CHAPTER 2370: CONFRONTATIONS

"...So, you're telling me that you have had a secret hidden Martial Artist at your side for more than three centuries?" The Martial Sages stared at Emperor Rael with pure shock. "A hidden Martial Sage in the Kandrian Empire for more than three hundred years?"

The Martial Sages confronted Emperor Rael at the first opportunity that they got after the battle.

To say that they were shocked was an understatement.

It was one of the greatest revelations that they had come to learn.

It made all of them look at their shared past with new lenses.

Kandria had never had the smoothest of histories, with many significant events involving all of them that now required them to revisit and re-evaluate.

Just how much of the outcomes of everything that they had gone through were a product of this new Martial Sage intervening secretly in the shadows?

They had no clue.

"That's correct," the three-dimensional projection of Emperor Rael replied. "He had been one of my greatest trump cards since even before I became emperor."

"Is that why things always seem to go your way?" Sage Roschem muttered with a stunned expression.

"...I cannot lose a game of Chess if I have pieces that my opponent does not even know of," Emperor Rael answered. "Such is the power of this trump card."

"...How did you ever pull it off?" The Flickering Elder stared at him with a shocked expression.

Emperor Rael smiled. "It was difficult, very difficult, but once you understand the flow of information, you are able to manipulate it to your own advantage and evade it at remarkably high success. I simply fooled the world and ensured that the truth never came to light."

"...And then it went on to become one of your greatest advantages in pretty much all future circumstances," Rui added with a mused expression.

Rui had known this before, but keeping a Martial Sage hidden for this long was nothing short of a truly impressive feat. It was something that would be otherwise considered impossible. "Correct," his father replied. "Sayfeel has contributed more to the Kandrian Empire than any of you will ever know. Treat him with the respect and trust that he deserves."

"...If he was such a great secret trump card, then why did you choose to reveal him?" Sage Glacken raised an eyebrow. "It does not make sense to devalue the strategic power of a secret Sage by revealing him to the world for everyone to know about."

His father shook his head. "I no longer require a hidden trump card. What I need is open deterrence. The two are different and are differently suited to different circumstances. In this particular circumstance, an existential war that impedes our ascent to unrivaled power and prosperity, I need open deterrence."

Rui understood the dynamics of this particular decision much better than the Sages did. "He needs people to trust in the Kandrian Empire to protect them. And more firepower is the best way to do that."

His father nodded. "Just so. Now, I know that all of you have countless questions regarding Sage Sayfeel, however, I cannot humor them at the moment. After all..."

His expression instantly darkened. "We have lost an old comrade, friend, and family. We need to mourn for her and honor her memory in a manner that is worthy of her. Sage Lamira fought for the nation and gave up her life for the Kandrian Empire. She is a hero among heroes, and she will be remembered as such."

Instantly, the brief reprieve from the awareness of her death was gone.

The matter regarding Sage Sayfeel had been so shocking that they truly could not put it off, even under these circumstances.

Yet, the death of a comrade that they had known for the overwhelming majority of their lives still hung in the air.

It was a deep pain that they were unable to get over.

"We must win the war no matter what." Sage Roschem's eyes flared with intensity. "If we lose, then her sacrifice was for nothing."

Emperor Rael's eyes blazed with willpower. "I have no intention of losing. I am confident that we will emerge victorious in this war. The success of pulling over the Shionel Confederation is merely the beginning."

While there were definitely pretty difficult impediments that his rival put up, the fact of the matter was that the Kandrian Empire won over the Shionel Confederation as a firm ally. It gave them access to not only their Martial power but also the economic power that the Kandrian Empire was working to restore at the moment.

These were tremendous assets in war.

Now, all allies had to consider that joining the East Panamic Treaty Alliance would mean becoming an enemy of the Shionel Confederation and many of the merchants that sold important goods and services.

It would mean that they were cutting themselves off from much of the market since everybody depended on them to some degree in some way or the other. Emperor Rael intended to leverage that to the maximum.

"Prime Minister Edward knows that and thus he will not let up on the Shionel Confederation that easily," Emperor Rael warned. "Thus, I don't intend to call most of you back to the Kandrian Empire. We must provide enough security to ensure that the Shionel Confederation is safe. That goes for you, too, Rui."

Rui stared at his father knowingly. "Well, I'm not too surprised. This was part of the plan from the very start. I make the Shionel Confederation an ally; in return, I get to fight as many Masters as I wish."

This was the personal motivation behind the decision to go to the Shionel Confederation in the first place.

"Unfortunately..." Rui scratched his head. "The only enemy peak Master left in East Panama is

dead."

Rui was not satisfied with the Master's breakthrough to the Sage Realm, which interrupted

their battle.

He truly believed he would have won.

But, unfortunately, he was not satisfied with merely personal conviction; he hoped to prove it

without any shadow of a doubt that he was to win by actually winning.

It was truly unfortunate that the man gained enlightenment of self.Owned by .