The Martial Unity

Chapter 3850: A United Front

”I don’t mind any name as long as we both like it.” Rui smiled as he pulled her closer in bed, getting her to rest her head on his chest. ”Though, do you have anything that keeps with the R-theme that the royal family has going on?”

She raised an eyebrow, turning up to look at him. ”Is that a necessity?”

”No, not super strictly,” Rui admitted. ”But it’s a cool theme, don’t you think? Ra, Rael, and Rui. Raul, Ranea, and Ru.”

”It makes all the names sound too similar,” she muttered, ”But I can think of some that start with an r. If it’s a girl, I was thinking of naming her Ria. And if he’s a boy, then I was thinking of naming him Ren.”

”Simple, but nice. I like it,” Rui acquiesced.

”Don’t you have any strong preferences?” she raised an eyebrow. ”What about the world that you come from? What kind of naming sense does it have?”

”Well...” Rui thought back to some naming conventions from his life as John Falken. ”In some conventions from my world, we would name our child Rui Junior.”

She furrowed her eyebrows with a frown. ”Absolutely not. That’s a terrible name. Our child deserves a distinct name that doesn’t simply identify them as a junior version of ourselves.”

”I agree,” Rui remarked. ”I don’t care to bring conventions from my previous life to this world. I am Rui Quarrier, born in Kandria in this life. And so, I shall stick to the naming convention of this world. When in Rome, do as the Romans do and all.”

”What’s Rome?”

”An empire of the past in the time of my previous life. Something that men back in my old life thought about frequently, apparently.” Rui smiled with an amused expression. ”The saying essentially means to act in a manner compatible with the people around you, to adopt their ways.”

”Is that what you’re doing?” She raised her eyebrows, gazing at him with curiosity. ”Are you an earthling acting as a Panaman or Kandrian?”

”No, I’m definitely a full-fledged Kandrian.”

Rui shook his head. ”I’ve shed almost all of the sensibilities from my previous life. I think I would probably stand out like a sore thumb if I went back, for instance.”
”You stand out like a sore thumb even in this world,” she teased. ”You can’t even walk in public without getting swarmed by your fans and devotees.”

”’Touché.”

”What does that mean?”

”It means, ’good point,’ in a language from Earth.”

”Hmmm...”

They spent several hours simply conversing freely, allowing their minds to wander as they enjoyed each other’s presence. Eventually, Amare’s eyes grew droopy, and her eyelids grew heavy.

Her body loosened as she soon grew silent, before falling into a deep sleep in his arms. Rui smiled wryly at her drooling on his Martial attire, before affectionately kissing her on the head, and gently placing her head on the comfortable luxury pillows of their royal quarters, before drawing the sheets over her.

”Your presence does much for her,” Bodhisattva Maitreyi returned, remarking with a knowing tone. ”You should make more time for her.”

”I will,” he promised. ”I’ll shift my training schedule for when she’s asleep and come to her right away from now on.”

”Do you not intend to rest with her?”

”...I don’t have time for that, unfortunately.” He heaved a sorrowful sigh. ”I would love to, trust me. Sleeping with Amare is... fun.”

Bodhisattva Maitreyi flashed a pointed glance at him as he averted his gaze with a mischievous smile.

”But I have some important business to tend to at the moment.” His tone grew serious. ”Things involving the fate of this world and the future of human civilization. Now that I’m going to become a father...”

His fists clenched as his eyes sharpened. ”I cannot allow anything to threaten the prosperity that our civilization will soon grow to have. My child will know peace and prosperity, and will live in a world where he or she can become the best version of themselves.”

”...You have great burdens, burdens that only you can bear,” Bodhisattva Maitreyi heaved a deep breath. ”Go then, I will ensure Amare and my unborn great-grandchild are safe.”

He nodded. ”Thanks, Grandma.”

”Hmph, only Amare is allowed to call me that.”

He smiled before teleporting away.

WHOOSH

He arrived at a giant tree in East Genora, admiring the massive branches and leaves of Mother Maeria’s flora body. While it was night in the Kandrian Empire, the early light of the morning sun had already begun to slowly emerge at the farthest edges of the horizon.

’Greetings to Your Majesty, Emperor Rui.’ Mother Maeria’s voice rang in his head.

Rui simply huffed lightly before teleporting to the cavity where his little fellow task force was located.

”There’s no need for formalities or honorifics, nothing changes,” Rui remarked as he spotted the manifestation of Mother Maeria and the Divine Doctor working on a biological contraption at the very center of which was Ieyasu’s head.

There were two other active organic communication terminals that opened direct connections to two other familiar entities.

”Oh, I’m glad to see you guys here as well, Jormungandr, Elder Tree.”

You were the one who referred me to this task force, the Elder Tree replied. I am grateful to be able to contribute to the illness plaguing Gaia.

’A united front against the Fear is the rational path forward.’ The serpent’s thoughts were conveyed through nonverbal communication through the terminal displaying a live feed. ’I have been plagued by it for long enough. Although we still do not know if this ’illness’ you all speak of is connected to the Fear.’

Rui smiled with confidence at the four of them. They had the most knowledgeable and skilled immortal sage, along with a top-ten powerhouse, one of the oldest lifeforms in the Panama Continent, and a Transcendent creature.

And of course himself.

”Together, we can solve the threat plaguing our planet and the fear,” Rui declared with a confident tone. ”How much more time until the Ieyasu machine is complete?”

”Right now we’re just prototyping biological neural interfaces to get him to serve as a Fear-detection machine,” the Divine Doctor replied, tinkering with a three-dimensional hologram featuring the blueprint of the machine.

”It should take us less than a year to come up with a functional machine that can be connected to surveying bogeys and sensors that can be spread across the entire Panama Continent,” Mother Maeria informed him. ”In less than a year, we should be ready to actively hunt down the virus and the source of all the negatron matter. It should finally confirm our suspicions and give us clarity.”

Rui nodded with a serious expression.

A lot of timeframes converged at the less-than-a-year mark, whether it was the birth of his child, the reconstruction of East Kandria, the full-fledged creation of his regime, or the goal of finding the fear. Though he wasn’t exactly sure if it was for the better that so many important things converged at this period of time.

It felt ominous, but it didn’t change anything. he would face whatever came head-on with all of his power.

And just like that, several months passed in the blink of an eye.