The Martial Unity

"Ah, one thing to remember." The old man said, turning to face Rui. "This is a premium guarantee mission. Meaning you will face more severe consequences in failing to complete your mission within the stipulated mission."

The atmosphere froze as the others inside the tent felt shudders climbing up their spines, as their knees buckled, collapsing under their own weight. The world creaked to a halt as waves of pressure emanated from Rui.

"...Is that a threat?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's a warning made in good faith." The old man calmly replied. "Now then, if you have any other questions, please do go ahead."

Rui stared at him until the pressure in the room subsided. He was actually quite impressed that the old man was unfazed. That kind of mental pressure wasn't something that could be shaken off easily, the old man either underwent some kind of mental training that improved his fortitude or had undergone extraordinary experiences that tempered his mind to be able to keep its composure under the flux of pressure of Rui's hostility.

"Why commission me to destroy the Hlorn weapon if it was unable to stop you from launching assaults year after year?" Rui asked straightforwardly. He had already inferred and deduced all the information he could through deductive and inductive logic. The only way he could learn more was by creating scenarios where he would gain more information.

Of course, he didn't expect old Fushin to answer him honestly, but there was still information to be gleaned, directly and indirectly.

Fushin threw a flawless confused expression at him. "I... I didn't suppose I had to explain that. The Hlorn weapon outputs power in the Squire Realm while we are compromised almost entirely of ordinary humans barring the two dozen Martial Apprentices we have. The reason should be obvious unless, of course, you're saying the Squire-level power means nothing here."

That was an extremely well-constructed evasion of Rui's question. The way he framed it threw out all the nuance for why Hlorn was not as obviously devastating as he was making it clearly seem. It completely skimmed over the many disadvantages that all canons possessed, but especially the Hlorn in these circumstances.

Furthermore, he also hampered Rui's ability to push back with his last statement, making it seem as though Rui was implicitly stating that Squire-level power was useless.

Rui could try and dissect his statements and his reasoning in a debate, but that was tedious and long-drawn, and ultimately pointless, he would simply be wasting everyone's time and patience. It was better not to bother with something like that.

('And that's why he said that because he knows that I know that there is no point in doing anything of the sort.') Rui noted. ('Sly bastard. I'm even more certain that something is a little off here.')

However, Rui never intended to extract information from the old man himself, he was too careful. Rui had already observed that he held an incredible amount of sway about the information he conveyed through verbal and non-verbal communication. It would take Rui extended long-term effort to be able to extract information from him.

('But the same cannot be said for your subordinates, old man.') A slight smile cracked under his mask.

Their reaction to his question was not something that someone would have to an extremely stupid question with an obvious answer. When he studied them with his senses and techniques, he couldn't really make out much obvious emotion on their faces at all.

('And that's what gives it away.') Rui mused.

Their emotional expression was controlled to hide whatever they were feeling. And the only reason they would feel the need to do that is if there was something to hide at all in the first place. In the context of these particular circumstances, Rui could safely rule out whatever it was they were hiding as most certainly not benign or unimportant.

Besides, he could sense they were nervous inside. But unfortunately, that didn't mean too much. There was a war incoming within twenty-four hours, nervousness was rife. Furthermore, his little flex earlier had affected them as well, so he truly could not say that their nervousness was indicative of anything. If anything, it could be said that he could learn more from their desire to control their reactions.

"Well then. It appears my worries were misplaced." Rui simply stated. "I suppose I'll be seeing you later at war, gentlemen."

He turned away, leaving. There wasn't much else for him to do here.

"Ah one last thing, Squire Falken." Old Fushin called out to him.

Rui paused, turning his head back to meet the old man's gaze with the edge of his eye.

"Our Martial Apprentices, do you mind serving as their training and sparring partner?" He requested. "I'm sure they'd be thrilled to receive the rare opportunity to do so. Of course, only if you're willing. But it's not like you have anything else to do the rest of the day, correct?"

Rui stared at him for a while, before simply nodding his head and turning back to walk out.

An entire minute passed before a Martial Apprentice broke the silence. "He's far away enough."

"Close the tent," Fushin ordered.

The inner layer of the tent had been layered with a sound-insulating esoteric fabric that prevented any sound from entering or escaping.

"That was terrifying." One of the men fell back to his knees. "I think this is a big mistake. Who knows what he'll do to us when he finds out the truth."

"How did he even catch any wind of it at all?" Another one complained.

"He's highly intelligent... Just our luck." Fushin stroked his beard, sighing. "There should have been nothing. Nothing but the tiniest of scraps of clues, yet he noticed all of them and managed to deduce and infer much of the truth, considering what he worked with. Not only that, he took prudent steps to verify his suspicions and then confirmed them to be true... Are all Martial Squires like this? Did I underestimate these breeds of superhumans? Hmmm..."