The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4720

When Ves, Lucky and Minister Shederin Purnesse returned to the main conference room, they were ready to issue their answer to Davute's opening offer.

No matter what, even if the deal did not go any further than this, it was already incredibly worthwhile to accept this deal on a standalone basis!

As for the greater scheme that Davute had in mind, Ves was not afraid of any follow-ups.

The Larkinson Clan maintained the upper hand in its negotiations with Davute. As long as this remained the case, the latter always had to pay a premium in order to secure the cooperation of the former.

The need to keep Ves happy and cooperative enough to supply his powerful mech designs ensured that any follow-up offer would be tailored to his likes and dislikes.

At most, he and his clan needed to swallow a few bitter pills in order to gain a lot of sweetness at the end.

As Ves and Shederin sat down at their respective seats, Lucky landed on the table and vigilantly observed the other two seated dignitaries.

Prospective President Yenames Clive looked as confident and charming as ever. His chief of staff maintained her usual expressionless demeanor.

Both of them looked as if they expected the meeting to go in their favor. Ves became more and more curious to hear what the Davutans had in store.

"Now that we have given you time to deliberate on our offer, what is your answer?" Reina Kernsk started the meeting again by asking this question.

"Our clan is receptive to your offer." Minister Shederin politely replied. "We are agreeable to fulfill the amount of commissions that you have requested so long as you go through with providing us with the stated quantity of capital ships and sub-capital ships. Our lawyers and technical consultants will need to go over the minutiae and technical specifications of the agreement to gain enough assurances that the trade remains sufficiently equitable by our standards."

Madame Kernsk nodded. "Agreed. Our team is already standing by to assuage your concerns and provide you with greater certainty. We shall not give you any cause to doubt our credibility. We will publicize a summary of our agreement and sign the contract under the witness and guarantee of the MTA. While it may be difficult to appropriate the necessary shipyard capacity required to fulfill your orders in the near future, we are prepared to demonstrate how much we hold you in our favor."

These were flattering words, but that made Ves more suspicious about any follow-up traps.

Calabast was right. There was no way that Davute would settle for such a costly deal. A lot of stakeholders who paid the price for this extravagance would probably torch Yenames Clive if they learned the truth!

At worst, Yenames Clive may even lose the support he needed to become the founding leader of the upcoming colonial state!

This made Ves respect the ambitious statesman even more. Yenames Clive acted differently than those cowards who only issued orders from the rear and always let their peons pay the price for their mistakes.

By traveling to the Cat Nest in person and pushing for an initial deal that sounded exceedingly costly for Davute, he boldly risked his own career prospects in order to do what he thought was right for his colony!

Yenames Clive used his actions to prove that he possessed the determination and commitment to earn the right to become Davute's highest leader!

The heir to the Clive Consortium reminded Ves a lot of himself. That was both good and bad.

As the two sides just came to a preliminary consensus on the initial exchange, Ves wondered when the other shoe would drop.

Yenames Clive finally unfolded his greater intentions by speaking up for the first time since they reconvened the meeting.

"We are pleased to learn that your Larkinson Clan is willing to engage with our administration to a greater degree." The man spoke with a hopeful expression. "You have shown with your reaction to our offer that we are right to extend our trust to your clan. To that end, we would like to invite you to make a more significant investment in our Davute Project. We are ready to give you a rare opportunity to become a partial owner of our colonial state. All we ask is that you stake more than technical support or normal business activities."

This was the big moment. Ves straightened his back a bit more as he waited for the plot to unfold.

"We have already contributed substantially to Davute's popularity and economic prosperity." Minister Shederin stated.

"We are not criticizing your clan, nor claiming that we are disappointed in you." Yenames Clive gently responded. "We are already content with everything that you have done. I am only observing a possibility in which we can consider a deeper cooperation, one that requires greater commitment but will stand to give us greater gains. I am proposing to forge a partnership between us that can not only give us a substantially greater chance of winning the war on the horizon, but also burnish the reputation of your clan and turn it into one of the stalwarts of our colonial state."

Ves widened his eyes. "Wait… are you asking our clan to take direct part in the fighting that will ensue when Davute and Karlach go to war? I have to inform you that we have no desire to commit to this degree. We are already on track to resume our Trailblazer Expedition and explore the frontier yet again."

His words did not deter the prospective president.

"We are aware of your proclivities, but what we are about to propose will not materially affect your core interests nor the viability of your expeditions." Yenames Clive said. "We have learned that your Golden Skull Alliance is currently in talks with the Adelaide Third Fleet and the Boojay Family. Both of them have powerful fleets. Each can contribute the strength of an entire mech division, numerous expert mechs and a single ace mech each. Think about how many powerful assets your main expeditionary fleet will have at its disposal."

If both the Adelaides and the Boojays agreed to join the Golden Skull Alliance, then the expeditionary fleet at its height could easily bring 30,000 standard mechs, over two-dozen expert mechs and three whopping ace mechs to bear at once!

That was an amazingly powerful mech army — especially at the top end — that many states wished they could harness for themselves!

Such an incredible high-end force concentration could no longer be described as an ordinary pioneering or expeditionary fleet.

It was a straightforward warfleet, one that became qualified to fight in greater battles that could materially affect the balance of power in the Red Ocean!

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