The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1170

The Barracuda passed through the borders of the Bright Republic and the Ylvaine Protectorate after a thorough inspection. While the Protectors of the Faith came off as intense and distant, they didn’t mistreat the Brighters.

The permissions that Ves and his entourage obtained were all authentic. An important member of the Curin Dynasty invited them over, so the Protectors of the Faith didn’t have any cause to halt their entry into their state.

The head inspector did pass on a warning before he boarded the inspection shuttle docked alongside the Barracuda.

"Foreigners, especially Brighters like you, tend to question our faith. In the name of the Prophet, I advise you not to push the boundaries of our hospitality. Our beliefs are our beliefs. We know better than to expect the rest of the galaxy to convert to our faith, but we at least expect our guests to keep their noses to themselves."

Leland answered in Ves’ stead. "We are aware of the cultural differences between our states. We respect the Ylvainans and would never jeopardize our relations with your state."

"For your own sake, I hope you are sincere. It is a crime to criticize the Ylvainan Faith within our borders." The inspector warned in an ominous tone. "Despite issuing this warning to every visitor, at least five percent of all the foreigners who enter our state nonetheless run afoul of this law."

"What happens to them, inspector?" Gavin asked.

"Foreigners are exempt from following some of our laws, but not all of them. It is a capital crime to turn our citizens into apostates! If any Ylvainan attempts to corrupt the beliefs of the faithful, then they will suffer the most painful torment we are capable of inflicting on their bodies! Don’t worry, though. Foreigners who are guilty of the same crime receive clean executions. We don’t want to aggravate the relationship between our states any further."

The team of inspectors left the Barracuda after that, leaving everyone aside from Leland unsettled.

The disguised intelligence operative smiled. "While the Protectorate isn’t eager to publicize these kinds of incidents, they do execute a lot of foreigners. The Bright Republic has protested the draconian treatment our citizens receive whenever they become caught up in ’enlightening’ the local believer, but the Protectorate has never budged on this matter. Don’t expect our state to bail you out if you ignore this warning."

Among the paperwork they signed to enter the Protectorate, they voluntarily acknowledged that they would be subject to some of the Protectorate laws pertaining to the Ylvainan Faith.

The fastest way to piss off an Ylvainan was to mock, criticize and question their faith!

Ves looked at his companions. Gavin and Leland knew better than to run afoul of this law. He didn’t worry too much about Ketis either as she was used to living alongside various cultists with extreme beliefs.

He still wanted to say something. "This business trip is very important to the LMC. It’s important to me as well. I hope that all of you pay attention to your conduct while we are among the Ylvainans. I know they’re weird and that some of their beliefs are rather.. extreme. I hope you can maintain a respectful front no matter what we encounter during our visit. I’ll do my best to fight on your behalf, but my influence here is nonexistent."

In the Bright Republic, Ves could rely on his own influence and his connections to the Larkinsons, the Tovars, Flashlight, the Mech Corps and Professor Ventag to fight back against an accusation.

Here, none of those influences held much sway. The Protectorate was a very closed state who deliberately isolated themselves from even their closest neighbors. Ves could only put his trust in Madame Cecily Curin to lend a hand in case he ever faced any trouble from the locals.

The journey to the Kesseling System proceeded without any further delays. While the Kesseling System wasn’t a port system, the binary stars it contained made it easier to reach, especially for an upscale corvette like the Barracuda.

During the journey, Ves supplemented his own gains from his recent Mastery experience by perusing some of the literature written by other mech designers.

He quickly noticed that not everything he read about hero mechs conformed to his beliefs.

[...As technology and living standards increase, mech pilots are becoming increasingly capable of piloting more complex mechs. The demand for mechs that only come with a single application will inevitably decrease. The rise of multipurpose mechs in the most developed parts of human space already foretells the death knell for narrowly-specialized mechs in the galactic rim....]

[...Hero mechs will therefore become increasingly more popular as a stopgap between specialized mechs and multipurpose mechs. It is expected that hero mechs will become the prevailing mech type during the transition to prepare mech pilots for the inevitable transition to multipurpose mechs....]

"A hero mech as a training tool? Absurd!"

While the mech designers who wrote these books all designed hero mechs before, Ves wondered if they truly understood the point of hero mechs.

"A hero mech can’t be called like that anymore if they are mass produced!"

If Ves studied these books before undergoing his Mastery experience, he would have adopted a similar mindset as the authors. Now that he acquired the beliefs he came up on his own, he was much more skeptical of opinions which clashed with his own.

His interpretation of hero mechs had become his private faith! He would not allow others to question his faith!

Ves snorted. "Maybe this is how the Ylvainans feel whenever a pompous Brighter comes along and disparages the Ylvainan Faith."

Compared to all the crazy religions in the galaxy, the Ylvainan Faith didn’t really stand out. They used to be more fervent when Prophet Ylvaine was still alive, but his death along with the death of the entire Ylvaine Dynasty taught them that the galaxy wouldn’t tolerate any instances of intolerant fanaticism.

The Ylvainans tasted defeat before, and it humbled them ever since.

"Every state in the Komodo Star Sector shares a similar past. We are all descended from exiles."

As Ves went back to reading some of the virtual textbooks he acquired from the galactic net, he increasingly felt as if he wasted his money. He paid several hundred-thousand credits to acquire these copies from the MTA’s virtual library on the basis of their high ratings and good reviews!

"Hmph. It turns out they are all ignorant sheep who are blindly following a stray donkey."

While there were several authors who shared some of Ves’ beliefs, they didn’t go far enough. Almost every mech designer believed that hero mechs were bound to explode in popularity in future mech generations!

To his dismay, Ves couldn’t entirely dismiss the possibility. Mechs armed with two weapon systems might very well become viable enough for the market to demand them in great numbers.