Merchant Crab

"You?!" exclaimed the baffled crab as he watched the two travelers walk down from the road and toward his bazaar. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hi to you too, Mr. Crabby!" a young girl of no more than ten or eleven said in a playful tone, placing both hands on her waist in mock indignation.

"I told you he wouldn't be expecting us," said the other girl, a few years older, walking beside the first with her arms crossed and a sly smile on her face. "You owe me 2 crowns."

"Suze! Olivia! I can't believe you came to visit!" the now-grinning merchant said, spreading his arms open in an expression of welcome.

"Of course we did. I miss Druma and Blue and wanted to see them!" the little rascal said as they both stopped in front of Balthazar.

The crab's smile vanished from his face and he dropped his arms. "Just them, not me?"

Suze looked up and wobbled her open hand from side to side. "Heeeh…"

"Don't mind her," Olivia said with a smile. "She's just teasing you. The whole trip, she kept talking about how she couldn't wait to see her old lobster friend again."

"Hey!" the smaller girl exclaimed, bumping the armored shoulder of the other with her fist. "Don't be a snitch!"

"Heh, it's good to see you too, kid. Although I'm still not a lobster," Balthazar said, his content smile back on his face.

Turning his eyestalks to the taller girl, the merchant noticed her serious travel getup.

The Marquessa heir was fully clad in brown leather armor. Sufficiently thick to provide suitable protection in a fight, yet still light enough to allow freedom of movement in hand-to-hand combat, which is what Balthazar guessed her preference was, given the lack of any visible weapon on her person. Despite its discreet profile and lack of accessories or other unnecessary decorations, a trained eye like his could easily tell the fine quality of the equipment she was wearing.

"You look like you mean business," Balthazar said to her.

"Why, of course I do," Olivia replied, putting her chin up and hooking her thumbs to the armholes of her vest. "Business is exactly what we came here for."

"Right, about that…" the crab said, peeking over her shoulder, toward the main road, where he could see the top of a handful of carriages.

"You're not going to tell me you forgot all the trade deals you made with the Marquessian merchants before you left?" the young woman said.

"No, of course not," Balthazar quickly said. "But I never expected them to come through so fast, and to make the trip in the middle of winter, and with snow on the roads!"

Olivia chuckled, a laughter that vaguely reminded the merchant of her aunt, Octavia Marquessa, the baroness he had met months before while visiting their city. She certainly took after her aunt—in some select aspects, at least.

"You need to get used to it, then," she explained. "Marquessian traders take their business very seriously, and do not let something like a little snow hamper their deals. Besides, those guys over there could not wait to get their trade route with the famous merchant crab going, given your growing fame. They're very happy to have snagged a contract with you before any other town."

"Huh…" the merchant muttered contemplatively, wondering if he should have squeezed them for more back when they made their agreements at Marquessa's guild hall all those months prior.

"We brought a small crew of aides from the guild to handle the goods, as well as the guards my aun—I mean, the mayor provided to escort the convoy," Olivia continued. "Once they unload the cargo they will get rooms at an inn in Ardville, so you don't need to worry about accommodations for them."

"I wasn't worried," the crab stated plainly, before giving a shrug. "Plenty of ground to stretch a bedroll out there on the plains."

Suze let out a loud cackle, while the other girl glared at her and then Balthazar with a disapproving scowl.

"So, did Captain Leander come with you as well?" the crustacean asked.

"Oh, no, he did not," Olivia said, her scowl vanishing instantly at the mention of her mentor. "He's plenty busy cleaning up the ranks from top to bottom for my aunt back in Marquessa. You might not realize it, Balthazar, but your short adventure and intervention while you were in our city really triggered a whole domino effect on taking down the corruption that had taken hold of it."

"Huh, if you say so," said Balthazar, with another shrug. "I don't even know how to play dominoes, but I've certainly been getting pretty good at eliminating corruption. Especially the black, sticky and disgusting kind."

The Marquessa girl frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Never mind, I'll tell you about it later." the merchant said, before turning his attention back to Suze. "What about you, you little rascal?"

