Chapter 2536: Design Department Changes (1/2)
Aboard the Scarlet Rose, a tense atmosphere settled over the design lab. The Braves and Erudites that entered the compartment each walked with nervous gaits as they took their regular seats behind the terminals and work stations.
Only a handful of mech designers took less notice of the ambiguous mood in the design lab.
”What's going on?” Ketis asked as she sauntered over to Miles Tovar. The satisfied smile on her face was completely at odds with the grave expressions of the other low-ranking mech designers. ”We're finally about to design some mechs again. Isn't this great?”
The former Brighter mech designer raised his palms in a sussing motion. ”Quiet down. Don't attract too much attention today?”
”Why?”
”Because there is trouble on the horizon?”
Ketis looked confused. ”Huh? What trouble?”
The man leaned forward until his lips came close to her ears. ”The marital kind.”
”Oh.”
The Swordmaiden mech designer still looked clueless.
”Haven't you been paying attention to the messages on the internal net?”
”No. I am preoccupied with something lately. I've been… ahem.. training some personnel over at the Hall of Heroes.”
She couldn't help but smile in a mischievous manner as she said that. Venerable Joshua rapidly improved his swordsmanship after he began to follow her high-intensity training program.
Alas, she couldn't spend as much time with the expert pilot as before. Her duties to the Design Department came first, and she also had to spend enough time on her own projects in order to progress her design philosophy.
Her improvement never stopped. Though the prospect of advancing to Journeyman was still fuzzy to her, she continued to work diligently in order to get closer. She had already completed all of her early mech designs and had begun to design another wave of swordsman mechs.
Perhaps other mech designers might go bored or crazy after designing one swordsman mech after another, but Ketis was different.
She loved swords! She loved mechs! She loved combining the two! As long as she had enough time, she could design an infinite variety of swordsman mechs!
This was how a hyper-specialized mech designer worked! The more restrictions they imposed on themselves, the more they were able to expand their options in the areas they excelled at. There was never a case where Ketis would run out of ideas!
As she and Miles spoke in low tones to each other, the entrance to the design lab slid open again.
Everyone sat up straighter.
The air became even tenser.
Gloriana did not pay attention to the nervous expressions of her assistants. She marched over to the front of the lab. Her white coat billowed as she advanced like a woman possessed.
”Miaow.”
Clixie dutifully followed the mech designer while keeping a close eye on the other mech designers.
A number of Glory Seeker bodyguards had entered as well. They hardly attracted any attention as they took position around the design lab.
No one spoke as Gloriana quietly sat down at the seat reserved for her. Clixie jumped up and perched on her lap. A delicate hand soon began to stroke her fur.
A few minutes passed as every mech designer tried to keep themselves as still as possible. No one wanted to be the one who attracted Gloriana's ire!
Rather than sticking their necks out, it was better to stay still and act like statues. After all, Gloriana didn't have a problem with them. Only one person was responsible for putting her in a foul mood!
The hatch slid open yet again. Everyone turned to face the entrance.
Several people passed through. The assistants automatically dismissed the presence of Nitaa and the other Larkinson bodyguards.
Lucky attracted a bit more attention. The eye-catching mechanical cat floated forward as if he served as a scout for the people who were just about to pass through.
”Meow.”
Two more people passed through.
One of them wore a familiar red-and-white uniform that possessed some ornate touches. This was the Larkinson Patriarch uniform that Ves wore on a daily basis.
The woman next to him wore a very different uniform. Only one mech force issued the fairly distinctive black and orange outfit.
The logo on the front of the uniform attracted even more attention. The very distinctive orange ♂ symbol surrounded in a black circle left no doubt to the identity of the mech designer walking next to the clan patriarch!
An invisible storm seemed to form around Gloriana as the pair of mech designers approached.
The intensity of her barely-restrained fury caused one of the two newcomers to falter in her steps.