Balance and Chaos

Ajay was taken to the gathering place of this orc town. Strangely, all the orcs looked at him curiously rather than with hostility or even doubt. Tarsh was hiding with Dhvani. Ajay seemed to have accepted the fact that Tarsh was a helper NPC by the system.

Dhvani didn't tell him anything and let the misunderstanding ferment on its own. But sometimes, the tighter the grip, the more it loosens.

Dhvani looked at all the orcs. They all wore primitive clothing. It was rough cotton and things weren't as pretty as the sea world. There were huts and they didn't develop into cement houses or even brick houses. She could tell them but she didn't want to get too much involved. Changing the pace now would hurt the future.

But as she got orders from her boss, she was okay with changing little things. Like she could teach them games and institutions. Even if she didn't want to, Tarsh would do that. He would be bored outside without playing for a while anyway.

Ajay was finally taken to an open place where there was a large dais in the center. It looked like a place where you would give speeches. Ajay was then asked to sit on a rather large leaf. It was light green and its tip was red. Ajay didn't mind and sat cross-legged.

The orcs who brought him returned, and Ajay waited for the leader to show up. Maybe the so-called leader was playing psychological tactics and making him wait. But it was all wasted on him because he was used to waiting at the government places in his world. They made you wait so much that it became a habit whenever he went to renew something.

Finally, a large man appeared. He was taller than the ocean king but he was the complete opposite of the ocean king. He looked like he could toss ten Ocean kings out of the arena. She wondered what was his animal form. Maybe lion, as the lion was the king of the jungle. She didn't know how the orcs chose their king.

Anyway, she wasn't here to overthrow the government, which was a very hard job. She really admired the protagonists in the books who really overthrew the government. She also wanted to be brave like them. So she learned from the books and decided to go plunging into the danger. It also didn't help that Ajay was also thinking the same thing.

The man who was very strong just glanced at Ajay before inviting him with hand gestures. Ajay then followed him to a rather large clearing where two more orcs were sitting and talking. They stopped talking and looked at Ajay without batting eyes. Ajay felt embarrassed but he still controlled his expressions.

The first impression was very important in situations like these. If he wanted to stay here for a long time, and then play with everything here, he wouldn't mind making a sloppy impression. But he came to negotiate so he had to show his superiority.

What other way than aloofness? So he looked like he was dealing with peasants. Or rather he was dealing with idiots.

Dhvani gave him a thumbs up. She had to admit Ajay did have flair for acting. He kept himself perfectly composed. Maybe CEOs were like this. But Ajay didn't do these kinds of jobs but he still managed to learn something.

The guy who brought Ajay introduced himself first. They all sat on the ground which was surprisingly as smooth as a tiled floor. It was also a little cool. Ajay wondered about the material of the flooring. It was bright white in color and had a cool touch.

"Greetings! My name is Vatsal. I am the current patriarch of the West Tribe. I just want to ask you one question. Who are you?"

Well, he was straight to the point. He did not want to waste time. He did not introduce the others or maybe he didn't feel the need to introduce them.

Dhvani felt it was because he did not put Ajay in any of his sorting areas. Only after that happened would he tell something about his side of people.

"I am Ajay, the Wanderer."

Dhvani felt the urge to laugh at that. He was really wandering now.

The orcs just looked at him more intensely. The other two orcs, male and female, were also sturdy and strong. Dhvani felt that the female orc could make her lose in a fistfight. Dhvani would lose to her in any other fight, literally. Even pen fight.

So she felt extremely grateful that she wasn't on the landing team right now. It feels good to be on the side of the technical team.

"I am here to find the Ocean Queen."

That earned gasps and it was really theatrical. It was like each of them cooperated in a performance. Dhvani felt that something wasn't right here.

"Wanderer, she is my daughter."

It seemed that Ajay got a title here. But the woman spoke with a very soft voice. Dhvani thought that she should be someone from a bird clan. Her voice was melodious.

"Your daughter?"

"Yes, I am the matriarch of the sky team of the West Tribe, Vari."

"I am Shudh, patriarch of the Land team of the West tribe."

The other man spoke gruffly. It seemed like he spoke very less and he had a stern face. The orcs were very different from humans but they seemed quite simple.

"You are here on the behalf of Ocean king," Vatsal stated.

Ajay just nodded. There was no point in hiding.

"Good. It took a very long time for those fishbrains to understand."

Why did Dhvani think the weirdness was increasing? It didn't look like the orcs were on the opposite side of mermen, What exactly was going on here?

