Merchant Crab

“Boss, boss!” a hurried voice called, rushing from the front of the bazaar to meet the crab.

Druma, Balthazar’s loyal goblin assistant, skidded to a stop in front of his boss, bouncing up and down between his left and right foot.

Balthazar stretched his eyestalks up at him with difficulty, the weight sitting on top of his carapace making it hard to breathe.

“Get her off me!” he urged in a labored voice.

Blue, Balthazar’s pet drake, sat firmly on her surrogate parent’s shell, looking proud of herself for her crustacean catch.

“Why boss go to dungeon alone?” Druma asked, tilting his head casually, seemingly none too bothered by the crab’s struggle to breathe. “Druma wake up and get worried! Druma think boss maybe get hurt in dungeon all alone. Blue get worried too!”

“Oof. Worried she wouldn’t get the chance to hurt me herself, you mean?” the pinned crustacean grumbled.

“Blue and Druma worried boss try to go back to dungeon without them again!” the assistant said with real concern on his frown.

“I just came back from there, and I have no intention of going back there alone!” the merchant exclaimed, feeling his shell’s underside pressing against the wooden floorboards harder with each passing moment.

“Boss promise?” the green assistant asked, no hint of demand or disappointment on his expression, only a heart-melting plea emoting through his big eyes and quivering lower lip.

“I promise, damn it! Now let me go, I can’t breathe!”

The drake stepped back, releasing the crab, who inhaled deeply with relief.

“You could have seriously hurt me, you brute!” Balthazar exclaimed, turning to Blue.

The drake sat back on her hind legs and rolled her golden eyes in an overly dramatic fashion.

“Boss,” said Druma. “Blue is careful. She just don’t like when Druma is upset so she try to help keep boss safe!”

“Maybe I was better off with those savage skeletons,” the crab grumbled, throwing a glare at the winged creature while rubbing the top of his carapace.

“You’re back!” a feminine voice exclaimed.

Madeleine appeared from the same corner as Druma had a moment before, with Rye following close behind.

“Oh, you’re still here?” Balthazar said, before turning his gaze to the archer. “Weren’t you supposed to take her back home?”

“I tried to,” Rye said with a shrug. “But you know her. She wouldn’t agree to leave until you were back, safe and sound.”

“Well then,” the crab said, “I’m here, not a scratch on my beautiful chitin. No need to worry anymore.”

“That’s it?!” Madeleine asked. “You’re not going to tell us what happened inside the dungeon?”

“Dungeon? What dungeon?” the merchant said, feigning ignorance while skittering behind his bazaar’s counter and hopping on his custom-made wooden stool.

“The dungeon you left to inspect earlier! Did you catch amnesia while you were there?!” said the baker, putting her hands on her waist in a disapproving pose.

“Oh, that,” Balthazar said casually, averting his gaze and looking for coins to count. “Nothing much to tell. Was pretty boring there. Wouldn’t recommend it. Very dusty and poorly maintained too.”

Rye narrowed his eyes at the crustacean.

“Something definitely happened there. You wouldn’t be back so soon and with nothing to show if something hadn’t forced you to return. What are you not telling us?”

“Meh, it was nothing,” said Balthazar, attempting to act nonchalant as he browsed his stocked shelves for any headgear. “Just some skeletons and dust, mostly.”

“Skeletons?” the archer repeated, cocking an eyebrow. “Like Tom and his friends?”

“Err… No. These were more of the savage kind. Not very talkative or friendly types.”

“Oh, my goodness!” Madeleine exclaimed. “Did they hurt you?”

“Hah! Of course not! Look at me, I’m unscathed. They couldn’t lay a bone on me.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Rye cocked an eyebrow at the crab before speaking. “You ran away, didn’t you?”

“It’s a perfectly valid combat strategy, my dear adventurer,” said the merchant. “Besides, I remembered I had so much business to catch up with over here, I couldn’t be wasting time wandering around in pitch-black empty halls.”

“Wait, empty?” the archer said. “There was no loot or at least signs of where the chocolate came from?”

Balthazar shrugged while peeking inside an open crate, still looking for any hats.

“None I could see, but the place was completely dark and far too large for me to check every corner on my own.”

Rye crossed his arms while rubbing the light hair on his chin.

“This dungeon is far too strange. Did you at least get an idea of its difficulty? What level did the system show for the skeletons?”

The merchant’s eyestalks jumped up from peering down into the box and shot to the adventurer and then the baker.

“Uhm… Madeleine?” Balthazar quickly said. “Could you go find me Henrietta, please? I’m looking for hats, but I can’t find where they stored them while I was away.”

“Sure,” the girl said with a nod and a smile before turning away and leaving to the front of the bazaar.

