The Martial Unity

The only question was, what the hell was it that the Royal Emperor wanted to convey? What is it that he wanted everyone to see? What was it that he wanted everyone to learn of?

Whatever it was, it was clearly something that could affect the entirety of Kandria.

Rui furiously processed the various possibilities, trying to eliminate as many as he could.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough data, so he didn't know what was possible. It was possible that the Kandrian Emperor had actually found a way to completely cure the Eternal Dream disease and had been restored to his prime.

In this case, the point of the ceremony was to show that the Kandrian Throne War was not to happen any time soon.

It would be a declaration that he was alive and well and going nowhere.

Such a move would instantly curb the campaigning done by his children and bring it all down to collapse.

It was possible that he was actually gathering everybody so he could offer his full support to any one of the seven candidates. Thus, he could ensure that the candidate that he approved of the most benefited from his powerful endorsement.

The latter was far more plausible than the former. The fact that he hadn't found a cure for the disease in over seven years implied that this was not something that could be solved by capital. Had there been any known medical treatment, no matter how difficult to procure, the Kandrian Emperor would have been able to procure it over the span of seven years.

Yet he hadn't.

His condition continued to grow worse progressively.

Regardless, there were many more possibilities than just those two; he was unable to constrain the possibilities much.

'I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the emperor has in mind,' Rui narrowed his eyes.

The event was to be held in a week, which was awfully short notice for an event of this magnitude. From this, Rui could infer a sense of urgency; the Emperor didn't want to or couldn't afford to spend too much time waiting.

That further contradicted the hypothesis that he had managed to restore his health. If he truly was healed, then there would be no reason to hold the event on such short notice. The more Rui thought about it, the more curious he grew as to what it was.

Whatever it was, it would undoubtedly affect him and his resolution to find someone suited for the throne. He could only hope that it was something that could help him find a path to the future.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in," Rui absentmindedly responded.

CLACK

"Rui," Julian smiled, opening the door.

"Julian."

"I just heard the most unbelievable tale from everybody when I got back from work," Julian remarked. "Did you truly get invited by the Kandrian Emperor?"

"…So it would seem."

"That's incredible," Julian eyed the scroll that Rui had received with incredulity.

"Yeah, it is…"

"To think you've become someone that the Kandrian Emperor personally invited," Julian smiled proudly. "As expected of my little brother."

Rui absentmindedly nodded.

Julian sighed, putting a hand on Rui's shoulder. "You don't have to stress yourself out. This isn't a personal audience with the Emperor. You have been invited among many other figures across all of Kandria. Unless the Emperor has planned something cumbersome that will involve the impromptu participation of all these important figures, you won't have to do anything other than spectate."

As expected, Julian had swiftly arrived at the same conclusion that he had rather quickly.

"True," Rui got up, walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to speak to some people," Rui replied. "No need to wait for me."

From there on, Rui consulted many of his friends in high places, many of whom had been invited, looking for more information.

Yet he was unable to find any.

"I've tried poking around, but I've been unable to find anything," Master Ceeran had shook his head. "Even Her Highness Princess Ranea knows nothing. I'm just as clueless as you."

"The event, unfortunately, is quite opaque," Headmaster Aronian had heaved a thoughtful sigh before smiling at Rui. "It appears that we will have to simply wait and see."

"Prince Raijun has expressed a lot of concern over this new development," Master Zentra had remarked calmly. "Our analyst department has concluded that the Emperor is going to be using this event to disclose a revelation, and the high profile of the guest spectators is merely meant to be their learn of it first-hand."

The analyst department had not uncovered anything that Rui hadn't easily figured out himself.

"We have tried and failed to gather any concrete information," Master Vericita had remarked with an affectionate smile as she petted his head.

Not even the Beggar's Sect knew anything, which was quite surprising.

"The information security in the Vargard Royal has been absolutely impenetrable even for us," Senior Partner Kaylin at Lambargeau Legal Services shook her head. "Despite the rushing flux of many people managing the enormous event on short notice, Emperor Rael has taken the absolute strictest of security measures, temporarily calling in Her Excellency Sage Farana from the Kandrian Border Patrol to head the security of the event. Thus, even we have been rendered absolutely ineffective."

It was only when Rui heard this that he gave up. If a mind-

oriented Martial Sage had been deployed to secure the event, then there was absolutely no way whatsoever to gather intelligence without equally powerful forces.

Part of the reason for such security measures was that the Vargard Royal Palace would become the epicenter of Kandrian Power, and any attack on it during the event could lead to devastating losses for the entirety of the Kandrian Empire.

Rui shrugged. "What will happen will happen."

He had already resigned himself to that, and now he could only wait and watch until the Royal Addressal Ceremony, which was due to arrive in about a week's time.