The Martial Unity

Soon enough, it was time to leave.

The G’ak’arkan Tribe had no formal system of governance and power; thus, the transfer of power from daughter to father was effortless and instantaneous.

Rui and K’Mala departed from the island after bidding Ceeran goodbye, who chose to spend more time studying some of the unusual techniques of the tribe in detail.

“What kind of place is the Kandrian Empire like?” She wondered.

“…Big,” Rui muttered. “It’s hard to describe to a person who has lived on an island her entire life. But, the Kandrian Empire is absolutely enormous.”

“Bigger than Vilun Island?” She asked with a flash of curiosity.

Rui snorted at her question. “A billion times larger. Let’s go, I’ll show you.”

BADUMP! BADUMP!

They activated their Hearts and Minds as they surged towards the Kandrian Empire at top speed. With the speed of a Martial Master, they were able to cover an enormous amount of distance in a short amount of time.

When she beheld the east coast of the Kandrian Empire, she could not help but gasp at the sheer scale of civilization that she witnessed.

An enormous spread of buildings and harbors spread across the entirety of the coast of the Port Town of Farund, stretching beyond where the eye could see. She marveled at the infrastructure of the buildings that littered the enormous town and beyond.

She could not help but gasp at the sheer number of ships that came to and left from the harbors across the entire port town.

It was beyond anything she had imagined possible.

“Incredible…”

She could feel the bustling energy of the people working in the town brimming with energy, one unlike anything she had ever seen in Vilun Island.

“The Kandrian Empire’s maritime industries have increased astronomically in the past three years thanks to the efforts of my father and half-sister,” Rui informed her. “Since then, we have connected with the entire world through the Great Nam Ocean, strengthening our position in human civilization even as our enemies try to harm our connections to the world.” He smiled as he enjoyed her unadulterated reaction to the Kandrian Empire.

Although he was nationalistic or patriotic, he did take pride in the Kandrian Empire. It was far from perfect, but considering how the other powerhouses turned out to be, he was definitely proud of the way that the Kandrian Empire turned out to be as a nation.

It also put into perspective the things that everybody took for granted.

The wonders of human civilization were miracles in and of themselves to people like K’Mala, who came from a small island with nothing. This was especially true for the Kandrian Empire, which was trending to be a powerhouse among powerhouses.

For the first time in his life, gazing at the Kandrian Empire, he truly felt like he was a prince.

It was a truth that never fully sunk in, at least not in his feelings.

Yet, looking at the visible awe, admiration, and amazement on her face, he felt proud of the Kandrian Empire as its crown prince, as someone with the birthright to rule over the Kandrian Empire.

Of course, he still wanted nothing to do with actually ruling the Empire.

Yet, nothing fell off about the strange contradiction.

He shrugged as the two of them headed deeper into the Kandrian Empire, traveling slowly as they took in more sights and places.

Mundane things that Rui had seen perhaps a million times were able to sprout a variety of emotions in K’Mala.

“What’s that?!”

“A bridge.”

“And that?!”

“A carriage.”

“And this?!”

“A canal.”

They arrived at their destination, and Rui gently indulged her curiosity all the way through.

“And… what’s this?” She whispered with awe.

“This…” Rui slowly descended. “…Is the headquarters of the Martial Union.”

K’Mala had never seen an establishment so absurdly enormous.

The headquarters of the Martial Union was large enough to be considered its own town, even if very small. Within it, all major decisions impacted not just the entire town or even region but the entire nation and all of East Panama.

It was difficult for K’Mala to fathom that it was possible to even create something this large.

“Go,” Rui instructed. “I have informed the Martial Union of your decision. A team of assistants and managers who have been trained in the Vilun Dialect is waiting for you. Thus, you have nothing to worry about. They’ll aid you with everything you need and need to do to join the Martial Union and partake in the war. They are even authorized to give a briefing on human civilization.”

She turned to him.

“You won’t be coming?”

He shook his head. “I have pressing matters to attend to.”

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Alright, then, can we meet again?”

“When you’re done with the most important matters, I suppose. That can take some time. As I said, I have important matters to attend to. But, we’ll be seeing each other soon enough.”

She nodded. “Until then.”

Rui heaved a brief sigh as he watched her enter the Martial Union headquarters.

He was not good at regulating relationships. However, it didn’t appear that she was too interested in pursuing a deep romantic relationship with him.

That was good.

While he indulged himself with her, he was not willing to pursue a relationship yet. He was quite certain about that. He had too much to do, to work on before he could even seriously

consider it.

His eyes narrowed as he grew more serious.

He had had his fun on the island.

More than he should’ve.

But now that he was back, he couldn’t afford to waste more time.

Two particular matters of import came to mind.

One of them was the matter regarding his sect.

He wasn’t enthused about it and reluctantly accepted it as a prudent measure if he ever hit the

bottleneck.

Now, however, he wanted to establish another tool that could help him reach the Sage Realm.

The second matter was actually more urgent consideration.

“I need to decide where I will be deploying myself in the war for allies.”

His significance in the war was so high that wherever he chose, it would definitely impact the

situation.