughly correct. Even the Gods have laws that they follow. Opening a sealed dungeon gate would normally be a violation of those laws.” Kailan responded.
“This of course is still under the assumption that you are actually a God. What proof can you provide us to show that you in fact have such a status?” The patriotic woman questioned once again. She didn’t really believe that Kailan was a God. She was a devout Christian so there was only one God in her heart. Which is why she didn’t like this boy who called himself a God.
“Proof? You’re asking that I show you proof of my existence? What gives you the right to demand that I prove anything to you and for that matter why should I care if you believe me?” Kailan cocked one eyebrow as he gave a teasing grin to the lady. He could tell she had no good intentions so he didn’t bother being polite. Again, he didn’t owe them anything.
“Son, you need to learn some respect for your elders. I am one of the board of directors for the United States’ Hunters Bureau, if I ask for something I expect an appropriate response, not your sarcasm.” Her face scrunched as she reprimanded Kailan.
Eva, Douglas and Director Morris couldn’t help but turn and stare at her with a confused look. They knew for a fact that Kailan was much older than anyone here despite his youthful appearance, so who wasn’t showing respect to their elders? He had already proven his age and Director Morris knew that he had included that in his report, so this director should already be aware of it.
Kailan didn’t bother responding again. He just rolled his eyes as he turned back to Director Morris.
“Was there anything else?” He asked, his eyebrow returning to its resting position.
The female director slammed her hand down on her desk as she stood up in a fit. It was an outrage. A child dared to disrespect her like this.
“Director Harris. Please sit down and calm yourself.” The President frowned as she looked at the location on her monitor where Director Harris, the female director that had just been speaking, was.
Director Harris straightened her suit jacket as she sat down once again. Her face showed her displeasure but she did her best to remove any emotion.
“Kailan, I do apologize if it seems there is some hostility here, it’s been a restless morning and the issue of your existence has all of us curious. As I’m sure you can understand the existence of any form of heavenly being is of great importance as well as great scrutiny, we must confirm all of the facts before we can accept such a being. I understand that you can direct Gaia to show information about yourself. Would you mind displaying this for us please, showing your age and if possible proof of Godhood for the record.” The President looked back towards the camera as her smile returned. She spoke in a very friendly tone.
Kailan actually rather liked this lady. She had been nice and respectful to him the entire time and he could tell it wasn’t a front or facade. She was genuinely nice and curious. He knew there was more to it of course, but it was enough that she was trying.
“Of course Madam President. Gaia, display my biographic information for the persons involved in this conversation.”
“Alert: Displaying God Kailan’s biographic information. Please standby.”
In response to Kailan’s command, Gaia brought up Kailan’s Biography page for everyone to see. The blue holographic screen appeared in front of everyone’s sight wherever they were.
[https://i.imgur.com/qD4HtZ7.png]
Everyone could see it, but it was hard for them to believe it. He really was a God and more than that, he was over a thousand years old. A God really had descended onto their world.