The Martial Unity

"What did you just say?" The man growled.

"I said..." Rui leaned in closer, "Your plan is sub-optimal. My specialty does not lie in infiltration. I can hide my identity as a Martial Squire very well, yes, but there's more to infiltration than that. I would effectively be no different from a normal human trying to infiltrate the Senate building of the Capitol block. The intelligence and security agencies or departments or whatever they are will instantly sniff out someone of my caliber. Furthermore, my unnatural features draw attention to me, so there will be eyes on me."

Rui sharply and aptly highlighted the problems with the plans that the man had laid out. He was sure that the man was somewhat aware of these considerations, he didn't come across as a fool. Yet the fact that he proposed such a plan meant that he had some reason to.

('He's likely constrained by resources and funds.') Rui mused. ('The Republic of Mernea doesn't have Martial Artist above the Squire Realm it seems.')

This wasn't particularly surprising considering how difficult the path to Martial Senior seemed. There were other clues that Rui had picked up to gain a clearer understanding of the limits of the security at hand.

('I'd learned that they were very low-grade Martial Squires protecting the target,') Rui thought to himself. ('The fact that low-grade Martial Squires are the best the nation can muster to protect the senators of the Republic is very telling...')

Rui speculated that the Republic of Mernea probably discovered or obtained the secret to the Squire Realm very recently, historically speaking.

('Definitely no more than five years ago, purely based on the grade of the Martial Squires at hand.') He mused.

Had it been more than ten years ago, then he highly doubted that the best they could muster would be low-grade Martial Squires, they would have at least developed some mid-grade Martial Squires in that timeframe.

assault from the outside considering he was definitely much stronger than any

will see me coming

not confident of taking on the entire outer team, winning, and killing the target before the target would undoubtedly have been swiftly evacuated by the security. He was not at the peak of the Squire Realm, to accomplish a

stirring a bit before finally looking back at Rui. "You said you have a

nodded. "It's simple. I snipe him from outside the Capitol

expression darkened as his jaw grew

laid out why. There is no way you can possibly make that shot with the distance and the windy conditions that are common

mask. "Trust me, I can

why should I trust you?" He leaned forward. "When you, a grade-four Martial Squire who doesn't even specialize in long-range accuracy, make outlandish statements about your

shrugged. "If I fail, I'll do you

man's eyes widened, as he

Firstly, the commission was only about exploiting a ripe opportunity, it was not a desperate last resort of sorts, based on the information he had at hand. Furthermore, the consequences of Rui's failure probably weren't even that severe, Rui speculated. Hell, a failed assassination was probably not that bad either as far as fulfilling the purpose of the commission, though the man probably had incentives to want the assassination to succeed. It clearly wasn't the case that the man's career or life was

of these meant that the costs of Rui's failure were

payment, if he failed, which exceeded the costs

Rui was relatively

that right now?" The man asked with a serious face as