The Mech Touch

　　Still, despite the lack of attention and investment from their headquarters, the workers of the local branch looked earnest and professional. They were not glum due to being assigned to a less-than-glamorous posting and showed plenty of motivation to turn their branch into a thriving production facility.

　　That spoke of good management. The branch was well-run and that gave Ves a bit more confidence in it. Perhaps it might not be such a bad idea to sign a limited business deal with these folk.

　　As Ves and his group were making their way out of the production hall, he began to turn his attention to the chief fabricator.

　　"What's your story?" He asked. "I can tell you have a mech design background. What has led you to become a full-time fabricator?"

　　J.R. Denner finally looked a little embarrassed. "I… failed to become a Journeyman by the time I reached my forties. I worked as a dependent mech designer before then until I saved up enough money to start my own business. Even then, designing mechs by myself did not help me achieve the progress I sought. By the time I was in my fifth year, I deeply reflected on myself and wondered whether I was cut out to be a mech designer. My products didn't sell so well and my talent in mech design was not as good as the competition. My mech company kept accumulating debt and it became increasingly harder to maintain its operations. Just when I was about to run out of money, I made the difficult decision to end my dream career. It just wasn't worth it for me to persist any further."

　　Ves fully understood the dilemma that Denner was in. Every graduating mech designer wanted to work hard to become a Journeymen, but few ever got to cross that hurdle despite all of their hard work.

　　"Forty years is still a relatively young age for mech designers." Ves said. "There are successful Journeymen who haven't been able to reach this height until they turned fifty, sixty and so on. Advancing late does not necessarily mean your mech designs are worse."

　　"You don't need to comfort me, patriarch. I have already made peace with my lot. Compared to all of the different priorities that I needed to address as an independent business owner, it is much easier for me to fulfill a single job. As part of Zachren Bilitsa, I don't need to worry about financing, securing material shipments and trying to find buyers for my products. Some people may look down on becoming a cog in a machine, but I find that it is exactly what I want. I should have quit sooner to be honest."

　　That was quite a frank and honest assessment. It took a lot of courage and a willingness to bear humiliation in order to acknowledge this judgment.

　　In truth, Denner probably made the right choice. When Ves briefly swept his spiritual senses at the man, he noticed that the chief fabricator did not possess any spiritual potential.

　　While it was possible for people older than in their twenties to develop spiritual potential, it was exceedingly rare and Ves could point at any obvious example.

　　The only exception was Jessica Quentin, but the MTA pilot was somewhere in her thirties.

　　"The mech industry is a cutthroat business." Ves spoke. "While we don't have to face life-threatening dangers like the pilots we are trying to serve, there is way too much competition and not enough space in the market to accommodate us all. Those who aren't part of the minority who are able to achieve success as an independent entrepreneur are wise to step back before they waste their entire lives on a useless endeavor."

　　Chief Fabricator Denner smiled. "Well, I do not think I have wasted all of that time on pouring over my mech designs. My extensive understanding of mechs allows me to run a production department pretty well compared to my colleagues who don't have as much experience. I can implement many changes to our production processes to make them more efficient or to increase the quality of our output. Out of everyone working in this facility, nobody understands mechs better than myself. I take pride in understanding the mech models that our company produces on a deeper level than anyone else. I might not understand their full depth, but what I do manage to figure out will always reflect back in our output."

　　Whether Denner was exaggerating or not, Ves approved of his approach. The man did not let his defeat weigh him down and earnestly tried to become a better and more capable fabricator.

　　Ves even felt tempted to poach the guy, but he thought better of it. Workers like Denner who were brought over from the Red Ocean were usually locked into long-term contracts. The cost of breaking them was prohibitive and would certainly not endear Zachren Bilitsa to the Larkinson Clan.

　　After a few minutes of talking, Ves and his group finally departed from the manufacturing site.

　　As he began to settle down in his chair, he first turned to Lucky, who had remained quiet and almost invisible throughout all of this time.

　　"Lucky, you took a good look at the manufacturing complex, right? Have you found anything shady or suspicious while we toured the facilities?"

　　"Meow." The gem cat replied as he curled his body on a spare seat.

　　"No secret levels? No smuggling tunnels? No stash of secret weapons? No biomechanical horrors?"

　　"Meow meow meow meow."

　　"Are you sure about that, buddy?"

　　"MEOW."

　　"Okay! I'm not doubting you, Lucky. I just wanted to make sure your answer is thorough enough."

　　"Meow!"

　　Ves smiled as he turned back to Gavin and Shederin. "Well, my cat confirmed that the Zachren Bilitsa production site isn't doing anything shady, at least for now. I didn't get the sense that the people over there are shady either. They are earnest workers who are eager to start production."

