Merchant Crab

And more importantly, rewards to be claimed once he did.

This crab hadn’t gone totally soft yet. Helping out someone in need and righting some wrongs with new friends might be all nice and good for most adventurers, but Balthazar was still a merchant looking out for a good trade deal—and a glutton looking for free pie.

Reminded of what really motivated him, the crustacean’s stomach grumbled with a furious hunger. As it turns out, leaping, swimming, and climbing were great at working up an appetite, especially after a night’s sleep without some proper supper first.

The smell of cooking fish enveloped the crab as he got up, reminding him that while humans might have a lot of strange habits that baffled his understanding, placing fish over a fire was certainly not one of them.

Golden brown meat sizzled against the grill over the lit coals of the fire pit as white smoke billowed out and filled the cabin with a tantalizing aroma that made Balthazar’s mouth water.

Druma was carefully handling the grill, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth while keeping full focus on maintaining a perfectly even heat distribution on both sides. Blue sat on the other side of the pit, helping him by using her nostrils as a bellows, blowing air into the fire whenever the goblin gave her the signal.

Balthazar quietly chuckled with amusement as he watched their teamwork.

Over by the side door of the cabin, Leander sat on a stool over a bucket full of freshly caught catfish, gutting and cleaning them before passing them over to the two girls bouncing around the small kitchen area.

Olivia was trying to show Suze how to properly season the fish, gently pouring a mix of herbs over the next plate about to be handed over to Druma for cooking.

Balthazar stretched his eyestalks above the counter, his eyes jumping at the beautiful array of seasonings sprinkled over a large filet. A generous dose of rock salt covered the rosy meat, accompanied by a few touches of black pepper and more herbs than the crab could count. A little thyme, a fair amount of parsley, some leaves of basil, dried oregano, and even a few touches of garlic.

Balthazar’s stomach growled even harder as he pushed down a loud gulp.

“And then you top it all off with a good squeeze of lemon juice,” Olivia said to the observing little girl while holding a lemon half over the fish and pressing it in her hand.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

“This is a lot more work than I thought,” Suze said with some skepticism.

“A fisherman’s daughter should know how to clean and prepare a fish, young lady,” Leander casually said from his seat by the open door as his knife split another catfish open.

The street rascal frowned at him. “You knew my dad?”

“By reputation only, but yes,” the captain responded, eyes focused on his task. “He was a fine and brave seaman. Was a sad day when I heard his boat went down in a storm.”

“Yeah, it was…” the little girl said with a hint of glum.

“I also heard about how you ran away from the orphanage five times before they just decided to stop bothering taking you back,” the man said, giving her a side glance as he casually wiped his blade on the towel draped over his knee.

“Not my fault their windows didn’t lock properly,” Suze responded, the morose expression suddenly replaced with her usual sass. “They were holding me back anyway. There was business to be had out on the streets!”

Olivia cocked an eyebrow at her as she handed another plate to Druma. “Are you sure you’re not related to Balthazar in some way?”

Both the crab and the kid gave the young woman an identical scowl at the same time, making her crack a smile before breaking into amused laughter.

“Fishy is ready!” Druma proudly announced, hopping from side to side with the grill in his hand.

Shortly after, all of them huddled together at the only table the old cabin had, which was far too small for the six occupants.

Plates were passed around, along with some cutlery, for those who needed it. Balthazar tried to teach Suze how crabs skillfully use their pincers to cut and eat fish, but the little rascal seemed more interested in Druma’s method of eating with his hands. Even Blue seemed to be impressed by the delicacy presented to her, gobbling it down with as much enthusiasm as she did red meats.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Sitting at the top of the table, Balthazar looked over the group with contentment.

He had always eaten by his lonesome back at the pond, back when he was just a lone crab snatching little fish by the water. The idea of having a meal with others, especially humans, would have sounded insane to him. Yet now, sitting there watching his friends’ faces smiling, laughing, and joking around as they had a hearty breakfast together—and despite their current predicaments—it all felt so… right.

“You know, I’m really enjoying having this meal with you guys…” the merchant said.

Olivia smiled and nodded at him. “That’s actually very—”

“But we should discuss how we’re going to get those mangoes back now,” Balthazar added.

“Aaaand never mind, the moment is gone,” the young woman said, rolling her eyes.

Pulling at his backpack, the crab retrieved a large roll of paper from it and started unceremoniously opening it over the already cluttered table, knocking over a salt shaker and making Suze scowl at him as she retreated her plate to safety.

