Merchant Crab

***

Up on the ship, the two girls, the goblin, and the drake watched helplessly as Balthazar fell into the running river below, his legs flailing along with his pincers as the remnants of the cut rope scattered in the wind.

With a big splash, the crab vanished into the dark depths of the water and the four of them gasped.

“He fell!” exclaimed Suze with shock.

“We noticed,” Olivia said as she pulled away from the railing. “Hey, what are you doing?!”

Holding his hat with one hand, Druma started climbing over the ship’s bulwark.

“Druma save boss!”

“Get back here!” the girl said as she rushed to grab the goblin’s arm. “Do you even know how to swim in those waters?!”

The assistant looked at her with eyes full of panic and concern. “No…”

“But boss need help!” Druma cried as the young woman pulled him back in.

“Is Balthazar going to die?” Suze asked as she looked over the railing at the river below, with no signs of the crab anywhere.

“No, of course not!” said Olivia as she turned to the winged creature next to them. “Hey, why doesn’t she fly down there and try to pick him up?!”

Blue cocked her brow as she glanced down at the dark, murky waters below. The tip of her pointy tongue stuck out of her mouth as she made an expression of disgust.

“Oh, come on, seriously?!” the taller girl exclaimed in frustration.

“I don’t see him coming up,” the smaller girl said with an increasingly concerned tone as she leaned over the railing. “Is Balthazar gonna die?!”

“No, damn it!” Olivia said. “I already said he won’t. Just… help me find another rope.”

“But boss break rope already,” Druma said as he rubbed his hands nervously.

“Argh,” the young woman said in frustrated agreement.

Suze continued scanning the water with a worried frown. “I don’t see him. What are we gonna do? Is Balthazar gonna be alright?!”

Olivia looked around as if searching for something. “I… Don’t know.”

“You kids…” a man’s voice said from atop the stairs to the ship’s bridge.

Captain Leander, carrying a large coil of chain, walked down the steps shaking his head.

“Have you all forgotten what Balthazar is?” he said.

The others looked at one another with puzzled gazes and a few shrugs.

“Stubborn?” said the street rascal.

“That too,” the old man said as he started unspooling the chain. “But I was referring to him being… a crab.”

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“Oooh…” the girl said.

***

As the rope snapped under the sharp pressure of his mighty pincer and Balthazar’s grip on it slipped, he was reminded of how much he did not like heights.

Now falling shell-first through the cold night air, the merchant wondered why he kept finding himself flailing around in the wind when he knew well enough that crabs were never meant to fly.

As he saw the sight of the ship and his friends above pulling away in what felt like slow motion, Balthazar also wondered why it seemed like things always had to be four steps forward, eight steps back with him.

Every advance in the last couple of days seemed to always be followed by another setback.

How did I even end up in this situation? The falling crustacean asked himself as his shell was dropping toward the river.

Oh, right. The mangoes.

All he wanted was to get some directions when he first arrived in that city.

Of course, there was little he could do once he stumbled upon a bakery and a brand-new flavor of pie. Certain things are just impossible to ignore, such as the delicious allure of baked goods.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And as if that wasn’t enough, then Marquessa had to tempt him further with the other thing the crab could not resist: the appeal of coin.

Sure, Balthazar was on a mission to save his friends, but he was still a merchant. What was he supposed to do? Ignore a business opportunity?

He had no leads on the dragon’s whereabouts, and the only lead on how to restore Bouldy was the wizard Tweedus, whom he knew where to find, but not how to get there.

It was entirely out of his pincers if the baroness in charge of that city decided to use the way to the wizard’s lair as a bargaining chip to solve her own problems.

His claws were tied, he had no choice but to help her if he wanted to get to where he needed to go. The juicy trade deal in exchange for taking on the quest was merely a bonus.

As were the many pies promised to him by the owner of the baking boutique.

I wonder if this is what adventurers spend their days doing. Getting sidetracked nonstop until they lose track of any and everything.

Balthazar’s carapace finally hit the water’s surface, sending a big splash in every direction like a rock dropped into a pond.

Ah, darn it. I’m sorry I’m taking so long, Bouldy.

The water was cold, but he did not seem to mind it much. Shivering was for skin-having creatures, not sturdy crustaceans.

