The Martial Unity

(‘The fact that he doesn’t want to draw attention is a good sign,’) Rui mused. It indicated that the Martial Union wanted to keep whatever matter it wanted to discuss low. Sending in a Kandrian carriage from the local Martial Union embassy was probably not the most subtle manner to go about it. Such movements would obviously be noticed instantly.

As for the topic that this Martial Commissioner Reze wanted to speak to the two of them, Rui already more or less knew what it was. He prepared himself mentally for a heavy conversation as the two of them reached the carriage.

His eyes narrowed when he realized that his ordinary senses could not particularly penetrate the carriage effectively as they normally would. Although it looked like an ordinary multi-passenger carriage, it was clearly fashioned for more than just ordinary transport if it was equipped with sensory-jamming esoteric technology.

Still, it didn’t pose any hindrance to Rui’s Riemannian Echo. Inside he sensed a man accompanied by two subordinate staff members.

(‘Is that…?’)

His question was answered when he entered the carriage along with Kane, sitting opposite him. It wasn’t until the door closed that the man sitting opposite them addressed the two of them.

“Squire Quarrier, Squire Kane, I am Martial Commissioner Reze.” The man displayed a sincere smile. “It is a pleasure to meet two of the most promising Martial Squires of your generation. I have heard much about the two of you, especially you Squire Quarrier. Tales of your feats and contributions to our Union have spread even when you were a mere Martial Apprentice. I’m happy to have met the two of you who will surely go on to become pillars of the Martial Union and our nation.”

The man’s attitude was welcoming and soft. Despite his far greater authority, he did not put on airs or look down on them.

This was within Rui’s expectations. He already knew that the Martial Union’s code of conduct for non-Martial Artist employees, regardless of their rank, was strict. The Martial Union was an organization for Martial Artists through and through, thus it ensured that non-Martial Artists in power or otherwise would never use their position against the Martial Artists members of the Martial Union directly or indirectly. There were even strict guidelines against employing intimidation against younger and weaker Martial Artists such as Martial Apprentices.

He had already experience with commissioner Derun. She too had treated Rui hospitably despite having greater power and authority than he did. All of the human employees he had ever dealt with always acted with deference towards Martial Artists regardless of how great or humble their authority was.

It appeared that Commissioner Reze was no different.

“You flatter me,” Rui replied perfunctorily with a mild smile, as Kane simply nodded in concurrence.

He was comfortable being Rui’s hype man while Rui dealt with the Martial Union.

“I’m sure you must be quite curious as to why I wanted to speak to you with such short notice,” The man smiled amicably. “I will get right into it immediately. We have made some shocking discoveries recently. Discoveries pertaining to the two of you, you see.”

He paused for a moment, observing their reactions.

Rui was completely inscrutable. Commissioner Reze was impressed that he was able to mask his reactions so well, even if he knew that Rui had undergone diplomatic training. Kane on the other hand, also did well due to his background in covert missions which required some training in non-verbal communication.

“You see, this is classified information, but I have been authorized to tell you that the Martial Union has been invited by Chairman Deacon to join an alliance that will cooperate together to take down the Voider, one way or another,” The man replied amicably. “The Martial Union was provided with intelligence on the Voider by Chairman Deacon. It was only when we noticed some similarities between the techniques of the Voider and a certain external member of our Union, did we start looking into the matter deeply. Long story short, a full-blow investigation led us to a pair of individuals who have been evaluated by our Intelligence Department as extremely likely candidates for the identity of the Voider. Isn’t that amazing, Squire Quarrier?”

The man smiled gently.

Neither Rui nor Kane responded immediately.

“Ah, this carriage possessed the finest anti-espionage esoteric technology, based on certain esoteric substances that you yourselves should be familiar with,” The man explained. “Furthermore, I myself have come here through extremely covert means. Not even the Embassy is aware of my presence here. No one is, outside of these two staff members.”

He referred to the chief of staff and his secretary sitting beside him.

“Do not be afraid of any data leaks either,” The commissioner informed him. “We have taken extraordinarily prudent steps ahead of time to ensure that none one is aware of the information that I have just divulged here.”

He finally stopped, waiting for Rui to reply.

Rui sighed. “I assume it was a combination of the Void Step technique, as well as our transaction history and a deeper investigation into our locations that revealed something was off, correct?”

The man raised an eyebrow. “That’s exactly it, actually.”

Rui sighed. Although he had done a good job throwing them off, he did not think that his preparations could be able to throw off the intelligence department of the Martial Union forever. The problem was that their intelligence-gathering ability was extraordinarily deep, and he would need to spend years preparing, and even expend a lot of capital if he wanted to truly throw them off. The measures he had taken were much more rudimentary in comparison.

“As for the high probability evaluation of those two suspects being the Voider, that probably came from rigorous tracking of our presence and movements, more than anything, correct?”

“Right again,” The man nodded. “Frankly, your counter-intelligence measures were impressive. You very correctly understood the protocols of the system of intelligence gathering of our Intelligence Department, and very cleverly exploited the limits of our passive intelligence gathering capabilities. The Intelligence Department has even made adjustments to its second-hand intelligence network systems in light of this event. We cannot afford to be fooled so easily, after all.”