Chapter 7129: Showing Displeasure If Ves wanted to, he could have tried to accommodate the Hunters. Ves understood that if he completed his Mergewater mechs sooner, the Hunters would be able to deploy them a lot faster against the mutated voribugs. That would have given the Rubarthans a lot more relief. The war against the bugs was extremely serious considering the Rubarthans already struggled to defend against the native aliens. Sure, the sudden onset of the voribugs also caused the native aliens based around the Rubarthan Pact to hastily reorient their forces against the more acute threat, but that was not much of a consolation. The native aliens had become a known quantity to the Rubarthans. The Red Cabal may be made up of extremely old and powerful phase whales, but their strategic thinking and their biases had already been analyzed to death. That made them predictable. Manageable. Exploitable. Not so for the mutated voribugs. They were completely new and adopted vastly different units and paradigms. The mech forces and fleets of the various forces in the Rubarthan Pact were ill-equipped to fend off this brand-new threat. Even now, entire planets were getting drained of their biomass, no matter whether it came from exoplants, exobeasts or innocent human beings. Given the existential threat faced by the Rubarthans and eventually the rest of red humanity, Ves should be looking forward to cooperating with the Hunting Association. The faster he completed the development of his Mergewater mechs, the faster the Hunters could mobilize against this rapidly growing threat and help to stop the swarms from advancing any further. Creating Mergewater mechs would also bring him one step closer to realizing his design philosophy. Yet Ves refused to do so. There was a lot more at play than the need to complete this ambitious mech design project as soon as possible. The Hunting Association was way too arrogant for its own good. It had been pushing its weight around due to its monopoly on the supply of Mentalist Crystals and other rare organic resources. Ves refused to play their game. He did not want to reward the Hunters for their bossy and insulting behavior. If he wanted to be treated fairly by the Hunters, then he knew he needed to stand up for himself and make his stand. All actions had consequences. The Hunters may have forgotten about that, but he was more than willing to give them a reminder that not everyone was willing to act slavishly in order to gain their favor. In any case, Ves had made enough friends. During this Yernstall trip, he had managed to improve and expand his relations with almost every major human group. This gave him a lot of leeway. He could afford to piss off the Hunters. Although this would make it more difficult to get his hands on Mentalist Crystals, he should still be able to obtain them through third parties as long as he was willing to pay a hefty premium. The Hunters clearly understood the reasons why Ves adopted such an aggressive stance. They could not blame him for it because they were indeed at fault this time. It was quite awkward for the normally aggressive and inscrutable Hunters to lower their heads and admit fault. "We... shall report back to our headquarters and wait for our superiors to decide how to respond to your complaints." The deep wanderer ultimately said. "Rest assured that we have listened to your words. Our people will be in contact with you. The Hunting Association appreciates what you can offer." "Then act like it. Do not assume that I will cooperate with you to design a Mergewater mech just because it is promising. I have other options when it comes to bringing forth an elemental Carmine mech that is based on the water element." "The people being threatened by the mutated voribugs may not appreciate your stance." "I am not the savior of red humanity." Ves emphasized as he refused to let the Hunters take the moral high ground. "I am just a mech designer. I am one among many. There are countless other mech designers throughout the new frontier that are racing to develop their own counters against the unending swarms. I am sure a few dozen among them are able to come up with brilliant creations that may prove just as effective against this new threat. This is the strength of red humanity. We have so many competent warriors and creators among us that we can always count on each other to carry the burden of protecting our race." With that, the conversation quickly came to an end. There was not much Ves and the Hunters to talk about. The Hunters eventually left the garden courtyard in a grim mood. None of them were happy, but so what? They brought this upon themselves as far as Ves was concerned. "Miaow..." Clixie relaxed her tense body after the scary Hunters had left. The Rubarthan Sentinel Cat could tell that each of these powerful Hunters had killed hundreds of exobeasts. Even if Clixie was much different from those savage creatures, this distinction may as well not exist to the Hunters. To them, as long as they faced any non-humanoid organisms, they couldn’t help but think about completing another sacred hunt. Clixie slowly relaxed as Aurelia scratched her under her chin and behind the ears. The future naval cadet looked thoughtful as she witnessed a strange and disharmonious exchange of words. "Was it truly necessary to go this far into showing your displeasure, papa?" She softly asked. "You clearly wanted to collaborate with them on developing your Mergewater mechs. Couldn’t you have given them a window to offer reparations in order to repair relations and move on with the design project?" Ves shook his head. "If I was dealing with more rational people, then that would be my preferred solution. Emotions should not play a role in negotiations at this level. However... these Hunters piss me off