The Mech Touch novel Chapter 5279

Chapter 5279 A Small Deception

"Our colonial superstate remains strong." The Rubarthan prince claimed. "I have no doubt that our citizens will remain loyal and united no matter how the war progresses. That does not mean we are blind to the fact that our people will be tested many times as the Rubarthan Pact will enter a period of greater instability and uncertainty. We have learned that one of your inventions can soften the blows. We understand that you have already formed an agreement with the Red Association. If the mechers vouch for your work, then it should be good enough for us as well."

Ves smiled. The Rubarthans built up a considerable demand for his kinship networks.

For all of their attempts to downplay their desire for a kinship network of their own, the Rubarthans clearly wanted it bad.

This meant that Ves essentially had the upper hand in this negotiation!

Of course, that didn't mean that he could go crazy and demand that he be appointed as their new emperor in order to satisfy their demand!

Ves deeply wanted to exploit this advantage, but the problem was that he did not have a clear idea on how far he could go. He hadn't even figured out what sort of concessions he wanted to obtain the Rubarthans.

He was not that interested in obtaining real estate or territory. His clan would be able to buy plenty of facilities in the future so long as he expanded his business to the first-class mech market.

He was not interested in exchanging his kinship network for starships and other pieces of advanced tech.

Their reliability would always be in question as it was trivially easy for the Rubarthans to install a lot of listening devices and backdoors in their own products.

Ves could always ask for a lot of money or phasewater, he seriously doubted whether the sums were commensurate to the total value of a kinship network.

The Survivalists already managed to take advantage of him by persuading him to freely contribute his works in the name of red humanity's survival. It was difficult for him to resist this moral kidnapping.

This was a different circumstance. Ves had already done his duty to his race for the time being. If the Rubarthans wanted to make a separate deal, then they had to obtain his agreement.

The two had come a lot closer to the raised throne than before. It looked a lot more imposing up close. The craftsmen commissioned by the Rubarthans most definitely knew what they were doing.

Naturally, the Inferno Spear wasn't arrogant enough to sit on the throne. Right now, the Star Emperor was the only person who was qualified to do so, but whether this would last was anyone's guess. _{freeωebnovēl.c૦m}

"Please take a seat." The peak ace pilot offered.

They sat on a pair of smaller thrones that had been placed to the side and at a distinctly lower height.

This offered them a good view of the imposing throne room without giving off the impression that they wanted to take over the entire Pact.

"Please take a look at this document and verify whether they are accurate." Prince Antonius requested to Ves.

A new projection appeared that immediately looked familiar to Ves. As he started to skim over all of the legal terms and phrases, he recognized that the Rubarthans actually managed to get their hands on one of the contracts between Ves and the Red Association!

The document basically specified the 4 kinship networks that Ves agreed to make for the mechers for the purpose of making it available to the New elites.

Although the contract was predominantly filled with legal terms that covered an extensive range of contingencies, it also contained a fairly extensive technical description of a kinship network as well as the demands imposed by the mechers.

Anyone who managed to get their hands on this contract would not only understand the deal that Ves had made with the Red Association, but also gain an excellent understanding of how kinship networks worked and what Ves could do to change their mechanisms!

His mood started to drop when he realized how much bargaining power he had lost as a result of this leak.

It turned out that the Rubarthans weren't completely ignorant.

Ves shifted his eyes away from the projected document. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you managed to obtain a copy of this contract. It is authentic as far as I can recall. We can save a lot of time on explanations."

"That is true." The Inferno Spear smiled as he regained a bit of initiative. "Before we proceed, has the Destroyer of Worlds issued any verdict about kinship networks?"

Ves needed to think carefully on how to answer this question. Responding with a proper answer was not in his best interest as that would remove a lot of leverage.

However, if Ves veered too far away from the truth, then a highly perceptive ace pilot like the Inferno Spear would definitely detect that something was wrong!

"My contact with the Destroyer of Worlds is intermittent. There is much that I haven't discussed with her. Kinship networks were at an earlier stage of development at the time. Ideas have arisen about expanding their availability to a much greater population, but these were long-term aspirations that would probably take decades or even centuries to come into fruition."

Ves had indeed entertained these ideas in his mind. He did not feel the need to say that he never shared any of it with the Destroyer of Worlds.

"Does that mean that she has yet to issue any requests on how the kinship network for our colonial superstate should be configured?"

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