It had been four days since the tax collector had returned, and there was still no sign of Torhan or his bandits. It was difficult to say at this point if it was for better or worse. On one hand, it might mean that the western bandit chief had decided not to attack them at all, which could only be good for the village. On the other hand, it might mean Torhan was still gathering more bandits and weapons to attack Tiranat with more strength. Only time would tell, but hopefully the village would be ready for him this time.
Right now, it was late morning of a new day and Kivamus was walking to the north of the village along with Hudan and a few other guards on the invitation of Taniok. The weather had remained pleasant, so he had again started participating in some light workouts with the guards while also getting some basic sword training with the guard captain, not that he expected to become an expert in that any time soon, if ever.
Darora had already received the updated blueprint of the scorpion a few days ago to study in his free time, but he wouldn’t start working on it for now. However, Cedoron had started to forge the iron parts of a crossbow once again from the newly bought iron ingots, which had allowed the carpenter and his apprentices to keep working on them, and Darora had already provided a new crossbow to the manor two days ago, and they were expecting another new one by today. It was slow going, but one day they would be able to provide a crossbow to every single guard, which required nearly 50 weapon pieces to arm everyone, including all the woman guards, as well as the six new guards they had recruited after getting news of Torhan’s impending raid.
Soon, he passed the second long house block, and turned towards the northwest. Before long, he reached the place where Taniok had been working on the fifth watchtower. Seeing him approach, the bald carpenter quickly climbed down the ladder, and bowed to him.
“Milord, I thought you’d come by the afternoon,” Taniok said while scratching his neck. “This watchtower would have been completed by then.”
Kivamus chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. So it’s nearly done?”
The carpenter nodded proudly. “Just need to fix the planks for the outer parapet. That’s the last thing due for this one.”
“That’s good to hear,” Kivamus praised, before looking at the guard captain. “Have you already started putting guards here?”
“Of course,” Hudan nodded before he grinned, “although we might really need to hire even more guards if you keep making more towers! We have 12 women guards right now, so after the sixth watchtower is built, I’ll only be able to put them on duty for two shifts out of the three every day.”
Kivamus frowned. “Aren’t the older villagers being used as watchmen too?”
“They are, and that’s how I will have to manage it in the future after our guards start going out hunting again. For now, I am posting one guard during the day and two at night on every watchtower, since we can afford it these days and the threats are high. We had recruited half a dozen older villagers, so in the future they will work the dayshift from eight to four, while the women will be used for each of the two eight-hour night shifts, since they’ll have better night vision than the older villagers. Of course, there are still two men posted at each gate as well, especially in the night, so they can bring the news of an attack to the manor quickly and to provide support to the crossbow women if needed.” Hudan shrugged. “I think it will be fine as long as there are only six watchtowers. Six older villagers and twelve women guards can easily cover those in three shifts, although it will still mean reverting to only one person on each tower.”
Kivamus shook his head. They were probably already overdoing it in terms of how many villagers they were using as guards, but with all the threats surrounding Tiranat, it was never enough. Still, now that new refugees and immigrants had started coming here, and with more than enough space between the village walls and the present houses in the center of the village, Tiranat’s population could expand quite a lot even within these walls. Eventually they should be able to hire more guards, although it would take time.
He looked at the carpenter. “You’ll still start on the sixth watchtower in the afternoon, right?”
Taniok nodded enthusiastically. “Its foundations should be completed by then, so you can take back the clay diggers after that. My apprentices have already started stacking up on planks, so I’ll start putting in the pillars today, and the last watchtower should be completed in another four days, I think.”
“Excellent!” Kivamus grinned, waiting for the day when the guards would be able to have a good line of sight in every direction. “You have to start working on the trip hammer after that.”
The bald carpenter grinned, with gaps easily showing in his teeth. “I really want to try something new, so I can’t wait to start on it! Darora has been taunting me these days that I am getting old and can’t build anything new, so this will show the young’un that these old bones can still compete with him!”
Kivamus chuckled hearing about the friendly rivalry between the two village carpenters. “I’m sure you will. Go on then. We need all the towers built as soon as possible.”
Taniok turned around, and climbed up the ladder with an agility belying his age which was certainly above forty. Kivamus watched the carpenter working for a moment before he turned around as well.
Two longhouse blocks had helped the villagers survive the harsh winter here, but once Taniok was done with the triphammer, he would have to start constructing new longhouses as well. The same size and design as the earlier ones should be good enough, so two new blocks could be constructed on the other side of the wide dirt road which ran in front of the two older blocks. That should ease up the strain on the older blocks enough for the carpenters to start demolishing the shacks and huts in the village center, and make proper housing there. However, he had to consider if it was worth allowing people to live in separate single storey houses, which would require a lot of space and would need them to expand the village walls far sooner than they would have to if everyone lived in longhouses.
But letting everyone live within longhouses wasn’t a good idea either, since the coming summer would mean very congested and muggy conditions inside the blocks, which could give rise to all kinds of diseases. He sighed. If they could make concrete here, it would allow them to create high-rise buildings, but Tiranat just wasn’t there yet. They simply didn’t have the production capacity to produce enough steel or concrete for that, nor did they have workers trained in that. Truthfully, their current population didn’t even require high-rises, so perhaps brick buildings would be better for now.
