The Martial Unity

Rui heaved a sigh. “Fine. Take as much negatron matter as you need. It is true that we have a surplus and that it will keep coming.”

“Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness.” The Minister bowed his head deeply after standing up. “I promise you that you will not regret this decision.”

“Enough with that,” Rui replied. “This is interesting and all, but it’s not why I came. I presume you have kept up with your end of the deal?”

“Of course, Your Highness,” the Minister replied quickly and eagerly. “I have transferred one thousand and five hundred employees to the Royal Funeral Committee already, and more will keep coming. I hope that you may use them to give His Majesty the funeral and honors that he deserves.”

Rui got up with a serious expression.

“Rest assured, I intend to do just that. I must go now. This has been a good transaction, Minister Danes. I have some matters that I intend to discuss with you in the future. You and I… will be good friends, and we’ll be seeing each other often in the future.”

Minister Danes’ eyes widened as he understood the sheer gravity of what Rui had just conveyed to him. “…Yes, Your Highness. It would be the highest honor.”

A small smile cracked at the edge of Rui’s mouth as he teleported away.

This time, he returned to the Vargard Royal palace, to the conference room assigned to the Royal Funeral Committee.

WHOOSH

His sudden arrival shook every single personnel within the room, some of whom froze, jumped, or outright fainted.

Secretary Claris turned towards him with a hint of irritation in her mind, even if she didn’t show it in her body language. “Your Highness, if I may be so impudent, could I request you not to teleport into the room like that? Your presence is so heavy and overbearing that the impact is no different from having a rock dropped on our heads from the top of a building. It’s jarring and disruptive.”

She truly had no reverence for his status. Her words were perfunctory and polite, but not deferential, and she maintained her dignity and composure in his presence.

Rui smiled wryly. “My bad, will do. More importantly…”

He turned to the personnel in the conference room, who had grown denser since he last saw them. “I see you have gained a flush supply of manpower. Will this be enough to fulfill the task I’ve given you?”

“Yes, Your Highness. It will be very difficult, but it should be enough.”

“Good. And what of the other impediments you mentioned?”

“They have cleared up at an astonishingly high pace.” She pulled out Rui’s personal Royal Amulet from her breast pocket. “Not a single person has maintained their impedance to our fulfillment of your vision of the funeral once they saw your royal insignia stamped on our papers.”

“Good,” Rui heaved a sigh. “Keep me posted. Let me know if there’s anything else that I can do. If there’s nothing else, then I suppose I can go about fulfilling my other responsibilities and undertakings.”

It would be prudent of him to speak with all the stakeholders of the Kandrian Empire, for instance. Of course, his actions had done much of the talking, for the most part, as he went out of his way to personally intervene in disaster management. But it was still good to speak with the Martial Sages of the Kandrian Empire, to speak with the Martial leaders of other nations, the industrial interest groups, the representatives of labor blocs within the nation, and other dimensions of the nation that kept it afloat.

“In that regard, I have something to inform you of,” Secretary Claris spoke with a serious tone of voice. “You have received a solicitation. Princess Ranea has approached me and has requested a meeting with you at the soonest. She told me she’s willing to talk to you at any moment.”

Rui’s ethereal eyes sharpened. “Ranea… if I remember correctly, she has become Minister of Seafaring or whatever.”

“Minister of Maritime Affairs, but yes,” Secretary Claris corrected him. “She’s an important dignitary within the Kandrian Empire. If I may be so impudent, it would not be wise to disregard her solicitation if you have… ambitions regarding the future of this nation.”

Rui smiled at her careful phrasing. “Alright. I’ll speak to her. Tell her I want to speak to her right away.”

He had a decent idea of what his half-sister wanted from him, but he was curious to hear her thoughts. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes before he found himself in a cozy guestroom in the Vargard Royal Palace, sitting on a couch opposite her.

Before them were cups of tea imported from West Genora. Rui recognized the brand of green tea from the products that Mother Vyia had personally brewed and served him when he visited her.

His eyes shifted to the woman sipping her cup opposite him.

Gone was her youthful vibrance, replaced by an older and more reserved wisdom. Gone were her dreamy eyes that saw the future of an Age of Sailors, replaced by colder, ruthless eyes that had been seasoned by the cold truth of reality.

Her age reflected in both her body and her mannerisms. Yet, she had never once lost her royal bearing, maintaining her dignity as Royal Princess of the Kandrian Empire.

“It has been a while, dear brother.” She began with a composed tone devoid of warmth.

Neither of them had any affection for each other despite sharing a father. Rui didn’t care for a sister who had tried to assassinate him, and it was not an exaggeration to state that Rui had ruined her life in some ways.

Especially with the recent tragedies.

She schooled her expression and body language well, but Rui could sense hatred within her mind.

“There’s nothing dear about me in your mind,” Rui remarked with an apathetic tone. “If you could walk over and choke the life out of me, you would.”

The Martial Sages behind her began sweating internally.