Chapter 85: Mother and Son

"ENOUGH." A strong authoritative female voice suddenly shouted causing the merc to halt as he and everyone looked over at Lizzie who stood with her arms crossed while glaring at them all.

"But Lizzie." One of the mercs began but stopped as her glare focused on him.

"Adam's allowed his own opinion, especially since he's not a Terran but is still the one who got you all this special mission." Lizzie said disappointingly before continuing.

"Is this how we Terran's show our gratitude? Do you want Adam and every other race and species to think less of us? Because that's what they will do if they see you acting this way. They will say that we don't know how to show gratitude and appreciation towards those who helped us."

"Adam not only got you all a special mission that has pretty much wiped out all pirates around Palaxia making it safer for your friends and loved ones, but he also saved Diva Lorelie don't forget. You all know how the universe would have reacted if she had been captured or worse killed in our space."

The mercs all lowered their heads in embarrassment before Lizzie continued again.

"Whether Adam accepts the first prince's invitation or not is up to him and is none of yours or my business. If you still don't like it then get the fuck out of here until your head cools off and you can see reason."

As she finished speaking one or two mercs silently stood up, most however stayed where they were.

After a few tense moments Frank laughed before saying, "Hey hey this is supposed to be a celebration remember and don't you all forget the old rule. This winner and top earner of the special mission opens a tab."

"Oh fuck." Adam cursed under his breath causing Andrew and Greg who were next to him to smirk as they heard him.

Frank turned to Lizzie before asking jovially, "so tell us Lizzie, who's buying."

Lizzie smirked before saying, "The same guy you were all about to gang up on."

The mercs all look surprised before turning to Adam again though this time instead of anger they showed regret and apologetic smiles.

"Hahahaha." Frank laughed as he walked over to Adam and swung his arm around his shoulder before saying.

"Nice going rookie, this is becoming a regular occurrence for you. Feel free to keep it up so we all get free drinks."

The other mercs laughed at what Frank said before giving Adam hopeful looks.

Adam shook his head in bewilderment since only a minute ago they were all getting ready to attack him and yet now they were hoping he would buy them drinks.

"Whatever." Adam said.

"Hahaha that's my man, you heard him Greg open a tab." Frank replied happily as the other mercs cheered and approached the bar for more drinks.

"Got it." Greg said as he smirked towards Adam before he started serving out drinks again.

"Is this a common tradition in every Mercenary Hall or just here on Palaxia?" Adam asked Andrew.

"It's a tradition in all Mercenary Halls." Andrew answered before continuing, "When Lizzie and I were still part of our S class group we were forced to buy rounds several times a month."

"Are you planning to travel to other planets and do work at other Mercenary Halls?" Lizzie suddenly asked as she came over and sat next to Andrew.

"Yeah." Adam confirmed before continuing." As you know I'm from outside the known universe as you all call it and I plan to explore as much of it as possible. That's one of the reasons I'm not bothered about accepting your first prince's invitation, though I might pay him a visit if my travels ever take me to Terrana five."

"Makes sense, there is much to see in the universe and many different cultures to experience on many different planets." Andrew agreed.

"Though we will be sad to see you go after how much you've helped out around here, I suggest you take a look at the escort quests on the terminal if you don't have a specific destination in mind? That way you can get paid while travelling to someplace new." Lizzie advised.

"That's good advice, thanks Lizzie." Adam said gratefully before he got up and went to check the terminal.

"Guess I will go inform the admiral about his decision." Andrew said before he headed towards his office.

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"I see thank you for the report admiral." A young man wearing lavish clothes who sat on one of two large couches said before the holographic screen in front of him vanished.

"Hehe so in the end he turned you down?" Empress Victoria Terrana, the mother of Tessa replied before giggling as she pushed a lock of her long black hair behind her ear.

"Indeed mother." The young man replied, this was Joseph Terrana, the first prince of the Terran empire.

"He really is an interesting young man just as Tessa said. Not many are willing to turn down rewards from a family that rules an entire galaxy, even if we are unpopular most people would still act grateful towards us to claim the rewards and benefits."

"Well he is from outside the known universe so maybe he doesn't understand what he's passing up." Joseph replied.

"If you are to one day take over from your father as the emperor, you must learn to be less short sighted and to see things from multiple angles, not just from high upon the throne." 

"Yes mother." 

"Now think about it again, do you really believe he does not understand?" 

Victoria allowed Joseph to think for a while before she explained.

"He may indeed be from a planet outside the known universe and not be able to fully grasp the rewards and benefits that come from associating with us, however most planets in the universe operate on a hierarchy type structure whether it's an emperor or king at the top or maybe a democracy where a parliament makes the decisions."

"There is a very high possibility he comes from a planet with a hierarchy structure after what your older sister told us about his streams from when he was still back on his own planet. Because of this I expect he does indeed know that he can get rewards and benefits from associating with us even if he doesn't comprehend the scale of them."

"I understand mother and in the future I will try to consider things from multiple angles." Joseph replied with his head slightly lowered.

"That's my boy, you're still young and have only just started assisting your father by governing the TDF, you still have plenty of time to learn and grow since your father is still in his prime so make sure to listen to the advisors your father assigned you and if your still unsure feel free to come speak with me or your father directly." 

"I understand mother." Joseph replied.

"Good, now your mother has her own duties to attend to, so continue to work hard and remember to ask if you need help." Victoria said as she gracefully stood up before straightening her dress.

She then went and gave Joseph a peck on the cheek before heading for the door and leaving the room.

After leaving the room and closing the door she gracefully walked down a corridor before quietly saying to no one in particular, "Have someone investigate this streamer known as Spector."

"That will be difficult since he is from outside the known universe and has just recently arrived in the Sandanar Galaxy." A female voice replied from out of nowhere.

"That's fine, just send me regular reports on his activities." Viktoria replied as she continued to gracefully walk along the corridor.

"Understood my Empress." The voice replied before saying nothing more.

"Does my little Tessa really think I can't see the interest she has in this streamer?" Viktoria mussed with a warm smile before adding, "Or maybe she herself does not even realise the interest she has in him."

"Hehe, my little girl is so naive when it comes to this sort of thing." Viktoria said with a giggle.

"I suppose it's one of the few benefits of having most of the other races and species in the universe shun us after what that idiot boy did. No one is constantly bombarding Tessa with marriage proposals which allows her to follow her dream of creating her own legacy."

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Far from the Sandanar Galaxy in another part of the universe was the Galamedees Galaxy, within this galaxy was a planet that was famous for being the birthplace of the Solarian race, Solarian four.

Several large space stations orbited Solarian four and at that moment one of the space stations had a shuttle approaching that was being escorted by two other ships.

As the shuttle approached, the docking bay doors it was assigned to started to open; however no air or objects within the docking bay were sucked out into space. If one looked closely through the opening the docking bay doors had created they would see that the area beyond seemed to shimmer every few moments before returning to normal.

As the shuttle approached the open docking bay it passed effortlessly through the shimmering before landing quietly inside the bay.

Once it landed the docking bay doors began to close again while the front of the shuttle folded down to reveal an entry ramp which a beautiful Solarian woman with long blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail was gracefully walking down as her lab coat billowed behind her.

"Welcome back Princess Liluth, how did the meeting go with your father and the council of elders?" A male Solarian who also wore a lab coat and had clearly been waiting for the shuttle's arrival asked as Liluth Solar approached him.

"It went perfectly, we may now begin work on Project T."