The head office doesn't look too impressive among the many palaces of the hexmountain. Not that it is not impressive. It is large enough to match the council of the snow tribe. The people thronging the place are easily ten times that of the council,

  The reason for that is 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. As long as you have a problem in the hexmountain, you come to the head office.

  The only people who tend to be relatively independent of the head office are the legion. Even though they are forced to come here for quite a few things,

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

  The main reason for this is to protect the place against enemy attacks. At the same time, the guard corps need to come here so much that just setting up base here is the most efficient solution.

  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. It will work well for a supervisor about to chew out his underling for failing at his mission. You can make use of these rooms as long as you submit a letter about it beforehand.

  I am waiting for my supervisor right now. I guess I should explain how the guard corps works. Every ten guards in the guard corps has a supervisor. The supervisor deals with all the matters of their guards. This includes things like mission assignments and mission reviews.

  Naturally, what they do is more complicated than just 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.

  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 supervisor's commands when it comes to their underlings. When everybody speaks of the head office, it is this committee that everybody is referring to.

  Right now the major source of my worry, is that I don't know why my supervisor chose me. 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 rumors that I have heard about him are true, the man is supposed to be the smartest commander of the guard corps. I don't know If I have pissed the man off or not.

  Another problem is that he doesn't have the experience to deal with a new guard like me. As if that was not enough, the man has little experience with politically unstable situations like the one where I was put in. (Places where sending a strong person can have disastrous consequences) So there is that as well.

  On top of that the old ass doesn't have the patience to deal with the politics of the head office. I mean, the man looks like a young man who might have passed off 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. The way that my master behaves around that man he must be at the very least as old as my master.

  I wonder if I should be recording right now. After all the man could be reading my logs right now at this very moment. The supervisors are the first people in the hexmountain to read the logs of their charges.

  (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.

  Well, from the time that they entered the room, they had been sitting at 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 means I can't hear or see anything. 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. You suddenly have a mask that will be able to completely stop you from speaking, or make your voice only heard by a specific person. My favorite use of this is to make sure everybody can hear you. It is a pretty useful spell to inscribe onto crowns.

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

  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 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 even 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 off 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 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.

  "You defend your charge, Daniel.", 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, this is my first mission. If you could point out my mistake, I will try 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 behavior of the people who took the mission before me. In most cases, the guards and the scholars were separated when we went to that place. That is what my supervisor would have advised 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 any incident many times before. The other side has 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 an 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? You have abandoned this outpost of yours and traveled into the territory of a known enemy of the black mountain. "she replies, an edge to her voice that warned me not to push it with her. Before I can reply.

  "Leave it, Minerva. You know 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 druidic. 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 who 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 no relation to the druids, so let's hope that this lie won't be caught. Based on the twinkle in Daniel's eye, the man knows clearly that I am bullshitting. At least he seems to be on my side.

  "Fine, the last thing is a complaint from the Snowwind empire.", the lady speaks. "Regarding how you have broken treaties between the Snowwind empire and their enemy, the Snow tribe. The snowwind empire was pretty offended by this as well. Offended enough to make them our enemies. We had to concede quite a bit against them."

  "Well, I don't need to justify myself.", 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 was there with the clear intent to attack us. I just defended myself"

  The instant that I speak this I can feel a tingle on my back. Like I am about to be attacked this very instant. 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 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 colleague's 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 skill set."