Book 1: Chapter 71

Alliance Bloodliner News “After spending two decades in the Abyss, I have finally left to check on the events of the Alliance that have occurred during our absence,” Kaelthas Azuranth declares as he emotionlessly stares at the camera in the studio. “What I was not expecting was to find the General of the Military, Seravos Orcayne, ignoring his daughter’s last request before being lost in the Abyss just to stabilize his family first before finding her daughter. Leaving our granddaughter lost on some no-name planet for two decades barely scraping together a living as best she could.” “So that’s why she seemed so upset about her name change on the broadcast!” the news reporter in front of him exclaims as their conversation is being aired live throughout the entire Alliance. “But couldn’t you have left the Abyss to check on her as well? She’s your granddaughter too after all.” Despite his words being scripted for the Kraken Patriarch’s appearance on the show, the reporter still can’t help but sweat bullets at the idea of saying something this direct to a Bloodliner. Something that could easily be taken as aggressive. But refusing his order would be even more frightening than obeying it. “Unlike the upper layers of the Abyss, the middle layers of the Abyss have a current that completely blocks anyone from entering or exiting at the wrong times,” Kaelthas answers while turning his emotionless gaze towards the reporter. “Furthermore, the current allowing entry or exit from the middle layers changes randomly, and it can stay in one course for entire decades. Thanks to this we were unable to exit the middle layers of the Abyss until now.” “Really? The middle layers of the Abyss seem even more dangerous than the public believed!” the news reporter exclaims his prepared line. “But what you’re saying is that you couldn’t have exited the Abyss during this time and were under the impression that the Orcayne family was looking after your granddaughter? And when you finally made it out of the Abyss to check on her, you found that he had neglected her entirely?” “That is correct,” Kaelthas states with an emotionless nod of his head. “Well there you have it, folks!” the news reporter says while focusing on the camera. “It seems the Orcayne family has been neglecting their youngest Bloodliner until she awakened her Bloodline!” Despite his enthusiastic words, the news reporter almost feels like crying. Because he knows his career will most likely be over after this. All because the Orcayne family will not let this go. Aqua “And we’re out!” I exclaim before stretching after finally making it out of the mountain about an hour later. “Thank you chat navigators! If there’s anything I can do for you right now, just ask!” [BLOW US A KISS!] [Can we see a wink?] [How about you sing for us?] [Just keep doing as you are. That’s enough for me.] [Can you whisper quietly that you love us?] “It looks like you want me to keep doing what I am, so I’m just gonna keep with that!” I state with a wide smile on my face. Completely ignoring the dozens of other messages aside from that single one. “I’m glad you all like what I do on a regular basis.” If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. [Wait, nooooo!] [Is she seriously ignoring us again!?] [Someone find the person who left that message!] [WITCH HUNT!!!!] [Add their name to the Aqua Fan Club Offender List now!] [They’ll be the first name since that abyss-damned blacksmith!] [Everyone! Make absolutely certain no one says anything she can shamelessly use against us if this ever happens again!] I chuckle at their messages before sticking my tongue out at them with a two finger salute as I say, “You should stop calling innocent people shameless. It’s quite rude.” Of course, they blow up at that. But I ignore them now while swimming over towards the city with my latest haul of monster corpses. And as I swim, I go ahead and hum to myself, occasionally quietly singing along the way. Just one of the songs I used for vocal training. Fortunately, copyright doesn’t apply to songs sung during Pioneer broadcasts. So yay. Ironically enough though, my singing actually ends up calming down the chat. Making it a lot quieter even though I’m only very softly singing in the water. Until I get within sight of the city, that is. At which point I stop singing and return to humming. Meanwhile the chat starts going ballistic talking about clipping my singing and saving it and stuff like that. And others are talking about how they can’t wait for my debut song to release. The one I’m collabing with Jack for. That won’t release for about one and a third months or so though. So they’ll have to wait for a bit. When the drama starts airing, I’ll officially start making my debut into the entertainment industry. Both with my acting and with my singing. Albeit with the song releasing around episode two of the drama. Right as I’m about to enter the city, I get a rather amusing message from Rhett. One thanking me for what I just did as it apparently drummed up a lot more interest in the song now that they’ve been given a teaser of me singing. I guess they like it? Well, regardless of that, I head towards the guild building where I leave off the monster corpses I have with me. Only to be stopped before I can leave by Jen. “Um, Aqua, would you mind taking a break some days?” Jen asks with her hands held in front of her awkwardly fiddling with each other. “Doesn’t it tire you to hunt this much every day?” I shake my head and answer, “No, I still have plenty of energy left to hunt more. I just don’t have the mana to hunt more.” Which is a pity. Still, I have work, and I should get to sleep at a decent hour to wake up for work and for hunting the next day. Jen purses her lips before straight up biting her lips, seemingly nervous about something. Then she eventually sighs and says, “Look, Aqua, we can’t handle the number of monsters you’re bringing to us. It’s overloading our harvesters, and if you keep it up at this pace, we won’t even have the funds to pay you within a month of hunting like this.” I find myself blankly staring at her with my mouth slightly parted in shock. Huh? [Her shocked face is adorable.] [So cute. And it’s also cute how she didn’t even realize this until now.] [She’s literally the definition of a wrecking ball coming in and shattering everything these natives know and are used to.] I ignore the chat as I ask, “Really?” She nods her head and answers, “Really.” Then she glances at the other hunters, who all look kind of afraid of me for some reason, before looking at me again. “If we run out of crowns here, we won’t be able to pay the other hunters for their work. And we will run out if we keep having to pay for so many monster corpses.” I frown at that while tilting my head and asking, “But how do you usually get money if you’re going broke from my hunting alone?” “We sell the monster parts we harvest to the blacksmiths and to traveling merchants,” Jen says with a tense expression on her face now. “But the blacksmiths here don’t need this much, and the traveling merchants only arrive once every two weeks. So we won’t be able to earn enough to pay you in this time.” Oh. That sounds like a slow process. I let out a sigh, only for her to look a bit more optimistic as she says, “I could get you a guide to another ocean’s Hunter’s City. You could save up your hunts and sell them to more than one Hunter’s City Guild branch as long as the corpses don’t decompose in your storage skill.” “That’ll work,” I tell her with a nod. And just like that, she tells me to meet her here in three days so that she can introduce me to my guide. She then runs off back to the guild, leaving me to finally head back to my inn. Another ocean, huh? I have barely even explored this one, yet I’m already going to check out a different ocean? Then again, I’m not sure if the different oceans are really all that... well... different. They’re just full of a lot of water after all, right? Other than maybe elevation in the depths and different geographical features down there, the upper layers should still be the same. Lots of water is lots of water. With that thought, I arrive back at my room and finally head to bed for the night.