The Martial Unity

Bella shook herself out of her reverie and nodded seriously. Just then;

“Miss!” Her attendant called out.

“Puth, are you okay?” Bella asked, concerned, receiving a nod in return. Thankfully the men had merely had her open the door and snooped around looking for their target and left when they couldn’t find her.

Bella glanced back at Rui. “We need to leave this district immediately. I’m heading south, towards the outskirts of the town before catching a cargo carriage towards the neighbouring town of Laxus. We need you to accompany and protect us within Hajin.” She insisted.

Rui nodded. “We can talk later. Right now, we seriously need to go.” he said, before turning to face Puth. “However, you are not under my protection and having more people will only slow us down.”

Bella grimaced, slowly nodding before turning to her attendant. “Puth, I cannot have you accompany us any further. The journey will be too dangerous, return back home.” Not giving her attendant any choice in the matter.

She turned back to Rui, before nodding. “Let’s leave.”

Rui nodded in return. “You’re too slow, I’m going to need to carry you until we reach find a rickshaw or reach a place we can lay low.”

“Eh?”

“Time is of the essence.”

He swooped in, lifting her in a princess-carry, before activating Balanced Direction, Parallel Walk and Helical Breathing. Despite the hindrance and burden, he was still able to sprint at a speed beyond the human limit. In the meantime, Bella awkwardly held onto him embarrassed as she tried not to let her grip slip at those immense speeds.

It wasn’t that Rui wasn’t cognizant of her awkwardness, or even his own. But it wasn’t important. Her life and the mission was at stake, only a fool would let something like embarrassment get in the way of success.

“Was it okay to not kill those men?” She asked a pertinent question.

“If this was an ordinary bodyguard mission, it wouldn’t be a problem.” Rui stated. “Problem is mass murder is extremely high key and will draw far too much attention. Law enforcement officers will be all over the place and will be out looking for us and even the Martial Union might be involved, and not in a good way. Killing them will draw even more attention to us and make a clean escape much, much harder. It’s better to just leave them, and do our best to reach your destination.”

Bella was young, not a fool. “Furthermore, the policing officers would only take us in, have us make statements before releasing us without protection, since we cannot produce evidence of ill-intent on my life and well-being. You’re right, killing them has more downsides than upsides.”

Rui nodded silently. In truth, there was an even greater reason he had chosen not to kill them.

He was not prepared to.

He had never killed a single person in his life, he had never felt the urge to, asides from the instance of kidnapping in his childhood.

He was glad that there was solid rationale to leave them alive, he wasn’t sure he would be able to kill them one-by-one.

He inwardly sighed. (‘This is a problem I’ll need to fix. The Martial World is filled with death. There are those who kill, and there are those who will be killed. I need to fall into the former group, not the latter.’)

Thankfully he still had some time before he would be forced to make that choice. He needed to condition and train a mindset that was willing to kill if needed. It’s not that Rui was an extremely pacifist or kind person, but as a person who spent fifty-nine years in a world where murder was deeply abhorrent, it was not easy to become comfortable with killing.

Despite carrying another human, Rui was able to reach the closest district fairly quickly. He even avoided routes where they would inevitable be seen and would draw attention.

“You need to cut or hide your hair.” Rui insisted. “That drastically lowers the chances of someone being able identify and remember us if your pursuers ever investigate in this district.”

She nodded, tying up her hair as tightly as she could before covering it with a cloth garment she had. “You need to get rid of that uniform as well, that will draw attention since Martial Apprentices are rarely spotted in these remote districts.”

Half an hour later they had checked into a cheap inn. Rui had long taken off his mask, wearing clothes that Bella had quickly bought from the closest inn, while covering his hair with a tied cloth like Bella had. His hair was too attention-drawing and distinct, not to mention the annoying superstitions that would, no doubt, make this mission harder.

Both of them had ensured that there were no distinct traits that would allow the Lowminer gangs to be able to identify them and recount information should they be questioned.

“It’s time for us to talk.” Rui said, sitting at the other side of the room. “The more you reveal, the better I’ll be able to guarantee your safety.”

Bella sighed. “What do you want to know, specifically?”

“The scope, power, influence and a general threat evaluation of your pursuers.” Rui replied. “Your objectives and plans. Remember, the maximum timeframe of the mission is three days, I can’t hang around you forever.”

Bella nodded, sighing. “I’m being pursued by a large powerhouse in the esoteric industry of the town of Hajin. Although unclear, they have connections to the mafia and often employ gang violence indirectly. Their objective should ideally be my capture alive, allowing them to coerce me into handing over my shares one way or another.”

Rui nodded, in thought. “That man was definitely trying to apprehend you.”

“As for my plans. My father’s company has branches in towns where the Lowminers haven’t expanded yet. My greatest likelihood of survival would be to reach those branches and consolidate safely.” She explained.

“I have a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead.”