"Yai!" A woman runs up to Yai as we near the docks of the village. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over to tell you about a human who's gotten a challenge from both villages! And why is there a bearkin with you?"

Yai and Colby both look uncomfortable as her exclamation. I'm going to assume that this is Yai's mother based on similarities between him and her.

"Hello, the human getting challenged over here," I raise a hand up and she only then seems to notice me. "I found them up north while looking for a spot to practice in. They were having an intense swimming competition. Colby's definitely the stronger swimmer, but Yai's more agile."

"O-oh."

"I was told there would be a place for me to change?" I ask.

"It's over by the docks," she tells me. "This way."

Colby, Yai, and I follow Yai's mother near to the docks, where the elder otterkin I spoke with earlier is waiting. He's holding a pair of blue shorts, which he offers to me while telling me where I can change. I enter that hut and change, leaving my pack and gear in the hut before exiting it. Since I'd be removing my boots anyway when I start to swim and pretty much everyone else is barefoot, I leave those behind as well.

Rather than accepting the offer to ride over to the island on a boat, I swim with the rest of the people here. Everyone going over to the island or already there have changed into some sort of blue swim gear for the swimming, and I'm guessing that their swimming clothes are made of a special material that's better for aquatic movement than their normal clothes. Even Colby has, as his shorts from before were actually swim shorts, though they're orange rather than blue.

Swimming to the Dungeon Island with the rest of the otterkin (and Colby) will no doubt earn me a little bit more favor than taking a boat over would. The island isn't big enough to fit everyone as each village has around four hundred members, but there's still at least a hundred people from each side crowded toward the southern end. Someone even put up some sort of wooden barrier to keep people from accidentally running into the Dungeon Gate.

That's probably meant more for keeping the kids out, as there are at least twenty of them here. The elder otterkin leads me to the southern part of the island, where the elder bearkin from before is waiting. Considering that everyone seems to defer to them, I'm going to assume they're the village's chiefs.

My guess is that the southern island was picked to reduce the currents that would be battering me and Dez, whoever that is, while we compete for staying underwater the longest. Not that the current is too strong here, it's actually rather decent. The water itself is fairly calm even closer to the middle of the river, so I guess it's just a slow section.

There's not much actually here on the island, just grass up to the edges of it, which seem to be more of a sheer cliff than a slope into the water, which reaches up to about an inch from the island's top. Though I suppose the island actually has a slight slope, just not one that goes into the water itself.

The people gathered closest to the southern edge of the island, with a small clear space between them, are bickering about which village's challenge I should do first. I think both sides are conflicted on this. The otterkin want me to take on their challenge first, but they also want to see how long I can hold my breath for. The bearkin want me to take on their challenge first, but they also want to see how big of a fish I can catch in just one try.

If I manage to catch one in under ten minutes.

An otterkin boy who looks about ten is sitting on the southern edge of the island, his feet dangling into the water, and he looks bored. He's honestly the calmest person here, with the adults all bickering or glaring at each other and the other kids running around, chasing each other – but only the kids from their own village, a harsh word from their parents stopping them anytime they try to play with the kids from the other village.

A bearkin baby is held in his mother's arms, a sling wrapped around her to make carrying him easier. She's bickering with the otterkin as well, and the baby looks like he might be ready to cry. He and the sling are a bit wet as well, which suggests that she swam over with him.

I guess they start young?

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I approach her. "Is it okay to ask if I can hold your baby for a minute?"

She looks uncertain, but allows me to take her son when a bearkin man steps up next to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. My guess is that he's the father and has assured her that he'll make sure I don't hurt their son.

"Thanks," I accept the baby from her, making sure to gently cradle him in my arms. "Oh? You've got your own pair of swim shorts, too, don't you? I was expecting a diaper."

The baby babbles a little to me.

"What's his name?" I ask.

"Terrance," the mother answers. "He's six months old."

"Six months?" I look down at him. "Wow, that's impressive, little guy. You don't like all the arguing, do you? Do you? No, you don't. You don't like it at all. But it's okay, they're going to stop arguing soon."

I talk with the baby for a minute and he babbles and giggles at me, the arguing people around him forgotten in favor of the much more friendly face.

"Alright," I tell him. "My voice is going to get a little loud now, okay? But don't worry, the arguing will stop once I do that."

I press one of his ears against my chest while I cover the other with my left hand, then I clear my throat before addressing the crowd.

"Hey!" I call out as loud as I can and people turn to look at me. "Since I'm the one doing the challenges, I'm going to decide which one to do first as I know what my strengths are! And until the competitions begin, the only person allowed to speak unless I address them directly is the person holding Baby Terrance, got it? That way, we can have a nice, orderly discussion about this and get it done at some point today rather than just dealing with constant bickering until next month. Am I clear?"

Murmurs of acceptance fill the air, and I release Terrance's head so that I can hold him properly once more.

"There we go, Terrance," I say. "All the arguing's gone. See? Just like I like promised."

I look at the two elders.