too much. They treat the Red Ocean as their hunting preserve and base their entire behavior off this selfish stance. They are like bullies in a sense. If you don’t stand up to them, they will continue to push you and take you for granted. Even if I have gone too far in rebuking the Hunters, it is still worth it. At worst, we won’t be friends anymore, but that is not a big deal to me because I have many other friends." "Will the Hunters try and make a more earnest effort to reconcile with you, papa?" He shrugged. "I genuinely don’t know. It depends on how extensively their leaders have become indoctrinated in their strange new culture. If their pride has grown too strong, then they may not be able to bring themselves to apologize to me. That is fine. I will just shelve my plans for developing a Mergewater mech and devise an alternate water-based Carmine mech." His daughter took in his words and continued to think about them. She did not necessarily agree with his decision, but she could accept his argumentation. Ves proceeded to go through a number of other appointments. These ones were shorter and less consequential, but it was still important for him to give the visitors their due courtesy. Unlike his tense meeting with the Hunters, Ves adopted a much friendlier and more welcome demeanor. There was no reason for him to act antagonistic against people who offered a lot more sincerity. The delegations from the Terrans and the Rubarthans received slightly more attention from Ves. There was not much for them to talk about, though. Ves had already dealt with the Terrans often back when he resided on New Constantinople VIII. The development of the Arboreal Project was making brisk progress. The first Woodsap mechs should go out fairly soon, thereby becoming the first advanced Carmine mechs to make their debut to the public. The Rubarthans arrived with a much more humble attitude. Everyone knew that they were begging for help from anyone willing to offer it. There was no room for misplaced pride and conceit this time. Survival was all that mattered. As such, the Rubarthans eagerly wanted to confirm whether Ves was still planning to travel to the Rubarthan Pact and see what he could do to help in the effort to repel the mutated voribugs. "My plans have not changed." Ves told the Rubarthan diplomat. "I will be leaving shortly after the conclusion of my stay in Yernstall. That said, do not expect any miracle solutions from me. Even if I can come up with a fantastic mech concept, it will still take at least half a year for me to flesh it out. It may take even longer as I have many existing design obligations." He actually did not know what he was supposed to do once he traveled to the Rubarthan Pact. As a mech designer, Ves did not possess any direct means of intervening in the current crisis. This was pretty bad, because the Rubarthans most acutely needed help in the immediate term. As long as they managed to buy enough time, they could complete their various preparations and mobilize whatever reserves they could squeeze out of their population. Even so, Ves did not think he would waste his trip in the event that he was not able to provide substantial help shortly after his arrival. He needed to observe the mutated voribugs with his own eyes and figure out how they worked. Only then would he be able to design mechs that could fight against them properly. Though the Rubarthans could not hide their disappointment at their inability to secure more immediate gains, they expressed understanding and still intended to roll out the red carpet for Ves after he and his Bluejay Fleet arrived at the Rubarthan Pact. "We look forward to welcoming you to our renewed star empire. A growing number of heroes have gathered in front of our second frontline. We hope you will be able to help us slow down the swarms and save more citizens and infrastructure." Ves smiled and nodded. "We are all red humans. Your people are currently most in need, so you can bet I will be there. Let us hope that we can all make a difference." After Ves concluded a number of short but fruitful meetings, he finally ended his obligation for the day. "That’s it." He said with a tired breath. "I do not particularly like diplomacy, but it is better to spend the effort to build friendly ties rather than get stabbed in the back by those you have spurred." "Is this why the Larkinson Clan tries to avoid making enemies whenever possible?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖 "Yes." He said. "It can get rather tiresome to remain friends with so many different groups, but it beats the alternative. That said, I have recently been reminded that the vast majority of them are fair-weather friends. You can’t rely on them that much if you are in real trouble. This is why I have made efforts to deepen my relations with a handful of parties, but the Red Fleet in particular." "Why the Red Fleet?" Aurelia asked. "Is it because I am about to study at their naval academy?" "I have to admit that this has played a large role behind my decision." Ves responded. "The fleeters are not as desperate as the Rubarthans, but they are definitely down on their luck. Now that they are not as secure in their superiority as before, they will develop a greater appreciation for my assistance. If they ever manage to regain their might and leading position, then they will not forget the friends that helped them recover. Besides, the more important I become to them, the better they will treat you, if not directly, then indirectly." His daughter looked slightly impressed. "The RF will not treat the person who can convert their dreadnoughts into living dreadnoughts badly. You are an important partner to them. I think that they will show much greater sincerity once they transfer additional warships to the Bluejay Fleet."