CHAPTER 2329: DESIRE TO ALLY
Days passed as Rui thoroughly immersed himself in studying the Shionel Confederation, Bradt Distribution Services, and Guildmaster Bradt himself.
The internal politics of the Shionel Confederation was messy.
The legislative body of the corporatocratic nation, the Shionel Merchant Guild, was split in the middle regarding which side to ally with. While the ultimate decision lay with the head of state, the guildmaster, they were still able to exert tremendous pressure on him with their political and economic power.
Half of them wanted to ally with the East Panamic Treaty Alliance, while the other half sought to ally with the Kandrian Empire.
It was a complicated mess of a partisan political tug-of-war.
The pro-alliance faction was comprised of merchants similar to Guildmaster Bradt, who had too much business in association with the three powerhouses that aimed to destroy the Kandrian Empire.
They were also comprised of merchants who had competed against Rui in the Shionel Dungeon more than two decades ago and had been thoroughly dominated by him in the dungeon as he sabotaged their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rise to become powerhouses with the opportunities that the dungeon offered.
Twenty years had passed, but they still held a grudge against the man who was later revealed to be the prince of the Kandrian Empire. Thus, their grudge extended to the Kandrian Empire as well.
The pro-Kandria faction, on the other hand, was deeply interested in the services that the Kandrian Empire could offer them.
More specifically, they were interested in the triggered mass breakthrough ability that Rui was now known to have.
These were merchants of industries that were highly relevant to Martial Arts, such as Martial Contractors, Martial Mercenary Groups, and Martial Insurance companies that relied on employing Martial Artists fundamentally to thrive.
The more Martial Artists there were in existence, the more these merchants benefited from the increased supply, reducing the cost of production, thereby increasing their profit margins. Thus, not only did they despise the alliance for wanting to destroy the Kandrian Empire and kill the Void Prince, but they also wanted to ally with the Kandrian Empire to gain access to these breakthroughs in return.
They had already allied with the two sides as individuals, but that was much less than the Shionel Confederation.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.
If the Shionel Confederation allied with either side as a polity, the Martial Masters of the state, as well as the two Sages in the state, would come into power.
One of them was Sage Khane of the Shionel National Guard, a Sage who pursued his Martial Path driven by a lust for money. He became a Sage with the sole intention of becoming as rich as possible!
And he did; he was able to sign extremely lucrative deals with the Shionel Confederation after breaking through to the Sage Realm in exchange for protecting the nation with his power.
He was far from the strongest Martial Sage, but his presence alone gave Shionel Confederation the status of a Sage-level nation; thus, he was tolerated despite his unsightly hedonism.
The second Sage was not actually contracted with the Shionel Confederation but was instead contracted with the Bradt Distribution Service in exchange for one of the dungeon floors, which he monopolized thanks to the map that Rui gave him, where the Virodhabhasa Theocracy could spread its religion.
Thus, Guildmaster Bradt held full power in deciding which side the resources of the Shionel Confederation would go to.
He experienced immense pressure from not only the alliance and the Kandrian Empire but also the merchants of the Shionel Merchant Guild and the entire nation.
"It's rare to see him stuck with so much indecision," Rui remarked to himself as he studied up on the information in the information package that his father had prepared for him. "He wants to believe in supporting the Kandrian Empire, but he's too much of a pragmatist to do so without sound and solid reasoning."
If that was the case, then Rui simply had to offer him enough to convince him of the merits of doing so, and that would be enough.
Just the fact that he didn't already side with the alliance proves that he had a bias that was leaning towards the Kandrian Empire.
Of course, there was also the fact that working with the Kandrian Empire was always a pleasure, while one needed to be wary of getting attacked by the Sekigahara Confederate, being debt-trapped by the Republic of Gorteau, or being colonized by the Britannian Empire. Still, the fact that Guildmaster Bradt hadn't already jumped to the alliance's side the moment the war for allies began was telling.
This could only mean that he wanted to be with the Kandrian Empire, if possible.
"Most likely, my father also sensed that and managed to figure out exactly what was at the root of this bias." Rui realized.
It was him.
Guilmaster Bradt was deeply reluctant to make an enemy out of the Kandrian Empire because of Rui, most likely.
Of course, it wasn't due to sentiment.
Or mostly not sentiment.
It was the intuition of a businessman.
In his eyes, a relationship with Rui was the ultimate investment. He probably expected Rui to shatter the record for the youngest Martial Sage in history, unveil even crazier abilities and feats, and then jump to the Transcendent Realm.
"If only he knew that this is just a pipe dream as things are right now." Rui smiled bitterly. "Oh well, I have no qualms about exploiting his extreme expectations of me to gain a powerful ally with the Kandrian Empire. At the very least, I can't have him fall to the other side. That would be disastrous."
Thankfully, his father had given him the tools needed to give him enough of a rational reason to join the Kandrian Empire, and he intended to put them to good use to ensure that they got the deal that they were looking for.
Soon enough, Rui had completed all his preparations and was ready to depart on a diplomatic convoy to Shionel Confederation.