The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4489

Ves appeared in a different location this time. The bulkheads, the bridge stations and the tech around him looked familiar.

It was the modified bridge of his former flagship, a Friday Coalition Stanley Crux-class Standard Mobile Supply Frigate called the Scarlet Rose.

He spent years aboard this ship alongside Gloriana. Though the ship was small by his current standards, she was his first true mobile home.

Ves had plenty of memories of this vessel.

He went on several adventures before his clan received the Spirit of Bentheim.

He designed plenty of mechs back when the Design Department only comprised a handful people.

He imprisoned Cassandra Breyer in a secret chamber within his flagship so that he could gain a constant supply of Breyer alloy.

As Ves reminisced about the past, a voice interrupted his musings.

"You could have thanked me for my gift, you know." A particularly incisive and posh voice called out from behind. "I handed such an excellent ship to you, and you went ahead and executed me before you gave me a chance!"

What was it with the specters and announcing their presence from behind? Ves was getting tired of turning around all of the time.

He sighed and proceeded to turn around.

"Lady Aisling Curver. I had a feeling I would meet with you again."

The blond and not-entirely-sane Journeyman Mech Designer from the Gauge Dynasty directed a brilliant smile towards him. "Did you have fun abusing the remnants of my own power? I don't like getting killed, but I'm grateful that you still saw fit to recycle my remains to make your wonderful intangible puppets. I would like to think a small part of me still lives alongside you in the fragment that you inserted into Blinky and Vulcan. I am also honored to see you using a much larger portion to turn Titania in the way she is. The only issue I have with you is the fact that you put the other larger portion into GLORIANA!"

"Hey, you were already dead, Aisling! You screwed me over, so it is only right that I try to get compensation from what you have left behind!"

"DON'T YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR THE DEAD?! YOU COULD HAVE PRESERVED ME AND BROUGHT ME BACK TO LIFE LIKE YOU DID WITH THOSE OTHER 'DESIGN SPIRITS'!"

"And why would I do that?" Ves looked at her as if she was a fool. "First, I don't even know if that is possible in the case of mech designers. Second, I've had bad experiences with hostile design spirits in the past so I did not look forward to bringing a semblance of you back to life so that you can harass me again."

"..."

"Wow. So you're the lady that wanted to have Ves all to yourself, huh? He most certainly dodged a laser beam."

"What?" Ves uttered as he turned around to see a woman that he never expected to see again. "You… you're Iris Jupiter?!"

Unlike Lady Aisling Curver who looked as old as she was before her capture during the Battle of Reckoning, Iris Jupiter looked radically different.

She came across as a youthful girl the last time Ves had spent time with her during the last Bright-Vesia War, but now she appeared as a more mature and mellow woman.

"You look… beautiful." Ves couldn't help but utter as he couldn't control his attraction towards her matronly appearance. "It looks like you have managed to live a much better life than Lady Aisling. How is the Vesian Revolutionary Front doing these days? Does it still exist?"

Iris, who wore a casual but fairly luxurious dark blue dress with multiple folds, tittered as if he was a child who made a foolish statement.

"You are behind the times, Ves. The VRF disbanded a long time ago. With so many greater calamities taking place in our star sector, our little rebellion was just making life worse for the commoners of my state. Besides, with the expansion of the Vesia Kingdom after the Sand War, the nobles have opened up many more promotion opportunities in order to speed up the colonization effort. I have accepted an amnesty offer and have done well for myself ever since. I married, had kids and advanced to Journeyman along the way. If you had looked me up in the galactic net then you would have known all of that. You haven't been paying any attention to what has happened in your old neighborhood, is that right?"

"Eh… yeah. I don't really like to look back to the past. I would much rather look forward to the future."

"Hm, I don't blame you." Iris said. "It is certainly working out for you. That said, your constant refusal to reflect on the past is making this much longer and riskier than it needed to be, you know. Take it from a neural interface specialist. A well-balanced human individual should always find a way to reconcile with the regrets of his past. This is even more important for a man who wishes to attain greatness. Terrible consequences can happen if broken individuals gain way more power than they can responsibly handle. What you are going through right now is… an entry examination of sorts. Pass the test and you may proceed."

"What if I don't pass the test?" Ves pointedly asked.

"You will get stuck." A different voice spoke up from another direction.

"Hey! Since when has this place turned into a clubhouse?!"

"Don't ask us, Ves." Ketis spoke as her strong and athletic form exuded a sharp and domineering presence. "This is your ordeal, not ours. We are here for your benefit."

Ves turned around and beheld the three ladies. Lady Aisling Curver, Iris Jupiter and Ketis surrounded him in a triangle. That made it difficult for him to keep his attention on all of them at the same time.

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify