The Martial Unity

The Beggar's Sect worked fast.

Alice provided him with the summary of the bill rather rapidly, allowing him to examine the total price of the commission.

"A hundred and twelve million Martial credits are merely the initial set-up costs," Rui murmured. "She was right…"

This would indeed take him years to pay with his own Martial services, through ordinary missions anyway. Thankfully, he didn't need to go through the tedious effort of completing tons of missions for this commission. The costs for the entire operation were essentially centered around either converting or replacing the entirety of Master Uma's staff in the Church Town of Ghregol, an external religious city-state of the Virodhabhasa Theocracy that was on the other side of the Beast Domain compared to the Kandrian Empire.

The distance between them was relieving, given the extremely lacking communication technology of human civilization on the Panama Continent. It meant that she had essentially had a very small chance of running into Rui searching for Senior Falken. The only concern was if the news of the youngest Martial Senior reached her and she decided that she needed to see a picture of him for whatever reason.

That was why he had taken this measure.

Thankfully, because she oversaw her own little church city as Master Deivon did, it was easier to infiltrate her staff and completely take over all the information that she received.

Because her pursuit of Rui was not legitimate, she could not rely on state resources to find him, she had to rely on resources and manpower that were more in her direct control. That meant that the Beggar's Sect didn't need to do more than just infiltrate her town and its administration and departments.

That was the initial cost of Rui's commission, merely setting everything up in place was quite expensive, since some of these individuals were very difficult to replace or convert into their agents.

The bill specified the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of their inner agents into all positions of her information access and supply, allowing them to manipulate the information that she would get. The set-up cost was merely the initial cost of the establishment of the intelligence sabotage team. There was a necessary monthly cost to keep the entire operation afloat so that they could continually do their job.

Each month required a much less exorbitant amount to merely fund the existing team, thankfully Rui didn't need to worry about it with the windfall that he had recently made. With this, he had ensured that the Master Uma threat was something he could deal with at a later date.

"Huff…" Rui heaved a sigh once he finished the paperwork in regard to that. With that out of the way, he could move on to handling other matters that needed his attention.

The custom suits and attire that Rui and Julian had ordered were soon done, right before the reception held by the Raemina Faction. A day later, the event too had arrived. "This fits extremely well," Rui donned his formal Martial Art attire. "Quite impractical for a Martial Artist, but they did nail it with the fit, I admit."

"This is why you should listen to your big sister," Alice smiled proudly.

Lashara, on the other hand, beamed at her two adoptive sons. "You're both so handsome."

The orphanage marveled at their attire and well-groomed visage. Rui tried combing his hair the way it had been groomed for him when he had been carted off to meet the Marital Prince, ultimately failing to meet the standards of professional beauticians.

Still, they were both more than presentable by the time the Royal Carriage of the Raemina Foundation rolled up to the Quarrier Orphanage.

The invitation that they had received had confirmed that everything would be taken care of by the Raemina Foundation, including travel.

A butler stepped out of the carriage, bowing down to the two of them as they walked out the door. "Many greetings, esteemed guests. Please allow us to take you to the reception hall."

Rui and Julian quickly boarded the carriage after being seen off by those who had been present, before quickly setting out. Just like with Prince Raijun, the carriages immediately took off into the air before heading towards the Town of Vargard at the center of the Kandrian Empire.

"Incredible technology, don't you think?" Julian admired the sight outside of the window, steadying himself carefully.

"Indeed," Rui on the other hand was much more nonchalant. This was hardly novel to a man who had sky-walked countless times since becoming a Martial Squire.

Rui, as always, admired the sheer capability of esoteric technology that produced miracles despite the poor state of the understanding that science had of this world. Yet the speed at which the carriage whizzed through the air did not leave too much time for either of them to admire the view as they would have liked.

I wasn't too long until the two of them had arrived at the Town of Vargard.

Instantly, the air had changed. The Town of Vargard, being the capital of the nation that also housed the Royal Palace and the Royal Emperor was the largest and the wealthiest town in the entirety of the nation, spanning a whopping fifty kilometers in diameter.

Not even the Town of Hajin, which was quite large and wealthy in its own right, could compare. Just entering the town was such that neither Rui nor Julian looked too out of place despite their exorbitantly priced custom-tailored attires.

It was a town with the highest proportion of the upper middle and and upper class of the Kandrian Empire. The structure that immediately caught their eyes was the reception hall that they would be attending, a glowing marvel of architecture and lighting that gave it an ethereal magnificence.

"Welcome to the Royal Hall," The butler gestured to the entrance. Around them, other guests had also already arrived, flowing into the Royal estate bit by bit, each more dignified than the last.

"Here goes nothing," Rui remarked as the two of them headed in.