The Mech Touch

"What are you thinking about?"

"...Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Creating a new spirit stuff."

Breakfast time was a fixed ritual for the couple. There were days when Ves and Gloriana hardly spent time with each other due to their diverging issues.

Though Ves wanted to get back to practicing his true profession and make a good start on the new design round, he still had a few major chores left to deal with. His upcoming creation session was probably the most important event of this week, even surpassing the effort required to rope in the Aduc Family into his network.

"Hihihi! Papa! I wanna see!" Their daughter giggled as Gloriana tried to feed her with a high-density nutrient solution.

"You're too young for that, little lady. Let your father work in peace."

"No! I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Miaow!"

Even Clixie expressed her support for Aurelia's impulsive demand.

Ves looked uncertain as he weighed this decision. There was no point in bringing a normal kid who was just over a year old to work, but their daughter was different.

Her mental development was absolutely staggering even when compared to other designer babies. He felt that bringing her along a trip where she could witness her father create one of his grandest works might be helpful in expanding her vision during her most formative years of her life.

Another reason why he thought it might be good to bring her along was because he wanted to earn back his prestige in front of his daughter!

Aurelia had spent so much time with her mother that she probably learned a lot of nonsensical lessons and beliefs.

If he knew his wife well enough, then he was certain that Gloriana had spent plenty of time putting herself on top of Ves!

This clearly couldn't go on for too long. If Ves wanted to make sure that his baby daughter still respected him, he needed to perform an act that was so impressive that no amount of tales and exaggerations could sway Aurelia from holding a high opinion of her daddy!

"You don't need to babysit Aurelia this time. I'll bring her along and take care of her." Ves decided.

"Are you serious, Ves?" She frowned in concern. "You're about to head into the heart of a ship that belongs to a family that you just blackmailed into partnering with us. The Aducs must still be harboring hard feelings towards our clan. You'll put our daughter under great risk by bringing her into their den!"

"Your understanding of the relations between our clan and the Aduc Family is too shallow. The Aducs won't do anything to us. They need us to heal the Old Lady and they won't do that by pulling any shenanigans."

"What about after that, Ves? Once you are done with reviving their tree spirit, they are not beholden to us anymore."

"It's not as easy to ditch us as you think." Ves grinned. "First, I am sure that most of the Aducs will be so enthused about the powerful ancestral spirit that I've created that they won't even remember their hard feelings anymore. Second, the new spirit is of my own design. Although I can't go too far with this, who can stop me from programming a positive disposition towards our clan into my new spiritual product? Just the fact that I am her creator is enough to ensure that relations between our two organizations will always be cordial at worst. In short, as long as my new creation thinks favorably of me, the Aduc Family has no choice but to abide by her inclinations."

This was one of the reasons why he was so eager to make this move. Although Ves had to invest substantial spiritual ingredients to create the strong nature spirit that he desired to breathe into life, it was worth it as long as he secured the long-lasting loyalty of a family that possessed a couple of remarkable advantages!

Though his arguments did not manage to sway Gloriana's mind entirely, Aurelia kept insisting on going along this time!

"I wanna go with papa! I wanna goooooo!"

"Aurelia! Don't think you can get what you want by whining to me. No means no. I will not allow you to go with your excited father and risk getting caught up in an accident." Gloriana admonished.

Aurelia's eyes began to tear up. She soon started to cry when Gloriana remained unsympathetic!

"Whaaaaaaaaa!"

The mood in the dining room dropped from the moment Aurelia began to wail like a siren! Though Gloriana tried her best to maintain a firm stance, Ves couldn't stand the sight!

"Don't be so mean to our daughter, Gloriana! Let her come along! It'll be fine! I'll even bring along Venerable Joshua and the Everchanger for added protection!"

"Miaow miaow miaow!"

Clixie grew distressed as well as her favorite companion cried. The cat circled around before lifting her front paws in order to make a begging motion. It seems as if even she wanted Gloriana to relent!

Faced with all of this pressure, Gloriana reluctantly bowed to the current circumstances.

"Fine. Have it your way then. You can take our baby along, but I'm sending the nanny that I've hired along with her! Just promise me that you won't allow her to get too close to whatever it is you're doing and that she is accompanied by plenty of guards, do you understand?"

"Hey, I'm a professional when it comes to security. My daughter will enjoy the highest degree of protection."

Though his wife directed a skeptical glance towards him, it didn't matter. She had already relented.

Aurelia already stopped crying once she realized that as well. Soon enough, she was back to smiling and giggling as she finished the remainder of her specially-formulated meal.

An hour later, Ves led his expanded entourage to his shuttle.

Before he entered the vehicle, he stopped for a moment and regarded it with a critical eye. He never paid too much attention to the vehicles utilized by his clan, and for a long time he didn't think there was anything wrong with that. Shuttles were purely functional assets that were constantly used to haul people and goods between different destinations.

