Merchant Crab-Chapter 229: Steeling and Resolving

Tristan braced his knees as he lifted another crate off the ground outside the back of the bazaar. It was heavy work for someone getting up in age like him, but the merchant associate found a rewarding feeling in that kind of labor now.

After years of mistreating his body and after finally shaking off his bad habits, he was just glad to still have the opportunity to do something useful with himself. Besides, it was not like Henrietta could move those crates inside by herself, and with everyone gone inside that dungeon, it fell upon him to be the muscle.

“Oof,” the man let out as he placed the crate atop another one. “Still got it.”

He wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand and peeked inside. Henrietta was still seeing a client off by the front door, so Tristan decided to linger outside a little longer. He wanted to make sure the toad would see the moment he brought those heavy boxes inside.

It made him feel like a silly young man again, trying to impress a girl through his physical prowess, but it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling. And the way Henrietta seemed to get all flustered the last time he did it made it all entirely worth it.

A carefree “lalala” floated in the breeze and into Tristan’s ears, making him turn around to the pond, looking for the source of the sing-song.

A young boy with freckles and a very puffed up head of curly orange hair full of white specks was making his way back from the dungeon and toward the bazaar. Tristan recognized him immediately as the boy he had talked to earlier, Taffy.

He had wondered if letting the youngster know Balthazar and company were inside the dungeon had been a mistake after watching him rush inside that morning, but something about the boy’s excitement for meeting his idol had just been too compelling not to.

“You’re back!” the older man said with a smile as Taffy reached him. “I take it from your cheery mood that you found Balthazar?”

“Oh, Mr. Tristan!” the grinning boy said with joy so bright it lit up his voice. “I did, and it was so amazing! A horde of skeletons nearly cut me down!”

The merchant’s droopy cheeks jiggled as the smile vanished from his face.

“That doesn’t sound very amazing at all! Are you alright?”

“Oh, yes, yes! I feel incredible! Mr. Balthazar’s personal assistant saved me with the most spectacular display of magic I’ve ever seen! It was life-changing!”

Tristan frowned with slight confusion for a moment before a half-smile timidly returned to his face. “Well, I suppose so long as you are fine…”

“I am more than fine!” Taffy blurted out. “Witnessing the merchant crab and his team in action was everything I’d hoped for and more! I’d been dreaming about this moment since I was a little kid!”

The older man cocked an eyebrow. “But didn’t you only learn about Balthazar a few months a—”

“I cannot wait to join Mr. Balthazar’s party!” the boy exclaimed, hearing nothing of what Tristan had said. “Oh, the joy, the excitement!”

“Ah,” the crab’s associate said while nodding. “So you managed to convince Balthazar to let you work for him?”

“Weeeell…” the boy said, tilting his head along with the word. “Not exactly. At least not yet. But now I know what I need to do to become worthy of joining such an amazing team as his. I must work hard to prove myself useful! It’s going to be so great! I will be Mr. Balthazar’s most dedicated follower!”

Something about the kid’s excitement made Tristan share a portion of the same fire inside. He couldn’t help but feel enthusiastic for him. It was as if the boy’s excitement was almost contagious.

“It just makes sense that one touched by destiny like him would attract followers!” the man exclaimed, barely able to hold back his own bubbling exhilaration.

Taffy’s eyes widened. “Touched by destiny?! What do you mean, Mr. Tristan?”

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The older man gasped. He knew Balthazar wouldn’t approve of him sharing what had been discussed in their recent meeting, but surely it wouldn’t hurt to share just a little with the boy. After all, his loyalty to the crab was abundantly clear.

And Tristan was just feeling too damn excited to hold it!

“Well, son, have you ever heard the tales about ascendants?” the graying man asked.

Taffy’s head pulled back as his eyes went as wide as saucers.

“Nooo? You can’t mean… Mr. Balthazar? An ascendant?”

Tristan nodded slowly.

“We can’t be sure yet, but Henrietta and I—and a few others close to him as well—we suspect he might be one.”

“It makes so much sense. That is why he is so amazing,” the stunned boy said, before his grin started widening and his excitement bubbling again. “Today just keeps getting better and better! Mr. Balthazar, an ascendant! I could be his first acolyte! Oh, goodness gracious! This is it, this is my calling! This will be how I prove myself!”

“Yes, but just remember to keep what I told you to—” Tristan attempted to say, but the boy had already taken off, prancing away in a gleeful dance.

As he left, Tristan felt the shared elation die down, and he wondered if he had just made a big mistake by saying too much.

“I just hope this doesn’t bring Balthazar any trouble,” the man said to himself as he gazed toward the entrance on the side of the mountain.

A young adventurer came running out of the dungeon tunnel, a lantern still in his hand, sweat covering his whole face. He looked over his shoulder with a scared expression before sprinting away, through some bushes, in the general direction of the road.

“Huh. I wonder if something’s happening in there,” Tristan mused, before shrugging. “Either way, I’m sure Balthazar can handle whatever comes his way. He’s just that kind of person. Err… that kind of crab.”

The merchant associate turned away and went back to work on his crates with a content smile.

***

“Let's get to business!” Balthazar said as he readjusted his floral crown and pulled his backpack's flap open.

He gave the scene around him a quick glance. He knew the situation was dire and there was no time to waste. His friends were not going to last long if he didn't do something quickly.

What that something would be was still a work in progress, however.

Alright, backpack, don't let me down. I need the right goods!

The merchant shoved both pincers into his magical bag and he rummaged. He rummaged and he rooted around. He rooted around and he searched. He searched and, eventually, he found. freewebnσvel.cѳm

His eyestalks jumped and he started hurriedly pulling his arms out of the bag.

“Druma!” Balthazar called. “Come here.”

The goblin's ears perked up at the mention of his name and, despite his still frightened expression, he wasted no time approaching the crab.

“I need you to get these special arrows to Rye,” the merchant said as he struggled to pull something from inside his backpack. “I know you're scared, buddy, but I can’t do this alone. Do you think you can help me?”

The scrawny goblin swallowed and glanced at the skeletons closing in from every direction, but he quickly clenched his eyes closed and nodded vigorously, before opening them back up and looking up at the crab.

“Boss can count on Druma!” he declared with a crack in his voice but conviction in his eyes. “Druma don’t let boss down!”

With a nod of approval, Balthazar passed a bundle of arrows tied together by a string to the goblin, who took them into his arms.

Pointing his eyes up, the merchant quickly navigated through his system’s list of skills.

[Leader’s Voice activated]

[For 2 minutes, you and up to three of your allies receive +1 to all attributes, and all actions performed as a team receive a success bonus.]

“Use your small size to your advantage,” the crab said to his assistant. “Dodge and swerve between those skeletons. You’re clever. They are dumb and slow. Go, reach Rye quickly!”

Druma gave him one last firm nod and ran off, the bundle of arrows held tightly against his chest.

Balthazar had no time to watch the goblin go, he had his own role to play, and little time to do it.

Reaching into his pack, he retrieved a glass bottle full of a blue liquid, popped the cork off with the tip of his pincer, and chugged the entire mana potion in one go.

“Alright, I paid a premium for this, so it better do what I hope it does,” the crab said, reaching inside his backpack again with both pincers and retrieving a large slab of cold gray metal.

The steel ingot was relatively smaller than the iron one Balthazar had used before in Damask Manor, but he hoped his guess was right and that, being a stronger alloy, steel would do more and better with less. That and there was no way the crab would have paid what Rob told him smiths charged for full-sized steel ingots in Ardville.

The crab eyed the incoming skeletons one more time.

“Here goes nothing!”

[Imbuing activated: Steel Ingot absorbed]

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