Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 1001: Escorting A Lord

In front of her stood a split-haired girl who seemed to be someone important to the Underground.

A powerful Lord trying her best to suppress her aura, yet failing to do so.

And a bystander who seemed nonchalant about everything that was happening, almost as though none of it concerned him.

Renna massaged her eyes.

Three days...

If these three wanted to "relax" in the city for three days, she definitely needed to assign a guard to them.

Not to protect them from anything, but rather to keep an eye on them and prevent them from causing trouble.

Exhaling through her nose, she stared at the trio once again.

Alice Agnelia looked perfectly at ease, acting as though having a Lord as her assistant was completely normal and that people should stop making such a fuss about it.

The Lord looked composed. Apologetic about the aura, but that was it.

And Elias, the man behind them, looked bored.

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

’World Tree, give me patience...’

"Can you three give me a moment?" Renna forced the best smile she could manage. Alice nodded.

Excusing herself, Renna left the room.

She needed someone sensible. Someone who could navigate this situation, observe the group, and report their movements. Someone who could keep their composure with a Lord next to them.

Yet...

Her eyes swept over the guards standing outside the room.

Their faces were pale, sweat dripping down their cheeks. Lab’s presence had terrified them, even from another room.

Just being in the vicinity was enough to make them tremble.

One of the guards looked as though he was fighting his inner demons, trying to stop himself from sprinting away at full speed while still on duty.

Another had become a statue. Every muscle tensed to its limit, making him look more like a decoration than a guard.

The third had become a musical instrument, his body shaking so much that his armor rattled like a loose chain.

Renna stared at them.

They stared back.

Silent pleas screamed in their eyes.

’Please... don’t make us escort that monster.’

All of them had the same expression. Men who knew something terrible would happen and prayed she would choose someone else.

Renna’s eyelid twitched.

"Wonderful. F*cking wonderful..." she muttered.

She could already imagine what would happen if she sent one of them to escort Alice’s group.

’. . .’

Absolutely not.

It was chaos waiting to happen.

There was only one person left. The only one who could escort a Lord without turning into a panicked mess.

Of course she had to do it herself.

"You can return to your posts. I’ll handle escorting the Lord," Renna sighed.

The command felt like a miracle.

"If anyone asks, tell them I have it covered."

All of them saluted at once with renewed vigor. Their fists slammed into their chests, armor ringing loudly and sharply enough to make Renna flinch.

One of them was already halfway down the hall before she could react, her smile twitching violently.

’If you had this much energy, you could have escorted the Lord yourself...’

She stood outside the door, watching them scatter back to their posts.

Turning around, she noticed Alice staring at her with a smile on her face.

"Seems like you care about your subordinates quite a lot," Alice chuckled, causing Renna to sigh.

"Can’t exactly expect normal Hunters to escort a Lord after all." Sitting back down, Renna regained her professional expression as she stared at Alice.

"For the next three days, while you are here, I will be escorting you. Please do not take offense, as this is for the safety of the city. Having a Lord walk around unable to restrain her aura is concerning, even if we ignore the other factions in this city.

"The civilians won’t be able to rest easy," Renna explained.

"Wow~ It is an honor for us to be escorted by someone such as yourself."

Renna ignored the praise.

"Since you are here to restock, can I assume you plan on visiting the Underground branch? Or will you be purchasing from the main market?" she asked.

Alice shrugged.

"Depends on what we need."

Renna tilted her head in confusion when Alice snapped her fingers.

Behind her, the air started to distort as a portal to Grand Cathia revealed itself. Through it, the humming of a machine could be heard.

Renna blinked in confusion.

"Suyin, you there?" Alice asked as Suyin Mark 2 dropped down from above, clearly in the middle of repairs.

"Sup, what do you want?" Suyin asked before pausing.

She noticed that Alice was in a guard room.

"Did you get detained again? What is it this time? Please don’t tell me you bombed a city like when you were in Sikha," Suyin frowned, remembering their first meeting.

The fact that her inventions had gone haywire due to Alice’s unique constitution, which then resulted in her committing acts of terror in the city.

