I leaned back on the chair under the tent that they had set up in front of the mining area, a table with an assortment of snacks and drinks beside me.
All the Vanguards were currently resting in their own makeshift camp as the miners moved in to set up their mining operations to start extracting the Mana Crystals.
The Gatekeeper was already secured on the bed of a truck which we would deal with later once we have completed the mining.
Judging by the progress of the mining, we might be stuck here for the next two days until everything is mined.
I remember having to lay my own sleeping bag on the ground in my previous expeditions but now…
I looked back at the gigantic tent they had set up which was exclusively for my use.
They even gave me a choice of building an actual hut for me but I told them that was a waste of time and resources and a tent would do, and this was the result.
Olivia was also by my side and made sure that my cup was never empty and I didn't need to lift a finger for anything.
It felt weird to be waited on like this.
Seeing that there was an awkward silence right now, I tried to strike up a conversation.
"Umm… Olivia? Are you sure it's alright for you to be here? Don't you need to coordinate the mining operations?"
"Not at all, my Lord. We have the mining chief who would be in charge of that. Making sure that you are comfortable is way more important than anything else for me."
"Shouldn't the mining be more important?"
"My Lord, without you, there will be no mining."
True that…
I leaned back in my chair and let out a sigh, only for me to wince as pain blossomed from my side.
Olivia was immediately kneeling at my side in concern, "My Lord? What's wrong?!"
"I almost forgot I got punched by that Anomaly earlier…" I groaned, lifting up my shirt to see a bruise around my ribs area.
Olivia furrowed her brows, "When?"
I waved around vaguely, "Just now while we're fighting the Anomalies. It's fine, don't worry about it."
Unexpectedly, she grabbed my hand and gave me an especially serious look, "My Lord! I… I will accept any punishment!! Deal with me however you see fit! Just… Just please… Give me another chance!"
I frowned, "I already said not to worry about it. This isn't your fault anyway."
"For me to allow such a wound to be inflicted on you… It can only be due to my negligence!"
"Olivia, we were all fighting that giant Anomaly. There's bound to be someone who might get hurt during the fight. This is nothing."
"I am your Guardian, my Lord. My duty is to protect you from harm. A mark on your body is an indication that I have failed in that and neglected your protection during the battle!"
Geez… She's really taking this that seriously?
I guess I should have expected that considering the type of person she was.
Which means that I most likely wouldn't be able to convince her to drop this through words.
I let out a sigh, "In that case… Let me name my punishment for you."
She bowed her head, "Please!"
"I punish you with the task to get me an ice compress."
She looked up at me, clearly not expecting that simple of a task to be classified as a punishment.
"That… My Lord… That isn't…"
"Are you going to dictate what kind of punishment I can and cannot give now?"
"No! No! I dare not!!"
"So what are you waiting for?'
"I will be right back!!"
The red Oni quickly ran off, leaving me alone.
I let out another breath, wincing when that also made the bruise hurt.
I guess I can only take shallow breaths right now.
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, believing that this would at least make it hurt less.
As the darkness claimed me and my breathing slowed, my body relaxed and I felt the tension I didn't even realize I had slowly bleed out from my body.
But as time went on, I noticed that a very small speck of light seemed to be floating around the edge of my vision.
When I tried to focus on it, however, the light disappeared, only to reappear again somewhere else.
I was quite sure that wasn't just a fragment of my imagination so I tried to relax myself and just allowed my concentration to wander.
Even when the light appeared, I ignored it and just focused on my breathing and the darkness in front of me instead.
Soon, more of those specks of light started to appear and they hovered around the edge of my vision.
I still tried to keep my concentration on my breathing and the darkness instead of the light and they slowly floated away from the edges to get closer to the centre instead.
Very slowly, more of them joined in and they seemed to be floating in a sort of spiral pattern where they joined in the centre like water flowing into a drain. Except that the drain was me being in the centre.
Just as one of them was nearing the very centre, a voice woke me up from the side.
"My Lord?!"
I opened my eyes and everything around me seemed to be lit up before it suddenly darkened, like someone had been shining a light on me and only just switched off the light.
I turned to see Olivia staring at me in worry with an ice pack in her hands.
"Oh, you're back, Olivia. Thanks."
She blinked at me, "My Lord? Were you… Doing something?"
"Hmm? Not really? I guess I was just trying to breathe to make it hurt less. I feel like it's swelling up right now so it hurts to breathe too hard."
She shook her head, "No… Just now… You were glowing… And there were balls of light surrounding you. Did you discover a new ability?"
Now it was my turn to blink at her before I looked down at myself, "I was glowing?"
"Ah… Did I… Interrupt something and trouble you again?"
"No, I wasn't even aware of what I was doing before. You said that I was glowing?"
She nodded, "There was even some kind of light projection underneath you… I was worried that you might be in danger."
"Hmm… That is interesting… This might be tied to what kind of myth I had awakened. Do you think you can help me take a picture of me when it happens again? I'm going to try and get into the same state again."
"Of course, my Lord. Please leave it to me. But… What about this?" She asked, gesturing to the ice pack.
"Just leave it on the table for now. I'll use it later."
She did as I asked and whipped out her phone, ready to take a picture of the phenomenon again.
I sucked in a breath, wincing once again when I forgot about the bruise and stopped myself before slowly letting it out.
I then closed my eyes and concentrated on my breathing, waiting for the specks of light to appear again.
…
…
Hmmm? If I remember correctly, it should have already appeared by now but no matter how long I waited, it did not appear.
Was there some other requirement that needed to be met before they will appear?
Or… Was it because I am now expecting it to appear so it isn't appearing anymore? Or maybe because Olivia is here so it no longer wants to appear?
Without any clues, it's hard to know what exactly the problem was…
I opened my eyes and turned to Olivia, "Did the light appear?"
She shook her head, "No, my Lord. Is it because I am here?"
I scratched my cheek, "I think there might be certain requirements to have it appear… I just need to figure out what. It's fine, I'll experiment on it later. Thanks."
She frowned, "I… Did nothing to deserve your thanks, my Lord… Once again, I have troubled you. If I had just kept my mouth shut, it might have given you another chance at obtaining another ability…"
"Or I might have exploded, you never know. It's fine, Olivia. I'm still just trying to figure things out right now so it's better to be careful. If you hadn't told me about this, I would have never realised that this was even happening to begin with, so you do deserve my thanks."
She stared at me for a moment before she turned away, "My Lord… You are too kind…"
I don't really think this is 'too kind' but more like just acting in common sense. But I guess if I were to consider how other Mortal Gods might act, I might just be an outlier.
Whatever, those are thoughts for another day… First things first, give me that ice pack…