Speeches were being held in every hall that was floating close to the center of the Government District. Different high-ranking individuals from different public institutions stepped forward and told their own stories. These public officials generally spoke how proud of what they appreciated about the current state of Davute and what progress they wanted to see in the future. As Ves and his little family had been assigned to the most important floating hall, they got to hear the stories of a selection of ministers, military generals and other bigshots. "...Our military buildup is proceeding according to plan. Soon, we shall have the numbers to not only outnumber the Karlachs on every battlefield, but open up as many fronts as we wish. We have employed a wide variety of proven battlefield operators that excel in both the frontlines and behind enemy lines…" Ves questioned whether it was wise for a general of Davute to reveal so much information about his colonial state's military preparedness. Then again, Karlach might have learned all of this a long time ago. It may therefore be better for Davute to brag about all of the measures it took to increase its chances of winning the upcoming war. "...Our diplomatic outreach continues to produce results. Our exceptionally trade-friendly policies have earned us the support and confidence of multiple major colonies in the middle zone. Due to their geographic distance from Davute, we do not have many conflicts of interest, allowing us to cooperate on numerous fronts such as technology exchange, resource trading and more…" Gloriana perked up a bit when she heard this message. The talk about cooperating with other states might just refer to the Hex Federation! She turned towards Aurelia. "What is your analysis on the possible consequences of an alliance between the colonial state of Davute and the Hex Federation?" The young girl's political mind had already been churning even before her mother asked for her opinion. "The Davutans shall vanquish Karlachs with the help of the Hexers." Aurelia began her prediction. "Once Davute has won the war and expanded its territories, it can return the favor by providing military assistance to the Hex Federation so that the Friday Colonies can be wiped off the map. This way, both the Krakatoa Middle Zone and the Magair Middle Zone will fall under the indirect control of our clan! We can become the uncrowned queens of these two neighboring middle zones!" Ves almost spurted out the glass of wine that he had been sipping. Not just him, but all of the other adults at the table reacted with various degrees of surprise. This time, their emotional responses towards the young girl's political forecast were genuine! Chairman Bonte Richardson gave an ambiguous look at Ves. "You have taught your daughter well." "I have taught most of her lessons. She takes after myself." Gloriana proudly raised her chin. "What sort of formula is your oldest daughter derived from?" "It is nothing impressive." Ves quickly replied. "We did not earn that much money by the time we wanted to have our first child. We paid a modest sum to Witshaw & Yeneca for a formula that is centered around leadership and so on. Our other children are also products of W&Y." "There is an art to raising designer babies. The performance of your eldest exceeds the level that we typically encounter in children at her age bracket, and we have great confidence that they have invested at least one or two orders of magnitude more funding into their formulas." This time, Ves couldn't help but feel proud. "You would be right in that. It is normally not recommended to deviate from the plans of the genetics company, but our clan has a few ways of enriching our children and giving them a few more advantages than normal." The directors of DEP Construction all showed greater interest towards this. Each of them were parents in their own right and always wanted to raise talented descendants that could exceed their own work attainments. "What measures have you applied to make your daughter so much more clever and insightful?" "Ah, I cannot go into this any further because it concerns a trade secret of our clan." Ves said as he refrained from revealing any more sensitive information. "I can tell you that I have presented portions of my work to both the Survivalist Faction and the Transhumanist Faction of the MTA." "I see." Ves had thrown out just enough information to pique the interest of the board directors. Through them, the Serenitas Foundation would definitely receive the same information as well. Even if he exaggerated a bit while he made his claims, the powerful backer of Davute with ambitions to colonize more centrally-located star systems would definitely put Ves and his clan on a special list! Perhaps a few years or decades from now, the Serenitas Foundation might choose to enter into a serious business relationship with the Larkinson Clan. This was only a faint possibility, though. It may very well be the case that the Larkinson Clan and the Serenitas Foundation wouldn't ever intersect with each other again. As more and more people stepped up to the podium and flooded the crowd with their individual messages, everyone had a clearer idea about the people who would soon get to govern the various sections of the colonial state. Though not all of their stances and opinions sounded interesting, they all conveyed a high degree of competence and conviction. They cared about their missions and they wanted to make the Davute Project succeed more than anyone else. Just like President Yenames Clive, these hand-picked senior officials knew that they only had one shot to found a state and successfully turn it into an enduring power in the Red Ocean! As the messages started to blend into each other, more and more people already started to lose interest and began to chat with their table mates again. People like Ves only really cared about