I waited in the camp for the ministers to arrive, Olivia having brought out a chair for me to sit in front of my tent like some general from a period drama waiting for the messenger to arrive.

"How long more?" I asked.

Olivia brought out her phone to check it before answering, "They are on the way, my Lord. Perhaps another minute or so."

"They aren’t walking here, are they?"

"Not at all, my Lord. They are using vehicles to get here."

As expected I guess. I can’t imagine them making the ministers walk all the way here...

I’m a different case of course, since I’m a combatant while they aren’t.

Since Olivia said that it would take them a minute, I decided to just stay where I was and wait for them.

At least... That was my plan until I spotted the appearance of a demon Anomaly suddenly appearing in the distance.

I leapt to my feet as the demon ran towards the direction of where I believe the ministers’ convoy was, clearly having spotted them and intending to attack them.

Shit... I knew I had a bad feeling about this!

I was just about to concentrate on trying to open a teleportation door there when an explosion struck the Anomaly in the chest, forcing it to a stop in its tracks. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

I paused as well and watched as the Anomaly was hit by another explosion, this time forcing it back a step.

Several shadow spikes then struck it in the face, piercing through various parts of its head to turn it into a pincushion.

Even with that, the Anomaly was still not dead yet as it raised its arm and tried to smash down on the convoy.

In response, a blue shield appeared in the air, blocking the Anomaly’s fist from descending all the way before it was shoved against the chest of the Anomaly, sending it stumbling back again.

More shadow spikes struck its head before another explosion blew through its chest, finally killing the demon.

I watched as the demon Anomaly tipped over and crashed into the ground, throwing up a smoke cloud that was visible even from here.

Hmm... Good thing I send those three to escort the ministers I guess.

If it weren’t for them, they might be in pretty big trouble.

I let out a sigh before sitting back down in my chair, prompting Ava to let out a soft chuckle.

"Fufufu~ My Divine truly is a worrywart, aren’t you?"

Olivia scoffed, "My Lord cares for the people, there is nothing wrong with that."

"Ara? I never said there was, ufufufu~ I was just thinking that my Divine is really cute for worrying about that~"

For some reason, these two seem to be at odds with each other for reasons that I can’t fathom.

I don’t think they hate each other but they seem to at least have some sort of rivalry between them...

Maybe it’s a race thing or something...

I chose not to speak and simply waited for the convoy to show up.

Less than a minute later, I could see the dust clouds moving towards us as the cars they were riding got closer and closer to the camp.

I had expected them to be rolling in with black sedans or limousines but it turns out, they had taken armoured troop carriers instead.

Yeah... It would be pretty stupid for them to just drive a normal car into a place like this I guess.

Following alongside them were also trucks and lorries that were undoubtedly here to transport the latest batch of Mana Crystals out of the rift, with a few that were carrying more equipment and workers to presumably bolster the workers already here.

I counted eight troop carriers in total as they came to a stop inside the camp, allowing the occupants inside to disembark while the industrial vehicles went straight to the mining area.

While a few of them carried soldiers, most of them seemed to be Vanguards who were sent here to bolster the security as well.

One of the troop carriers peeled away from the group and moved closer towards the middle of the camp before stopping, allowing the two ministers and their escorts out.

They took a moment to look around before they spotted me, both of them immediately making a beeline towards me.

Minister Ba was the first one to reach me as he quickly made a show of giving me a worried look, "Mortal God! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Huh, he’s asking this despite the fact that his convoy was just attacked?

I waved my hand at him, "It’s alright, Minister Ba. Aside from some surprises, I wasn’t really hurt during the expedition. I have to say that I’m quite fortunate to have had prior experience dealing with Anomalies on the same level as this one before I came here."

My words were completely curated for this exchange to make it sound like I was inconvenienced but was still able to deal with it.

We had to make sure to show that the incorrect information caused some damage to us without making it look like I was too weak. Having a balance was crucial here.

Minister Ma quickly stepped beside him and placed his palms together to bow his head as low as he could.

"Mortal God! I have to apologise for this! I will find out who was responsible for this oversight and punish them appropriately!"

I waved my hand at him, "You need not go that far. I understand that in a rift, things are unpredictable and anyone who enters a place like this is risking their life to do so. What I would prefer, however, is for you to find out why such a blunder was made to begin with. At least find out the reason why before we pass judgement."

He looked up at me, "I... I understand. As expected of a Mortal God, your benevolence is truly beyond us."

Well... Once again, that response was also curated for this particular exchange.

Our goal was to find out whether this was truly just a bunch of people making a genuine mistake and reporting the wrong Danger Class of the rift... Or this was a targeted attack aimed at me or whichever Mortal God or Guardian that might have led this expedition.

Who knows, it might even be a spy sent from another country that was meant to destabilise Thailand’s relationship with the Mortal God’s country as well.

If Minister Ma were to jump straight to punishing the people and executing them, then the reason would be kept in the grave with them.

I waved my hand at him, "Think nothing of it. Anyway, I doubt both you and Minister Ba came all the way here just to say that right?"

I turned to jerk my chin at my foreign minister.

Minister Ba quickly took over the conversation, "Of course. I mean no disrespect, Minister Ma... But with the new information that we have uncovered, I think it’s safe to say that our previous contract is now null and void and a new one needs to be approved as soon as possible, yes?"

The Thai foreign minister did not disagree, "Of course, Minister Ba. Once again, please accept my apologies for this blunder."

"Our Mortal God has already forgiven you, Minister Ma. We should just think about the future instead. Shall we?"

Minister Ma nodded and turned to his escorts to jerk his chin at them.

All of them quickly moved forward and started setting up a table and chair in front of me, the two ministers occupying the two far ends of the table while I sat in the middle between them once again.

Minister Ba motioned for one of his escorts and he came forward holding a briefcase, unlocking it to allow the foreign minister to pull out a folder which he opened to place in front of him.

The same guy went over to Minister Ma and placed a similar looking folder in front of him as well, prompting the Thai minister to start scrutinising it.

I wasn’t expecting it, but it seems like a copy was also prepared for me and a folder was presented to me as well, letting me peruse it.

Minister Ba started speaking and I only half listened as I read the folder’s contents, "We don’t mind keeping the previous agreement in the shares of Mana Crystals with an eighty-twenty split between us. But in exchange, we want to increase the amount of foodstuffs being exported on your side as well as gold. On our end, we want you to increase your imports of our machinery and integrated circuits. Also, I’m proposing a new trade for Mana Crystal goods including equipment and machinery related to Mana Crystal productions."

Minister Ma was careful in keeping his face blank, "I see... This might strain our economy a little though... How long will this agreement last?"

Minister Ba was about to answer when a tremor rocked through the earth under our feet, the tremors big enough to shake the entire table in front of us.

All of us paused to look around and I could feel a sudden shift in the air.

That bad feeling I was having... It just got even more intense...

What’s going on now?