Reid suddenly felt a weight lift off his shoulders after coming to this realization. Earlier, the words of the East Asian Republic's representative had left his mind in complete disarray.
Now, Reid was so elated that he wanted to hug Angie and give her a kiss. But the moment he wrapped his arms around her, he felt a fist pressing against his kidney. Meeting Angie's half-smiling, half-threatening expression, he quickly let go and awkwardly said,
"Sorry, got a little carried away."
Then he turned to Une, hoping she would bail him out.
Instead, Une just rolled her eyes at him and shooed him away.
"Don't even think about hugging me. If you've got nothing else to discuss, you should leave. I have a ton of work tomorrow, and even if you wanted to stay the night, I'd kick you out."
Seeing that Une not only refused to help but also seemed intent on fanning the flames, Reid wisely decided to retreat from this instigator. Grabbing Angie's hand, he turned to leave, saying as they walked away,
"Alright, Une, get some rest. Angie and I will head out first."
Truthfully, Reid had already braced himself for a scolding the moment they left Une's villa.
But to his surprise, Angie kept him on edge the entire way home without actually doing anything.
When Reid dropped Angie off at her villa, there was even a brief moment where he thought she was being remarkably forgiving. (Don't take this as advice—this segment is merely a tribute to the author's clueless bachelor days.)
Fortunately, Reid hadn't completely lost his emotional intelligence. After Angie closed the door, he pressed the doorbell again. When she answered, he immediately cut in before she could speak.
"Angie, let's have lunch together tomorrow, just the two of us. It's been a while since we've had a meal together."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the intercom before Angie replied in a noticeably brighter tone, "Okay." Then the call ended.
Reid exhaled in relief, figuring he'd probably dodged a bullet this time. Without another care, he happily returned to his own place and slept soundly.
The next morning, Reid took some time to discuss Mobile Suit-related matters with Siegel. After all, he couldn't afford to show too much favoritism, lest PLANT got the impression he might abandon the New Misurugi Republic for the Earth Alliance at any moment.
In reality, Reid and Siegel's conversation revolved around just two key points.
First was their tacit agreement on the exchange of food supplies and precision components.
This collaboration had been smooth so far, with the Earth Alliance none the wiser. After all, PLANT was hijacking food shipments meant for the New Misurugi Republic, while Reid's men were posing as pirates to seize PLANT's cargo vessels.
The Earth Alliance would've loved nothing more than to see the two sides go to war outright.
Both sides' motives were crystal clear to the Earth Alliance—Reid was PLANT's sworn enemy, after all. Their current cooperation was merely a temporary alliance of convenience. PLANT wouldn't allow Reid to grow unchecked, and Reid obviously wouldn't sit around waiting to be crushed.
Second, Reid reiterated that he would not sell the Earth Alliance an Operating System fully compatible with Naturals. However, he also gave a heads-up, mentioning that he'd heard rumors about the Earth Alliance dissecting the OS of their Union Flags, intending to extract the Mobile Suit control components to develop a Natural-compatible version. As for how far along they were, he had no idea.
Regarding the Earth Alliance's development of the Natural OS, Siegel didn't need Reid to tell him—he was already aware. In fact, Siegel had long concluded that an OS allowing Naturals to easily pilot Mobile Suits would inevitably be developed sooner or later.
Moreover, with the precedent of the New Misurugi Republic's three standard Naturals piloting Coordinator OS machine bodies, even ZAFT could no longer casually claim that Naturals were incapable of operating GINNs.
Thus, after securing Reid's commitment, Siegel didn't dwell too much on the issue.
Having reassured Siegel, Reid kept his promise and shared a lunch with Ange—publicly, no less, as if they were mutually declaring their sovereignty over each other.
Siegel and Albany tactfully gave the two some space, clearing two hours of free time for the young pair to enjoy each other's company.
Reid was quite satisfied with the meal, as Ange's loyalty level rose directly to 79 afterward—a substantial gain.
