The Martial Unity

“…True.” Rui concurred, before facing Kane and Fae.

“Sorry guys, but I really ought to visit the admission department support staff. That is one of the reasons I came here today, after all.”

“Sure, no problem, see ya later. We should hang out iny my place sometime.” Kane replied, earning a nod from Rui.

“I’ll be looking forward to meeting you once our academic year begins.” Fae bade courteously.

The two of them waved Rui off before setting out in the opposite directions, as though they did not want to spend any extra time with each other.

(‘What’s with those two?’) Rui couldn’t help but wonder at this point.

“You have some interesting friends.” Julian noted, throwing Rui a wry smile. “But they don’t seem to get along with each other for some reason.”

“Yeah, it’s strange. They’re acquaintances, probably because they both are direct family of Martial Sages.” Rui shrugged. “They must have some history together.”

“Hm, anyway, let’s go now.” Julian said as he led the way to down a long, large and ostentatious corridor. The décor was so extravagant that Rui couldn’t help but wonder whether he was in at a school or the Royal Palace. Gold, platinum, silver streaked across the décor. The architecture was so unnecessarily extra, it made Rui wonder about the actual purpose.

(‘It’s almost like the Martial Academy, no, the Martial Union is making a statement to all students who traverse its Academy.’)

It was one thing to rub in its prestige with facilities and amenities that had actual utility, it was another to spend resources on something so vain.

(‘It’s almost like they’re purposely competing with Royal standards.’)

He’d once seen what Royal extravagance looked like when he saw the Mantian Royal premises from afar a few years back.

(‘Maybe they are competing with the Royal Family.’) This was random pure speculation on Rui’s part. But he didn’t think that two separate entities with vast amounts of economic and militaristic power within a single nation would get along with each other.

(‘Not that I know anything about politics.’) He knew the bare basics back on Earth, and only the bare basis because he didn’t bother with politics, ever. He’d never voted even a single time in his entire life. Democratic or Republican government, what practical day-to-day impact did it have on his life?

Ultimately, ambitious rich power-mongers engaged in a squabble for more power and more money, most of which came at the cost of the poorest and most disenfranchised class of people of society. Back on Earth, he hadn’t even wanted to even dip his toes in this quagmire of modern society.

Fortunately, he made enough money to not be affected much regardless of how much the political landscape changed. His income was upper-middle class, and he led a frugal and liability-less life, with that much money, he did not need to give a shit and could engage in the things he cared about most, combat research.

(‘Though, maybe I should care for the politics in this world, to some degree.’)

The reason was simple:

The existence, as well as the impact of Martial Art.

One did not need to be a political pundit to see that Martial Art made a huge impact on political considerations, just the very existence of Martial Art was enough proof. It was highly likely the world would look extremely different if it weren’t for Martial Art.

As an aspiring Martial Artist and a lover of Martial Art. The impact of politics in Gaea would likely have a much greater impact on him, should he succeed in becoming a Martial Artist, than it did back on Earth. After all, back on Earth, he was nobody. Just another cog among another 320,000,000 or so Americans. But as a Martial Artist, he would be part of militaristically ‘elite’ one-percent.

Rui was not arrogant, but Martial Artists impacted politics much more so than other citizens, they were walking fully-autonomous armies. There was no way such power would not get mixed up in a political muck with or without their consent, as long as they lived in a society.

(‘If that is the case, I should be careful. I should also be more informed on the current political climate. In the future.’)

Rui shrugged. Making vague and generic precautious plans was the best he could do. He lacked too much information and too much power to even bother with anything more.

“Looks like we’re here.” Julian told him. They’d arrived at a large reception hall looking room.

“Fancy as always.” Rui noted. The room was filled with an array of counters with staff on one side and students on the other side, clarifying their doubts.

“There’s an empty spot there, let’s go.” Julian gestured. The occupied the seas opposite to an empty counter as a staff member greeted them.

“How may I help you.”

“There several things I’d like to learn more about, but specifically, I was hoping you could tell me more about the scholarship program.” Rui replied. This was the most important matter to him presently. He needed to qualify to get a scholarship, in order to that he needed to learn more about it.

The staff member nodded in response before replying.

“Absolutely. The scholarship program was set up to help students who are unable to afford the hefty tuition, housing and other fees that end up accumulating to a rather hefty amount per Academic background. You can incur the fees as debt and repay it back when you become a Martial Artist.”

“The information booklet provided specifies a specific mode of payment, correct? Can you tell us more about it?”

“Indeed. Let me give you a brief overview about the contracting system of the Martial Union before I speak about scholarship debt repayment. Once you graduate from the Academy as a Martial Squire, you will be negotiating a contract with the Martial Union that describes the payment structure/rates you will receive your payment with, in exchange for completing missions commissioned to the Martial Union by customers. So, for example, one common contract offered by the Union is the commission-cut contract, more commonly known as the Royalty Contract. You will receive a specific proportion of the commission fees paid by customers for a mission. Something like, say, forty-percent. So, if a customer commissions a bodyguard mission for a hundred silvers, for example, then you’ll receive forty silvers, and the remaining sixty go to the Martial Union.”

“In this case, if you have scholarship debt, then you may repay that debt by taking a twenty-percent lower Royalty Contract.” He continued.

“The Royalty Contract is only one type of contract that the Union offers, but going in depth into the contracting system is not necessary. The point is; no matter what kind of contract structure you negotiate with the Martial Union when you register, your debt will be accounted for in the contract and you’ll sign a contract that effectively reduced your income until your debt is paid.”

(‘Interesting…’)