“What I need…” Rui explained. “Is to have a team of Martial Squires of the Longranger Sect aid me in building a settlement on neutral territory on the island for the skilled laborers employed on the cruise ship, the diplomatic team, the security team, and the intelligence team. We seek to be self-sufficient, so we would also require the necessary skilled expertise and the necessary supplies and goods needed to build a self-sustaining settlement on the island.”𝑶𝔳𝓛xt.𝑐𝒪𝑀
The current personnel as well as the goods and supplies that had been assigned to the mission were very insufficient in accomplishing what Rui was trying to accomplish. He needed more than what he already had.
“Hm, alright. As for the specifics…”
“Those can be haggled over, but the main point is that we need to demonstrate the totality of all the value that our techniques can provide,” Rui mentioned. “The most important part of my request is the Martial Squires of the Longranger Sect. Specifically, their Martial Paths need to line up with what we are offering.”
“I see, so you want to get the Martial Squires of the Longranger Sect to have Martial Paths centered around the kinds of techniques that the Martial Union is planning to offer to the G’ak’arkan Tribe?” She asked.
Rui nodded. “The techniques we are offering are those that shore up the shortcomings of the G’ak’arkan Tribe. Thus having Martial Squires that are experts in those fields that the G’ak’arkan Tribe is lacking in really allows us to showcase exactly what it is we are offering. The Martial Squires need to perfectly fit our needs.”
“That is understandable, I’m sure Senior Ceeran can arrange for that.” She replied. “Have him work out the choices of what Martial Squires he thinks are most fit, and send that list to me, and I will see what I can do with assigning them to this mission.”
“Thank you, commissioner Derun,” Rui smiled.
“Not at all. Is there anything else?” She asked.
“Well, yes. I’m a little hesitant, but I think this next plan has enough merit to warrant mentioning,” Rui said. “I wanted to get your opinion on this idea that I had.”
She nodded, waiting for him to finish it.
“I was considering the idea of introducing a powerful species of fauna to the Vilun Island that would disrupt the island and would make life harder for the G’ak’arkan Tribe,” Rui told her.
The idea sounded so absurd and out of pocket that Martial commissioner Derun was stumped for a second. It was truly out of her expectations that Rui would make a request like this.
“What?” She frowned. “What merit is there in such a pointless plan? You’ll simply cause harm to the tribe that we are already struggling to befriend.”
“Yes, but the species of fauna that I’m considering must be one that can easily be dealt with by the kind of long-range techniques that the G’ak’arkan Tribe is lacking in, the kind that we are offering to them because they are lacking in. If we do that…”
“Then the value of our techniques would be much greater,” She quickly understood. “You want to introduce a brand-new problem and crisis that would increase the value of what we are offering and introduce an additional need for the G’ak’arkan Tribe to accept our proposal to trade techniques.”
One of the problems that Rui had highlighted earlier was that the G’ak’arkan Tribe had no driving motivation to accept the trading offer that the Martial Union had made for them. They were satisfied with their Martial prowess and had great pride in their own techniques. There simply was nothing strong enough to put down that pride and take interest in the techniques of the outsiders.
Rui had recognized this and realized that there was only one viable solution.
If there was no driving motivation for the G’ak’arkan Tribe to accept the trading offers of the Martial Union, then Rui realized that he need only introduce a reason for the G’ak’arkan Tribe to develop a driving motivation into accepting the offers of the Martial Union.
“You’re plotting against them, if the G’ak’arkan Tribe discovers or suspects your ploy, then you will have forever destroyed the relationship between the tribe and the Martial Union, do you understand?” She warned him.
“I am aware of that,” Rui nodded calmly. “Of course, it cannot be done in haste. And it will require some preparation and a lot of deception. But I am confident that as long as we plan thoroughly, and execute the plan thoroughly, we can be reasonably confident that the G’ak’arkan Tribe will eventually acquiesce to our trade offers.”
She considered his words quietly for several seconds. “I will get back to you on this, I am afraid I cannot make a decision regarding this request of yours on the spot,”
Rui understood why, of course. If the plan failed, then the Martial Union could forget about getting all of its techniques through diplomatic negotiations. The G’ak’arkan Tribe would instantly become sworn enemies of the Martial Union, and hostilities would break out immediately.
In the worst-case scenario, they might break out into a war with the diplomatic convoy of the Martial Union then and there, leading to the entire convoy being ravaged.
Rui was not optimistic about Senior Ceeran’s chances of taking on three Martial Seniors at once. Although Martial Seniors of the G’ak’arkan Tribe were much weaker than that of the Kandrian Empire, on average, three-on-one was still very one-sided as far as the odds went.
Of course, he was quite certain that Senior Ceeran was probably very strong even for a Martial Senior of the Martial Union.
Even if he could win, the destruction of their battle would be immense and would likely end up hurting the entire convoy. Furthermore, the G’ak’arkan Tribe outnumbered the diplomatic convoy as far as Martial Artists of lower Realms went, too.
The consequences of being discovered would be devastating, Rui wasn’t sure he would even survive in such circumstances.