“What are you doing?!” the crab said in a hushed tone, skittering closer to Rye. “Talking about levels and the system in front of Madeleine? You know that none of them know about that stuff!”

“Right, I’m sorry,” the young man said before turning his expression even more serious. “But I’ve also been doing a lot of thinking since I drank that tea and learned about my missing memories from my previous life. I now know what it’s like to be left in the dark, ignorant, and I can’t imagine doing that to someone I care about too. Not to Madeleine.”

Balthazar turned his eyestalks up at the adventurer with slight concern. “What are you trying to say, Rye?”

The human exhaled quietly.

“I’ve decided I’m going to tell her everything, Balthazar. About being from another world, that I’ve reincarnated here, about what is missing from my past, and yes, even about the system. I was planning to do it when we go back to town today, once I got a quiet moment alone with her.”

Rye looked down at the merchant, and seeing the expression of concern in his eyes, he added, “I’m not planning to tell her anything about you and your… odd case. That’s not for me to tell. But… I do think you should tell her yourself. Tell your friends too. They deserve to know, and they’ve earned your trust. You will feel better if you are open with those close to you, that much I’m sure of. Hiding things, especially from those you care about, tends to… weigh on you. Just like with going into a dungeon all by yourself, you need to learn to rely on others. That’s just my opinion, though. The choice is still yours.”

Balthazar stood quietly for a moment, reflecting on the young man’s words.

Deep down, he knew him to be right. Keeping the truth about how he came to be a talking and trading crab to himself had always come from a sense of self-preservation. Balthazar had always been alone, no family, no friends, nobody he could trust other than the rocks around his pond. He did not know what could have happened to him if others learned about his incident with that Scroll of Character Creation so many moons ago.

That wasn’t the case anymore. He had allies. Friends. Perhaps something he could even call a family. They trusted him with so much already, to withhold his own trust and the truth from them made Balthazar feel… wrong.

Feelings. the crab thought. Sometimes I wonder if I wasn’t better off before having them, just enjoying my days soaking in the water and catching sun on the rocks. But then I wouldn’t have learned about coins and pastries. And friends too, I guess. Those are not too bad either.

With a small chuckle to himself, the merchant turned his gaze back up to the adventurer.

“Maybe you’re right,” Balthazar said. “Maybe it’s time I finally bite the arrowhead and share the truth with those closer to me. What’s the worst that could happen? They already accepted me as a talking giant crab who trades goods for coin and loves to eat pastries. I’m sure learning I also see funny words floating in my eyes isn’t going to weird them out all that much.”

Rye’s serious expression shifted into a beaming smile with a hint of relief in his eyes.

“I’m so glad you agree. It will be for the better, you’ll see. Plus, I was really struggling with how I’d tell Madeleine everything while leaving your parts out.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the crab said to the human, waving a dismissive pincer at him while stepping away. “You leave my parts alone.”

“Found her!” the baker announced, returning with Henrietta hopping behind her.

“What was it you were looking for?” the toad asked, jumping on the counter.

“Never mind that right now,” said Balthazar. “Where’s Tristan?”

“He had to go into town for a bit to handle some business. Why, you need something from him too?”

“Hmm. No, that’s fine. Maybe better this way,” the crab said, rubbing his chin with the back of his pincer in thought. “Tell him I want us all to meet here later this evening. You too, Madeleine. There’s something I want to… talk about with you all.”

“That sounded… serious,” the young woman said, raising both of her blonde eyebrows. “Does it have something to do with the mountain and the dungeon? Is something bad going on?”

Rye moved in to place a hand on her shoulder.

“No, nothing bad, don’t worry. I can tell you more once I take you back home.” He turned his eyes to the crab. “But she’s right, we should worry about this whole mountain-turned-chocolate-volcano-with-a-dungeon-underneath business too. Maybe now you’ll agree that we need to go in there with a proper team who is prepared to explore it.”

Balthazar let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“I guess it is more than what I expected. If only Bouldy wasn’t still a couple of days out from being back, we could—”

A clinking of glass came from a nearby shelf, cutting the merchant off and pulling his gaze toward it. Empty bottles and vials were rattling in place on the wooden surface.

As quick as a frown formed on his eyestalks, a growing rumbling started echoing in the distance too.

Stomping footsteps. Lots of them.

“Goodness gracious!” exclaimed Henrietta, her green body shaking and jumping on the countertop with each vibration. “What is that?!”

“Is the mountain erupting again?” said Madeleine, looking around with wide eyes.

“Never mind,” Balthazar said with a roll of his eyes. “They’re here already.”

“Who is?!” the baker asked.

“Adventurers.”