The Mech Touch novel Chapter 1186

The audacious terrorist attack on Kesseling VIII shocked the Ylvaine Protectorate. The news spread through the entire state in an instant, becoming the most talked about topic in the next few days.

The Grand Church of the Grey Martyr hosted many Ylvainans during the terrorist attack. Many more lived or worked in the city district affected by the battle between mechs. As the second-biggest church on Krent, the area around the grand church was one of the most desirable places to live and work! A lot of affluent and influential Ylvainans counted among the casualties!

Right now, casualty estimates exceeded 200,000 Ylvainans, and this figure climbed upwards every hour! At least a third of them had died while the rest sustained moderate to severe injuries.

It became clear that the True Believers deliberately aimed to inflict as many casualties as possible! Not only did they deploy a lot of fanatics who fired their weapons indiscriminately inside the church, but the cheap mechs they deployed all fired their weapons with wild abandon!

The True Believers could have never overwhelmed the defenses of the grand church. Even if the mechs of the Protectors of the Faith struggled against traitors in their ranks, the quality of their mechs and mech pilots exceeded that of the attackers by a large margin.

The Avatars of Myth distinguished themselves in this battle as well. Their contribution hastened the collapse of the opposing mechs and preventing them from sowing more death and destruction.

The New Ylvaine Dynasty must have known the cheap mechs they deployed wouldn’t be able to win. It was already a tall order to defeat the Protectors of the Faith defending the church, but they could never hold their ground against the reinforcements sent from other strongholds in the city!

Therefore, Ves quickly figured out that the goal of this horrendous attack. Killing him was just an excuse. It would further the agenda of his opponents if he died, but even if he managed to survive, the purpose of the attack had already been fulfilled!

"The true reason for launching this attack is to malign the reform agenda!"

A war of public opinion ensued shortly after hostilities ended. News portals aligned with the traditionalists not only exaggerated the awful attack, they also cast the blame of the event on Ves and the reformers.

The way the traditionalists saw it, the reformers could have prevented this tragedy if they hadn’t provoked the True Believers into attacking the foreign mech designer they invited to Kesseling VIII!

The momentum the reform agenda built up over the past few years grinded to a sudden halt due to this event!

The traditionalists, who always lost ground, suddenly regained their fire! They ardently stood up and defended the need to stick to their own customs! The Protectorate didn’t need the help of foreigners to remain strong!

Currently, Ves looked out the window from the top floor of the guest compound. Hundreds of protestors gathered in front of the courtyard walls and jeered at the foreigners hiding inside.

"Go away, foreigners!"

"Ylvaine needs no help from you!"

"Drive out this evil blasphemer!"

The insults hardly affected his mood. As an increasingly public figure, Ves already became used to attracting hate.

Only two other people resided in the room right now.

Gavin looked like he had gone through hell. As a civilian, he had never faced a threat to his life before. Getting caught up in the middle of a major terrorist attack deeply affecting his psyche.

"Ves.." He said with a gulp. "It might be time to cut our losses. We aren’t welcome here. All the propaganda published over the last few days has turned many Ylvainans against foreign influence and you specifically. With so much xenophobia directed against us, the LMC will never be able to get its feet off the ground in the local mech market. We’ve been kneecapped!"

Crossing his arms, Ves didn’t reply, but his straight and unyielding posture already made his stance clear on the matter.

"The situation is getting increasingly more dangerous to us, Ves." Leland said. He hadn’t been present at the grand church during the attack. "There are a lot of forces converging on Kesseling VIII. My sources tell me that the hostile mechs used in the attack had all been shipped in piecemeal in the last couple months. That tells me that this action was both deliberate and premeditated."

"Do you believe that the True Believers are responsible?" Ves asked. "Madame Cecily believes that another faction is responsible."

Leland shrugged. "It’s difficult to say. The True Believers quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, but that doesn’t mean much. They’ve been put into a difficult position if they aren’t responsible. If they denied responsibility, then that would have painted them as weak and indecisive. That’s not the style of their fake prophet."

Everyone here knew too little to make a solid judgement. So many interests were competing against each other that none of them knew where to go in order to seek revenge.

However, Ves already made a judgement on his own. "I think Madame Cecily has a point. Even if the motives of the attack aligns with the beliefs of the New Ylvaine Dynasty, they’d be stupid to alienate their popular support. Out of all the Ylvainan factions affected by this tragedy, only the traditionalists have come out as clear winners!"

"I would caution you not to come to a premature conclusion." Leland warned with a sharp gaze. "Sometimes, the most obvious answer is just a trap. Whoever launched this attack may have wanted to deepen the contradictions between reformers and traditionalists."

That caused Ves to raise an eyebrow. "Who would want that to happen?"

"I can name a few parties. The Star Faith Collective for example. The Star Worshippers will want to do everything possible to weaken the Ylvaine Protectorate. The more the Protectorate is wracked by internal division, the weaker they’ll be when the inevitable war breaks out between the two states."

The idea sounded plausible, but Ves didn’t want to go that far. "Let’s leave the guessing to the authorities. It’s not our job to hunt down the culprits."

"So you intend to press on?"

Ves nodded.