When the shuttle arrived at the underground hangar, Ves returned to the Barracuda. Upon entry, Gavin expressed surprise at his swift arrival.

"It’s only been a moment. I thought you would have stayed with Master Olson longer."

Ves smiled ruefully. "The news will go out soon, but I guess you better learn it now. As of today, I am no longer Master Olson’s apprentice. I’ve ’graduated’ from her care. I’m no longer a member of the Clifford Society either. I basically have no formal ties to the Friday Coalition anymore."

That stunned his assistant. "Why? I thought you mech designers loved to maintain relations with each other!"

"Let me explain, Benny."

historical

As Ves gave instructions for Captain Silvestra to lift off into orbit, he described the reasons that led to this outcome. His lack of closeness to Master Olson and Gloriana’s shenanigans both compelled him to cut ties.

At the end of it, Gavin still looked caught off guard. "This changes things. One of the reasons why you stood out was because you were one of the few mech designers who were apprenticed to a Master. How many mech designers can boast of the same? While your association to a great Master will always remain, it won’t be as prominent anymore. Over time, it will merely be a footnote in your record."

"It’s fine. Although I’m rather peeved at Gloriana, it truly was for the best for me to distance myself from Master Olson. We are two completely different mech designers."

Ves would just feel suffocated if Master Olson compelled him to work on her behalf. Although many mech designers looked forward to the opportunity to earn the recognition of a Master Mech Designer, he happened to be an exception.

From now on, Ves did not owe anything to Master Olson, but neither would he be able to obtain any further benefits from her either. That suited both of them fine.

The only reason Ves felt a little cross was that he lamented the end of any ongoing relations with the rest of the Friday Coalition. Ves still had plans to engage with the powerful state in the future.

At the very least, the disruption to the LMC would be serious as Ves could no longer trust in SASS with the security of his company’s assets!

"We will have to end our contracts with SASS." Ves stated to Gavin. "I don’t know how far the news of my ’relationship’ with Gloriana has spread, but we should move all of their security forces out of the Mech Nursery and find another security company to plug in the gap."

Ves did not mention the Avatars of Myth taking over the vacancy, as they were still wholly inadequate to fulfill such heavy responsibilities.

"I’ll coordinate with Calsie and the other folks back home." Gavin nodded. "We’ll have to pay a price, though. I don’t have the contracts on hand but they definitely contain clauses that will force us to pay the full costs of security services over the entire terms of the contracts."

"It’s fine. The price we pay for this waste is less than the price we pay for letting a potential enemy have deep access to my assets."

The changes would definitely lead to a lot of upheaval regardless. Ves did not envy the managers and executives back home trying to keep the LMC together as the trusted and dependable security force of SASS moved out and an entirely new security force took their place.

Nonetheless, Ves merely had to issue the orders and delegate this headache-inducing issue to his subordinates.

With Gavin running off to pass on the new instructions to headquarters, Ves entered the bridge and walked up to Captain Silvestra.

"You’ve returned sooner than we expected." She remarked. "The Barracuda hasn’t even undergone any servicing yet. I suggest we wait until that’s done before we leave."

Ves shook his head. "I’m afraid we can’t do that. You’ll hear about this later, but for now all you need to know is that I’m no longer Master Olson apprentice and that my relationship with the Friday Coalition will soon go sour. I don’t think it is wise to let their engineers crawl all over my ship."

"Oh." The captain rapidly took in the implications. "If the Friday Coalition won’t be friendly territory for long, then it is indeed prudent for us to leave. What are your orders, sir?"

"I’m hoping to take a tour through the star sector before I return home to the Bright Republic. Please set course to the Kamon Republic. It’s fairly close, right?"

"It will take us less time to reach the Kamon Republic than Centerpoint." The captain confirmed. "While Kamon is rather small, it enjoys decent security since the third-rate state borders the Friday Coalition."

With such a huge neighbor right next door, the Kamon Republic enjoyed a lot of business ties to various Coalition influences. While arriving at Kamon would not completely bring Ves out of the Coalition’s sphere of influence, at least he wouldn’t be intruding in their direct territories anymore. He would just be strolling through their front yard instead.

Once there, Ves would have probably figured out his next destinations. He needed to do some careful research to see which states had something interesting for him to see.

They didn’t necessarily have to offer lots of bestial mechs or smart metal mechs. Ves wanted to make one lengthy trip in order to familiarize himself with the overall state of the Komodo Star Sector and experience some of its diversity.

The captain and the navigator charted a speedy course that would bring them to the Kamon Republic in a couple of weeks.

The Barracuda ascended into the air, leaving the archipelago occupied by the expansive grounds of the Leemar Institute of Technology behind. The giant juggernaut that graced the campus became but a pinprick in the projection of the view outside as the ship rapidly gained altitude.

"Farewell, Leemar." Ves whispered and turned off the projection.

He retired to his stateroom, upon which a curious Lucky emerged from his catnap.

"Meow?"