　　"The branch director has also conveyed a considerable amount of enthusiasm to cooperate with us." Minister Shederin spoke. "They are not sincere without a reason. Apparently, before Zachren Bilitsa entered the Red Ocean, it entered into an agreement with a Master Mech Designer. The company would have been partly responsible for the production of his mechs, but… the man turned his back on the company and chose to work with a better producer."

　　"Figures. Compared to the companies that make use of lots of superfabs, Zachren Bilitsa is just starting to transform its own production lines. The branch here in Pellysa is probably so far down the totem pole that it might take at least a decade before it receives a superfab."

　　There was also a possibility that the company's headquarters might not bother with renewing the Pellysa branch's production assets, but that was pure speculation.

　　"As you can imagine, Zachren Bilitsa is under a crisis of sorts. The main economic driver that was meant to secure its footing in the Red Ocean has reneged on the company. If Zachren Bilitsa doesn't begin to turn a profit quickly, then it will quickly get crushed under all of its debt obligations."

　　Ves looked impressed. "Did you manage to find that all out from talking to the branch director?"

　　The minister chuckled. "No. I did my own research. I also enlisted the aid of the Black Cats to uncover more information through their own channels. After filling in the gaps, the story of the company becomes quite clear."

　　"If this is the case, then Zachren Bilitsa must be desperate to work with any commercially successful mech designer." Gavin spoke up. "What confuses me is that a company of their size and capabilities should have the capital to work with a Senior Mech Designer. Zachren doesn't have to lower itself to working with Journeymen."

　　"I am certain that they have reached out to more parties than the Larkinson Clan." Shederin said. "Seniors are much more demanding so it will be difficult to gain their cooperation. Even if they do come to an agreement, it might not last forever. If Zachren has learned anything from its previous failure, it is that it should spread its risks by preparing multiple options."

　　"Where do we fall in this plan, then?" Gavin asked.

　　"Investing in the Larkinson Clan might be part of a long-term strategy by betting on future prospects. It does not cost Zachren too much effort or resources to sign a limited business deal with us. From my talks with the director, I infer that the company isn't prepared to go big with us right away. Once the facility we visited becomes fully online, it can produce up to 200 mechs per day. The local branch is only willing to allocate up to 10 percent of that capacity to producing our mechs."

　　Ves frowned. That was quite a disappointment. He had seen how many production lines the local site had prepared and hoped that each of them would be put to use in producing his mechs.

　　From what it sounded like, he should scale back his expectations.

　　He sighed. "Twenty mechs a day is not a big number. Even if Zachren is able to sell them at a handsome profit, the licensing fees we'll earn will only amount to around 0.1 MTA credits per copy or something. To put that into perspective, this kind of deal will earn us enough money to produce half a Bright Warrior a day."

　　The expenses of the clan were much bigger than that! Keeping those capital ships and combat carriers running was not cheap. The LMC's business operation in the old galaxy was much more lucrative despite relying entirely on aging third-class mech designs because millions of them were being sold every month!

　　"It's a start, and that is how we should look at it." Minister Shederin emphasized. "You can consider it a trial of sorts. As long as our first round of cooperation goes well, Zachren may be willing to expand the scope of the second round of cooperation. If sales are high enough, the branch director may even scrap his current plan and ramp up the production of our products."

　　In other words, as long as Zachren Bilitsa was hungry for money, it would always seek to produce the mech models that sell the best.

　　The Larkinson Clan just happened to possess a couple of mech models that should sell well.

　　Gavin turned to Ves. "If you ask me, Zachren Bilitsa is worth cooperating with, at least on a trial basis. I think it is time for us to commercialize one of our second-class mech designs. I'm not talking about the Enlightened Warrior. I think the Ferocious Piranha Mark I Version B is readier than ever for the mech market."

　　It made a lot of sense. The Ferocious Piranha had been around for a while now so Ves did not consider it as valuable as before.

　　There was a problem with this plan, though.

　　"The reason why the Ferocious Piranha Mark I Version C is so popular is because it works great against pirates and other scummy mech pilots." He said. "Against military mech pilots and those who received better training, its glow cannot break them. The best it can do is to distract the mech pilots so that they can't concentrate as well as before. Without a second suppressive glow like the one generated by my upcoming Deceptor Project, the second-class version of my Ferocious Piranha line does not possess an overwhelming advantage in second-class combat."

　　Both Gavin and Shederin frowned. The Ferocious Piranha IB was clearly the most commercially viable mech design in the Larkinson Clan's catalog, but if its effectiveness wasn't as high as the Ferocious Piranha IC, then there might be real doubts on how eager the mech market was willing to embrace this new and different product.

　　There was also another problem with regards to commercializing the Ferocious Piranha in the Red Ocean.

　　"The Ferocious Piranha is an old galaxy design." Ves reminded them. "It can't be produced with materials that are common in the Red Ocean. Our Design Department must spend at least several weeks to convert its design so that it can be mass produced in Pellysa without issue. This is a serious investment that I am not eager to make."