Once Rui returned, he immediately began issuing orders to relevant personnel. They had acquired the corpses of two Martial Seniors whose conditions could not be allowed to deteriorate any further.
While Senior Ceeran could excuse himself and treat himself to a good hot bath for a job well done, Rui had immediately visited the intelligence team regarding some important matters.
"You want me to infiltrate the K'ulnen Tribe and bug the entire place? Sure, that's no problem now that those two looming threats are gone. I'll walk right past those Martial Squire chumps and place wiretaps right under their noses.
"Be careful though. Wiretaps lose their invisibility and imperceptibility once they leave your person," Rui warned him.
Kane himself was invisible and imperceptible to almost all other Martial Squires. However, the moment that an object left his small area of influence, it would immediately be perceivable. What that meant was that if there was any other Martial Artist in the immediate vicinity of the location where Kane was placing a wiretap, then there was a chance that they would notice the wiretap seemingly appearing out of thin air. In which case, they would definitely investigate the object.
"Relax, don't be such a worrywart," Kane reassured. "If I do this mission, it would be at night when at least a good portion of them will be sleeping."
This was true and definitely did alleviate the risks of the operation.
The rest of the meeting proceeded smoothly as he informed the intelligence team of his concerns regarding the more zealous Martial Artists of the K'ulnen Tribe that would choose to retaliate against the Martial Union settlement for having killed their highest leaders and most powerful warriors.
The intelligence team immediately formed several plans to implement greater surveillance on the K'ulnen Tribe to ensure that they did not even miss the faintest signs of anything the tribe might planning that was less than desirable to the Martial Union.
Once that was done, Rui left them to their devices and their plans. He had a lot of people to talk to, after all. He reached the conference room and used his comms device to reach out to Martial commissioner Derun. She generally received reports of all happenings naturally, but the matters that had occurred today were significant enough that he felt the need to report it to her directly.
"Squire Quarrier," She picked up rather quickly, giving Rui a courteous smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
"Good news, mam," Rui smiled. "We have finally concluded the show-off plan just now as Senior Ceeran defeated the two Martial Seniors of the K'ulnen Tribe that we picked a fight to demonstrate the might of the Martial Art techniques of the Martial Union. We have also retained their corpses that have been adequately stored by our medical team."
Her eyes lit up as her smile grew more genuine. "That is indeed good news. I presume that now that the war is over you intend to go through with the negotiations talks once more?"
"That's correct," Rui nodded. "I do not dare to guarantee success, however, I am not pessimistic about our chances. We have truly performed really well."
"So I've read," She nodded. "The fact that you took down a Martial Squire with a single attack, and a relatively high-grade Martial Squire all by yourself makes it hard to believe for a Martial commissioner like myself that you are technically a low-grade Martial Squire at the moment."
Rui could sense that she was being genuine. It was to be expected, after all. His prior feats did not measure up to the ones that he had performed during his participation in the war effort against the K'ulnen Tribe.
He had killed Martial Squires before, but they were in the same grade as him when his Martial Path was taken into account. And that was also after an intense battle.
In this conflict, however, Rui had taken down one low-grade Martial Squire with a single attack and had taken down a relatively high-grade Martial Squire despite her receiving assistance from another Martial Squire.
These were feats that far exceeded what one would expect of a grade-four Martial Squire.
"Well, I've been putting my latest technique to good use," Rui smiled humbly. "With good preparation, one can exceed their limits in a given situation, and that is mostly what I did to ensure that my facade of being a high-grade Martial Artist did not fail. After all, the G'ak'arkan Tribe will give me much less respect if they realize that I am only average, maybe a bit above average by their standards."
"Hm, I see," She said. "Regardless, I'm sure you didn't call me just to tell me that, correct?"
Rui smiled. "That's right. I wanted to inquire about the approval and authorization of my proposed failsafe plan."
The martial commissioner took a moment to consider his words, before responding. "I decided to authorize the plan if it is needed,"
Rui raised an eyebrow at her words. "I see… Thank you. Frankly, that is a little bit unexpected."
"It was to me as well," She sighed. "After all, it is a plan that necessarily guarantees losses to our side regardless of the outcome. We'd be planning a disaster that would affect the Martial Union settlement on the Vilun Island…"
"Then why…"
"Why did I authorize it nonetheless?"
Rui nodded with an expression of curiosity on his face.
"It's because your conduct and execution of this mission has been impeccable and assuring, young Squire," She told him. "Your Martial prowess is not the only attention-drawing aspect about you. You have handled the settlement quite professionally and aptly. I do not know if you realize the significance of this matter, but it is quite reassuring to see that you are capable and competent."
"You flatter me," Rui smiled wryly.
"Regardless," She moved on. "In addition to that, we have invested a lot in obtaining those techniques. We must have them no matter what. Be sure to succeed."
"That is my intention, mam."