Hmm… that was a good idea though. While concrete was out of their hands, making bricks should be much easier. They would still need to make cement for those buildings, but it would be required in far lower quantity than it would be for a fully concrete-made building. Brick houses couldn’t be made too high, or they would be unsafe and be at a risk of collapsing under their own weight, but they should still be able to make five or six stories and be safe. Earthquakes could certainly damage even them, but from what he remembered from the original Kivamus’ life, they weren’t a major concern, at least in Reslinor.
Eventually, they would have to move to concrete buildings for sure, but this would allow the workers to get experienced in making multi-story buildings, since the two-story wooden manor house was the highest most of the local workers had worked on. Also, cement production – whenever it was started here – would take time to catch up to the amount needed to make a fully concrete building anyway.
Yeah, this should work. He remembered that the first industrial revolution in England had mostly started with the countless cotton mills being housed in brick buildings. He snorted, thinking about the new blueprint design he had started. Perhaps brick buildings really would be what helped bring an industrial revolution here as well. It would also prevent the risk of a fire breaking out and burning everything into the ground, which was always a nagging worry in his mind these days – especially knowing that for Zoricus or Torhan to destroy this village, all they had to do is to smuggle in an arsonist inside the walls who would set the houses on fire in the night, which would destroy overnight all the progress they had made over the winter.
He glanced at the wooden longhouse blocks on the left, and the empty space on the right full of dirt and weeds swaying in the wind. He sighed. Yeah concrete buildings were still a long way away, and perhaps even brick buildings would take time. At least he had some time to make a decision on it, since Taniok still had to build two more longhouse blocks first.
***
In the evening, he was sitting in the manor hall working on a blueprint, while Hudan had also returned to the hall after training the guards. The two guards who had been posted inside the manor while the knight stayed here had returned to their usual duties as well. That’s when Duvas walked inside the hall and interrupted his sketching.
“Milord, the fifth watchtower was just completed,” the majordomo reported. “Also, a new merchant has just arrived from the north.”
“Finally!” Kivamus exclaimed, turning his head to look at him. “I was getting worried about our food stocks emptying before the next merchant arrived. We have less than a week’s worth of food remaining after accounting for all the seeds we need for sowing.”
Duvas looked frustrated. “No, the merchant has hardly brought any grain!”
“What?” Kivamus pivoted around on his chair in surprise. “But why?”
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Merchant Crab #Chapter 23: Barrel o’ Fun – Read Merchant Crab Chapter 23: Barrel o’ Fun Online – All Page – Novel Bin
Balthazar picked out the nicest sunny spot right by the shore of the pond. The large umbrella was firmly placed into the sand and open over a colorful towel laid out half covered by the shade. The stage was set.
Crushing a whole lemon in his right pincer, the crab let its juice flow into a cup full of sugar, before carefully mixing it all with a tiny spoon delicately held in his left pincer. Once done, he stuck a little straw into it and topped it all off with a miniature umbrella on the cup.
Carrying his fresh glass of lemonade in his silver claw and a plate of cookies in the other, Balthazar skittered back to the towel, where his brand new book already awaited him.
Scooting himself down comfortably onto the towel, golden carapace left exposed to the sun, his face and claws under the shade of the large umbrella, he was ready to begin his reading, cookie chomping, and lemonade slurping.
“Hmm… finally, some me time.”
Balthazar sipped through the straw, took a nibble at one of the cookies, and opened his book on local geography and territories to page one.
“Hi? Hello? Anybody home?”
A young girl was timidly standing at the trading post’s entrance, looking for a response over the tables and crates that filled the area.
“Argh, I hate adventurers,” Balthazar muttered to himself, as he stood up from his towel and begrudgingly left his book and snack behind.
“Ah, a new adventurer, my favorite!” the crab said, with an extremely genuine and convincing joy in his voice that in no way sounded forced.
“Oh, h-hi, good day, mister crab. I’m sorry to bother you, I hope I’m not interrupting,” the shy girl said, concern dancing on her eyebrows.
“Noooo, not at all!” Balthazar loudly exclaimed. “I’m here to serve. What could I possibly be doing that would be more important than trading junk with you fine adventurers? Nothing, I say!” The merchant took a quick breath in. “So, what’s it gonna be, young lady?”
“O-okay,” the girl hesitantly said, looking unsure of how to interpret what she had just heard. “I’m new around here, and… and some of the other adventurers told me I should go explore the plains for now, but stay away from the forest. Then they told me there was a talking crab over by the road that would trade whatever loot I got. I… I take it that’s you?”
She was certainly new, that much Balthazar could tell. Fresh level 1. Where all those new adventurers kept appearing from was a question that kept bugging him.
“Me?” the monocled crab said. “No, no, no. That’s a different talking crab further down the road. I’m the talking crab that sings and dances.” The girl stared at him, blinking. “Of course that’s me! Look around, can’t you tell? Now, you got something for me, or what?”
Startled by the cranky crab’s outburst, the young girl quickly fumbled through her satchel, looking for something.
“I-I’m not sure you’ll buy these. They’re all I got as loot from the plains.” She revealed a small bundle of rabbit’s feet held together with a string. “They’re luck charms, I think.”
The crab inhaled and did his best not to roll his eyes.
“Four gold coins. No haggling,” he said, turning around to fetch the money from a coin purse.
As he was picking four coins out of the purse with his silver pincer, an uncommon feeling itched in the back of his brain. A slight sense of guilt.
