The Mech Touch

captain seemed fully convinced of Ves ’ sincerity.
”Thank you for your understanding, Mr.
Larkinson.
I am sorry to say that we may impose further restrictions to you and your staff.
Please do not take any offense if we seem rude if we take any precautionary measures. ”

”I understand.
I hope you ’ll find the thieves soon so we can all get back to normal. ”

Once the Protectorate captain left, Ves inwardly sighed and slowly removed his spiritual mask.
The empowered image of his innocent self shrank in size and floated peacefully within his mindscape.

”Can I recycle it? It would be great if I can get back what I spent. ”

However, he quickly decided against this course of action.
Much like his other images, the image of his innocent self wouldn ’t degrade anytime soon.
It also didn ’t exert any strain on his mind.

Considering that Ves might be facing several more interrogations in the coming days, he might need to resort to the same solution again.
It would be a waste for him to create a new mask when he already possessed a serviceable one!

Since he could store his disguise in his mind without any consequences, he might as well keep it around.

He smirked.
If the high inquisitor paid a visit to him again, he ’d be fully prepared to declare his innocence!

As time went by, Ves tried his best to return to developing his draft design.
He couldn ’t show any signs that he was involved in the matter of the grand cathedral.

Lucky already received instructions to lie low for a few days after he accomplished his heist.
Ves didn ’t want to take the risk of getting caught red-handed during the period where the Ylvainans were on high alert!

”I made the right decision! ”

Ves vastly underestimated the Ylvainan response to the theft.
It was as if their entire society had been upended! As several hours passed, the manhunt for the thief intensified.
Practically every peace-keeping mech was on the streets, and plenty of military mechs had joined the search as well!

Sporadic fighting erupted all across Krent as the Protectors of the Faith and the Attendants of Ylvaine occasionally bumped into something shady during their invasive door-to-door searches.

A lot of shady organizations on the planet suffered enormous losses due to the Ylvainan overreaction!

Even in a religious state, gangs and other unsavory elements still thrived.
The only difference was that the criminal underworld didn ’t operate so blatantly in their territories.

Yet no matter how much they kept their shady dealings out of sight, the Ylvainans still possessed many of the same needs as Brighters and Reinaldans!

In fact, Ves suspected that many of Leland ’s informants consisted of gang members.
They would do anything as long as they received enough money.

During martial law, most of the galactic net had closed down.
Only approved outlets could still be accessed.
In this case, Ves could only choose between news slanted towards the Curins, Kronons or Poxcos.

Obviously, the Poxcos were absolutely allopathic at the theft of Prophet Ylvaine ’s nutrient pack wrapper!

To their credit, they didn ’t deny their failure to safeguard the holy relic.
They admitted their shortcomings but simultaneously stated the need for more Poxcos on the planet to assist in the search.

”Looks like the Poxcos will definitely get what they want this time! ” Ves concluded.

The statements published by the Curins deflected a lot of blame towards the Kronons and the Poxcos for failing their duties.
They tried to minimize their guilt as much as possible, and they actually did a decent job at it considering that they weren ’t responsible for guarding the relic in the first place.

Despite their objections, Ves didn ’t think the Curins would be able to stop the Kronons and Poxcos from inserting more men and mechs onto Kesseling VIII.
If the terrorist attack already alarmed them, then the theft of an important relic had definitely sent them in a frenzy!

As for the Kronons, they slowly started to back the Poxcos.
As their mechs and troops provided much of the security for the grand cathedral, they suffered a lot of blame for their failures.
The Kronons wanted to atone for their mistakes by reinforcing the Kesseling System with an entire regiment!

And that was only what the Kronons admitted to the public.
Who knew how many assets they planned to shift the Kesseling System!

The situation was growing increasingly hot to Ves.
As the chief mastermind behind the theft, all of this was bad news to him.
An escalation of troops might result in something worse.

Ves merely wanted to design a mech in peace.
Why were the Ylvainans making it so difficult for him to do his job and complete the commission?

A very tense day went by before Calabast arrived at the guest compound in person under heavy guard.

”Miss Cecily! ” Ves greeted her with surprise at that morning.
”How come you ’re here? ”

”We need to discuss our changing circumstances.
Let ’s talk somewhere private. ” She said in a terse tone.

Ves led her to his room where she immediately activated her signal jammer.

That wasn ’t enough for Calabast this time because she deployed another machine that surrounded the both of them with a weak but highly disruptive energy field.

Only after she prepared all of her precautions did Calabast turn her attention to Ves.

”Tell me the truth, Ves.
Did you do it? Did you steal the holy relic? ”

Ves immediately donned his innocent mask.
He expected that he ’d be forced to don his mask again, but not against Calabast!

”I ’m not involved, I swear! I didn ’t do it! I ’m innocent! ”

Calabast grimaced as she scrutinized his entire body.
”I don ’t believe you. ”

”What?! But I don ’t have anything to do with it this time! ”

”Don ’t lie to me, Ves! It ’s no coincidence that you asked me to obtain a relic earlier this week.
Don ’t think I don ’t know that some of the Grey Martyr ’s relics inexplicably went missing.
Now something like this happens at the same time that your mechanical pet has gone missing during this timeframe.
No matter how innocent you seem, there are gaping holes in your story! ”

Damnit! Ves quietly cursed Calabast for her astuteness.
His innocent act hadn ’t worked at all!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc..
), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.