The Mech Touch

Anyone who listened to the discussion between Ves and Prince Casevir would definitely be taken aback at the outrageous statements made by the former!

Ves had removed all of his filters and readily badmouthed the eminent Star Emperor!

Not a single Rubarthan subject could ever bring themselves to say such dangerous words in front of one a Rubarthan prince, who served as an extension of His Majesty and the Rubarthan state as a whole!

Back in the Milky Way Galaxy, such speech was enough to ruin the life of the violator. Unless the offender in question resided in a place like the Greater Terran United Confederation, there were plenty of touchy Rubarthans who were more than willing to dispatch their secret assassinations to punish the culprit and deter others from questioning the greatness of their sovereign.

However, the circumstances were much different this time!

Barely a year had passed since the Age of Dawn had arrived. Many people such as Ves had already made a lot of progress in adapting to the new circumstances, but there were plenty of others who continually clung to the vestiges of the past for all kinds of irrational reasons.

As far as Ves was concerned, all of these silly Rubarthans had become so indoctrinated by their state and the institutions around them that they literally could not imagine the idea that the Star Emperor was in any way infallible!

How was this any different from treating him as a god?

No matter how good of a statesman and administrator he may be, no human being was perfect.

Just because he managed to restore much of the New Rubarth Empire's economy, social order and national pride did not mean he was good in other areas!

For example, Ves was pretty sure that the Star Emperor could not pilot a mech or design one for that matter.

The Rubarthans may be unable or unwilling to say it, but Ves was different.

He clearly observed many glaring deficiencies in the child-rearing attitude of the illustrious Rubarthan sovereign. Different from everyone else, Ves was not afraid to share his objections!

As the Impresario Prince's brain had utterly crashed from the overload of critique towards his great father, Ves assumed a triumphant attitude while he continued to pet Goldie's back.

"Nyaaaa..." The ancestral spirit relaxed as she enjoyed the attention of her progenitor.

The Golden Cat wanted everyone to experience the warmth and love of being surrounded by family!

The confused and befuddled prince was such a pitiful man in her opinion. As storied as his lineage may be, what was the point of valuing his family relations when his relatives had never shown him much affection in the first place?

When everyone in the Imperial Rubarthan Household treated each other as rivals and tools, how could there still be room for love?

A house like this could not even be regarded as a family anymore!

Ves continued to loom over the physical projection of the devastated prince as his words hammered home his argument.

"What are you afraid of, Your Highness? The Rubarthan Pact has severed its fate from that of the New Rubarthan Empire. The unworthy bastard of a father that has claimed the title of Star Emperor has no way to extend his authority all the way over here. We have entered a new time, one where your colonial superstate has gained the right to choose its own course. The sooner you Rubarthans recognize that you are freed from living under the toil of that mass womanizer, the better."

The prince finally suppressed his inner turmoil to the point where he could supply a more cohesive response to Ves' incredibly inciting words.

"Your words may ring with an element of truth, but that does not mean that I should completely forsake my imperial heritage and embrace your upstart clan. Becoming a part of your band of misfits is utter madness. My brothers and sisters will not be able to tolerate my continued existence if I subordinate myself to you. I may not have any chance of winning the throne, but there are more advantages to retaining my position in the Imperial Rubarthan Household than defecting to another organization."

Ves inwardly sighed. The prince resisted the temptation to completely make a break from his troubled past and reset his life.

It was to be expected. What sort of person would give up all of the status and privileges afforded to a prince of a first-rate superstate so easily?

When Ves spontaneously invited Prince Casevir to embrace the Golden Cat and join the Larkinson Clan, he never really had a high expectation for success.

What Ves sought to accomplish was to break open the stupid prince's overly rigid mindset!

As long as a sufficiently powerful external shock completely tore apart the Impresario Prince's flawed and outdated assumptions, the man could finally begin to analyze his circumstances with a fresher and more open-minded perspective!

Ves only needed to make a single opening in order to secure substantial gains from this conservation.

"You won't remain a prince forever." He continued to argue. "The Star Emperor probably has a few centuries to go before he finally croaks, but his lifespan has become irrelevant now that the Rubarthan Pact has gone adrift. Sooner or later, the succession battle will be decided. That will be the moment where you and many of your siblings in the Red Ocean will be stripped of your princely titles. Since this is the case, why not make a head-start in this transition and distance yourself from your dysfunctional house on your own terms? It is better to take your fate in your own hands than to leave it up to those who never showed any care of you in the first place!"

As logical as this argument may sound, it was still a step too far to the reluctant prince.

"No more, professor. I have already gone too far by listening to you insult my great father. I am not naive enough to believe that you are wrong, but I am not reckless enough to step too far out of line. I am not an immature child that needs to be coddled. I am more than capable of addressing my own affairs with the Imperial Rubarthan Household."