the big speech, which was the only one that mattered today. The history books and documentaries would never bother to mention anything from these mundane public addresses. Only the words spoken from President Yenames Clive would get remembered by every attending this founding ceremony and those born afterwards. Ves had experienced the same in his youth back when he grew up in the Bright Republic. Every decent state tried its best to indoctrinate its children and make them as loyal and attached to their homes as possible. Davute had a much harder task ahead of it as it needed to generate a lot of attachment in people who previously never had anything to do with this colony. This caused Ves to turn grave again. Noon was getting closer and Ves had made no significant progress in figuring out the details of the conspiracy and preventing the representatives of the Cross Clan from getting killed in an attempt to drive Patriarch Reginald crazy! As the Davutan officials continued to step forward in order to speak uplifting words about how great their colonial state would become, Ves felt as if he was living in an alternate reality. It felt surreal for all of the people around him to treat this occasion as a celebration when hundreds of them may die in a few hours. As the time to the most important event of the day continued to draw closer, Ves felt more and more ill at ease. Ves entered a state of mind that caused him to become extra paranoid and a lot more jumpier than usual. He had to put significantly more effort into maintaining his cool. His intuition became more sensitive towards any perceived inconsistencies that might denote possible threats. Though he usually derived a lot of benefits from his intuition, this time was different as the entire Government District was filled with military mechs. Standard mechs, expert mechs and ace mechs openly flew above everyone's heads. Each of them were armed with deadly weaponry that could definitely inflict mass casualties among a crowd as long as their attacks punched through whatever energy shields or other forms of protection was in the way. Who could tell whether their pilots had secretly turned traitor? 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚 Maybe the threat did not originate from the mechs. As Ves surreptitiously glanced at the heavily armed and armored soldiers that were chiefly responsible for securing the various venues, perhaps these lowly guards that no one ever paid much attention may hide a few sleeper agents who were actually planted by Karlach from the beginning. He inwardly shook his head. The answer shouldn't be so simple. The colonial government took security so seriously that the true nature of the threat had to come from an angle that no one could foresee! Yet as Ves kept churning his mind while continuing to scan his surroundings with his various senses, he failed to pick up any useful clues. Once the round of speeches had ended, it was time for the guest to make their way over to the dreaded seating blocks. The pit in his stomach grew heavier as he realized that time was beginning to run out. The great speech was about to commence in less than an hour, and Ves guessed that the surprise attack would begin not much later! Although all of the parallel thinking that he had done so far had presented him with a possible solution on how to foil the attempt to kill the people assigned to Block M, he was not sure it would work. Even if it successfully produced a positive result, Ves risked a lot of exposure, which was not desirable. At least he had been able to catch up to the Crossers before they took their seats on that blasted floating seating block. "Master Benedict!" Ves called. "I've been meaning to catch up with you today." The Master Mech Designer who had decided to wear a colorful ceremonial garment for this occasion turned around and greeted the younger mech designer with a smile. "Hello again, Ves. You look more handsome than before. You are truly growing into your role as a top mech designer and a clan leader." "Hehehe, thank you for the compliment. To be honest, I wanted to share my feelings on this ceremony with you. No one really understands my perspective, but I think that you are one of the few who do, Master." "Oh? What is this all about, Ves?" "We are more alike to each other than anyone else." Ves stated. "Our work experiences are remarkably alike despite the fact that we are separated by several generations." "That we do, but this is not the time to talk about our mech designs. We are about to witness an occasion that will have a profound effect on many lives." Ves nodded. "You are correct. The upcoming speech will indeed affect a lot of lives, some more than others. I think that whatever President Yenames Clive is about to announce will literally cause people to fly off the seat of their pants, including you guys. Especially you guys." The other man frowned a little. "You are not wording this phrase correctly. You are also not applying it in the right context." "Oh, did I? My mistake. I hope this public event will not end up anything close to what has happened during the time I visited Prosperous Hill IV in the Life Research Association. Back then, it was surprising how we were met with hostility by the people who we least expected to resort to extreme actions. Anyway, take care. No wait. You can already take care of yourself well enough. If I were you, I would pay more attention to your fellow Crossers. They are not as experienced as you and I. At least not yet. That will undoubtedly change sooner or later." Someone as smart as Master Benedict should definitely be able to pick up the hidden message through all of those hints. Though Ves had probably said a lot more than he should have, he couldn't care that much anymore now that the critical time dawned. He exchanged one deep look with Master Benedict before he turned to join the rest of his family.