The Martial Unity

Chapter 2603: Amusing Strategy

He quickly moved on to other possible strategies.

”I could start a smear campaign.”

He could start saying that she was a selfish president who was the enemy of the people. As someone who was concerned about the next election, that would certainly be an extremely concerning stick that could be used as leverage.

However, this strategy had flaws as well.

She was popular.

She had won the popular vote by an unprecedented margin and had achieved an absolute landslide in the electoral college campaigning on the massive resentment against war and military and the economic downturn. It was a unanimous referendum that shattered all records in the long history of the Republic of Gorteau.

”Not only is she a populist, sheʼs unfortunately a pretty decent leader too,” Rui tutted.

While she most certainly was not a genius statesman like his father or Prime Minister Edward, she had managed to spectacularly ameliorate the economic downturn with heavy financial stimulus to relieve the suffocating pressure of her citizens, earning their genuine appreciation.

”Smearing her effectively is going to be extremely difficult and time-consuming, and it could even backfire on me.” Rui shook his head. ”Not to mention, she actually has more dirt on me than I have on her.”

The average person had not read the Fraud of Harmony investigative report. If she chose to amplify it amidst her people, she could potentially make him the enemy of the people.

Of course, it was possible that he could potentially emerge victorious after a long and grueling information war, but unfortunately, he could afford a prolonged strategy. He also just didnʼt have the patience for this nonsense.

Above a certain threshold, he would just shrug and move on to the other ten Sage-level powerhouses across human civilization who were waiting for him and were willing to do the sensible thing for the survival of all of human civilization. There was no point in breaking his head over one nation when the scope of his vision expanded over all of human civilization.

Still, this was the worst possible outcome.

”There must be a solution,” Rui muttered. ”One that cleanly solves the entire problem without needing a lot of time and grueling effort.”

All the solutions that he had looked at now attempted to solve the problem head-on. Trying to eliminate the root of the problem with propaganda and solving the core of the problem with threats of action from the Gen Temple or the Britannian Empire. Trying to threaten President Amelia with defeat in the next election with a smear campaign.

These were very head-on ways to eliminate some of the causes of the problems.

”What if I try to bypass the problem entirely?”

He stirred at the thought.

There was potential.

If he could somehow get what he needed, which was the Gorteaun Sages fighting the quasi- Transcendent beasts and monsters in the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain, without needing to overcome the impossible obstacles of the anti-war and anti-militaristic sentiments or the greedy selfishness of President Amelia.

His eyes lit up as it struck him.

”What if I just commission the goddamn Sages directly?”

In most Sage-level powerhouses, Martial Artists and the state were too firmly conjoined with each other. It was impossible to pull away an entire nationʼs Martial Artists away from the nation.

Even the Kandrian Martial Union, a separate entity that was on the surface for profits, was bound to the Kandrian Empire through the Kandrian Martial Pact and the Kandrian Martial Covenant, which required the Martial Union to prioritize national security over the blind pursuit of profits.

”But the Republic of Gorteau is perhaps the only Sage-level powerhouse where Martial Sages are not bound by the state in any way,” Rui mused with a hint of enthusiasm. ”Most of the Martial power of the Republic of Gorteau is entirely privatized.”

Any time the government needed to get these Martial Artists to work, they simply offered extraordinarily lucrative contracts to the Martial Industrial Complex and the Martial financial industry, contracting hundreds of Martial firms, corporations, and insurance companies.

”I just need to offer them an astronomically lucrative commission, and I can entirely bypass the President and the voter base,” Rui chuckled at how amusing and yet entirely serious the idea was.

This was the demerit of privatizing Martial Art entirely. It attracted people who only cared about money and it surrendered any and all control over Martial Art to the private sector. This meant that even the Gorteaun government was simply a customer in the free market in the eyes of the private sector.

And if there was one thing that Rui knew about the private sector, it was that those fellows only answered to the highest bidder.

”But can I outbid the Republic of Gorteau?”

Frankly, not under normal circumstances.

The Gorteaun Martial Sages were not starstruck by his breakthrough ability or his Hellbringer model. Of course, they cared, but they only cared about it in so far as the money it could make them. This alone would not be enough to overcome everything that President Amelia could offer them.

”Maybe I could use Kandrian funds.”

As the third-most powerful man in the Kandrian Empire who had official authority as a Royal and as a prominent representative of the Martial Union, he could leverage the astronomical wealth of Kandria to commission those Sages.

”Unfortunately, the Republic of Gorteau is much richer.”

The national treasures of Kandria had certainly closed the gap, but it was not enough. Not to mention, his father would not be pleased with such an immense expenditure of funds to commission Gorteaun Sages.

”How about I have the Republic of Gorteau pay the price?”

It was a truly absurd notion at first thought.

But it wasnʼt impossible.

”Wait, what if I extract a gigantic sum of funds from the Republic of Gorteau in exchange for my breakthroughs and Hellbringer?” Rui burst out laughing. ”Then, I can use this money to

commission the Sages.”

It was essentially the same as President Amelia commissioning them to fight in the Beast Domain, but with a middleman facilitating the transaction since President Amelia was being

silly.

The sheer hilarity of the situation had him laughing.

He couldnʼt wait to see the look on her face when she fell for his scheme.