As his body sank into the murky waters, the merchant also wondered about Madeleine. It had been so long since she was taken. He knew that if the dragon wanted to harm her, it would have just done it on the spot back at the pond. Taking her meant the creature had other plans for her.

Still, it had been so long. What if something had happened to her?

No, he could not think such things. Perhaps Rye went on to find her after they split up in Condor?

It was of no use to dwell on things he could not change. He needed to focus on what he could act on.

What was that again?

Finding whoever was behind the stolen mangoes.

Strange objective, he felt. But somehow, in a very roundabout way, everything leading up to reviving his rocky friend hinged on finding some stolen fruits.

The pensive merchant continued sinking to the bottom of the river, the lights from the lanterns above slowly fading into the murky darkness of the waters.

Despite that, Balthazar was experiencing a slight feeling of nostalgia. It was like being back home, dipping into his beloved pond.

Except for all the trash.

Sludge and debris polluted the stream flowing around him, and occasionally a large piece of garbage would smack him in the face as it was pushed by the current.

“Pffah!” the crustacean exclaimed as a pair of tattered undergarments brushed past his eyestalks.

Maybe after this is all over, I’ll talk to the baroness about keeping this river clean. This is no way to treat your local body of water!

His feet finally touched the rocky riverbed, the weight of his giant shell anchoring him to the bottom against the pull of the current.

Dang, this place is filthy. The merchant mused as he looked around, seeing practically nothing through the murky water and the cloud of garbage floating by.

Nothing like the pure waters of my pond. Well, except for that one time when something nasty fell into it and the water turned all black because of…

His eyestalks frowned as something in his brain clicked.

Wait a minute…

Like the waters around him, connections rushed through his thoughts as a sneaky suspicion in the back of his mind broke the dam holding them.

Could it be? Her…

Feeling the ball of yarn that was the whole mango case unraveling with his sudden theory, Balthazar looked up. The introspecting break was over, it was time to go back up and put an end to it once and for all.

But how do I get back up?

Glancing at the corner of his field of view, he noticed an active skill on his system

[Aquatic Breather]

[As the pinnacle of evolution, your race can freely breathe both in and out of water.]

Lost in thought as he was, the crustacean finally realized he hadn’t been drowning that whole time.

Oh! That’s right. I’m a crab!

Smacking the front of his shell with the back of his claw, Balthazar shook off his meandering thoughts to focus on doing something he was naturally talented at—other than eating and talking.

Flexing all of his eight legs, the crab pushed against the riverbed and propelled himself upward, using all of his body to swiftly swim up like he hadn’t done in so long.

Balthazar smiled with determination. He had almost forgotten how much better and faster he was at swimming than walking. Another reason why he missed his home pond.

I’ve been spending too much time out in the dry air. I should do this more often.

Rushing through the murky waters like an arrow, the crab soon spotted the lights of the hanging lanterns from Leander’s ship again.

With redouble effort, Balthazar paddled his back legs harder to catch up.

Go, go, my swimmerets!

His shell broke through the surface and he took a deep breath of the bone-chilling air.

Thankfully for him, crabs have no bones, so that bothered him little.

As his eyes adapted to being out of water again, the merchant saw a chain being dropped into the water right in front of him.

After looking up at the crew leaning over the ship’s railing, Balthazar grabbed the iron chain firmly with both pincers, this time with no fear of snapping it like with the rope.

“Go on, pull!” Captain Leander told the others as the group lifted the crab from the water and onto the deck. “Almost done!”

“Why… is he… so heavy?!” Suze struggled to say from the end of the chain, between Druma and Blue—who gripped the chain tightly with her teeth.

“You brought him all the carrot cake, remember?!” exclaimed Olivia from behind the captain, sweat forming on her forehead as she struggled to keep a grip on the metal links.

With one final pull, the group brought the crab on board.

Soaked and covered in little pieces of trash and algae, Balthazar stood up and looked up at Leander.

“Welcome aboard the Marquessian Dame, Mr. Balthazar,” the man said.

Breathing fast but with a determined look on his face, the merchant nodded at the man.

“Thank you, captain. Now set a new course. I know where we need to go to finish this charade.”