The Martial Unity

"And… done." Ria finished scribbling her signature on two stacks of paper.

They were copies of the contract detailing a fleshed-out version of the agreement between Ria and the Esoterist.

"Good," the Esoterist smiled opposite her, extending her a hand. "I look forward to doing business with you."

His attention was focused on Ria despite the fact that her team stood around her. As far as he was concerned, Ria was the only meaningful element of the party, and that too only because of the value that she could bring to the table compared to her peers.

"I'll get started with the ship right away in the manifold," the man remarked with a serious expression. "The design process will take around a month, the construction process, even when expedited and fabricated with the best shipyard that we have in this solar system, will take two months, even when accelerated, and even this is very fast because it's essentially a light ship. In three months, you will have the ship that you need."

Three months.

That certainly impeded her plans to come back, learn the truth, and then head back to the frontier to start world-infected world hunting. Then again, much had changed since she returned home simply by learning the truth about her condition.

She nodded. "We can wait three months. We thank you for the speedy delivery."

"In the meantime, you'd better make every other preparation you need to make in the next three months," the Esoterist told her with a serious expression. "Once this gets rolling, I would like to see this project commence immediately. Because I get one in ten, I will have to wait for you to clear nine infected worlds before I finally get one for myself, so my pay is quite delayed."

"Don't worry, I don't intend to waste time once the ship arrives," Ria replied with a serious tone of voice. "We'll have hired a crew, set up a company, and will have handled all the details. We'll be ready to depart on a mission immediately."

What should have been a tiresome process was actually something that Ria looked forward to. She had no idea how to start a business of this kind, but she was highly anticipative of it because it was a project that belonged to solely herself and her friends.

Because she had conscientiously avoided relying on the Kandrian Empire to smooth through the deal, it truly felt like she was building something that was entirely of their own.

Once the deal ended, the five of them quickly returned to the Kandrian Empire.

"I'll go fill my father in with what just happened, not wait on me!" She rushed off to the Royal Office immediately, eager to fill her father in on what had just happened.

Of course, the moment she walked around in her attire, she was immediately recognized by everybody for who she was.

"Your Highness, it is so good to have you back!"

"Long live the princess of the Kandrian Empire!"

"Blessed is the Kandrian Empire to have you as our princess, Your Highness."

Her expression stiffened as she tried for a smile, walking past them with an impatient expression.

The one thing she hated more than anything else was being referred to as 'Your Highness.' It was the easiest and simplest way to spoil her mood, but today she was so excited that not even being reminded of her status as princess was enough to sour her mood.

In the Royal Office, Rui sat at his table, listening to reports from Arastia and Ru.

"Our Intel reports suggest that the Blood Cult is fracturing and will soon—"

BANG!

Ria barged in with an excited expression, spotting two familiar figures.

"Aunt Arastia!" Ria's eyes lit up before crinkling at the other. "…Aunt Ru."

Ru wasn't particularly pleased by the way that her niece addressed her, of course, but she knew better than to make a fuss out of the issue. Arastia, on the other hand, smiled warmly at Ria, pulling her into a hug. "Ahhh, this is healing. It's so nice to be loved by your niece, isn't it?"

She shot a smug expression at Ru, who simply heaved an exasperated sigh. Rui smiled with amusement over the interaction, turning towards his daughter with a proud expression. "I heard what you did. Congratulations. Brokering a partnership deal with the Esoterist of all people is a feat to be proud of. That man does not give people he doesn't respect even a little bit of his time and attention. And you managed to do it with your own merit."

She beamed at her father's praise, even if miffed at the fact that she couldn't tell him the news herself.

Arastia and Ru, on the other hand, clearly weren't aware of what she had been up to as of late.

"Deal?" Arastia glanced at her niece with surprise. "You signed a deal with the Esoterist of all people?"

"Is that why you rushed off to the Esocline Federation so suddenly?" Ru raised her eyebrows. "Do you know anything about the actions that the Esoterist took in the Seni Star System?"

Ria couldn't even control herself from grinning as she explained everything that had happened, her sensing of infected worlds, her ambitions, her requirements from the Esoterist, and her plans from this point forth.

Both Arastia and Ru listened with stunned expressions as Ria explained how she intended to help human civilization with her actions. Rui simply smiled as he watched his daughter gush about her recent ventures. He hadn't seen her act this way in a long, long time, perhaps since she was a child.

It was one of the reasons that he had ultimately allowed her to spend time in the frontier and simply live her life as she pleased.

When she was finally done, Rui simply nodded. "That sounds great, Ria. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish."

The reaction that the two women had, on the other hand, was very different.

"'That sounds great?'" Arastia scoffed at Ru's words. "That sounds dangerous! Very dangerous! Enter a greater manifold? With just you and your team? That's extremely dangerous!"

"I must concur with Arastia," Ru spoke with a serious tone of voice. "You are risking your life very severely. I would not recommend taking such foolhardy measures."

Ria found herself faced with staunch opposition from her concerned aunts.