The Martial Unity

“E-Eh…” Her expression paled at the mention of the underground bazaar.

“If you cannot get me there, then that’s fine as well,” Rui told her. “Use that money to get out of this place and go far away.”

She stared at him with a befuddled expression. “Is that why you gave me these…?”

Rui nodded as he kept an eye on the crowd around them. If any of them tried something, he would swiftly kill them on the spot. He believed in self-defense, after all.

“You are kind,” She murmured with a soft tone as her nervous energy reduced a bit. “Thank you. I… can take you to the true depths of the Derimont Bazaar if that is what you wish. However, y-you should be warned. They aren’t fond of outsiders down there.”

“Is that so…?” Rui wondered. “Well, I’ll make do. I need to meet the Beggar’s Sect at all costs.”

“Beggar’s Sect?” She tilted her head in confusion.

Her reaction told him that not everybody knew that the Beggar’s Sect was the one that had created the Derimont Bazaar. Perhaps the information was less well-known than he had initially expected, he did get his information from an actual intelligence agency that was dedicated to gathering information so it wasn’t impossible at all.

“Never mind,” Rui shook his head. “Just get me to underground bazaars.”

“I can do that.” She nodded vigorously. “Follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

“I know a place.”

She held his hand, pulling him forward as she navigated through the crowd, leading him. Contrary to his expectations, she dragged him away from the inner depths of the bazaar and back to the outer districts, taking quite some time to retread all the paths that Rui had already walked.

Rui did his best to ignore all of the things that he had to come across once more, making sure that she didn’t catch any hint of his emotions.

THUD

A Martial Apprentice stepped right into his path, slamming right into Rui as he halted him.

“Watch where you’re going, punk!” He snarled with an aggressive demeanor. “Who’re you trying to mess with?”

Rui glanced at him. “You clearly bumped into me intentionally.”

“What did you say?! You must not be from arou-”

THWACK

Rui couldn’t be bothered to humor arrogant Martial Apprentices. He swiftly struck at his neck, knocking him out then and there at a speed faster than the human eye could even begin to process.

Rui had already disappeared with the girl in his arms, having sped away before anybody could have possibly attributed the Martial Apprentice falling unconscious to them.

He had been incredibly swift with it, and thankfully there were no Martial Squires in the vicinity that could have noticed the maneuver, even if slightly. A clean strike and getaway, as far as he was concerned.

‘Martial Apprentices sure get full of themselves these days.’

He found the prior occurrence rather odd. The Martial Apprentice had clearly bumped into Rui on purpose, literally stepping in the middle of his way out of nowhere. He was trying to pick a fight with Rui, which wasn’t particularly uncommon for the thug types, but Rui still found it odd for something like that to unfold.

“Uh m-mister…” She murmured. “Can you put me down?”

Rui nodded, lowering her. “Let’s get going. Where is this place? Why have we been leaving the depths of the bazaar and returning to the outskirts?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll see.” She said, growing more confident.

Eventually, they returned to the books section that Rui recalled seeing when he first entered the Derimont Bazaar. They formed the outermost ring of the Derimont Bazaar, being the first to greet anybody who entered.

They were also the emptiest stalls and spreads anywhere in the entire Derimont Bazaar. No one cared to buy books among the masses that entered and exited the Derimont Bazaar. That didn’t seem to deter the large network of various hawkers who ran around offering newsletters and other written articles to as many people as they could.

Yet she quickly entered one of the ruined buildings holding a slew of booksellers, pulling Rui along with her as they headed deeper into the building, before coming across a bookseller that had covered the entire place with books on sale.

A man standing by the door glanced at them with piercing eyes. “What do you need?”

“W-We need to go down.” She said, standing in front of Rui.

He snorted, waving her off. Yet she persisted, taking out one of the gold coins that Rui gave her and handing it to the man who promptly accepted it with a greedy expression. He opened the door beside him, gesturing them in.

Inside was a small tunnel that declined significantly into the ground.

“Come on, let’s go quickly.” She insisted, pulling him along as they both went down the tunnel.

Eventually, they had gotten to the bottom of the tunnel, stepping into a massive open space underground. They were instantly greeted with a wave of bustling noise from the chaotic crowds that navigated the first underground bazaar.

“So this is the underground complex…” Rui murmured. “Incredible.”

“Where do you want to go?” She asked, now that they had arrived.

“For now, I just want to explore the entire place and see if I can find what I am looking for,” Rui replied as his eyes flashed around the entire place with determination.

He planned on scouring the entire place looking for the crest of the Beggar’s Sect, and he began doing exactly that. The first underground bazaar turned out to be not all that different from the one atop the surface. The only difference was that the one that he was in right now was a lot classier and catered to upper-class clientele.

He could see hoards of well-dressed individuals each of whom was accompanied by Martial Apprentice bodyguards as they navigated the bazaar. the commodities being sold at the underground were also slightly different, but just as unpalatable to Rui as the bazaar atop the surface of the Saiful Abyss.