"geezer, I will have you know that I am an extremely busy man. You can't just call on me whenever you want to".
Walking into the room, the first thing that caught Caius's gaze are the crystallized windows in front him. Laced with mural painting of a feminine figure with both her hands raised up above her head, putting on an indigo colored dress with a veil covering her head.
At the woman's left side, is a painting of an old man with pure white hair and fluffy long bears occupying his face, putting on a cream colored robe with collars covering up to his neck and the robe reaching all the way to his feet.
On the right hand side of the old man, is the painting of a middle aged man, standing with what can only be described as elegant and graceful. Cloaked in refined golden hair and dressed in silver clothing covering from his right shoulder and tracing it down to his waist, with his other body parts left naked, his pants colored blue with adorning patterns beautifying the sides.
"that makes the two of us".
Caius turned his gaze sideways, over to where the deep voice that had just spoken came from.
An old man with smooth skin, putting on a long box shaped cap, and grey cloths looking like multiple gowns stitched together.
The old man's hand were clasped together and placed on the long desk in front of him, as he sat on his chair with his gaze fixated on the door like he had expected Caius to arrive at that particular timing.
"let me be clear on one thing. I don't care what it is you have for me, I am not interested. That is what I came here to say".
Caius not even bothering himself with showing respect to the man with age clearly far above his, relayed his words to the Emissary and turned his back getting ready to leave.
"good. I received a request message from the guild's council, something about a monster of an unknown rank almost destroying a city, and killing a considerable number of adventurers and ordinary citizens combined".
The Emissary brushed aside Caius's words and proceeded to feeding him the information on the mission that was to be given to him.
Caius was forced to turn back and face the Emissary wondering if the Emissary had not heard what he said.
"did you not hear what I just said".
"i did. I just thought your words were not worth adhering to. I want you to get yourself ready and be on the case as soonest as you can".
The Emissary continued to ignore Caius with his eyes staring directly at his as he gives out orders to him.
"geezer, I don't care what it is you say, i, am not going anywhere".
"is that so...."
The Emissary released his hands, and rubbed his fingers together, with his eyes still on Caius.
"i won't fall for your intimidation this time geezer".
Caius said with his body starting to falter and his gaze becoming unsteady.
"this is going to be fun".
When Caius entered, Ignatius had already left his head to go attend to the cookie jar sitting on the shelf behind the Emissary.
It saw the uprising tension between the Emissary and Caius, and went to sit on the Emissary's head with its legs crossed while enjoying the tension between the two.
"king spirit of fire, will you do me the favor of telling your contractor over here to get himself moving to where i sent him, lest he wants to face the ire of the Gods".
The Emissary, called upon Ignatius to convince Caius into accepting the mission, mainly because he does not want to resort to means that would make it look like he was extorting his rights as a human.
"Ignatius, if you aren't going to help, then shut up".
Ignatius about to open its mouth and intervene, was immediately silenced by Caius.
"geezer..."
Caius's tone this time was different from the demanding one he had been using earlier, almost like he was trying to cuddle up to the Emissary.
"come on geezer, work with me here. I am not the only Cardinal present you know?..., why do you have to call for me everytime when you can just split the work amongst all of us?..., or is it because I am the youngest Cardinal?, is that why you are treating me this badly".
Caius's expression looking curious on what the Emissary would say to his outburst, and filled with a sense of being looked down upon by the Emissary.
"yes. Yes, I did pick you because you are the youngest of the Cardinal's".
The Emissary without a change in his cold expression, straightforwardly answered Caius.
"so you are really looking down on me".
Caius said with an hint of disbelief.
"on the contrary, it is the reverse".
"what do you mean...."
He was confused with the Emissary's words. All this while, he has always been the only one called upon by the Emissary to deal with menial stuff, ones that even the Paladin themselves could deal with.
As someone who is in a group designated as humanity's strongest, he found it ridiculous that the Emissary stooped his level so low that he is being handed over the works of Paladin who at most are of S ranks.
The Paladins, are the troops used by the Sanctuary Of The Holy Congregation in maintaining order amongst fellow human kingdoms.
Unlike the Cardinal's who are only set on protecting humanity from other race, the Paladin's primary job is seeing to it that the human kingdoms stay loyal to the Sanctuary Of The Holy Congregation.
The Paladins are in no way meant to interfere in the internal affairs of a human kingdom, their authority only extends to when its the human kingdom against the religious order led by the Sanctuary Of The Holy Congregation, the highest religious order of humanity.
A human kingdom fighting another human kingdom, is none of the Paladin's concern. They are only active when it has to do the with religious order. There are also other instances where the paladins can be deployed when facing against threats extending to another race.
The Paladins compared to the Cardinal's, pale to them in the amount of authority each of them has. Caius being aware of this, felt very hurt every time he is summoned to do the job of a Paladin.
This time, he has decided to be very blunt with the Emissary by outright refusing him, even though he is aware that terrible repercussions might follow.
"like you said, you are the youngest amongst the five Cardinals. Being that, you lack the necessary experience needed to act as a Cardinal, but what I am doing, is giving you that experience".
"by having you complete missions here and there, not only will you become more widely recognized, you will also be gaining more followers and solidifying your position as a Cardinal".
The Emissary was getting through to Caius by showering him with vocal sweetener.
"now do you see what I mean when I said it's the reverse?. I am not looking down on you, I just want to make sure you do not fall behind the rest of the Cardinal's because you are the youngest of them".
Caius's eyes lit up after finding out the true intentions the Emissary had towards him. Knowing that he wasn't being neglected and looked down upon but actually being given a chance to be on equal grounds as the other Cardinal's, he couldn't help but to be excited.
"okay geezer. If that is your intention, then who am I to say no to that. I will take on this mission of yours, no matter how big or small it is, I will take it all on".