Rui painstakingly made several copies of the recording that he had created. He had already prepared to do so well ahead of time, commissioning a distributor ahead of time at a particular time and place.
He made a total of five copies, giving him six recordings by the time he was done.
"You want me to keep a hold of this?" Master Ceeran tilted his head as he examined the box armed with Master-level anti-sensory esoteric substances.
"Yep," Rui nodded. "It's very important to me. Just keep it safe, and don't let it be opened no matter what, and don't let anybody learn of its existence. Can I entrust you with this?"
Master Ceeran grew serious, nodding. "I will."
"Thank you, Master," Rui smiled.
He proceeded to give him a few more instructions on it. What to do with it if he went missing, and what to do with it if he died.
"Why are you saying so many ominous things?" Master Ceeran's expression grew worried.
"It's just in case," Rui smiled.
Soon enough, he took his leave.
He went on to hand a copy to Headmaster Aronian, Master Vericita, and even in a premium deposit locker in the Martial Union that he could earn by forking over a portion of the several billion Martial Credits that he had earned. Not to mention, the fees from his training with Prince Raijun.
He was extremely rich at the moment, and he didn't have anything to do with all this wealth.
He even handed one copy to Master Reina.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" She tilted her head.
"Just keep it," Rui remarked. "You know what to do with it if the need ever comes."
"Of course," She remarked with an amused smile.
It was important for at least one of the people he was entrusting the copies to know what to do with it if an irregular situation ever appeared.
"So now what?" Master Reina remarked.
"…I have a training session with Raijun. I also need to go home and tell Julian that he can leave the Raemina Faction," Rui remarked. "Once that's done, I'll speak to the four royals. It is good to establish what the game is going to be early on so that they don't get any strange ideas. The sooner they accept reality, the better it will be for them and me."
"And what is going to be the game from here on out?"
"Didn't I already tell you?"
"You did say you were going to use them to counterweight Raijun…but then what?" Master Reina asked, curious. "Something has to give. This can't go on forever. The Royal Emperor will die, and someone will need to ascend the throne."
"You're right; although you'd be surprised how little the Emperor is needed for day-to-day maintenance of the nation, it is the long-term that is an issue," Rui heaved a sigh.
The Royal Emperor generally did not directly intervene in executive government or the judiciary. His role was legislative, supreme commander of the army and appointer of the cabinet of ministers and the panel of judges.
It wasn't a role that would bring the Empire crumbling down the moment he died.
Rui heaved a sigh.
"So what's the solution you've prepared?" Master Reina raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Surely, you must have some plan on who is going to ascend the throne."
Rui heaved a sigh. "…Not really."
Master Reina cocked her head back in surprise. "What? You don't have a plan?"
"I have limits, too," Rui replied calmly. "Not everything can be fixed with a clever plan. The fact of the matter is that only someone with royal blood can ascend the throne. And the only people worth allowing to ascend the throne are all problematic."
"Why not consider one of the weak and non-prominent princes and princesses?" Master Reina asked. "Maybe you'll find a worthy candidate to support?"
"If they were worthy, they would have been among the seven prime candidates for the throne," Rui replied, shaking his head. "One of the reasons that there exists a competitive element to ascending the throne is because it is a measure of competence."
He narrowed his eyes. "The challenges they face in their attempt for the throne are a diluted experience of what the Royal Emperor will face leading a Sage-level powerhouse. Anybody who is unable to even qualify as a realistic candidate is unfit to bear the greater burdens and challenges of being Emperor or Empress. It's a brutal meritocratic process in a sense. In that regard, as much as I dislike them, the seven royals are definitely far more competent than the others, barring Raul."
Each of them had cleverly identified what they needed to win the war, harnessed the greatest powers of Kandria, and used them to elevate themselves far above their siblings. Rui was not interested in talking to princes and princesses who had Seniors for bodyguards because they were too incompetent to reel over a single Martial Master to their quasi-faction.
"Huff…" Rui shook his head.
He had thought about how he could guide the Kandrian Throne War in a way that did not disrupt the lives of his family and did not make the nation a place not worth living in, but it was not easy, even for him.
Previously, he shook these thoughts out of his head because he didn't have the power to decide who would become Emperor or Empress.
But now he did.
He could very easily make any of the candidates ruler of Kandria. He knew the four royals would rather die than be disgraced, lose all their privileges and luxuries, and rot in the Martial Union imprisonment block for the rest of their lives.
It meant that he could manipulate them as much as he pleased. That gave him power of the resources that they commanded. It gave him immense power over the Royal Army, the seafare and maritime sector of Kandria, the corporate sector, and the government.
It was not an exaggeration to say that, at this moment, he was the most powerful individual in Kandria after the Royal Emperor and the Martial Sages.
Yet, despite all that power, he couldn't see a path forward to manifesting an acceptable outcome.
