The Martial Unity

"It happened a year before we got married," Farion explained. "I…"

He heaved a sigh.

The air grew heavy as Alice walked over putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I had gotten addicted Noremin," Farion admitted. Rui's eyes widened, stunned. He recognized that name. That was the name of one of the three narcotic plants that the Great Forest of Hypnonarak had in large quantities. The drug was said to put the user in a dreamlike bliss, making them lose sight of reality.

"The situation had gotten bad…" He heaved a deep sigh. "I had almost reached the point of no return. I would not have gotten back if not for Alice, that's for sure."

He gazed deeply at her with an expression of affection and love. "But also, it would not have gone well without the Beggar's Sect."

of a region from being completely destroyed by the drug. "They told me that they could help me and that I could join them to ensure something like this

understand why the two

that things have shifted for the better thanks to you. The Beggar's Sect kept its promise, and as far as I'm concerned, they have earned my trust. That

However, the tale wasn't nearly as dark as he had been expecting. It appeared that the Beggar's Sect was not

managed to

you don't feel…betrayed," Alice remarked. "We're still your family. And we would never ever do anything that would harm or hurt you in any way. The Beggar's Sect cuts a clear line between our duties and

"The training was extremely difficult. I have never been pushed to my absolute limits to that degree in my entire life. It was extremely difficult, learning how to observe, how to distill my observations to the barest essence of important and meaningful information, and how to memorize that distilled information quickly. I was also trained on

thinking," Farion understood his concerns. "You think we are being underpaid. You're wrong. Like I said. I don't actually do any extra physical manual labor. I still drive rickshaws around the outer districts of the Town of Hajin throughout the day like I did before. I've just gathered a lot of information simultaneously

Rui softly replied as

Sect remunerated its members based on the value of the information they brought in. Someone like Maiun, the senior partner he had met earlier, was part of the upper echelons at a large