"I'll tell you in a short way. The oceans will gradually become less. And the mermen tribe will disappear from this world if everything stays the same. The oceans were formed because of snow. And now the temperature is changing. On the basis of observations performed, the time of the oceans has gone. The land will rise now. The mermen can not stay here. The balance is about to arrive. But those mermen do not understand this. They are rather, who you call, innocent. Even if we say anything, they wouldn't move. And the water on the land will be a curse to them. They cannot live here."

Dhvani felt as if she was listening to some kind of odd fairy tale. But she understood that land and oceans here were in sort of a balance. After the days of oceans, the days of land will come. But if this was the case, what would happen the next time when the days of oceans came? Will the orcs need to evacuate?

"What about the next time of the balance? What will happen to you?"Ajay asked.

The orcs present changed their faces. Maybe Dhvani didn't want to know that. It would take a very long time for that to happen anyways. Maybe they could find a way to stop all this.

"The balance won't come again. This should be the last one."

Vari whispered.

That was very sad to know. It meant that mermen would never go back.

"To tell you the truth, mermen aren't from this world. They were thrown here at the time of the Great Displacement. Orcs saw them cute so they just raised them in the oceans. The oceans were growing then so it wasn't a problem. But the balance is something that this world does to keep itself functioning. The balance would never allow outsiders to exist here. We have already got a future hexagram. So we had to find a way. The only way was for the mermen to call someone from their own world. So now you are here."

Dhvani quickly analyzed. The balance should be some kind of inspection of the way of the world does regularly. It expels all kinds of outsiders so the world would be working without any interference. Or maybe the way of the world does not tolerate people from other dimensions. Because mermen weren't from the world where Ajay lived. According to the tone of the System Main Task, the mermen would one day leave after they brought them back to their world. Only this way it made sense for her.

It also meant that the orcs were all acting in a play. And mermen were supposed to leave in a detached manner so they wouldn't remember this world nostalgically. Whatever the reason, these orcs did love their "fishbrains".

"So you agree to let me leave with the Ocean Queen?"

Vari sighed.

"Yes, you can. She already knows. But we need a promise from you."

The stern guy Shudh added.

Ajay waited for him to talk.

"If one day, you could find a way to come back here, please allow my daughter to come back. We will miss her terribly."

That was a piece of blockbuster news. So the unseen Ocean Queen was the daughter of these two patrairchs.

It should be very hard for them to leave her. But maybe fate was like this. Dhvani felt really sad for these parents. Knowing the inevitable, they still sacrificed their hopes. She quickly searched in her system store if any communication link would be provided.

She also put up a message in her group.

Dhvani-no specs: Can you make a link in a world you went for a mission?

Kavyata-education: Just put a system mark. I use it to spy on people.

Dhvani did not want to know what things she wanted to spy on. Education systems were scary. Would she check if people were studying and not wasting time playing?

["Host, we can provide a video call function at present. And meeting options may be available in the future. It also may not be available."]

Ajay nodded.

"I can place a communication link here. You can talk to your daughter. I can allow you to talk once a month."

Actually, Ajay saw that they could talk whenever they wanted. But wouldn't it be a nice surprise later? Dhvani placed two system links. Hers was a very advanced version. And the one for the orcs was a simple rudimentary one. They didn't need analysis tools. They only needed a video call function so she gave them a simple one.

The orcs were so excited that they turned into their animal forms. And Dhvani was surprised to see their real forms.

The matriarch was actually an eagle. She was completely opposite in her human form. Shudh, the stern guy was a lion. And Vatsal the patriarch was also very unexpected. He was a deer. Well, they were a very odd bunch. It showed that no matter the animal form, only one could win by strength. It applied to everyone.

Dhvani felt she would like to live here for some time if conditions permitted. She could help them. The heads of the clans were good people so they would take this place towards a better future. She surreptitiously left a small picture book. Now it was left to their hard work. She wanted to see how much they would develop when she came to visit later.

There were no tears at the farewell. The Ocean Queen who was also a little eagle was a soft woman. She hugged her parents and then walked out without looking back. Ajay gave the three elders a deep bow and walked away.

Tarsh also watched this with Dhvani. He didn't know what was happening but he still felt the atmosphere. He wanted to go out but Dhvani held him back.

The Ocean king was very emotional and all the mermen cheered. Dhvani felt all this was very easy. There was no fight and nothing else.

Everything was okay but things never stay calm. They had a small problem while landing. Dhvani never understood how the perfect system could go wrong here.

Because they teleported into an unknown world. It was definitely a small problem, right?