Rui’s training began in earnest. Yet for what was perhaps the first time in his second life, he was not training in his Martial Art. Instead, he dedicated most of his time to verbal and non-verbal communication as well as the most optimal communication tactics with the specific high-profile members of the G’ak’arkan Tribe.
“This is tribe leader N’Kunu,” Carl brought up an image that the previous diplomatic team managed to snag of the unsuspecting fellow.
It was an image that Rui had seen before, just looking at it gave him an impression of power. The man had light skin and an imposing figure. His face and body were vividly colored in a manner that was traditional to the indigenous tribe he wore several adornments in addition to the traditional garb of the G’ak’arkan Tribe, indicating his status as the tribe leader.
“As I’m sure you know, N’Kunu is ninety-seven years old and has been the leader of the G’ak’arkan Tribe for the past thirty years, taking over from the previous tribe leader.” Carl rehashed the facts. “It has taken us quite some time to form a profile on him, but we have managed to do so. Contrary to our expectations that we have of the leader of a highly militant, aggressive, and proud tribe, chieftain N’Kunu is more stable than the other Martial Artists of his tribe, relatively speaking. There have been several instances in previous negotiation sessions with the G’ak’arkan Tribe that were quite dire and could have easily deteriorated for the worst. It is not an exaggeration to say that the composure that chieftain N’Kunu displayed is one of the greatest reasons that hostilities didn’t break down between the G’ak’arkan Tribe and our diplomatic team.”
Rui nodded as he recalled the transcripts of the diplomatic meeting between the Senior Ceeran and N’Kulu. There is no doubt that the man was being highly considerate of the fact that a fight breaking out at that point in time would end up causing a lot of damage to the G’ak’arkan Tribe. Even if he had, like the rest of his tribe, grown up possessing their highly aggressive, warmongering, and proud temperament, he needed to have greater awareness and foresight as the leader of his tribe. Otherwise, his poor decisions would lead to the destruction of his own tribe.𝚘𝐯𝔩𝐞xt.𝗰𝔪
“He is the greatest stakeholder of the G’ak’arkan Tribe,” Carl pointed out. “As the peak of the only hierarchy that is centered around power, his word possesses the greatest weight. He is the oldest and the strongest, and that is why he’s the leader. If the negotiations go poorly such that he refuses any possibility of a trade, then you can rest assured that it doesn’t matter what the rest of the tribe thinks. Even the other two younger and weaker Martial Seniors are unlikely to question him.”
He turned to Rui. “In addition to the set of interests of the G’ak’arkan Tribe that we have gone through in previous conversation, what additional interests do you think this man possesses?”
“It seems clear that his desire for the survival of his tribe is greater than that of his fellow tribesmen. I’d say that the responsibility that he bears has been made less insane than the rest of the tribe he leads. He’s probably the reason that this tribe is doing as well as it has,” Rui analyzed as he stared at the image of the man. “Still, that’s by their standards. From what it seems like, he still has demonstrated highly militant and aggressive tendencies, it’s just that he’s likely much more careful. In fact, I would venture to guess that the reason hostilities haven’t broken out between us is that he has realized the fact that someone as strong as he has been deployed as a mere diplomat means that the ‘tribe’ that we represent is unfathomably stronger than the G’ak’arkan Tribe. While he has still demonstrated highly aggressive tendencies towards us despite likely realizing this, he has never crossed a line. I believe that he should be most receptive to our negotiations. It is a shame that the Martial Union is unwilling to divulge the secret to the Master Realm to Chieftain N’Kulu. I’m sure he would agree to our dealer in a heartbeat, just based on that alone.”
“Martial commissioner Derun has been exceedingly clear and explicit with the negotiation capital that you possess as a diplomat,” Carl replied with a measured look. “She has, in no uncertain terms, made clear that the secret to the Master Realm is more valuable than every single technique of every Martial Tribe on Vilun Island, and cannot be used as a negotiation chip. Even if you did bring it up as a negotiation chip, you would be penalized and the Martial Union would never follow through. So forget about it.”
Rui wordlessly stared at Carl as he tried to reign in his curiosity.
Of course, he highly doubted that Carl knew anything about the secret to the Master Realm. He was a diplomatic and foreign affairs trainer and was only a mid-level ambassador in the prime of his career. Hell, he was sure that even Martial Commissioner Derun was unaware of this highly sensitive piece of information. At best, she was informed of its value.
Of course, Rui could also understand why they had chosen not to divulge it. Martial Masters were strategic assets of extremely high value. They were significant forces to be reckoned with by every nation. Handing over the path to the Master Realm to forces that didn’t possess the secret was a reckless move.
It was no different from nations on Earth freely teaching other nations on Earth how to construct short-range ballistic missiles in exchange for a few hand grenades!
Rui put this matter aside as they discussed the profiles of the most significant personalities of the G’ak’arkan Tribe. Rui had to keep track of all the significant stakeholders of the tribe, which happened to be the strongest Martial Artists of the tribe.
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