The Martial Unity

“Hm.” Headmaster Aronian nodded. “Interesting letter. You don’t want Squire Dylon to be penalized for his actions?”

“Yes sir.” Rui nodded, affirming. “He certainly didn’t mean any harm and the accident wasn’t truly his fault. I’m certain I could force a similar reaction out of every Martial Squire that wasn’t aware of that capability of mine.”

“You can, can you?” Headmaster Aronian chuckled.

“I’m certain that I can.” Rui reaffirmed, projecting confidence.

In truth, he didn’t truly know that for a fact. But he wanted to make sure to convey that Dylon wasn’t particularly at any fault.

“Your statement will be taken into consideration. However, not only can I not promise anything, I cannot divulge any information on the matter to a mere student.” Headmaster Aronian firmly said.

“I see, thank you for hearing me out regardless, headmaster.” Rui sighed. He couldn’t really do anything beyond appealing for Squire Dylon.

“As for the other matter mentioned in the letter.” Headmaster Aronian glanced back at it.

“I believe it’s time for me to leave the Academy. I just wanted to consult you on the matter.” Rui confirmed.

“Hoho.” He chuckled in response. “I do not have any input to offer outside of encouraging you to do what you feel is best.”

“I see…” Rui murmured. “In that case, I would like to graduate as soon as possible.”

“Alright then.” Headmaster Aronian nodded. “That can be arranged. Your learner’s license will be updated to a full-fledged Martial license once you do graduate and the debt you undertook when you enrolled in the Acadamy will be in effect in the new contract you sign with the Martial Union. You do recall the terms and conditions of the contract, yes?”

“A quarter of my earnings of the fifty-fifty split goes to the Martial Union until the debt is repaid” Rui nodded, sighing.

This meant he would receive only thirty-seven-point-five percent of the total commission paid for every mission he successfully completed. The silver lining of the matter was that the Martial Union did not charge any interest over debt. As long as Rui paid back the exact amount he had borrowed, the debt was considered settled.

This was an odd policy on the surface, but Rui understood the reason for it. The fundamental and most important goal of the Martial Academy was to produce as many competent Martial Artists as possible, not to make as much money as possible. Crippling young graduates with a brutal interest rate that would compound over the years and suffocate them for more than a decade was not the intention of the Martial Union.

Enacting such a policy would only reduce the power of these young Martial Artists due to their inability to purchase techniques and training resources due to being crippled by debt. It would also result in an increase in the mortality rate of young graduates while completing missions due to hindered capability to purchase necessary and vital tools needed for completing missions, like potions.

This was a disastrous outcome for the Martial Union. Thus, the debt did not compound interest. Nor was there a time limit to the debt. It did not shackle the young graduates, merely put pressure on them to complete missions at a higher rate.

“It’s a good thing you have accumulated a lump sum of Martial credits.” Headmaster Aronian chimed in. “Credits can be exchanged with the Kandrian currency, and you’re going to need funds immediately after you graduate.”

Rui nodded. Once he graduated, he could no longer mooch off of the Martial Academy for providing the resources needed for completing missions. He would need to purchase every tool, potion, mask, and other item mandated and recommended to be carried by the Martial Union.

All this time, the Martial Academy had funded the supplies for those resources, and the debt he had incurred included the cost of three years’ worth of supplies of needed resources. It would take him a long time of sustained missions to repay all of the debt he owed the Martial Academy and the Martial Union by extension.

“Have you decided what classes of missions you are most interested in?” Headmaster Aronian asked.

Generally, Martial Artists used their time in the Martial Academies to get a good understanding of each class of missions before sticking to one, sometimes two classes of missions. Generally, offense-oriented Martial Artists stick with offense-oriented missions, and occasionally hunter-class missions. Defense-oriented Martial Artists did the same with defense-class missions and hunter-class as well. However, the situation was usually more complicated for non-specialists, especially non-specialists like Rui who was an all-rounder.

He had no particular affinity to any of the classes of missions in particular. Since his last training stage, he had mastered techniques that would allow him to be competent at even shadow-class missions.

“I’m afraid I haven’t decided yet.” Rui said. “I think I’ll just stick to all classes, I don’t have any particular affinities within them and I do think I would be better off if I periodically completed missions from all of them. I was especially surprised at how well a lot of miscellaneous missions suited me.” Rui noted.

The representative missions with Nartha gave him a chance to test himself against a wide variety of Martial Artists. He had served as her representative fighter many a time.

“I see.” Headmaster Aronian nodded. “That is a model that most all-rounders like yourself adopt, however that needn’t be the case with you.”

“Why do you say that?” Rui asked inquisitively.

“Because you have garnered a large number of personal commissions.” Headmaster Aronian replied simply. “Thanks to that you have gained access to commission opportunities that most Martial Artists won’t.”

“Ah…” Rui scratched his head awkwardly.

His commission inbox had blown up with commissions from many elite and wealthy clienteles across the nation. There were a number of reasons for this. His fame as the Martial Contest finalist, his fame in the Martial Games, and the fame he acquired thanks to killing Squire Freelia Caella. He had become a bit of a celebrity in the Martial circles of the Kandrian Empire.