The Martial Unity

"I have another question," Rui raised his hand.

"What is it?" Chairman Deacon couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows in irritation.

"What degree of coordination do you expect from us?" Rui asked. "And also, what level of autonomy do we gain?"

This was a pertinent question in general since it was unreasonable to gather large groups of Martial Artists and expect them to coordinate with each other. Any plan that relied on extensive coordination between the Martial Squires that Chairman Deacon was hiring was bound to fail.

"I do not expect perfect teamwork between all of you, I am well aware that this is an extremely absurd thing to expect out of all of you," He clarified, bringing relief to their faces.

In truth, most of them would definitely have rejected his offer had he insisted on perfect coordination as demand from them for his plans. Most Martial Squires had strong individuality, especially at the higher stage, and it took many years of familiarity and trust for them to develop great coordination with other Martial Squires.

"I do expect very basic things such as non-conflict, and some other rules that would effectively allow you to engage in basic coordination without the need to actually communicate with each other," He explained. "This is possible as long as everyone follows some basic rules and guidelines, which will be thoroughly laid out once the contracts are signed."

He turned back to Rui. "As for autonomy, that can be decided by yourselves, however, your remuneration will be lesser if you wish to retain more autonomy, if you're willing to follow orders, you will be given much greater compensation than those that act entirely independently. Anyone who wishes to act entirely independently will only receive nominal compensation unless their contributions are great. While those that are willing to follow orders will be greatly remunerated regardless of the outcome."

That was quite fair, all things considered. The Martial Artists looked relieved at this, the fact that not only did Chairman Deacon intend not forcing orders on them, but also intended to allow them to choose what level of adherence they wanted to be subject to was quite relieving.

Rui, on the other hand, was not pleased by this.

('He understands how to manage large groups of Martial Squires,') Rui mused. ('Fitting for someone of his position who no doubt has a large number of Martial Squires under him. If he finds out even a sniff of my identity, then I'm screwed.')

That was why Rui was glad that he had joined this meeting. He wanted to understand what he was going against, and he realized that perhaps his position was not as secure as he hoped.

('If they somehow manage to capture an image of Kane and me, even if it's not clear, we're screwed.') He realized.

Them being a pair would remove a lot of the suspects that would otherwise still be in consideration.

('I underestimated how much my success would infuriate Chairman Deacon, and just how far he was willing to go. A hundred Martial Squires just to track one or many completely unknown Martial Squires of whom there is no tangible information surrounding? That's crazy,') He sighed inwardly. ('Crazy, but not completely ineffective.')

This changed how he would need to deal with other Martial Squires lingering in the surroundings. He could not make even a single mistake around them.

The information that he gained from being part of this meeting alone had been worth the trip, but now, he had even more reason to at least stick around.

"We can start with the twelfth floor, the mysterious disappearance of esoteric resources has yet to cease, furthermore, there are still sections of the twelfth floor that remain. Based on the information we have, it is highly likely that the Martial Artist known as the Voider will make an appearance to drain the remaining esoteric resource plunders of the twelfth floor, and aim to clear it," Chairman Deacon explained. "The fact that the floor is being cleared at a large rate leaves only a few districts' worths of esoteric resources on the twelfth floor. That reduces the area over which the sixteen of you need to surveil and keep an eye over."

That was indeed true, that made their job easier, although sixteen of them were nowhere near enough to surveil the entire floor, it was certainly a lot easier if they had to surveil a portion of the entire floor.

The Martial Squires grew more optimistic with this plan. They had initially walked in expecting that there was no chance in hell that they could possibly catch such an evasive person and simply were attracted by the terms and conditions that Deacon Industries had promised them.

Rui also had a pleasant expression, but inwardly, he was frowning as he considered how to deal with this.

('The biggest issue is that Chairman Deacon's analysis is right, I was planning on sweeping up the remaining esoteric resource deposits in the Shionel Dungeon in one fell swoop,') He scratched his head.

It was tempting to simply avoid the twelfth floor now that he knew this. However, Rui knew better than to go for such a simple bone-headed plan. There were problems with this. Firstly, the fact that Chairman Deacon's analysis and predictions were solid meant that any blatant inaccuracies would be suspected.

Why would the Voider not appear when there was strong reason to believe he would? He certainly would finish the job like he did on the second floor. Unless, of course, he had reason not to. If he somehow came to learn of the trap that had been planned.

In that case, that would make all of the Martial Squires in the Voidhunter team at the moment extremely suspicious. Since they would be the likeliest breaches of any information.

While it was possible that some employee of his was an agent, the first avenue for investigation for Chairman Deacon would be all sixteen of them. Rui didn't think he was a bad person, but he wasn't generous enough to reduce the suspect pool to sixteen for his enemy.