Chapter 720 Interests

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Rui replied earnestly. Frankly, her extremism was starting to freak him out a bit.

Even if it was a political ideology that benefited Martial Artists, he had to admit that he wasn't particularly drawn in by it. He had never been too into politics, but he believed in the equality of opportunity. However, from what he could see, she definitely did not believe that.

She glanced at him for a few seconds, before opening her mouth. "It comes down to what form of society is best for human civilization."

"And you believe that a Martial Kraterocracy is the best for society?" Rui raised an eyebrow with skepticism.

Kraterocracies were systems of governance where power was seized by physical and martial force. There existed nations on the Panama Continent where the head of state was a Martial Artist, and power was distributed via Martial merit.

She simply smiled at his question. "Of the many nations of this world, what form of government, on average, do you think has the most amount of cohesiveness and unity?"

Rui frowned as he considered that question. He didn't know the answer, and he wasn't sure if he was going to like it.

"Of the many forms of government in this world, the kind that harnesses and uses the power and resources of a nation most efficiently are those that are driven by Martial power." She explained. "This is not an argument or a prediction. It is purely an observation, and we have since understood the reasons for this."

She turned toward Rui. "Do you know why this is the case?"

Rui remained silent for a few seconds before sighing. "Martial Artists are one of the main stakeholders of every nation that the head of state and head of government need to appeal to. They are one of the most important interest groups because they possess tremendous Martial power, which translates into political power as long as they are able to unite as a group with baseline common interests. They serve as constraints to leaders of nations since their interests need to be met because if they aren't met, they will either migrate or rebel…"

Martial commissioner Derun nodded appreciatively. "But…?"

"But this doesn't apply to systems of governance where the Martial Artists themselves are the leaders. They are not constrained by themselves, after all. While other forms of governance are constrained by Martial Artists and need to appeal to their interests, sometimes at the cost of their own, Martial leaders do not need to pay such a price since the Martial Artists are the leaders."

She nodded. "Correct, Squire Quarrier. Take a look at our own nation, the Kandrian Empire. The Royal Kandrian family is considerably constrained by the Martial Union. The Kandrian Emperor cannot make unscrupulous legislations that harm the interests of the Kandrian Empire, because the Kandrian government does not possess the ability to enforce legislation that the Martial Union vehemently is opposed to, logistically. That is a tremendous constraint on the Royal family."

Rui listened to her wordlessly. Technically, there wasn't anything false about what she said.

"Yet what if the Kandrian Emperor and other people in positions of power were all the powerful Martial Artists? If they themselves were the rulers, then there would be no powerful Martial Artist interest groups that they would be constrained by, they are that group!"

She turned toward Rui. "When leaders are not the Martial Artists of the group, they are constrained by the latter. It is only when Martial Artists lead a nation that they are unconstrained and unhampered in their mobilization of the power and resources of a country. In other words, only Martial Artists can bring out the true power of human civilization in a sense."

She paused before continuing. "Take for example the Britannian Empire. It is an example of a Martial Kraterocracy, and it also happens to be the most powerful nation in this section of the continent. The Britannian Emperor is the head of state and happens to be the most powerful Martial Artist in this section of the nation. All of the other examples of Martial Kraterocracies are similar, this includes the G'ak'arkan Tribe to a good extent as well. Do you think the tribe would be cohesive if the chieftain was decided by democracy and if there was an ordinary person leading the tribe"

Rui couldn't, in good faith, say no.

"That's partly because their culture would conflict with such a system. It does not mean that such a system is inherently bad," Rui pointed out. "And regarding Martial Artists taking over the legislative branch of any governmental structure, I believe it was you who told me that Martial Artists ought to spend their time training and fighting, as opposed to engaging in non-Martial related work. This seems contradictory to what you're telling me now."

She smiled at his argument. "That is true. However, when I say Martial Artists ought not to spend much time on matters unrelated to Martial Art, I mean quite literally time spent on it. It is possible to be in positions of power while not having to engage in administrative or bureaucratic work. There is one such example right before your eyes."

Rui had already known what she was talking about. "The Martial Union…"

"Correct," She smiled. "The ultimate positions of power are held by Martial Artists, and most of the bureaucratic and management work is handled by executives like myself, who can entirely be dismissed from our positions of power the moment our Martial Artist superiors deem so. In this way, they can maintain power over a large organization while still not being swamped with executive duties. Senior Ceeran has spent months away from the Martial Union while still retaining his position of power within our Department of Research and Development, has he not?"

Rui nodded.

He had to admit that there was the logical foundation in her arguments. Their disagreement was more fundamental than that. He had to admit that the Martial commissioner had a point though.