Rui stared at her with a dubious gaze. "This isnāt our country and our people, you know?"
"That doesnāt matter; you dragged them into this mess, so you have a moral obligation to get them out of it." She folded her arms with a stern expression.
Rui heaved a sigh.
Ideally, he would have liked to simply allow the Dragon Emperor to do what he wanted to so that he could earn the ire of the entire world. But it was clear that Amare was not willing to do that.
Of course, he also understood where she was coming from.
He had indeed dragged the entire country into a mess that wasnāt theirs and put them through rough times, even if it was for the sake of the future of human civilization. Empress Schlieffen had done nothing to deserve the problems that he was thrusting onto her.
However, he was also very cognizant of the fact that he couldnāt afford to care about other people when the survival of human civilization was still at stake. Of the six pureblood superpower states in the world, three of them were against human civilization. Despite his great power, he was keenly aware that he couldnāt afford to take it easy on others when securing human civilizationās place in the true world.
"...I will protect the Hlakaschken Trade Empire," Rui relented, heaving a sigh.
Amare beamed at him.
"But only if he explicitly does something to harm the people of the country," Rui added with a knowing tone. "Iām not going to do any active measures to protect this country and Iām certainly not going to do something like intercept him at sea before he reaches the country."
She frowned. "But if we intercept him at sea, we can fight him without having to hold back. We can do a much better job of making sure he doesnāt harm the Hlakaschken Trade Empire."
The idea of fighting the Dragon Emperor all out was an exciting one, but Rui knew that it was inevitable, for the most part. He would much rather the battle be more serious and purposeful than merely an interception of the Dragon Emperor while he headed to the Hlakaschken Trade Empire to conquer it.
"If the Dragon Emperor finds out Iām here, then thereās a good chance that the battle will become even more violent." Rui shook his head. "You remember how violent the battle between me and Anthea was. This battle will be even more violent. The Dragon Emperor is not the kind of person to hold back or exercise restraint and rationality. It will be an all-out battle that will destroy the Hlakaschken Trade Empire in one fell swoop. Do you want that to happen?"
Amare frowned, but remained silent. "So... what are you saying we should do?"
"Iām saying we should intervene at the final moment," Rui replied. "Allow the Dragon Emperor to transgress and infringe upon the territory of the Hlakaschken Trade Empire, and only step in to protect common people. After all, itās the common people you care about, right? Not the politics?"
She nodded. "I donāt want innocent people getting hurt."
"Then remain on standby," Rui told her as he walked away. "Donāt intervene until the Dragon Emperor makes it clear that he is going to harm people."
"Where are you going?" Amare asked with knitted eyebrows.
"To study him from afar," Rui remarked. "I want to collect data on him, but if Iām too close, then he will definitely notice. That dragon has extremely powerful senses, I can tell. I donāt think I can hide my power or identity from him in front of him."
"...You donāt intend to fight him this time around, do you?" Amare sharpened her eyes.
Rui smiled.
"When the time comes, our battle will shake the world. But..."
He shook his head.
"The time hasnāt come yet. I have learned my lesson with the fiasco in East Genora, you see. I was a bit too arrogant in how strong I was and leaped in without any preparation. This time..."
His eyes sharpened.
"This time, Iām going back to the basics."
The first step of the basics was to gather information, as he had done many a time in the past when he wasnāt as strong as he was today. He needed to ascertain what kind of opponent he was up against, gather data on their patterns for a preliminary predictive model, and a preliminary SOUL model. He wanted to gather other data on the dragon beforehand so that he could prepare more targeted solutions.
It wasnāt a battle.
It was a hunt.
Amare wasnāt as satisfied with his unwillingness to defend the Hlakaschken Trade Empire. "What if the people get hurt? Will you not jump in to protect them?"
"No," Rui replied. "That will be up to you. The people have my sympathies and perhaps even my apologies, but Iām not going to act. I canāt. I have only two priorities: Project Water and the future of human civilization. Both of these are extremely heavy burdens by themselves, so much so that even someone as powerful as me doesnāt have any leeway to care about anyone else."
He directed a pointed gaze towards her. "If you want to make sure no harm comes to them, then you will have to fight the Dragon Emperor yourself. Be careful."
Ruiās words might have sounded callous, but Amare knew better.
The old Amare would have definitely kicked up a bigger fuss and tried to persuade Rui to help her protect the people, but as she was now, she knew that this was how the Martial World, and perhaps even the true world, was. It was a ruthless world where only power mattered.
Only the fittest survived in this eat-or-be-eaten world.
She wasnāt fond of the Martial World that she had created, but she recognized how futile it was to fight back against this.
"Fine," she remarked with a determined tone. "I will protect the people myself."