The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1499

Ves lost the good mood he gained after making several important realizations related to his design philosophy. Just as he was getting pumped up on working on his design project, Crindon came and revealed his bombshell.

After Ves dismissed his security expert from his stateroom, he fell into a moment of silence. Aside from stroking Lucky’s back, he hardly did anything else.

Nitaa, who had been standing guard all this time, witnessed the entire meeting. She was no longer able to hold herself back.

"Sir.. from what it sounds like, you are in a difficult position with regards to the man you trust to manage your affairs. While I’m not entirely familiar with the organization known as Flashlight, you consider them to be a legitimate arm of the government, correct?"

"They’re bastards, not to the detriment of our state. I’ve never gotten the idea that they have forgotten their original purpose and gone rogue. They are the hidden guardians of the Bright Republic."

"By extension, Gavin is also contributing to the state, correct?"

Ves shrugged. "Perhaps. If Crindon is correct in his allegations, then I agree that Gavin isn’t doing anything wrong in the eyes of the Bright Republic."

"Then the problem is not as severe as it initially sounds. While it is true that it is problematic that a trusted person on your staff is holding double loyalties, his second loyalty is at least to an entity which isn’t diametrically opposed to you. Is the Bright Republic corrupt?"

He had to think for a moment to formulate his answer. "It’s not perfect. There are factions in play that are occasionally fishing for advantages, but compared to some of the states I’ve visited, it’s pretty orderly. If the Bright Republic was corrupt, then it would have never lasted against the Vesia Kingdom. Spy agencies like Flashlight exist to root out officials who are willing to sell out their home state to the Vesians."

One of the reasons why the Bright Republic remained on par against the slightly larger and more powerful Vesians was due to the disparity in intelligence and covert operations.

Due to the fractured nature of the Kingdom, the Vesians never unified their intelligence operations across their entire state. This constantly put them on the backfoot against the Brighter intelligence agencies.

Seeing how effective agencies such as Searchlight and Flashlight fared against the Vesians, the government granted them more autonomy and power. They were elevated into one of the most vital pillars of the state in the event of an inevitable outbreak of war.

Though Ves discovered that the intelligence agencies weren’t entirely devoid of bias, he did not consider them corrupt.

"Then what Gavin is doing is acceptable." Nitaa concluded. "It’s not easy to stomach, but it is not something that you can prevent. Not with your current standing in society. If..."

Ves immediately waved his hand. "You know my stance on the matter. I’m not about to throw my weight around as a Holy Son. My situation is too precarious for me to expose this secret to a greater number of people."

"You’re not going to tell your girlfriend, sir?"

"HELL NO!"

Nitaa blinked. "Okay, sir."

"Ahem. I apologize for raising my tone." Ves rubbed his eyes.

His emotions fluctuated a lot today. He hadn’t even processed Gavin’s double loyalties yet! How could he possibly think with a straight mind right now?

"I think the decision that you’re currently inclined to take is the best." Nitaa continued. "A competent intelligence agency will just attempt to co opt Gavin’s replacement if you decide to sideline him. If they are aware that you are suspicious towards your assistant, then they will simply turn someone else on your staff into their informer. The only way you can ensure absolute loyalty from your staff is if you replace them with Kinners."

Ves let out a deep sigh. "That’s not really realistic. Replacing my entire staff with Kinners is not only expensive, but also a very clear sign that I am paranoid and have something to hide. Knowing Flashlight, those sneaky bastards will just take that as a challenge to spy on me harder."

Neither of them believed that they could ever get rid of this problem without overhauling the entire organizational structure of the LMC.

That was a bad idea for many reasons. As much as Ves considered the LMC to be ’his’ company, he only owned 49 percent of its shares. Flashlight effectively controlled 21 percent of the company’s shares through a holding company called Sibilant Asset Management.

In fact, if the agency wanted to, they could have simply decided to insert more of their people in the company openly. That was what they had already done with Leland, after all.

What rankled Ves the most about this awful situation was the duplicity and lack of trust. Ves had slowly started to warm up to Gavin.

Though he still withheld his most sensitive secrets from his assistant, he already started toying with the idea of bringing Gavin into his true inner circle.

Now, Ves was forced to discard this plan. Knowing that Gavin answered to someone else besides him meant that Ves could never reveal any of his sensitive secrets to him. Just the possibility that some of it might be passed on to Flashlight was too great!

"I can’t take the risk!"

At this moment, Ves felt more alone than ever. One of the closest people he got along with turned out to be an informant who could never be fully trusted to carry his secrets.

Ordinary mech designers didn’t have to worry too much about this problem. Their most valuable secrets mostly consisted of complex, abstruse theories and techniques related to their design philosophies.

Without adopting the same mindset as the mech designer in question, their trade secrets weren’t very valuable in other people’s hands.

Only the MTA could really make use of the information, but even then they much preferred to exchange the secrets for merits in an open and aboveboard fashion. With their wealth, power and influence, they had no need to resort to force or trickery to get what they wanted.