The Martial Unity

Emperor Rael tried to remember when the last time he had been this stressed was. He was unable to. Not even the Kandrian Throne War had frayed his nerves as much as the battle between Rui and Ieyasu did.

Not even the news of being afflicted with the Eternal Dream disease had stressed him this much.

Neither the two previous wars, nor his own throne war.

Not even planning out the assassination of his own father had strained him as much as this battle did.

Everything was at stake.

His son’s life was at stake.

“The battle between the two of them has probably already begun, Your Majesty.” Sage Sayfeel’s composed voice reached him.

“I am aware,” Emperor Rael calmly replied. “They picked up Rui from the Shionel Confederation not too long ago, after all.”

He had purposely refused any real-time updates of the war from the spectating Kandrian Martial Artists.

Their mission was more important.

However slight the burden was, needing to inform him of every development would slow them down just by the tiniest bit.

It could potentially impede them just enough spell disaster for the Kandrian Empire.

Thus, he had instructed them to focus entirely on their mission.

Once the battle started, he was entirely useless and unable to intervene in any way to change the outcome. Thus, there was no point in supplying him with real-time intel on the progression of the battle.

He stood by the window in his office, simply gazing out as he waited.

And that was when it happened.

He had thought the worst was yet to come. But he was wrong.

The worst had already arrived.

“Your Majesty!” His emergency comms artifact activated. “We have just received news that eight hundred billion Kandrian gold coins worth of Kandrian Treasury Bonds have been dumped into the bond market!”

He froze. “…What did you say?”

“I have sent an emergency report directly to your office, Your Majesty. We have only just begun investigating it with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Kandrian Bureau of Intelligence as per protocol. The preliminary suspect is speculative fear-mongering in the market due to the deployment of a whopping total of forty-five Martial Sages and nearly four hundred Martial Masters. The analysts think that this has caused a crash in demand which has triggered a deflationary effect leading to the crash in the bond market.”

Emperor Rael immediately went through the documented reports from the Ministry of Economic Affairs as he went through the details of each report.

The potential explanation given by his chief of staff was quite reasonable in theory.

Yet, Emperor Rael knew better.

“If this was a deflationary chain reaction, we would have seen signs of it in local consumer demand long before it escalated to the international bond market…” His whisper grew ominous. “This…”

A hint of grave severity appeared in his eyes. “…This is something else.”

Three centuries of experience as an extraordinary ruler told him something was wrong.

His instincts and intuition told him something was very wrong.

His sense of foreboding danger only grew as he spent more time searching for the answer. “Something is wrong…” A whisper escaped him as he searched through the available data, trying to discern exactly what was brewing. “I just hope it doesn’t get worse, whatever this is.”

Unfortunately, the flood of bad news had only just begun.

Bit by bit.

Message by message.

It all came crumbling down in what was probably the worst nightmare that any statesman could possibly have. A political and economic meltdown for reasons beyond their understanding.

“Your Majesty, the East Panamic Monetary Fund has reduced our credit rating by two grades! Our interest payments have tripled!” His chief of staff rushed into the room with a grave expression. His eyes widened with shock as the influx of reports only escalated.

His various royal comm artifacts soon began spouting what seemed to be an endless flood of emergency reports one after another!

“The Kingdom of Grahal has issued a statement demanding an apology from you, Your Majesty!”

“The East Panamic Consortium has applied to terminate the Harmony Development Agreement and has immediately paid the severance package!”

“King Aramon of the Kingdom of Selizantar has issued a statement expressing his condemnation of the Emperor of Harmony!”

“The Rutheshilde Family has withdrawn its credit line and has demanded a complete repayment of all stolen and defrauded donations!”

“Your Majesty, the Master-level alliances have demanded an immediate audience with you!”

“The Kingdom of Delinmar has just imposed a sixty percent tariff on all trade with the Kandrian Empire!”

“Your Majesty, Whiterock, Streetstate, and Rearguard have short-sold equity of the K&M 500!”

Emperor Rael furiously worked away as he began addressing all these crises one after another. Any other ruler would have been paralyzed where he stood.

Any other ruler would have fumbled upon such an overwhelming and seemingly endless avalanche of crisis after crisis.

Not Emperor Rael.

Not the Emperor of Harmony.

“Have the Royal Kandrian Bank purchase all the bonds from the market immediately and compile them into collateral debt obligations for sale in the private finance industry. Set up an preliminary incentive structure, do not let Kandrian Gold tank beyond fifty points in the ForEx Market.”

“Schedule dialogue for all demands and requests with priority on political power and urgency.”

“Instruct the Royal Reserve to lower interest rates once Kandrian Gold Index hits red.”

One after another, he issued timely instructions with perfect precision and accuracy, understanding exactly what needed to be done to save the Kandrian Empire from this inexplicable geopolitical and economic crisis that had struck the nation without warning.

Yet, the turmoil to consume the world had just begun.

“Your Majesty!” An assistant cried. “A black-haired and black-eyed man just teleported into the shelter chamber built for His highness! He said his name was Tokugawa Ieyasu and that he wanted to join the Kandrian Empire!”

The Emperor of Harmony froze where he stood with unadulterated shock.

RUMBLE!

The very lands beneath their feet shook and quaked as an earthquake spread across all of East Panama and beyond.

Emperor Rael staggered to a window as he gazed outside it with a bewildered expression.

“Just what…” A whisper escaped him. “…Just what is happening over there?”

RUMBLE!!!