I stepped into the lobby and looked around to find where the reception counter was.
But just like the last time I was here, before I could even find the counter, another guy in a suit approached me, this one was bald and had a short beard framing the bottom of his face.
"Hello. Do you need any help?"
I nodded, "I was supposed to report here for… Erm… My promotion?" I explained, showing him the letter I received.
He frowned, "Your promotion? This… Is not the standard letter that we would send out for a Vanguard to have a promotion… Did you--"
The letter was suddenly ripped out of the guy's hands by a red skinned hand.
"What's this?" Olivia asked, pretending to read the letter in her hand.
The bald guy quickly stepped back, "Ah! Miss Olivia?! This young man came in claiming that he received a letter for a Vanguard promotion, but as you can see… The letter is not the standard ones that we would send out. I believe there might be a problem…"
"Hmm… I see. Come with me," She gestured at me and I didn't hesitate to follow along behind her.
She once again led me through the same corridor as the last time but this time, instead of taking me down the lift to the place where she revealed my Mortal God status to me, she brought me to an office on the top floor of the building instead.
I'm guessing this was her personal office since there was a plaque outside that read 'Dir. Olivia' on the door.
She shut the door and closed the blinds of the window before she gestured for me to take a sit on the chair in front of her desk.
But instead of sitting behind her desk, she remained standing beside it instead.
She picked up a remote and turned on the television screen at the side of the room, showing a reporter standing at the park near my house as people dressed in suits were cordoning off the crater where the portal had once been.
She didn't say anything and just raised an eyebrow at me.
I grimaced, "Yes… That was me…"
She nodded before switching off the screen, "My lord… Could I assume that the fact that you've returned here…"
I pursed my lips, "Before that… I want to know what you would have me do? I know that there's at least some expectations of me if I were to take this position."
"Just like all the other Mortal Gods… You would be the pillar for this nation to allow us to stand on the same level as the other nations that have their own Mortal God."
"Are you expecting me to fight against the other Mortal Gods?"
"We dare not dictate to you what you should or should not do, my lord… But we will recommend against trying to fight against a more experienced and stronger Mortal God…"
"So what exactly do you want me to do?"
"To close portals and protect our country from invasions against Anomalies and to aid in the fight against them while also protecting us from other threats that are beyond a normal mortal's means to solve. Additionally, other countries would also request for your aid in closing portals as well and we would need you to help them as well."
"That sounds… Very generic?" I pointed out.
"It is meant to be like that, since we still do not know the extent of your abilities and nor do we know about your own personal beliefs, my lord."
That's a convenient way of just basically saying 'We don't trust you but we still want you to use your abilities for us'.
But if I'm not wrong, I should be able to change anything I don't like as long as I put my foot down on anything that I do not wish to do.
Like if they told me to start a war with some other country, I could just simply say no and there's nothing they could do about it. Not that they would ask that to begin with of course. Not when everyone's content with just keeping the peace now.
I gave her a look, "You know what one of my conditions is, right?"
She nodded, "You wish to keep your identity a secret as much as possible to protect your family and keep them out of the public eye."
"Yes. Can that be done?"
"We will do our best to keep the identity of our Mortal God anonymous, but what about the staff that would be working with you?"
"Do you mean the people you will be hiring as my Guardians?"
Olivia nodded, "We can keep the normal staff from knowing your face but we most likely won't be able to keep your Guardians from finding out what you look like."
I know that having Guardians would be something that was inevitable. Despite how powerful Mortal Gods are supposed to be, they are not invincible.
Back then, people actually believed Mortal Gods were omnipotent and invincible so they were basically running around challenging rifts on their own and clearing them solo.
But just last year, a Mortal God from the Euro Council League was killed in the rift by Anomalies and mutated into the most dangerous Anomaly anyone had ever seen before.
They crossed over into our World and twelve Mortal Gods had to be mobilised to take it down and three more Mortal Gods died while fighting it, leading to the creation of the Guardians and the rule that Mortal Gods must never be in a solo expedition ever again.
'Coincidentally', it also became accepted that polygamy was expected from Mortal Gods which was why most people saw Guardians as their harem.
And since this system was still in its infancy, there's still some kinks that needed to be ironed out as people figured how Guardians should work alongside the Mortal God.
So I already knew that having Guardians with me would be inevitable and while I could just wear a mask to hide my face in front of them as well, there was also another issue…
As everyone is already aware that Mortal Gods have the aura around them that prevents their followers from being affected by the rift's miasma, they figured that they are also able to share some of that aura with their Guardians.
It's not entirely clear what the exact conditions are to share that aura, but one of the confirmed methods was that the Mortal God and the Guardian have to have some sort of intimacy between them. Which is why the Guardians were basically seen as the Mortal God's harem.
So for me to have that intimacy with my Guardians, I would most likely have to show my face to them.
I sighed, "I do not mind that. I actually had the idea that perhaps I could even just masquerade as a Guardian to the public so that I would have an excuse to be here."
Olivia thought about it for a moment, "I see. That is a good idea, my lord. We can put you as one of the first Guardians for yourself and that would be the public's perception of you. But would that be fine? Your identity as a Guardian would also be quite risky."
"It's way less than being identified as a Mortal God… And as long as my family is protected, that is good enough. I assume that you will protect my family?"
"Of course, my lord. I will make the arrangements to have them relocated."
I shook my head, "I do not want to force them to move… When do you intend to go public with my Mortal God status?"
"Anytime that you are ready, my lord. We will have to make an especially public appearance to make sure that there's no doubt that we do have a Mortal God. So we would require you to show your divine artefact at that time."
"That's fine. In that case, you mentioned about the protocol when a Mortal God awakens here, right? How is the progress with it?"
"We are already prepared and ready to go, my lord. The protocol involves setting up departments and facilities to accommodate the new Mortal God. The facilities have already been mostly complete since this ministry building had been initially set up to accommodate our own Mortal God to begin with so it simply involved the movement of some personnel and equipment to make things ready for accommodating you as well as the support personnel that will be keeping the place up and running. This place would also serve as the accommodations for your Guardians and yourself which would give us better security if everyone is located in the same place instead of being separated. The next step right now would be to screen for Guardian candidates after we make the official announcement."
"That's… Surprisingly efficient," I admitted, not hiding the fact that I was obviously thinking they would take weeks or even months to do any of what she just said but apparently they already prepared everything within just a few days. That is scarily efficient.
Olivia bowed, "To hear that praise from you makes it worth it, my lord. Though I will not lie that there are many within the cabinet who wish to turn our country's current status around as soon as possible. Which is why they made sure that the moment a Mortal God awakens within our territory, we would be ready to initiate this plan anytime we want."
I see… In that case…
"I'm ready then… Let's get this over with. What do I need to do?"
She straightened herself, "My lord, forgive my impudence for asking this… But have you found out which myth you are the avatar of?"
I shook my head, "I don't exactly have the luxury to explore much of my abilities at the moment. The only clue I have right now is that jade book."
"Then we don't need to rush for now. I can arrange for a press conference tomorrow to formally announce your presence to the world. I would say that is the most optimum time since the event at the park has already been spread around. Would that be alright?"
I nodded, "That's fine. I'll take this time to understand more about my powers as well."
"That would be for the best, my lord."
Guess this is really happening now.