Rui heaved a tired sigh as he left and returned to the central business convention, where the distinguished guests discussed various matters with each other. Rui half-considered returning home now that he had spoken with the princess.

"Ah, you've returned," Chairman Decker smirked, interrupting a conversation he was having, immediately dispensing with his formal tone.

Rui wasn't even interested in talking to him, yet the man refused to take a hint.

"How did it go?" He asked informally like they were already friends. "Are you a couple now?"

"Wait, you know?!" Rui widened his eyes.

"Well, yes," Chairman Decker tilted his head. "I am part of the Rafia Faction and was for the motion to reel you in if you must know."

Rui turned around with a feeling of horror. "So, how many people know that she proposed to me?"

"Not too many, but it's bound to be spread now that an attempt has been made," Chairman Decker replied.

"…Damn," Rui cursed.

He didn't need more attention on him than he already had, and now he was the guy a royal princess proposed to.

"You seem displeased by the proposal," Chairman Decker tilted his head in confusion. "Even if you did not want it, the prestige cannot be denied. A princess as powerful as Her Highness does not propose to just about anybody. Your value as a Martial Artist has undoubtedly gone up."

'My value did not go up because she proposed to me; she proposed to me because my value went up.'

He didn't bother voicing his thoughts to his newest acquaintance. Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

"From the looks of it, not only did you refuse her proposal, but you also refused to join her faction, didn't you?" Chairman Decker managed to glean. "It's a rather shame. I would have loved to be a part of the same faction as you. We could have been faction-mates."

"Well, if you know me as well as you claim, you'd know I would never join the Rafia Faction," Rui remarked. "Should have taken that into account when joining if you wanted to be part of the same faction as me."

"Ah, but you see," The man heaved a sigh. "I didn't join the Rafia Faction. My father did. Unfortunately, he had long sold a twenty-percent stake in Deacon Industries to Princess Rafia and joined the Rafia Consortium. On top of that, he invested heavily in the Kandrian Empire to get closer to you, and there isn't much I can do about that without making severe losses, either."

Rui glanced at the young executive, heaving a soft sigh. He recalled hearing that the new chairman was attempting to liquidate the investments that Deacon had made into the Kandrian Empire, but it had proven to be too much of a loss to undo all the progress that had been made.

Thus, he had been forced to go all out in the investment in the Kandrian Empire, even if he wasn't the most pleased about this inevitability.

"However, if I'm to partake in the Kandrian market and the Kandrian Throne War, then the Rafia Faction is objectively the best faction. You are aware of the goals of the Rafia Faction, yes?"

"A libertarian economy," Rui simply stated. "Essentially, she would love to turn the Kandrian Empire's economy into that of the Shionel Confederation, with the only difference being that she would be in power instead of a merchant guild."

"Indeed," Chairman Decker nodded. "That is a desirable outcome for me as well since I have decided I have no choice but to go through with at least a large portion of my father's plans. In that case, it would benefit me greatly if the business ease index of the Kandrian Empire increased by about many points."

"Is it that low at the moment?" Rui raised an eyebrow. He had no idea about the details, although he knew that the Kandrian Empire's economy was not as liberal as it could be.

"It's not unbearable, but it would make my life much easier if it improved," Chairman Decker heaved a soft sigh with a troubled expression. "It's actually one of the reasons that I wasn't able to smoothly liquidate all the investments my father made into the Kandrian Empire. The sheer number of permits, approvals, statements, and criteria you must meet for any venture in this country is an eyesore."

"If that's the case, then it's a little surprising Guildmaster Bradt didn't see fit to join the Rafia Faction," Rui remarked nonchalantly.

Chairman Decker shook his head. "He doesn't need to. He's so influential and well-connected that these impediments are not even significant to him. The gap between Deacon Industries and Bradt Distribution Services has only grown. If anything, he would hate to see these impediments removed because it makes things much easier for his competitors than it does for him."

These were nuances that an outsider like Rui, no matter how intelligent, simply did not possess the depth of understanding that came with extensive experience to realize his own merit.

"He has more to gain from joining the Ranea Faction than he does the Rafia Faction, I suppose," Rui realized. "If the Kandrian Empire turns into even more of a seafaring powerhouse than it already is, he can deepen his reach across all of human civilization through the Great Nam Ocean as long as the Kandrian Empire improves its seafaring capacity."

Seafaring capacity was a measure of the maximum amount of net flux of seafare to and from a given nation that said nation was able to handle at any given point in time. It was essentially a measure of the bandwidth of the seafaring flux of the nation's seaports.

"Indeed," Chairman Decker heaved a soft sigh. "If Princess Ranea becomes Empress, he will probably become the most powerful figure in the transportation and shipping sector across the entire continent. No one, not even I, will be able to challenge his power anymore. He will effectively become the emperor of the Shionel Confederation. That is his true goal."