The Mech Touch

Repression, tradition and overwhelming support from the top only carried a state religion so far. Despite its messy origin and flawed construction, the Vulcan Faith had everything it needed to remain the undisputed belief in the Vulcan Empire.

There was only one issue.

The god it is centered around looked like a normal human.

This was a discordant element that conflicted with the strong anti-human bias of the militant dwarves. This little detail was so out of lockstep with the Vulcan Empire's culture that it had always led to a lot of questions even among the citizens who never heard about the Dwarven God Cult.

Now that this alternative vision of Vulcan spread throughout the entire dwarven state, many average dwarves now had a better at their disposal.

Despite the opposition from the established power structure of the large and expansive empire, most dwarves would rather believe that Vulcan was a fellow dwarf even if everyone important claimed that this was factually wrong!

Shederin took a few minutes to describe the gradual spread and rise in support for the Dwarven God Cult. The Vulcan Empire was a relatively young state. Its institutions were still weak and the state was too big to be governed by a centralized administration.

"The majority of dwarves that rule the various provinces, star systems and planets of the Vulcan Empire consist of influences who emigrated from other star sectors. They rallied to the inspirational summons of the original Dwarven Justice Movement and provided crucial help to them by lending their strength, manpower and wealth to the rebellion. Once the dwarves succeeded in displacing the original human rulers, these powerful supporters were rewarded with fiefs. Due to their different backgrounds, their policies and customs differ greatly from each other. There are certain locales where the local rulers provide maximum support to the Vulcan Faith. There are other jurisdictions where the rulers are more lax, thereby allowing the Dwarven God Cult to flourish under their noses."

"I see." Ves seriously nodded. "I guess now the cult has even managed to gain footholds in the provinces that were previously difficult for it to enter. Has there been any sign that its momentum is being stalled?"

"No. As far as my sources are concerned, it is only a matter of time before the Dwarven God Cult overthrows the Vulcan Faith. The latter is putting up a lot of resistance but their strength is declining by the day. It is bleeding more supporters and believers as the rival cult continues to charm more dwarves into believing that Vulcan is 100 percent dwarf."

Ves twitched his mouth at that. "It's kind of sad that people find it difficult to accept inconvenient truths. The acceptance of facts should not be dependent on how likable they are. If the Vulcanites still view Vulcan as human, then perhaps this will continue to restrain their hatred against other humans. If they become convinced that their god and protector is actually a dwarf, then who knows how far they will take their hatred against the tall folk."

Minister Shederin sighed. "This is indeed a persistent concern among many people. The Empire of the Lost and other states do not welcome this rising trend. It is a pity that there is little they can do to stall it. If you want to enter the Vulcan Empire, then we must plan our route carefully. As long as we travel past the territories and star systems that are more aligned to the central authority and the Vulcan Faith, it is unlikely that the local forces will pose a threat against us. The same can't be said if we recklessly enter a star system where the Dwarven God Cult has already gained ascendancy."

Ves could easily imagine what could go wrong if his fleet entered the wrong turf. Though every Vulcanite hated humans, the cultists hated the tall folk to a greater degree!

He felt fortunate that he hadn't arrived at this junction later on. If he arrived a couple of years later, the Dwarven God Cult might have already overthrown the Vulcan Faith and stoked everyone's hatred against the tall folk to a much greater extent!

"What are the risks of traveling through the regions that are controlled by the saner group of dwarves?"

"It should be fairly low. The dominant faction in the Vulcan Empire is still biased against humans. However, the reality of becoming responsible for a huge population of dwarves while making sure the MTA continues to guarantee the Vulcan Empire's independence has caused the dwarven rulers to adopt a more pragmatic stance towards dealing with humans. They won't easily mess with humans and are more than willing to ignore any human visitors that pass through their territories as long as the visits are sanctioned by the Association. They are realistic enough to be aware that displeasing their current protector is bad for the continuation of their state."

"So they are sane dwarves." Ves remarked.

"That depends on your definition of sanity. The higher officials of the empire may be sufficiently far-sighted to restrain themselves, but the same can not be said for the lower ranks. It is best if we keep our distance to every dwarf just to be safe."

"I see. What kind of route do you suggest we take?"

"That depends on your destination. Which planet or star system

Ves waved his hand, calling up a map of the Smiling Samuel Star Sector. He zoomed in several times as he navigated towards a specific star system located within the borders of the former Paramount Kingdom.

"Here." He pointed at the specific star system that matched his memories. "We need to head to the Trion Enze Star System."

"Hmmm." Shederin briefly contemplated as he observed Ves' choice. "It shouldn't be a problem to find a safe route to this rather unremarkable star system. It would have been more challenging if you attempted to enter a more important location such as the legendary Desala System that has turned into a holy site. The only noteworthy aspect about Trion Enze is that it is located in the boundaries of the Paramount Province."

