Merchant Crab

Stretching his arms up to the sky, Balthazar let out a big yawn before closing his book and tossing it on the pile of already finished literature. They were one of his favorite items to trade. He could buy most books adventurers looted from all those old dungeons, ruined fortresses, and ancient libraries, read them in their entirety, and then still be able to sell them for full price, so long as they weren’t damaged (some lessons had been learned about eating creamy pastries in front of open books).

They were great value, and he bought them in large quantities every chance he got. If only the way adventurers felt about buying books applied to other things, like buying used loincloths. Both things had been previously used by someone. There wasn’t much of a difference. But no, humans had to be erratically picky about those things.

Skittering his way down one of his many sunbathing boulders, Balthazar lazily scratched his chin. He had been doing plenty of learning, growing his knowledge about all sorts of things, and while reading a book under the sun was nice and all, quiet days like that one still displeased him as they would have been much more productive if spent making deals and earning more money.

Not that he lacked coin now. The reinforced chest sitting behind his sleeping spot was nearly full to the brim with them, and he was already keeping an eye out for a new container to fill. But there was something so very satisfying about amassing large quantities of money, more than just the ever captivating shine of their gold against the sunlight. Something about looking at his money chest through his monocle and seeing that number.

[Reinforced Iron Chest:]

[Gold Coins (3812)]

It gave him a sense of satisfaction. He wanted to make it grow. He wanted it to increase. He didn’t know why, or exactly what for, he just knew that the number must go up.

Crossing the bridge, Balthazar made his way to the road, sticking to the beaten dirt path, as to not touch the grass that adorned it.

Summer was now past its peak. The plains stretching out in front of him had a golden tone under the hot sun, and the sweet aroma of the blooming fruits from the forest was in the air. The crab closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The shouting startled Balthazar in the middle of inhaling, making him choke up. Coughing and with watery eyes, he looked around for the source of the yelling.

A rickety old man with a long white beard reaching down to his knees was approaching with quick steps. He had a pointy hat resembling Druma’s, except more elaborate and purple, and for some reason he was shirtless, wearing the bottom part of a purple robe, with what seemed to be the top half tied around his waist.

“YA GOT ANY MANA POTIONS?”

The old man looked completely deranged, his bushy white eyebrows twisting and arching wildly as he looked at Balthazar, and his eyes were bloodshot, with one pupil much bigger than the other.

“Holy hell, calm down, you don’t have to yell!” Balthazar said, trying to recover his breath while readjusting his monocle.

[Level 66 Arcane High Wizard]

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“Oooooooooh, that’s a nice Monocle of Examination ya got there,” the wizard said, bending over at the waist and putting his face uncomfortably close to Balthazar’s. “But are ya going to examine me all day, OR ARE YA GONNA ANSWER ME? MANA POTIONS, YA GOT THEM?!”

“Yes, yes, I got mana potions! Hold your horses, old man.”

Skittering back from the insane looking man as fast as he could, Balthazar pulled a wooden box from under a table and retrieved two bulbous glass bottles filled with a glowing blue liquid.

“Here, mana potions, there was no need for all that yell—Hey! You have to pay for those!”

Standing on no ceremony, the wizard snatched both potions, popped the cork of one with his thumb, and started chugging it with loud gulps. Before Balthazar could even get another word out, he was already turning the second bottle upside down on his lips, blue liquid rapidly disappearing from the flask.

The man smacked his lips and let out a loud burp. “Ahhh! That hits the spot.”

“What the hell is your problem?!” Balthazar finally let out, in an outraged outburst.

“What?!” the High Wizard said. “I was down in the forest, going at it with a bunch of fairies, you know, tricky things, those ones. And next thing I knew, I was all out of mana, and no potions either. And at my age, my mana regeneration is complete crap.”

“I don’t want to know about your fairies! You still got to pay!”

“Oh, don’t get your pinchers in a twist. I’ll pay. What do you want for those?”

“It’s 25 gold coins each,” Balthazar said, trying to regain his calm.

The wizard reached behind his back and produced a large purple bag out of seemingly nowhere. The crab decided, for his own sanity, not to question where he was keeping that.

“Err, gold coins… gold coins,” the old man said, while shoving his whole arm down the sack, far deeper than it should be able to accommodate, given its size. “Didn’t think we were still using those.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“You’d better not tell me you can’t pay.”

“Ah, worry not. I’m sure I got something here worth trading for the potions.”

With a sudden pull, he produced a hardcover book from the sack, the front of it filled with strange glyphs. “How’s this? A Tome of Levitation. First edition too, I think.”

“No!” Balthazar shouted. “You put that back!”

“Alright, alright. Not the scholarly type, I see.” He put the book back in the bag and continued rummaging, one eye shut, and tongue sticking out from the corner of his mouth. “Oh, this should do it.”

Pulling his arm out one more time, the wizard revealed a dark red orb, big as his head, with a perfectly smooth, stony surface.

“What is that thing?” Balthazar asked, cautious curiosity on his face.

“You’re the one with the monocle. Why don’t ya tell me?” the eccentric mage answered, a slightly crazy smile under his white mustache, irises still disturbingly uneven.

[Golem Core]

“What in the world is a Golem Core? Don’t tell me it’s some kind of weird magical exploding thing?” the confused merchant said.

“Exploding? Nah. At least I don’t think so. Might have to try that sometime,” said the wizard, looking at the orb, pondering. “As for magical, isn’t everything around us magical, my talkative crab friend? If you mean arcane, then no, this thing doesn’t require any mana or arcane abilities to use.”

“I’m still not sure I want to accept that as payment.”

