The Martial Unity

“So, what did you want to discuss with me, Mr. Cerni?” Rui asked tentatively.

“I wish to discuss the modus operandi that I hope you will be engaging in when completing the mission,” Feruir Cerni replied. “I wish for you to spare the lives of the crew of the convoy while wearing a particular Martial garb of another nation. I require you to kill the Martial Squire, followed by handicapping and incapacitating the convoy.”

Rui immediately understood the motive of the mission.

(‘He wants to compromise the supply line of the Commonwealth Duchy of Vinfrana coming from the Kingdom of Violis and frame it on another nation or group.’) Rui realized.

There was no other reason to have Rui wear a separate Martial garb and spare the crew of the supply shipment convoy.

“Of course, you don’t have to particularly spare their lives in a manner that makes it obvious. All you need to do is allow them to escape when you spar with the Martial Squire assigned to protect the convoy,” The man explained. “Once you defeat the Martial Squire and kill him, do not pursue them. Instead, let them escape back to the Kingdom of Violis.”

“So, if I’m understanding this right, you want me to, first, engage with the Martial Squire alone and kill them, while ensuring that the crew of the convoy managed to escape while making sure they see the Martial garb that you will provide, correct?”

“Correct.”

“And this is all part of the commission contract, right?”

“Right.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Rui pointedly told him.

“Please do not worry, I have no intention of crossing lines that will undoubtedly result in my death.” The man assured.

“Alright,” Rui tentatively replied. “Where do I pick up the Martial garb?”

“I will send you the address where a correspondent will provide the appropriate Martial garb,” He stated.

The two of them conversed for a bit more before finally coming to an understanding.

“Alright, that is all I wished to convey and confirm,” The man nodded. “I will immediately accept your application to this mission.”

Rui scrolled through his notifications once the call had ended, and sure enough, there was a notification informing him that the client had accepted Rui’s application.

(‘Not that he is the true client, anyway,’) Rui mused to himself.

Rui was relatively certain that Feruir Cerni was not the true client of the mission, but was most likely a subordinate of the person who had truly commissioned the mission. Rui had observed his mannerisms, demeanor, and speech patterns throughout their conversation, and the man had many tells that indicated that he was likely a highly trained individual in the service industry.

Rui wasn’t particularly surprised. There were, no doubt, many clients who wished to keep their hands entirely clean of any connection to the commissions that could perhaps serve as proof of their involvement with a particular operation.

(‘The Martial Union isn’t exactly the most trustworthy in all aspects,’) Rui noted. (‘Especially if you’re an outsider. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kandrian Martial Union sells confidential client information highly covertly.’)

He had grown increasingly familiar with the Martial Union’s conduct as time passed and his engagement with them increased.

(‘Not that any of this matters at all,’) Rui shrugged.

Regardless of who the true client was, Rui’s mission did not change in the slightest. What Rui needed to do was simply execute the operation like he was supposed to.

Rather than wondering about the identity of the true client, he was more curious about the Martial Squire that had been assigned to protect the supply shipment convoy.

(‘Oh?’) Rui raised an eyebrow. (‘An offense-oriented Martial Squire whose Martial Path is centered around torque-driven strikes?’)

This was much more interesting to Rui.

A torque-driven striking-oriented Martial Art did not sound like a particularly unique Martial Path, but Rui did not underestimate it. Torque was powerful, it allowed Martial Artists to generate impacts that would surpass that of their weight and power class.

Back on Earth, one of the most powerful striking martial arts was Taekwondo. This Korean martial art was a striking and largely kicking martial art, that focused on delivering devastating impacts driven by torque accrued through rapid rotation before the strike.

Furthermore, the rotation of the body that would be used to empower the impact also made it trickier to predict the timing of the attack as opposed to a more static launch form for a kick.

He was evaluated to be a grade four Martial Artist, thus Rui could be relatively certain that at the very least he was not outclassed. While the man was older and certainly had more experience in the Squire Realm, Rui was not intimidated.

Of course, he did not underestimate his opponent either. He made sure to temper his mindset appropriately.

(‘I get to test Flux Earther in the field.’) Rui grinned.

It would be the first time, and while it wasn’t as shocking of a debut as that of the Pathfinder technique, it was still something Rui was going to look forward to.

He was also curious as to how well he would be able to handle swinging kicks driven by torque with the help of Flux Earther. None of the Martial Artists he had tested it against possessed a style similar to this, after all. Regardless, it was something that would get him more data and help him figure out the strengths and weaknesses of this technique when it came to this field.

Thankfully, knowing the Martial Path of his opponent ahead of time was useful to anyone, but it was especially useful to Rui who could prepare the most with this information. He could already form the bare bones template for the predictive model that would most likely be what he would be creating when he fought his target.

This would reduce the time he would need to form the predictive model on his opponent, not by much, but by enough that it was worth it.