"The former Paramount Kingdom?"

"Just so. Despite its enormous historical and religious significance, the Paramount Province is still located in a resource-poor space region. Even the Vulcan Empire has not attempted to uplift it into a second-class province."

The Vulcan Empire encompassed so much of Smiling Samuel that it covered more than regions that were traditionally associated with second-rate states. There were many former third-rate states in its domain that did not offer a lot of value to the empire's economy.

Since the central administration was unwilling to subsidize the dwarves who lived in these impoverished regions, the hillbilly dwarves who willingly or unwillingly settled in these places enjoyed much lower living standards than many others of their kind. The upside of that was that the central authorities rarely meddled with what went on in these poorer provinces.

Over time, dwarves who incurred massive debts, lost in political struggles or just wanted to enjoy some peace and quiet settled in the poorer provinces and lived there in peace.

Traffic went in the other direction as well. Particularly talented or successful dwarves always found a way to move to one of the richer regions of the Vulcan Empire such as the Uriburn Province which housed the capital planet.

When Shederin finished plotting out a basic route, Ves saw that it would take a bit more than a month to get in and another month to get out. Of course, this was subject to change as the navigators and the Black Cats needed to determine the most safe and efficient route based on many more factors that Shederin might have overlooked.

Now that Ves had a better idea of what the Vulcan Empire was like, he was ready to conclude this meeting. Before he left, he asked one more question.

"What do you think about our trip?"

"I agree with the others that this is an ill-advised venture. I don't believe that anyone in the clan is enthused about entering a star sector that is dominated by xenophobic dwarves. You are straining your authority by insisting on bringing us all into the Vulcan Empire without telling us the reason why you must visit the Trion Enze System in person."

What could Ves say to this? Not much. Any secret related to the System, his last Mastery experience and Timpala Steel had to remain as confidential as possible. He was not willing to share any hint of them to anyone, not even his inner circle.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Minister Shederin, but I'm afraid that is one of the matters that I shall have to keep for myself. Know that there is a good reason for this decision. I think you're smart enough to know that there is more going on than what is visible on the surface. Even I have to dance to someone else's tune every once in a while."

Shederin wisely did not pursue this matter any further. Considering how often Ves interacted with Master Willix, the foreign affairs minister probably suspected that it had something to do with the MTA.

Ves was happy to maintain this misunderstanding. Now that he thought about it, as long as the MTA didn't say anything, he could use it as a scapegoat for more unexplainable matters. The mechers were so powerful that it was easy to pretend that they were responsible for every good or bad event.

After half an hour, Ves exited the Golden Palace with Lucky in tow. He and his cat looked out at the bustling center district of Dawn City and enjoyed the view for a couple of minutes.

"Back when I lived in the Bright Republic, I would have never been able to imagine that I could reach this point." He said in a voice tinged with sentiment. "This entire city is mine. The enormous capital ship is also mine. In fact, I have an entire armada of ships and mechs at my disposal!"

This was a huge amount of power and one that could easily allow him to throw his weight around in the galactic rim.

His ambitions were much greater, though. He wasn't content with staying as a second-rater forever. The Red Ocean was closer than ever. As long as he finished this little chore and reached the next star cluster, he could finally start a new chapter in his life!

"I'm so close!"

He spent a few more hours touring through Dawn City. During the past few months, a lot of enterprising Larkinsons had already turned this formerly-empty shell into a bustling commercial and residential paradise. While an Ark Ship was able to offer more space and more luxurious accommodations to an even greater population, the Vivacious Wal came quite close.

The only issue that prevented the ship from reaching her full potential was that the Larkinson Clan wasn't accepting any visitors at the moment. The two sides of the Vivacious Wal would have become a lot more lively if they began to entertain lots of foreign tourists.

For now, there was no compelling reason to open her up for tourism. Letting any foreigner inside was a huge security risk and the clan was not capable of maintaining a sufficient degree of security at this time.

"We need to bolster our infantry forces first."

Once he had his fill of the bright and cheerful city, he headed back to his shuttle and transited back to the Spirit of Bentheim.

He still had a lot of work to do. Aside from supervising the preparations for the ritual surrounding the upcoming fabrication of the Decapitator Project, he also had to make sure the remaining two expert mech design projects remained on track.

Though Ves hadn't spent too much time on the Chimera Project and the Bulwark Project lately, they were still vital to the defense of the clan.

"It's too bad they're nowhere close to completion. By the time they are finalized, I would have already concluded my visit to the Vulcan Empire."

Oh well. Having four expert mechs was already enough.