The Mech Touch

Chapter 7388  Poor in Fortune

The escort fleet regained control over the situation.

Its forces secured the surrounding area and took control over the stealth vessels that accompanied the Voice of Liberty.

Interrogations and analysis of the ship cores revealed that the rogue saint's followers had no clue that he hatched such a deep plot.

They only knew about his most superficial plan, which was to intercept the escort fleet and destroy the research specimen.

None of them had any clue that their vaunted ace pilot practically planned his own suicide!

The outcome that eventually came to pass before their eyes crushed their spirits.

Their idol which they admired to the point of supporting his treasonous behavior had died so abruptly and completely that they could not fathom why he abandoned them so utterly!

They had all become overtaken by grief, regret and other gloomy emotions.

That made them easier to interrogate than normal.

Though the vast majority of crew members knew nothing, there were a handful of trusted subordinates and insiders who knew a little more.

Ves, now returned to his human-scaled form, decided to board the leading vessel and check to see if the deceased ace pilot had left anything useful behind.

The man most commonly known as his secretary and assistant admitted what little he knew about his principal's deeper intentions.

"Conrad… has grown weary and tired of the status quo in the last two or so years." A rather elderly but stately man said. "He grew disappointed by the lack of courage and abundance of caution shown by peak ace pilots such as the Mace of Retaliation. he believes that they are too afraid of the unknown and harbor too much respect towards the risks. He has never explicitly stated his own intention to initiate a breakthrough attempt. It was unthinkable to us as he had yet to become a peak ace plot. This is why his actions took all of us by surprise."

Even in sorrow, the black-suited man still demonstrated the grace of a man who once stood alongside a senior ace pilot.

He sounded genuine, and Ves had little reason to believe that the secretary said anything misleading.

The logic was too strong. Everyone knew that only ace pilots who had reached the upper limit of their resonance strength invested their time on their potential breakthroughs.

There was no point for senior ace pilots to make preparations in advance as it might take years before they became qualified.

It was too premature for them to make plans in advance, especially considering that their circumstances could change drastically in a moderate span of time.

Even if they formulated a plan, there was no reasonable way to execute it with their lacking resonance strengths.

However, the Voice of Liberty clearly did not play by the rules. He had so little respect for them that he directly contradicted common sense and relied on unnatural means to boost his resonance strength!

"Did he not tell you just before he deployed into the field for the last time?" Ves questioned.

The elderly man shook his head. "No, sir. We trust each other. I know him well. He is usually forthcoming with his confidantes, but he bears numerous secrets and burdens that he keeps to himself. This is just one of them. He may have believed that we would do something irrational and spoil his plan. He was right to fear that from us. We care too much about him. There are times where have been forced to protect him from his own… hubris. We are not ignorant of his shortcomings. Ace pilots are all confident by definition, but he… he thought that he could challenge the universe, especially after receiving a custom-designed mech from the Resonance Smith."

To be fair, anyone who received a mech of this caliber would experience a massive boost in confidence.

Though the Sound of Revolution hadn't been able to show off its full prowess today, it was definitely an extremely well-designed mech!

Yet despite getting paired with such a perfect complimentary machine, Saint Conrad Morgenstern ultimately failed to gather the strength to rewrite reality to a sufficient degree.

His unfilling death cast a huge amount of doubt on his judgment.

"It is already clear to everyone that the Voice of Liberty is an idealist." Ves mildly spoke as he crossed his arms and tapped feet against the deck. "However, I do not believe his delusion has become strong enough that he believes his breakthrough will unconditionally succeed. He had to have left a message or an inheritance of sorts behind. Where is it? What did he leave behind?'

The secretary's expression turned a little odd. "I am in charge of his personal effects, which are not that many considering a saint of his stature. The Voice of Liberty had never been a materialist. He has invested most of his assets into upgrading and repairing his ace mech. His personal chambers contain relatively few personal effects, most of which hold no value to you. There is nothing to be gained from confiscating his attires, his trophies or documents. He has left more possessions behind at his residences in Yernstall and other locations, but he has always held the sentiment that his true treasures are his memories."

Ves pressed his lips when he heard that. He already had a feeling that this was the case.

The Voice of Liberty had made little friends over the years.

While he was not known to be abrasive or insensitive, he was clearly a driven crusader who drew a clear line with anyone he perceived to be a part of a corrupt power structure.

Such a man usually did not get to amass a lot of wealth. Not that it mattered as such individuals rarely if ever indulged in any luxuries unrelated to their own mechs.

Ves held little expectations towards acquiring any treasures at this point.

He briefly turned around to see how Lucky was doing.

"Have you found anything interesting yet?"

He had brought his gem cat over in the hopes of sniffing out any hidden caches.

