The Martial Unity

"There are cons, of course," Rui added. "I'm not denying that the Martial Union can be difficult to deal with sometimes. The contract can be considered exploitative for Martial Artists of the Apprentice and Squire Realm since there are clauses that involve conscription. But Martial Artists are free to dissolve the partnership at any time with a written letter."

"The reason that the Martial Union can get away with exploitation is because it is hegemonic and oligopolistic," She replied. "If I liberalize that market and dissolve the Union, then corporations will not be able to get away with adding such tyrannical clauses because another corporation will exploit that opportunity to offer a free contract, attracting all the Martial Artists instead. This is the power of a free market. Competition and a wide variety of choices force everybody to be more lenient and pleasing to Martial Artists to not lose out on attracting them. Currently, there is no real competitor to the Martial Union that can threaten it or keep it on its toes. That is why it thinks it can get away with adding such authoritarian clauses."

Rui stared at her wordlessly.

She did have a point. Rui recalled how he had essentially been conscripted into the Serevian Dungeon War and how he had been pressured into serving as an ambassador for Vilun Island.

Although those worked very well for him, it was true that he was compelled to serve in those regards.

Still, the positives largely outweighed the negatives in this case. The reason that the Corporate Princess was unable to see this was because her understanding of the Martial Union was shallow.

"Your analysis of the Martial Union is predicated on the assumption that it is fundamentally a commercial organization," Rui heaved a sigh.

"Is it not primarily commercial in nature?" Princess Rafia tilted her head with a hint of confusion. "The commerce of the organization funds all of its operations and is also the reason that younger Martial Artists are attracted to it in the first place. The charter of the Martial Union describes the Martial Union as a broker platform to connect the supplier and consumer markets of the Martial sector."

Rui shook his head. "It is not a commercial organization. The Martial Union, fundamentally, is an organization to maintain and progress the independence and dominance of Martial Art. The agenda does not exist for the sake of its commerce; its commerce exists to support this agenda. That is what you fail to understand. It exists to maintain Martial supremacy from the state to ensure that Martial Artists do not ever become reduced to tools and weapons as they were before the dawn of the Age of Martial Art."

"I am not unaware of the political inclinations of the Martial Union," She replied.

"What you are unaware of is the motivations behind it," Rui replied. "Even if I were to steelman your perspective on the oligopolistic nature of the Martial Union, I would still disagree with your conclusions. A Martial oligopoly may be sub-optimal economically, but it is optimal politically. Martial Art will be easier to tame and conquer if it is divided. This was the case in history at one point in time. That is why unity is required. If we fight amongst ourselves, then we become easy pickings for ambitious rulers who wish to commercialize or enslave us."

"Even if I were to accept that at face value," She replied. "It is sub-optimal economically. A more competitive market would yield more revenue, which would strengthen the Martial sector, which, in turn, would increase the difficulty of dominating Martial Artists."

"That is a naive take, Your Highness," Rui shook his head, heaving a sigh. "Wealth does not help Martial Artists the same way it does other sectors. You possess a poor understanding of what it takes to cultivate a greater quality and quantity of Martial Artists. Simply pouring in one thousand times the money will not yield one thousand times the Martial Artists. I do not expect you, of all people, to understand what is needed to empower Martial Artists. There are dynamics in Martial Art that one only learns as a Martial Artist."

The Martial Union, of course, did understand, from pouring an enormous amount of wealth into the sixteen Martial Academies to vastly reducing the difficulty of finding commissions that were perfectly attuned to the Martial Artist's Martial Art. Rui understood the significance of these systems now that he had gained a deeper understanding of Martial Art.

It was absolutely imperative that Martial Artists complete missions that are attuned and synergistic to their Martial Art. This allowed them to gain a high quality of experience that was needed to refine their Martial Art. The experience that a defensive Martial Art gained from an assassination mission was worthless compared to what they would get from a bodyguard mission. This was because the latter was far more attuned to the Martial Artist, giving them highly relevant experience needed to refine their Martial Art and their individuality.

That was why the Martial Union maintained an extremely rigorous and sophisticated commission system that allowed Martial Artists to choose the mission that was exactly perfect for them.

A large number of such nuances that Rui was unaware of before became evident to him, but it was very difficult to convey all of these to someone who was not only not a Martial Artist, but also of royal descent and an unfeeling psychopath.

He was simply unable to be persuasive to her.

"It is a shame that we are unable to find common ground and gain a mutual understanding, Senior Rui Quarrier," She remarked. "Nonetheless, this conversation has been interesting. I hope you will take my offers into consideration. I am quite sincere in my marriage and child conception proposal with you. I hope that you will come around to accepting my proposal."

Their conversation came to an abrupt and unceremonious end as she moved on without any compunctions to her next agenda of the day.