The Mech Touch

As Ves and Melinda spoke about the placement of the Larkinson Family, the latter kept pushing a confrontational tone.

"...We have studied the records of your past battles and interviewed the wounded veterans and the relatives of the deceased. Did you know what we discovered?" The woman who spoke for the Larkinson Family asked.

Ves calmly leaned back on his garden chair while finishing his cup of tea.

Ever since he completed his sublimation, his increased control over his biological form allowed him to restore the sense of taste that he lost.

Though his ability to alter his body remained limited for the time being, it was enough to pull off small tricks such as freezing his facial hair growth, allow him to enjoy more subtler tastes and making Vincent Ricklin jealous.

Though he preferred to remain on his ship, he couldn't help but admit that the Royal Mansion at the Cat Nest served as an adequate center of power.

The entire surroundings belonged to his clan, which in effect meant that the entire Cat Nest was his personal fief.

The Larkinson Clan clearly had all of the say here. The Larkinson Family may share the same name, but they bore a slightly different label that ultimately caused them to remain separate in a few ways.

The most common complaint that everyone thought about but nobody said out loud was that the old family were not only losers, but also freeloaders.

If not for the 1 percent stake in the incredibly profitable LMC that Ves had generously allowed the family to keep, people like Melinda would have long sold themselves out or died by this time!

It was too difficult for rootless people to maintain their independence and integrity in a highly competitive society.

The values and principles of the Larkinson Family might work out great so long as it remained attached to a state, but once it became unmoored, it completely turned into a fish out of water.

Right now, this little fish that was gasping for air and flapping its body without any sense thought it was a shark that could sit on the same negotiating table as the Larkinson Clan!

Melinda was not entirely wrong. Ves didn't care too much about the Larkinson Family and would not shed a tear if this relic of the past went away again, but the significance of Venerable Ark Larkinson was too great!

His uncle was the only diamond in the rough. It was a gem of such great value that Ves would feel a lot of pain if he missed this opportunity to secure this precious jewel for himself!

Just as with the Cross Clan in the past, once the Larkinson Clan gained a high-tier expert pilot of its own, Ves and his wife hoped to repeat their earlier success and trigger Venerable Ark's breakthrough by delivering a powerful new living expert mech!

Once his clan gained an ace pilot of its own, everything would change.

No longer would Ves have to rely on Patriarch Reginald whenever he needed the help of a Saint.

No longer would he have to cater to the whims of the Cross Clan to an excessive degree.

No longer would he be forced to look at an ace mech that he originally had a hand in designing but since shed his influence.

Ves wanted to have his own cooperative ace pilot under his command. He wanted to have complete authority and control over the ace mech that he designed from his own hand. Only by controlling such a powerful fighting force himself would he feel confident in growing his clan without worrying too much about incurring a backlash!

As such, Ves had to navigate this conversation carefully despite how pathetic the Larkinson Family had become compared to the Larkinson Clan.

"Let me make an educated guess about what you have discovered." He eventually replied to her question. "You found that no one really minds the losses all that much."

"Exactly! I don't understand how mothers are able to accept the fact that they have lost their sons, which is one of the greatest pains a woman can experience in their lives. I can't comprehend how children are okay with the fact that they can no longer feel the love of their mothers ever again because the women who nurtured them from birth died for someone else's greed!"

Ves folded his hands on top of each other. He tried to formulate an answer that remained respectful while still representing his stance.

"You didn't go deep enough in your investigations." He began. "Those people aren't fools, Melinda. First off, every single member of the clan except those who had been born in the past few years chose to join on their own accord. It wasn't easy to sign up for us as our recruiting standards are rising every year. Before they take on the Larkinson name, our people make it abundantly clear that they are signing up for a lot of danger and a lot of potential tragedies. We do that because we don't want to hoodwink them and make them regret their applications. We are too honest for that. If people still want to join us after learning about the risks we routinely take, then that is their prerogative."

His older cousin didn't accept this argument.

"You pretend to be transparent, but what you are really running is a casino. Just like a real gambling establishment, you dazzle all of those naive and unguarded recruits with stories of wealth, riches and power. Meanwhile, you conveniently downplay all of the death and pain that regularly accompanies your clan. Each time you suffer losses, you and your mouthpieces always dismiss them as a necessary price to pay for pursuing a dream. Your marketing tricks are so good that they can convert lots of skeptical mech pilots into becoming unwitting cannon fodder for your selfish ambitions."

"Let me interrupt you here." Ves interjected as he raised his hand. "First off, you are constantly using the word 'selfish' here, but have you seen the level of participation and ownership of the people around me? While I admit that I am claiming the lion's share of all of the profits we make, our clan is extremely generous in its treatment of its members. Ordinary people already receive several times the benefits of employees of other organizations, while our mech pilots not only receive a huge amount of hazard pay, but also get fantastic training, access to much stronger mechs than they would otherwise pilot as well as augmentations that would be far outside of their budget under any other conditions."

Melinda nodded as he said that. She had indeed heard a lot of the branch clansmen praise the excellent pay and benefits provided by the clan.

