The Martial Unity

The carriage arranged for them was some ways away from bustling parts of the district within a warehouse.

"Welcome, Martial Artists of the Martial Union." The coachmen of their carriage greeted as he bowed to them. "We apologize for the inconvenience, but this is your designated carriage." He gestured to the carriage behind him.

The carriage was designed as a storage carriage, it had window panels that were opaque from the outside but transparent from the inside, allowing the Martial Apprentices to eye their surroundings without anybody else from the outside being able to spy or observe them. This was probably done on purpose.

They quickly boarded the carriage and it dispatched right away. Arriving at the branch that they were just at prior, entering as an inconspicuous import supply. Soon, after some detours and due procedures, it joined the dispatch team that they were hired to protect.

The mission bill already covered all the details that needed to be covered, the entire team was already aware of everything regarding their target of protection. Including all the details like number of people and carriages, and the important carriages with the esoteric matter supplies that were being coveted by the bandits.

The Martial Apprentices relaxed in the carriage, taking their masks off, as comfortable and unrestrictive as they were designed to be, it was still a pain in the ass.

"Initially, I thought five Martial Artists was overkill." Kane sighed. "But with their little operation at play, it makes sense. But as bodyguards, as long as we focus on pure defense, we're fulfilling our duties right?"

"The role of a bodyguard, atleast as defined by the Martial Union, extends beyond purely reactive protective measures." Rui stated. "Proactive measures are also a vital part of our duties, perhaps even more important. For example, if your target of protection was in the way of a canon about to fire, would you move them after the canon was fired or before?"

"You make a good point." Kane admitted. "So that means as long as enemy bandits are even near our targets, we're more or less duty-bound to eliminate the threat?"

"That's probably also what that man Savin is banking on. He's planned this well, I have to say, he's minimized the risk that he's imposing on his personally employed Martial Apprentices. Since he cannot hire Martial Artists like us to proactively hunt humans, he's still

first time fighting other hostile Martial Apprentices in a life-or-death battle." Dalen

ours." Kane corrected. "Rui got the jump

way, you're a grade three Martial Apprentice with only

wasn't that big a deal, I only tussled with a Martial Apprentice for a bit before he retreated." He

caused them to get a bit more

we're in the middle of a mission remember?"

the air began escalating. Sooner or later, it would exit Hajin and make its way to the Shadow Trails in the Basara Mountains

* * * * * *

BEEP BEEP

her belt, picking it up and reading it with a bored expression. Yet the contents of the

stature. "Just got word that the Lowminer supply

his eyes slowly. "Make preparations,

She nodded in response.

left grunted. "Those fools keep sending us juicy rewards. You'd think they'd have learnt

at the man. "They can't

called out. "Do you really think the Lowminers would send not