The War Council, as an entity that was theoretically free of national loyalties, occupied the top floor of the Guardian Barracks. The Guardian Barracks itself looked like a plus sign, and if Gaius squinted hard enough, he could try to make out the map of the Five Lands from it. It was, according to a random blurb stuck on one of the many pictures littering the hallways, to show that this was a warfront made by every single continent.

“Still, what’s the point of doing that if they’re going to separate their offices by continents?” Gaius mumbled, his eyes taking stock of the fact that the top floor of the eastern wing belonged to the Eastern Territories. A map of the area, which one could find virtually anywhere, revealed that the four wings of the top floor had been allocated to their corresponding counterparts on the map of the Five Lands.

“A blend of both unity and sovereignty?” Isabelle ventured a guess. “No state wants to be subordinated to another. Maybe it’s trying to tell us that while they’re working together, they’re working together as equals.”

Gaius puffed out his cheeks and thought about her words, which made a lot of sense. “In that case, the entire layout of the Guardian Barracks is wrong.”

“I didn’t say it was correct, did I?” Isabelle replied, pushing a door open. “They should really update the maps. The Western Holdings are so far west that they’re the first to experience sunrise.”

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t make for a good symbol.” Gaius eyed an array of purple flags, which were all emblazoned with a black plus sign. From that flag’s ubiquity throughout the top floor, it was clear that this was probably the flag of the War Council or of the Five Lands, although the fact that he’d never seen it anyway else was rather odd.

“Still, that’s a lot of conference rooms,” Isabelle muttered. Her eyes darted from door to letter and from letter to door, and the tapping of her right foot continued to speed up for every door she looked at. “Conference Room 12…found it!”

Gaius reached out and held her left hand with his right. “What’s wrong? Are you nervous?”

“Nervous?” Isabelle looked down on her free hand. “Maybe I am, I guess.”

Her eyes scrunched up together as Gaius patted her head and ran his fingers through her hair. “There, there.”

“Who do you think I am, Nakama?”

The two laughed, and Gaius took a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s see what the rulers of the Five Lands have to say to us, shall we?”

Turning the handle, he pushed the door open. Tens of gazes fell onto him at once, and for a moment, Gaius keenly felt the urge to apologise for entering the wrong room, before making a break for it.

Fortunately, at the head of the table was a familiar face. Paragon Ying Xin, who was probably chairing the meeting beamed at the sight of his face, before flying over.

“Hiya, Gaius!” Her monstrous claws reached out to rub his head and cheeks, and a small chill came from his side, where Isabelle was at. “You finally dropped by, eh? We’ve been making bets on how many hours would pass before you came by, and I must say, you came at a really excellent timing.

Gaius extricated himself from the very maternal Paragon and cleared his throat.

“Oh, and that must be Isabelle. That’s you, right? Here, come over and let auntie give you a hug…”

He stifled a smile as Paragon Ying Xin buried Isabelle’s face in her chest. Isabelle struggled fruitlessly, before going limp moments later. For some reason, however, Gaius had a feeling that the Paragon had called upon her Dominion to overcome any resistance, which was decidedly overkill.

Handing back a dazed Isabelle to Gaius, the Paragon turned to him. “I heard you brought a small family along with you. Does that include Nakama?”

Gaius nodded numbly.

“Excellent. There are very few kids here, which does make life a bit dull. The old fogies behind me” —she waved her hand at the stunned group of bigshots sitting around the table— “are very nice people, but they also happen to be very dull.”

The old fogies in question didn’t look very happy at those words. However, was she really in the position to actually call other people old fogies? Gaius rubbed his nose. He had a feeling that the Paragon was also quite old too…unless, of course, she was speaking in relative terms.

He decided not to think too hard about it.

“So,” said Gaius, “should we get this meeting started?”

“Oh, yes. Of course.” She cleared her throat, sent a long, penetrating gaze at the people seated around the long table. “Hold on. Why are there no open seats for the guests of today’s meeting?”

A small flutter ran through the group, but before she could say anything, Gaius had conjured a small grey table and two similarly coloured chairs. Directing them over to one side of the room, he said, “We’ll make do with this. Please, do start.”

The Paragon levelled a ferocious glare at the others, and then sat down after passing a small stack of papers to Gaius. Clearing her throat, she looked through her papers and said, “We’re here to handle the unique tactical advantages that the…Lost Star provides on the battlefield. For those who are unaware of his specialties, Annex One has the relevant details.”

Curious, Gaius and Isabelle took the first document of the stack, noted the title, which was ‘Annex One, parts (a) and (b)’, and started to read through it. It was actually a comprehensive evaluation of his capability, and from the structured way it was written, Gaius could guess that there were probably other people who had been given such a treatment too.

It was unlikely that such a document would be made for every single Guardian, but there were probably others who had their own unique specialties too.

To be honest, it was rather scary to see their assessment of his all-round combat ability, and his face turned into a mask of iron as he continued to read. They had pinned down his first notable appearance correctly, as the assassin who had tried to kill the Last Star. There was nothing much to say about the battle in the East, since Gaius had displayed his capabilities there.

“Still,” Gaius muttered, “how did they know I killed a Demigod when we departed from the Conference of the Four?”

Isabelle mulled over his words for a moment. “Maybe the North played a part too.”

Gaius looked at the meeting participants, who were all clearly from different nations, and agreed with her assessment.