The girl was clearly new around there and did nothing wrong to him. Perhaps he was being too harsh and bad tempered with her.
He imagined Madeleine’s disapproving gaze if she could see him right there and then, being so grumpy to an innocent young girl just because he wanted to read and sunbathe.
“Hey, look, girl,” Balthazar said, as he turned back to the girl with the coins in his pincer, “I should probably…”
The confused crab stopped as he saw the young girl staring at her feet, cheeks bright red, biting her lip to contain her smile.
“Is… there something wrong?” he hesitantly asked.
“No, no. Gosh, I should be apologizing. I’m making such a fool of myself. It’s just that everything is so new and exciting, and I haven’t gotten used to any of it. And then I come here, and I just wasn’t expecting you to be… to be… so cool!”
Balthazar stood perplexed in front of the girl, coins held in his pincer, in an awkward moment of silence.
“What?” he finally said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, this is so embarrassing,” the girl said, avoiding eye contact with the crab, the blushing taking over her entire face. “I should go. Thanks!”
Quickly taking the four coins from his hanging pincer and leaving the charms on the table, the girl took off, running back to the plains across the road.
Balthazar watched her leave, completely befuddled. “What the hell was that all about?”
Still processing the exchange, the crab started making his way back to his towel.
He had been entirely too rude to her. Unfairly so, even. And yet, she seemed to think he was… cool? She was impressed by him? He couldn’t rationalize the how or why of that.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Charisma,” Balthazar muttered to himself. “Don’t tell me…”
Like old, rusty cogs and gears moving inside his shell, thoughts began fitting together. The golden upgrade to his shell gave him +5 in the Charisma skill, which was now at an S. The skill mentioned being likable and charming to people he interacts with.
“Could that have been…” he thoughtfully said, while rubbing his chin with his silver claw. “But I’m sure I already was very likable before… Or was I?”
As much as Balthazar hated to admit it, even if just to himself, he was concluding that maybe his brand new golden look was doing a lot more for his charm than his winning personality ever did.
Indeed, humans were strange, superficial creatures, if a dumb skill from some magic scroll made them like him more than his natural personality. How shallow.
Biting into a cookie and opening his book once more, the crab suddenly remembered his recent level up.
“I completely forgot I had a point to spend between all that chaos this morning!”
Bringing his status page up with his eyes, Balthazar mindlessly increased his Intelligence as usual, from 18 to 19, and quickly moved to the skills list. He had a target planned out for a while now.
“Reading rank B, alright!”
Eager to try out his new reading skills on his book, the crab swiped the system menus away and started leafing through the pages.
The speed at which he could read each word was considerably better, and his comprehension had improved too. He wasn’t sure how much had to do with his reading skill, and how much was because of his constantly growing Intelligence, but at that moment he didn’t care to give it much thought either. He was just happy to keep reading, eat cookies, sip lemonade, and lie under the sun.
***
A few hours had passed, and the sun was quickly making its way towards the horizon. Balthazar was peacefully dusting a shelf with his feather duster firmly held in his left pincer while humming to himself.
“I really should think about getting a roof soon. I got dead leaves all over my helmets again.”
Suddenly, a loud sound of wood crashing startled the crab. Dropping his duster, he quickly made his way to the road, looking for the source of the noise.
“I told you it was too heavy!”
“It wouldn’t have been if you didn’t sit in the back like I told you not to!”
A horse stood on the road, two adventurers bickering at each other next to it, while a two-wheeled cart stood behind them, now only single-wheeled.
“Gentleman, please, calm down. You’ll scare away my clientele,” the crab said, approaching the scene. “What happened here?”
“The damn wheel broke off the wagon, that’s what happened,” a third man said, emerging from behind the cart, and giving the broken wheel on the road a kick. “Oh, hey, it’s you, Balthazar.”
The crab recognized them from before when they had passed through with the two spider victims on their way to town. Or rather, he recognized the horse and the cart. Adventurers mostly looked all alike to him, after seeing so many of them.
“Oh, hey there… you,” Balthazar said, quickly realizing he did not know any of their names, nor did he care to. “So, uh, how did that happen?”
“This moron loaded too much weight onto the cart, that’s how!” said one of the bickering men.
“You’re the one who loaded too much weight when you sat your fat backside on it!” the other retorted.
“Will you two shut up?” the third one said, looking exhausted. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s broken, and we got no way to carry all this back to town on our backs.”
“Well, you know what I’m here for,” the merchant said, adjusting his monocle with a smile. “I’d be happy to help with your problem. What do you guys got back here?”
Balthazar approached the back of the open cart. It was mostly filled with small boxes and many bags of different sizes, with the biggest thing in it being a large wooden barrel right at the center.
“What’s with the huge barrel?” the crab asked.
“We were clearing a bandit hideout, and when we found this barrel full of beer in their leader’s room, one of these knuckleheads thought it was a great idea to bring it back into town, to celebrate at the guildhall.”
“It would have been epic!” one of the other two said. “Just imagine the party we could throw with that whole barrel!”
“Yeah,” said the leader, “and now, instead, we’re stuck here on the road with a broken wheel and no way to carry this barrel back!”
“Think we could go into town and get someone to come and repair the wheel?”
“Nah, it’s too late. Nobody would come out here until tomorrow.”
