Aqua

  After me and the blacksmith team up against the ridiculous arguments of the tour guide, winning the argument in the end, the tour guide sullenly guides me to one of the best inns in the city and gives me a recommendation to the owner. He also pays for my room before getting his own room.

  And for the very first time in weeks, I finally sleep in a bed again.

  Which feels wonderful.

  So very wonderful.

  It’s almost enough to make me completely forget about the crisis that is my name change.

  Almost being the key word.

  But I eventually fall asleep and wake up the next morning. Then I do a much more pleasant morning routine than what I was stuck doing in the cave before eating some of the food I got from sponsorships. Which is better than the food from this place if I had to guess. Plus easier to just grab from my storage ring than to go downstairs to get food.

  And with all that done, I finally proceed to accept the invite sent by my manager before finding myself entering my System Phantom for that meeting with the person he wanted me to meet.

  A person I get the feeling I may know who is.

  And that feeling turns into a certainty when I arrive in some room that looks like a guest room of sorts with a large table and some sofas and chairs around it. All with two people seated on opposite sides of the table.

  One of whom is Rhettfelt, and the other the General of the Alliance’s Military.

  My eyes narrow on the man holding a cane in one hand resting on the floor and a teacup in the other. Just sipping on tea.

  To my surprise though, when his eyes turn towards me, the cold look I always see on TV softens in an instant into something warm. Something I’ve never once seen before on the face I’m so used to seeing on TV.

  “Aqua…” Seravos Orcayne says with a faint smile on his face.

  I ignore him to look at Rhett with my question clear on my face.

  “To be clear, I had no idea he was going to do that so soon or before meeting you,” Rhett says while holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. “Did you read the message I sent containing the details of what happened?”

  I blink at that.

  “What message?” I ask as a frown forms on my face and I cross my arms.

  He lets out a sigh before saying, “Please read it.”

  At that, I go ahead and search through my messages in the Broadcast System menu. Only to find another message from Rhett that I missed.

  And this message is… loaded.

  For lack of a better term.

  I feel my jaw drop at everything stated in it. Which feels almost like some packet of information about my origins or something.

  The Kraken Bloodline family – which everyone believed to be dead due to being in the Abyss for two decades – is still alive and are searching for my parents in the Abyss.

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  My parents are lost in the Abyss.

  The Abyssal Orca Bloodline family was supposed to take me in when they found me but instead ignored me to clean up the mess in their family before finally taking me in after finishing that up.

  And the Kraken Bloodline family recently resurfaced from the Abyss for a time, leaving most of their Bloodliners down in the Abyss to continue the search.

  I stare blankly at the incredibly loaded message before turning to stare at Rhett. Only for him to nod his head as if expecting me to ask him if this is all true.

  Then I turn to stare at the general, where I find him looking more than a little guilty while avoiding my gaze.

  “Let me get this straight,” I state in a blankly flat voice. “He spent two decades trying to wrangle full control over the family and force them to accept me instead of actually taking care of me himself. All while watching me struggle and only barely helping from time to time on Equeter. Then he just forces his precious family name onto me after he’s finished?”

  The general turns his gaze towards me and opens his mouth, seemingly to argue with what I just said. Only for Rhett to answer, “Precisely.”

  Seravos turns a glare towards Rhett for his comment. But I ignore him as I turn to Rhett myself and ask, “Is there any way to change my family name back?”

  Rhett answers right away with a shake of his head, saying, “Unfortunately not. The Fallen family name is only to be used for those without any proven blood ties as it comes with legal benefits that are meant to assist orphans.”

  The general looks infuriated at the topic of our conversation, but I just ignore him.

  “Then what about changing my family name to something else? Would that be possible?” I ask without even looking at the general at this point.

  The Hydra glances over at the general, who is literally turning red from anger as water begins to drip out of him, but he answers nonetheless, “The only way I could see the Alliance and the Grand Chancellor allowing it is if you take on the name of your father’s family. Azuranth.”

  “Absolutely not!” Seravos roars as water instantly floods the guest room. Meanwhile a barrier of flames covers Rhett, and I ignore the water since I’m more at home in the water anyways.

  The room itself surprisingly manages well too. Probably because, as I’m beginning to tell based on context clues, it’s most likely property of the Orcayne family.

  “I will never allow those filthy Krakens to count you amongst them as well!” Seravos declares, his voice probably echoing throughout the entire building.

  Once again, I ignore him as I ask Rhett, “So how do I do that?”

  The general fumes, but it’s not really like he can do much of anything. And I think I’m starting to understand him based on his actions so far and what I read in that message.

  He does care about me and my mother. He just cares a lot more about the Orcayne family as a whole than any individual member.

  So he’d never do anything to hurt me like blackmail or something. And even if he could bring himself to physically hurt me, which I highly doubt, I’m in a System Phantom. If someone punches it, I’ll just be sent back to my body.

  “I think this may be better discussed elsewhere,” Rhett says, seemingly rather nervous around Seravos at this point.

  Oh. Right.

  He can’t hurt me, but he can probably send him flying out of the building.

  I doubt he’ll actually do anything too bad to him though. Not when it would bring war with the Hydra Bloodliners.

  Considering that I found out about Rhett being the son of the Hydra family’s matriarch and all.

  “Fine,” I say before adding, “let’s just go to our next job. This meeting is pointless.”

  Then, right as I see the general turning towards me in both shock and with more than a little anxiety on his face, I cancel my System Phantom. Sending me back to my body again.

  And after briefly checking outside my room to find that the tour guide actually left a message with the clerk downstairs telling me that he’ll be gone for a bit to meet up with the other members of his ranker hunter group, I go back up to my room.

  Good. No one to bother me.

  With that thought in mind, I go ahead and lie down again after locking my door and setting up the alarm again before accepting the next job.

  Which is another vocal training job. With the first recording session being right after it for that music video.

  On the note of recording sessions, I can’t help but think about those ASMR recordings I did not too long ago. Because apparently they’re blowing up on the internet right now?

  Ironically enough, they released around the same time as when my name changed. Which skyrocketed their sales through the roof.

  So I’m quickly getting rich now.

  Not that I can use that money here on Oceana. Meaning most of it is being thrown at that cranky old lady.

  At first she refused.

  I refused her refusal.

  Now things are going well.

  I smile at that thought while working.

  Ignoring the presence of a certain old orca watching everything I do from the other side of the glass in the recording studio.

  An orca who seems to be following me everywhere despite my attempts to ignore his existence.

  If only I could punch people with my phantom…

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