Chapter 589 - 589 A Serious Talk with Liesel’s Father (2)

On some primal level, Avery wanted to dispute Liesel's father. To not accept that he had been wrong in any way.

However, he knew that taking Cerise's request would be dangerous. Initially he had refused. Until she offered him an absurd amount of money that had swayed him.

Still, looking back on everything, parts of the operation had ended up far more perilous than expected.

People had ended up dying. His people.

If one were to compare the numbers, the losses of Avery's Company were monumentally less than the Odium Syndicate and Zatis Consortium.

He had only lost a few dozen people, while the criminal organization and their backers had lost many thousands. Either dead or captured.

Except, Avery did not like to look at his crew members as disposable pieces like some sort of game.

Sure, they had accomplished a great deal, basically crushing the Odium Syndicate and striking great blows again the Zatis Consortium. Also, there was a stupid amount of Krenin waiting for them.

Yet, Avery did not consider any of his deceased crew members to be acceptable losses to obtain such gains.

His goal was always to have everyone pull through and celebrate together after major victories.

Obviously, the rational side of his mind knew that this was impossible all of the time.

They lived dangerous lives, and people were going to die.

'If I had refused Cerise, everyone that is no longer with us would likely still be here.' Avery thought, remembering the faces of the fallen.

He looked back at other mistakes that he made.

Despite having begun changing into some sort of superhuman, it did not make him infallible.

There were always ways that he could improve.

Perhaps he could have spent money to purchase some specialized drones or combat robots to aid his troops in fighting.

He had not done so because of the cost of getting ones that would be high spec enough to be useful, and due to the potential of them being hacked and turned on them.

During their campaign against the Odium Syndicate, Grito and the members of his tech savvy team turned the criminal organization's drones against them.

Naturally, there were not too many people out there as talented and skilled as Grito and his team, but they did exist.

'There are risks and rewards to everything. And Liesel's father is right. I'm the one that ultimately makes the decisions for my company.'

Avery sighed and nodded his head.

"I understand what you're getting at. Perhaps I jumped into the job Cerise offered too hastily." Avery admitted.

"I won't lie and say that I don't enjoy challenges and good fights, but I'm not the type to always go out seeking bigger and bigger thrills. My team will be heading to the cpatial system after this to rest and receive our rewards. After that, I plan on overhauling everything. I know that my company is already strong, but there's always room for improvement. And I promise you, I'll do everything to keep Liesel safe."

Liesel's father's gaze appeared to soften somewhat, and he nodded his head in acceptance of Avery's response.

"What I really wish you would do is take all that money you're about to get and settle down, but I know that won't be happening. The two of you are still young and want to seek out adventure. Hopefully once you both get older, you'll care more about stability." Liesel's father said before taking a large sip of his drink.

If he had not been just a bit buzzed, he might not have been quite as open with Avery as he had been.

Certainly, he was his son-in-law now, but this was the first time they were meeting.

"Does this mean that I've earned your approval?"

"Begrudgingly. I still don't like the fact that you have two other wives. At least you're not the flippant playboy I had been expecting. You're more grounded than I figured you would be. I've seen a lot of young and talented mercenaries over the years that let their abilities go to their heads. My sister's son included among them."

Liesel's father froze up for a moment after he criticized his nephew.

He had likely not meant to voice his opinion, but the alcohol had lessened his inhibitions a bit, and he was starting to become more comfortable around Avery.

Luckily, this did help steer the conversation towards another topic of interest.

Avery had heard about Liesel's cousin and her aunt. They did not sound like bad people and had treated her decently well, but it was obvious that they had planned on using her as a tool to help secure the position of next leader of the Kaizer Fleet.

"Liesel's mentioned her cousin a few times before. I know that he's aiming to be Matthias' successor." Avery said, wanting to probe for some information.

He had agreed to meet with Liesel's aunt and great grandfather as well over the next few days. And before he did, he was hoping to gather a bit of information. Stuff that could not be obtained from searching the vast quantities of data stored across the Dramid Alliance's many networks.

Finding the number of ships in the fleet and along with statistics on the top members was easy enough. But things like personalities and the interpersonal relationships among the Kaizer family were not things that could just be looked up.

"Yes. My older sister originally wanted to become the next leader, but our grandfather decided that he wanted the next leader of the fleet to come from the current generation. That made it so she was unable to achieve her ambitions. That's why she is pushing so hard for her son to take the position."

Liesel's father tried not to sound too scathing of his family, but he obviously had not approved of his sister and nephew trying to use her for their own ends.

Of all those in the running for the position of fleet leader, Liesel was the youngest and considered to have the almost no chance at all.

Unlike her peers, she did not have the backing of parents that were already top mercenaries who already led groups of their own which made up parts of the larger fleet.

Still, she had been trained well and was skilled and would be helpful for her cousin's rise to power.

While the rest of their generation were competing with each other, Liesel's aunt planned on installing her as a close adjutant of her son to make him appear to be capable of leading the family.

He would be the only one with another contender for the position of head of the family following him after all.

Yet, any prospect of that happening essentially vanished when Liesel decided to change her entire direction in life and join Avery's team.

She had not wanted to accept the role laid out for her and due so by becoming the leader of the Kaizer Fleet, but she knew that doing so would be a long shot.

Her backing was not great, and she was far behind many of her cousins.

Which is why when the opportunity presented itself for her to go in a completely different direction by becoming part of Avery's crew, she had taken it. And she was certainly happy with how things had worked out.

She was freer than before and no longer had to worry about any family drama. At least not until recently. Though she was elated to see her parents again and introduce Avery to them.

"Liesel's aunt, your sister, sent a message asking to meet with us as well. That's happening tomorrow. Do you know if this is just for pleasantries, or for something else?" Avery asked.

Liesel's father frowned and went silent for over a minute.

Clearly, he was having to think about what he should be spilling things about his family to Avery or not. He had not had enough alcohol to start blabbering without a care in the galaxy.

Eventually, he did come to a conclusion though. While he did love his sister dearly and was grateful for everything she had done for him, his love and loyalty for Liesel was greater. And if telling Avery what he knew would help his daughter, he was willing to talk to an outsider about things he probably should not talk about.

"When word got back to us that Liesel had decided to not come back and join up with another mercenary group, my sister was not happy about it. I don't really like to think about it this way since we're all family and its tradition, but from her perspective, she had put a lot of resources into Liesel and then suddenly was not going to see any returns. My sister and I got into a few shouting matches after that. She wanted me to order Liesel to come back. Not like Liesel would have listened. If she did everything I said, she wouldn't have become a combatant in the first place." Liesel's father said, shaking his head.

He continued to tell Avery about how his sister had been particularly upset that a lot of her plans had been ruined. Liesel was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of her cousin's rise to the top of the Kaizer Fleet.

Hearing all of this, Avery understood now why she wanted to try and make it on her own instead. Even if her aunt and cousin really did care about her, they still wanted to use Liesel as a tool for their ambitions.

If he was in the same position, Avery would have wanted a way out too.

"So, does that mean that your sister still has plans for Liesel, and by extension, me?"