The Mech Touch

No ghost haunted Ves on the first night since arriving at Kesseling VIII.

He started off the day with a lot of meetings on the agenda. Immediately after breakfast, he said goodbye to Gloriana and departed to the LMC's headquarters situated in downtown Krent.

Ves looked back at his new residence while holding Lucky. Compared to the Cloud Estate, the Austen Estate was a bit smaller and a lot more quiet.

Aside from that, the architecture of the mansion and the other buildings on the grounds of the estate all bore the touch of Ylvainan architecture.

This was nothing unusual. What irked Ves a lot was that the former owner of the Austen Estate appeared to be an extremely devout believer! In almost every wall or room, Ves encountered numerous statues and miniature altars devoted to the Great Prophet, the Grey Martyr, the Battle Martyr, the Dark Martyr and even himself!

Yes, himself!

Just standing in front of a marble-esque statue of his own likeness but appearing exceptionally heroic was both flattering and disconcerting.

"Are the Ylvainans already worshipping me like I'm a god?" He shivered.

Ves did not believe in gods! At best, they were just supremely powerful spiritual entities who defied the laws of reality to mess with people!

Cassandra Breyer was a typical example of a degenerate ghost who could be mistaken as a god!

"If she's a god, then I'm a devil!"

He decided to take no more note of the religious imaginary of himself. He found the entire practice to be a farce. There was nothing divine about himself!

"I'm just a mech designer."

"Meow."

"Oh shut up, Lucky."

No Larkinsons resided in the solemn estate. His subordinates evidently bought the estate from the state and renovated its security systems in preparation for his arrival.

With reinforced walls, turrets and underground bays for mechs, the Austen Estate was even more secure than the Cloud Estate!

The Avatars of Myth already secured a presence in the underground base. Not only that, the Kronon Dynasty stationed a sizable garrison to protect his home.

That was something that Ves really didn't like. His Avatars ought to be sufficient to protect him, but the Ylvainans were horridly overprotective about his life.

They did not wish the Bright Martyr to suffer the same fate as the Great Prophet when he was still alive!

Rather than appreciating his constant escort of elite Kronon mech guards, Ves continually regarded their presence with caution.

A portion of the Mech Corps with Venerable Ghanso Larkinson at its head had already blindsided him once.

Ves did not rule out that some nutcases within the Kronon Dynasty might be plotting for his life!

After all, even if he managed to gain widespread appreciation and worship from the Ylvainans, they were not a monolithic entity.

There were always crazies, weirdos and radicalists among any population, and when the latter reached hundreds of billions, that amounted to at least millions of mentally unstable threats!

For this reason, no matter how popular he became in the Protectorate, Ves did not allow himself to get caught up in his own hype. He needed to remain as vigilant as possible and he already warned Melkor to keep his Avatars alert.

Not only did his Avatars need to guard against unknown threats, they also had to keep an eye on their Kronon watchers!

Though Ves handed Melkor a burdensome command, the Avatars ought to be up to the task. Otherwise, he might as well discard the Avatars entirely despite all of the effort he put into cultivating them into an elite force!

After reaching downtown Krent, his shuttle along with his guard mechs arrived at the LMC's new headquarters, at least for the moment.

Much to his relief, his company's headquarters was just a modern office building. While its architecture still contained traces of Ylvainan religious iconography, it didn't dominate the workplace.

Perhaps the most welcome discovery was that the headquarters lacked the ridiculous statues and paintings of the Bright Martyr. This was good because Ves did not wish for his own employees to worship the ground he walked upon!

Once he settled down at his new office in the upper level of the headquarters, he began his workday by holding an informal meeting.

Raymond, Gavin and Calsie all gathered at the office to discuss the new trajectory of the LMC.

"From what I've heard so far, you've all done a good job at managing the LMC's sudden departure from the Bright Republic." He spoke to his three closest confidants within his company. "I'm already aware of broad strokes and I have no objections for the decisions you've made so far. It's fine to invest in another manufacturing complex on this planet, but that will be the extent of the LMC's expansion into this state."

He was glad that Raymond as well as the two native Cloudy Curtainers decided to leave their homes and join him at the start of this new chapter in his life.

He half-expected Gavin and Calsie to remain in the Bright Republic. Now that they decided to continue to work for him no matter where he went, he felt he could lean on them more.

"Why limit our presence in the Ylvaine Protectorate?" Calsie asked.

She appeared genuinely confused, but Raymond didn't look so surprised.

"Ves has probably considered the precarious situation of our current host state." The Chief Operating Officer answered her question. "The Sand War may have ceased to be an existential threat for the time being, but the Komodo War is still ramping up. Whether this enormous conflict will spill in this direction remains to be seen, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared."

"Raymond is right." Ves clasped his hands over his desk. "The entire star sector is in flames. Several wars have erupted, of which two of them have the potential to upend every state. Under these circumstances, sinking more money and resources in real estate that might get wiped out the next day is highly unwise."