“Alright. Oops. Mind the corner there,” he said as he finished unfurling the map. “Here we go. These are the floor plans I got from the guildmaster of the thieves last night.”

“You met Clovis?” Leander asked from the other end of the table.

“Yes,” said Balthazar. “And—”

“You know he’s a criminal, right?” Olivia interjected.

“Yes, I could deduce that from the fact that he’s the leader of a guild of thieves, Olivia,” the merchant said with a roll of his eyestalks. “Can we get on with it now?”

“Did he tell you who is controlling the bandits and the guards?” asked the captain.

“No, not even they have managed to find that out yet. I do have a suspicion, involving someone I met before, but I need more to back that feeling first.”

“Oooh,” said Suze, with a devious smile on her parsley-covered lips. “Is she a former girlfriend of yours?”

“No, don’t be silly!” the flustered crab said. “But I learned where they are most likely taking the stolen cargo, which is also the mystery figure’s hiding spot. It’s called Damask Manor.”

“Hmm, that old house?” the seasoned man said, biting on a second serving of fish. “I thought it had been abandoned for ages.”

“Well, she seems to have taken residence there,” Balthazar continued. “So we need to come up with the best way to get in, find the stolen mangoes, and confront the string puller.”

Captain Leander eyed the manor’s map with a thoughtful expression.

“Shame the river does not pass near there, or we could set a naval assault.”

“I say we just kick the door down and start dishing out some hurt until we get to the bottom of it,” Olivia declared.

“Oh! Oh!” Suze said between a mouthful of catfish filet. “Or I could sneak in through a window, past any bandits, tie their shoelaces together, and find the mangoes before anyone notices anything!”

“Maybe Druma fly over roof with Blue!” the goblin enthusiastically suggested.

Balthazar smacked both eyestalks onto the table. “You’re all terrible at this, you know that?”

“Well, excuse us, Mr. Genius Crab,” said the flippant Marquessa girl. “Do you

have any better ideas?”

“Of course I do!” He pointed at the manor’s blueprint with his pincer. “There are four floors…”

“Hey, how come these maps didn’t get all soaked when you fell into the river last night?” Suze suddenly asked.

“Magical backpack,” the crab said with a flat stare.

“Oh. Alright then.”

“As I was saying…” Balthazar continued, returning his gaze to the paper. “There’s the ground floor, two more above, and one below. The lowest one seems to be a large cellar and the most likely place for the mangoes to be. The floors above appear to be living spaces, with the master bedroom at the very end of the third floor.”

“That’s where the boss will be,” the street urchin said with a knowing nod as the others looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Come on, guys. It’s obvious!”

“This is all nice and good,” Olivia said, “but what about the part where we get in? You got a plan for that?”

“Sure. I… Uh…” the thinking merchant started. “We could have Suze climb in through a window and unlock the door for us. She seems pretty good at that.”

“Oh, now that idea isn’t terrible anymore?” the young woman said.

“Balthazar is right,” said the smaller girl. “He just knows when to recognize someone has a better idea than what he could come up with.”

The crab nodded. “Thank you, Suze. I was—Hey, wait, what?!”

“Kicking the door down works just as well or even better!” exclaimed Olivia.

“Flying! Flying! Flying!” Druma started chanting over the discussion while flapping his arms.

A sudden sharp whistle echoed through the cabin, making the ruckus cease as the group looked at Captain Leander with wide eyes.

“Alright, enough,” he calmly said, bringing his fingers down from his lips. “You guys have been working well together, but you clearly still need to work a lot on your team communication. If you were my crew, I’d be sending you off to scrub the deck right now.”

“Sorry, Leander,” said Olivia, her eyes going down to the floor. She seemed genuinely upset about the captain’s disapproval.

“But,” he continued, “you are not my crew. Mr. Balthazar here is technically the one in charge of this operation, so let\'s go with his gut. From what I understand, it tends to serve him well.”

The crab looked at the veteran with a hint of surprise but nodded in acknowledgement.

“Well, my gut is telling me two things right now,” Balthazar.

“Is it saying you want dessert?” asked Suze.

“Alright, maybe three things then,” the merchant conceded. “But the other two are that this place is likely going to be crawling with bandits and guards. No floor plans are going to show us that. So the other is that we need to get eyes on the building before we figure out how to enter these rooms.”

Balthazar stood up and placed the tip of his pincer on the center of the blueprint as his friends around the table looked at him.

“Let’s go finish this, get those mangoes back, and reveal who’s behind this whole mess. Tonight we strike at Damask Manor!”