"Now," I say. "Let's review the terms here. Each village will take into consideration my trustworthiness and think about allowing myself and my demihuman dragon companion to run the Dungeon here, possibly in exchange for helping out, so long as I can complete that village's challenge to me. Is that correct?"

Both beastkin elders confirm that.

"For the bearkin," I look at the bearkin elder. "I must remain underwater longer than their best breath-holder can and I am not allowed to use magic to do so, only my body's own abilities. It is full-submersion and we will be sitting on the bed of the river. This will occur here at the southern end of this island. Is that correct?"

"That is correct," the bearkin elder answers.

"Okay," I look at the otterkin elder. "For the otterkin, I must catch a fish that's bigger than any that the bearkin have on record as having caught. That is thirty-two inches in length at a minimum, I will have ten minutes to catch it and I will have only one chance to catch a fish. This will occur here at the southern end of this island. Is that correct?"

"That is correct," the bearkin elder answers.

According to Colby and Yai, this is actually a standard challenge for travelers that the villages don't really trust. No one's ever beaten them because it's pretty much impossible to do so. Very few species of people can hold their breath underwater longer than an otterkin can and they're using the one who can do it best. Fish the size of the biggest one ever caught by the bearkin don't swim in this river.

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Which is why I'm not even going to bother with that challenge – it's an impossible task.

However, the fact that I actually succeed in the bearkin's challenge will likely earn me respect from both sides. That should at least count for something.

"Okay," I say. "I will be doing the challenge from Finlum first. Who is Dez?"

"I am!" The boy sitting on the southern edge of the island speaks up, and I look over to see him waving.

"Oh," I say. "Hello, Dez. Alright. I have several younger siblings so I know all of the tricks. We will be sitting on the bed of the river. There is to be no contact between us, no attempts at getting the other surface first, no tricks, goofy faces, or anything of the sort. It is purely a test to see who can stay under longer on their own, and doing something to cause the other surface sooner will result in an automatic forfeiture. Deal?"

"Yes," he nods.

"That goes for everyone," I address the crowd. "Anyone who attempts to make me surface early in any way, shape, or form will be counted as a cheater and their village will be punished by the gods to catch no fish for a month."

The sound of splashing behind me draws my attention as Dez lets out a shout of surprise, and I turn around to find more than a dozen fish leaping out of the water for a few seconds. Pretty much everyone stares at them while Terrance reaches out with his hands as if wanting to catch one.

Then the sudden leaping fish show ends and the fish swim away, disappearing down the river as I watch.

"Well… that was weird," I say as I turn back to face Terrance's mother. "I think he wants some food," I hand Terrance back to his mother, then address the crowd. "Alright! The competition is starting now! Since it's a challenge from the bearkin, their leader is the one who calls for it to start. Dez, let's get in the water first."

Dez slides into the water and I jump into it, then we face each other. The bearkin elder counts down from three, then Dez and I sink down into the water and sit on the river bed. This part of the river is twenty feet deep, so we sink down a fair bit before we're actually sitting. The edge of the island really does seem like a cliff face when I look at it here. Was this always a river, or did the river fill in a small ravine of some sort that already existed?

I look back to my opponent, who's staring at me with his eyes wide in shock. We've been in the water for about thirty seconds now and the fact that I'm breathing is definitely obvious by the air bubbles that come out of my mouth when I exhale.

Then he clamps a hand over his mouth and I know that he's doing his best not to react to the revelation that he's going to lose for sure. A sudden shock like this can make someone stop holding their breath, so he's doing good for a ten-year-old. I'd honestly expected him to let out a small sound of surprise and lose immediately.

That would technically count as cheating, but I'd point out that all I was doing was breathing and they would've tried changing the challenge if they knew I'd win.

After about eight minutes, Dez swims up to the surface. I give him about a minute to tell them before I resurface, then I cough up the water that's left in my lungs.

"Ugh, that's unpleasant," I complain as I tread water. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it."

"Y-you-you can breathe underwater?" The bearkin elder exclaims.

"Yup!" I answer. "And Dez did a rather good job of not letting his discovery of that stop him early. Congrats, kid. I doubt very many people your age could manage that."

Dez beams at the praise.

"B-b-but you're a human!" The bearkin elder exclaims. "You shouldn't be able to hold your breath underwater for more than a minute or two, even if you trained! You can't breathe underwater!"

Colby and Yai look like they're trying not to laugh.

"Hm?" I respond to the bearkin elder as if a bit ignorant of why he's surprised. "Oh, right. I probably should've mentioned that I'm a Summoned who has a Skill that lets my body adapt to situations when needed. As in, it can make modifications that a human ordinarily wouldn't have. My 'preparations' earlier involved seeing if it would let me be able to breathe water instead of air. Fortunately, I ran into Colby and Yai while looking for a good spot to test it out and Colby was more than willing to hold me down."

"If I had known that you could-"

"If you had known that I could breathe underwater," I say. "You'd have changed the challenge to be something else that should have been impossible. Something like, I don't know, racing their best swimmer up and down the river? Now, regarding the fishing challenge-gh!"