In truth, Ves eagerly adopted this argument because it also supported his greater agenda. His future plans rested on his grand expedition, not his petty kingdom in the Komodo Star Sector.

While the four Brighters held their discussion, Lucky explored and sniffed every corner of his office, destroying microscopic spy bugs and listening bugs along the way.

The cat already found quite a lot of suspect devices!

"What exactly is your plan for the medium term?" Gavin couldn't help but ask. "Are we going to expand in other third-rate states? Right now, your reputation and the LMC's brand awareness has reached a new height in this region. Even though many states are economically devastated, we can still take our gains to other parts of the star sector and resume our company's rapid growth."

"That's too risky, Benny."

"You don't seem to let that stop you, boss."

"This is different. I only take risks when the rewards are great enough. This is not an instance where I think we'll have much gain."

"Have you forgotten that we sold over a million mechs ever since the Sand War erupted?! Even now we are still selling a lot of Soldier mechs in many foreign states! As long as we use our successful product line as a springboard, we can establish a strong presence in each of their mech markets!"

Ves shook his head. "I'm not chasing after market dominance anymore. I'm not interested in increasing our revenue. We have plenty of money, and the Soldier product line will ensure our economic prosperity for at least a couple more years. This gives us the luxury to do something different."

"Which is what?"

"Reimagining the Living Mech Corporation."

He outlined his plans and some of his visions for the future. Before he left for the Red Ocean, Ves felt obliged to leave his mark on the Komodo Star Sector. This was something he emotionally desired in order to leave this star sector with no regrets!

While Gavin and Calsie didn't understand his motivation, Raymond was older and wiser. His eyes sparkled as he nodded thoughtfully.

"Ves wants to leave a legacy behind." Raymond explained to the two younger Brighters. "Now that the LMC has secured a solid and stable cash flow, Ves is looking to use the LMC to develop himself in other ways, is that right?"

Ves smiled. At least one of them understood his thoughts. "As a mech designer, my personal development is more important than the concerns of the LMC. My company is always meant to serve my purposes, not the other way around. Now that I've regained some shares and own 59 percent of the company, I can do anything I please!"

That was right. Even though Ves would still retain effective control over the company if the Ylvainans hadn't gifted him with some of their shares, he wouldn't be able to act as unscrupulously as now.

Owning 49 percent was a massive difference from owning 59 percent of the LMC! The former forced him to take at least some of his shareholders into consideration. The latter allowed him to run his company as he pleased without anyone able to hinder his moves!

Of course, the reality was not that absolute. If he was determined to run his company to the ground, the local jurisdictions would certainly move to counteract his ruinous actions!

Therefore, as long as his decisions didn't cross a line, Ves had no reason to pay the other stakeholders any mind.

"So what's in store for us, boss? Will you dedicate yourself completely to designing second-class mechs? Who are we even selling our mechs to? The Friday Coalition hates our guts and the Hexadric Hegemony is a notoriously difficult market to enter."

"The former is off the table." Ves immediately answered. "The latter is.. a possible prospect. I'm not sure yet myself. I need to discuss the matter in further detail with Gloriana and.. a partner. For now, there's no reason to be concerned about this issue. I'm confident enough in my mech design abilities that my second-class mechs will find a market somehow."

This was the confidence he gained as a successful mech designer. He possessed an undeniable advantage with his monopoly on spiritual components.

Adding glows to third-class mechs already turned them into valuable machines! Doing the same to second-class mechs would definitely become a sensation!

"What about our third-class mech operations?" Raymond asked. "They are the root of our company. All of our workers and all of our current operations are geared towards the design, production and sale of third-class mechs. Many of them can't be transferred to second-class mech operations."

Mech technicians who were qualified to work on third-class mechs needed to learn all kinds of advanced skills and knowledge to participate in the production of second-class mechs.

Marketing managers who knew the Brighter mech market like the back of their hand would be as blind as a bat if they were tasked with researching the Hegemony's mech market.

The accountants in the employ of the LMC were intimately familiar with the finance-related laws and customs of the Bright Republic and surrounding states, but they would have to start from scratch if they were dumped in a completely foreign state!

And this only accounted for the people who pledged to work for the LMC even as the company left the Bright Republic!

Ves could not abandon them, and he didn't plan to do so! His foundation still lay in third-class mechs, and he never intended to turn his back on them. It was just that his current priorities lay in mastering second-class mechs as fast possible!

He explained this to his confidantes, and they understood his intentions, though they didn't entirely agree.

"Don't worry, guys." He reassured them. "As long as we expand the company's Design Department and add some more design teams, we can maintain several different design projects at once."

Expanding his design teams was his most immediate priority for the LMC! If he wanted his company to expand its mech catalog as fast as possible, Ves urgently needed to address this chronic shortcoming!