"A lot has happened today." Ves replied, and quickly summarized what happened.

Not surprisingly, Lucky did not react as strongly as Gavin or the others. He merely gave a single feline look at Ves before returning to his slumber.

"Meowww."

"Yeah. It doesn’t really change your circumstances, does it? I’ll manage somehow. I just have to readjust some of my future plans."

"Meow meow."

"We won’t be going home yet. We’ll be going on a sightseeing tour through the entire star sector."

"Meow!"

"Of course I’ll bring you along! Don’t expect I’ll open my wallet as much, though. I need to cut back on my spending."

Before he turned to other matters, Ves decided that he really needed to talk to his supposed ’girlfriend’. Though he hesitated for a few seconds, he eventually went through with his call attempt.

A projection came to life just a few seconds later. Gloriana appeared as beautiful as ever. This time, she wore a tight lab coat that emphasized her slender waist and her feminine curves.

"Ves! I’m so glad you called me!" She gleefully greeted him. "Did you miss me, perhaps?!"

"Ahem, this is not a social call, Gloriana." Ves sternly replied.

Although it was tempting for him to get caught up in her happy bubble, he really needed to show some spine today.

"Then.. what’s the matter, Ves?"

"What have you been spreading back on Centerpoint?! I just found out that you’ve been publicly claiming to be my girlfriend!"

Gloriana blinked. "So?"

"We didn’t even go on a single proper date yet!"

"So?"

"I don’t think our relationship has developed to this point! You’ve been way too premature in declaring yourself as my girlfriend! Do you know how much trouble you could have caused for me in the Friday Coalition? Master Olson just washed her hands from me and I’m no longer friends with any organizations in the Coalition!"

"Good."

"Good?" Ves grew frustrated. "Is that all you can say? Don’t you have any remorse?!"

"It had to happen. While I didn’t intend to spoil your arrangements with your Master or the Friday Coalitions, I don’t want you to associate with any Fridaymen any further. When I broke the news to my parents, they expressed a lot of disapproval once they looked into your background. Solving this conflict is the first step towards tying the knot! Hihihi!"

Ves slapped Gloriana’s projection. Although his hand flew right through the insubstantial form, the act deeply shocked the giggling woman.

"Gloriana! Be serious for once! I’m really pissed at you for pulling off this stunt!"

It finally dawned upon Gloriana that she may have taken a step too far. Not that she truly felt remorseful.

Tears began to gather in her big, lustrous eyes. "I-I-I was just doing what was best for the both of us! I didn’t want any other woman to hold any designs for you! I don’t like you hanging out in the Friday Coalition either! What if some floozy on Leemar starts draping herself all over you? I don’t want you to be led astray!"

Her possessiveness both disturbed and flattered Ves. If she wasn’t so attractive and compatible to him, he would have shown more repulsion.

"Look, let’s not move so quickly, okay?" He spoke in a calmer tone. While he was still angry, he somehow didn’t wish to show his ugly side towards Gloriana for some reason. "Let’s take this one step at a time. For now, I don’t want you to blab any further about our relationship, alright?"

She sniffed and nodded. "I promise. I won’t tell anyone except my parents and friends."

Though she looked so pitiful that Ves ached to embrace her, he knew better. She must be grinning in her mind. After all, the deed had already been done. If she had been as prolific in flaunting her status as his girlfriend as he suspected, then the news would have spread through most of the Komodo Star Sector by the end of the week.

Although not everyone would be interested in the gossip, all the notable organizations such as the MTA and various intelligence agencies would surely take note!

Though Ves could insist Gloriana to retract her statements, he had a feeling that wouldn’t work. He knew better than to issue a request that would never be fulfilled.

"Look, Gloriana. You’re really into me. I get that. But let’s not put the cart before the horse. Before we make any permanent commitments, we should find out if we are truly comfortable with each other. Mech designers like us live long lives. We have all the time in the galaxy to see if we can get along."

"But Callisto Professional Relations already analyzed our pairing. We’re eighty-seven percent compatible! That’s extremely high!"

That prediction again! Everyone took it way too seriously! Ves wanted to wring the necks of the AIs and relationship experts that came up with that blasted figure! A calculation derived from dubious input was just as flawed!

Even so, the discrepancy shouldn’t be all that much. Otherwise, Ves wouldn’t be so interested in Gloriana. The potential of combining his design philosophy with hers was an incredibly tempting prospect!

So much so that even his design seed urged him to grow closer to her!

Though it was a pity that she only worked on custom mechs, his intuition hinted to him that they would definitely be groundbreaking if he combined them with his own specialization.

Perhaps the custom mechs that emerged from their collaboration might even be able to make the Avatars of Myth take on a more literal meaning!

This possibility alone enticed him to continue exploring this admittedly problematic bond.

Just like Gloriana, he was willing to pursue any opportunities to advance his design philosophy. Perhaps it was his recklessness acting up again, but what was the harm of dealing with a little bit of craziness?