The Martial Unity

The Martial Union and the Royal Family had chosen an interesting strategy for expansion and colonization. The twelve nations participating in the raid of the Serevian Dungeon had all agreed that each nation was entitled to one percent of the territory of the Serevian Dungeon. This one percent of the territory was recognized as unassailable and uninfringeable by each of the twelve nations participating in the raid of the Serevian Dungeon.

The Martial Union and the Royal Family had chosen a territory-expansive strategy that chose to continue expanding their territory until they ran into the first hostile colonizing force. In such a case, the assault team was to immediately begin attacking the hostile colonizing force with the aim of seizing as much land as possible. General conditions established were to minimize the number of nations with which the Kandrian Dungeon team picked a fight.

Restricting the number of nations with which they picked a fight with was to ensure that the dungeon team did not stretch themselves thin as far as defense and resources went. There was no point in picking a fight against ten people and losing all ten than picking a fight against only five people but winning three. The biggest issue was balancing ambition with the constraints of the dungeon team.

Another rule of thumb they had to follow was to target the weaker nation over the stronger ones, if possible. Ideally, they would want to take on smaller and weaker nations because they were easier to bully. It was inefficient and ineffective to try and take any of the other three super-nations; The Sekigahara Confederate, the Republic of Gorteau, and most importantly; The Britannian Empire.

The initial assault and defense squads that would be accompanying the dungeon team were only part of the total amount of Martial Apprentices that would eventually partake in the colonization of the Serevian Dungeon.

This was because not even the Martial Union could magically gather every single Martial Apprentice on the spot in an instant, most of them were deployed on missions and could only be deployed to the Serevian Dungeon after their existing missions were over.

The Martial Artists that got to be part of the initial assault squad would end up seeing most of the action in the Serevian Dungeon.

This was why Rui was eager to be part of the initial dispatch.

"Purpose of visit, name, and ID please." He was told when he reached security.

"I'm here to partake in the commencement of a mission I'm commissioned for, I'm Rui Quarrier, and here's my Martial license."

In no time, he was inside the building. He immediately headed over to the commissions' department.

"Excuse me." Rui addressed a staff member. "Where can I find the dispatch for mission KEMU-3142?"

"Give me a moment." She said as she verified his documents, before finally providing him with the information he was looking for.

Rui immediately headed to the dispatch facility of his mission.

Before he even stepped into the facility, he could feel the mountain pressure on him. He slowly opened the door and stepped in to be greeted by many silent stares that all exerted pressure on him.

They were all high-grade Martial Apprentices. Rui could feel that every single one of the was without a doubt no lower than grade eight with a good chunk of them being grade-nine and some even grade ten.

"I knew you'd come." A familiar voice of a girl addressed him. "It's been a while, Rui Quarrier."

"Fiona," Rui muttered as he smiled, amused. "It has been a while indeed, I never got to congratulate you on winning the Martial Contest. Congratulations on that. A bit late, but better than never."

She shrugged, waving the matter off.

"What did you mean you knew I'd come?" Rui asked curiously.

"Well, I found out that you were the one who discovered the Serevian Plateau in the first place, so expected that you would be here since you definitely know more about it than we do."

"Everything I know is listed in the mission bill for the most part." Rui shook his head. "I only spent several hours in the place, it's not like I have a great amount of experience on the matter."

"By the way, are you going to be part of the assault squad or the defense squad?" She asked, her eyes lit with curiosity.

"Assault squad," Rui replied unhesitatingly. "I'm interested in active battle with the best of the Martial Artists the other nations have to offer."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Are the Martial Apprentices of the Kandrian Empire too weak for you?"

Her tone was jovial, especially since she was the one who defeated Rui in the Martial Contest.

Rui smiled wryly at her comment. "Yes, unfortunately."

Her eyes widened at those words. "Well, given the feats you achieved, I suppose that's not particularly hard to believe."

She was clearly referring to him leading four other Martial Apprentices to victory against a Martial Squire. That was a shocking feat that still buzzed the Kandrian Empire every now and then more than seven months after it had already happened.

Rui simply smiled at those words. Yet he frowned when he felt a pang of hostility emerge from the crowd of Martial Apprentices in the dispatch facility. He turned in the direction of its source as his eyes widened in surprise.

"Ian Nepomniachtchi." He murmured,

He had completely forgotten about the obnoxious arrogant Martial Apprentice that he had defeated in the third round of the Martial Contest.

But evidently, Ian had not forgotten about that. Rui could feel an unadulterated hatred brewing in his eyes as he stared Rui down with a well-concealed but ultimately oozing glare that had specks of bloodlust. Rui could already tell that the man hadn't taken his loss gracefully, accepted he was wrong, and moved on. Instead, the man had clearly nursed a vendetta and grudge against Rui that had been smoldering in him for more than a year.

Rui sighed. "I hope this idiot doesn't do something stupid."