Chapter 252: Sending Them Off

"Do we really have to make it such a big deal?" I muttered, mostly to myself.

The reason why I’m saying that was because the three groups of Guardians that have been selected to head off for their expedition were now gathered in front of me on their knees

This time, Ava was grouped with Jia Lian while Sergei was being sent off with Kris and Valletta paired up with Leena. That left Liliac, Dan, Maylene and Olivia behind.

Liliac and Dan were my designated escorts while the rest were busy with their assignments.

We initially thought about only sending two groups but since Maylene has officially joined as a Guardian, we decided we could afford to send another pair.

Now... Like I said earlier... I really don’t see the point of making this so official looking where they have this ceremony where I send the Guardians off...

I thought I would just stand at the door and wave them off while wishing them good luck but no... We had to use that same room with that throne where they have this small ceremony of sending the two groups off for their assigned rifts.

According to Ava and the others... This would enhance the divinity granted to them or something so they can be protected better in my absence.

I don’t know how that works but I decided against questioning it and just went along with it.

Thankfully, I don’t really need to do anything much aside from just ’blessing’ them which basically just involves me imbuing them with some of my life energy which Ava and Valletta said was my Divine Blessing or something.

Ah.... And I also have to say some really cringe stuff too...

"Go now, as bearers of my blessing," I commanded, trying my best not to cringe while side eyeing Dan making sure that guy holds in his laughter.

The six Guardians in front of me lowered their heads as I granted them my ’blessing’ before I returned to the throne and allowed the ceremony to conclude.

I relaxed back in my chair and let out a groan once the six of them have stood up, signifying the end of said ceremony.

"Ughh... I’m tired," I groaned.

Olivia lowered her head slightly, "Thank you for the good work, my Lord."

Ava giggled as she stepped over to me, "I can certainly feel my Divine’s blessing on me now. I believe we should be able to deal with the rifts without any issues~"

I huffed, "Right... You guys are all packed right? I’ll make the teleportation door to teleport you guys to the airport later. If you guys need anything, be sure to let me or Olivia know."

Dan grinned from the side, "Like watching a mother sending off her children to school sia."

I rolled my eyes, "I’m worried about them, ok?"

"Yes, mother. They will be sure to be careful, mother," Dan chuckled.

I decided not to respond to that and created the portal to let the six of them teleport to the airport with their own bags in tow.

Once the last Guardian was through, I closed the door and dispelled it, letting my shoulders relax.

Dan pushed himself off the wall that he had been leaning on to head over to me, "So, what’s the agenda for today... Boss?"

I felt a shiver go down my spine, "Ugggh... Don’t call me that. That felt so disgusting."

"Yeah sure, whatever you say, Boss."

This guy...

Maylene hopped over to me, "I need your approval to sign off on some new projects, Qing! We’ve been working on some things including some new weapons that I think would be great if we could use them!"

So we’re moving to weapons manufacturing already? Well... I suppose that was already planned so it’s not like it’s a big surprise anyway.

I nodded at Olivia, "Have you looked through them?"

"I have, my Lord. I see no problems with them in the long term at least and they will be beneficial to us."

"In that case, I don’t see why we shouldn’t just proceed with the plans then. Is there anything of note that requires me to personally vet?"

"Mmm... Nothing serious I suppose? Unless something like a gatling rail cannon is something you need to take note of?"

I blink at her for a good few moments, wondering if I should check through what kind of plans she has after all before deciding that I didn’t want the headache and just shook my head.

"It’s fine, I trust you guys. You can handle it."

Right then, Olivia’s phone started to ring which she quickly picked up to answer the call.

She placed it on her ear and started listening in on the conversation for a moment before nodding to herself, "Understood. I will let my Lord know about it."

She then stowed her phone away before turning to me with a serious look on her face, "My Lord? It seems a new portal has opened up in Sembawang..."

I raised an eyebrow, "A new portal? I suppose they want me to take care of it then?"

"They are thinking of just doing an initial recon of the place first before they decide if the place should be cleared out or not."

In other words... They want to find out if the portal is profitable enough to leave around for us to harvest.

I raised an eyebrow, "Isn’t that place a rather populated area?"

"It’s located further to the north of that area, my Lord. Away from the residential area."

"Hmm... I see. When do they want us to deal with it?"

"As soon as you can, My Lord."

"Doesn’t that just mean right now? Well... I guess it’s not like I have anything else to do at the moment so we might as well go check it out."

"Not right now, my Lord. They are organising a Vanguard group as well to dive into the rift. They have to identify the danger classification of the rift, after all."

"Oh? In that case, I don’t exactly have to go as the Mortal God, do I?"

Olivia frowned when she most likely figured out what I was planning to do, "Why would you want to go as Qing instead of the Mortal God persona, my Lord?"

"Well, I realised that I haven’t actually made much of an appearance as Qing even though I’m recorded as being a Guardian. I think this would be a good chance to at least make myself known to the public to further sell the illusion, right?"

She paused for a moment before letting out a breath, "Why I do not deny that fact... I believe this is too dangerous."

I gestured to Dan and Liliac, "If you’re that worried, I’ll take them along with me. We can say that because we aren’t sure of the danger level of the rift, we are sending three Guardians for this instead of just two or one."

She turned to look at them, seeing Dan give her a thumbs up while Liliac just lowered her head nervously.

"I could join you as well, my Lord. And you can bring Maylene with you as well."

"Nah, that’s too many people... And besides, the both of you still have things to do here, right? Taking you along would disrupt that workflow. Besides, this is just a recon expedition, not a clearing expedition so we’re just going to hop in and hop out, which should be pretty easy right?"

She didn’t look convinced but Dan came up to wrap his arm around my shoulder, "Don’t worry, we’ll take care of him. We’ll make sure he stays out of trouble."

Olivia nodded, "In that case, I’ll entrust my Lord’s safety to the both of you."

Why does she trust Dan more than me?! That’s not fair! It’s not like I’ve done anything that would actually put me in danger-- Ah... I ran away with a building destroying bomb just the other day... I guess I am in no position to say anything then...

I waved at her, "Don’t worry. If things get too dicey, I will just use my Mortal God powers instead of being stupid and hiding myself the entire time, ok? I’m not that suicidal."

Everyone just stared at me like they really believe I would just hide my abilities even up till the last moment.

Seriously, I won’t, ok?

...

Not unless my revelation also puts my family and friends at risk so I guess I’ll just make sure that it’s really my last resort and I have no other choice before I do it...

Ok, fair enough, I have a problem with that... I guess I’ll really have to rely on Dan and Liliac to keep me out of trouble then...

Anyway... Since they are organising a Vanguard party to accompany us, that means it should be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow before we are needed.

Plenty of time to prepare~