Chapter 109: The Balance of the River

The second impact came hard enough to shake dust loose from the beams overhead, and the little girl immediately turned toward the ceiling as shouting broke out across the deck. Weapons scraped free, something struck the side of the ship, and a strange cry carried through the hull beneath all of it, muffled by water and wood but sharp enough to make the girl flinch.

Nick looked up. "Sounds like they found our problem."

Jaxir barely heard him because the girl’s expression had changed completely. The smug little Natural who had spent the last several minutes insulting him disappeared as she rushed toward the wall and pressed both hands against it, listening while another cry came through the hull followed by the heavy crack of something being struck.

"They’re hurting them."

Her voice sounded smaller now, and Jaxir watched her breathing quicken while the fighting above grew louder. Another beast cried out, then several crewmen cheered, and for the first time since he’d met her, the girl actually looked her age rather than someone pretending to be helpless when it suited her.

"Stop it..." She squeezed her eyes shut and kept both hands against the wood. "They’re just following her. They don’t know why the egg is here."

Jaxir’s expression tightened as another impact shook the cargo hold, and before he could decide what he was supposed to do about any of this, a notification appeared in front of him.

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[Quest Received]

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Quest: The Balance of the River

Description: The natural order of this river has been disturbed by greed. Beasts that once lived beneath an established balance now follow a stolen offspring into danger, while those responsible for the disturbance continue to answer nature with violence.

Objective: Resolve the disturbance and return balance to the river without killing any river beasts.

Failure Penalty: Maximum MP reduced by 50% for 30 days. Mana senses will be crippled for 30 days.

Reward: ???

―

Jaxir stared at the screen long enough to read the punishment twice, then let out a slow breath. The system apparently expected him to stop an attack by multiple river beasts while not being able to kill any of them, which sounded considerably easier if he ignored the part where they were actively trying to rip the ship and probably him apart.

"Dammit."

Nick looked over. "What?"

"I got a quest."

Nick’s eyes widened. "You got a quest? I didn’t get shit."

Jaxir started toward the stairs. "You want it?"

"Obviously."

"Failure cuts my MP in half for a month and cripples my Mana Sense."

Nick paused halfway after him, then hurried to catch up with an entirely different expression. "Jaxir, buddy, you’ve always been stronger than me. It’s only natural you were given such a difficult task."

Jaxir rolled his eyes. "You’re a great friend."

"I support you completely."

They reached the deck to find the situation had gotten worse while they’d been below. Several long-bodied river beasts circled the ship, their dark backs breaking through the surface before disappearing again, while crewmen crowded the railing with spears, bows and hooked weapons whenever one came close enough to strike.

One beast lunged from the water and snapped at the side of the ship before Hale drove his spear down toward its neck. It twisted away before the blow landed cleanly, but the blade still opened a long wound across its side, and blood spread across the river behind it.

Jaxir’s jaw tightened.

He had no idea how he was supposed to resolve this without killing anything, especially when everyone around him seemed determined to do exactly that.

He found Captain Verren near the wheel, shouting orders while 2 crewmen worked the rigging beside him, and pushed through the deck until he was close enough to be heard over the fighting.

"Captain."

Verren barely glanced at him. "Get below deck."

"I felt something pulsing in the cargo hold."

That finally got his attention, and Verren turned fully toward him while the men beside him continued working. His expression hardened before Jaxir even had to explain which part of the cargo hold he meant.

"You were told to stay out of the cargo."

Jaxir glanced toward the river as another creature struck the hull. "You forgot to mention the part where one of your crates was alive."

Verren’s hand shifted toward the sword at his waist.

Nick stopped beside Jaxir and folded his arms, apparently deciding that moral support was enough contribution for now.

"Go back downstairs," Verren repeated. "My crew has this handled."

"No, they don’t." Jaxir pointed toward the blood spreading beside the ship. "They’re killing things that are only here because of what you’re carrying, and the situation will only get worse the longer we spend out here with it."

Verren’s gaze sharpened. "You paid for passage, not permission to inspect my cargo."

Jaxir smiled slightly. "And I’d like to survive the passage I paid for."

Another beast struck the hull before Verren could answer, hard enough that the deck tilted beneath them and several crewmen stumbled. Jaxir adjusted without thinking, his newly reforged body correcting his balance almost immediately, then waited until the ship settled again.

"It’s a Riverheart Egg." Jaxir said.

Verren’s eyes narrowed.

That was enough of an answer.

Jaxir nodded. "So you knew there was something unusual about it."

"I only thought it valuable."

"Well, congratulations. It’s probably more valuable than you thought." Jaxir said then gestured toward the river. "It belongs to a Riverheart Matriarch. Everything following this ship is here because you’re carrying her egg, and the farther you take it, the worse this is going to get."

"How do you know that?"

"Does it matter?"

"It matters if I’m supposed to throw away something my crew risked their lives to get. Did you join us because you knew what we had? "

Jaxir pursed his lips. "No. I told you I sensed it afterward"

Verren laughed once. "Convenient."

"Are you really not going to listen? You can’t even deal with this. If beasts this powerful are already here, what do you think is going to happen when the matriarch herself shows up? Or at least beasts closer to her in power?"

The captain’s smile disappeared as another dark shape passed beneath the water beside them. More dots had started appearing at the edge of Jaxir’s map, and every few seconds another one joined them, making the river around the ship look increasingly crowded.

"We can handle river beasts."

"Even if you could, which it doesn’t seem like, these aren’t the problem."

"Then what is?"

"I told you already. The matriarch they’re following."

Verren’s gaze sharpened, but Jaxir could already tell he wasn’t convinced enough to give up something valuable. That was the real problem here, because even if the captain believed every word, greed was doing a better job of steering the ship than he was.

"You’ve got an egg from an apex beast sitting under your feet, and you think everything happening around you is a coincidence?" Jaxir pointed toward the lower deck. "Throw it overboard, turn around, whatever you need to do. Just get it away from the ship."

Verren stared at him for several seconds before shaking his head.

"If what you’re saying is true, that makes the cargo even more valuable."

Jaxir was getting irritated, but he still opened his mouth to try one more time, but he was cut off.

"No, I understand perfectly." Verren’s hand settled on his sword. "You boarded my ship, went through my cargo, and now you’re telling me to throw away something worth a fortune because you claim we’re in danger."

A beast struck the hull again, sending a shudder through the deck beneath them.

Jaxir spread his hands as the captain stumbled as though to say: "See?"

Verren’s patience finally broke, or maybe it was embarrassment that shattered it.

"Hale."

The Level-17 crewman turned from the railing.

"Get these 2 off my ship."

Hale hesitated. "Captain?"

"The situation’s too dangerous for us to have a few backstabbers on board." Verren looked from Jaxir to Nick and pointed toward the river. "Throw them overboard. How they survive is their problem."

The crew around them started turning while Nick looked toward the water, then back toward Jaxir.

"I would like to officially revisit my earlier position about avoiding trouble." This seemed like the last chance he was going to get to say "I told you so", so he took it.

Jaxir didn’t answer as several crewmen began closing in around them.

His gaze had gone cold.