K'ahru grinned at the chieftain's words. "Does that mean-!"
He froze as a wave of anger washed across him.
"Do not interrupt me," The chieftain's sharp eyes glared at him. "I see much merit in both your stances. However, what we lack is the necessary information we need to make this decision. Therefore, I have decided we will wait until we can move with confidence. None of us wish to weaken ourselves with a war that doesn't need to be waged just to be consumed by our real enemies. Yet, at the same time, none of us wish to simply hand over our precious and sacred techniques so easily."
He stood up, indicating the end of the meeting.
K'Mala and K'ahru felt ambivalent, while they did not get what they wanted, at the very least what they definitely didn't want happening did not happen. Thus the outcome was tentatively neutral.
The council dispersed quickly as each member processed what they had learned from it.
Back in the settlement of the Martial Union, Rui and Special Agent Cravis were still concerning themselves with the reaction of the G'ak'arkan Tribe.
"It's unfortunate that we do not have a functioning wiretap in the council meeting room anymore," Special Agent Cravis sighed with regret.
"There hasn't been an appropriate opportunity since then," Rui shook his head. "The presence of three Martial Seniors concentrated within such a small village makes it difficult to infiltrate the place."
Martial Seniors possessed tremendously powerful natural senses, Rui had confirmed. Senior Ceeran's natural senses were sharper than all of Rui's sensory techniques combined. This meant that trying to infiltrate the village when there were Martial Seniors was a suicidal operation for the most part.
"Last time, it was an exceedingly rare opportunity that the two younger Martial Seniors K'Mala and K'ahru had left the village temporarily at night while the chieftain was asleep. That is the only reason I approved Kane infiltrating the village and planting wiretaps," Rui sighed. "Even then, it was extremely dangerous. If the chieftain woke up for any reason, Kane would have zero chance of survival."
Rui was not willing to put his best friend on such a dangerous mission again.
"Forget the wiretaps, what can the intelligence and analytics teams tell me about the impact that this battle will have on the G'ak'arkan Tribe?"
"There are only a few possibilities as we had discussed briefly when you suggested the idea," Special Agent Cravis calmly replied. "For one, we can be assured that they will be shocked regardless of what course of action they choose to come to. Your feat is unprecedented to them,"
Rui took some pride in knowing this. The fact that his Void Pathfinder was able to shock a tribe that had been practicing and refining their long-range techniques for centuries was greatly validating, but that was beside the point of the discussion.
"Well?"
"We believe that they will eventually choose to cooperate to obtain our techniques, or they will choose to wage a war against us to obtain our techniques," Special Agent Cravis explained. "Cooperation would be the common sense option were they a normal state, but given their warped culture as well as the fact that they perceive a Martial Squire instead of a Martial Senior leading our settlement will likely make the latter option more alluring than it normally would be. As for which route they will choose to go. Only time will tell."
"Then it is time to prop Senior Ceeran back up, I presume?" Rui asked as he quickly understood the circumstances and immediately came up with a straightforward solution.
"It will serve as a deterrence, that is true," Special Agent Cravis nodded. "However, the problem is that propping up Senior Ceeran may also make the situation worse."
Rui turned towards Special Agent Cravis with a knowing expression. "His previous interactions with the G'ak'arkan Tribe."
"That's exactly so, sir," He nodded in return. "Senior Ceeran had wounded their pride in his previous endeavor to negotiate with them. One of the reasons that war didn't break out then and there was because he apologized. Martial Seniors apologizing are an extremely heavy and significant gesture in the G'ak'arkan Tribe, after all. Although Senior Ceeran never intended to offend the and was merely being brutally honest, that doesn't change their impression of him. Given how irrational the G'ak'arkan Tribe is, they may be more driven to wage war seeing him. After all, one Martial Senior is not enough to defeat three of them, in their eyes. Extracting the techniques of a Martial Senior may even appeal more to the Martial Seniors of the G'ak'arkan Tribe."
"May?"
"Unfortunately, we are unable to model all of their thought processes and patterns. Thus it is unclear how they will respond. However, the results of propping up Senior Ceeran cannot be undone, good or bad. Please keep that in mind."
"Can we switch him out for another Martial Senior?" Rui wondered half-heartedly.
"Definitely not," Special Agent Cravis shook his head. "Senior Ceeran enthusiastically volunteered for this mission. That is one of the reasons that Martial Commissioner Derun got him onboard. Martial Seniors are at the peak of the lower Realms. It will take a lot of time, capital, and justification to replace Senior Ceeran with another Martial Senior. Furthermore, Senior Ceeran strongly desires to be here, it is impossible for you to override his will on that matter. Remember that you are able to command him to a small extent because he has graciously allowed you to exert authority over him."
Rui knew that. Senior Ceeran was a purist, quite like himself, when it came to becoming stronger. If allowing Rui to take charge of a mission that he was part of meant that he could obtain the techniques of the G'ak'arkan Tribe and become stronger, he was more than willing to allow it. It also helped that he was fond of Rui for creating the Pathfinder technique.
"I'm aware of that," Rui sighed. "Keep a closer eye on their movements, if we see something alarming, then we can reveal the presence of Senior Ceeran."
"Yes sir."
