The Mech Touch novel Chapter 3598

Chapter 3598 Master Artisan Sivare Coriten Barach

Ves thought there was a good chance that Cefigo Maran Barach would never show up again.

After all, which traditional company with a rich family heritage wanted to give up almost half of its ownership to an outside investor?

While there were plenty of people who did not hesitate to sell out to investors for a quick and generous infusion of cash, there were also kinds of entrepreneurs who abhorred any foreign control over their own business empires. They usually thought that they could achieve success without outside assistance as long as they put enough time and effort into their jobs.

"Sometimes, they're right, but most of the time they would have been a lot better off if they just accepted the damn help."

Ves leaned back in his chair as he read the report projected by his desk terminal.

He wasn't satisfied with the potential business deal that Minister Shederin Purnesse had negotiated with Zachren Bilitsa.

While the Pellysa branch of the industrial manufacturing company showed interest in working together with the Larkinson Clan, it refused to commit a lot of production capacity to Ves' products.

It remained to be seen whether a slightly updated incarnation of the Ferocious Piranha would catch on in the mech market. Its suppressive glow was highly novel, but the actual performance of the light mech moderately fell behind other competing models at its price range.

What Ves felt most exasperated about was that Zachren Bilitsa did not ascribe a lot of value to the Ferocious Piranha's more invisible and less definable traits.

The mech's growth potential and adaptability towards its mech pilots could not be translated in hard numbers. What was worse was that Zachren's test pilots could never fully experience the range of benefits of living mechs when they only tested it out for a few hours at most. They needed to pilot the same mechs for months in order to appreciate how well their machines molded to their particular personalities and piloting style!

Because of the inability of Zachren to appreciate the full range of features of the Ferocious Piranha model, its negotiators sought to lower the share of profits owed to the Living Mech Corporation as well as extract other concessions.

Ves and Shederin were both suspicious at Zachren's conduct, especially after its people initially showed a lot more enthusiasm.

"These guys may be in a desperate situation at the moment, but they can't shed their nature as businessmen. There's no way they're going to let go of an opportunity to earn back some extra money!"

They were using the presumption that the Ferocious Piranha was not an excellent mech design to drive a harder bargain!

Due to Zachren's tougher stance, the negotiations slowed down. According to Shederin, both sides were spending a lot of time on theatrics such as shouting in each other's faces or pounding their fists against the table.

To Ves, it was all a waste of time. The lawyers on both sides only needed a few hours to hammer out a contract for a relatively simple licensing deal. They could avoid a lot of time-consuming arguments if they just met each other halfway on every point.

"That is not what is happening, though." Ves frowned.

Instead, for the sake of increasing income by 0.5 percent or something, Zachren didn't mind straining the negotiations until they were close to breaking point!

It was difficult to decide whether the Larkinsons should give in or not. If the clan gave up ground too easily, then it would inadvertently show that its negotiating power wasn't strong. This would give Zachren more ammunition to ask for benefits.

This was why Minister Shederin opted to his stance by remaining unyielding over time. The clan needed to be patient in order to prove its willingness to close a business deal but not at the cost of too many concessions.

"Why must everything be so tedious!"

All of this dancing around was so inefficient and time-consuming that Ves thought it was better if the negotiators were replaced by bots. The two sides would likely be able to settle the terms of the contract within a single microsecond!

Still, however long it took, once it became official, the Living Mech Corporation would finally be able to build up a presence in the Red Ocean mech market!

As Ves thought about what kind of follow-up actions he should undertake in order to facilitate his mech company's expansion, he suddenly received another call.

His personal assistant brought word of another unannounced visit.

"Boss? Mr. Cefigo Barach is back, but he's not alone. He brought an older gentleman with him. Master Artisan Sivare Coriten Barach wishes to discuss a possibility to cooperate with our clan. Should I let him in or have him wait outside?"

"Is he empowered to speak on behalf of his house, Benny?"

"He says that his word carries a lot of weight among his fellow Barachs, but he is not the sole decision maker of his house. A committee of master artisans decide by vote."

"I see."

That was a familiar governing model to Ves. It suited the House of Barach because the split authority meant that it was unlikely for any single leader to steer the tradition-bound family organization in the wrong direction. A committee that consisted of the oldest and most set-in-the-ways fogeys ensured that the house would always remain stuck in its own inertia!

Ves guessed that Sivare Cortison Barach probably knew that the rest of the committee would reject any form of cooperation with the Larkinson Clan, so the respected craftsman did not come as an official representative of his house.

He came in a personal capacity just like junior Cefigo.

This was not what Ves wanted. If the House of Barach was truly willing to cooperate with the Larkinson Clan, then Master Artisan Sivare should not approach him in this manner!

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