The Mech Touch

Both of them put down all of their concerns and simply basked in each other’s presence.

Touching each other, kissing each other and cuddling with each other cured the sickness that gnawed at their hearts.

All of these weeks of spending their time alone taught them both a very serious lesson.

It was a curse to remain alone, and a blessing to enjoy the company of their earnest lover!

The love they held for each other hadn’t diminished in the slightest. Neither of them had ’woken up’ or found any reason to reconsider their relationship.

Instead, like junkies, they yearned for each other’s company even more!

Now that Gloriana returned to his side, she dropped all of her airs and turned into a happy girl who did not hold back in her delight!

"I missed you, Ves." She sighed as she pressed her head on his chest. "I missed you too as well, Lucky!"

"Meow..."

Lucky contently purred while he rested on her lap. Staying stuck with Ves all the time was not his idea of fun!

At least Gloriana didn’t kick him around or threw him in the air for no reason!

For her part, Clixie purred while basking in Ves’ warmth. As someone who made her owner happy, Ves had long earned her approval!

The fact that he understood her at a deeper level also helped. Sometimes, it was hard being a cat!

"How has it been back home?" Ves idly asked, his finger rolling one of Gloriana’s locks of hair.

"The LMC and your other organizations are doing fine. The Bright Republic hasn’t touched the Mech Nursery or any of your property. Both the LMC’s tangible and intangible assets are still intact. In fact, with how much you matter these days, your home state has an even greater reason to make sure your rights are respected."

"Hahaha!" Ves released a cynical laugh. "That’s rich, coming from the government that allowed one of their generals to trade me away like I’m nothing more than livestock!"

"If we didn’t design such a pivotal mech like the Deliverer, the Bright Republic probably wouldn’t have reversed its stance so quickly." Gloriana shared his opinion.

"How is the Deliverer faring?"

"It’s doing as well as you expected. The Eye of Ylvaine that the Protectorate has formed some time ago is making a name for itself throughout the region. Every Hunter of Ylvaine has become a welcome presence on the battlefield due to their ability to channel the will of Ylvaine. While every Ylvainan piloting a Deliverer is able to do so to an extent, their prophet is slowly concentrating his power onto the Eye of Ylvaine."

This development came as a surprise to Ves. He hadn’t given Ylvaine’s spiritual fragment any instructions to restrict his powers to this small, elite group of Kronon mech pilots.

It made sense for the sentient fragment to restrict the bestowal of its favor. If the Deliverer kept excelling with its supernatural abilities, soon millions of Ylvainans would adopt the mech!

What happened if all of those millions of devout Ylvainan mech pilots requested supernatural aid?

The fragment would quickly exhaust itself!

In order to keep the Deliverer relevant without running a spiritual energy deficit, Ylvaine’s spiritual fragment evidently decided to make its blessing exclusive to this small group of chosen Kronon mech pilots.

"How many mech pilots have joined Eye of Ylvaine?"

"There are about five-thousand Hunters of Ylvaine at the moment. It’s quite a rapid expansion for the Ylvainans, as they don’t have many Kronons who specialize in piloting spaceborn marksman mechs. It’s not that easy to recruit more because those who aren’t as good in marksmanship will largely waste Ylvaine’s blessing."

Ves already understood this. Though five-thousand chosen mech pilots didn’t sound like a great figure, it was enough to cover many important star systems in the region!

"The Ylvainans should have lent their Hunters of Ylvaine to other states by now, right?"

Gloriana nodded. "That’s right. Every other state has tried to make use of the Deliverer model, to no avail. Only true Ylvainans are able to make adequate use of our mech model, which is exactly what you intended! The Protectorate knows this as well, and has made great use of this advantage. Over the last month, they have been both smart and generous about their terms for assistance."

"Tell me what they have done."

"The Protectorate negotiated deals with the Bright Republic, Vesia Kingdom, Reinald Republic and every other state pressed by the sandmen. The contents of the deals are secret, but the press has done a decent job at guessing the concessions the latter states have made to the Protectorate."

"Did they bleed themselves?"

"Almost certainly, but not as much as you expect. The Protectorate is being farsighted by all accounts. They aren’t demanding the Brighters and Vesians to give up their territories or empty their entire treasury. Aside from some direct transfers of wealth and resources, the Ylvainans mainly want to improve diplomatic ties, open up trade, and receive a guaranteed right to proselytize their faith abroad without any hindrance."

"I take it the states that are knocking on the doors of the Protectorate aren’t entirely pleased about those concessions." Ves guessed.

"They’re not very happy." She nodded. "They acquitted, though. With the sandmen constantly deepening their attrition, they have no choice to but to beg the Eye of Ylvaine for help!"

"It sounds like the Protectorate could have taken more advantage of the distressed states."

"It’s true that the leaders of the Protectorate have held back. Since the Deliverers have relieved a lot of pressure in their state, the three leading dynasties aren’t fixated solely on the Sand War anymore. Instead, it’s the Komodo War that is increasingly weighing on their minds."

