The Martial Unity

Rui began absorbing the relevant data that his father had prepared for him after departing from the Royal Palace. His father knew exactly the kind of information that he would need in order to ensure that he would be able to finish his mission without a hitch.

As he familiarized himself with data surrounding the Shionel Confederation’s socioeconomic parameters as well as numbers on the Bradt Distribution Services’ operations and businesses, he gained a much better understanding of the man’s circumstances.

“The Shionel Dungeon has truly served as the breakthrough that propelled his business to even greater statuses in this sector, allowing him to become the sole oligarch of distribution and transportation,” Rui muttered. “Tsk, this fellow has truly benefited from me.”

It was no wonder that he had been willing to invest heavily in Rui’s political campaign for the throne.

On top of that, he still had one Martial Sage on retainer that was entirely answerable to him as per their contract. This was in exchange for turning one of the floors of the dungeon into a Virodhabhasa Church Town.

It was none other than Sage Sariawar.

Rui’s eyes narrowed as the darkness in his eyes stirred ominously.

He hadn’t forgotten what Master Uma had told him.

Master Deivon, one of his greatest beneficiaries in a time when he was at his most vulnerable, was dead.

He had sensed that she was telling the truth thanks to his vastly superior Martial Mind. It also meant that the official story about the man was a lie.

The official story was that he was in isolated training with Sage Sariawar herself.

In that case, there was a good chance that this Sage was responsible for what had happened. She was undoubtedly aware of the fact that Master Deivon was dead.

That wasn’t the only piece of evidence that Rui had.

He recalled how eighteen years ago, when he had been attending the banquet after winning the Virodhabhasa Martial Contest, Senior Frinjschia had warned him about the fact that there were powerful beings in the Theocracy that had had their eyes on him. She had warned him to pick a Sage-level nation to hide in.

At the time, he had no idea who she was referring to.

Now, however, he had a faint suspicion.

Whether Sage Sariawar was merely covering up what Master Uma had done or involved to a much more sinister degree than he could have expected, he wasn’t sure.

Regardless, he looked forward to speaking with her directly. At the very least, he could try to see if he could confirm whether she had something to do with the death of Master Deivon.

And if she had…

Bloodlust erupted from the depths of his eyes.

“I’ll kill her myself.”

Of course, it would need to wait until he reached the Sage Realm. Rui was nowhere near the level where he could extract personal revenge for the unjust death of Master Deivon at the hands of those who sought to impose their designs on him.

But he was willing to be patient in this regard.

There was no doubt that Guildmaster Bradt had benefited greatly from her services; just the fact that his company could deploy the services of a Martial Sage on retainer was truly incredible and almost unprecedented in the business world.

“That might also be a reason that he isn’t too moved by breakthrough offers, although he undoubtedly regards them as precious.”

There was another variable that came into play when it came to the dynamics between himself and the guildmaster.

“I still owe him a solid favor,” Rui groaned.

It had been twenty-one years since then, yet, that favor was something that both of them remembered very well. It was not a light favor either; Rui or his family might have ended up dead if it had not been for that.

Still, as Rui grew stronger and stronger, the favor grew increasingly burdensome. It had been most burdening when his identity as a prince was revealed, for it meant that the man could extract significant returns. However, even then, he had waited for Rui to become Emperor before cashing in the favor.

“And now that that didn’t work out, he’s going to want something else.”

It all depended on what the man wanted.

Frankly, Rui had so many things that everybody wanted that he was unsure of what the man would ask for.

Would he ask for something that leveraged Rui’s status as prince? Or perhaps his outsized influence within the Martial Union? Or maybe he would request for Rui to grant him the services of the Silas Clan?

It wasn’t entirely clear.

Regardless, Rui knew that it wasn’t going to be easy predicting how their negotiations would go with this little variable that could potentially change the entire equation. He had no intention of dishonoring his word. He was truly grateful for everything that the man had done more than two decades ago.

On top of that, he also felt a hint of guilt at having scammed the man out of massive donations and investments for his Royal Campaign.

And perhaps, most importantly, if he refused to repay the favor, then it would be no different from telling the guildmaster that he couldn’t be trusted to keep his promises. In which case, why would Guildmster Bradt believe the extravagant promises that he made on behalf of the Kandrian Empire when he could not repay a simple favor?

Rui would have to be extremely careful in how he approached this meeting, and he could not be too dismissive of the guildmaster’s promises. He also could not make massive concessions that would undermine the offers that they were planning to give him in exchange for his

allyship.

It was a problem that required finesse.

Thankfully, Rui had received both training and experience as a diplomat. Thus, he was not out of his comfort zone when faced with this delicate hurdle.

He immediately dove into chalking up his diplomatic strategy for maximizing his success in obtaining the objectives that he had set out to reach.