The Martial Unity

Rui did know. He made extensive use of the intelligence and covert operation teams assigned to him on Vilun Island. That’s why he knew they were definitely competent.

Still, that didn’t mean it was going to be easy.

“They are most certainly reliable,” Rui replied. “However, the same can be said for the covert operatives and intelligence agents that are going to be employed by Chairman Deacon and his little alliance.”

“Most certainly,” Commissioner Reze smiled, nodding. “However, let me remind you, our goal is to engage in just the necessary amount of targeted sabotage to ensure that they don’t find you. That doesn’t mean we need to sabotage every step of every endeavor they engage in, we’re concerned with those that are on the right track.”

Rui was already aware of this, and he had to admit, it made sense. Chairman Deacon and his minions would need to be juggling a vast amount of data on the matter, but the only data that the Martial Union would be focused on would be information surrounding Rui and Kane. They needed to engage in just the right amount of sabotage surrounding the most crucial parts of the investigation, and they could continue about normally for all other matters for the most part.

“Still, this would require the full cooperation of the Covert Operations Department of the Martial Union, correct?” Rui asked, before continuing. “That means an entire department within the Martial Union is going to get involved, and the number of people who are going to be aware of the secret is going inflate significantly, this is necessarily going to increase the risk that there will be a data leak and our identities will be revealed. And it is going to be the two of us who will end up paying the price, not the Martial Union.”

It didn’t matter how careful the Martial Union was. The greater the number of people who were aware of the secret, the greater the probability that the secret would eventually spill. It could happen in a number of ways. It could be the case that the Martial Union had spies in it that could leak the identity of the Voider to one of the parties that had accepted Chairman Deacon’s alliance.

It could be that an operative of the Martial Union could be captured in the process of sabotage, and the data would be leaked, or it could be that the Martial Union’s sabotage as a whole would end up being leaked, and they would realize that the Martial Union had some kind of connection to the Voider, jeopardizing Rui and Kane even more.

“Those concerns are also valid,” Commissioner Reze nodded. “However, we will not be employing the entirety of the Covert Operations Department for this matter. That’s not only risky for the reasons you mentioned, but there are guidelines and protocols in place as well as oversight from authorities who possess deep expertise in this field. Most likely we’ll employ a team of intelligence agents who will genuinely be tasked with earnestly aiding Chairman Deacon with finding a Voider, and there will be a separate highly clandestine team of covert operatives whose goal is to sabotage the intelligence agents of the Martial Union that will be aiding Chairman Deacon with the investigations as well as the entire process as a whole. This is a generally common tactic that we employ in double-agent operations, to put it simply. It is exceedingly difficult to employ, but we have developed a sophisticated means of doing so thanks to the nature of our organization. The philosophy of fooling your enemies by fooling friends and even yourself is something we rigorously in sophisticated sabotage operations such as this.”

Rui was impressed. That was definitely a lot more sophisticated than he was expecting from the Martial Union, although it didn’t completely relieve him, it was definitely more assuring than if they engaged in more straightforward and scrutable manners of investigation.

Still, that didn’t mean Rui had no more concerns left. He would be a fool if he let some nice words spoken in a short conversation put to rest all potential issues.

“Even if it were the case that you could assure the security of our identities in this manner, that does not mean you’ll be given the chance to, Commissioner Reze,” Rui replied.

The man’s eyebrows knitted a little in confusion. “I’m afraid I don’t follow, Squire Quarrier.”

“There will obviously be a clash of interest for the Martial Union if the Martial Union investigates one of its own external members for being the Voider,” Rui elaborated. “How can Chairman Deacon trust you to investigate your own members, especially if the investigation’s outcomes could lead to the death of said members? If I can see the conflict of interests, then surely Chairman Deacon can as well. No nation can be trusted to investigate the candidates of the true identity of the Voider that are in association with those nations.”

Commissioner Reze smiled. “You lack a complete grasp of Chairman Deacon’s perspective, I’m afraid, partly because you do not have as much of an access to his intelligence as we do, nor his plans. Chairman Deacon is convinced that the while the Voider may be a citizen or a member of any of the nations or organizations that he has rallied, he has absolutely certain that the Voider is not being patroned, supported, or partnered with any of the nations and organizations that he had rallied. He has strong reasons to believe this.”

Rui immediately understood what the commissioner meant. “If the Voider was backed by a nation, it would be in the Voider’s and the nation’s interests to publicize it as a form of deterrence. Since killing the Voider would be no different from a declaration of war with that nation, which instantly complicates things and significantly disincentivizes killing the Voider. This is especially for an organization like the Kandrian Martial Union, an extremely powerful sage-level organization and a bigshot anywhere within a ten thousand kilometers radius.”

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