Rimelion: The Exploiter

The ship rocked gently beneath my boots, the familiar creak of wood and rope bringing back memories I hadn’t realized I’d missed.

Lucy’s ship was impressive, larger than the one I’d sailed with Duke toward my mother, with magic cannons mounted along the rails and a crew that actually knew what they were doing. The Rimebreak Navy flag snapped in the wind overhead, and I still wasn’t sure if that was official or just Lucy being Lucy.

I stood near the bow, watching the river stretch ahead as we cut northeast through the current. Katherine leaned against the rail beside me, her enormous double-handed sword strapped across her back. The blade was nearly as tall as she was, black steel with crimson runes, beautiful.

“Good day sailing,” she said, grinning at the sky. “No clouds. Ya see everything.”

Frozna stood a few paces away, perfectly still except for the slight sway as she adjusted to the ship’s movement. She also had new items; the entire set of hide armor fit her like a second skin.

A wolf flanked her like a guardian. On her shoulder perched something I’d never seen before: a creature that was part falcon, part cat, with tufted ears and sharp talons gripping her pauldron.

I stared.

Frozna caught my look and grinned. “Lizzie is harmless,” she said, reaching up to scratch under the creature’s chin. “I brought her to scout for us. Good eyes.”

The falcon-cat thing chirped, a sound somewhere between a trill and a meow.

“Right,” I said. “Harmless.”

I turned to check on Lucas.

He stood near the mast, arms crossed, wearing his gray mage robes, simple, the kind of outfit that screamed “please don’t look at me.” His expression was stuck somewhere between grumpy and resigned, the aftermath of all our teasing still written across his face.

“You okay?” I called.

He glanced at me, then away. “Fine.”

“Still pouting?”

“I’m not pouting.”

“Pouting,” Katherine said cheerfully.

Lucas’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. Just turned his attention back to the horizon, pointedly ignoring us.

I smiled despite myself.

A shout rang out from above.

“Arrr, blast it all!” Lucy’s voice boomed from the crow’s nest. I lent her the shouting ring, so her voice was magically amplified, and it rattled the rigging. “Those damned Floaters be crawlin’ up me hull again!”

I felt nostalgia hit me like a wave.

Floaters.

Those stupid, slimy bastards had swarmed Duke’s ship on the way to mother. They were annoying, sure, but they’d been easy pickings back then, low level, low HP, just cannon fodder to grind experience.

This should be simple.

A wet, burbling sound echoed from the starboard side, followed by the distinct slap of something fleshy hauling itself over the rail.

The first Floater emerged.

It was exactly as I remembered: a dark green-blue mass glistening with river water, skin shimmering like an oil slick. It’s pointed, bird-like face twisted into a permanent snarl, bulging fish eyes darting erratically. Jagged teeth jutted out at odd angles from its lipless mouth. Fleshy, fin-like limbs flopped against the deck, leaving sticky trails of slime.

Gross.

More followed, three, five, a dozen of them hauling themselves aboard with wet, gurgling sounds that set my teeth on edge.

Lucy’s voice rang out again, furious. “Slimy sons of sea-scum! Barnacle-brained bilge rats! Kill ‘em all before they muck up me deck!”

I reached for my magic, ready to freeze a few solid, when Cloudy helpfully provided information.

[Floater Lv.25]

Type: 1-common | HP: 236/236

I blinked.

“Oh,” I said aloud. “Even Floaters here got level ups.”

Katherine was already moving, her sword singing as she drew it in one smooth motion. “Good! More fun!”

The first Floater lunged at her with a wet screech.

She bisected it mid-air.

Lucy kept shouting from above, her pirate curses growing more creative. “Ye floppy-finned fish-faced filth! Come aboard me ship, will ye? I’ll send ye back to the depths in pieces!”

Frozna’s wolf darted forward, clamping its jaws around a Floater’s neck and shaking violently. Lizzie took flight from her shoulder, diving at another with talons extended.

More floaters poured over the rails, their gurgling cries filling the air. I sighed, rolling my shoulders. “Just like old times.”

Lucas moved up beside me, already gathering mana for his spark. “You sound nostalgic.”

“I am,” I admitted. “These things were a nuisance in my first main quest. Level five stupid things.”

