The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1866

Chapter 1866 Easy Manpower

In the end, Ves gave a noncommittal answer to Venerable Brutus. He needed to think about it and consider whether it was worth it to go through all of that trouble.

As Ves returned to the LMC's headquarters, he began to weigh the costs and benefits of such a decision.

The value of an expert pilot was evident. Obtaining the service of an expert pilot would be a massive boon for his enterprise. Few private organizations secured the services of such august and powerful talents.

They were incomparable to expert candidates. They possessed a will and charisma that was greater than anything comparable to mortals, and their battle prowess was enough to elevate themselves to a higher class!

Their value on the battlefield was just as great as off the battlefield. Venerable Brutus already showed how much of a boost he provided to the Avatars and Sentinels. Many mech pilots benefited from his sage advice and personal instruction. As an excellent mech pilot in terms of skill, Brutus was able to pinpoint all of the flaws in another pilot's fighting style and suggest ways to remedy these shortcomings.

This was one of the greatest benefits of securing an expert pilot! This was also the main reason why the Larkinson Family kept pumping out mech pilots of a very high standard. Each young Larkinson mech pilot received periodic instruction from either current or former expert pilots.

Regrettably, the newly-founded Larkinson Clan lacked an expert pilot to perform this function. The Larkinsons who joined the clan would have been forced to receive instructions from ordinary Larkinson mech pilots.

While there wasn't anything wrong with that, only expert pilots were astute and skilled enough to provide the best advice!

This was why the presence and generosity of Venerable Brutus was so important to Ves. In this crucial early period of the clan, receiving the support of an expert pilot was extremely vital to keep up everyone's morale!

"He'll be gone, though." He murmured.

By all accounts, the Hexadric Hegemony would eventually recall Brutus in order to deploy him on the front lines against the Friday Coalition. The time for his departure was fairly fuzzy, but Ves suspected that it was getting close.

Once Venerable Brutus left, the Larkinson Clan lost the protection of an expert pilot.

Without the presence of an expert pilot, Ves and the Larkinson Clan would look a lot more vulnerable! It didn't matter if he was trying to build up his forces to the level of a mech regiment! Expert pilots were so feared and worshipped in the Age of Mechs that the presence or absence of one could sway entire battles!

Their deterrence value was already more than worth all of the effort to secure their allegiance! It was so rare for independent organizations to possess their own expert pilots that just having one was enough to double everyone's evaluation of the Larkinson Clan's strength!

Naturally, that was assuming Davia Stark would be able to recover her former will and regain the strength and mentality of an expert pilot!

"Will that really happen?"

Davia did not possess any personal loyalty to Ves. In fact, she should resent him a bit for his heavy-handed attempt to bring her along. Brutus probably owed more of her affection.

If Ves risked his forces to participate in the final battle against the sandmen, if Ves sent a fleet to the former Vindmar Republic so that she could find some closure, would she even recover?

Even if she did, would she be thankful?

Both of the questions were shrouded with uncertainty. Ves did not wish to go through all of that effort, only to give the Hegemony another expert pilot!

"I need some guarantees." He concluded as he rubbed his smooth-shaven skin.

Despite her broken state, Davia was still a brighter prospect than the other alternatives.

In the short term, Jannzi Larkinson and Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson weren't turning into expert pilots anytime soon. They were close, but not enough. They needed more precipitation as well as a catalyst to trigger apotheosis.

Perhaps their time might come in the next five to ten years, but now that the Larkinson Clan was at its weakest and most vulnerable state, Ves couldn't wait that long!

"I've been setting so many long-term plans that it will take decades or even centuries for them to come to fruition! I've been neglecting our short-term needs!"

He didn't rule out this option for this reason. As long as neither requests were unreasonably dangerous, Ves didn't mind meeting them in order to give Davia a chance to move on from her trauma.

When Ves returned to his office at the headquarters, he voiced his thoughts on the matter to Gavin.

"I've been studying the conditions of the Sand War for a while now." His assistant said. "From what I know so far, the sandmen are halfway into converging all of their fleets into a planet-sized deathball. The window of opportunity isn't big. If you want to take part in this so-called 'decisive battle', then you need to make a choice within a month, maybe two at most."

Ves grimaced. "I see. Where will the battle be fought, Benny?"

"It depends entirely on what the MTA war fleet will do. They haven't revealed any of their plans so far, but the most probable guess is that they'll let the sandmen come to them in the Bentheim System."

The Bright Republic probably didn't appreciate that choice. Too bad the MTA wasn't inclined to listen to a tiny state's complaints.

"What about the situation in the former Vindmar Republic? If I recall, this border state is a bit far away."

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