Location- Central Region, Central Capital, Unknown, Field Marshal Office
"You are wrong, it is Gilliam himself," Henricks said, identifying the grimoire ID calling him.
"He called you directly? Should his call not be forwarded to your office's communication staff? Since when did you start giving your personal grimoire ID to anybody with less authority than a General? Heck, as your disciple I did not have your personal grimoire ID until I actually became a General," demigod Baylor complained feeling a little dissatisfied toward his mentor.
Field Marshal Henricks ignored Lt General Gilliam's call and looking at this complaining disciple he said, "Here's a fun fact, every General has an assistant of Lt General rank in demigod Realm. When you got promoted as a General, there weren't any Lt General of the demigod realm willing to serve as the assistant to the General, under you. I could have let some semi-demigod realm Lt General fill that position but then others would use that to undermine your authority. So my office reached out to a few outstanding Lt Generals of the demigod realm, asking them if they were interested in filling the position.
Ever since I became a Field Marshal, when my office asks something they don't hear a no for an answer, but that day, everyone that my office reached out to rejected them, including Gilliam. I don't blame them, you have achieved what they couldn't in one-fifth of the time of their entire lifespan. They were both embarrassed and jealous of your achievements. Working under somebody younger would be a constant reminder of that embarrassment and jealousy. Having achieved the demigod realm, these card apprentices are proud, stubborn, arrogant people and they have every right to be as they have achieved what billions of others could only dream of.
So out of respect for their hard work and dedication, I did not try to force them with my position's authority. Instead, promises were made, and let's just say except for Gilliam, others valued their pride more than their ambition. That's how he ended up with my grimoire ID."
"Then you highly recommended him to me so that I would not go through the list of candidates for my assistant and learn that not many people were in favor of my new promotion. You did not have to do that, you know. I wouldn't let something so little get to me," demigod Baylor appreciated the fact that his mentor was looking out for him but he could not help but feel that his mentor was underestimating him.
"Kid, I knew you would not understand. That's the reason I acted on my own," Henricks shook his head seeing how his disciple was still underestimating the role of office politics, sometimes he cannot help but wonder how he made it this far with this mindset.
How could he not get the simple fact that as the only General with an assistant in the semi-demigod realm, it would not be hard for other Generals to undermine his authority? A capable and powerful assistant was very important as on most occasions when the General was busy, the assistant to the general acted as the substitute for the general. Now how would a semi-demigod fair against demigods? Even though their titles were the same, people did not need reasons to undermine the only semi-demigod in the room.
*Knock* *Knock* The assistant to the field marshal entered the building, after knocking to let her intrusion be known. Before she could speak about her purpose of intrusion, the field marshal spoke, "Is it Lt General Gilliam?"
Hearing the field marshal, the assistant was surprised because he was correct, "Yes, sir. Do you want me to put him through?"
Turns out, since the field marshal was not answering the call to his personal grimoire ID, Gilliam decided to call his office with no other options left. Clearly, he knew visiting Soldier Queen Colleen and informing her that they were opening an investigation into her family would only hasten his journey to the afterlife.
"No. Inform him that the field marshal knows about my orders to him. And he should keep the field marshal updated about his mission," Before Henricks could answer his assistant, demigod Baylor answered.
Had someone else dared to do this then the assistant to the field marshal would have yelled capital offense and subdued the culprit waiting for the field marshal to give out punishment fitting the crime. But she knew demigod Baylor was the field marshal's favorite disciple, so she overlooked his offense and looked at the field marshal waiting for his orders.
"Are you sure the people behind him will reach out to me to call off his mission?" Henricks asked his disciple.
"They will have to unless they don't mind sacrificing a Lt General and demigod realm pawn. Besides, once he makes it to the southern royal warp array, I will call him and cancel his mission. This just a gamble, if it works it will save us a lot of time," Learning that Gilliam was not his mentor's rat, demigod Baylor became cautious because as his assistant Gilliam had a lot of power in his command base, he could not just ignore this rat like the others crawling in his base.
"Since you have thought it through, I will go along with it," Henricks said and then signaled his assistant to follow his disciple's arrangement and added, "Ask the personnel to track Lt General Gilliam's call logs, I want to know who he is in contact with within these few hours."
"Will do field marshal," With her new orders the assistant exited the office.
"You have the authority to do that?" demigod Baylor asked his mentor in disbelief.
"Now you know why I don't need to place my people by your side to monitor you," Henricks said, enjoying the look on his disciple's face. Track call logs of Lt General and a demigod one of the few perks available to the Field Marshal.