The Martial Unity

None of them were surprised at Princess Raemina's scorn for Prince Rajak.

As the Finance Minister and someone who sought to turn the Kandrian Empire into a communist regime where the government gained absolute control over the economy and capital, the very existence of the Underworld hurt her.

Randal's eyes glinted with disgust as he beheld inhuman hatred crumpling his sister's face. "He is definitely a bastard. I am not surprised he refused to even speak to us, considering how much he hates the Royal Family."

Princess Ranea snorted. "On that note, I'm not surprised Raul refused to indulge us as well. He probably hates us, too."

Prince Randal shook his head. "He is not capable of hatred. He just does not like us and does not care to spend any time with us. He would rather spend his days humping peasants."

"The reasons for their refusal are irrelevant to the agenda of this meeting," Princess Rafia's featureless voice steered the conversation back on track.

"You have yet to say anything worth addressing," Prince Randal snorted. "What alliance? What are our objectives? What is the scope? What is our commitment? And what do you do about the fact that we are, as the little ocean girl put it, literally at war with each other?"

Princess Ranea glared at him.

"Those are pertinent questions," Princess Rafia assured him. "The answers to your questions are rather straightforward. Our objective is to hamper Raijun's growth. The scope of our involvement as members of the alliance will be limited to aiding with sabotage and sharing intelligence on the Martial Prince. No other measure is necessary. As long as we pool our resources and work together to restrain his growth, we will succeed."

Prince Randal heaved a sigh as he considered her words.

He had to admit that, as much as he was disgusted by her inhuman rationality, her suggestions were exceedingly logical. The growth that Raijun had been showing over the past few months was too much for him to be able to confidently assert that he would be able to win with his own efforts.

"What is the endgame?" Princess Ranea narrowed her eyes. "An alliance sounds fun and nice until you remember that we are sworn enemies who would love to kill each other at any moment to get to the throne."

None of them even denied her words.

In the room were sixteen Martial Masters. Each of them was highly vigilant and was extremely protective of their guards. The round circular table that they were seated at was rather large to ensure that there was distance between the princes and princesses and that the other Martial Masters weren't in too much proximity to the other princes and princesses.

"We need only stay allied until we have contained Prince Raijun's political expansion," Princess Rafia informed them. "In order to truly get rid of this issue, we need to identify the cause of Prince Raijun's political expansion and eliminate or invalidate it. He has put in immense effort to hide what is responsible for his growth, but there are several possibilities. An access to greater wealth, an access to greater authority, an access to greater personal power. He could also have made even greater concessions than he already has."

"Such as?" Princess Raemina tilted her head, her wide eyes filled with curiosity.

"Such as sacrificing even more individual autonomy for the sake of more support from the Martial Union," Princess Rafia remarked. "In the most extreme case, if he allowed a mind Martial Artist to hypnotize him for greater credibility and reliability, he may have been able to reel in more support from those who were skeptical of him."

"Hmm…" Prince Randal narrowed his eyes. "It's not impossible, but it's too unlikely…It has to be something more simple. Something that would explain why the Martial Masters of the Martial Union have approved of him now when they didn't before."

"A Martial Master in my faction informed me that one of the reasons they previously disapproved of him was because of his Martial Art or something like that," Princess Ranea frowned, narrowing her eyes.

"Interesting," Princess Raemina murmured. "A Martial Artist in my faction reported to me that he had been looking hard for a great trainer for many years before he found his current one in the golden boy."

"Those are crucial pieces of intelligence," Princess Rafia remarked monotonically.

"There's also the fact that he has been religiously avoiding any public appearance or any appearance at all. It's as if he doesn't want anyone to look at him," Prince Randal narrowed his eyes, growing suspicious as he began putting the new information the others supplied him together. "Wait a minute,"

He turned to his sisters. "Are you absolutely positive about the intelligence reports the two of you just mentioned?"

"Uh, yes?" Princess Ranea furrowed her eyebrows.

"Indeed," Princess Raemina nodded, her wide eyes fixed on him.

"Looking for a tutor…Flaws in his Martial Art…?" Prince Randal's eyes widened as realization dawned on him. "I see…It makes sense."

"What does?" Princess Ranea narrowed her eyes.

Prince Randal's eyes sharpened to slits.

His expression grew grave. "He's…probably very close to the Squire Realm. Any Martial Master would be able to notice that with a single glance. Which is why he doesn't want anyone to even catch a glimpse of him."

The other three princes considered his words as the gravity of the situation dawned on them.

"Closer to the Squire Realm?" Princess Raemina remarked, her wide eyes boring holes into Prince Randal. "Is that enough to explain his growth?"

"None of you understand Martial Artists like I do," Prince Randal narrowed his eyes. "Most Martial Artists of the Martial Union are judging him as a Martial Artist, not as a political candidate for the throne. The fact that he stalled in his Martial Path in the Apprentice Realm probably gave them a poor impression of his Martial drive."

"Martial drive?" Princess Ranea.

"I don't care to explain the nuances of Martial Art to you," Prince Randal snorted. "You need drive to grow stronger, and the fact that he stalled so early as a mere Martial Apprentice makes them think lowly of him regardless of how much effort he put in as a prince. That is why his success didn't go very far beyond the Martial Supremacist Faction."

"That sounds extremely irrational," Princess Rafia remarked.