The Mech Touch

　　"So you allow a tailor to sculpt the walls of your store?" Gloriana asked in confusion.

　　"Why not? This is one of the ways we convey our mastery of our crafts. Each artisan we house in our store and workshop combinations will leave a mark of themselves out in front. This way, every guest and customer can judge the competence of our craftsmen."

　　Ves took a look at the other sections of the storefront. He noticed that it was divided up into dozens of squares, each of which had been handworked by a different Barach artisan.

　　The appearance of these personalized wall sculptures varied quite a bit. Some of them were extremely steady and steeped with tradition. Others looked playful and experimental. Each of them were intimate reflections of their creators.

　　While the differences in style all looked haphazard at first, the Barach craftsmen all possessed the same fundamentals. This gave them enough common ground to make their works flow into each other.

　　While the facade was still unfinished, Ves could already extrapolate the grand design in this subtle but masterful storefront. The way it blended in the different styles of many different Barach artisans was truly sublime and resonated to him in a way that he had rarely felt with other people's works.

　　Even Cefigo Maran Barach stood out from other ordinary craftsmen by making a good effort into pouring his heart and soul into his wall sculpture. Ves was particularly sensitive towards this and he was impressed by how much passion Cefigo directed towards his art.

　　It was a shame that none of the Barach craftsmen were able to make their works come to life. This would always be a shortcoming to Ves. Unless they were masterworks, most products made by others probably wouldn't earn that much appreciation from him. He might not possess any of their refined techniques, but his ability to make objects alive was unsurpassed.

　　That did not mean that Ves looked down on the Barach artisans. Their work was heavily grounded in tradition. They were much better in everything else and their artistic visions already gave Ves a bit of inspiration on how to shape his own upcoming mech designs.

　　"How many artisans do you have in your house?"

　　"We currently employ over 100 artisans, of which 7 are master artisans, 6 are senior artisans and 23 are journeymen just like Cefigo. Each of them are trained in-house to make sure that they are able to continue the traditional arts that our house has excelled at since we initially rose up in the city of Karmatander from the Yarman Republic."

　　"The Yarman Republic?" Gloriana asked. "The first-rate state that is home to many fashion brands?"

　　"Correct. Our house may have departed from the Yarman Republic over two centuries ago, but we still keep many of our traditional crafts alive. Our current artisans are just as skilled as their predecessors. We merely had to adapt to different materials, equipment and taste."

　　"I see. It must have taken a lot of effort for the House of Barach to enter the Red Ocean. What do you plan to do here?"

　　"What else?" The saleswoman smiled. "We will continue to prolong our tradition while servicing as many customers as possible. As long as there are people, there is always demand for tasteful decadence. While many consumers may be satisfied with the products made by our larger competitors, these big companies are hardly able to provide any personal attention to their individual customers. We are different. No two Barach products are the same. Even our standard products are slightly different from each other depending on the mood, the season and other factors influencing our artisans."

　　"So consistency is not a priority." Ves remarked.

　　"The cosmos would be a much more dreary place if every type of product were perfect replicas of each other. One of our other slogans is 'choose your artisan, not your product'. The true Barach shopping experience begins with a talk with our artisans to discuss your personal style, preferences, needs and desires. Only after an extensive exploration session will we begin to craft our handmade articles for you. This ensures that you will gain the best possible satisfaction from our efforts. The other designer houses may have forgone this approach in order to achieve greater scale and revenue, but the House of Barach has always stayed true to its tradition."

　　Both Ves and Gloriana became more appreciative of this fashion house. Their principles and commitment to sticking to authentic tradition was admirable.

　　Barach's personalized approach shared a lot in common with Gloriana's own approach to mech design. The biggest difference was that Gloriana was not steeped in tradition. She built up her own methods and theoretical framework by herself. She did not have the privilege of turning to an older and more capable mech designer for assistance.

　　This also made Gloriana a lot more flexible and adaptable in her work. She did not have to respect ancient and sub-optimal solutions that were utilized by her ancestors. Innovation and constant improvement was at the center of her approach.

　　This also caused Gloriana to quickly lose interest in the Barachs. As far as she was concerned, all of those inheritors who continued to employ the same methods as their great-great-great-great-great-great grandmas were continuing to stick to outdated and inferior crafting techniques because they didn't value their own innovations as much!

　　People like that never succeeded in the mech industry. Mech designers could never stand out by coasting on the success of their predecessors.

　　"Ves, let's leave these Barachs to their work."

　　Gloriana lightly tried to pull Ves away. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing for them to buy here. She never heard of the House of Barach, which meant it certainly wasn't a famous brand. That severely diminished her interest in this small fashion house.

　　The Barachs clearly weren't ready to entertain any customers today, so Ves saw no reason to stay either.

　　As he took one last look at Cefigo Maran Barach, Ves became affected by a strange impulse.

