The Mech Touch

After meeting the Larkinson expert candidates, Ves continued to check up on various people.

His orbit had grown so much that he needed to keep tabs on dozens of different people and initiatives.

He had to settle the issue of Silent William. He had to do something with the pirate designers captured by the Battle Criers. He needed to find some way of making Davia Stark move forward from her devastating trauma.

All of these issues required his personal attention due to their sensitive nature. He could not delegate these matters to anyone.

With so many issues on his plate, Ves had no choice but to address them one by one and hoped that nothing burned down in the meantime.

At the same time, he not only had to prepare some new design projects, but also guide the Larkinson Clan as it started to settle all of the questions that emerged as a result of its founding.

Where should the clan reside?

What assets must the clan procure?

What must the clan be working towards?

All of these questions needed to be answered one way or another. Ves involved himself at the start, but soon pulled back once he determined that the clan was on the right track.

The Ylvaine Protectorate might be hosting the Larkinson Clan as well as the headquarters of the Living Mech Corporation, but Ves did not intend to settle down in the state on a permanent basis.

"I think we are in a consensus that we shouldn't increase our entanglement with the Protectorate." Ves explained to the two Larkinsons who attended this meeting. "The Ylvainans have been nice to us, but that does not oblige us to convert to their faith."

He tapped his finger against the embellished surface of the Larkinson Mandate resting on his desk.

Lucky meanwhile curiously tapped the spine of the book with his paw. Ves already forbid his pet from taking a bite out of the book, though it didn't seem necessary.

His pet was actually playing with the Golden Cat. Both of them possessed a fairly substantial bond, and Lucky seemed to be able to sense and interact with the newborn spiritual product!

Was it because they were cats? Whatever the case, Ves was glad that the Golden Cat had someone to spend her time with. Due to the nature of her existence, she was only able to reside within the book. Her only outside interaction aside from observing her immediate surroundings was to explore one of the many spiritual bonds she formed with the members of the Larkinson Clan.

Ves could tell that the Golden Cat was rapidly absorbing quite a lot of information from those bonds. It wouldn't take too much time for the Golden Cat to mature, at least from a mental aspect.

"We've been thinking about buying an ark ship or some other vessel that can house our clan in space." Ovrin Larkinson mentioned. "We'd like to hear your opinion before we explore this proposal any further.

As Benjamin Larkinson's brother and an esteemed elder in his own right, Ovrin was one of the more prestigious elders to join the clan. It didn't take much time for the newly-created Larkinson Assembly to vote Ovrin to the position of speaker.

This essentially made Ovrin the head of the Assembly, and one of the main people Ves needed to call upon if he wanted the Assembly to do something!

It came as a surprise to many that Ovrin decided to leave his comfy retirement and join the clan. Ves half-suspected that his grandfather dispatched Ovrin to the clan in order to keep tabs on its development or guide its evolution in a certain direction!

Even if one of these possibilities were the case, Ves did not mind them. Ulterior motives couldn't be avoided, and Ves believed that everyone's commitment to the Larkinson Clan was strong enough for them to do what was right.

If that didn't turn out to be the case, well.. Ves could always exercise his power as clan patriarch and remove Ovrin from his position as assembly speaker.

"I believe we should wait before procuring any massive ships." Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson spoke. "We number only a couple of clan members for the moment. A single medium-sized passenger vessel is large enough to accommodate us for the moment, though such a ship won't provide us with the facilities we require to develop ourselves."

Ever since his grandson Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson joined the clan, the COO of the LMC had become a lot more energetic. Raymond fully believed in the ventures that Ves and the clan had started.

If Tusa remained committed to the Bright Republic, then the most he could look forward to was to several decades of service. With the uncertainties surrounding both the Sand War and the Komodo War, there were very serious questions whether Tusa was fighting for the right cause.

Instead of sacrificing his talents for a state that never treated the Larkinsons too well, Tusa was much better served by joining the clan, which would definitely invest in his development!

In fact, the Billingsley-Larkinsons were doing extremely well in the clan right now. Due to his important position within the LMC, the eldest of this family branch also became a part of the Larkinson Executive Council!

Though Ves questioned whether Raymond had enough time to run both the LMC and the Larkinson Clan, for the moment the latter didn't actually require that much attention once it got up and running.

There was only so much work to do to govern a clan of several hundred Larkinsons. Perhaps Raymond would be forced to relinquish his council seat if the clan grew by an order of magnitude.

Of course, Raymond was already at an advanced age and growing older every year. This was the main reason why Ves did not mind the concentration of power. He had nothing to fear from someone who would die anyone in a decade or two. No matter what achievements Raymond managed to make, it was out of the question for him to receive life-prolonging treatment.

The best he could do was to pave the way for the rise of his grandson and the rest of his family branch.

