The Martial Unity

“But how?” The Esoteric Princess demanded with a stern tone. “How do we actually fight him? It is true that the self-limitations he has placed on himself cancel out how dominant he is, but it is still beyond what we can handle. Even if he limits himself to using his power as a carrot in negotiations, that is still a very large and irrefusable carrot!”

The air in the meeting tingled with a hint of tension at the agitation of the Esoteric Princess.

And yet, Princess Ru remained calm.

She simply leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table as a harmonious smile of relaxed certainty emerged on her face.

“Your concern is valid, yet myopic,” she remarked. “As I mentioned, the gatekeepers of victory are the high-ranking officials of the government who are needed for the Royal Crowning Ceremony. Unlike in the previous throne war, all high-ranking officials in the current government are far from greedy or corrupt. We are hand-picked loyalists approved by none other than our father to the nation. Our loyalty is as high as our competence. In other words, these people will not care for personal interest. The only criterion they will operate by is which candidate’s ascendancy will be of the greatest net positive to the nation.”

“And even in that regard, the Void Prince and whoever he endorses as a candidate will be unstoppable, will they not?” The Princess of Peace muttered. “After all, the Void Prince could simply leverage not offering his gifts to the nation if his candidate was not selected. And he could simply offer even more gifts to the nation if his candidate is selected. Isn’t that just utterly a guaranteed victory?”

“Not quite,” Princess Ru continued with a calm tone as she turned to her older sister to the right. “The reality is that most officials in the government do not have a high opinion of the credibility and trustworthiness of the Void Prince for obvious reasons. Of course, this would not have mattered if he were willing to use force directly, but it does matter since he has limited himself to a more harmonious method of ending the throne war. In order to ascend the throne harmoniously, you need trust.”

“I think you’re downplaying how much influence he has.” The Human Prince shook his head. “The simple fact of the matter is that government officials will probably be too afraid to anger him. It doesn’t matter if they trust him or not; if they’re too afraid of him, then they will support whichever prince or princess he chooses to endorse.”

She shook her head. “You do not possess an understanding of the psychology of the high-ranking governmental officials. As I mentioned, they were all hand-picked by our father himself after an exhaustive competitive process that yielded a handful of candidates. But, to demonstrate the flaws in your argument, answer this…”

Her tone grew more serious. “What do you think Rui Quarrier will do in retaliation if he loses the throne war hypothetically?”

The princes and princesses fell into thought as they considered the question. Their expressions grew complicated as most of them happened upon an answer rather quickly.

“…Probably not much,” the Human Prince admitted.

“Nothing, really, based on how he thinks and acts,” the Adventure Prince realized.

“Any act of force is definitely out of the question,” the Esoteric Princess murmured. “He is an eyesore and a nuisance, but he is not evil. He would never harm anybody because of his defeat.”

“Maybe he would leave the Kandrian Empire?” The Anti-Beast Prince wondered.

“No chance.” The Princess of Peace raised her eyebrows with realization. “Quarrier City and the Quarrier Orphanage contain his family, which has proven to be an extremely strong anchor for him. He also has many friends here. There’s also his ownership over the manifold that anchors him here, too. He is also extremely careful to never fall for the tilt towards psychopathy caused by the Martial Mind, which means he will never abandon his family and friends.”

“He would stop supplying breakthroughs, Martial Art contributions, and his other priceless treasures,” the Human Prince offered.

“No,” Princess Ru shook her head. “He offered those for virtually free. They were a simple chore for him. He has never once denied Kandria and the Panama Continent of those. And he has gone out of his way to give them to human civilization during the Era of Darkness. He’s also concerned about the Evolutionary Army’s rising power and generation of miracles; he would not weaken Panama and Kandria with that in mind.”

“H-He could stop protecting the Panama Continent?” A less important prince timidly offered.

The others simply turned towards him with a dubious expression, before ignoring him altogether. Not a single person believed that Prince Rui would stop protecting the Panama Continent just because he lost the throne war, hypothetically.

“Do you understand now?” she smiled. “Prince Rui Quarrier is not enough of a tyrant for anybody to fear the consequence of his losing the throne war. He is indeed careless, responsibility-averse, and often selfish when it comes to his Martial ambition, but outside of these traits, not a single person is genuinely concerned that Rui would ever abandon or harm Kandria or Panama if he ever lost the throne war.”

“Thus… the high-ranking governmental officials won’t have anything to fear even if he loses the throne war,” the Human Prince realized. “They are undoubtedly very familiar with his behavioral patterns. Which means that they must have deduced this truth themselves.”

She nodded. “Which means that the only thing that Rui has left is offering even greater treasures and miracles from his Martial Art. That is the only thing that we have to overcome.”

The other princes and princesses grew a little less pessimistic as their eyes lit up with a hint of hope.

“It is still extremely difficult, because his miracles are, well, miraculous, but it cannot be done individually,” Princess Ru spoke to all of them as an encouraging gaze swept across all of them. “That is why I convened this little conference. We must band together and pour all of our power together, along with all of our base of support and factions, if we have any hope of even matching Rui Quarrier, let alone defeating him.”