“Do you guys think,” the adventurer at the front started, “if we tie the barrel to the horse—”
“No! Are you stupid?”
“You know,” Balthazar finally said, tired of listening to their idiotic bickering, “I could buy the barrel, and then at least it wouldn’t have been a complete loss for you guys.”
“You? What could a crab out here on the road want a barrel full of beer for? Don’t tell me you got a drinking problem?”
“Very funny, but no,” the crab said. “My only cravings are for sweet pastries. I do, however, have my own plans for that barrel. The question is, should we make a deal, or do you guys want to roll that thing uphill until the sun rises again?”
“Man… it would have been such a party,” the middle adventurer said, slumping his shoulders. “But I guess the best we can do now is make some money off of it and get a couple of pints at the tavern.”
“Alright,” said the leader of the group, “what’s your offer, crab?”
“140 gold,” the shrewd crab said, eyeing the man through his monocle.
“Hmm… I don’t kno—”
“And for 150 I’ll take that broken cart off your hands and you won’t even have to unload the barrel yourselves,” Balthazar quickly added, before the man could continue.
He always intended to offer 150 gold for the barrel. It was a good enough price, but by making a lower offer first and then upping it and throwing some extra into it, he was guaranteed to seal the deal. Crab economics at work once again.
“What do you boys say?” the leading adventurer asked the other two.
“Yeah, if it means I don’t have to move that thing anymore, I’m all for it.”
“I like the crab’s offer. Do it.”
The man turned back to Balthazar with a smile. “You got yourself a deal! The cart and barrel are your problem now.”
“Great!” Balthazar said. “I’ll go get your money while you guys unload your other things.”
After paying the adventurers the agreed sum, Balthazar watched them walk up the road to town, boxes in their arms, bags on their backs, and tied to the saddle of their horse.
The cart was broken, but even if it couldn’t be repaired, he figured it was cheap materials for Druma to work with, or fuel for a fire.
The barrel of beer, however, was an easy pick. The days were still hot, and half of those adventurers coming back to town after an exhausting day of walking would pay ridiculous amounts for a refreshing beer.
Balthazar could already see the coins falling In front of his eyes.
“Alright, Bouldy, pick up the barrel, carefully, and follow me,” Balthazar said to the golem waiting on the side of the road.
With great ease, Bouldy picked the barrel up from the cart with both hands and carried it on his shoulder behind the crab.
“Place it here, gently,” Balthazar ordered, pointing to an empty spot between the pond’s entrance and the rest of the trading post’s crates and shelves. “It’s getting too dark to do anything with them now, so we’ll take care of it and the cart tomorrow.”
With a slow nod, the golem headed to his guarding spot behind Balthazar’s tent, while the crab took a bedtime cookie and made his way to his cushion for the night. Druma was already sprawled over his pile of hay, fast asleep with his mouth open.
As the inhabitants of the pond tucked in for the night and the last remnants of sunlight faded away over the plains, a huge figure began emerging over the distant horizon, approaching at a fast pace.
The giant golden crab stepped out of his tent with a wide stretch and a yawn, his two mighty claws stretched out to the clear skies of that sunny morning. Lazily scratching his backside with his silver pincer, Balthazar strolled down to the water and washed away his grogginess before lifting the cover of a wicker basket half buried in the sand, so as to keep its contents fresh and shielded from the spoiling heat, and took out a slice of strawberry pie.
Holding the slice in his pincer, he casually walked along the shore, admiring his beautiful home.
The old tree above, its branches swaying gently in the breeze.
Slow ripples forming from the waterfall, slowly dispersing on the surface in such a calming manner.
The sweet summer scent of flowers and ripe fruits, bringing a sense of joy in the air.
The birds happily singing and chirping in the distance, spoiling what would otherwise be a perfect start to a crab’s morning.
Balthazar sighed and took another bite of his pie before crossing the wooden footpath connecting the islet to his trading post.
Druma was still fast asleep on his bed of hay. For some reason, he still preferred sleeping like that, despite them having plenty of cushions and pillows.
Bouldy was still sitting behind the tent, just as he had been all night, quietly observing the fish swimming around in the pond, with the same smile as ever. Golems did not seem to require sleep, nor much movement, apparently.
Arriving at the wooden platform where most of his wares stood, Balthazar tossed the last of his slice into his mouth and scanned his surroundings while slowly chewing.
“Alright, let’s see. What’s on the agenda for today?”
He looked at the shelves filled with random home decorations. He really needed to figure out a way to move those, but unfortunately, adventurers had little reason to buy a candle chandelier on their way out to kill wolves in the forest. Which begged the question of why in the world did they keep taking the damn things and hauling them back to town for just a handful of gold coins.
Adventurers, truly a mystery wrapped in lots of stupidity.
Then he moved his gaze to an open crate of apples. He figured he might need to do some kind of special offer to get rid of them before they went bad. Maybe offer an apple with each potion, as they say that an apple a day keeps the healer away. Of course, he’d have to make sure he charged a gold coin or two more for the potion, to cover the offer of the apple, but they’d take it. Humans loved free stuff, even when it wasn’t really free.
And finally his eyes landed on the barrel right by the entrance. The barrel of beer he had traded at the end of the previous day, and that now laid on its side, uncorked, with a small puddle of spilled liquid in front of it.
“Oh, damn it!” Balthazar exclaimed as he rushed to the barrel.
