?Chapter 6420 A Diplomatic Test Ves did the obligatory press tour. His heart was not in it, but he entertained a lot of interviewers and patiently answered their questions despite how repetitive and stupid they became. Ves did not try to pull off anything fancy. Creating and publishing his first set of Carmine mechs was the greatest public relations move that he could make. All he needed to do was to show that he could be more than the Father of Carmine Mechs. By elucidating the public with his viewpoints and proving that he possessed the right attitude towards public service, Ves hoped to establish himself as a leader who could be relied upon, especially during this time of crisis. By presenting a more mature and responsible version of himself, Ves shed off the vestiges of his more youthful self and made himself appear as if he deserved a place alongside wise and much older leaders. Of course, Ves made sure to not to go too far in playing a role that was different from his true self. He still retained his eccentricities and distinctive beliefs that did not match mainstream beliefs, but he tempered them so that his weirdness did not present a disharmonious image. When he was not sitting down in order to participate in another widely broadcast interview, Ves was visiting factories, stores, gardens, universities and other places where people gathered. His armored transport and heavy escort flew across much of the surface of La Reina in order to visit the places that Gavin and his staff had carefully selected. Ves had to admit that the visits had been mildly fruitful towards him. He never visited these places in person. First-raters may enjoy a much higher level of prosperity than other humans, but they had their own fair share of struggles. The economic pressure of living in Yernstall was enormous. High taxes, high fees, a huge number of competitors willing to take the jobs of existing workers and a high degree of overpopulation made it difficult to enjoy any peace and relaxation in this star system. Yet despite those difficulties, people still fought to obtain permanent residence in Yernstall. As one of the few central star nodes that was directly managed by the Red Association and the Red Fleet, it was one of the safest places for humans to live. In fact, Bridgehead One was supposed to be safer, but had become isolated from the rest of human society due to the machinations of the Red Cabal. The surprise attack on Bridgehead One should have caused people's confidence in the safety of other central star nodes to drop, but that did not really happen. People had a lot of faith in the ability of Red Two to properly guard their remaining centers of civilization from similar ploys. All of this meant that Yernstall had gathered much of the smartest, most talented and most hard-working first-raters in the Red Ocean. Since the Sapphire of the Red Ocean also attracted a lot of Terran and Rubarthan citizens, the central star node had access to a much wider manpower pool than other places. Of course, the Terrans and Rubarthans normally preferred to avoid any direct contact with each other. They deliberately set up their own city quarters and city districts where they could group together and preserve their own culture and customs. Ves happened to get along well with people of any state. No matter whether they were Terran, Rubarthan or a citizen of a smaller first-rate state, he enjoyed universal respect from all of them due to his massive contributions to society. The Terrans almost considered him to be one of them due to the fact that he had taken up residence in New Constantinople. The Rubarthans conspicuously dug up the Rubarthan origins of his Larkinson lineage and treated him as the descendant of an exile that had more than earned the right to regain his Rubarthan citizenship with honor. Others drew upon his origins from the Bright Republic to consider him to be a fellow third-rater, while another group of people concluded from the fact that the Larkinson Clan mostly consisted of second-raters that Ves was actually one of them as well. Visit after visit, Ves grew bemused by how hard people tried to twist the facts just so that they could claim that he was one of them. The fact that was all built on a kernel of truth just so happened to make their theories convincing enough to pass muster. Though the constant visits and interviews started to wear him down on a mental level, he nonetheless felt he had developed a genuine connection with the people of Yernstall and human-occupied space as a whole. Ves had the illusion that he had sublimated as a politician. He not only felt a greater sense of responsibility to stand up for the interests of ordinary people, but also considered himself to be guardian of their prosperity and wellbeing. Of course, he also enjoyed the idea that he could practically ask them to do anything on his behalf. He had no idea whether he would be able to retain this supreme power, but it was nice to be able to use it as a threat against his political opponents. Though Ves had grown weary by the end of this expansive public relations tour, Gavin sounded highly optimistic about the gains they made. "Your approval rating has risen. Less people see any problem of allowing you to ascend to high office despite your relative young age and lacking experience. Now that they have seen the current version of yourself show care and attention to the needs of the common folk, they are more willing to elevate you than more seasoned politicians." Ves laid back on a lounge chair while nursing his slightly aching head. "What does this all mean to me, Gavin?" "It means that anyone who wants to stop you from becoming the chief councilor of the Upper Council of the Red Collective has virtually little chance of succeeding. The