The Mech Touch

6902  Hymn of the Trees

The banquet hosted by the Devos Ancient Clan took place at its seat of power on New Constantinople VIII.

Sandan had never been the same after the institution of martial law. Although the restrictions were lighter in the capital city of New Constantinople VIII, few Terrans were in the mood for leisure after witnessing human civilization collapsing at the edges.

Even if New Constantinople is still safe enough from the ravages of the Red War, how long would it take for the fighting to reach their star system?

Many people who cherished their lives over their new homes had already been looking into relocating.

Unfortunately, not even the first-raters were able to move so easily anymore. The Terran Alliance and many ancient clans had not been shy about using the cudgel of martial law to keep vital workers in their places.

This was hardly the first existential crisis the Terran people had faced. The threat posed by the native aliens of the Red Ocean may be among the most existential to the people who found themselves cut off from Old Earth by 50 million light-years, but the citizens still showed a sense of duty and collective responsibility that kept them focused even if death was looming over the horizon.

Due to the partial withdrawal of leisure and civilian pursuits, Sandan lost much of its liveliness, especially at night.

Yet today, one of its most luxurious garden retreats had become uncommonly active.

The floating green resort floated above most of the structures of the city like a divine island.

Spotlights placed around the city shone their radiance upon the floating structure, causing it to look like a beacon of hope in an era of darkness.

Many other structures received directives to dim their own lights to a fraction of their usual levels.

The Devosans made sure to disable any form of gary advertisements and other discordant distractions. The entire city of Sandan had to present its best face to the guests that had been invited to the banquet.

It turned out that the Devos Ancient Clan invited more people than just the Larkinsons. Envoys from other ancient clans and organizations came as well.

As the armored shuttle from the Larkinson Clan arrived under heavy escort, many other vehicles had already delivered their distinguished passengers.

Ves was able to spot familiar symbols belonging to the Streon Ancient Clan, the Hunting Association, the Red Collective and more.

He was not able to spot any vehicles or mechs belonging to the Red Association and the Red Fleet, and he had a good feeling that they would not be showing up at any point.

Soft but pleasant hymnal music wafted in everyone's ears as they stepped outside of their vehicles after touching down on the landing zone.

There was not enough parking space to accommodate every shuttle, so traffic control directed them to disgorge their passengers before lifting off to head to a dedicated parking center.

The recently acquired first-class multipurpose mechs of the Larkinson Clan did not leave.

Instead, the Dracoloids and the Omega Threshers took up positions in and around the Hymn of the Trees.

The Larkinson Clan already made arrangements with the Devos Ancient Clan beforehand. It was unacceptable for Ves to visit a location with protection at hand.

A small handful of Apocalypse Wardens discretely followed Ves and his small party. Their heavy suits of combat armor contrasted sharply against the heavenly backdrop of the garden retreat, but most people who attended the banquet were accustomed to the presence of guards and servants.

"It smells so nice here." Little Marvaine called as he clung to his mother's hand.

"Miaow." Clixie echoed as she sniffed the air and made a weird expression.

"It smells so fake." Andraste offered her own words. "This garden looks nice and all, but the ground is too even and there is a lack of birds and other wildlife. The forests outside of our home are much more real than this place. This shows that the Terrans only pretend to love nature. As soon as a bird uses their shoes as their toilet, they will quickly change their tune."

"Young lady!" Gloriana hissed at her second daughter. "Be on your best behavior! We are among allies! Be polite and keep your sharp tongue in its sheath. We are not confronting enemies tonight."

The willful red-headed girl rolled her eyes and continued to hug Lucky in her arms, uncaring that the archemetal cat ruffled her multi-layered turquoise dress.

"Meow."

"Do not encourage her, Lucky!"

As the family proceeded towards the center of the garden resort, the Larkinsons already attracted a lot of attention from others.

How could they not? The Larkinsons were the guests of honor.

The family had made an effort to dress themselves up. To be more precise, their well-paid stylists had done all of the work. There was no need for them to be excessive in their choices, as the Larkinsons had already moved past the point where they needed to dress loudly in order to attract attention.

Ves liked how his children looked. This was one of the few formal occasions that they had been allowed to attend.

Aurelia wore a sky blue dress that looked like a variation of her mother's dress.

Marvaine wore a small cute tuxedo that added a lot of charm to his small form.

Clixie wore her magnificent golden collar as well as a bowtie on her tail.

Lucky wore a charming bowtie collar on his neck. Multiple red circlets adorned his metallic tail.

Aside from Ves and his immediate family, a few other Larkinsons walked alongside them as well.

Saint Commander Casella Ingvar had chosen to attend in a suit that resembled a dress uniform.

Her entire outfit conveyed a statement that made it clear that she attended the banquet as part of the military arm of the Larkinson Clan.

Alexa Streon on the other hand chose to wear a dress that vaguely matched the colors of the Streon Ancient Clan.

