503 Fort
He had never taken a mission centered around the destruction of property before. Not that such missions were rare, but they just usually weren’t the kind of missions that Rui was interested in. However, this particular mission was interesting since it would involve breaking into a fort. Something he had never done prior.
He sat down at a table in the library he quickly read and memorized the information, adding all of it to his mind palace.
(‘Interesting…’)
Fort Zurtun was a large fort surrounding the Town of Zurtun a small city-state colony of the Britannian Empire that was quite southwest of the Kandrian Empire. The fort was situated on a mountain, giving the location with strategic value as far as defense and security went. Attempting to overrun the fort would require scaling the mountain and facing the military forces of the fort uphill against Zurtun military on their home turf.
The military even consisted of Martial Apprentices, albeit no Martial Squires. They were a small force that was unable to produce their own Martial Squires because they lacked the scientific foundation to do so. 𝒪𝓥xt.𝗇t
On top of that, the fort was armed with a Squire-grade weapon capable of unleashing vast amounts of destruction on a significant scale. Despite its great potential for destruction, the weapon was small compared to what it could unleash, this was possible thanks to the esoteric technology that went into it, making it easier to shift around and position appropriately in times of need. It was recently acquired by Fort Zurtun and it served as a deterrence to all those that wished to attempt a siege on Fort Zurtun.
Of course, climbing a mountain was a breeze for Martial Apprentices. The problem came from fighting other Martial Apprentices uphill. The terrain and location advantage made it untenable unless the invading force had a significant numerical advantage or much more powerful Martial Apprentices.
Fort Zurtun was previously an independent sovereign state until it was invaded by the Britannian Empire and colonized. The Britannian Empire had seized control of the fort after defeating the military forces of Fort Zurtun and ruling over the population. The previously sovereign city-state turned into no more than a
The client was Fushin Hunfer. According to the intelligence provided by the Martial Union, this man was the leader of a rebellion group that aimed to seize control of Fort Zurtun. The group consisted of the remnants of the military that used to protect the Fort, and according to the Martial Union, had plans of trying to size the fort and the town from the hands of the Britannian Empire.
Rui skimmed through the backstory lightly, he didn’t care all that much about the motivation and intentions of the client as long as it didn’t pertain to his mission directly. He focused more on the intelligence the security of the fort and the location of the weapon.
The weapon being small and easily portable meant that its position wasn’t static nor evidently determinable at any given point in time. It could be shifted around wherever it needed to be at any given point in time.
Thankfully, that didn’t make it harder to track. According to the information provided by the Martial Union, the weapon was mobilized every time the rebel group tried to seize Fort Zurtun. Which meant that as long as he posed enough of a threat, the weapon would be employed against any invaders.
(‘The threshold for how much of a threat depends on the security level of the fort.’) Rui realized as he revisited the fort’s military details.
The fact that not a single Martial Artist exceeded the Apprentice Realm was strange to him at first, but he realized why this was the case later on. The fort was extremely far from the Britannian Empire, it was not pragmatic to devote any military or Martial assets above the Apprentice Realm to the security of a fort that far away. Thus, they had resolved to dedicate only some Apprentice-level assets to maintain their control over the fort and the town within.
It also had to do with the fact that there were states that were competing over the control of the town in the vicinity that was above the Apprentice Realm. Thus, there was no real need for Martial Squires. They had supplied a single Squire-level weapon that was extremely effective in the terrain.
The rebel group had suffered massive casualties years ago during an attempt to climb the mountain and seize the fort back. In an attempt to eliminate the weapon, they had amassed as much wealth in the span of several years until they could finally commission a Martial Squire from the Kandrian Empire to destroy a single weapon.
(‘So, I just need need to make enough of a ruckus to draw out their Martial Apprentices, and force them to use the weapon. Then the second I see the weapon, I destroy it.’) Rui thought. It was a straightforward plan.
The weapon was made out of Squire-grade alloys that could withstand the force of even powerful Martial Squires, so destroying it was not something that could be done quickly.
(‘I don’t have to destroy it then and there. I could seize it and escape with it and destroy it elsewhere I guess.’) Rui shrugged. That wouldn’t violate the conditions or the objective of the mission.
He skimmed through the details of the mission until he was satisfied.
“Alright then.” He got up. “Time to pay the utility department another visit.”
Trying to destroy a weapon with Squire-grade alloys with his bare hands was foolish, there were some recommended tools in the mission bill from the Martial Union to aid with that part of the mission. An object that looked like a hammer with a pointy edge was one of them, it also happened to be the cheapest.
(‘Good enough for me.’) He shrugged before heading over. Thankfully, he didn’t need to purchase it since the Martial Union offered Martial Artists the option of renting the recommended utility gear and equipment.
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