The Prince rose up from his work seat and stood with renewed vigor and confidence.

Despite all of the outrageous words that Ves had spoken to him, Casevir did not look upset at all. Now that he managed to sober himself up in a speedy manner, he recognized that Ves was trying to do him a favor.

Perhaps the infamous Devil Tongue could have adopted a gentler approach, but the chances of failure were much greater in that case.

The prince was not actually stupid. He fully understood that shock value had its uses.

The Impresario Prince recognized that not a single Rubarthan could have helped him as effectively as this foreigner. Even if they recognized the root cause behind Casevir's lack of progress in his art journey, they could never muster up the courage to point out his severely flawed relationship with his great father!

Perhaps that was why his mother as well as all of the renowned and expensive art tutors in the past never really helped him as much as Professor Larkinson. They were too awed by the oppression of the Star Emperor to cast any blame towards him. The renowned artists could only try to steer the clueless Impresario Prince away from the Seventh in order to live a life well outside of the orbit of his great father.

"Nyaaa nyaaa nyaaa." The Golden Cat cutely sounded.

Ves grinned as he scratched the spiritual cat's chin. "Goldie says that the darkness that has been clouding your mind has begun to fade. That is good, Your Highness. As a cultivator, you need to pay careful attention to your mood and your emotions. Cultivation causes anything you think and feel to be amplified many times over. If you are afflicted with murderous tendencies, then you are more likely to give in to your violent impulses. If your mind is at peace, then you will be able to remain sober during crises. No matter what you practice, if you don't like what it is turning you into, then I suggest you switch to another method."

"Thank you for well-meaning advice." The prince graciously said. "I do not require any assistance on that part. I understand what you mean. I will need to ponder on your lessons. You have given me far too much to think about. I am not willing to follow all of your suggestions, but your intervention has given me the perspective I needed to find a new direction for my art."

The Impresario Prince looked around his atelier and grew increasingly more dissatisfied with his works, no matter whether they were old or new.

The varied pieces of paintings, carvings and sculptures all looked aesthetically pleasing in one way or another. The prince had mastered many skills and techniques to an astonishing degree, and it showed. None of his completed works exhibited any visible flaws.

Yet for all of his technical mastery, the Impresario Prince's inability to comprehend love had caused his vision and his art direction to go astray.

His works were barely different from the soulless 'art' generated by artificial intelligences!

If not for the fact that his art pieces could all claim to be made by a direct descendant of the Star Emperor, they would have gained far less recognition in the highly competitive art sector!

When Casevir examined the fruits of his labor in the last few months and years from a very different perspective than before, it was as if a fog had been lifted from his eyes.

The works which he previously took pride in now seemed so inadequate and full of flaws that he spontaneously gained the desire to burn it all down!

Of course, there was no way a prince like him would give into such a self-destructive urge, but the point remained.

The Impresario Prince needed to start over again.

Only by resetting his current art direction and going back to his starting point would he be able to revive his passion in this profession.

"Nyaaaa."

Seeing that Goldie had successfully made a difference, the energy manifestation rolled in Ves1 one last time before fading away.

The warmth that previously affected the prince across the encrypted connection no longer influenced his mental activity anymore.

Casevir immediately felt the difference. A part of him wanted to request Ves to call Goldie back, but that would be way too juvenile and embarrassing to him. He still had to uphold his dignity as a prince!

Instead, he wanted to end this call as soon as possible so that he could put his life on the right track.

"It is impossible for me to forsake my house and defect to your clan, but that does not mean that I am unwilling to associate with you and your Larkinsons." The Impresario Prince ultimately announced. "Your sage advice has given me more help than anything that I have received from my fellow Rubarthans in the last handful of decades. I am not a man who lacks gratitude. I shall personally approve the deal that you have originally proposed. I do care about diluting my current stock in Isthmus Manufacturing. If I can gain your friendship in exchange for this sacrifice, then I am more than willing to make this concession."

Ves tried his damn hardest not to expose his grin!

"Thank you very much, Your Highness! I would be glad to call you my friend. The fact that you are able to accept my words makes me optimistic about your future. You have proven to me that you are a true artist. So long as you are able to rediscover the love of your craft, I am certain that you will quickly be able to surpass your current level."

The two continued to exchange platitudes to each other, but Ves didn't really care anymore.

The only concern on his mind was the fact that he successfully managed to swindle 20 percent ownership of an extremely lucrative first-class mech manufacturer out of the prince!

The best part about this transaction was that Ves did not have to give up anything substantial in return!

The only measure he had to take in order to win this foolish prince over was to continuously hurl insults at his deadbeat father!

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