Something I cannot see slams into my stomach from within the water, sending me back a couple of feet with the impact. I react on instinct, grabbing the invisible object and holding it tight. The attack is rather large and feels…

"Huh?" I blink a few times as whatever it is tries to wriggle out of my grip. "Scales?"

With a great effort, I manage to shift my body while keeping hold of the squirming object.

"Hyup!" I grunt as I throw the creature out of the water and onto the island.

The creature comes into view as water slides off of it, but only where there's not plenty of water coating it. The beast is a twelve-foot-long fish with bluish-green scales that have a silver tint to them. It flops about on the island as people stare at it. No wonder it knocked me back so far and felt so heavy when I tried to throw it.

Honestly, I'm amazed I managed to get it out of the water.

"Well, don't just leave it there!" I exclaim. "That thing's big enough for a feast!"

Colby dashes forward and slams a fist into the fish's neck, a loud crunching filling the air at the contact. In that moment, the giant fish stops moving.

Everyone stares at the giant fish in shock. I don't think anyone here expected that – least of all me. Did… did one of the gods send this fish here just so I could win the challenge from the otterkin? If so, I've had a rather interesting time in this world, with not one but three divine events in less than three weeks.

"Alright," I say, and eyes are drawn to me once more. "Now, either we can all be respectful of each other and not talk over them, or we can go back to having a talking object. We can't use Baby Terrance anymore since he's feeding, so only his mama would get to talk other than me. If we need to go back to a talking object, we can use a fish. Everyone agree to leave the bickering behind for this discussion and take turns talking?"

There are reluctant agreements all around.

"Good," I say. "Now. I have clearly passed both tests, and the fact that such a creature showed up here is a sign from the gods that you better listen to me. Anyone who tries to protest by saying the challenge hadn't actually started yet loses their speaking privileges for a month and I'm sure the gods would be happy to actually mute them to enforce it. That fish was from the challenge issued by the otterkin, so we're going to take it to the west side of the river, go a little south of there, and have a feast. Both villages will get to participate. Bring additional fish, fruits, berries, veggies, drinks, whatever and turn it into a party to celebrate the catch of this big fish. Otherwise, I get the fish all to myself. Once the feast is done, I'm going to make a proposal for a way to settle the score between the two villages for good. Any objections? No? Good. The feast begins in three hours."

I swim back over to an area south of the village on the western bank of the river and get out of the water, then collapse onto the grass to rest. Some of the otterkin swam back over as well, though most of them returned to their village. Most of the kids who were there – otterkin and bearkin alike – come over to congratulate me and ask me about a thousand questions about my swimming abilities. Or to tell me how much awesome they found it that I can breathe underwater and how they wish they could do that.

Fortunately, the kids haven't been inducted into the absolute ridiculousness of the rivalry between the two villages yet. While they do dislike each other and try to claim they're superior while putting down the others' skills, they're at least able to talk with me together without arguing.

Their parents break it up rather fast, though, and the kids reluctantly return to their respective villages.

"Your ability to take command like that," Colby says as he and Yai join me, and I sit up to properly face them. "Is rather astonishing. I'd heard that those summoned by the god had certain auras about them, but I've never actually met one in-person before."

"That was super intense," Yai tells me. "I was even a little intimidated by you during that. But that fish! Hah! I bet even the otterkin fishing luck couldn't catch us one like that! And a whisperwater gill, too! Those are always signs of good fortune to come."

"A… what?"

"Whisperwater gill," Colby tells me. "It's an extremely rare breed of fish. Something in their scales is magical and causes water to affect light on contact, turning them invisible. They can be found in all sorts of water, be it fresh or salt, but almost no one ever notices one. They don't go after bait from fishermen, don't swim into nets or traps… you just luck into finding them. If you manage to find one, then good things will happen. If you manage to catch one, then you're showered with luck for the rest of your life."

Sounds like a superstition to me rather than actual fact, but I think I can use that to my advantage.

"And you caught one bigger than we've ever seen on record!" Yai exclaims. "They can range in size from, like, minnow-sized to whale-sized, but the only ones ever spotted in this area have all been about a foot in length! Well, that was the estimates, anyway. Only one was ever caught, and that was about three centuries ago. It was some demihuman dragon passing through the area. He caught one that was two feet in length."

A demihuman dragon passing through the area? Could that have been Adam's grandfather? Adam did admit that he's not sure if his token would work because of how long it had been since his grandfather helped out the town. He got really evasive when I asked how long ago that had been. Three hundred years would definitely have been a long time ago.

"Yeah," Colby nods. "I wasn't told what his name was, but I heard that the river didn't even exist here back then, we'd just have random floods that would damage the huts constantly, some of the water would route into the small ravine, then flow away. Also that there was a bridge from each side leading to the island."

"Yeah," Yai says. "But the story says that a little after he passed through the area, the river formed! And all of the massive floods stopped then, too. Now, we otterkin and bearkin don't have to go to lakes to hunt for fish! The gods really blessed us when that whisperwater gill got caught before, and it was only a third the size of this one! I'm curious what's going to happen now."

Something tells me that I won't be able to convince them out of the superstition, so I don't bother trying. Instead, I ask them what they think will happen at the party.