The Martial Unity

The man accepted Rui's hand, pulling himself up before lowering his head to Rui.

"I'm sorry... I did think you would be strong, but to be this strong was beyond my expectations." He sighed. The others quickly followed through issuing quick apologies.

"It's alright, as long as you understand." Rui nodded before walking away towards the food gathering. He didn't want to interact with anybody beyond what was necessary. He simply procured a meal while ignoring the attention that he was still receiving.

The mood had gotten better because the spat had ended amicably and also because of the confidence boost they had received thanks to him.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Rui glanced at the woman who had approached him, recognizing her. She was one of the few Martial Artists who had not attacked him back then.

"Feel free." Rui shrugged.

She smiled, taking a seat beside him, holding a plate of meat, rice, and some greens. "I appreciate you holding back against those hot-headed fools earlier. It might have gotten bad if things had escalated."

"It's nothing at all." Rui dismissed.

"I'm Vemy, by the way." She told him. "What's your name?"

"Falken." He replied straightforwardly, using his official alias.

without moving even an inch." She noted, before peering at him with

inherent toughness was enough to withstand the impact of the blow. Meaning most Martial Squires should be

better than Martial Squires with Martial bodies of a similar configuration due to the fact that all of his performance

become a Martial Squire even more." She laughed. "It's

after all. The secret to the Squire Realm was something that

Apprentices had

respond to her, though he did understand her perspective. Martial Apprentices were physically human, there was a limit to what they could do. In fact, prior to the age of Martial Art, Martial Apprentices were controlled via force or coercion because they alone weren't enough to turn the tide. That changed when the first Martial Squire was born.

She told him, turning towards him, meeting his eyes with a pleading

her, before

would not divulge the information that the martial Union provided

about the secret of the Squire Realm before the Martial Union briefed him about it thanks to Julian explaining the research data that Rui had provided him. However, that didn't matter, he would still be considered to be violating his oath if divulged the

not?" Vemy asked with

it would get me in

won't tell anyone

genuine, this is an extremely sensitive and important matter to the Martial Union and they aren't half-assed about their efforts to keep

"I see..."

useless to you even if I did tell you," Rui explained. "There's nothing you can do about it, trust me. Rather than wanting to know exactly how Martial Apprentices break through to the Squire Realm, you should be more concerned with even being qualified to undergo the

"Meaning only some Martial Apprentices

('Well, no shit.') "Correct."