This sudden piece of news that came from seemingly nowhere threw him off-guard a bit. For half a second, he regretted taking this mission. After all, he could have been part of this exciting new adventure had he chosen not to accept this mission from Martial Commissioner Derun. Still, this mission was worth it on his own. It was a choice that was worth it, and it broadened his worldview even more and exposed him to new techniques that nourished his imagination and inspiration.
Hell, it could even potentially end up making him stronger.
"You said that Martial Squires would be dispatched independently, did you not?" Rui frowned. "What did you mean by that?"
"Unfortunately, the dungeon has fallen within the territory of the Shionel Confederation," Senior Ceeran sighed. "The nation is not on par with the Kandrian Empire or any of the other super-nations. But unlike most of the nations on this continent, it is not a pushover. It is a Sage-level nation, unfortunately."
"A what?" Rui raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, it's just a convenient way of categorizing the Martial prowess of nations. We put them into the category corresponding with the Realm that their most powerful Martial Artist is of," Senior Ceeran replied. "It gives you a rough idea of their Martial prowess very easily, after all.
"That means they have Martial Sages?" Rui sighed.
"Just one. But, just one is enough to prevent other powerful nations from straightforwardly trampling over them, our Kandrian Empire included."
"So… if the dungeon is part of the territory of another nation that isn't weak, then… why do the Martial Squires of the Kandrian Empire get to partake in delving into the dungeon?" Rui asked with a confused look on his face.
"Well, just because they're not weak does not mean they're strong enough to hoard all of it for themselves…" Senior Ceeran shrugged.
"They must have cut a deal or given some opportunity for other nations to make gains of the dungeon?"
"Exactly," Senior Ceeran nodded. "They cannot withstand the combined pressure of the nations in the geographic vicinity just because they're not weak. If they do not cooperate, then they will definitely get trampled eventually. They have agreed to open the dungeon to the outside world with the condition that they keep twenty-five percent of the haul that foreign Martial Squires made from entering the dungeon."
"That's not insignificant."
"They originally tried to get more than fifty in a private diplomatic summit between the many nations, but were forced to hit twenty percent," Senior Ceeran casually revealed what was probably classified information.
"It must be because destroying dungeons is pretty straightforward, and is too easy to do for many nations," Rui noted as he shrewdly understood why they had made such heavy concessions. "Other nations pose far too much of a threat since they can just send a Martial Senior and ravage the dungeon."
"That's probably true, now that I think about it," Senior Ceeran noted with casual boredom. Since it was a Squire-level dungeon, he had nothing to do with it and didn't particularly care.
"So the Kandrian Empire will be officially deploying an army of Martial Squires, I imagine? Since they can't deploy the actual Royal army due to the extreme mental pressure?" Rui wondered.
"Not exactly, this is different from the Serevian Dungeon, as I said before," Senior Ceeran sighed. "All of the work will be done by Martial Squires themselves, and not a large colonization team that will be handing things in the background. It's a lot simpler, and the martial Squires inherently have a much higher degree of autonomy. Thus, the Martial Union has also relaxed the degree of control that it will exert on Martial Squires during the degree exploration. There is no official mission."
"What?" Rui's eyes widened. "Why not?"
"Because it isn't worth it in this case, the Martial Union has incentivized the Martial Squires to explore the dungeon and bring bang loot by alerting available Martial Squires of an attractive exchange rate for the loot that they will bring back from the dungeon. There are a lot of Martial credits and other rewards to be earned by being successful in the dungeon exploration and cooperating with the Martial Union.
"I see…" Rui nodded. "This certainly a way that lacks a lot of hassle, that's for sure."
By simply creating a powerful incentive structure, the Martial Union could get just the right number of Martial Squires heading towards the dungeon to take part in its exploration and plunder.
"Can foreign Martial Squires enter the dungeon without any official representation?"
"Martial Squires do not need any backing or serve as representatives, any and all Martial Squires can come and attempt clear the dungeon."
"That is remarkably open," Rui remarked.
"Indeed. Regardless, coming back to the main point. Martial Squires are already becoming scarce, thus you can forget about trying to get too many reinforcements to make your life easier. I bet that woman Derun is losing sleep with all the stress. Hehehe…" He chuckled lightheartedly.
Rui on the other hand, wasn't even listening to him. Senior Ceeran's news was not immediately relevant to him at the moment, but, Rui wouldn't remain on Vilun Island forever.
Perhaps when he got back…
('That remains to be seen until after I've completed this mission,')
For now, he could safely put away what he had learned. The only important point surrounding it was the fact that Rui was a bit on his own at the moment.
('That's not too much of a problem, thankfully. I'm pretty sure that we can handle anything that the G'ak'arkan Tribe throws at us.') Rui was sure.
The settlement had a solid foundation as far as Martial Artists went. Even without Squire trainers, it was not impossible for the training to be conducted smoothly. Of course, the language barrier and the relative inexperience of the Martial Squires meant that it was definitely not going to be easy, or quick. But Rui was willing to take what he could get.
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