The Martial Unity

Rui stirred at his father’s words with an amused expression. “Well, that’s a very generous definition of ‘bad luck.’ He lost because I sabotaged my own campaign from the very start. If I hadn’t, I would be sitting in your place right now.”

Rui personally was very satisfied with the choice that he had made more than eight years ago. Not going for the throne, in hindsight, was a no-brainer, and it was a wonder that he even gave it any regard whatsoever. Of course, this was a typical twenty-twenty hindsight moment; he hadn’t forgotten the immense amount of pressure he had felt after his father had revealed his identity as a royal prince to the entire world.

Still, his decision to pretend to fight for the throne and instead search the Beast Domain for the Divine Doctor was one that amounted to the greatest political scandal of all time.

If it came out, the consequences would not be light. Especially considering the circumstances that they were in where they needed to win over the support and trust of new and old allies. “There is no way that Guildmaster Bradt can know or find out,” his father reassured him. “In other words, your relationship with him should still be overwhelmingly positive for the most part. Bradt would not have reached the status and power that he has obtained as a businessman and head of state if he was the type to blame others for his own shortcomings, I can assure you.”

Rui shrugged. “I suppose that’s fair. I do agree that I can do more if I’m assigned to the Shionel Confederation due to my familiarity and rapport with him. However, that isn’t the only reason you’re assigning me to an undecided polity instead of a decided ally, isn’t it?”

His father smiled knowingly. “You would have made a good emperor.”

Rui snorted. “I made a better one by choosing not to.”

“Well, regardless, you’re correct. There is another reason that I’m inclined to send you to an undecided ally like the Shionel Confederation,” his father confirmed. “It is also to protect you the best from the aggression of the alliance.”

Rui snorted again. “If the alliance attacks me while I’m in the Shionel Confederation, then they will lose any chance of convincing the Shionel Confederation to take their side.”

“It is one thing to attack allies of an enemy, but it is entirely another to attack a neutral and undecided polity that is a potential ally,” his father added. “Especially when the polity is as powerful as the Shionel Confederation. It would be a diplomatic disaster to conduct an attack on you when you are a guest of the Shionel Confederation.”

It didn’t matter if the attack was technically not aimed at the Shionel Confederation and only at Rui, such distinctions would not justify the blatant violation and disregard of the sovereignty of the Shionel Confederation.

“Edward will not be that rash and foolish, I can assure you.”

“…So that means I will not experience an actual war once I get to the Shionel Confederation?” Rui frowned.

This was not what he had in mind.

He had expected to immediately be thrown into a battlefield upon dispatch where he could begin fighting at once.

“If you want to fight, then…” A smirk cracked at his father’s mouth, “you will need to win over the Shionel Confederation as an ally of the Kandrian Empire.”

Rui snorted as he recognized his father’s scheme. “Nice try, but what if I just choose to go to an ally instead?”

His father shrugged. “You won’t have the opportunity to fight the strongest of Masters and the very best of what our enemies have to offer.”

Rui narrowed his eyes.

“Prime Minister Edward will not divert too much to kill you if he finds out you have the artifact that can send you to safety at any time,” his father explained. “So yes, the enemy Masters assigned to whichever one of our allies will indeed do their best to kill you, but they won’t be the best that the enemy alliance has to offer as far as Masters go. Those will be assigned to the most important allied nations. If you are interested in fighting Masters who are weaker than you, then feel free to go ahead.”

“So the artifact, which is protecting me from Sages, is also preventing me from running into the strongest of Masters that I’d like to fight?” Rui frowned. “That’s annoying.”

“The only solution is to be in a place where our enemies would undoubtedly assign their strongest Martial Artists,” his father confirmed. “With the current power that you possess, I highly doubt that anything other than the strongest of Masters is worth fighting. What’s the point in fighting weaklings who are useless to you?”

Rui stirred at his father’s words.

They made sense.

He was not interested in fighting anyone weaker than grade twenty-eight. However, these were among the strongest of Masters, even among all high-grade Masters. Consequently, they were only assigned to important Kandrian allies to attack. That meant that he needed to be in a place where they would be.

An important ally of the Kandrian Empire, for example.

If Rui managed to convince Bradt to ally with the Kandrian Empire, then the Shionel Confederation would undoubtedly become one of the most important targets of the enemy alliance.

Then, and only then, would Rui be able to fight the cream of the crop of the Master Realm. With each Realm that passed, it seemed to grow increasingly difficult to get his hands on the strongest of the Realm when he became strong enough to fight them. After all, with each passing Realm, the strongest Martial Artists grew increasingly important and significant politically.

The strongest Apprentice and Squire weren’t all that relevant politically, but the strongest Senior, who Sir Armstrong and Rui himself were at one point, was of political significance.

The same was even more true for the strongest Martial Masters.

There were only two grade-thirty Masters left.

It meant that it wasn’t going to be easy to fight the strongest this time around.

“Fine.” Rui made up his mind, narrowing his eyes. “I’ll win over the Shionel Confederation and then fight with the strongest Masters who attack it after as a reward.”