He glanced at the swarming creatures, then back at me. “They’re level twenty-five now.”

“Details,” I said, ice already forming around my hands.

A floater lunged at us, teeth bared. I froze it solid mid-leap, and Lucas shattered it with his lightning magic.

“Nice,” I said.

He almost smiled. “Don’t get used to it.”

Above us, Lucy’s laughter boomed across the deck. “That’s it, crew! Show these slimy scallywags what happens when they board the Rimebreak Navy!”

Katherine whooped, her sword carving through three Floaters in one swing.

The wolf howled.

Lizzie screeched.

Three hours later, the attacks finally stopped.

Lucy stood at the bow, hammer in hand, and brought it down on the last Floater with a wet crunch. The creature exploded in a spray of slime and river water.

“Arrr! Let that be a lesson to ye scurvy sea-slugs!” she bellowed, raising her hammer high. “None dare board Captain Lucy’s vessel and live to tell the tale! We be the terror of the rivers, the scourge of the—” She paused, squinting at something in the distance. “—the navigators of agricultural salvation!”

I blinked. “That made no sense.”

“Pirates rarely do,” Lucas muttered, leaning against the mast and looking exhausted.

“This was...” I started.

“Amazing!” Katherine interrupted, stretching her arms overhead with a satisfied groan. Her sword was still strapped to her back, barely a scratch on it despite the constant fighting. “Stretched good! Feel strong now!”

I smiled and made my way back to the railing, settling onto it carefully. The river stretched out on either side, calm now that the Floaters had retreated. The water reflected the sky in broken fragments, and the breeze carried the scent of wet wood and distant forests.

Frozna joined me, her wolf padding along beside her. Lizzie had returned to her shoulder, preening its feathers-fur with one talon.

“Do you want to pet him?” Frozna asked, nodding toward the wolf.

I glanced down at the creature. It was massive up close, easily waist-high, with thick gray fur and intelligent eyes that watched me without aggression. Just... curiosity.

I forced a smile. “As long as he doesn’t roll in the mud.”

The wolf sat obediently, and I reached out, running my hand over its head. The fur was softer than I expected, warm and dense, with a slight coarseness near the ears. The wolf leaned into the touch slightly, not demanding but accepting, its tail giving a single slow wag.

I scratched behind its ears, feeling the tension in my shoulders ease just a bit. The wolf’s eyes half-closed, content.

“Mud wolves are not your favorite?” Frozna asked, her tone curious rather than judgmental.

I chuckled and nodded. “I used to hate mud.” I pointed down at my heels, impractical for a ship, maybe, but they were mine and they were perfect. “Hard to walk in it. Unlike sand, it’s messy... and when you have wolves who love that?” I let out a sigh, still petting the wolf’s thick fur. “Uh... it’s silly, I know.”

Frozna shook her head. “Everyone is afraid of something. But wolves are cute.”

I looked down at the wolf again, at the way it sat there patiently, letting me scratch its ears without complaint. Its presence was grounding.

“Wolves are friends,” I breathed, running my hand down its back one more time.

“Yes!” Frozna grinned at me, a rare full smile that lit up her usually calm expression. The wolf’s tail wagged again, just once. I smiled back, something warm settling in my chest.

Maybe mud wolves weren’t so bad after all.

“Land ho!” Lucy’s voice boomed from above, magically amplified until it probably reached the next kingdom over. “The village be dead ahead, ye scurvy dogs! Prepare to dock!”

Sailors immediately sprang into action as they adjusted sails and prepared ropes. The ship began to slow, angling toward the shore.

I stood and moved to the rail, squinting ahead.

The dock appeared through the river mist; old, weathered, half-rotted planks held together more by perseverance than structural integrity. Several posts leaned at dangerous angles, and entire sections looked like they’d collapse under any real weight. Moss and algae clung to everything below the waterline, and the wooden pylons were so eaten through by time and water that I could see daylight through some of them.

“That’s... not promising,” Lucas muttered beside me.

“Looks sturdy!” Katherine said cheerfully.

Frozna just watched.

The ship bumped against the dock with a groan that made me wince. Sailors tossed ropes to secure us, and I held my breath, half-expecting the whole structure to collapse into the river.

It held.

Barely.

