The Martial Unity

The man accepted Rui's hand, pulling himself up before lowering his head to Rui.

"I'm sorry... I did think you would be strong, but to be this strong was beyond my expectations." He sighed. The others quickly followed through issuing quick apologies.

"It's alright, as long as you understand." Rui nodded before walking away towards the food gathering. He didn't want to interact with anybody beyond what was necessary. He simply procured a meal while ignoring the attention that he was still receiving.

The mood had gotten better because the spat had ended amicably and also because of the confidence boost they had received thanks to him.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Rui glanced at the woman who had approached him, recognizing her. She was one of the few Martial Artists who had not attacked him back then.

"Feel free." Rui shrugged.

She smiled, taking a seat beside him, holding a plate of meat, rice, and some greens. "I appreciate you holding back against those hot-headed fools earlier. It might have gotten bad if things had escalated."

"It's nothing at all." Rui dismissed.

"I'm Vemy, by the way." She told him. "What's your name?"

"Falken." He replied straightforwardly, using his official alias.

"Earlier, you took a kick from Deny to the face without moving even an inch." She noted, before peering at him with curiosity. "That was unbelievable, can all Martial Squires do that?"

"Most, I suppose," Rui replied. He hadn't even used Inner Divergence to dispel the impact, his inherent toughness was enough to withstand the impact of the blow. Meaning most Martial Squires should be able to replicate the feat asides from perhaps the most fragile Martial Squires whose Martial bodies had an extremely strange configuration with weak durability.

There was also the fact that he was better than Martial Squires with Martial bodies of a similar configuration due to the fact that all of his performance parameters were better thanks to autophagy supplying him with energy and other sustenance that one could get only from multiple high-grade potions mid-fight.

"That's truly incredible. It makes me want to become a Martial Squire even more." She laughed. "It's the reason why I wanted to talk to you."

('Well, at least she's honest.') He didn't particularly think less of her for it. He hadn't been much different when he was a Martial Apprentices, after all. The secret to the Squire Realm was something that he had tried to pry out of Martial Squires himself, thinking back fondly to all the times he had spoken to Squire Dylon and Kyrie on the matter.

"We... don't have Martial Squires, not even when we were at our prime before the Britannian Army had invaded." She sighed. "I keep thinking to myself if we Martial Apprentices had been stronger, if I had been a Martial Squire, we would not have lost. We would not have needed to spend years accruing the funds needed to commission you."

Rui didn't respond to her, though he did understand her perspective. Martial Apprentices were physically human, there was a limit to what they could do. In fact, prior to the age of Martial Art, Martial Apprentices were controlled via force or coercion because they alone weren't enough to turn the tide. That changed when the first Martial Squire was born. Martial Squires truly defied logic in a way that Martial Apprentices couldn't.

"I know that you have no obligation to fulfill it... but I did have a request." She told him, turning towards him, meeting his eyes with a pleading gaze. "Can you please divulge to me the way to become a Martial Squire? I'll do anything in return."

Rui stared at her, before sighing. "I cannot."

Squire candidates needed to sign oaths swearing they would not divulge the information that the martial Union provided to them regarding the Squire Realm before they could be briefed about the whole matter.

Of course, technically, Rui knew about the secret of the Squire Realm before the Martial Union briefed him about it thanks to Julian explaining the research data that Rui had provided him. However, that didn't matter, he would still be considered to be violating his oath if divulged the secret to the Squire Realm.

"Why... not?" Vemy asked with a dejected tone.

"Because it would get me in trouble."

"I won't tell anyone else!"

"I cannot trust you. Even if your intentions are genuine, this is an extremely sensitive and important matter to the Martial Union and they aren't half-assed about their efforts to keep the information you're asking for a secret. I cannot take that risk." Rui told her.

"I see..."

"That being said, the information is useless to you even if I did tell you," Rui explained. "There's nothing you can do about it, trust me. Rather than wanting to know exactly how Martial Apprentices break through to the Squire Realm, you should be more concerned with even being qualified to undergo the breakthrough.

"Qualified?" She frowned. "Meaning only some Martial Apprentices can breakthrough?"

('Well, no shit.') "Correct."

"I see." She pondered his words deeply. "What decides whether a Martial Apprentices is qualified?"

Rui stared at her before his gaze wandered across her entire body unapologetically, intensifying as he stared at all her beautiful features.

('A well-toned body. She exudes a decent amount of pressure even when she tries to hide it. Grade seven or so. I suppose I can answer her questi-') "Pervert!"

His thoughts were interrupted by her words. She covered her chest and crotch with her arms with a disapproving glare on her face, yet her cheeks were tinted red.

"...Huh?" Rui tilted his head, confused.

"You may be a Martial Squire, but don't even think of trying anything, OK?" She huffed.

"You-" "-But you know," She interrupted him. "If you could, do answer my question, please. Hehe."

Rui just stared at her, before bursting out laughing, much to her surprise.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He shook his head, chuckling. "But to answer your earlier question..."

He raised two fingers. "Individuality and maturity. That is what you must seek to achieve."