"Meow." Lucky yawned as he idly floated from corner to corner.

The mechanical feline clearly hadn't found anything suspicious.

"Keep searching." Ves urged. "Do not miss any detail. I want this vessel completely swept by the time we leave."

Time constraints prevented Ves from bringing Lucky over to the other ships. He could only hope that if the Voice of Liberty left anything valuable behind, it would be aboard the ship he resided upon prior to his last engagement.

Ves decided to take a closer look himself. He toured the interior of the vessels.

He not only visited the chambers where he rested when he was still shackled to his corporeal form, but also dropped by the mech hangar where the Sound of Revolution had been resting quietly before its fateful deployment.

Nothing.

Ves opened control panels, accessed the software of different ship systems and even dug into the sparse reserves of spare parts and materials for the senior ace mech.

Though he managed to make numerous interesting discoveries, none of them fit his criteria!

He grew frustrated! "I don't believe this! There is no way that the Voice of Liberty has left us with nothing useful!"

"Ahem." The secretary politely coughed. "According to my understanding and familiarity of him, that may be precisely what he intended."

Ves immediately spun on his heels. "Explain!"

"You should be familiar with his history and his controversies. Though he has made several friends throughout his lifetime, he has made even more enemies. He does not necessarily fear them while he remains alive and well, but once he has met his end, he knows that his supporting circle will collapse. His possessions will be claimed by greedy parties while his friends and comrades may face a certain degree of suppression from society. In order to prevent these sharks from tearing everything apart, he has deliberately lived a more frugal and ascetic life than necessary."

That… unfortunately made a lot of sense. It aligned with Ves' own impressions and ideas.

The Voice of Liberty claerly knew what he was doing. The man was exactly kind of person who would leave nothing behind in order to spite his enemies for the last time!

Ves asked a few more questions, but they only reinforced the notion that Saint Conrad Morgenstern had invested very little in his legacy.

He found that to be a rather selfish and shortsighted approach from an ace pilot.

Perhaps that may have been a contributing factor to his failed breakthrough.

After sniffing around for a while, Ves truly gave up at this point. He relied on scanning systems, Blinky's spiritual senses and his spatial senses to see if he could find any hidden treasures, yet the ship turned out to be utterly mundane.

The secretary did not think that there was anything special about it. He had repeatedly reminded Ves that his search was in vain.

"Conrad despised the current rulers of his people." The secretary plainly said. "He stepped into the field knowing that if he failed, he would leave nothing behind just so that he can spite treasure seekers such as yourself. The manner of his demise aligns with his purposes even better. The universe has erased his.being, doing him.a favor of preventing others from exploiting his brain and body for nefarious purposes."

What a bitter man.

The identity of a contrarian led to a difficult and miserable life. The Voice of Liberty could not place his full trust in anyone, fearing that even his closest of confidants might betray him one day.

Just when Ves thought he would get nothing out of this apparently wasted trip, he suddenly received an alert from his comm.

"A message from… the Voice of Liberty?!"

It turned out that he taken the time record a small message. Saint Morgenstern uploaded it onto the galactic net and added a condition to send it to its intended recipient if he had not come back and transmitted the deactivation command.

"Quite simple, but effective I guess. It seems that Saint Conrad was not entirely convinced that he would live past this day.

Ves read the description attached to the video file.

"It is best if I watch the recording of his last message in private." He said, not just to the secretary, but also to the members of the other groups.

While they were no doubt curious at what the Voice of Liberty's intended to say to the mech designer upon the event of a failed breakthrough, they knew better than to listen without authorization.

Ves entered a secure chamber a moment later.

Stealth vessels often dealt with secrets, so it became all the more important that they offered highly secure and shielded compartments where almost no signals could go in and out.

Lucky lazily made the rounds while Ves set up his jamming devices.

Only after he had set up the necessary precautions did he choose to play the message.

A projection of Saint Conrad Morgenstern came into view.

Different from the recordings that he watched before, this one felt lifeless.

The recorded ace pilot was unable to convey any hint of will. This was one of the definite signs that he was no longer alive and present in this universe.

[Hello, Ves.] The saint greeted in a remarkably casual voice. [If you are hearing this, then I must have fallen. This is not how I want the future to be shaped, but in the event it unfolds, I cannot allow my passing to harm my friends and subordinates. Let me propose a deal with you. I would like to request you to extend your protection to my followers who have nowhere else to go. Take them into your clan. I can vouch their honor and integrity. They are all good men and women that possess their own skills and talents which you may find useful. I am not asking you to do this for nothing. In exchange for giving them refuge, I am willing to pass on a reward to you in return.]

Ves grew a lot more interested in what the ace pilot had to say!