Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

’That definitely served as a surprise and got their attention.’
Avery watched as most of the kids were stunned into silence when Cerise appeared on the screen.
It was fortunate that she was currently close enough to Azade to get a signal through without much delay.
There were a few seconds of discrepancy between them, but nothing too difficult to compensate for.
A lengthy back and forth conversation might have been challenging, but a short presentation followed by a couple of questions would be easy enough.
"Thank you for inviting me to speak today, Avery. I see that you’ve gathered a number of Azade’s and the Dramid Alliance’s promising youths." Cerise said, smiling at the orphans sitting in the auditorium.
"No, I should be the one offer my gratitude to you, Cerise. I know that you’re very busy with your work with as a leading figure in the Alliance Police, so it means a lot to me, and the children here, that you’ve taken some time to talk to them about the Alliance Police."
After this rehearsed opening to show that Avery had a close relationship with the Dramid Alliance’s most prominent hero, Cerise addressed the orphans and began telling them about her climb through the ranks of the Alliance Police and how fulfilling the job was.
Naturally, she made sure to mention how she had worked with Avery on a couple of occasions, but she kept the details to a minimum since the times that they had fought together were incidents that had a certain level of secrecy behind them.
Fortunately, Avery could see that bringing in Cerise had an immediate effect.
There were some kids that had been looking at him with disdain right from the start, but now their expressions were more confused and doubtful.
Almost certainly they had heard and bought into the negative news being spread about him but showing that he was trusted by Cerise Gunvald had put cracks in their beliefs.
She was not famous in the same ways that a celebrity was, but her renown through the Dramid Alliance was fairly high.
Most people other than those without any interest beyond their own local areas would typically have at least heard her name before
Due to her hundreds of valiant achievements fighting for the Dramid Alliance, she served as a sort of face for the Alliance Police. Someone for the masses to admire and look up to.
’This is all working pretty well already. And I still have my trump card to deploy. I was a bit worried at first when Kasandra suggested all of this. Now though, I feel like there’s no chance that everything won’t work out.’ Avery thought, satisfied how his audience was reacting.
They had not gone out of their way to publicize this event since it was supposed to solely be a gesture of goodwill. Informing some underprivileged kids about some opportunities that they had that they might not have already known about.
By making sure to include the reputable Keepers of the Peace and Alliance Police, Avery made it more difficult to criticize him when it did get out though.
Some of the orphans had already used their cheap terminals to take photos or short videos of what was going on. With the frequency of such things increasing since Cerise made her appearance.
No doubt the news would spread like wildfire, and since there were more similar appearances that had already been planned for the rest of the day and tomorrow, it was all but guaranteed that some reports would try to get some video of what was going on.
In Bastion Cuach’s attempt to make Avery infamous, the man had still spread his name and made him well known across the planet.
Even if most of them were negative right now, Avery was making headlines all over Azade. There would be plenty of people chomping at the bit to get a scoop about what he was currently up to in order to sell a story.
’I do feel a little remorseful using these kids for my own ends, but it’s not like we’re scamming any of them. The offers being presented to them are all legitimate. Hopefully some of them will have their lives positively impacted by this.’
Once Cerise’s presentation had wound down and she had answered a few questions, Avery brought the attention back towards him so that he could introduce the final quest that he had prepared.
"Now, I’m sure that a lot of you have some interest in being a mercenary, becoming a member of Azade’s Keepers of the Peace, or joining the Alliance Police. They’re all respectable professions with plenty of merits to them. However, I get that fighting or even supporting from the backlines as logistics officers is not for everyone.
"There is not much creativity in any of these fields. Well, I suppose some mercs enjoying painting their ships, in unique ways but I’m not really one to talk about that since I’m always focusing more on the practical side of my work."
With his preamble over, Avery smiled and shifted the display on the screen over to another guest that he had prepared. Someone that was bound to receive the most animated reaction so far.
"I’d like to introduce you all to a good friend of mine, Nianni Taador. She the specialist in the arts that I’ve called to give some tips and encouragement to all of you that are more creatively inclined." Avery said, exaggeratedly gesturing to the screen as it showed the image of the famous singer.
While Cerise had elicited shocked reactions followed by murmuring, Nianni stunned the kids for a couple of moments before a resounding cheer filled the auditorium.
She was pretty much beyond famous at this point. Being by far the most popular singer in the entire Dramid Alliance.
Upon seeing the renown star, the children had basically completely forgotten about Avery.
Their entire attention was on Nianni now. Someone that they would never have dreamed of getting to meet. Even if it was only through a video call.