The Martial Unity

The commodities sold in the first-level underground bazaar were fancier, more extravagant, and more expensive than the ones atop the surface, yet Rui found them just as unpalatable as those of the surface.

"Oh, what a wonderful work of art!"

"Haha, it was created by the great artist Heretio. The brilliance of this painting is that it makes use of some rare esoteric substances to ensure that she never dies and it keeps her mind fresh, allowing this painting to capture her suffering forever."

Rui glanced to his right, his attention drawn by the rising murmurs from a gathered crowd. He thought he had grown used to the horrors of this place, but it turned out that he hadn't even seen anything yet.

Even he couldn't help but pause his search as his eyes widened at what he was beholding.

A painting featuring a woman in distress. 

Yet instead of a painted figure of a woman, there was a real woman grafted into the painting. An expression of horror and despair had molded on her face, yet it only served to entertain.

"What an incredible authentic capture of emotions. I have never seen another painting this impacting." One man remarked as he twirled his well-groomed mustache.

"And now, we will begin the bidding. The starting price is five thousand gold, can I get a five thousand one hundred?..."

Rui simply stared, dumbfounded at the cartoonishly horrific scene that he was watching unfold before him. For a moment, he reconsidered his previous considerations of launching an attack and killing everybody.

'Stop, you have work to do.' Rui shook his head, exhaling deeply and heading about his way. 

Yet as he stepped forward, he experienced a wave of deja vu. 

BUMP

Yet another Martial Apprentice intentionally shoved him, furthermore, this one was accompanied by other Martial Apprentices.

"I heard what you did to my brother, tough guy." The Martial Apprentice growled.

Rui stared at him, confused. "Who...?"

"Word on the streets is that you my brother out on the surface." The man snarled. "Don't even play with me, everyone says they saw you."

'No they didn't.' Rui frowned. 

"You think you're tou-"

POW POW POW POW POW!

Rui knocked all of them out, disappearing before anybody could even realize what had happened. This time he made sure that nobody was or had been paying attention to him.

Yet when his mind considered those circumstances, there were many things about what he said that didn't add up.

"Are you okay?" He glanced at the girl in his arms.

She nodded, fiddling with a bracelet on her wrist. "You sure are strong, mister..."

"Let's get going."

The two of them scoured the entire bazaar, and yet Rui was unable to spot anything that resembled the Beggar's Sect even in the underground bazaar. Something that was becoming increasingly frustrating to him. 

"Let's go even deeper." Rui shook his head, sighing.

"Ok." She nodded, before guiding him to yet another bookstore, for some reason.

'Are bookstores the only way to travel between bazaars, or is that the only way that she uses?'

Rui didn't know, though he could find out with Riemannian Echo, his biggest advantage was that, unlike everyone else, he could sense everything. That was why it was particularly frustrating for him to search with no yields, not even the slightest clue.

He had been told that the Derimont Bazaar was an avenue that had been created to interact with the Beggar's Sect and purchase or sell information from them.

'They sure are making it extremely difficult to even meet them.' Rui snorted inwardly as the girl secured access to the third and final floor with the same song and dance as before.

As he had predicted, it was even more high-end than the previous two floors. It was also a lot smaller with fewer clientele. On the other hand, he could already tell this was an even wealthier class of people that purchased shopped for even more messed up stuff.

He simply ignored them as he went about his task of looking for any signs of the Beggar's Sect, given that they had reached the final floor, surely he would be able to spot the crest of the Beggar's Sect.

BUMP

Rui heaved a sigh as he underwent a familiar experience yet again. This time, it was a Martial Squire.

"Punk." He growled. "I heard you knocked my friends out. Pick on some your own si-"

THWACK!

The Martial Squire collapsed, unconscious. 

This time, Rui didn't even bother trying to flee the scene. It had failed the last two times, for some reason.

'First, a Martial Apprentice bumps into me very intentionally and starts a fight. I knock him out and disappear in a millisecond before people can even notice him falling over. And immediately after a group of Martial Apprentices not only finds me, but insists that everyone saw me knock himout.' Rui narrowed his eyes, turning to the unconscious Squire. 'Then this clown also somehow finds me despite the fact that I made sure no one saw who knocked him out.'

His alertness peaked as he swiftly analyzed his circumstances. These were not natural sequences of events.

No.

He was being targeted.

First, a Martial Apprentice, then a group of them, and finally a Martial Squire. Did he make an enemy out of someone?

'No, that doesn't make much sense.' Rui shook his head inwardly. 'I may not be a native, but the same could be said for plenty of people in the bazaar. I minded my own business and literally did not interact with pretty much anybody. I would have seen far more similar violence around me if this was all it took.'

His eyes narrowed. 'It could just be my paranoia but. A Martial Apprentice, a group of Martial Apprentices, and then a Martial Squire. Following the pattern, I should expect to see...'

"Hey," A man growled behind him. "I saw what you did there."

Rui turned, before smiling wryly beneath his mask. '...a group of Martial Squires.'