Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 58 A Mother’s Scrutiny

The moment that Avery and Kasandra walked into the apartment, Avery’s mother was waiting to greet them.

But as she was opening her mouth to speak, she noticed Kasandra and the words stayed stuck in her throat.

When Avery had mentioned a crewmember, this was not what she was expecting. Particularly because he had a beautiful girl standing beside him at an obviously intimate distance. Someone would have to be blind not to see what sort of relationship they had.

"Mom, I’d like to introduce you to Kasandra. She a fellow mercenary and member of my crew, as well as my girlfriend." Avery said, starting the conversation upon seeing that his mother had frozen up.

Fortunately, this snapped her out of her daze, and she put on a somewhat forced smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Kasandra. I’m Avery’s mother, Serena."

Kasandra returned the greeting as politely as she could manage, and the three of them moved from the small front entrance into the dining slash living area.

However, before he could even sit down, his mother gave Avery a task.

"Avery, would you mind heading to your old room and packing up the heavier medical equipment in there? Now that your father no longer needs them, we’ll be returning them to the rental agency. No point in paying for an unnecessary expense after all."

An eyebrow raised, finding the timing of this request to be a bit unusual, Avery nevertheless did as his mother asked.

"Why don’t I help as well. I may not look it, but I’m pretty strong." Kasandra said, exaggeratedly flexing one of her biceps.

Yet, as she moved to follow Avery, Serena stopped her.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

"Oh, no. I can’t let you do that. You’re a guest here. Just make yourself comfortable on the couch and I’ll bring you something to drink. Then we can talk, woman to woman."

Feeling the subtle pressure coming from Serena, Kasandra turned towards Avery with a pleading look in her eyes.

Except, he turned around like he had not seen her plea for help and headed off towards his old room to do as he was told. If there was one person he could never win against, it was his mother. Just this once, he would be unable to protect Kasandra.

Her face twisting into a look of betrayal, Kasandra could only watch as Avery left her behind.

"Now, why don’t you tell me how the two of you met?"

With an audible gulp, Kasandra began recounting her first encounter with Avery and how later he saved her life when she was mere moments away from death.

Thankfully, the more she explained and the longer they talked, the more Serena warmed up to her.

At first, Avery’s mother was wondering if the young woman in her son’s company might have seduced him as part of some plan to exploit him.

Despite having only been active for a short while, Avery was already starting to build up a reputation as an up-and-coming mercenary that was bringing in a staggering amount of Krenin. To the point that some of Serena’s less than cordial coworkers had been trying to probe her for his earnings.

"The way you two met was like something out of a holonovel. Saved from dire parrel by a dashing hero. I can see why you would fall for my Avery."

Kasandra was grateful that Avery’s mother no longer seemed suspicious of her now, but she was still a little embarrassed by how she was gushing over how Avery rescued her.

Of course, that single event was the beginning of how she started to develop feelings for him. What woman, who was not already in a committed relationship, would not try to pursue someone that risked themselves for no gain just to protect them.

"Now, I don’t think Avery’s the kind of man to do so, but he’s not pressuring you into something that you don’t want to do right? I’ve certainly heard rumors about some mercenaries extracting a certain payment from women that end up on their ships for one reason or another." Serena said, wanting to make sure that it was not her son taking advantage of Kasandra now that she knew he held a position of power over her.

"Absolutely not! He’s been a perfect gentleman. Truthfully, I’m the one that made the first move."

Kasandra’s bashful confession brought a snicker out of Avery’s mother. She had somewhat purposefully been trying to fluster Kasandra so that she could get a better read on the woman that had become her son’s partner.

Fortunately, she could easily recognize the signs of a woman in love. If Kasandra was the conniving type, she would have needed to be an exceptional actress to pull off such a façade.

It was not long after Serena had finished probing Kasandra’s intention that Avery came back.

"Okay mom, I’ve packed everything up. Will I need to take it back rental company, or is someone going to pick it up?" Avery asked, wanting to get ahead of any assignment his mother might assign him next.

"Well, it was going to be an extra charge to have a mover come and get them, so I’d been planning on asking some of my friends for help, but if you’re offering."

With a sigh, Avery told his mother that he would be more than happy to pay for the equipment to be transported. He now had plenty of disposable income sitting in his account. It would likely only be a few hundred Krenin anyway.

After that, Avery sat down and told her about his adventures as a mercenary with Kasandra at his side. She had heard about their meeting, but nothing afterwards so far.

Naturally, this meant Avery had to broach how they had been dangerously close to dying. Even when he attempted to downplay how bad the situation had been, his mother could see right through him.

"Well, I’m glad that you made it back in one piece. And thank you for having my son’s back. It sounds like your presence helped keep him alive." Serena said, bowing her head to Kasandra.

"It’s really not that big of a deal. My job is to support him. He saved my life and gave me a position aboard his ship. Even after losing my own vessel, I’m still able to work as a mercenary thanks to him. Honestly, I’ve still hardly been able to pay him back for what he’s done for me." Kasandra said frantically, not knowing how to deal with Serena’s pure gratitude.

With the ice broken, the three of them slowly started to erase whatever awkwardness there was between them. Obviously, whenever any child introduced their lover to their parents for the first time there was going to be some amount of tension.

As luck would have it, Kasandra had easily won Avery’s mother over by being frank and honest.

The three of them eventually moved over to the kitchen table for dinner, but it was around this time that a call came through from the hospital Avery’s father was at. He had apparently just woken up, and since his condition was stable, he was ready to come home.