Rui had to admit that Prince Raul's critiques were more than just valid; they were sound. As a Martial Senior, Rui could commit murder and get away with it pretty easily. In fact, the Martial Union essentially used the crimes to justify squeezing out free labor from Martial Artists as a punishment
Martial Artists were not straightforwardly imprisoned for many years or decades. They were sentenced to Martial labor, as dictated by the Martial Union, which would squeeze them of all the value they could during this time until they served their sentence and were free.
On top of that, the sentences for assault and battery were crimes that were treated with a slap on the wrist, with sentences of labor that lasted months at most.
Essentially, the Martial Union used this as a way to gain free Martial labor. The Kandrian government used this as a way to delegate what would be an expensive judiciary process for imprisoning powerful Martial Artists under the standard penal code.
It was not pretty.
However, Martial Artists were a precious and vital resource.
They could not be locked up; it would weaken the Empire twice, once for losing the power that the Martial Artist had to offer and another for having to dedicate the same amount of power needed to ensure that the Martial Artist was actually locked up and didn't escape with force.
Even if the Kandrian Empire could successfully implement this, it would dramatically weaken the nation, which was highly undesirable considering how many enemies the Kandrian Empire had inadvertently made.
This was the dilemma of the Age of Martial Art.
It was one that Prince Raul did not like.
"That is why I wish to abolish the Kandrian Martial Covenant; I will either abolish it or amend it so that Martial Artists will face real, genuine consequences for hurting people. Power does not make the death of a hundred and fifty thousand innocent Kandrian citizens acceptable, not at all, as far as I am concerned."
Prince Raul was clear on that.
It was difficult for Rui to push back.
He was sympathetic to the plight of the people most vulnerable to assault from Martial Artists. Yet it also wasn't something he was cognizant about on a day-to-day basis, especially in the Kandrian Empire.
Yet, at the same time, he didn't think highly about Prince Raul's goal of trying to get rid of the Covenant.
"You'll be provoking civil war. And even if you win that, you'll weaken the Kandrian Empire by shackling our Martial Artists and make us more vulnerable to external pressure," Rui shook his head. "It is the height of irrationality to believe that you can fix this problem through niceness."
"Everybody has a human heart, do they not?" Prince Raul smiled warmly.
"You know, if not for the fact that you don't have a privileged background, I would assume you have had the privilege of growing up around extremely good and kind people," Rui raised an eyebrow.
Prince Raul chuckled, shaking his head. "People have a greater capacity for kindness than you could ever imagine, Rui Quarrier. Why do you think the Kandrian Ruffians have grown to such an extent? It is not because of my kindness but theirs. It is only because people are fundamentally kind that so many have selflessly joined me in my voyage."
Rui raised an eyebrow as he stared at Prince Raul with a dubious expression.
It was true that the scale of the Kandrian Ruffians surprised Rui. However, that did not mean everybody was fundamentally kind.
"Do you truly believe that just asking kindly will result in success?"
"It will bear my heart," Prince Raul smiled warmly.
"What if you fail?" Rui asked him.
"…Then I will be forced to choose the lesser of two evils," Prince Raul replied with a sorrowful tone. "I don't know what the lesser of two evils is, but I have very clever people who can show me what available path brings the least suffering."
Rui's eyes lit up with a little bit of hope. He could at least conceive of his own failure, which means he wasn't arrogant.
He was just incredibly naive.
However, that didn't mean all the issues were resolved.
"What if the path to least suffering is a civil war?" Rui calmly asked.
"…Then I will do everything in my power to ensure not a single person suffers. We Kandrian Ruffians will protect, feed, and house every person who needs it," Prince Raul heaved a quivering sigh.
"It is impossible to prevent the flames of war from spreading suffering," Rui snorted.
"I fear from the bottom of my heart that you may be right," Prince Raul smiled sadly.
"What if the path to least suffering is maintaining harmony?" Rui raised an eyebrow.
"Then that is the path I will go down," Prince Raul firmly replied. "However, I do not believe that this is the path to least suffering. I do not believe that the best we can do is to let hundreds of thousands die over the years. I do not believe that is the very best we can afford to do."
Rui shook his head. "This is the price of Martial Art. This is the price of power."
"Then it is not a price that I am willing to pay," Prince Raul's voice grew stronger.
"Would you reject Martial Art?" Rui raised an eyebrow.
"No, as I said before, I am not anti-Martial Art itself. But I will not accept the price of more than a hundred thousand dying every year," Prince Raul shook his head. "If Martial Art is unable to comply, then Martial Art may need to cease to exist."
"Hah," Rui shook his head. "What an asinine thing to say. You will spread more suffering if you try to get rid of Martial Art itself."
"People are kinder than you think, Rui Quarrier."
"You think kindness will get rid of the deaths caused by Martial Art, or Martial Art itself. You think kindness and 'heart' can fix all our problems?!" Rui grew frustrated.
"I am a firm believer in the human heart." Prince Raul smiled, ignoring Rui's outburst.
