The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1019

Ves had mixed feelings about the lesson he received from Lord Javier. It basically boiled down to keeping his spine whenever he met someone of a superior class. He not only needed to remember his confidence in himself, but express it in a way that allowed him to gain the respect of others but not to the extent that earned their ire.

"How can you balance between the two?" He asked.

"Most of the time, the people you’re meeting aren’t worth the effort to placate." Lord Javier answered.

"I don’t think that will cut it against someone like Senator Tovar."

"That old geezer is a special case. He and his club of geriatrics are really pissy about etiquette and stuff. They embodied the rules for so long that they’re even willing to order the deaths of anyone who acts outside of their expectations."

Ves gulped. "How am I supposed to follow your advice in that case?"

"That’s the fun of it all." The noble grinned. "Sometimes, you can get away with it. Earning a powerful person’s respect is more than worth it. The better his impression of you, the more he’ll be considerate of you. If it backfires, well, just consider it an instance where you gambled and lost. That’s life."

"If that’s the case, how are you still alive?"

Lord Javier patted his chest. "Because of my backing. Everyone who wants to touch me needs to consider the consequences. Even your Vandals never dared to chop off my head or put me through torture. You know why?"

"They’re scared of provoking House Eneqqin and their allies."

"Exactly! Our house was at an apex within the Duchy of Imodris by the time I was still in charge of the Detemen System. I’m sure our prestige took a huge hit from my capture and the Vandal raid, but that’s only a temporary setback. As soon as I get back and throw my weight around, our noble house’s foundation will be rock solid again."

The situation at House Eneqqin seemed highly precarious to Ves. They depended too much on the powerful father-and-son duo to prop it up and remain in favor to the Duchess of Imodris. Now that Lord Javier failed in the defense of the Detemen System and got captured, one of the two legs of House Eneqqin got cut off!

Even if the noble house somehow managed to reattach its leg, the limb would never be able to function as smoothly as before. The rehabilitation process would be long and arduous, and Ves did not feel entirely hopeful that Lord Javier would have an easy time in power as before.

Of course, Lord Javier didn’t express any doubts he would be able to regain his old height. Ves didn’t know whether the noble was just pretending to be confident or if he really believed in his own optimistic delusion.

Either way, they still managed to grow somewhat closer despite their many differences. Ves got the sense that besides being deprived of company, Lord Javier also took pity on Ves.

It galled Ves a bit to receive the pity of a Vesian noble, but his self-respect took a backseat when it came to his current assignment. He needed to bear through the occasional indignities if he wanted to become adept at interacting with Vesian nobles and officials.

He figured he made good progress during their daily meetings. Lord Javier never bothered to adjust his attitude in front of Ves so he presented an accurate sample of how the typical Vesian noble would act.

While the Vesian peace delegation wouldn’t consist entirely of nobles, it was still important for Ves to be able to gain their respect or acknowledgement when confronted.

As a week went by, Ves figured he was beginning to nail the kind of bearing and conduct suitable to mingle with the Vesians at the upcoming peace delegation.

By now, the fleet almost arrived at the borders of the Reinald Republic. However, this was also the most precarious time for the peace delegation.

The Reinald Republic’s propensity of attracting pirates and all sorts of other shady outfits led to a certain amount of instability in the vicinity of the state.

While pirates and other criminals behaved relatively restrained within Reinald’s borders, it was pretty much open season at the approaches to the pirate-friendly state.

A lot of illicit traffic flowed through the Reinald Republic’s Harkensen System. The fleets and trade convoys that delivered the goods to the Harkensen System didn’t teleport there from the other side of the star sector in an instant.

Just like any other starfaring vessel, their ships needed to hop from star to star. While port systems helped shorten the journey and increase security, such convenient steps didn’t exist everywhere.

This gave wiley and greedy pirates the opportunity to intercept the shipments. Due to the nature of pirates, not everyone was as formidable or as well-equipped as the old Lydia’s Swordmaidens.

In fact, a vast amount of pirates operated from a single converted carrier that hosted just a squad of shambling pirate mechs.

For these bottom feeders to take their ill-gotten goods to the Reinald Republic was nothing less than tempting fate! Larger pirate fleets that consisted of at least three or four carriers easily gobbled up these piddling little solitary pirate vessels.

Considering the strength of the Felicitous Remembrance’s escorts, they should have been ruled out as a target. Hardly any pirate gang, no matter how strong, would be crazy enough to risk a direct confrontation against such a well-armed protection force.

The elite Spiral Shockers committed as much as five light carriers disguised as security company vessels from a generic-sounding company called Special Security Limited. While the SSL couldn’t openly bring along combat carriers without drawing suspicion about their actual identities, all of their light carriers received a lot of reinforcement that made them substantially more resilient than a typical light carrier for sale in the private sector.

All of those carriers brought at least one full company of spaceborn mechs. While the Spiral Shockers couldn’t bring along their expensive and well-designed signature mechs that embodied their names, they at least adopted some great mech models that sold well in the Bright Republic’s mech market.