She had never denied her connections to her original clan, nor deliberately sought to cut ties.

The former Terran was principled enough to serve the Larkinsons wholeheartedly, but that did not mean she had to throw away all of her connections and attachments to her relatives.

Ves had also given Saint Dise to attend the banquet as a courtesy, but she had declined straight away. She was not a woman who cared about dressing herself up and participating in pageantry.

Saint Dise was always ready for a good fight, but she had no interest in playing the social game.

Just as well. She made herself useful by guarding Diandi Base and the valuable vaults filled with mid to high-grade superdimensional matter.

The possibility that groups would be greedy enough to attempt to rob the Larkinson Clan was not small!

Multiple intelligence services had already picked up clues here and there. So long as the superdimensional ace sword mech stayed on alert this whole time, no one should be stupid enough to test their defenses against a superdimensional greatsword.

Speaking of mechs, one machine in particular hovered conspicuously above the Hymn of the Trees.

The Black Lord that had managed to 'win' the practice bout against the First Mark III most likely deterred any opportunists from stirring up trouble.

It was not pleasant for guests to fall into the range of its Saint Kingdom. The Wind of Destruction possessed an extraordinary will that yearned to sweep up his enemies and any other obstacles with disintegrating gales.

Fortunately, the old and experienced senior ace pilot had a lot of practice with restraining his willpower. He was able to dial down the intensity of his Saint Kingdom far better than any of his Larkinson counterparts.

His remaining influence came across as a small buzz that was as annoying as a case of tinnitus. None of the attendees were average humans, so they easily tolerated this necessary burden.

Of course, they all restrained their words and kept their thoughts in check. They were keenly aware that the Wind of Destruction possessed a good grasp of everyone that had entered his Saint Kingdom. He would easily be able to detect any hints of malice and threat.

It was due to the capabilities of ace pilots that high society instituted a lot more rules and customs to organized gatherings like these. The ace pilots on guard were in a position to gather a lot of privileged information, which was why they had to make an oath to divulge no privileged information unless individuals in question had violated the rules in the first place.

Ves was not too sure whether such promises could be trusted. He could think of multiple different loopholes that the Devos Ancient Clan could exploit to gather secret information.

This was why it was a big deal when people accepted the invitations and attended the gatherings. By willingly subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of ace pilots, they proved with their actions that they had little to nothing to fear.

It was a great sign of trust on the part of people like Ves to openly enter the Hymn of the Trees with his family. He did not even insist that Saint Commander Casella pilot her Minerva Mark II, though the ace command mech was close at hand in case an incident occurred.

While the family continued to move further inward, Casella and Alexa had already split off to socialize with others.

Both of them understood that this was a rare opportunity to forge more ties with the Terrans. To be honest, they were much better trained and educated at this than Ves, so he left them be and trusted them to advance the interests of his clan.

"These plants are weird." Aurela remarked.

Ves took a look at the larger and more exotic-looking flowers. Their alien origins were clear, but each of them held intrinsic power that stirred his senses in a pleasant manner.

"These are not ordinary plants." He said. "I can feel… that they have been artificially mutated that somehow produces stable and controlled outcomes. This is remarkable. It takes more than mindless injection of E energy to produce this outcome. If my suspicions are correct, these plants have turned into reagents that you can use to concoct incredibly useful elixirs."

As Ves and his family passed through a vine-covered gate and entered an open courtyard and structure, their gazes immediately fell upon the glowing tree at the center.

A soft bronze glow radiated from the alien tree, yet none of the Devosans and guests showed any concern about being subjected to unfamiliar radiation.

A large part of this was because the tree radiated a subtle sense of vitality and encouragement.

The effect was not strong enough to accuse the tree of producing a brainwashing effect, but Ves could clearly see that a number of visitors preferred to linger in the periphery of the courtyard.

Ves became momentarily fascinated by the tree. It lacked the docility and lack of strong thoughts of the earlier plants. His best guess was that the Devosans had actually managed to pick up a mutated exoplant in the wild and somehow severed its aggression and constrained its continued growth.

"This is only a fraction of what we have built since the Age of Dawn. Come. There is more for you to see."

21:49

They had taken an extraordinary organism that had the potential to grow into an ecological disaster like the Emperor Tree… and turned it into a decorative garden plant that happened to exude a pleasant aura.

It took more than raw power to tame an exoplant like this. It took specialized knowledge and expertise to render a wild threat into a harmless natural edifice.

"Larkinsons. Welcome to the Hymn of the Trees."

Ves turned to face a familiar old woman. Master Laila Rebecca Devos approached while wearing a ceremonial dark purple toga-like dress. She looked a lot more stately and dignified than usual, which meant that she probably intended to conduct a lot of important business tonight.

"Thank you for having us. This place is lovely."

"This is only a fraction of what we have built since the Age of Dawn. Come. There is more for you to see."

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