Of course, Rui knew what he was doing.
His dedication and training had paid off.
"I'm afraid that it truly does seem to me that maybe you don't think that the Martial Artists of your Martial Tribe could master our difficult techniques?" Rui shrugged.
"That is not true!" The Martial Senior insisted. As he gritted his teeth, glaring down at Rui.
"If you say so," Rui sighed. "Because it would be a true insult to the mighty warriors of the G'ak'arkan Tribe if they were implied that they couldn't handle something as simple as the training required our techniques."
At this point, Rui was not even talking to him at all.
He was talking to every Martial Squire that was listening to the conversation.
This was, once again, triggering their pride. The more he riled them into potentially believing that the Martial Tribe did not think they were capable of doing so. After all, why else would they refuse the offer?
Rui graciously built up a good image of the warriors of the G'ak'arkan Tribe with swifter smooth talking.
"Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be going anywhere," Rui shook his head, sighing.
He had already coaxed them with numerous offers and incentives, but Senior F'ahru rejected him every time, straightforwardly.
"I would like to hold these conversations later on once more." Rui smiled. "If you would be so gracious."
"If it's nothing new, don't bother," He huffed.
Rui and his assistants quickly got out of there, descending the hill.
"I'm sorry sir, but it seems the initial negotiations are a failure," They sighed.
"Yeah, but... what's more important is why it happened," Rui sighed. "Why exactly did they reject the so many favorable terms that I brought up."
"Ah, regarding that, sir. You stepped a bit out of bounds with some of those officers. You were not authorized to offer several things that you did make the offer to them.
"I know," Rui nodded. "It made the deal that much harder to resist, yet he did it regardless. What I am more interested in is what is it that keeps him from agreeing to our deal. Are the techniques they have truly something they genuinely consider to be sacred?" Rui wondered.
None of them had an answer to that question.
"I get the feeling that he didn't have enough trust in us to abide by our words," Rui frowned.
Rui's eyes narrowed.
"That's probably one of the reasons, at least," Rui sighed. "Still, if we want to obtain success on this, then we need to do better than this next time."
"Next time, sir?" One of them asked. "What's the point of trying again?"
"Why do you say that?" Rui frowned.
"Sir you tried the primary opening offers and arguments and even went into the deep end of the stuff that I don't even entirely understand,"
"We can still succeed with this mission, alright?" Rui nodded. "Have faith in us,"
The two of them looked at him dubiously.
"What?" Rui returned with a disapproving look.
"How can we possibly succeed after this failure?"
"By figuring out a new way to make them want to voluntarily trade their techniques," Rui replied.
In fact, he had already come up with a few plausibilities.
"We need to work harder in earning the support of every stakeholder in that goddamn Martial Tribe," Rui narrowed his eyes.
"Sir, I'd suggest that go back ho-"
"No, not yet," Rui shook his head. "We're gonna get those techniques together,"
BEEP BEEP
It was a call with Senior Ceeran.
"Yes sir?" Rui sighed.
"I got your message, it didn't go that well, did it?"
"Not at all, sir."
"Well, I don't blame you, my first time was not that good either."
Rui's eye twitched as he smiled sardonically.
Rui had merely failed to compel them, whereas Senior Ceeran had come near provoking a war.
"Never mind, there's nothing that can be done. For now, we can only-" "I'm afraid I can do that right now, sir. I believe I can succeed with just some time." Rui replied.
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"Long story sir, for now, I just plan on refining and altering my approach.
"I don't know how much longer Martial commissioner Derun will tolerate this mission if it isn't yielding meaningful results, Rui."
"I understand,"
"Also, if this becomes something of an extended operation, then I will have to return back to the Martial Union." Senior Ceeran informed him. "I cannot afford to spend so much time away from the Martial Union not accomplishing much. However, if and when you ever need me, I'll be sure to return to the mission, just like that?"
They spoke for some more time before their conversation finally ended.
Once he left, there was a lot less peace of mind with what was happening. The fact of the matter is that the reason he felt confident in poking people if he needed to was that he knew that Senior Ceeran has his back, professionally and personally.
"Looks like I'll have to be looking to become more cautious," Rui nodded.
Of course, he wasn't averse to this.
"What exactly are you planning to do, sir?" One of his assistants frowned.
"I need to find a way to lower their trust, and also strengthen their incentives to agree to our deal. We will get our hands on those techniques no matter what happens.
One thing Rui needed to do was gain more information on the timing.
"Information will allow me to make more accurate decisions," Rui straightforwardly informed them. "Oh man, I am so glad that Kane is here, he is really useful for things like that."
Infiltration was a highly useful niche. And Kane was extremely good at it. Rui would need to only worry about him getting caught, which may happen in the vicinity of Martial Seniors. However, as long as Kane avoided some really dangerous spots, Rui was still quite confident that he could get him what he wanted