The armored shuttle that was reserved for his own transportation was a beefed up model that sold for a generous amount of money at the time.

The Larkinsons did not settle for its stock configuration once it came into the clan's possession. The vehicle had undergone multiple rounds of upgrades in order to beef up its armor, install a shield generator, enhance its crash protection and other additions.

Even so, the base of the shuttle was far too shabby in his eyes. There were plenty of heartland-level shuttles on the market that offered superior performance, though admittedly at much higher prices.

"Not that price is any object to me these days." He muttered.

In one of his earlier adventures, he came across centuries-old CFA shuttles that were already FTL capable. Though he couldn't figure out whether the miniaturized FTL drives of these incredibly advanced vehicles relied on phasewater back then, their existence showed that he could do a lot better these days!

"We still retain a huge stash of phasewater. There is no excuse for me to get a new shuttle. Maybe I should design it myself."

He had no time to spare on an extra design project for the time being, but perhaps he could tackle it after he completed the current design round.

As Ves and his entourage settled into their seats, the familiar shuttle smoothly lifted off and transited towards the Aduc fleet under escort.

The Everchanger was a notable addition this time. Ves had already intended to bring Joshua and his expert mech along from the start.

The new spirit he had in mind not only had a strong connection to life, but would also become a potential new battle partner for his favorite expert pilot.

He felt it was best if Joshua and whatever the Old Lady turned into familiarize themselves with each other in advance.

This way, even if Ves had yet to design any mech based on his new spiritual product, Joshua would already be able to channel her glow through the Everchanger!

He was curious to learn what sort of influence his upcoming creation could exert through its glow. He made a lot of guesses, but he wasn't familiar enough with wood and earth-attributed spiritual energy to know for certain what effects they brought.

All Ves cared about was getting access to new possibilities. As long as he was able to enrich his collection with new and useful additions, he would have access to a greater variety of building blocks in the future!

"Papa hug!"

His daughter pulled him out of his reverie by climbing on his lap and calling for his attention.

Ves smiled indulgently at his little girl and gently returned the hug. As they basked in each other's warmth, he showered her with attention for a few minutes before he glanced towards one of the most recent additions to the Larkinson Clan.

An older woman had always been standing by the side. The way she stood at attention like Clixie suggested that the two had adopted similar roles.

That wasn't far from the truth. In the time Ves spent his time on dealing with the Aduc Family, Gloriana had taken the initiative to hire a more competent nanny from Davute!

"You are Mrs. Shannon Maris, correct?"

"That is correct, sir."

"What are your responsibilities, exactly?"

"I have recently been brought into your clan to serve as the chief caretaker for Aurelia and possibly your other children. In addition, I can protect her and carry her away from any danger zones if any outbreaks of violence have occurred. Lastly, I can also serve as her etiquette teacher."

"That is quite a varied skillset."

"I used to serve in a special forces branch of my former home state in the galactic heartland." Shannon stated in a factual but slightly proud tone of voice. "I retired from the service in my forties and took up employment at a large security company. It was there that I trained in the care and protection of VIPs, most specifically younger children such as your daughter."

Ves examined the woman a bit closer. Shannon Marie-Larkinson wore a typical Larkinson uniform with the addition of a toolbelt. Her short, auburn hair along with her matronly appearance did not give out the vibe that she used to be an elite soldier, but looks could be deceiving. He was certain that she benefited from a lot of combat-oriented augments!

"Can you fight when the situation calls for it, Mrs. Shannon?"

"I can." The chief nanny nodded and gestured to one of the armored honor guards. "Aurelia's guards will always carry around a spare case of folded combat armor in the event it is needed. They carry a smaller armored suit for your daughter as well."

He quizzed Shannon a bit more and generally felt satisfied with Gloriana's choice. Though he would have preferred to rely on a trueblood Larkinson to guide and protect his daughter, a heartlander like the new hire was much more competent and skilled in every aspect.

A good nanny and caretaker could easily keep Aurelia occupied in the times when her parents were too preoccupied with their responsibilities to play with their daughter.

Shannon's military background and training was also a nice bonus, though not entirely necessary. Aurelia already enjoyed the protection of her own exclusive bodyguard detail. At most, the new nanny wouldn't get in the way of the guards.

"Sir, we are approaching the Green Dream. We are scheduled to land in her hangar bay in three minutes."

"Understood. Proceed with the landing. Did the Aducs relay any special instructions regarding the Everchanger?"

"Not for the time being. Our hosts have already informed us that the Everchanger can proceed to the Green Sanctum from the hangar bay."

"That is good to hear."

Ves wasn't sure whether he wanted to involve Joshua and the Everchanger for his next creation job, but it was nice to have them around in case he ended up needing their services.