He gave its wooden side a soft kick with his left leg—the second one counting from the front—and confirmed what he already suspected: it was empty.
“I can’t believe it. Thieves, again?!” the angry crab said to himself. “That Antoine guy has to be behind this, I’m sure of it! Stealing my merchandise, the scumbag!” He paced back and forth, thoughts quickly racing through his head. “But why just the beer? There were plenty of other valuables around that are untouched. And why not just take the whole barrel? Wouldn’t it have been easier and faster?”
Balthazar looked down at the ground and noticed a trail of spilled beer droplets leading out to the main road. Adjusting his monocle with his pincer, he carefully followed the trail.
A strange noise seemed to grow louder the closer he got to the road.
With his face very close to the dirt, the crab suddenly stopped when he nearly collided with the huge sole of a foot. Slowly lifting his gaze from the ground, Balthazar saw the foot belonged to a humanoid figure lying on the road, arms and legs sprawled, huge protruding belly sticking up as it slowly moved in rhythm with the snoring of the creature.
“The hell…” Balthazar involuntarily said, the words escaping his mouth at the sight of the giant lying asleep in front of him.
But asleep the giant was no more, for Balthazar’s surprised exclamation was enough to cause a loud snort from the creature, who stopped snoring and began turning its head, its eyes lazily opening.
“Oh, no, no, no,” the not-so-giant-at-that-moment crab muttered while slowly backing away from the behemoth who was awkwardly trying to move onto his hands and knees, in an attempt to stand up.
Stumbling for a moment, the giant finally stood, both arms still held out as if expecting a loss of balance at any moment.
He was tall, nearly as tall as the old tree at the center of Balthazar’s pond. Next to him, not even the top of Bouldy’s head would go much higher than the giant’s ribs.
His skin was not much different from that of a human, except with a more grayed out hue to it, and visibly rougher. His head was bald, but his face had a long and bushy brown beard, with eyes that looked old and very, very tired. He wore a loincloth made of what appeared to be a bear’s skin wrapped around his waist, with a long animal pelt extended over his shoulder and connecting to the back.
Balthazar stood in awe of the figure standing in front of him, his silver pincer quickly having to reach up to keep the monocle from falling off his eye as he stared up.
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[Level 35 Giant]
Glancing back towards the center of his pond, Balthazar considered calling for Bouldy, but his inaptitude to follow orders properly and images of the golem being crushed by an even larger giant played in the crab’s mind, making him hold his tongue.
The massive being blinked slowly, apparently still unaware of his surroundings, and a loud gurgling echoed from his stomach, causing him to throw his head back before a belch erupted from his mouth, loud enough to make Balthazar’s shell vibrate around him, and a flock of birds to fly away from a nearby tree.
“Oh, goodness gracious!” Balthazar blurted out in disgust, while waving away the smell with a pincer.
Alerted to the crab’s presence, the giant looked around for the source of the complaint, having apparent trouble pinpointing it, until finally focusing his sight down on him with difficulty.
The giant frowned slowly, as if taking a long time to process the strange creature he was towering over. With his mouth slowly opening, a conclusion began forming in his expression, and he spoke in a deep hoarse voice. “Crab.”
He raised one foot over Balthazar, readying to crush him underneath it, the crab trying to skitter away from the huge shadow growing over him. But before the foot finished coming down, the giant lost his balance from standing on just one leg, and fell down, sitting with a loud thump on the ground.
Stopping his mad dash, Balthazar looked back at the sitting creature, his gaze looking distant and hazy.
“You’re completely wasted, aren’t you?” he said, slowly approaching the giant once more.
“Hungry!” the other loudly said, attempting to reach for the crab with one hand, but missing and falling with his face down.
“Hey! I’m not your snack, you big oaf!” Balthazar exclaimed. “Hands off!”
“Gold crab. Tasty,” the giant said as he attempted to lift his head off the road, a goofy smile on his face as he licked his lips.
“You’re one big… Hey, look at me!” the crab angrily said, snapping a pincer at the giant whose eyes were drifting away again. “You drank my entire barrel of beer, didn’t you?”
“Beeeeeeer,” the drunken lout slurred.
“Unbelievable. You know how much that could have made me? It could have lasted me for days, served dozens of adventurers. I could have charged a fortune for each pint. And you drank it all in one night!”
“Noisy!”
The giant grunted angrily as he stood up again, one hand on his head, a headache clearly pounding at him.
“Crab, get back. That’s a giant!”
The voice came from an adventurer running down from town, his sword in hand.
“Oh, really? Where? I must have missed him between the short grass,” Balthazar sarcastically replied. “Of course it’s a giant. I got eyes, in case you didn’t know!”
Another two adventurers came running from the south, out of the forest, but stood back, observing the situation with hesitation.
“Step aside, I’ll get him!” the bold fighter declared, readying himself with both hands on the hilt of his sword.
Balthazar looked at the level 5 in disbelief.
“Kid, you can’t be serious.”
Ignoring the crab, the adventurer charged forward, sword held high above his head, yelling at the top of his lungs, in a battle cry that included an awkward amount of voice cracks.
“Noisy!” the irritable giant said once more, as he reached to the side of the road and picked up a dead tree trunk with alarming ease.
