The Martial Unity

"He was going find out anyway eventually... But his blame would have fallen on the Martial Union ordinarily. But now that he seems to understand there is more to this than meets the eye, the blame will likely fall on us when the time comes." He sighed. "It's inconvenient that he is so sharp."

They discussed the matter to a greater extent. Rui on the other hand thought about the matter by himself.

('At the very least, I can be certain it's not malicious.') Rui nodded. It would violate the terms of the contract and would be interpreted as an open declaration of war against the Kandrian Martial Union. A team of Martial Squires would be immediately dispatched and the entirety of the Zurtun rebel group would be massacred indiscriminately.

Despite all the deception at hand, the rebel group was fundamentally driven to claim back their homeland and return back to their families. There was no mistaking this. This meant that whatever deception was going on at hand likely was not malicious against him, but more so exploitative in nature.

('Seeing how shrewd that cunning old fox is, I bet it's technically not a violation of the contract either.') Rui sighed. He didn't think the old man would do anything that could be proven to violate the contract since that would invite a severe penalty from the Martial Union.

('It's also something he can't reveal without giving me legitimate grounds and incentives to call off the mission in a justified manner according to the contracts.')

If whatever he was hiding, which had to pertain to the true reason for the mission, was benign and harmless, then Fushin would have revealed it to Rui. It would have even been mentioned in the contract. But clearly revealing it was problematic, thus it was being hidden.

That gave Rui further clues.

('I cannot attack the client at any given point in time unless my life is at stake.') Rui noted. ('This means he's not worried for his life, the consequences of revealing the information he is hiding are more so to do with the mission being voided if he does reveal it.')

('But what information could void my mission and cancel it if I learned about it?') Rui wondered.

There were several possibilities that came to mind. Yet before he could consider them deeper, a spike of seismic radiation in the distance drew his attention.

('Hm, the Martial Apprentices are training.') He realized as he focused his senses in that direction. Rui recalled Fushin's request regarding sparring with them, sighing. He wasn't in the mood to be charitable with the man, but it was true that he genuinely had nothing else to do for another twelve hours.

The twenty-seven Martial Apprentices of the Zurtun rebel group were collectively sparring a great distance away from the base camp and the mountain so that they wouldn't give their presence away to the Britannian Battalion occupying the fort.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Ten Martial Apprentices were launching attacks at a gigantic boulder in groups of three, forming a wide and deep crater that grew deeper with each group of attacks the Martial Artists threw.

('This must be the offensive team that will work on breaking through the thick and dense wall of the fort wall.') Rui thought inwardly, nodding. The coordinated offensive power of ten Martial Apprentices would make short work of the fort walls in a reasonably short period of time. Once the fort wall was penetrated, the army could quickly swarm inside and the Hlorn weapon would be rendered useless. It couldn't be used inside the fort, it would cause too much damage to themselves.

He smiled slightly as he saw Vemy among them. She seemed to be an offensive Martial Artist with a kicking-oriented Martial Art. What was distinct about her style is that it seemed to put more weight on singular power above all else. She launched long-winded spinning kicks that generated tremendous amounts of torque that she transferred to her target in a devastating blow.

It was a style that distinctly resembled Taekwondo in several ways.

Just as he analyzed her movements deeper, he was interrupted.

"Come out." One of the Martial Apprentices suddenly looked in his direction, in the forest, calling him out.

('A Martial Apprentice with a sensory technique.') Rui mused. He wasn't particularly alarmed. He was not especially trying to hide and he had nothing to hide. He was simply taking liberty in observing them train.

"I won't say it again, come out." He said, walking towards the forest.

Rui sighed, revealing himself in the distance. The Martial Apprentices looked at him in surprise, wondering why a mighty Martial Squire would bother spying on them, meager Martial Apprentices.

"Uh..." The man scratched his head, loosening his tone a bit. "Do you need something, sir?"

"Not particularly," Rui replied, approaching them. "General Hunfer requested me to train and spar with all of you, but I didn't want to barge in and disturb you when you were preoccupied, you have my apologies."

Their eyes lit up with interest. Almost none of them had met a Martial Squire prior, let alone be trained by one!

The best they had ever been trained by were the old surviving veteran Martial Apprentices of the Zurtun town. However, while they were experienced and knowledgeable, not even they were aware of what it took to become a Martial Squire.

The same could not be said for someone who had managed to elevate himself to a higher Realm. This was the only person within their reach who could tell them more about the road to a higher Realm. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that they had something even more important, they would have long swarmed him to learn more from him.

"Please guide us." They requested sincerely.

Rui nodded. "Alright, will do. While there's nothing that I can do to make you stronger for tonight's operation, what I can offer will be helpful in the long run."