"The starship market is too turbulent." Ves noted. "Prices are vastly inflated due to the huge and persistent damage of large-capacity passenger and shipping vessels. Supply has also dropped to a various precarious level as the sandmen have destroyed many ship-producing states and forced everyone else to reserve the remainder of the production to themselves."

In other words, this was the worst time to buy a starship, particularly a subcapital ark ship meant to provide a complete long-term spaceborn living environment for humans.

They were already incredibly expensive due to all of the amenities and protection they offered to their permanent occupants. With prices ballooning by as much as 500 percent, Ves would have to be crazy to order such a vessel at this time!

"Then where does that leave us?" Ovrin asked.

"Raymond is right. We have enough ships to migrate elsewhere if necessary. We can even live on them on an extended basis if we truly don't have another choice. I hope it won't come to that, though. I'm open to procuring an ark ship to provide our clan with a permanent base, but the vessel has to be good enough to take part in a possible expedition to the Red Ocean."

"That.. is even more expensive and difficult to obtain." Raymond frowned. "Second-class ark ships are even more extravagant than the ones that used to be sold in this region. Even with our current finances, we can only fund a small portion of the total cost! This doesn't even go into all of the ships and mechs we have to procure as well in order to protect such a valuable prize. If we parade a fancy ark ship without protection, I'm sure that every pirate gang in the star sector will be climbing over each other to steal her from our hands!"

These were all very grave concerns that only Ves could solve. He pressed one hand against his forehand while keeping his other hand on the reassuring warmth of the Larkinson Mandate.

Touching the book always made him feel less stressed and more reassured with all of the responsibilities he assumed as clan patriarch. The Golden Cat herself trusted Ves with every fiber of her being, which wasn't a surprise since most of her spiritual energy originated from his Spirituality!

Both Ves and Gloriana sacrificed much to create her. While Ves managed to mitigate the cost by exhausting his reserves of excess spiritual energy, his girlfriend was not as well. She had to regenerate her spent spiritual energy the old fashioned way.

Fortunately, she could double her recovery speed by holding frequent prayer sessions. Ves expected her to recover in a month or even more.

"Let's leave aside the issue of ship procurement for next year or later." Ves declared. "The local situation will change drastically by then, so it's no use speculating what we should do so early."

"Makes sense."

"Agreed."

They moved on to discussing another contentious topic.

"A new.. issue has cropped up." Ovrin said. "Our hosts have become increasingly more persistent in joining us or integrating our clan."

Raymond sighed. "The LMC is facing the same issue. The Ylvainans are practically trying to tear down our doors in order to apply to work for our company! I've been suppressing the intake so that only the most essential positions are being filled. However, the addition of so many Ylvainans to the company is already altering the atmosphere."

"This is something unavoidable. I never intended the LMC to be a Brighter firm." Ves explained. "That doesn't mean I want the LMC to become an Ylvainan company, though. I would like it to be more adaptable and diverse. It has to be able to operate in many different settings and states. Otherwise, how can we possibly navigate the sheer diversity we will encounter when we reach the Red ocean?"

Ves envisioned the Red Ocean as a true melting pot of human civilization! The brightest and most ambitious galactic pioneers from all parts of the Milky Way would definitely converge on the dwarf galaxy, and Ves did not wish to be found wanting!

"I understand." Raymond nodded. "I'll make sure that the LMC maintains a conservative recruitment policy that aims to increase diversity instead of the opposite. I'll try and see if we can recruit talents from other states aside from the Protectorate. This will be fairly difficult due to the Sand War raging in the background, but we'll manage somehow."

"What about the clan, Ves? Our numbers are rather low, especially in comparison to the old family. It will take several generations and lots of encouragement for us to grow our numbers to a healthy level. This might be too long considering the speed in which you want to move"

"The Larkinson Clan must primarily be based around our bloodline." Ves pronounced. "I'm not very open to the practice of adopting talents and capable outsiders like other clans. It's more important to maintain cohesion among our clan members than to dilute it by throwing too many outsiders in our midst. I don't want our Larkinson name to become an empty label. It has to mean something, and the best way to ensure that is to ensure that every member of our clan is exceptional!"

Keeping this door closed would hamper the development of the clan in the short term, but lead to a much more stable foundation in the future.

Many of the decisions he made so far would not bear fruit until decades or even centuries later! With his expected lifespan, Ves could afford to take his time and make sure his decisions led to the best possible outcome in the future!

"We still need a lot of manpower to manage our various affairs." Ovrin pressed. "We aren't the Larkinson Family anymore, which is content with retaining its existing status and benefits in an existing state. We are essentially forming our own sovereign group, which means we need to take care of many matters we've ordinarily taken for granted. Hiring regular employees from the local states won't cut it. For some important positions, we need a much greater commitment from our new hires."

"I take it you have a suggestion for that, speaker."

"Let's take a page out of the Larkinson Family's book and reintroduce the practice of hiring retainers!"

Ves looked intrigued at this suggestion.