Before anyone could blink, the giant swung his improvised club from below with both hands, causing a rush of wind around them, and hit the running adventurer with a loud boom that made the other two adventurers cover their ears. The boy turned into a blur, shooting up into the blue sky at a deadly speed, his tiny black speck quickly becoming untraceable.
Balthazar gulped as his eyes slowly lowered from the sky and back to the giant who now stood with one arm leaning on the upright trunk, and the other hand holding his—presumably—throbbing head.
The pair of adventurers behind him further down the road stood nervously with their bow and mace drawn. Balthazar cautiously moved to the side of the giant, while gesticulating towards them.
“Don’t be stupid!” he muttered between his breath.
The giant groaned and looked down at the crab.
“Hey, hey, easy now. Let’s hold off on the whole crab breakfast thing for just a moment, alright?” Balthazar said, both pincers gently patting the air in front of him. “We can talk. You can understand me, right?”
The miserable looking giant nodded slowly. “Chatty crab.”
“Yep, that’s me, alright,” the talking crab agreed. “Look, you’re clearly having a rough morning, I get it. Probably been dealing with annoying adventurers harassing you all day out there in the fields, looking to loot you. Trust me, I know how much of a pest those idiots can be. And then you just want to have a moment to relax, have a drink, maybe twenty, and next thing you know you’re passed out in the middle of the road, am I right? We’ve all been there.”
The creature nodded again and gave him a slight shrug.
“Totally understandable,” Balthazar continued. “Everyone needs to unwind now and then. But surely even you understand you shouldn’t just go around taking what isn’t yours, right? How would you feel if someone sneaked into your camp in the middle of the night and… uh, ate all your cheese, or whatever you giants have at your camps?”
“Angry. Smash!” the other said with a frown.
“Yes, sure. Exactly. Not good,” the crab cautiously said, still nervously checking the tree trunk’s movements. “So you can understand how it’s not right to just come in here and drink my whole barrel without paying, right?”
The giant slumped slightly and looked away from the crab.
“Look, you got a giant wife back at camp, right? You look the type.” The giant hesitantly nodded. “Probably even a couple of little… big kids, or something. Just think what they would feel if they could see you now, with a monumental hangover after a night of drinking, and smacking people around while refusing the pay your debts. Very disappointed, I’m sure.”
The embarrassed titan looked down and shrugged again. “I pay.”
Reaching with his fingers between his animal furs, the giant retrieved a bar of solid gold between his fingertips and dropped it in front of the crab. “Good?”
“Uh, yes, this will do nicely indeed,” Balthazar responded, his eyes glistening with greed as he stared at the large bar of gold. “Tell you what, you should probably start heading back home. Your people must be worried, and you don’t want to stick around here for too long. Those loud adventurers will start running up and down the road soon. I’ll even give you a parting offer.”
The crab took the bar of gold and ran to his trading post, returning with a very large clay jug held above his shell.
“Here you go, goat’s milk. I hear there’s nothing better to cure a hangover.”
The hesitant giant took the jug between his index and thumb and gave it a sniff.
“Although that might be more like goat cheese now, with how long I’ve had it sitting there,” Balthazar whispered under his breath.
“Thank you, crab,” the giant said, with a small white patch on his beard after taking a sip from the jug.
“No problem. Happy to have another satisfied customer!”
Balthazar watched with relief as the giant slowly made his way out through the plains, milk jug in one hand, tree trunk dragging behind him in the other.
Turning away, the crab looked at the two adventurers still standing down the road, looking at him and whispering to one another.
“What are you gawking at? Get moving!”
As he walked back into his trading post, a sleepy goblin came to greet him, still rubbing his eyes.
“Mornin’, boss,” Druma said.
“Seriously? You only woke up now?” Balthazar asked. “You slept through all that?”
“What happen, boss?” the curious goblin inquired, while fitting his hat on his head.
“Why don’t I tell you about it over some slices of pie?”
The two of them walked across the bridge, back to the inner islet, as Balthazar began telling the goblin all about the giant.
Behind them, far off into the distance of the plains, a tiny black dot could be seen falling back down from the sky and straight into the ground, landing with a small cloud of dust over the horizon.
“That will be 76 gold.”
“Oh, wow, really? I didn’t expect it to come to such a high total.”
“Indeed. Your shopping list was pretty long.”
“Yes, I guess it was…”
“Just because you’re buying so much, I’ll even throw you a special gift in there, free of charge.”
The crab rummaged through a box until he found a rabbit’s foot tied to a rope.
“A good luck charm, just for you!”
“Really? Nice!” the young man standing in the middle of the trading post said. “I really could do with having some luck. I haven’t looted anything decent in days.”
Splitting a few coins from his pouch, the smiling adventurer paid the crab, stuffed his new trinket in his chest pocket, and picked up the box full with the items he had just purchased.
“Thanks, Balthazar. See you later!”
The merchant gave the client a nod and watched him leave while picking the coins with his silver pincer, carefully depositing each in a small coin bag.
“Heh, ‘good luck charm.’ Another day, another sucker.”
As he finished collecting his payment, a familiar eye floater appeared in front of Balthazar’s vision.
[You have reached level 10!]
“Well, look at that. Guess I must have been doing good business, if I’m already leveling up again.”
Casually moving his eyes around the prompts while his claws stashed the money away, Balthazar increased his Intelligence to 20 and swiftly moved on to the skills menu.
