[201-400] THE MECH'S TOUCH

Chapter 260: Spending Money Like a Drunk

He eyed his cousin like she was an alien. "You're dating the Little Boss? He's not a very good influence! I thought you hated lowlives like him!"

Raella held up her palms in a defensive manner. "Hey, he's cool once you get to know him! He's a great mech pilot and not like a country bumpkin at all, unlike most boys I've met on this farm planet."

Ves was not in a mood to play the parent, but he didn't want to leave it at that. Relationships with junior gang bosses had a tendency to entangle everyone close into a morass of intimidation and violence.

"I don't think the family will be glad to hear that. You know how they can get sometimes. We have a reputation to uphold!"

"Screw reputation! The Larkinsons will keep being the squeaky-clean military dynasty without me then!"

The argument devolved into a mindless back-and-forth that didn't resolve anything. Ves gave up on convincing Raella, since he obviously couldn't control her movements. "Look, if you want to go out with Dietrich, then go ahead, but please don't go off and join Walter's Whalers."

"Hey, I'm not that stupid. It's just a fling, man. Don't look at me like I'm off to elope with him! Sheesh!" Raella flipped her purple-dyed hair and scampered off.

He didn't know what to do. While he liked Dietrich as a person, one day he'd be sure to inherit his father's mantle. The buddy he knew may turn into someone he wouldn't be able to recognize anymore.

"Everyone changes over time."

After taking the rest of the day off, Ves returned to work in order to prepare for his upcoming debut. His company had already prepared for his public debut for months, having contacted various news portals and noteworthy experts to attend his press conference.

Every important manager in the company gathered in the conference room to report their preparations to Ves.

"Around twenty different publications accepted the invitation to attend Michael Dumont's debut." Gavin started to report. "Our goal is to surpass that number. However, the marketing department has found out that it's very difficult to get them to send out their reporters unless we cut some deals with them. Their demands range from exclusive interviews to free mechs. Some publications even demand we hand over the first production model to them!"

Ves was not amused. "I hope you refused those ridiculous demands."

"We put them down as gently as possible. With the help of Marcella's connections, we managed to secure the presence of at least fifteen different news portals and mech portals. They're regional names, mostly. You won't find any publication on the level of the Rimward Star Herald."

"They interviewed me last time. Did you send them an invite?"

"We did, but we only received a plain refusal. If I have to guess, they have bigger things on their plate than to cover some random Apprentice Mech Designer's debut. Thousands of mech designers around the rim are holding their debuts every day. It's too much to keep up with unless you already accumulated some fame like those direct disciples."

Frankly, Ves thought the RSH was making a big mistake, as his Blackbeak possessed a lot of noteworthy qualities for a third-class design.

"So do we have to spend more to get more publications to attend my press conference?"

"That's basically what it boils down to, boss. The reporters have to make a living too, you know. Don't think for a second that an independent news portal exists. We either cough up the dough or resign ourselves to parading your new design to a collection of smaller news portals."