However, while he saw the plan to be perfect, his grandmother was not quite convinced by his offer yet.
"Why not secretly have him deliver the potions?" She gestured to Sage Sayfeel.
Rui furrowed his eyebrows. "Sage Sayfeel is far too precious and valuable an asset of the Emperor to be reduced to a delivery man. If you joined the Empire, you would not need to rely on this; you could just directly procure the potions from the Kandrian government or the Martial Union."
She steepled her fingers, peering into Rui's eyes. "The potion matter is secondary when it comes to the radical offer that you have made, my grandson. Do you think we have not considered joining powerful Sage-level powerhouses in the past? The greatest issue is that we cannot trust them to extract our technique by force. How can we trust the Kandrian Empire to exert its great power to extract our technique with force?"
"By becoming a part of it," Rui replied. "The Kandrian Empire is an empire of harmony. There are many interest and stakeholder groups with conflicting interests and stakes that exist without friction because the Kandrian Empire is designed to accommodate all of them. This is the system that my father devised in order to prevent civil war in an age of civil wars. It is the reason that the Kandrian Empire is a powerhouse today."
"There have been attempts by my foolish siblings to try and disrupt this harmony, but rest assured that I have crushed them," Rui replied. "As the next Emperor of Kandria, I guarantee you safety in the name of Kandria."
Her eyes widened as Rui finally played another one of the cards that he had been saving up for the right moment.
"You are due to ascend the throne?" She stared at him incredulously.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Indeed," Rui replied. "Unless Emperor Rael magically heals, of course."
Her eyes narrowed as she finally gained a deep understanding of the circumstances that Rui was in and what his ultimate objective was.
Rui admittedly took a bit of a gamble by hinting at it. However, he judged that her hatred for Rael was not as strong as the rapport he was building, as well as the powerful concrete incentives that he was offering.
"Your concerns of a Sage-level powerhouse bullying you to reveal your technique is justified. In fact, if you were in the Britannian Empire, you would undoubtedly be forced to share it. If you were in the Sekigahara Confederate, the feudal Martial clans that rule the state would exterminate all of you in pursuit of the technique if you dared to refuse them. The Republic of Gorteau, being the most corrupt state in East Panama, would undoubtedly spur countless actors to act against you in pursuit of the power of prophecy."
He closed his eyes. "The Kandrian Empire, however, has a history of internal cooperation and harmony. This was true under my father, and it will be true under me regardless of which one of us rules the Kandrian Empire."
"Your father took my daughter away from me and then let her die," Matriarch Nephi narrowed her eyes.
"I am aware you dislike my father as a son-in-law. I can understand your sentiment. Perhaps I even share it to a small extent." Rui closed his eyes. "However, your greatest fear was the Kandrian Empire forcing the Eye of Prophecy out of you out of greed for the power of prophecy, correct?"
"It is the reason we have disconnected from human civilization," she remarked.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Then let me ask you this." Rui stared into her eyes. "Why would the Kandrian Empire bully you this time when it did not bully you last time?"
She narrowed her eyes at that question. "What?"
"When the Emperor of Harmony found you, you were a Martial Master, correct?"
"Yes."
"When he found you, he had a Martial Sage, right?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't he use the power of a Martial Sage to force you to give him the Eye of Prophecy technique?"
She stared at him wordlessly.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Not only did he not bully you when he could, he even transacted fairly and built a relationship with you before my mother died, right?"
"…"
"Think about it," Rui replied. "There are only two forces in the Kandrian Empire that have the power to concretely overwhelm you as a Sage-level Clan. One is the Emperor and the government that answers to him, who has already proven that he does not operate in such a manner, or the Martial Union that has a long history of deep cooperation with all Martial Art entities that are not hostile to it. The Martial Union is filled with all kinds of sects that are centered around different kinds of techniques. These sects have many exclusive techniques that they don't share with the Martial Union. The Martial Union has never forced anybody to share their technique. In fact…"
He pulled out an amulet featuring the insignia of the Martial Union. This was proof of his authority as a senior ambassador of the Martial Union.
"As a senior ambassador of the Martial Union, I can guarantee you the absolute right to privacy," Rui replied. "I have had my prophecy technique for eighteen years now from when I was a Martial Apprentice."
He stared into her eyes. "Yet even as an Apprentice, Squire, and now Senior, they have never, not once, forced me to reveal or share my prophecy technique with them."
He leaned forward. "Not once. Think about that. Even though I was a weak Apprentice who no one cared about. They never once bullied me to share my technique. They have centuries of history of maintaining this policy and they have never once violated it even against a Martial Apprentice."
Her expression crumbled into uncertainty as her eyes swam around.
She hated to admit it, but Rui's arguments were both logically and emotionally compelling. Her powerful senses told her that he was telling her the absolute truth. She could even detect deep sincerity.
"If a Martial Apprentice was not forced to reveal his prophecy technique. Then surely a Sage-level clan will be just fine in the ranks of the Martial Union."