Taking a moment to reconsider, he hesitated before selecting his Reading skill again. Sure, he enjoyed reading, but given how long each new level up seemed to take the higher they went, should he think twice about his investments? The smart business crab side of his brain told him that yes, he likely should.
He thought back to the night the thieves came to his trading post, and the blow he took to his shell from the big one’s club. It brought him far too close to being a goner. While his pristine gold finish was intact afterwards, the same could not have been said about his soft insides.
Not even his bodyguard golem could protect him at every turn, so perhaps investing in his own personal defenses wasn’t such a bad idea. After all, he never went anywhere without his shell, so making it better was an investment in security.
“Alright, enough inner debating, armor it is!”
Selecting his Medium Armor skill, Balthazar applied his one point into it, bringing it from B tier to an A.
Feeling a brief numbness in his joints, the crab shook with a shiver at the feeling of his shell tightening slightly around his body.
“Ooh, that tickled!”
Convinced he was feeling sturdier, Balthazar went back to his status page, where he noticed his Adept Merchant class was blinking. With curiosity and flashing text in his eyes, he selected it.
[Select a class perk]
“Oh! Something new? Maybe it’s tied to reaching level 10?”
With a hint of excitement at the prospect of getting some new advantage for his trading business, he pressed the option with his eyes.
[Select a perk for class: Merchant]
[TO-DO]
[TO-DO]
[TO-DO]
[TO-DO]
“To… do?” the crab slowly muttered, before raising his voice in exasperation. “What the hell does this thing mean?! This system isn’t just unhelpful, it’s also lazy?! Is there even a point to these levels?”
“Excuse me?”
Balthazar froze in place for a second, pincers in the air, halfway through his outburst, before quickly turning to the voice.
A tall woman with red hair tied into a tight bun stood at the entrance of his trading post, wearing a long, dark red robe with complex embroidered details of a scintillating golden color.
The merchant cautiously peered at the woman through his monocle, and she returned the gaze with her own, her dark green eyes looking at the crab from behind a pair of thin glasses, as if piercing his shell and seeing straight through him.
[Level 32 Enchantress]
“Can I… help you?” Balthazar carefully said. He felt like a little crab who had just been caught pinching what he shouldn’t.
“Did I hear you say something about a system, and levels?” the woman asked, with a clear and calm voice that yet still revealed a hint of sizzling curiosity under it.
“I… I think you must have heard wrong,” the nervous crab replied.
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He wasn’t sure how to explain his outburst, and he wasn’t too keen on getting into the specifics of the stupid thing in his eyes that gave him numbers and the ability to speak and read, as well as occasionally frustrating him to no end.
“No, I don’t believe I did,” the enchantress said, calmly stepping closer to him with a perfectly straight posture, the wide sleeves of her robe held together in front of it, concealing her hands. “What does a crab know about the system? And, as a matter of fact, why is a crab talking in the first place?”
“Because… it would be very difficult to have a trading business without talking? Ha ha,” Balthazar said, attempting to act casual, and finding out he was not very good at it.
“Don’t play dumb,” she said, stopping in front of him and staring down into his eyes. “You know more than you should, don’t you?”
“Sounds to me like maybe you’re the one looking to know more than you should,” the crab retorted with defiance. If she was going to press him for information, he was going to do the same to her. Or at the very least attempt to.
Her eyebrows rose.
“Maybe we have something in common there.” A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of her lips. “Tell me, what do you know about adventurers?”
“I know most of you are a pain in my backside all day. Why?”
“Very funny. I meant what do you know about where all these adventurers come from?”
“How should I know? Isn’t it supposed to be like some land of the gods, or sent from far away in times of great whatever? You tell me.”
“Curious,” the enchantress said, looking disappointed. “Just like all the other locals, you don’t seem to question it at all.”
“Question it? Lady, try ‘not caring’ instead. Wherever you all came from is none of my business, so long as it’s not my pond. But what does any of that have to do with systems and levels?”
“Oh? Revealing your hand there now, dear crab.” She looked amused now. “So you don’t know they have everything to do with each other.”
Balthazar wasn’t sure how he could have possibly revealed something he didn’t have, but at that moment he did not care to ask either. His curiosity had been piqued. What did those reckless and dimwitted adventurers have to do with his gained abilities?
“How so?” the crab asked.
“You seem to understand levels. Have you never wondered why only adventurer’s levels increase, but everyone else’s does not?”
“Oh, I… never actually paid enough attention to that,” Balthazar said, looking up while trying to search through his recent memories. “So others don’t level up like we do?”
“Very interesting,” the robed woman said, a smile fully forming on her lips. “So you admit you can level up?”
The merchant opened his mouth for a moment and then closed it again. She got him good, and he hadn’t even noticed. Whoever this enchantress was, she was clever.
“Who are you, anyway?” he asked, his mind in a frenzy to regain the upper hand, or at least buy some time to think.
“Nobody special. Just another adventurer trying to make it in this world,” she casually said. “My name is Ruby. Pleased to meet you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m Balthazar, and I’m just a crab trying to earn some coin.”
“Now, don’t be so modest,” Ruby quickly said. “A regular crab wouldn’t care for money. And you’re not some adventurer in disguise, I can tell. So what is it that makes you so… special?”
Balthazar tried to read the woman, but he could not decipher what her intentions were. Yet his curiosity now grew, after finding someone who apparently knew of this strange system. Then he remembered his supposed charisma.