“Bah, don’t be ridiculous. I have no idea how much this thing is worth out here, but I’m positive it’s far more than two mana potions. Here, I’ll even throw you this as a bonus.”

Putting the Golem Core down on the ground in front of Balthazar, the topless man reached into his sack once more, this time revealing another book, of a light brown color, and presenting it to the crab, the title “Golemancy for Dummies” written on its cover.

Balthazar wasn’t sure what the mysterious item was exactly, but he had a clear feeling it was quite valuable. And looking at the ancient book, he felt a growing curiosity about what was written within it.

“Alright, this seems fair. I’ll accept the deal,” Balthazar finally said, carefully taking the large orb into his claws and turning around to place it safely on a pillow.

“Excellent! Now if you’ll excuse me, I got some fairies to get back to. Toodles!”

Balthazar heard a crisp “POP” sound, and by the time he turned around, the strange wizard was gone, not a trace of him either up or down the road.

“What the…” Balthazar said, looking left, right, and then up at the empty sky, where no cloud or even bird could be seen.

Deciding to just not question any more adventurer oddities for the day, he turned his focus to the brown book on the ground.

Balthazar took it in his pincer and sat next to the peculiar orb, beginning to leaf through its pages. Despite the slightly insulting implication of the title, he found its contents to have little of “dummy” to them, instead describing concepts, theories, and procedures that were far beyond the crab’s understanding. Not that he would ever admit to it, but thankfully it’s not as if anyone could know half of what he was reading was going over his head.

His thoughts safe inside his shell, the crab focused on the one portion he managed to grasp. Most of the book described the complex process of making such cores, but once one was completed, as the one resting next to him was, its application was apparently quite simple.

Golems were constructs, that much Balthazar had already read in other books and bestiaries, but they were also a form of artificial life. An artificial soul imbued into an artificial body, usually made up of some sturdy or powerful material, the will of their creator sparking it into being.

By all accounts he had read, golems were impressively strong beings, almost always employed with guarding something or someone, because of their limited intellect but mighty combat capabilities.

Balthazar looked at the orb, thinking back to the thief who tried to rob him, and the rival merchant up in Ardville, plotting to ruin his business. He remembered the intimidating Dark Mage who had enslaved Druma, and all the other adventurers who tried to squeeze him out during trades because they thought he was just a lowly crab who could be pushed around.

If he had a bodyguard, a proper, powerful bodyguard, everyone would have to think twice before messing with him. He might not be too fond of magic, but this wasn’t even like casting spells. Using a finished core was very basic. Even he could do it with no training, he was certain of it.

Making his mind up, Balthazar jumped back up on his eight legs and took the Golem Core into his pincers. The book said a core should be imbued into a vessel, preferably a single piece of one material type. Some examples were golems made of pure iron, but he didn’t have anywhere near enough metal for that.

Other golems were made of more volatile elements, like fire, but Balthazar wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of setting fire to his trading post while performing his crazy experiment. What he had plenty of were rocks. Rock golems were described as slow, but extremely strong and resistant to most forms of physical blows, and even magic.

Looking around at the many large boulders that surrounded his pond, Balthazar tried to find the one that best fit his measurements for what his future bodyguard should be.

Many of them had been simple sunbathing platforms for him for as long as he could remember, but there was one that stood out. One peculiar boulder, green moss covering its lower half, an odd shape to its tip that resembled a square head, and on its flat surface, a tiny inscription, made long ago by much tinier pincers. Not a letter, or even a symbol, just a crudely made “X” to mark it as the favorite spot of a small crab who had no one else as company other than a funny-looking boulder.

Breaking away from his nostalgia trip with a sniff, Balthazar climbed up to the stone surface. He hadn’t realized how long it had been since he last stood atop this particular boulder, probably not since he had become too large to sit on it.

He looked down at the scratched mark on the rock, slightly faded and much smaller than he recalled, reminiscing on the silly name he had given his made up friend: Bouldy.

Shaking his shell at the thoughts of all the silly things he had told that rock in his youth, but still with a slight smile to his face, the crab got on with his experiment.

Holding the Golem Core over the rock surface, he remembered the book’s instructions, and tried to focus on his wish to imbue life into that vessel through the offered core.

To his surprise, the orb began glowing and vibrating. Opening his arms, he let go of the core, which stood perfectly still on the boulder, despite its round shape and the inclination it was on.

With expectation in his eyes, Balthazar watched as the core started sinking into the stone as if it was a liquid surface, until it fully vanished within.

Standing still in anticipation, he waited for something to happen.

“Well, damn it. I should have known better than to take a deal from a crazy old wizard.”

As Balthazar turned around to leave his failed golemancy experiment, he froze in place as he felt a slight vibration from underneath.

The vibration quickly grew into a rumbling as the rock under him began shifting in place, forcing the crab to jump off the boulder.

Looking up with his jaw dropped, Balthazar watched in awe as the huge boulder rose from the ground, unearthing parts of itself long hidden beneath the surface, dirt and roots pulled with them, segments of the freshly uncovered rock taking shape under it as two massive legs. From its sides a pair of arms began forming from the main body, hard rock turning liquid once more, before settling back into its intended new shape. The top of the now standing stone, which used to be its front platform, where a tiny crab had once stood valiantly snapping his pincers at the flying birds for the first time so many seasons ago, was slowly turning in place, its squarish shape settling into a vague semblance of a head, as two small glowing orbs of a dark red color surfaced where its face would be, with a horizontal gap opening under them to complete a mouth.

The golem finally stood upright, eyes slowly gaining life and scanning the horizon, before looking down at the perplexed crab it was towering over. Its mouth formed a crude attempt at a smile before opening and speaking in a deep, reverberating voice.

“Friend.”