The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1039

The venue of the opening banquet took place in a majestic dining hall. Kester Hills was no stranger in providing service to members of high society, so the dining hall looked quite resplendent. The marble stonework and titanium-golden metalwork had all been fashioned into a clean and modern style that nevertheless did not become too abstract.

The design of the dining hall with its emphasis on space and geometric shapes provided a suitable backdrop for the guests to take the stage.

Every member of the Tovar Peace Delegation arrived in some of the best clothing that the senator’s staff provided to each of them. Ves milled around in the periphery of Colonel Xelven and the other military officers.

All of them wore similar mess dress uniforms. The senior officers boasted much higher numbers of medals, badges and other awards.

If Ves was afraid he’d be overshadowed by the flood of decorations from the careerist military officers, he shouldn’t have been worried. Some might carry a Torchbearer, others a Darkness Eater, but absolutely no one carried both at once! The extremely rare Golden Mech further signified that he was a mech designer, not a mech pilot!

His top awards had been designed to call out attention with the incorporation of shiny exotics and luminescent materials designed to simulate fire and light. The Golden Mech in particular caught a lot of attention due to its relative size and gaudiness.

The eleclic combination of medals already drew the attention of the other old men and women of the Tovar Peace Delegation. They had seen him walk around on the Felicitous Remembrance and the Lormant Carnival, but were not quite aware of what his ribbons on his service uniform represented back then. Now they realized that Ves may be more that met the eye.

Of course, Ves did not particularly care about impressing his fellow Brighters at this time. Instead, he along with everyone else faced the Colchester Peace Delegation.

As the formal introduction rituals went underway, Ves studied his opposites.

The first thing that struck him was that they made for an imposing image. A higher proportion of military officers made up their ranks. Some of the bureaucrats, statesmen, businessmen and even academics also carried the same air as their soldiers, signifying that they once served in the military as well!

The Vesians also seemed to group up amongst themselves. Unlike the Brighters who stood in a single, uniform row with equal spacing between them, the Vesians vaguely bunched up a bit into a handful of separate cliques.

Only a small number of them appeared to be the core confidants of Prince Colchester. The rest hailed from different duchies who distrusted those from other duchies.

Ves guessed that this continued division would complicate the peace talks once they finally commenced.

Senator Tovar and Prince Colchester both stood in the middle of their ranks. At some unspoken signal, they both walked forward until they arrived right in front of each other.

They studied each other.

Both old men experienced more than two centuries in their lives, and would live at least a century more. The vicissitudes of living all of those years reflected in their faces and their posture. They were no average humans in the galaxy. They were born from privileged families and had been groomed to lead their respective states since young.

Looking far away from the center, Ves became struck with the notion that they were the same kind of men. Both of them were leaders and both of them were old. That gave them something in common that none of the other members of their delegations could ever come close to matching!

"Prince Colchester."

"Senator Tovar."

They shook hands and smiled in diplomatic fashions. None of their true thoughts could be discerned as they tried to read each other’s expressions and body language.

Eventually, they separated and led their delegations to the lengthy but narrow dining tables.

A band began to play soft music while staff started to bring in appetizers. However, no one focused on the food and drink and instead stared at the opposite side of the narrow tables where their Vesian counterparts took seats.

Ves sat a long line down the table for military officers and officials. Lieutenant Colonel Xelven sat at the head of the table and already started to swap some casual stories with a noble officer from the Mech Legion.

Everyone’s ranks, seniority and age descended further down the table until only mere captains sat at the other end.

For various reasons, Ves sat at the other end of the table. The officer who sat next to him might be a mere mech captain, but he was at least twenty years older and of a very different breed from the more casual and approachable Vandals.

Ves instead turned his attention back to the Vesian military officers. He glanced at each member of the Mech Legion, trying to see if he recognized any of them, all the way until he came at the end where he met a pair of burning eyes that tried to poke holes at him for some reason!

He blinked.

He stared at the face surrounding those eyes and belatedly realized he knew this woman!

"Venerable Foster! How can you be here?!" He asked with a somewhat alarmed tone.

He probably made a faux pas somewhere but his shock had overridden his senses!