Both of them paused for a moment. Ves and Gloriana had always directed their efforts towards the Sand War because this conflict happened to be closer to where they stayed. It was also the conflict where their products would be best appreciated.

The Komodo War was an entirely different beast. While Gloriana possessed the qualification to design second-class mechs, Ves was not at that level yet. He still had much to go before he became confident his products would be on par with the mechs designed by Hexer or Fridaymen mech designers.

Now that the Sand War reached its turning point, there was even less of a reason for them to design a mech for this market.

The later stages of a war and the recovery period that happened afterwards always resulted in a drop in demand.

Both the military and the private sector exhausted all of their reserves, and even went deep into debt. With the cessation of most fights, there were no good reasons to buy any mechs at this time!

In fact, many organizations would attempt to downsize at this time in order to cut costs and gain some liquidity. A lot of second-hand mechs would flood the market after every war, making it even harder to sell pristine mechs at their list prices!

Therefore, the Bright Republic’s mech market would enter into a very big depression period. Ves had no doubt that a number of struggling mech companies would either shutter their doors or get bought out by better-performing competitors.

With all of this upheaval taking place, there wouldn’t be many opportunities for the LMC to do business in those hard-hit states.

"The states that survived the sandman onslaught won’t be in any shape to participate in the Komodo War." Ves remarked. "If the Protectorate helps them win the war, they’ll probably earn a lot of gratitude from those states, most of whom happen to maintain friendly ties to the Friday Coalition."

Gloriana smiled. "That’s why the Ylvainans are doing their best to make those Coalition-aligned states grateful to them. When the Protectorate has literally rescued billions or trillions of citizens from complete annihilation, it would be very difficult for those states to turn around and attack their savior. That is if they have any forces left to threaten the Protectorate. The Brighters and the Vesians have pretty much exhausted almost every resource."

"Even the states that aren’t affected by the Sand War will be reluctant to gang up on the Ylvaine Protectorate." He cleverly noted. "The Protectorate has acted very morally in extending their aid when they could have just let those states fall. The entire Komodo Star Sector aside from the second-rate states will honor them for their contribution! Even the MTA will extend their appreciation to the Ylvainans for striking the critical blow against the aliens."

While gaining the appreciation of many people was not a guarantee, it would be very hard for the Friday Coalition to persuade its vassal states to attack the Ylvaine Protectorate.

At the very least, doing so would inevitably tarnish their reputation and cause them to appear more tyrannical in the eyes of every third-rate state.

Such an act might hand the Hegemony an advantage in the longer term!

"For this reason, I think the Protectorate will be fine when the Komodo War heats up." She told him, as if to reassure him about the safety of his now-favorite state.

Ves wasn’t sure whether he appreciated the Ylvaine Protectorate or the Bright Republic the most. He still wanted both states to do well, though.

He still cared for the Bright Republic because it was the state that the Larkinson Family called home. Many of his family members still stubbornly stuck to the state despite the recent upheavals.

For the good of his relatives, Ves could not wish his home state any ill.

He felt a bit mixed about the Ylvaine Protectorate as well. The Ylvainans had been very helpful to him, but that was predicated on the popularity of his work.

The moment he stopped delivering the goods, he would stop gaining as much appreciation from them! Certainly, Ves could still coast along for some time by depending on his legacy, but that would probably fade in time.

In truth, Ves did not wish to repeat his mistake by leaning too much on a single state. A faction in the Bright Republic had already screwed him over, so who could say that the same wouldn’t happen again in the Ylvaine Protectorate?

For this and several other reasons, Ves did not plan to settle permanently in the Ylvaine Protectorate.

Of course, for now Ves had nowhere else to go, so he would probably stay in the Protectorate for as long as it took to reorganize the LMC. Moving his headquarters and main operations away from Cloudy Curtain was a very disruptive move that did not do his company any favors!

"What about the Larkinsons?"

"They’re still arguing about how to split themselves up. Now that you’re back, you should get in touch with your relatives. Your lack of input is one of the biggest reasons why the talks within your family has stalled."

Ves sighed and rubbed his hand against her thin arm. "So the Larkinson Family as we know it will come to an end. I almost feel guilty for precipitating this event."

"If you ask me, not every Larkinson deserves your patronage. I think it’s good if you separate the chaff from the wheat."

"Your words have merit, but.. I doubt it will be that easy. The majority of Larkinsons have opted to stay with the old guard, right?"

"That just makes it even better." She smiled. "This means that only the Larkinsons who are truly committed to you will be left. All of those Larkinsons who have doubts or aren’t willing to let go of their old ways are gone. You can do whatever you want with the family who are truly willing to follow you to the ends of reality!"

The way she framed the split sounded very compelling to Ves. He no longer felt as remorseful for splitting up the family.

"As long as I have some loyalists, it’s not impossible for my branch of the family to surpass the one led by the guard!"