Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 2 - Chapter 46

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Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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Table of Contents

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Click the following link for the 1406 word chapter 46:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Na1OcFdlGQ_7wvxddbnSJ5O0wySAJsmSZoZJDxIj418/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

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Aqua

I feel incredibly anxious as the time to meet my parents grows closer and closer. All the way until it finally arrives and the sponsorship message comes in with the request for me to arrive.

While in the middle of my room in the base, I feel my heart beating faster than it’s ever done before. Or hearts, I guess. Simply from the mere sight of the message.

Why I feel this anxious is beyond me.

I’m just meeting my parents after all. People I’ve never met before who could technically be considered strangers to me in a way.

But despite that, I understand that part of me wants to meet and get along with them.

Which just confuses me even more.

Maybe it’s because a part of me has always wanted parents and now I have the chance to have some? Especially with there not being any bad blood between us.

No reason for me to find them less than pleasant like the general.

I take a deep breath before finally accepting the request, following which I find myself appearing in some sort of grand ballroom. Albeit a mostly empty one with only a few people in it.

The people in question are my grandfathers and my parents. Without a single other person in the room.

And the moment my parents see me, they both start crying. Silently and with an immense amount of emotion on their face at that.

Tears just begin falling from their eyes as my father clenches his fists at his sides and my mother covers her mouth with her hands.

I take in their appearances amidst the silence.

My father looks similar to my grandfather, with a sharper face and the same deep blue hair and glowing deep blue eyes. But unlike my grandfather, he has short hair that is well groomed with it slightly longer on one side than the other. He’s also wearing a plain t-shirt and pants with a pair of higher end casual shoes.

On the other hand, my mother looks just like me. Making it very obvious where I got my looks from.

Same face, same hair even with the same highlight in the same place, and same figure.

The only differences are her mannerisms being a bit more mature and her being a bit shorter than me. Likely implying that I got at least a bit of my father’s taller height even if I’m short still.

I’m just not as short as my mother.

After getting a good look at them, I feel a smile emerging onto my face.

My parents…

And as if given a signal of some sort, both of them rush straight at me clearly wanting to pull me into a hug. Only for them both to briefly hesitate as if they’re unsure of whether they should or not since I haven’t said anything. Following which they walk into each other before they can stop.

Making for a rather amusing sight that knocks away some of my anxiety and has me almost laughing.

My grandfather on my mother’s side doesn’t show much of a response to the sight, meanwhile my grandfather on my father’s side looks very amused and straight up laughs without even hiding it.

Of course, his laughter seems to remind my parents that the two of them are even here. Which was most likely necessary as a form of introduction and for them to send me the sponsorship request to pull me here in the first place.

To my surprise though, the moment my mother’s eyes lock onto her own father, they narrow in what looks like pure rage and hatred.

Even I feel slightly frightened by the look in her eyes, much less the person it’s directed at.

“General Orcayne, please leave,” she declares in a very cold voice that surprises me even more. Only for the anger and hatred to pause for a moment before she turns to me and asks, “Unless you want him here…?”

I shake my head and speak to my mother for the first time, “No, by all means, throw him out.”

Both my parents and my grandfather on my father’s side all grin before turning to the enraged and heartbroken general. Then some sort of portal made of water appear beneath him and he ends up being forced out of the manor in an instant.

Which I find entertaining to watch.

On another note, when I identify my mother – whose level is too high for me to see – I find her name is already different from what it was in the sponsorship message.

It’s now missing the Orcayne part. So she’s now just Seravina Azuranth instead of Seravina Orcayne Azuranth.

I guess she disowned him. Rather quickly, at that.

Is it because she heard what he’s done over the years?

Probably.

“Great!” my paternal grandfather exclaims with a clap of his hands. “Now that we’ve taken out the trash, how about I leave you three alone for a bit?”

Then the man vanishes in a portal of his own. Albeit one he enters willingly instead of the general who was tossed out.

Leaving me alone with my parents who look just as awkward and anxious as I am.

The rather large ballroom grows silent in an instant as the three of us just awkwardly look at each other. Albeit with my parents mostly just looking at me. Clearly unsure of what to say.

I purse my lips in thought for a few seconds before taking a shaky, deep breath and opening my arms to invite them.

And that proves to be all it takes as the two immediately move up to me and pull me into a group hug. With my mother holding me from the side and my father holding my head with his rather large height and his chin resting on top of my head.

“I’m so sorry… so very sorry…” I soon hear my mother whispering over and over again as she cries. Meanwhile my father feels as stiff as a brick, but I can feel my hair getting damp, implying that he’s crying and his tears are falling on my head.

I feel a warmth blossoming in my chest at the feeling of being held like this. Despite this just being an avatar of sorts and not my real body.

Not that it matters since everything is simulated perfectly.

After a few seconds, I proceed to rub both of their backs with one hand each in an attempt to comfort them. And it seems to work as they both relax a bit of that prior stiffness.

My mother also stops apologizing.

But eventually I feel my own eyes beginning to tear up a bit. Despite not really knowing why.

Maybe their over-emotional states are affecting me or something.

Yeah. It’s definitely that.

The three of us stay like this for a little while before we finally separate to sit on some comfortable chairs. But things get awkward again at that point as none of us really know what to say.

None of us are particularly social from what I understand.

Maybe we should’ve kept grandfather here for that…

It doesn’t help that none of us know what to talk about.

They probably don’t know what to ask without potentially hurting me thanks to how I grew up. And I don’t know what to say since I don’t know almost anything about them and they’ve been sealed away for decades.

The only things I really know about them are the few stories my grandfather has told me.

So… what exactly do I do in this situation?

After a few more seconds of silence, my mother finally asks, “Your current life. Are you enjoying it now?”

I blink at her question before turning my thoughts towards my current life. One filled with freedom as I swim through the ocean, hunt monsters, grow stronger, and do jobs through my avatar.

While I at first didn’t care much for the jobs, I’ve grown to like some of them over the years. Especially some of the great scenery I get to see during some of my shoots.

And I’ve even started to enjoy bantering with my livestream chat, which I originally found annoying.

So…

I smile at her and answer, “Yes, I am.”

Both she and my father smile and speak at the same time.

“I’m glad.” “That’s good.”