The Martial Unity

Chapter 2604: The Key

”Prince Rui, you mean to say... You have relented to persuading us to deploy Gorteauʼs power in the Beast Domain?” President Ameliaʼs eyebrow rose.

In a conference room in the presidential headquarters, the two of them sat at a table opposite each other.

”Precisely, Madam President,” Rui sighed dramatically. ”There comes a day when every man must accept the inevitable, the inescapable, the undeniable, the truth and reality of the matter. You see, I, too, have verily come to accept the veritable truth that...”

As he continued babbling nonsense, she simply furrowed her eyebrows with a hint of confusion and incredulity.

She didnʼt expect that he would be so easy to deter. The best case they had estimated was that he would, at best, give up after several sessions of heated debating and deliberations. From the intel they had collected on his voyage through humanity thus far, they had come to the conclusion that he was extremely determined on this goal. They had even considered that he would deploy more... untoward means to try and pressure them into accepting his conditions. Fortunately, it appeared that the Dawnbringer was not as headstrong on this issue as they had feared.

”I am pleased to hear that you have come to respect our decision, Prince Rui.” She sported a perfunctory smile of appreciation. ”In return for your gesture of acceptance, we, too, will endeavor to remunerate you as heavily and generously as we possibly can in our negotiations for our agreement.”

”Ah, you are too generous, President Amelia,” Rui smiled warmly and sincerely. ”I look forward to cooperating with you on this matter. I sincerely hope that we are able to come to an appropriate arrangement.”

”Very well, as a token of appreciation, I will let you make the first offer,” she nodded.

”Ah, my offer is simple,” Rui smiled. ”I would like to offer breakthroughs and the Hellbringer model embedding for all Martial Artists of the Upper Realm in the Republic of Gorteau in exchange for...”

His smile widened. ”Six trillion dollars.”

She shook in her seat at the proposed number. ”Prince Rui... you have a strange sense of humor.”

”Itʼs not a joke,” Rui replied. ”I know that you are able to muster up six trillion relatively quickly as long as you undertake most of it as debt.”

”Six trillion is almost five percent of our GDP,” she suppressed a glare. ”That is a preposterous number!”

”You said that you will remunerate me as heavily and generously as you possibly can,” Rui pondered aloud. ”I wonder if that was just a... deceit.”

”I was not being deceitful, but six trillion is truly pushing our very most absolute limits.” she gritted her teeth. ”Not even Sages have ever received an astronomical amount of money in any contract. I believe that you are massively overshooting the value of what you are offering.”

Rui leaned forward as his dark eyes pierced into hers.

”Am I?”

She narrowed her eyes at his words.

”If you said that at the start of my voyage, you may have had plausibility,” Rui shrugged. ”But we both know that you donʼt have any such thing at this juncture.”

His tone grew firmer. ”The effects of my Hellbringer Model are tried, tested, and proven. I know you know this. Every nation I visit becomes many times more effective against the Beast Incursion. Not only has the Incursion rate hit zero in all regions I pass through, but they have also hit negative in certain regions that have been empowered by my solutions.”

She remained silent at his words.

She knew he was right.

It wasnʼt just the Beggarʼs Sect; all Sage-level powerhouses had remarkably powerful information networks that allowed them to observe the effects of the Dawnbringerʼs solution on the places that implemented it.

Their efficacy was undeniable.

”Tell me, Madam President,” Rui began. ”The next fiscal year is just around the corner, which means that your Congress will deliberate on the budget and allocate money to several different avenues of expenditure. Without a doubt, one of the old foggies in that legislative will propose an anti-Beast Incursion expenditure proposal that will spend plenty of trillions of dollars on dealing with the beasts and monsters.”

He shrugged. ”I ask you, why not spend that money on me, who is proven to have the best solution in the world alongside the Esoterists? There is a reason that I am regarded as one of the pillars of humankind in the Era of Darkness. What I am offering is a deeply coveted treasure that all Sage-level powerhouses, including Gorteau, are hankering for.”

She stirred at his words.

It was true. The moment the next fiscal year came, they would undoubtedly be spending an astronomical amount of wealth on countless different avenues of expenditure in the hopes that they would work.

In comparison to that, getting the Hellbringer Model and his breakthroughs was much more assuring and safe. On top of that, there were times to spend and take debt due to how serious the situation was. If she could get her vice president, who led the senate, to propose and pass a bill that would spend six trillion on Rui for his Hellbringer embedding and breakthroughs, then it would be much more productive than anything else Congress would do with that money.

The Era of Darkness was the most extreme example of this.

She fell into thought for quite some time as many minutes passed in silence.

Rui simply waited for her decision in a tense silence.

If she refused, then he had no plan B, unfortunately.

”I...” she began. ”I will try. However, it all depends on whether the libertarians will relent. I may have won the presidential election with great dominance, but the state elections have been more mixed. This will need to be bipartisan for us to be able to undertake the debt needed to pay the amount you seek. In other words, you will need to lobby with the leaders of the opposition party to get what you seek.”

Ruiʼs eyes sharpened. ”...Former President Raymond.”

She nodded. ”He is the key.”