The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3145

Chapter 3145: Nominations

While Ves pondered about how to augment his future daughter in a spiritual fashion, he continued to work on his mech design projects.

The design lab became a hive of activity after Gloriana got all fired up. The drive to finish all of the expert mech design projects before the birth of her daughter caused her to become extremely motivated. She also became a lot more demanding and expected every other mech designer to get more work done.

Surprisingly, the rest of the Larkinson Clan actually responded positively to the news of her pregnancy.

"She might be a Hexer, but she'll probably be a good mother."

"We finally have some continuity."

"I'm happy for the patriarch. I hope that parenthood will calm him down."

Though not every clansman thought highly of Gloriana, the revelation that she was carrying Ves' child pleased many clansmen who were pleased with serving under the current patriarch.

While the Larkinson Clan tried its best to become a meritocracy, the reality was that some Larkinsons were more significant than others.

A drastic change in leadership accompanied by a profound shift in direction scared a lot of clansmen. They didn't want the good times to end or see the Larkinson Clan turn into an entirely different beast.

If Ves ever decided to step back from holding the top post, then it would be great if one of his children took over the mantle. People already developed a lot of expectations that his successor would be able to lead the clan to even greater heights in the future!

As a former citizen to a state that vehemently fought against a feudal kingdom, Ves couldn't make sense of this sentiment.

"This is ridiculous. Who can guarantee that my upcoming daughter or any of my other kids are qualified to lead my clan in the future? They haven't seen anything yet and already they're assuming that everything will go fine as if I'm still in charge!"

Gavin shrugged. "Citizens from former republics like us are accustomed to thinking that way, but a significant portion of our clan are accustomed to other regimes. Remember the Sentinel Kingdom? We picked up a lot of people over there who are completely used to thinking that nobles and royals have an intrinsic right to rule. They don't care about your current title. To them, you're the king of the clan while Gloriana is your queen. That automatically means your sons and daughters will become their future princes and princesses."

Ves palmed his face. This was an idiotic development.

"We're not a monarchy and I'm not a king!"

"I know that, you know that, but it's hard to shake people's beliefs in you, boss." His assistant told him. "There are some people in our clan who think it's a good idea to rotate the leadership every once in a while and there are others who want the opposite. It doesn't help that you're so high profile. The founder and first-generation leader of any organization will have an outsized role among the people, and the fact you have done nothing to diminish that means that it is natural for you to be treated as our king."

This was a wildly overblown talk to Ves. He considered this attitude to be so absurd that he didn't want to think about it anymore.

"Ugh. We need to step up the education of our clansmen, Benny. Tell the media folk and any other relevant people to fight back against this idea. Being a king is too troublesome and will only distract me from designing mechs."

Ves always considered himself to be a mech designer first and a leader second. If he had to choose between the two, he would pick the first one in a heartbeat because that was the root of his place in society.

"…Understood, boss. Speaking about leadership, Mr. Shederin Purnesse, General Quinlist Verle and Mr. Raymond Billingsley-Larkinson have all nominated their preferred candidates for the three available positions of chief minister."

"Chief minister?" Ves raised his eyebrow. "What the hell is that?"

"It's the replacement name for vice patriarch. Some of the clan leaders we've consulted think it is better to switch to a different title. Chief minister conveys sufficient authority but does not make it sound as if they will replace you. Their roles are similar to prime ministers in a way, but since we will be appointing multiple of them at a time, it is best to distinguish them from the traditional impression of a prime minister."

Though Ves felt this title sounded rather weird, he quickly grew comfortable with it after a few times of running it through in his mind. Chief minister made it sound as if the person holding this position was the head of other ministers. However, unlike prime ministers who were traditionally associated with leading entire countries, the title of chief minister was obviously less prestigious due to its uncommon occurrence.

"I… approve. It's not the most elegant title, but it does the job and does not convey any stuffy or pretentious associations to the job."

Alternative titles such as duke, chancellor, director, executive, vice president, marshal and so on were all problematic for several different reasons. The Larkinson Clan was foremost a clan, with a close family structure that was relatively closed to those who did not bear the name.

Even if the clan was gradually taking on the form of a state, Ves did not want to adopt a traditional structure. He wanted the clan to preserve its original ideals and retain its own identity as much as possible. Therefore, he had no problem with breaking galactic tradition and adopting more quirks.

As long as it worked, who cared about whether the Larkinsons abided by the handbook on how to build a state.

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