personal assistant grinned like a shark. "In order to deny you this seat, your opponents must be able to recommend another candidate that possesses superior qualifications. There are plenty of individuals who desire to become the inaugural chief councilor of one of the most powerful organizations of red humanity. No matter whether they are statesmen, businessmen, mech designers or naval officers, none of them can beat your unique combination of massive contributions paired with level of empathy towards the people at the bottom." Ves looked dubiously at Gavin. "I thought I already confessed to you that I don't really care about the plight of individual people anymore." "Well, you have done a good job at pretending that you still do, boss. At least, the fact that you used to start close to the bottom of human civilization and worked your way up step-by-step at least meant you lived among ordinary folk for an awfully long time. The vast majority of bigshots cannot say the same. They are all elite first-raters who grew up in palaces or country estates. They cannot hold a normal conversation with an ordinary worker to save their life. You are different. Your plain diction alone distinguishes you from all of those upper-born snobs." Ves could see what his assistant meant. He climbed up the hierarchy way too quickly, which prevented him from assimilating into the more refined half of society. He never really cared about this stuff in the first place. He always considered himself to be a mech designer first, and he had learned that the best way that a man of his profession communicated with others was through his mech designs. In that sense, designing and releasing the Yellow Jackets to the public accomplished far more than any lengthy speech from a politician! Ves had proven with his deeds and actions that he could genuinely make people's lives better. This was his greatest strength, and one that no smooth talker could ever match. "Okay, enough flattery." Ves said as he wanted to move on with business. "Let's talk about my upcoming meeting. What do you know about the guy who I am about to meet?" "The vice director of the regional headquarters that you are scheduled to meet is an old and retired professional hunter called Talas Redmond." Gavin recited the intelligence collected about the man. "He is known to be a hardcore hunter and a staunch traditionalist, so much so that he often gets in the way of other leaders within the Hunting Association. He is one of the difficult people to persuade on anything. The HA is definitely making life more difficult for you by deliberately having you negotiate with such a stubborn old fool." Great. This was yet another calculated snub from the Hunting Association. Couldn't these guys act normal for once? "Does he still hunt?" "He does. Redmond is over 200 years old, but still goes out to complete his own hunts now and then. According to our intelligence, he takes every vacation opportunity that he can get to travel to a nearby hunting preserve and go out in the wild to complete a solo hunt. He is one of the types that likes to enter a jungle with nothing but clothes and other essential survival gear such as a breather mask if necessary. He doesn't necessarily go out to hunt the most deadly prey. The vice director finds greater enjoyment in hunting clusive prey by taking them down with bows and arrows that he crafted from the land, or by setting up ingenious traps that could take his targets down in a brilliant. fashion." The stories that Gavin shared about Vice Director Redmond painted the picture of an utterly bewildering old man. This guy willingly abandoned the comforts of civilization and embraced savagery just to make his hunts more exciting and authentic. His advanced age may have caused his fitness to drop from its peak a long time ago, but the man relished the opportunity to fell his prey through trickery and cunning instead. Ves already started to feel his headache growing stronger as he struggled to figure out how to develop a connection with such a savage figure. "Maybe I should cancel this meeting" "Don't. There is always a chance, boss. Suspending the meeting will be seen as a show of weakness. You absolutely cannot afford to do that during this politically sensitive period of time. You need to see this meeting through and come out strong enough to prove to all of the spies and secret observers that you can hold your own in front of a powerful rival or adversary. You can consider this one of the annoying tests that you have been complaining about as of late." "Great. Really great. A test is the last thing I want to hear about." Ves groaned. Now that Gavin mentioned it, Ves could already recognize that it was likely true. The Huntsman himself may have decided to give Ves a diplomatic challenge, just to see whether he could overcome it with his dignity intact. If Ves failed to handle himself properly during this difficult talk, then that would obviously cause the people above his head to silently lower their evaluation of himself! Though Ves felt so frustrated about these games that he felt the urge to flip the board out of rage, he held in his emotions and tried to be more rational about this affair. There were far more advantages than disadvantages if he agreed to play along. If he was not strong enough to become a chess player, then he better do a good job as a chess piece. His time would come sooner or later. Ascending to high office at the Red Collective was the first major step of this ambitious plan. He could exercise a lot more power and influence once his appointment turned into reality. "Gavin, please help me with ideas on how I can possibly connect to this old vice director. I refuse to believe I cannot persuade this guy to embrace a mutually beneficial agreement."