The Martial Unity

“You’re telling me those idiots refused us again?” Senior Ceeran frowned. “Why can’t they be objective and rational about this? No matter how you spin it, it’s a great deal! They’re lucky we in the Martial Union have decided not to pursue a forceful approach!”

He turned towards Rui. “So, what are you planning on doing?”

Rui considered the question for a brief period, before sighing. “The most important matter to understand is the core reason, or reasons, that they do not want to engage in a trade. If we can understand that, we can come up with a better plan.”

His fingers drummed on the table as he was deep in thought. “Still, there are measures we can undertake regardless.”

“And what might that be?” Senior Ceeran asked inquisitively.

“The G’ak’arkan Tribe does not have a good idea of what our techniques are capable of,” Rui stated. “At the very least, they do not have as much of an idea of what it is we are capable of as we do of their capabilities.”

“That is true, sir,” Stemple, one of his assistant diplomats, said before continuing. “However, this is usually not a problem as we readily demonstrate the basics of what we are offering once the intent to cooperate has been established. The issue here is were unable to even reach the stage where we can arrange for a demonstration of our techniques to them,”

“That is definitely one of the issues here,” Rui nodded. “The impression I got is that the G’ak’arkan Tribe definitely thinks their techniques and Martial Artists are superior, regardless of how true it is or isn’t. I suspect their ignorance of our capabilities is definitely getting in the way of productive exchange.”

“Then all we have to do is show them what we are capable of!” Senior Ceeran declared.

“Yes, but we cannot be too direct and overt about it. That will be interpreted as a challenge to their capabilities. At the very least, we cannot walk up to them and rub our prowess in their face. That would definitely be seen as an affront to their pride and a challenge, based on what happened in previous negotiation talks.”

Rui gave Senior Ceeran a measured look, who, to his credit, noticed and even understood what Rui was trying to convey.

They both knew that in his previous negotiations with the G’ak’arkan Tribe, Senior Ceeran had rashly used a long-range technique in the middle of the negotiations with the G’ak’arkan Tribe. It had instantly caused hostilities to break out and the G’ak’arkan Tribe came close to war with the diplomatic convoy that had been dispatched to the G’ak’arkan Tribe.

Rui found it truly astonishing that even after going through some diplomatic briefings under the experienced and wise Carl, he still thought using a powerful Senior level technique in the middle of an official meeting was not a bad idea.

“Well, if you’re not going to go up to them and shove the technique in their faces, then how are you going to solve this problem?” Senior Ceeran.

“There are other ways to demonstrate our long-range capabilities implicitly,” Rui informed him.

He got up abruptly before Senior Ceeran could respond.

“I need to speak to Martial commissioner Derun, I’m afraid. The plans I have in mind cannot be implemented without her help,” Rui informed them.

He walked away to his own quarters briskly as he considered the matters at hand.

(‘It’s not just a matter of demonstrating our techniques blindly. We need to make them feel the need for our techniques otherwise they will never truly accept our deal,” Rui had carefully paid attention to the demeanor of Senior F’ahru.

The man was either ignorant about the Martial Union’s techniques or also deluded that theirs were better, or both. Furthermore, the G’ak’arkan Tribe did not have a pressing need for what the Martial Union had to offer, thus there wasn’t a pressing incentive.

(‘They neither know, are too proud to express care, nor need to care,’) Rui summarized three of the intangible barriers that had gotten in the way of a successful negotiation.

These problems had not been highlighted during his briefing program under Carl, and Rui could understand why.

(‘The problems I had faced are problems that had never been faced before, probably because no one had even reached the stage I have,’)

This wasn’t a statement coming from arrogance. It was a rational observation and inference. The first set of diplomats sent were normal humans who earned no respect from the G’ak’arkan Tribe which only respected Martial prowess. The second set of diplomats sent were Martial Artists who botched the negotiations by triggering hostilities due to crude negotiation approaches.

Rui had faced neither problem. He was powerful enough, or at least appeared to be thanks to the Mind Mask technique, to earn the audience of one of the most powerful Martial Artists and leaders of the G’ak’arkan Tribe. Furthermore, he had directed the negotiations in an ultimately safe manner. While he did provoke Senior F’ahru, he had shielded himself by cleverly appealing to the pride of the G’ak’arkan Tribe, while his predecessors had wounded their pride foolishly.

Rui would need to come up with a plan to bypass all of those barriers and obstacles to eventually get them to agree to engage in a trade of techniques with the Martial Union.

(‘One thing is for sure, negotiations alone aren’t going to pierce the barriers of ignorance, pride, and aggressive competitiveness of the G’ak’arkan Tribe.’) He sighed.

Just talking to them was not sufficient. Senior F’ahru had sternly ended every attempt at alluring the G’ak’arkan Tribe to the trade. He even crossed the line and promised things he wasn’t necessarily allowed to as an experiment, yet even those were shut down.

Which meant he needed to implement measures outside of the diplomatic negotiations to get the G’ak’arkan Tribe to acquiesce.

(‘This will be fun,’) Rui smirked as several ideas popped into his head regarding how to handle and overcome these issues.