The Martial Unity

"First, if the Hier family has branches in this town of Hajin as well as outskirt towns, why bother going to those towns instead of your Hajin branch?" He asked, unable to make sense of her decision.

"I was in my personal penthouse when I received the news, I had immediately fled the estate with as much of my immediate personal savings as I could." Bella explained. "I heard that roughly ten-fifteen minutes later the estate was that gangs of men had arrived at my personal home. There is no way they would not account for me going to the Hier Industries branches. Furthermore, with an ownership of decent number of shares of the company, they have some degree of authority and influence on its executive operations. Because of this, it would be easy for them to trap and capture me if I attempted to visit the Hajin branch."

Rui nodded, this made sense.

"Is that why you were only able to commission a single Martial Apprentice?"

Bella nodded. "I never had access to the immense amounts of wealth of Hier Industries, I'm only seventeen-years-old after all. My father was always strict because he believed that spoiling me with great personal wealth would prevent me from becoming a worthy successor. The wealth I used to commission a bodyguard from the Martial Union was all wealth of my earning." Bella sighed. "If I had much more time, I would have been able to reach the branch and consolidate my position while hiring multiple high-grade Martial Apprentices. But alas, it was mostly too late."

Rui understood why she appeared to be such a pauper despite being the daughter of a bigshot, the information provided by the mission bill as well as what Bella had told him had finally given him a fully understanding of the situation. "Alright, what branch are you aiming to head for?"

"The Laxus town branch." Bella replied. "It's a town where the Lowminer Industries haven't expanded to yet, mainly because the market doesn't conform to their established areas. Their power and influence should be considerably hampered. Using gangs haphazardly will not be taken well by the local mafia of Laxus."

Rui nodded, this was probably her best chance of success in her circumstances. "There's just one issue. The mission range is limited to within a thirty kilometers radius. I can't exceed that, meaning I can only protect you a part of the way."

Bella nodded, expecting this. "I'm aware of that, I was cognizant of it when I commissioned the bodyguard mission. Increasing the range and timeframe of the mission increases the cost of the mission, I had to choose a good balance between the timeframe and the range of the mission. There would be no point in commissioning a mission with a high range but extremely low timeframe, or a mission with a high timeframe and low radius. Eventually I decided that three days and thirty kilometers was a good balance. Thirty kilometers is enough to escort me out of Hajin safely, which is the hardest part. Once I'm out the Lowminers are constrained and limited. I have a decently solid chance of succeeding as long as I'm careful."

Rui nodded. "Alright, what route are you planning to take in order to escape Hajin?" Ordinarily, the bodyguard was supposed to make decisions regarding the safety of the client of protection. But in this case Rui digressed and left the decision in her hands, she was clearly much more knowledgeable and quite clever herself.

And hot.

Rui shook his head, sighing inwardly. ('These dumb hormones are fucking with me.')

The amount of testosterone per unit blood escalated astronomically in boys between the ages of twelve to twenty-one before gradually reducing over the rest of their life span resulting in an exaggeratedly high libido. Thankfully, Rui's mind, by virtue of going through a second round of growth had strengthened its fortitude and reduced its susceptibility to influences such as hormones, for the most part. Though he was only resistant, not immune. Boys will be boys.

Bella brought out a map. "I was considering routes that included going through both the most populated and the least populated districts."

Rui frowned. "Doesn't it make more sense to stick to the least populated districts of Hajin due to how few people there are?"

Bella shook her head. "Not necessarily. If our disguises are even halfway decent. Finding us in high population-density urban districts will be a nightmare. However, if our identities are compromised then more remote districts are more advantageous, because it is harder to be hidden in more remote locations."

Rui nodded, this made sense. "In that case, a perfect disguise in urban districts where we blend perfectly into the background masses, as long as we don't have to verify our identities at any point, they should struggle to find us."

Bella nodded. "Exactly."

"Alright, what about exiting Hajin and reaching Laxus?" Rui asked. "There's no way you're going to make it by foot."

"I have a strong connection to a local small-scale goods transportation company, I plan to request the director, a close acquaintance of my father and mine, to smuggle me outside Hajin and inside Laxus without detection." Bella explained. "After that, I'll manage myself."

Rui nodded. This had spelled the end of all the doubts he had. The air grew silent and awkward as they ran out of topics to converse about.

"We should freshen up and eat up a bit before disguising ourselves for the next journey stretch." Rui said. "I only have three standard low-grade rejuvenation potions and one healing potion for the bodyguard mission, I don't have any to share with you unfortunately."

"No need to apologize." Bella sighed. "It's not your fault."

As Bella went to the bathroom to freshen up a little, Rui contemplated about the mission. The mission difficulty was definitely not a meagre one, that was for sure. However, this wasn't much of a grievance to Rui for one main reason; the Martial Union compensated Martial Artists for underpriced missions!

This meant that as long as Rui was able to show that the mission's difficulty exceeded the evalution of the Martial Union, he would receive even more Martial Credits! Allowing him to purchase even better techniques!

Rui grinned like a shark at the thought.