　　For some reason, Vulcan developed an interest in the journeyman tailor. All of the stuff related to craftsmanship had drawn the attention of his incarnation.

　　Now, the design spirit made a strange request.

　　Though Ves seriously doubted the wisdom of fulfilling Vulcan's desire, a part of him felt it might be fun to create a little mischief.

　　He shoved aside all doubts and flew up to the surprise of his wife and anyone else. He closed the distance to Cefigo who still hadn't taken notice of anything except his own work.

　　Ves did not want to break the man's concentration. In fact, it was the opposite. He wanted to give the artisan an additional boost!

　　His arm reached to his toolbelt in order to pull out the Hammer of Brilliance. The large tool glowed a little brighter now that Vulcan was paying close attention to this site.

　　Before anyone could stop him, Ves carefully but briskly swung his hammer forward until its flat end tapped Cefigo's head!

　　"Sir! Please do not disturb our artisan!"

　　Though Cefigo had momentarily interrupted his work, his eyes grew a lot more intense as a powerful influence descended into his mind and connected many different threads that previously posed a lot of problems.

　　The craftsman chiseled at the wall with double the passion and enthusiasm as before!

　　In addition, he no longer continued with his original plan but came up with a substantially different one that reflected his new ideas!

　　Ves didn't stick around to see what he and Vulcan had wrought. Gloriana was annoyed at her husband's antics and finally managed to drag him away from the incomplete storefront.

　　"Really, Ves. Why did you do that? There is no reason for you to hit that man with your hammer!"

　　He shrugged. "Well, it's not as if I'm using the hammer for anything else. I don't mind giving that guy a favor. I appreciate all forms of craftsmanship especially when it comes from the heart."

　　Gloriana narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Ves. "Is this your idea of recruiting the House of Barach?"

　　"Oh, no. These guys are clearly proud of their own heritage. If they haven't joined any other organizations, they won't change their mind anytime soon."

　　The two kept talking until they reached a park. The couple sat down at a lovely bench and directed their attention to their daughter.

　　Ves took Aurelia in his arms and cooed at his lively little girl.

　　"Wuuughaaa.. Guuoo… bbuuuuwwuuu…"

　　"When do you think she's ready to call me papa?" Ves casually asked as he kept encouraging Aurelia to make more noises.

　　"It's hard to tell when it comes to both regular babies and designer babies." Gloriana replied. "The experts from Witshaw & Seneca predict that Aurelia will be ready to say mama in two months. Personally, I think it will take sooner than that. She's smarter than any other baby!"

　　Ves wasn't sure about that, but he guessed that all of the effort he put in augmenting her spirituality likely boosted her mental development!

　　Clixie jumped onto the bench and sniffed towards Aurelia.

　　"Miaow~"

　　The furry cat gently reached out to Aurelia. The baby giggled as she tried and failed to grab Clixie's paw.

　　Ves felt warm as he enjoyed this calm and blissful moment. His life became a lot brighter now that he had become a parent.

　　"I love you, Aurelia."

　　"Gwaaaa… bubuwaogaawwaa…"

　　The baby continued to play with Clixie without showing any awareness of what he said.

　　While Ves stared lovingly at his baby, Gloriana finished fiddling with her personal items. She put her stuff back in her Hoenbach handbag and grabbed Aurelia's body out of Ves' grasp.

　　"It's getting darker and colder. We should wrap our tour and retire." Gloriana said.

　　"Let's take a look at the local mech industries." Ves decided. "I want to look at our competitors and see how they are faring on this planet."

　　The nearest industrial district was far away from this upscale shopping street. The group had to board a shuttle in order to cross many kilometers in a short amount of time.

　　When the couple finally stepped out, they looked around and spotted many different factories and manufacturing complexes.

　　The flow of transports and other traffic indicated that the local businesses were all doing well for themselves.

　　Ves quickly figured out which factories were the biggest and which ones generated the most traffic.

　　"The demand for mechs, refined materials and construction equipment is high. Every company that engages in one of these sectors is probably earning a lot of revenue. It will be difficult to replicate their success. Each of these companies are well-connected if they are able to procure so much raw materials."

　　Ves actually felt jealous at the local producers. Though the Larkinson Clan managed to close a number deals with suppliers back in Vulit, the agreements were relatively limited in scope.

　　If he wanted to produce a lot of Enlightened Warriors, he needed to approach a new supplier.

　　How could he possibly do that, though?

　　He needed to discuss this problem with Shederin before he could decide on how to proceed forward. He was tired of being limited by this issue. It would be best if his clan was able to cooperate with one of the larger and more influential wholesalers based in the Red Ocean.

　　"The demand for materials is too high at the moment, but we have no choice. Without materials, we can't produce anything. If we can't produce anything, we won't be able to grow stronger!"