Rui wasn't a fool, and apparently, neither was the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
('Let me, a Martial Squire rest because I'm a guest?') Rui chuckled.
Currently, he was inside a hut in the village of the G'ak'arkan Tribe, sitting on a bed, contemplating what had happened.
('As I'd expected, the Martial Squires were aggressive and prideful, but that man… He kept his cool and smoothly delayed my plans after he confirmed that I was too strong to be dealt with by them,') Rui noted.
Of course, he recognized that Martial Senior.
Even without the Mind Palace technique, he would not possibly forget one of the three youngest Martial Seniors of the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
('Hm, there may be some deviations from expectations, this early…') Rui sighed.
The intelligence on Senior F'ahru, the youngest Martial Senior out of the three Martial Seniors of the G'ak'arkan Tribe was limited. Unfortunately for Rui, there wasn't too much data on the man in previous diplomatic negotiations with the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
The problem was that the Martial Union jumped from directly dealing with the Martial Squires of the G'ak'arkan Tribe to dealing with the leader of the tribe, N'kulu. The issue was that while the previous Martial Squires that had been chosen to delegate dealt with Martial Squires, Rui was portraying himself as too strong to be dealt with any of the Martial Squires of the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
However, that did not necessarily mean he would be dealing with the Martial leader of the tribe immediately. If Rui was understanding what the intervention of the third and the youngest Martial Senior meant, then that would be the person that the G'ak'arkan Tribe was sending to negotiate with Rui.
This was a little sub-optimal for Rui because he knew the least about the man out of the three Martial Seniors.
('He seems a lot calmer and rational than the other Martial Artists of the Martial Tribe,') Rui sighed. That was exactly what he didn't want.
He would rather deal with someone more simple as far as their mentality went, than someone who could retain their composure.
Of course, Rui didn't think it was too big a deal. Part of it was because the man was a Martial Senior, and that meant there was a limit to how much Rui could impact his emotions. Rui had already long begun to feel this way about Martial Apprentices. There was very little that Martial Apprentices could do that would shake his composure.
"Only time will tell…"
And time did intend to follow through.
Soon enough, a Martial Apprentice informed Rui that the G'ak'arkan Tribe was willing to meet with him at any time. All Rui had to do was inform his assistants to hurry themselves up, and eventually, the diplomatic team reunited as they were led through the village.
Rui ignored the piercing stares from the many members of the G'ak'arkan Tribe. People of all ages came forward and out as they stared at the striding diplomatic team.
Rui was only grateful that their gaze wasn't filled with fear or contempt, but mostly curiosity. It was a good sign that the tribe did not have a strong bias against the ambassadors of the Martial Union.
Soon, the team was led towards a larger hut closer to the center of the village.
Rui didn't even need to walk in to know who was in there.
"Senior F'ahru," Rui smiled as he walked in. "I'm honored that you have chosen to hear us out."
"Have a seat, ambassador," The man gestured to the stools on the opposite side of the table. "We will humor you, even though we know what this is all about."
"What this is about…" Rui said as he took a seat. "…Is the mutual benefit of both G'ak'arkan Tribe and our Martial Union."
"Your Martial Union has failed to convince us of this matter numerous times in the past. Enough is enough." The man scoffed.
"Our Martial Union is invested in pursuing this matter and seeing it through to the end. I hope to succeed, as long as you give me a chance," Rui smiled.
"A chance, yes," The man replied smoothly. "But I assure you, getting our techniques will be nearly impossible."
"We are aware," Rui nodded. "Your techniques are highly precious to you."
"They are sacred," The man insisted. "They are the foundation of our power."
"Entering an agreement with us will strengthen that foundation," Rui explained. "What was sacred before will become divine, if you agree to cooperate with us."
"And you think your techniques are so much more special, do you? Do you think you're so much ahead that your techniques will strengthen ours? Is that what you're saying?"
The man stood up and he leaned forward with a stern expression.
To his credit, Rui remained fearless in the face of a Martial Senior glaring at him even as his assistant diplomats were shivering below the table.
Both Rui and F'ahru could sense it, but neither of them cared. They were irrelevant to the outcome of the diplomatic meeting, and they both knew it.
Rui paused for a moment as he considered his situation.
This was the tricky part that every Martial Artist that had been chosen as an ambassador for the G'ak'arkan Tribe had come across, and one that none of them had managed to overcome.
It was at this point that Rui hit an important crossroads.
He had two conventional choices at hand.
He could either refute that assertion and go down the route where he got into a pissing contest over which side had the better Martial Art techniques, challenge their pride and provoke their competitiveness and aggression and most likely get into some kind of physical conflict or competition by the end of it.
Or, he could concede that point in order to not do that, but end up devaluing the Martial techniques of the Martial Union and perhaps end up chalking up a deal where the martial Union is forced to trade thrice the number of techniques that the Martial Union was going to receive.
