It felt a little awkward for me to be facing both Minister Ma and Minister Ba after what had happened so I gave the excuse that I was recovering to avoid having to run into them again. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Thankfully, no one called me out for my bluff so I returned back to the camp inside the rift and went straight to my tent to ’rest’.

The ministers had already been escorted out of the right and from what I heard, they will have to meet again to discuss the agreement.

I was told that they could handle it on their own but I would be welcome to join them if I wanted to so I just gave the excuse that I needed to recover so they can go ahead on their own.

It’s not like I would be butting in on whatever they decide anyway so it wouldn’t really change anything even if I did attend.

Speaking of which, the miners were now instructed to increase the speed of their mining as they now want to close the rift as soon as possible.

Obviously they weren’t going to risk another breakout event after what just happened so they wanted to clear this place out and be done with it.

Anyway, even though I said I was going to rest, what I was doing was really combing through the area around the portal and the mining zone to clear out any other Anomaly that might have been hiding nearby.

I got the Vanguards to work together with my Guardians as we ran more patrols around to make sure no other Anomalies got past us, especially since the camp surrounding the portal was in tatters both inside and outside the rift.

I had originally considered moving my tent to the outside of the portal but that would also mean leaving the mining camp vulnerable so that wasn’t an option either.

Thankfully, I could teleport between the two places with the teleportation door and just clear out the areas around both places quickly.

And because I didn’t need to sleep as long as I absorbed the life energy in the air, I just kept patrolling around both camps for the entire day and a half after that without rest.

Sometimes even absorbing the life energy from the Anomalies themselves after purifying it just to keep myself up.

Olivia didn’t seem happy about it but she conceded that it was necessary to make sure both the people outside and inside the portal were safe.

And as much as she wanted to, even she couldn’t stay up and fight Anomalies without rest for an entire day straight either.

But she still set up a rotation with both the Vanguards and my Guardians to make sure that there was a team that was accompanying me at all times and also several other teams out on patrol to make sure the area was clear.

I was a little worried that there might be Anomalies that chose to remain small in size to sneak past us, until I remembered that we had already killed the Commander Class Anomaly which meant the remaining Anomalies should not be capable of thinking up a strategy like that.

My only concern was another one of those worms showing up but now that we know about them, we could also prepare for them as well.

But in the end, no more worms showed up anyway.

On the third day after the Rift Breakout event, they finally declared that the mining was complete and they were ready to pull out from the rift.

Unfortunately, they did not completely strip the vein clean of Mana Crystals as there were still some smaller outcroppings of them inside the underground cavern, but they decided it was not worth the time or risk to mine those and only stuck to the bigger veins.

With everything loaded up and ready, we began the journey back to the portal as we escorted the expedition back to the exit.

The Gatekeeper was tied up on a truck bed, ready to be executed once we reached the portal as well.

Everyone was still on edge and I expected for us to meet with some form of resistance on our way there but... Surprisingly, nothing happened to us.

I stood guard as the expedition moved through the portal, to leave the rift until only the Gatekeeper and my Guardians remained.

I turned to make sure my Guardians were also ready and upon receiving their nod of confirmation, I slammed my floating fist down on it, crushing it into nothing more than a blood splatter on the ground before leaping through the portal with my Guardians.

I popped out on the other side of the portal, appearing in the former clearing of the national park that was now in a devastated mess after the Anomalies had managed to break out from the portal.

Looking around, the Vanguards of the expedition team were all collapsed on the ground, all of them basking in the sweet relief of being able to come back out of the portal alive.

I guess after the Rift Breakout started, most of them were thinking that we would definitely be overrun by the Anomalies and take a bunch of casualties.

Good thing that didn’t happen.

"Thank you for the hard work, my Lord," Olivia commented beside me.

I turned to nod at her, "Mmm... All of you have worked hard too. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Thank you for everything these past few days."

"You have worked the hardest, my Lord. I believe you should get some rest once we return to the hotel."

I let out a sigh, feeling the tension bleed out from my body, "Yeah... I could use some rest and relaxation to be honest."

The people here would still have to go through an Anomaly scan just to make sure that no one was at risk of turning into an Anomaly while a convoy had been prepared for us to take us out of here.

Before I left, I still had to deliver a quick speech thanking everyone who participated in the expedition and I received a surprisingly big cheer from them when I was done.

I was wondering why they would be this happy until I remembered that this was basically a Danger Class Four rift and even if we did not mine out all the Mana Crystals there, there were still several tons of it which was pretty substantial even for a country as big as Thailand.

These people are going to get paid pretty well for this expedition if they weren’t getting short changed so of course they would be happy.

On the car ride back where I was riding with Olivia beside me, her phone started to ring and she picked it up to frown at the screen before answering it.

"Minister Ma? Can I help you? Hmm... Yes. I see... Please hold."

Olivia turned to me, "My Lord. Minister Ma is requesting to speak to you."

I took the phone from her and placed the receiver at my ear, "Minister Ma?"

"Ah! Mortal God! I heard from my men that the rift is officially cleared, am I right?"

"That is correct, Minister Ma. I’m currently headed towards the hotel right now."

"After all that you have done for us... Where you even went out of your way to protect our city. I would say that you more than deserve to receive the full extent of our city’s hospitality. But..."

"There’s no need, Minister Ma. I know that it’s difficult to expect things to be running perfectly right now especially right after an Anomaly attack. I would rather the city focus on restoring itself than trying to cater to me. After all, I can always come back another time."

"You really are benevolent, Mortal God. I assure you that I will personally make sure that the rest of your stay with us will be as comfortable as possible. If you wish to visit anywhere while you are here, do not hesitate to give me a call and I will make all the arrangements for you."

"That is very generous, Minister Ma. In that case, I might take you up on that offer."

"Please. It will be our pleasure to do so."

"I will have Olivia contact you if anything comes up then."

"Of course. Please enjoy the rest of your stay here, Mortal God. Once again, I thank you for helping my people and my country."

"The pleasure is mine, Minister Ma."

I hung up the call and handed the phone back to Olivia who was giving me a look.

"Should I arrange for a private tour, my Lord? Is there anywhere you would like to visit?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, I was just being polite with him, you don’t need to worry. Although... Hmm... Maybe I might just walk around Chiang Mai itself, you know? Since we’re already here. But as myself, not the Mortal God, if you get what I mean."

"I understand, my Lord. I suppose the other Guardians would also like their time off as well."

I nodded, "They deserved it. Let them have fun too. That includes you as well, by the way."

"You are too generous my Lord... But I will heed your words."

Good. She always likes to work all the time.

Alright... Guess I’ll be giving Dan that call after all~