Free Web NovelChapter 290: Making A Hard Decision
Roxanna never expected that choosing who would go with them would turn into such a difficult decision.
"The ocean is dangerous, so she needs someone dependable like me!" Calen declared proudly while pointing at himself. "That’s why I should go with them."
Luan immediately narrowed his eyes. "You? Dependable?" he scoffed. "Oh, please. You’re exactly the kind of person who shouldn’t go!"
But Azul quickly shook his head. "No, Calen is right this time. We need someone who isn’t afraid of water."
Luan stared at him in disbelief. "I’m not afraid of water either! I even swam when we had to jump into the river back at Golden Mountain!"
"A river and the ocean are completely different," Azul replied seriously.
"They’re both just water!" Luan argued back.
Azul looked ready to continue the argument, but before the two of them could start fighting again, Zeir calmly stepped in.
"Alright. Let’s settle this properly." He turned his gaze toward Roxanna. "I think it’s better if our wife makes the decision."
Roxanna’s eyes widened in shock when Zeir suddenly pushed such an important choice onto her.
"If you decide, no one will complain," Zeir said calmly.
Roxanna swallowed nervously and looked at each of them one by one. [This is really hard...]
Even so, the answer came out of her mouth almost immediately. "Calen and Zeir," she said without hesitation, making everyone fall silent. "I choose Calen and Zeir to accompany me and Azul to the ocean."
Luan blinked several times before finally speaking. "Why..." he asked slowly, looking completely confused. "Why did you choose them?"
Roxanna answered confidently, "It’s not because I think the people going with me are more dependable than the ones staying behind. It’s because I believe you and Cyrus can protect this settlement easily while I’m gone."
Luan froze for a moment, clearly not expecting that answer.
Meanwhile, Cyrus quietly looked at Roxanna before lowering his gaze slightly. Even though his expression remained calm as usual, the faint movement of his eyes showed that her trust still affected him deeply. freёwebnovel.com
"You trust us that much?" Luan finally asked.
"Of course I do," Roxanna replied without hesitation. "You and Cyrus are strong. Besides, if something dangerous happens while I’m away, I need people here who can stay calm and protect everyone properly."
Luan was not exactly calm whenever it involved her other husbands, but he was still someone who could handle his tasks quietly and efficiently.
"And I also need someone calm to come with me too, which is why I chose Zeir," Roxanna continued. "As for Calen and Cyrus, both of them have something powerful inside them, so I want to split them up."
The moment those words left her mouth, the atmosphere suddenly became quieter.
Cyrus had already shown everyone how powerful he truly was, so Roxanna completely trusted him to protect the settlement while she was away.
[Calen is a complete wild card,] Roxanna thought, trying her best not to scream even inside her own head. [I seriously need to keep someone like him close to me so I can make sure nothing goes terribly wrong.]
After hearing Roxanna’s decision, none of her husbands had anything else to complain about. After all, her words made complete sense, and they understood why she chose that arrangement.
"If that’s truly what you want, then we’ll accept it," Cyrus finally said.
His calm red eyes met hers as he continued, "Luan and I will protect the settlement properly. So... I hope you’ll stay safe too." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Even though his voice sounded steady as always, Roxanna could still hear the worry hidden underneath his words.
For a moment, she simply looked at Cyrus in silence.
Even now, when they were about to separate for who knew how long, his first concern was still her safety.
"I’ll come back," Roxanna said softly. "All of us will."
Cyrus did not answer immediately. Instead, he slowly stepped closer before gently placing one hand on top of her head.
"I know," he murmured softly. "I know you’ll come back and make our daughter healthier."
His gentle words instantly made Roxanna’s heart ache a little.
Nearby, Calen suddenly crossed his arms dramatically. "Why does this feel like we’re sending someone off to war?"
"Because the ocean truly is dangerous," Azul answered honestly. "So I hope you won’t underestimate it. If you act carelessly, you could put all of us in danger."
Azul genuinely believed they could rely on Calen during the journey. But at the same time, he also knew that the energetic dog beastman could sometimes act without thinking first.
Calen immediately frowned. "I’m not stupid," he complained. "Of course I won’t do anything that could endanger everyone."
Seeing the atmosphere starting to grow tense, Zeir calmly stepped in.
"If we want to leave as soon as possible, then we should start packing now," he said.
Then he turned toward Cyrus. "And Cyrus, while I’m gone, can you take care of the warriors as well?"
Cyrus gave a small nod. "It won’t be a problem," he replied calmly.
While her husbands were busy packing clothes and preparing food for the journey, Roxanna quietly slipped away to the side of their hut with Azura resting inside the cradle.
She then asked the system, "When you said the ocean... do you mean the beach, or... do we actually have to go into the ocean itself?"
The system immediately replied brightly, [The beach is called the seashore, Host! That means you must go to the middle of the ocean!]
Roxanna twitched at the corner of her eyes before saying, "We don’t even have a ship."
And building one would take forever. Besides, she was not even sure her husbands would be able to create something they had never seen before.
[That’s why the system wants to offer something to you, Host!] the system said cheerfully.
[If you can reach the beach within three days, then the system will reward you with a sailing ship!] it continued excitedly. [But if you fail, then you’ll have to buy the boat yourself from the system market.]
[Price: 300,000 Spirit Points.]
The moment Roxanna heard that number, her eyelid twitched.
She had only just managed to collect that many Spirit Points again after the system previously drained almost all of them away.
If the system emptied her points again, then she truly would not be able to buy anything else afterward.
"You said three days?" Roxanna asked with disbelief and irritation. "How are we supposed to reach the beach in only three days when we don’t even know where it is?!"
[You can, Host.] the system said. [This offer would not be given to you if the system thought your chances of succeeding were very small.]
[As for the route to the beach, you only need to follow the river.]
Roxanna immediately raised her eyebrows. "You mean the river near the Vixeria Settlement?"
[Yes, Host.] the system answered. [That’s why you don’t need to worry about finding flowing water for Azura during the journey.]
Roxanna fell silent for a moment. Of course she knew that some rivers eventually connected to the ocean, but she truly did not expect the river near the Vixeria Tribe to lead there as well.
All this time, she had thought it only flowed toward a huge lake somewhere far away.
After a moment, Roxanna finally asked, "When does the timer start?"
[The moment you step out of the Vixeria Settlement, Host.]
Roxanna nodded silently, showing that she understood.
Not long after that, her husbands finally finished packing everything they needed for the journey. They carefully placed their belongings into the same backpacks they had once used during their trip to the Golden Mountain.
Food, fur blankets, weapons, medicine—They packed everything as quickly as possible.
"The voice inside my head told me that the river near our settlement will lead us to the ocean," Roxanna explained before they finally prepared to leave the Vixeria Settlement behind.
She then turned to look at Azul. "But I believe you already knew this from the beginning, right, Azul?"
After all, Azul could communicate with water creatures, so it felt impossible for him not to know that the river near the settlement eventually led to the ocean.
"I knew..." Azul admitted, though he sounded strangely unsure. "I just thought... maybe that’s not the ocean we’re supposed to go to."
Roxanna frowned slightly. "The ocean is still the ocean," she said. "What’s wrong with the one at the end of the river?"
Azul slowly shook his head. "I don’t really know either," he answered with a small shrug. "I just... don’t like it. That’s all."
His expression became slightly troubled afterward, as if something deep inside his missing memories was warning him about that place, but no matter how hard he tried, he still could not remember why.
"Alright, the important thing is that we know which direction we need to go now," Zeir said.
Calen then added, "Now that we’ll be traveling along the river, doesn’t that mean Azul and Azura can move through the river instead of walking on land?"
