Abyssal Awakening

After coming to an agreement, Alice accepted a Law of Agreement to finalise the contract.

In return for protecting his shipment from Pirates, she'll get 2 Platina per successful delivery. If all 10 are delivered in good condition, she'll be awarded an extra 5 Platina.

Once that is done, their contract ends.

But if some of the shipments are damaged, they will be deducted from her payment.

A simple arrangement that was to Alice's liking. While his choice to support slavery and business in the underworld rubbed her the wrong way, she could get behind the straightforward manner of his contracts.

Of course, this could also simply be his way of being careful after her little showcase in front of everyone.

Regardless, she was happy with the arrangements.

With the contract now finalised, Alice left the establishment without staying longer. Her job will start in two days and be finished before the week ends.

'Seems like our little trip to this city might last a lot longer than a week. Maybe two weeks? Possibly three.' Alyss sighed as she stretched her body across the throne.

'What makes you say that? We're only going to be here for a week to do the job.' Alice chuckled.

'Don't give me that nonsense. Information gathering and figuring out what's inside the shipments. Once you're free from the contract, you're probably going to rob them blind, aren't you? Change identities and steal a bunch of stuff.' Alyss rolled her eyes.

She was very familiar with Alice's thought process. If people believe that this gal here would just do a job and then leave without considering anything else, they're dead wrong.

Hiring Alice is akin to hiring a parasite that latches onto your coffers.

'Well~ No comment from me.' Alice chuckled. As Alyss may have guessed, her original plan was to only follow the arrangement as specified by the contract. Anything outside of that was no longer her issue.

Whether that be a strange girl attacking the shipments or anything else, 'Calista's' job was over and she didn't need to worry about the underworld anymore.

'Knew it.' Alyss rolled her eyes.

Once she was sure that no one was observing her, Alice dispelled her disguise and made her way back to the Inn.

###

"Welcome back, seems like you're in a rather good mood." Tristan called out as Alice could see him repairing the roof of the building.

"Hmm… Somewhat. I found myself a little job that'll last me the week. On the other hand, seems like you're making the final repairs. You're quite the handy man aren't you?" Alice chuckled while knocking her finger against the walls of the Inn.

Compared to before, it was now a lot studier and could probably withstand a decent amount of force.

The time she was gone was only a few hours yet Tristan was able to make this much progress.

"The sooner I fix this place up, the faster we can properly start the business. And as for my skills, it's only natural to pick up a thing or two if you travel a lot." He shrugged, putting another tile in place.

"That so?" Alice replied half heartedly.

Her attention was on something else. Something that caused the corners of her mouth to twitch.

'Is this dude for real? He's using his blessings to help him repair the damn place!'

She could sense the distinct energy belonging to the moon radiating from his body. With the sun slowly setting on the horizon, the blessing only increased in potency.

At this rate, Alice wouldn't be surprised if the Inn was turned into a bunker or something that could withstand large scale attacks.

If she were to unleash an attack with all of her Sigils in the middle of the city, this place would probably survive relatively unscathed. That was the feeling she was getting from this Inn.

[I think his role in the Church might be a bit higher than my initial estimation…] Cayla furrowed her brows as most members can't do this kind of task.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Hopefully, things can be repaired quickly so you can attract some customers." Alice smiled before stepping into the Inn.

Looking at Alice's disappearing back, Tristan couldn't help but wonder if she noticed that he was using blessings. A large majority of people can't sense this kind of thing so if she could, she might be a good fit for the Church.

However, he wasn't the kind of person to force someone else to follow his path or religion because they have an affinity for it. That would be going against his code of conduct.

###

Since there was some time before her new 'job' started, Alice decided to explore the city a little and do a bit of research on the pirates. They were one of the foundations of Caethis after all, she couldn't slack off even if she was confident in her own abilities.

The pirates were primarily split into two factions. Their names are a little on the nose but they had better things to think about.

First was the Pirate Queen Minerva, a woman who focused on expanding their influence across the seas. She's the one mostly responsible for the ambushes at sea and aggressive actions.

As for her opposite, it was the Pirate King Darrow. He's rather old if they consider the longevity of pirates. He's someone who's fought in battles between nations before and survived. Enjoy new tales from empire

As for his views, he's on the side of not breaking what's working and would rather keep the status quo. A keeper of peace if one was to dress it up with better words.

He makes deals with the port, lends pirates to act as guards and keeps Minerva in check.

However, his passive nature doesn't mean he's weak. In fact, it's because he's strong that he could keep Minerva from doing more. If he wanted, he could completely shut her down but that's not how he operates. He allows the pirates freedom while making sure they don't cross the line.

Between the two, Alice was rather interested in Darrow. He has the same title as Rosalyn, the principal.

Strongest below the rank of Lord.

Alternatively, he's also known as the undefeated Pirate King of the North and someone who guarantees the safety of the shipments coming in from the East.

'From what I've gathered, Minerva is pretty arrogant and stubborn. But even with her personality, she's resorted to trying to convince Darrow that her way is the right way. Seems to me like she knows she can't beat him.' Alice thought to herself while roaming the beaches while drinking from a small flask.

It was a little weird to see water so clear after being in the Abyss for so long. Especially since this is the sea and what she's standing on is a beach.

In the Abyss, the beach was composed of strange silvery sank that shimmered with a slight purple and dark water that'll corrupt you with a touch.

Here, that wasn't the case.

She saw the lake next to Kvia but it was still strange to see a whole sea of clear water. One that didn't corrupt through touch.

After all, it was considered a big hazard to travel by sea in the Abyss. The risk of beasts tearing apart your ship and throwing you into the sea was high.

But here… While there may be beasts in the sea, it was a lot safer in comparison to the Abyss.

[Abyss is a realm that favours the strong. If you're not strong enough, you shouldn't even think about going there. For the people of the surface, few rarely have the idea of descending. In fact, most would avoid it for the majority of their life unless absolutely necessary.] Cayla spoke up.

'Figures. Some of the beasts in the Abyss are pretty damn perverted when it comes to how strong their abilities are.' Alice nodded in agreement. She could still remember her first few interactions with the beasts.

Spectral Maidens that sucked out your soul, a tree beast that trapped you in an illusion and so on. For a normal person or even a normal Hunter, these were dangers that they wanted to avoid whenever possible.

Yet those were the first dangers that Allura exposed Alice to.

Thinking back, Alice felt maybe that was the turning point where she became a 'little' abnormal in terms of strength.

With her constantly being exposed to that kind of insane danger, it's only natural she'll adapt to it and destroy any sense of normality.

Just like how she'll struggle with how 'normal' people think and act, normal people will struggle with how she did things.

Perhaps the realm of 'normal' was now far beyond her reach.

###

"Darrow! You know what they're trying to bring in so why aren't you doing anything about it?!" A woman could be seen glaring at the aged man sitting in front of her.

She had wild black hair, a white bandanna and a pair of earrings. She wore two necklaces, both decorated with gold. As for her outfit, it consisted of a loose fitting white shirt, a belt, a pair of loose pants and long boots.

Minerva couldn't believe that Darrow was doing nothing about what the underworld was trying to pull.

"Leave them be. Disturbing the rat nest will cause a horde to appear. If it's just one or two, so be it." Darrow shook his head while looking over some documents.

However, his reply only made Minerva infuriated as she didn't understand why he wasn't making a move at all.

And while others may think that she's stubborn, Darrow is even more so. Once he made up his mind, even if the sky were to collapse, he wouldn't change his mind.

Kicking the table with her foot, Minerva left the room in a huff while Darrow could only sigh.

He hoped that things would settle if he just left it be, but that was probably unlikely.