However, Reid never dared to equate loyalty with affection—the distinction between the two was significant. If they were truly the same, then if some man's loyalty maxed out in the future, his own backside might not remain safe.
Yet, in these times, moments of relaxation were always fleeting. That afternoon, the meeting between the Earth Alliance and PLANT resumed. Even with the soundproofing of their conference room, Reid could hear the roaring arguments leaking through the door crack—hardly the atmosphere of peaceful negotiations.
Sure enough, the second day's meeting ended in chaos, with personnel from both sides coming to blows—only to be swiftly knocked out, one punch each, by Ange, who single-handedly suppressed the brawl and deterred further violence.
After being floored by Ange, the diplomats had no choice but to accept it. A grown man being knocked down by a woman left them with no face to protest. Besides, they had violated meeting protocol—Ange was justified no matter how one looked at it.
This incident, however, led to the first consensus between the Earth Alliance and PLANT: that Reid Isaac was indeed capable, with impressive physical prowess to boot, given how he could handle such a princess.
By the end of the second meeting, the diplomats emerged with a hint of admiration in their eyes when they saw Reid, some even discreetly giving him a thumbs-up—much to his confusion.
But the most critical event of the day was Reid's secret meeting that evening with Zhao Zhongjian, the diplomat from the East Asian Republic.
Having already prepared his pitch, Reid cut straight to the chase:
"Ambassador Zhao, our time is limited, so I'll be direct. After discussing with Princess Angelise, the New Misurugi Republic is open to cooperation with the East Asian Republic—but we have our own ideas on how to proceed."
Zhao Zhongjian nodded. Negotiations were, after all, about discussion. "Very well. Commander Reid, please outline the New Misurugi Republic's proposed terms for cooperation."
Reid wasted no time with riddles. "Simple. The East Asian Republic provides us with development requirements. We'll handle the covert development and present you with conceptual designs upon completion. To avoid drawing attention from other nations, we won't require material support from your side. However, beyond what you pledged yesterday, we believe additional technical exchanges are necessary."
Once the technology exchange is completed, I will finish the mobile suit development according to the agreed-upon blueprints and provide all related technologies and diagrams to the East Asian Republic. In the future, this mobile suit will have no connection with our New Misurugi Republic - it will be independently developed by your East Asian Republic.
"By the way, here are the technical documents I require. I'm not good at negotiations, so this is my final offer. If unacceptable, we'll terminate the technology exchange immediately."
With that, Reid handed Zhao Zhongjian the requested technical documentation.
Truthfully, Reid's demands were quite simple - they only needed to choose one of two options:
First option: Directly provide beam weapon miniaturization technology, Moebius Zero linear cannon construction technology, and anti-beam coating technology.
Second option: Reid would provide specifications, and the East Asian Republic would build a warship for the New Misurugi Republic while also training specialized pilots.
Frankly speaking, Reid's requests weren't excessive, as Reid was also customizing an MS for the East Asian Republic. In return, the East Asian Republic would obtain an OS usable by Naturals.
As for the technologies Reid requested, the East Asian Republic could easily provide export versions. Except for the relatively cutting-edge beam weapon miniaturization, the other two were technologies whose existence was common knowledge among civilians.
Moreover, the other two major council nations already possessed these technologies - they weren't exclusive secrets.
The mothership, however, was a different matter. Cutting corners there would be problematic since any issues would reflect poorly on their own reputation, and the construction would be time-consuming regardless.
Therefore, Zhao Zhongjian leaned toward selecting the first option, but whether they could actually provide it would require multi-site relayed communications and domestic consultations before deciding.
Reid was well aware that the East Asian Republic would only provide outdated versions of the technology. But what he needed was merely a stepping stone - his research on converting Minovsky particle weapons to standard beam weapons had hit significant obstacles. Without basic samples of beam weapons, even outdated versions would suffice for Reid to allow the Factory Module's tech tree to progress. Further development could come later.
(End of Chapter)