Renna’s ear twitched.

She... bombed a city in Sikha?

"No, no. First of all, that was an accident, and you know that. And second, do you think any of the materials you need can be bought in the market? Or would it strictly be from the Underground?" Alice coughed before Renna got the wrong idea.

Suyin folded her arms.

"Unless everyday merchants can get specific beast parts, I doubt it. I’ll make a list of things I need once I’m done with this."

Alice nodded her head as she watched Suyin climb back up.

Snapping her fingers, the portal disappeared with a distortion of blood mist once more.

"There you have it. We’ll be visiting the Underground and seeing if they have the supplies we need," Alice smiled, pretending as if everything was normal.

"Right..." Renna replied slowly.

But her mind was in chaos.

While portals weren’t rare, she couldn’t believe what she had just seen.

First of all, how on earth did she manage to hide it? Even though she was a Lord, Renna couldn’t sense the portal until Alice revealed it.

Second of all, how long had it been there??? The energy needed to maintain a portal was astronomical. It was why people only kept them open for a short period of time rather than maintaining them.

And if they wanted to maintain a portal like that, they would have an array put into place with Abyssal Engineering to sustain the upkeep rather than rely on the reserves of one person.

And third of all, even if she did have the energy, how was she this composed?! She should have been feeling a substantial drain right now. Unless...

Renna creased her brows.

"Anyways, shall we go to the Underground before lunch? I do wonder what the food is like here." Alice smiled, gesturing to the door.

Renna coughed lightly. She had gotten distracted by the portal.

"Right. Let’s do that." She nodded.

Thalmyra was a weird sight. Alice had already noticed its peculiarities from a distance, but seeing it up close was something else.

There was a certain rough charm to this city. A mishmash of cultures compressed into one location. White stone, greenery, the World Tree’s roots threading through buildings. Elven and human architecture existing side by side.

It didn’t clash. Not quite.

But it didn’t blend either.

It felt like two worlds occupying the same space, neither willing to yield.

No one seemed particularly bothered by it. But then again... how could they be, when there was someone else attracting all of their attention instead?

Lab.

Even with Renna walking at their side, the pressure spilling from Lab’s body was impossible for ordinary people to ignore. It was not the sort of thing one could simply look past.

Renna reassured the civilians that Lab was only releasing her pressure because she couldn’t control it, and that she was here to escort the Lord and keep everyone safe.

Yet even with this reassurance, many of the civilians chose to steer clear.

So much so that Alice couldn’t even buy snacks from the street vendors.

Her eyes wandered toward a grill where mushroom and meat skewers were being prepared.

The use of elven spices made the aroma smell heavenly. The kind that instantly made you hungry, and Alyss was practically begging for a few skewers to taste.

’That one! Gimme that one! No, wait... both! Mushrooms too! Extra spicy! Actually, no. Get me all of it! Gimme all of it!’

Yet the moment they approached, the vendor accidentally spilled a bunch of oil in terror, and the cart erupted in flames.

’NO!!!’ Alyss cried out in pain as she watched all of the skewers burn to ash.

Alice stared at the burning stall while the owner frantically tried to put it out.

Lab smiled apologetically.

Renna quickly helped the man as Alice came to a conclusion.

’Let’s get some skewers when Lab isn’t around.’

In her mental scape, Alyss sat on the bed with a heartbroken sob.

Skipping the food for now, they made their way to the Underground branch.

Since this was a major branch, they were operating at a much larger scale, and the entrance was rather grand compared to the other places.

Alice opened a portal next to Lab to make it easier for Suyin to place the orders. Meanwhile, she took the chance to rest by sitting down near the entrance. Elias decided to do a bit of shopping as well to buy some more materials to work with.

With Lab shopping alongside Suyin and Elias doing his own thing, Alice decided to use the moment to have a drink.

Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a bottle of mead.

Renna watched from behind...

Of all things... why did Alice have to pull out alcohol?

Once again, a single thought passed through Renna’s mind.

’I want to drink!!!’