Pioneer of the Abyss: A Deepsea Livestreamed
Book 1: Chapter 59

Aqua

When Jen comes back, she asks me to follow her upstairs. And to leave the monster corpses there for someone to count and move.

So I follow her up the stairs before eventually finding myself standing in the middle of an office in front of a large desk with a very large man behind said desk. A man I swear must be twice my size. Not in height though. Just overall size.

Although he is a few heads taller than me, making me tilt my head backwards just to look at his face.

[Valek Neremius – Bloodline: None – Level 19]

Okay, I’m pretty sure I could easily deal with him in a fight despite his large size difference. So there’s that at least.

“Missy, don’t worry about being in trouble or anything,” the man says while reaching across to shake hands. Which I awkwardly do, briefly noting that my hand looks like it’s being devoured by his thanks to the vast size difference. Making me wonder if my hand is just tiny or if his hand is that of a giant’s. “I just brought you here to meet ya. It’s not every day we run into a hunter with a spatial storage skill. Much less one capable of hunting monsters in the upper level twenties.”

“Sir, you mean we never run into people like that,” Jen says after clearing her throat. “Ever. Only one person with a skill like that has been confirmed until Aqua and Aqua is the only person strong enough to fight monsters at that level.”

The big guy frowns at Jen as Jen just smiles at us before he mutters, “I was trying to sound cool.”

“Your attempt to sound cool has been noted,” Jen says with a nod. “Now act seriously.”

Valek, who I’m assuming is the Guildmaster that Jen was bringing me to see, scratches the back of his head before sitting down, bringing him down to a much more reasonable level that doesn’t require me to tilt my head up to look at him. Then he says, “Alright. I’m Valek Neremius, as you’ve probably surmised from identifying me. And I’m the Guildmaster of this Hunter’s City Hunter’s Guild. If you ever need anything, don’t feel shy asking bout it.” He pauses for a second, only to add, “Oh, and I’ll bring you to a warehouse to put the rest of the monsters.” The man’s brows furrow a bit. “How many do you have, missy?”

I feel slightly surprised by his shift in attitude. Seeing as I was expecting him to get a bit more serious after that. Not to get even less serious and less formal.

And what’s with this ‘missy’ stuff anyway?

Eventually I decide to just answer as I state, “I have two hundred and seven corpses total, with a little over a hundred out in the lobby.” I close my eyes while glancing at what’s in the storage ring before opening my eyes again. “There’s seventy seven left to pull out.”

The two of them once again shift to shock, which is getting old.

On another note, it’s nice to see that there is someone with a spatial storage skill on this planet already. That means I don’t even have to worry about explaining the storage ring.

They’ll just assume I got that skill.

Although it is rather surprising. It’s not a common skill after all.

Actually, it’s an incredibly rare skill. Especially when most of this world is beneath level twenty. So they’ve only gotten a few chances to get skills in the first place.

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At the end of the day, it helps me. So it’s good.

“W-well, alright,” the Guildmaster says with a nod. Then he stands up, once again towering over me as he says, “Follow me.”

And I do just that. I follow him through the building all the way until we go downstairs and towards a side door. Which leads to some sort of large warehouse full of monster materials.

Most of which are mine right now.

Meanwhile several people are lugging my haul back and forth to different machines. Some are scales, others are places for them to descale fish, others are long counters with saw-like gadgets, and so on.

All things meant to butcher and handle marine life monsters.

When they see the Guildmaster in here, they stop what they’re doing to say hi for a moment before continuing with their work. Until the Guildmaster says, “Hey! Get a counter here! She’s got more for ya!”

For some reason a dead look appears in their eyes when they hear that. I’m not sure why though.

I also don’t really care. So I just dump out the rest of the corpses from my storage ring before putting my hands on my hips and feeling a lazy yet slightly smug smile spreading across my face.

Just how much will all this get me?

I can’t wait to not be poor here anymore.

The chat flashes through the corner of my vision.

[As always, her smug poses are the best…]

[I want to keep this picture forever. Just her with her hands on her hips, her chest pushed out and that smug smile.]

[Adorable.]

Shut up.

Also, the people working in this warehouse show a rather unexpected expression. One even worse than everyone else I’ve seen so far.

Theirs is both surprise and despair for some reason.

I wonder why?

More business should be good after all.

With that thought firmly depicted in my mind, I wait here for them to count all the corpses. Which takes a while, especially since they’re incredibly varied.

Some of the corpses are as small as a foot-long piranha while others are as large as a ten-meter-long octopus. And when they’re all thrown into piles, it only makes it even harder to separate them and count.

Then there’s the monster levels that they have to write down as well. But fortunately that’s simple since even dead corpses show their old level and species when identified. So they just have to identify them and write those details down.

From what the Guildmaster says, the pay varies rather strongly based on the different species of monsters, their level, their size, and various other details. Which makes sense.

Some of these monsters are used primarily for food, others for some of their organs, and others for their scales. And so on.

But when all the counting and calculating finally comes to a close, I’m told I earned a total of ten thousand five hundred and thirty one crowns from this haul. Which from what the tour guide told me should be worth the equivalent of most hunter’s yearly salary.

And I earned all that in one day of hunting.

The Guildmaster and Jen both walk me back to his office to hand off the money. Since it’s quite a lot. And while crime is almost nonexistent around the Hunter’s City just due to what it is and who all lives here, some criminals might sneak in somehow and bring news to groups outside of this city.

Groups who may attack me when I’m visiting another city or something.

Although that’s extremely unlikely according to the Guildmaster. Because everyone who is this deep in the ocean has to have incredible survival skills just to go between cities without being killed by some powerful monster that came from deeper in for some reason.

It’s actually extremely common for hunters to never be seen again after going on hunts. So most of the time they don’t really remember most of the hunters.

It makes it easier when they’re often dying out there without ever coming back.

After handing me my haul, the Guildmaster leans back in his chair while putting his hands behind his head and muttering, “Just how long were you hunting to get all of those monsters? Please don’t bring that many at once again.”

That gives me pause as I blink at him. Then, without pausing in the act of putting the bag of crowns – which are just golden coins – into my storage ring, I say, “I got all those today. Although I had to leave behind a few corpses that were turned into paste.”

He stares at me, his jaw dropping open in shock. And Jen does the same.

“Wait, wait, wait,” the Guildmaster says, leaning forward in an instant. “Are you telling me all those monsters were from today alone?!”

I nod my head.

“Just today?” he repeats.

I nod again.

“As in, one single day?” he says, making my brows furrow in irritation.

I don’t bother answering as I begin to leave the room. Not planning on talking to someone when they’re like this.

Which doesn’t seem to bother him, seeing as he just stares at me in shock as I walk out. Clearly not in the state to have a conversation.

What’s with these people?

And here I thought I sometimes had issues talking with people.

I shake my head at that thought while walking back out of the Guild.