Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 23 - Peers (2)

"""Cheers!"""

At a dive nearby the Mercenary Association branch, Avery and over a dozen other mercenaries were celebrating their payday with copious amounts of alcohol and fired snacks.

"Tell us about that time you got some stupid pirates to open fire on each other."

"How was that escort mission you took a couple months back? Anything exiting happen."

"What?! You might be getting a commission to explore an uncharted region of space. Talk about lucky."

Raucous conversations started up with no rhyme or reason, and some ended long before the topic came to a conclusion as the mercenaries moved on to something that garnered their interest more.

Avery was happy just listening and occasionally getting in a question or comment.

Eventually though, the mercenaries he had first been working with, Jackson and Ehdo, brought up Avery's recent achievement.

"When he first shot off towards the pirate raid party, I thought he was crazy. But this kid certainly has some skills. He took on all of them by himself and trounced all but two of them. Leaving Jackson and me to clean up the scraps." Ehdo said with a boisterous laugh.

The other mercenaries and some of the nearby patrons that just happened to be in the bar all looked towards Avery with expectant gazes.

He had to hold in a loud gulp as he suddenly became the center of attention. This was the first time Avery had so many intense eyes on him.

Fortunately, this was nothing compared to the murderous look Urs had given him during their first meeting. After taking just a moment to steel his nerves, Avery did his best to recount the events in the most entertaining way possible.

For some time, he detailed the encounter and how he had scattered the pirates with precise and overpowering attacks.

Then he transitioned to the point where it seemed that his opponents would get him from behind, building up tension by leaving the conclusion up in the air for a bit.

When he immediately switched up the narrative by revealing the powerful scatter guns located on his ship's stern, he received a round of applause.

All that was left after that was detailing the cleanup of the fleeing pirates and the loot he received from them.

All the other mercenaries seemed to be impressed by him and talked up a storm about how he was basically a super rookie.

Of course, Urs came up quite a bit. It was clear that the more experienced mercenaries were only as enamored with Avery as they were thanks to the retired veteran's reputation.

Still, Avery was more than happy to have admiration rather than envy.

'This is probably another reason that Urs practically flaunted me around the Association building. It made it so I'm not just some upstart that came out of nowhere, but the kid that survived being trained by highest ranking mercenary in the sector.' Avery thought, taking a large swig of the cheap beer that had been served to him.

The bar they were in certainly would not be winning any awards for the quality of its wares, but it certainly had the right atmosphere for a loud celebration.

However, things quieted down almost immediately when two individuals walked in.

All of the mercenaries turned towards them and seemed surprised.

Naturally Avery's gaze was also drawn towards the newcomers that had garnered so much attention.

With only a single glance he could tell that the two of them were related. Likely brother and sister.

Both of them had light brown hair and piercing golden eyes.

Except, their most striking features were the pointed ears on their heads and the long tails coming out of their lower backs that were twitching around.

At once the name of their race came to Avery's head.

They were certainly rare around these parts, since their home world was practically on the other side of the Dramid Alliance.

"Felis Therianthrope." Avery murmured.

As he said this the two of them seemed to have heard him and their eyes locked in on him.

"That's them, right?"

"Yeah, no doubt about it. The rising stars that showed up on Yuson II around four months ago."

"The Twin Fangs."

All the other mercenaries began talking about the two Felis Therianthropes in hushed whispers.

Avery seemed to be the only one out of the loop and had no idea who they were. Learning about the famous mercenaries currently in the sector was something he had not gotten around to yet.

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'And they're still looking at me.' Avery thought, feeling a nervous sweat building up on his back.

The keenness in their eyes was almost enough to make him look away, but Urs had urged him to never break eye contact when someone was sizing him up. Something these two were obviously doing.

A few moments later, the girl whispered into her brother's ear and the two of them approached Avery.

When he looked to his right and left, all the other mercenaries around him suddenly seemed to have drifted away and left him alone.

"You're Avery Asteria, right?" The man asked.

"Yeah, that's me. Is there something you need from me?"

Avery responded confidently despite the trepidation he was feeling. Whatever these two wanted with him, showing any weakness would only be to his detriment.

"Frist, introductions, I'm Kaiden Woest, and this is my sister Kasandra. We've come here today to confirm something."

After that, Kaiden pulled out his terminal and displayed the records for the pirates that were defeated during the recent raid on Dirluc Mining.

Avery had seen it before back at the Association building, but he had hardly paid much attention.

Now though, as he looked at it, he found that Kaiden was the one directly below him with twelve confirmed kills, while his sister was sitting in third place with eleven.

His mind racing to figure out what the Woest siblings wanted from him, Avery nonchalantly answered that he had taken out those pirates with relative ease.

"He doesn't sound like he's lying." Kasandra spoke up for the first time.

Hearing this, her brother nodded his head and looked directly at Avery with the look of someone that had made up their mind.

"We've been waiting for someone like you to show up here. Why don't you become my subordinate? We'll build the best team of mercenaries in this sector."