That made her only more suspicious and skeptical of what the clan had in store for them, though.

"To me, that sounds as if you are bribing them into playing along with your game." Melinda accused. "Making dissent and other related problems go away by throwing lots of money at them must be convenient for you, right? It may even be enough to make those bereaved families forget that the money was literally earned by the sacrifices of the loved ones that they have lost."

That was an incredibly cynical way to look at it! Ves grew tired at Melinda's repeated attempts to twist his clan's policies in the worst light.

Though Melinda might have a point here and there, Ves did not have any malicious intent in mind!

"C'mon, give me a break, please. Compensating people well is supposed to be a good thing. Why do you have to make it sound as if it is bad? Would you prefer it if I pay my people minimum wage and deprive them of as many benefits as possible? Because that is the impression you are making."

Melinda pulled back a bit. "That is fair of you to say. Maybe I have been getting overboard, but that does not invalidate my overall point. If you think that I sound bad to you, then wait until you hear from our older and more traditional family members. I am translating their words and opinions to you as best I can. It is them you need to persuade."

That was not actually true, but Ves felt no need to inform his cousin.

"Look, my clan operates on the assumption that a rising tide lifts all boats. The successes we achieve and the heavy investments we make are all pricey, but worth it, not just to someone at the top like myself, but also a normal mech pilot who bears the greatest risks. Every active pilot serving in one of our mech legions isn't just getting a lot of money. They get the chance to make their dreams come true by piloting increasingly stronger mechs and fighting against increasingly more challenging opponents."

"Hm." Melinda looked unimpressed. "Living the dream, huh? Again, that is your brand of trickery at work. When young potentates like myself first discover we have the ability to pilot mechs, we all dream of becoming the next god pilot of humanity and fight alongside the mechers against the evil aliens and such. It is only after we grow older and stumble upon the many constraints of reality that we put aside our unrealistic dreams and begin working towards our more realistic goals and aspirations."

Ves crossed his arms and shook his head. "That is where I have to tell you that I don't agree with that approach. Dreams are what drives humans like us to draw out our latent potential and maybe even exceed them. Do you remember our earlier discussion on what your family lacks? I think that your rejection of the value of the pursuit of dreams plays a key role in this. In contrast, My clan is driven by dreams and ambitions, and not just my own, but of every clansmen. Each of us are forged together by our shared goals. No matter how different we are from each other, both Flagrant Vandals and Penitent Sisters can always count on each other on their shared journey to greatness."

That actually put Melinda on the backfoot. The logic that Ves utilized not only refuted her overly cynical answers, but also left her with little ammunition to form a decent retort.

He wasn't even finished yet as he continued to espouse his views.

"Do you remember who I was back when I was still a mere Apprentice back in the Bright Republic?"

"I do. You were much nicer, innocent and cuter at the time."

"Ahem. I was still a third-rater. How much time has passed since then? Look at me now. I am not only a second-rater, but hundreds of thousands of the people working for the organization that I built with my own hands have either been uplifted to second-class standards or started off at this height! Do you think that any space peasant from the poorest and most inconsequential kind of state in human space can accomplish this? No! I worked hard because back when I was still a poor Brighter, I dreamt that this life was not my limit, but that I could work hard enough to equal the Fridaymen and Hexers."

He thumped his palm against his chest. "Look at me now. I don't even need to look up at them anymore. Instead, I would argue it is the other way around. These days, it is the Fridaymen and Hexers who have to look up to me! What you are seeing is the personification of one of my early dreams!"

"You did extraordinarily well for yourself, Ves, but tens of thousands if not more people have died to pave your way to success. Have you forgotten about all of those sacrifices already?"

"I did not." Ves lied. "I remember our fallen and constantly value their sacrifices. Our clansmen do so as well. The best thing we can do is make sure that our buried Larkinsons did not give up their lives in vain. Let me tell you one of the gains that they have paid for. I recently came off a talk with a first-rater. Before you ask, I am on speaking terms with a wealthy citizen of a first-rate state. My expeditionary fleet rescued him from the jaws of an alien a short time ago. Do you know about one of the topics I discussed? It was about getting my three lovely children accepted into first-class virtual schools."

His cousin became overwhelmed by what she heard!

Ves smirked at her. "Yes, you heard it right. Little old me who used to be a humble third-rater has grown so much in a single generation that I can already enroll my children into some of the best schools in both the Milky Way and Red Ocean outside of the Big Two! Even if I don't amount to anything for the rest of my life, my children will be able to carry the torch and uplift my clan to the same height sooner or later. Do you know what that means? All of the Larkinson in my clan will either be promoted into first-raters or get to see their offspring become galactic citizens within their lifetimes!"

These claims far exceeded what a fellow former third-rater like Melinda could imagine. She was so grounded compared to Ves that her ability to stretch her imagination was a lot more limited!

"That..."

"Let me ask you a question of my own." He said with a serious expression. "Do you think the Larkinson Family can ever make this modest dream come true for any of its members?"

"..."