Strangely enough, Rui felt as though he had arrived at a crossroads of sorts. The way he dealt with this would likely very well set the pattern for how he would deal with such an issue in the future.
He glanced at Kane, who was silently listening. He expressed concern, but that was purely for Rui. He had no personal interest at stake here.
After all, he did not give a fuck about his family. He would probably grin in amusement if he did cause them any trouble.
However, even if he cared for his family, he would not be worried. The Underworld was not crazy enough to mess with one of the most powerful Martial families in the Kandrian Empire. A family that was led by a Martial Sage, that had produced many martial Artists of all Realms, and who was also the leader of one of the most powerful Martial Sects in the nation.𝑜𝐯𝗅xt.𝑐𝑜𝚖
The actual military and net Martial power of the Underworld paled in comparison to the Martial Union in absolute numbers, which is why the Underworld didn’t dare to confront the former in a head-on symmetrical war, among other reasons.
The Arrancar Family was powerful enough to take on the Underworld’s Martial forces by itself.
The same could not be said for the Quarrier Orphanage. The thought of It was almost funny.
Their many faces flashed through his head as he thought of the ones that he was especially attached to. Julian, Lashara, Alice, Max, and Mana, among others.
He sighed. “What’s your objective with bringing this up?”
“Pardon?”
“I appreciate the warning,” Rui replied. “But you wouldn’t have gone this deep into the matter unless there was something in it for you. Get on with it.”
Martial Commissioner Reze smiled wryly. “You are correct. I shall do as you say. In light of what I have just brought up, I have an offer to make to you, Squire Quarrier.”
Rui remained silent, staring at him wordlessly as he already understood what direction this was going.
“We can offer your family official full-time protection,” The commissioner continued. “We can guarantee that basically no force will hurt them, be it either due to the active Martial Squire guards that will be guarding them at all times, or due to the passive protection that being under the protection of the Martial Union comes with.”
Rui frowned. “That means that they will constantly be accompanied by Martial Squires, correct?”
“Yes, it will be necessary to guarantee their safety,” The commissioner nodded. “On top of that, there will be a security detail established at the orphanage’s property. They will be strictly protected at all times.”
It sounded great with a superficial consideration of the matter, however, Rui was not convinced that this was necessarily a good thing.
“You’ll be disrupting their lives significantly, they’ll live every day under the fear of being targeted, and suffering in the process,” Rui narrowed his eyes.
“Those can be minimized, even if unavoidable,” Commissioner Reze replied. “It’s a better outcome to them being massacred, correct?”
Rui could not argue with that, but that point made him all the more disillusioned by that. He loved his family deeply and wish only the best for them. He was willing to do much for them, he was even willing to go so far as to die for them if that ever came to be the need.
However, he was unsure if he was willing to shackle himself for that. That was a line that the thought of crossing repulsed him to his very soul.
(‘Maybe I should use the phenomenal wealth that I got from the dungeon to have dozens of Martial Squires protect all of them from the shadows?’) He wondered, before sighing. Such means had limits. He could not possibly earn enough to pay for dozens of Martial Squires basically working full time, and eventually even his massive wealth would whittle down, regardless of how long it took.
Furthermore, the more he went down such a path, the more enemies he would make and the more protection he would need to impart.
He tried imagining what life was like for a famous and notorious Martial Master with a large family of ordinary humans, with many enemies who would love to make him suffer. The sheer anxiety of something happening to his family was something that he could not even begin to fully realize. He wouldn’t even be able to sleep with such fears plaguing his heart.
(‘Is this the reason that powerful Martial Artists tend to have Martial Families that are strong enough to defend themselves? Because having normal families is too much of a weakness and a liability?’) Rui wondered inwardly, trying to gauge the motivations of higher-ranking Martial Artists.
The more he detached himself from humanity and transcended his limits as a Martial Artist, the more he found himself distinguishing himself from normal humans, psychologically.
He shook his mind returning to the present as he considered Commissioner Reze’s offer.
“I’ll think about it,” He ended up saying, unable to choose in the heat of the moment.
“That is understandable,” He nodded in response. “I did not expect you to make your mind up on the spot. Take some time to consider the matter.”
The meeting soon came to an end before Rui and Kane left, returning back to the inn.
“We should also stop by the Shionel Dungeon sometime today,” Rui remarked. “Guildmaster Bradt will have likely already prepared the information and data that I am looking for. As long as things are fit, we can commence the plan any time.”
After the conversation he had just had, Rui couldn’t help but strongly hope that the exploration teams of Deacon Industries had made deep enough progress into the Shionel Dungeon so that he could redirect their path leading straight to the Root Floor. In the worst-case scenario, he would need to take the checkpoint trackers of other exploration teams and add them to the route he was trying direct them to the Root Floor through.