“You’re right, I’m very special,” he finally said, attempting to sound confident and resplendent. “But what is it you think I know?”
She chuckled.
“Are you trying to use your charisma on me?” she asked, looking amused. “You should know, while it can be a useful skill, the higher the difference in levels, and the higher the Intelligence of the other, the less efficient it is.”
The crab exhaled sharply, but refused to respond.
“That’s an interesting golden shell you have. It’s not an enchantment, I’d certainly know if it was. So, does that mean it’s perhaps an imbuing? Curious, I’ve never seen one like it in all my time here. It’s also supposed to be a temporary upgrade, but I’ve been hearing about a golden crab for days on the road. You can’t possibly have enough gold to be maintaining it permanently for so long. You’d be rich as a king if you did. What’s the trick?”
“Temporary? What are you talking about?” Balthazar asked with a confused expression. The enchantress looked slightly disappointed again.
“Apparently, you know even less than me. And yet, you seem to have far more knowledge than you’re meant to.”
“Meant to?”
“Yes. You locals are all created for a specific purpose, if you’re one to believe in ‘destiny,’ ‘divine will,’ or any of that. You don’t need a system, skills, or to level up. As you were created, so you shall be, no choice, no freedom.”
“Well excuse me, I make my own choices. Thank you very much.”
“Exactly!” the robed woman said, excitement making her take her hands out of her oversized sleeves. “What happened that led you to break the norm? How did you unlock access to a system only meant for those sent here from other worlds?”
“Other worlds?” Balthazar repeated, his eyes fixed on hers. It was she who slipped up this time.
“Ah, my turn to tip my hand. I suppose we’re even now,” Ruby said, returning to her straight posture. “Yes, other worlds. I would expect it shouldn’t take much thinking to figure out all these adventurers running around don’t exactly belong.”
“Then where did you all come from?” the increasingly curious crab inquired.
“Many places, from different lives. Brought here by some unknown entity acting like some benevolent being, giving us a gift. But while others might readily accept that flimsy excuse and take the opportunity at a new life in this fantastical new world, there are a few like me who want to know more. To know the truth behind the veil. The answer to the real question. Do you know what that question is, Balthazar?”
The enchantress stared Balthazar down with an intense gaze, a fire burning in her eyes, begging for him to answer.
Balthazar’s eyes widened, and he hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“What… what is the origin of pastries?” the crab finally said, his eyes shining with wonder.
The woman froze, staring at him for a moment. “What?”
Ruby rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes, looking frustrated.
“Why would that be the question that comes to your mind, crab?” she slowly said, trying to remain calm and collected. “Or, in fact, don’t answer that. It’s not important. No, the real question is why are all these adventurers being sent here, with the ability to level up and become more powerful, while everyone else cannot? We all strive to reach as high of a level as we can, but barely anyone ever even comes close to 100. What would even happen if someone did? What is the purpose, the objective, that whoever is behind this whole charade is trying to achieve?”
“Oh,” Balthazar said. “Uh, sure, I guess that would be my next question. What does that got to do with me, though?”
“Don’t you get it?” the woman said, raising her voice and opening her arms. “You got something you’re not supposed to have. You gained access to a system not meant for you. That means the system has flaws that can be pulled at. Whatever you did could be the answer to the whole mystery I’ve been trying to solve for so long!”
“Yeeeees… look, miss, that seems fascinating and all, but honestly, it sounds like a ‘you’ problem, not mine,” Balthazar said while sidestepping away from her. “Big global conspiracies, divine entities, all that stuff. It’s not my bag at all. I’m very content with my little pond and have enough with my daily worries, so if you could leave me out of it and forget we even had this conversation, I’d prefer it that way.”
Ruby shook her head in disapproval.
“You really don’t understand. Part of you is still clinging to the comfort of your routine, the safety of sticking to your assigned role. You cannot ignore it forever. The question is there, eventually you will want answers too. If only—”
She paused, her eyes looking up at the sky, where a flock of birds was passing.
Balthazar followed her gaze, and saw a handful of the pesky creatures breaking away from the group and perching themselves up on the branches of his tree, looking in their direction.
“Stupid little pests!” the crab complained, attempting to shoo the creatures away with a towel in his pincer.
“Yes, an annoyance, indeed,” the enchantress said, her eyes still fixed on the birds.
Suddenly, she leaned down very close to the crab’s face and spoke in a quick and hushed tone. “Be mindful of whom you discuss these things with. You cannot be sure if they are friend or foe, and even if the former, simply making them aware of more than they are supposed to know could put them in great danger.”
As quickly as she leaned, she returned to her straight posture and changed demeanor back to an indifferent tone.
“It would seem you’re too preoccupied at the moment, and my time is also scarce. I truly wish you will come around regarding what we’ve discussed, and that perhaps next time we meet, it shall be under more agreeable circumstances. Farewell.”
Balthazar stared, dumbfounded, as the red woman quickly made her way out.
“Hey, wait a moment!” the crab said, chasing after her to the road. “It’s not like you have to leave so abruptly, you didn’t even buy some—”
As he turned the corner and reached the road, he found it deserted, not a sign of the enchantress or anyone else.
“Could have at least bought a lucky charm before leaving,” Balthazar muttered to himself, as he threw the towel over his shell and turned back to his pond, where the tree was now empty once again, all the birds having seemingly flown away.