The Martial Unity

"He is an asset to this nation," Princess Rafia replied. "Killing him would hurt the Kandrian Empire in ways that we are unable to even estimate."

"He shouldn't have gotten in my way," Prince Randal's eyes narrowed. "Anybody who stands in the way of the throne and me is an enemy.

"The Martial Union will have our heads," Princess Ranea's expression grew grave. "The best-case scenario would be that the Martial Artists of the Martial Union that we have secured to our side would immediately leave."

"That's only if they knew we did it," Prince Randal calmly remarked. "As long as there is enough uncertainty, they won't know who it is. Even if they did, we are of the Royal Family. The power of the Royal Emperor is on par with that of the Martial Union. If any of the Martial Sages were to come after me, General Aramoeous of the Hawk Faction is more than willing to deploy the hundred and eight Apocalypse-class Armageddon siege weapons of the Kandrian Empire, each with the power to reduce an entire nation to dust in an instant."

"Do you want to cause a civil war of unprecedented scale?!" Princess Ranea stared at him in disbelief. "You will destroy Kandria!"

"Relax, it won't come to that," Prince Randal's eyes sharpened to slits. "The Martial Sages of the Martial Union will not move for a single Martial Senior. Probably. However, the Martial Masters will. They're the issue. However, there are ways around this. As long as the Martial Union doesn't know who killed Rui Quarrier, there won't be any issues."

"The Martial Union has an extremely deep profile on every Martial Artist in Kandria," Princess Rafia remarked. "Especially Martial Masters. Employing our Martial Artists would give us away."

"The problem is actually even worse than that," Prince Randal's expression grew ugly. "As you all know, one of the Masters in my faction picked a fight with Rui Quarrier after inadvertently threatening him. Since then, the Martial Union has been spooked and extremely sensitive about a Martial Master harming their golden boy. There are a hundred and fifty Martial Masters in the Kandrian Empire, and the Martial Union knows the location of almost all of them. You can bet they will intervene if a Martial Master moves towards Rui with the intention of killing him."

"In that case, we would not be able to use Martial Masters at all," Princess Raemina remarked with eyes widened with intrigue. "Martial Seniors, then."

"That runs into the issue that Rafia mentioned," Princess Ranea shook her head. "Using Kandrian Martial Artists will get us identified and that's not something we can allow."

"That is why we should hire Martial Artists from outside Kandria," Prince Randal's tone grew even more severe. "Perhaps the Derschek Region or the Shadow Isles. We could even try contracting the Silent Shadow, Master Reina Cara. She is a legendary assassin in the industry even among assassins of the Master Realm."

"The Panamic Martial Federation has disclaimed that," Princess Rafia pointed out.

"They frown upon unjustified and open bullying of Martial Artists by a Martial Artist of a higher Realm," Prince Randal corrected. "Assassinations are a gray area because every force in this world needs them, including the constituents that founded the Panamic Martial Federation. As long as it is not exposed, they will turn a blind eye."

"Still," Princess Ranea shook her head. "Martial Master assassins from abroad are too much. There are very few who are freelancers. An overwhelming majority of Martial Master assassins belong to some group or entity that we will have to reach out to and bargain and negotiate."

"You're right," Prince Randal remarked. "Master assassins like the Silent Shadow are said to be impossible to find. We can begin the process, but it will take months and even years. There is no point in waiting that long because, at this rate, Raijun will become a Squire.Senior assassins are much easier and quicker."

"If we do this, and I'm not saying I've agreed yet…" Princess Ranea carefully spoke. "We're going to need to do it extremely cautiously and carefully. Neither the Martial Union nor the Beggar's Sect can know."

Prince Randal glanced around the room at the sixteen Martial Masters guarding their respective marks. Thankfully, these were among the most loyal Martial Artists each of them had and were not of the Martial Union. Prince Randal would not have dared to bring up the assassination of Rui Quarrier if even a single Martial Master of the Martial Union was around. That would be incredibly stupid.

"The Beggar's Sect will not stop the assassination even if they find out," Princess Rafia remarked. "They support Raul. Thus, stopping the assassination in some way is against their interests because they are very determined not to allow Prince Raijun to become Emperor."

The Beggar's Sect vehemently opposed Martial supremacy, as one would expect of them. Prince Raijun, who was a Martial Supremacist, ascending the throne was a highly undesirable outcome for them.

Prince Randal was inclined to agree that they would not sabotage any attempt to kill off the source of his growth. "However, they may still expose us after we succeed. The Beggar's Sect would like to see us fail as well, so after letting Rui Quarrier die, they will definitely expose us and get us into trouble. So we still cannot risk them finding out either."

Princess Raemina's mouth curled with disgust at the thought of the Beggar's Sect. "Those filthy beggars…"

"If we have to hide it from the Beggar's Sect, then this is not going to be quick and easy. If we just waltz over to the Shadow Guild and make a commission, the Beggar's Sect and even the Martial Union will be alerted. We have to be extremely discreet and avoid doing anything that could give it away."

"It's best to deploy a Martial Master to do the commissioning," Prince Randal remarked. "Not even the Beggar's Sect can easily learn about them as they do everyone else."