The Martial Unity

This made more sense. It was a publicly known fact that the Martial Union and Royal Kandrian Family were not on the best of terms. Although Martial Artists rebelling against states and organizations of various kinds was a universal phenomenon that led to the birth of the Age of Martial Art, it still inevitably created some degree of friction in the Kandrian Empire between the Royal Family that directed the government and the Martial Union.

The Martial Union was a congregation of Martial Artists that was powerful enough to rival the Kandrian Empire through the power of Martial Art, exclusively. It was cautious and resentful of the Royal Family that once dominated Martial Artists before the breakthrough of Martial Squires, and no doubt would do so if it was viably possible. The Royal Family, on the other hand, no doubt disdained the Martial Union as it was an entity within the Kandrian Empire that it could not control, and that faintly had the potential to overthrow the Royal Family.

Of course, this was very ambiguous, however, it did create a sense of aversion and wariness within the Martial Artists of the Martial Union to the Royal Family and the Kandrian government. Rui wasn't sure he would have accepted the personal commission from the colonel had he known that he was the true client.

Of course, he could cancel choose to cancel it even now. It's just that this would penalize him since he did not have a just cause, and he wasn't so sure if it was warranted now that he had actually met the man.

"However, you don't seem to be the emotional type." He pointed. "I wouldn't have gone to such degrees if I could be sure that you would not refuse my commission, but alas, I can't be sure of that since we're not of the same faction."

The last sentence he uttered caused confusion in Rui.

"You and I? Part of the same faction?" Rui frowned.

"Did I stutter?" He asked, impassively.

"We're not even part of the same organization or movement or group of any kind." Rui threw a puzzled look at him. "How could we possibly be part of the same faction?"

"Your understanding of the political landscape of the Kandrian Empire is woefully inadequate." He shook his head. "The faction I am of in the Royal Army and the Kandrian government broadly shares the exact same goal and ideal as that of a political faction within the Martial Union. We cooperate distantly to try and achieve our common goal. We are effectively part of the same faction."

Rui's eyes rose a little, in interest. It was an intriguing concept and one that he hadn't considered prior. Of course, he didn't deny the colonel's statement about his political acumen, because it was indeed true. What little he knew were things he had heard, read, or inferred. He had not studied political history to any meaningful degree.

He simply didn't care to dive deep into the field, and intelligence alone wasn't enough to somehow make him not ignorant.

"What faction is this?" Rui asked out of curiosity.

"The Merger Faction." Senior Geringan replied.

Rui's eyes narrowed, he could instantly infer what the faction was about based on the name and what he had told Rui about his faction prior. A faction that extended across the government, army, and the Martial Union, known as the 'Merger' faction.

"Is the political objective of this faction the union of the Martial Union and the Kandrian Government?" Rui's narrowed.

This sounded like an absurd goal, it was absolutely impossible for the Martial Union and Kandrian governments to merge into one entity. The clash of interests between the entities was real, after all.

"Correct." The man nodded. "We strive every day to influence legislation that increasingly pushes us in this direction until we hope to unite the Kandrian government and the Martial Union with an equal division of power between the constituents of the groups within a new ruling power.."

"That seems unfeasible given the friction between the two entities." Rui voiced his thoughts as he considered the colonel's thoughts. "After all, the head of state and the head of government both are the Royal Emperor. In order to form a government where legislative, executive, and judicial power is equally divided between the two groups, the Royal Emperor would at the very least need to change, and a more neutral head representing the interests of the two former entities would need to come in place. Unless the Royal Emperor himself is part of the Merger Faction, there is no way he would concede his power for such an arrangement."

While Rui wasn't an expert, he knew that the Royal Emperor represented the legislative branch of the government singlehandedly, the rest of the government generally served as the executive of the legislation that he passed. Meaning he was the only one who possessed the authority to facilitate any fusion between the Kandrian Government and the Martial Union, which he would be disincentivized to do if it involved sharing his absolute legislative power with the Martial Council, the highest governing committee of the Martial Union in some form or the other.

"You have very correctly identified one of the biggest stumbling blocks on our way to accomplishing our objective." The colonel nodded, impressed. "It is one of the reasons our faction has existed for as long as it has without succeeding. It is highly disadvantageous to those in power to share one's own authority for the sake of the nation. However, the need of the nation is greater than one man's selfish desire, wouldn't you agree?"

"I would, but unfortunately, it's extremely unlikely to happen from what I understand," Rui replied sardonically. "Merging the Martial Union and the Kandrian Government would not just mean merging our forces, it would be changing the very identity of the nation. After all, Martial Artists possessing legislative power by virtue of being Martial Artists would turn the very nature of the Kandrian Empire as a sovereign state into a militaristic nation or a Martial state."