"WHAT?!"
Chairman Deacon's angry voice reverberated through the main branch office. If Senior Verman didn't know better, he would have thought the man was using a breathing technique.
"TWO MARTIAL SENIORS?!" Chairman Deacon roared with shocked rage. "TWO? TWO!!"
"Correct," Senior Verman simply replied.
"That…" The deputy director of the intelligence department couldn't help but be shocked. "That definitely proves that sightings we made were the real deal. Guildmaster Bradt would not deploy two Martial Seniors as a prank, those two really were Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar, most likely. The hypothesis that they made some deal with Guildmaster Bradt, likely using the colossal revenue made by Esosale Suppliers to purchase the highest level of protection that one could in order to get him safely back to the Kandrian Empire is the most likely possibility at the moment. However, within this theory, they seem to have most likely not realized that we knew of their true identities, otherwise, they would have never left so openly and through the official channels of departure. If not for Guildmaster Bradt's timely interruptions, they would have been caught."
"That fits all the available information" Chairman Deacon murmured. "The presence of the convoy of carriages armed with anti-espionage technology, as well as two Martial Seniors for protection. That fits the cautious nature of the Voider that we have built, but their lack of knowledge on the exposure of their identity to us is likely why they let their guards down."
The two of them grew increasingly, albeit tentatively, certain that the real Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar were on one of those carriages. It simply made too much sense.
Chairman Deacon narrowed his eyes as he considered his options.
Letting Rui go and live a peaceful life with the money made from the Shionel Dungeon was not an option. The very thought of that repulsed Chairman Deacon right down to his gonads. He would rather castrate himself than allow for such a thing to happen.
However, accomplishing it was not as straightforward as he expected.
Normally, killing a Martial Squire was easy. With his power, it was no different from squatting a fly. However, Rui evidently possessed the power to move powers much greater than himself. Foiling elite Squire-level operatives, and obtaining the protection of two Martial Seniors was far beyond what he would be capable of with his own power.
That was the annoying and troubling part with him.
"Order our Martial Artists and our agents to undertake surveillance missions at the port of entry that the carriages will be entering, I want eyes everywhere. I want to detailed descriptions of everybody exiting the carriages. Deploy a Martial Senior to track the carriages and make sure that there isn't any opportunity for Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar to split away from the convoy before they reach the Kandrian Empire. Make sure nothing goes wrong. Once they exit the carriages and enter the nation, I want the most scrupulously rigorous tracking of his every location every second."
"Yes sir!"
Chairman Deacon had already formulated multiple short, medium, and long-term plans into accomplishing his goal. It was quite likely that Rui Quarrier and Kane Arrancar had now become aware of the exposure of their identities, and the acute threat that he represented towards them.
There were a number of possibilities that could unfold. Putting aside Kane Arrancar who belonged to a family that could easily withstand any attack that Chairman Deacon mounted on the, Rui Quarrier's position was not quite as safe and secure. He had used his wealth to protect himself and his family.
However, that would not last forever. Eventually, that protection would run out, and eventually, there would come a day when he would lower his guard.
('I'll be waiting for that moment,') Chairman Deacon's eyes blazed with fury. ('You should have never come to the Shionel Confederation. I will strangle the life out of you while I watch the light leave your eyes.')
He clenched his fist. ('If a Martial Senior is what it takes to kill you and your family, then I'll do that as well, no matter what it takes. You will die at my hands. That is my oath.')
His expression softened as his eyes fell on a portrait of him and his late son.
The very next moment, it hardened again, growing icier and chillier by the second. ('You're dead!')
"…That's probably what he's thinking right now," Rui remarked as he stared at the ocean, standing beside Kane.
The two of them had boarded a ship that was traveling across the Sojurim Ocean, one of the seven inland oceans of the Panama Continent.
"So the whole point was to misdirect their attention?" Kane asked.
Rui nodded. "Misdirect it towards me instead of my family, and where they think I am instead of where I actually am. If we simply disappeared into thin air, without leaving any inkling of my location, then he would have directed all his attention towards my family. And by having them focus on the Kandrian Empire, the one place where definitely I won't be, it opens up the rest of the world to us Kane."
"It also puts us on a timer," Kane sighed. "This whole thing proved that he's not letting go of his grudge against you. That protection will last ten years… After that…"
"After that, I must protect them on my own," Rui's voice was soft yet firm. "After that, only with my own personal power will I be capable of protecting them. After that, If I'm not strong enough… They simply die."
Rui knew that he changed the course of his very life forever. Gone were the peaceful days at the Quarrier Orphanage where he could spend time with the people he loved. Gone were the days of innocently frolicking around completing commissions from clientele. That was all gone forever. He highly doubted he would ever return to that plain and boring lifestyle.
"It appears that this is my diverging path," Rui pulled his hood down, revealing shining silver hair and eyes where there was once darkness.
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