Lucy descended from the rigging with her usual theatrical flair, landing on the deck with a thump. “All ashore what’s goin’ ashore! Mind yer step—this dock’s seen better centuries!”

We disembarked carefully, boots hitting warped planks that creaked ominously with every step. The wood was soft in places, spongy with rot.

I picked my way across, grateful for my balance, until we reached solid ground.

An important-looking man waited at the end of the dock, flanked by two guards in mismatched armor that had clearly been repaired more times than replaced. The man himself wore what might have once been formal robes, now faded and patched, with a chain of office hanging around his neck that looked authentically old.

He stepped forward as we approached, eyes scanning our group with a mixture of hope and wariness.

“Who are you?” he asked, trying to sound with the careful neutrality of someone who’d learned not to assume travelers meant well.

I stepped forward. “We’re from Rimebreak Kingdom. We own Altandai now.”

His eyebrows rose slightly, but he nodded, some tension leaving his shoulders. “Then welcome to the glorious town Thalvirea.” He gestured behind him. “Such as it is.”

“Thalvirea is a town?” Katherine asked bluntly, looking around.

I followed her gaze.

Derelict buildings surrounded us, collapsed roofs, empty windows like hollow eyes, walls crumbling back into the earth.

Only the core of what had once been a proper settlement showed any signs of life: a cluster of maybe twenty structures with smoke rising from chimneys, people moving about, the faint sounds of daily existence.

Everything else was ruins.

The man’s expression tightened, but he lifted his chin with obvious pride. “We are in decline, yes. But we are still a town, charter granted by the Black Grandmaster himself, one hundred and sixty years ago. That charter stands.”

I nodded respectfully. “We only need to dock here for a few days. We’ll bring some coin into your economy.”

His face brightened immediately. “That would be—” He paused, then seemed to gather courage. “Actually... if you have time, perhaps you could solve a problem for us?”

“Quest!” Katherine yelled before I could respond, her voice making the man jump. She nodded enthusiastically. “Talk!”

The man blinked, clearly taken aback by Katherine’s intensity, but recovered quickly. He gestured toward the hills in the distance, where I could see scattered farmsteads dotting the slopes.

“Our farms,” he said. “Something’s been attacking them. Animals getting killed, entire flocks gone overnight. And...” He swallowed. “People going missing. Three in the last month.”

Katherine’s grin widened. “We kill thing! Easy!”

The man’s relief was visible. “Thank you. Truly. We can’t offer much in payment, but—”

“We help,” Katherine interrupted, already turning toward the town proper.

The man led us forward, and we walked into Thalvirea proper.

The main street was a study in contrasts: old cobblestones, worn smooth by a century of use, lined with buildings that told the town’s story. Some were intact, roofs freshly thatched, walls whitewashed and maintained.

Others sagged, their timbers rotting, windows boarded up or simply missing. A few had been partially repaired, new wood grafted onto old structures like scars.

People watched us from doorways and windows, curiosity mixed with caution. A blacksmith’s hammer rang out from somewhere nearby. The smell of bread baking drifted from a building that might have been an inn.

It was a town dying slowly, fighting to stay alive one repair at a time. “Katherine,” I said as we walked, “we’re on a tight timeline.”

She just grinned at me over her shoulder. “Can kill some things! Already have quest!”

I groaned. “That’s not how—”

“Is perfect!” Katherine continued, undeterred. “Quest mean loot. Loot mean good. Good mean—”

“We get it,” Lucas interrupted.

Frozna’s wolf padded along beside us, drawing stares from the locals. Lizzie chirped from her shoulder, and I saw a child point excitedly before being pulled back inside by a worried parent.

Lucy walked with exaggerated swagger, her hat tilted at a jaunty angle. “Aye, a proper adventure! Monsters to slay, townsfolk to save, glory to be won!”

“And crops to save in the mines,” I reminded her. “Remember? The whole reason we’re here?”

“Details!” Lucy waved a hand dismissively.

I looked at Frozna, who had been walking silently beside me. She met my gaze and gave me a small smile.

“You’re not going to talk them out of this,” she whispered.

“I know,” I sighed.

Katherine was already asking the man for more details about the attacks, her enthusiasm infecting even Lucas.

We were supposed to be saving agriculture, but now we were hunting mystery monsters.

Just another day in Rimelion.