He eyed the little girl up and down. Unlike her friend, Suze was wearing common peasant clothes. Or at least it would seem so to the untrained eyestalk. But Balthazar was no amateur merchant, he could spot quality gear instantly—mainly because it looked nothing like the junk he usually sold.

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Her simple-looking clothes were mostly dark shades of gray and black, and while they appeared worn, like they'd seen plenty of dust and been washed and dried countless times, they had no holes or tears. Also, despite being nowhere near as evident as it was with Olivia, the small street rascal was definitely wearing some pieces of armor padding under those unassuming clothes. The crab had seen this kind of getup plenty of times on a very specific class of adventurer—rogues.

"What about me?" the anything-but-innocent girl said very innocently.

"What, uhh… have you been up to?" Balthazar asked awkwardly, thinking back to the last time they talked, at the Marquessian docks, and how Suze had been taken under the wing of the guildmaster of the local Thieves Guild.

"Oh, you mean with Clovis?" the kid replied casually. "It's been great. He's been teaching me lots of neat tricks!"

The crab's eyestalks jumped with a start and turned to look at Olivia.

"You, uh… you know about this? And you're… alright with it?"

Olivia sighed and crossed her arms.

"Alright isn't the exact term, but… Clovis did make a reasonable argument, as much as I hate to admit it."

"He did?" Balthazar said with surprise. "What was it?"

"You can never fully eliminate crime. There will always be thieves and things being stolen. Knowing that, it's best to deal with a devil you know, especially while we are busy focusing on culling the corruption within the city's officials."

"And if stuff is going to get stolen, better if it's from rich snobs!"

"Yeah… that too," the Marquessa girl hesitantly admitted. "I won't be too worried if a few corrupt noblemen are getting their summer mansions broken into while they're at a party on their private island."

"Huh… I can see your point," the merchant said before looking around as if looking for someone. "Shame Rob left so soon. I'm sure he'd be interested in this conversation."

Suze squinted her eyes in suspicion as she looked over Balthazar's shell. "Did that bush over there just move?"

"I have to ask!" the crab exclaimed with a sudden greedy grin. "Did either of you remember to bring me a pie from Margo's Baking Boutique?"

The street rascal turned her gaze to the crustacean with a sassy eyebrow cocked and hands back on her waist.

"Sure, you silly shrimp. We traveled the roads for weeks with a fresh pie on a plate just for you. Let me go get it right away. It might even still be warm!"

Balthazar frowned. "Alright, fine, I get it. No need for the attitude, you little mouse."

"But," Olivia interjected, "we did bring you other mango products! No actual mangoes, of course, because they're not in season anymore, and because they wouldn't have kept very well on a long trip like this. What the fine people of Marquessa sent, however, were preserved mangoes, dehydrated mango slices, mango jam, extract, and many more products made from our finest export!"

"Oooh," said the excited crustacean. "Madeleine went up to Ardville to get some supplies, but I'm sure she's going to love exploring those nice mango treats. And I'm going to love tasting whatever she makes with them!"

"Ah," the baroness's niece said. "That's your baker friend you were looking for, right? I'm excited to finally meet her!"

"Speaking of that," Suze interrupted. "Where is Druma, and where is Blue?! I want to say hi to them!"

Balthazar glanced back toward the bazaar.

"Hmm, I'm not sure Blue is down here right now. She's been spending a lot of time up on the mountain with… well, I'll explain that part later. As for Druma, I'm sure he's around here somewhere." The crab circled around to face the trading post. "Hey, Druma, come out here! You got visitors!"

After a couple of seconds, the sound of small feet slapping quickly against the floor came from inside the bazaar, followed by the sudden appearance of a very excited goblin in a wizard hat and cape by the front entrance.

"Boss call Druma?" the assistant asked with a grin as he ran toward the merchant. "Druma has visit?"

"Druma!" Suze exclaimed as she opened her arms.

"Miss Suze!" the goblin said happily, his grin now even wider.

They both ran toward each other and hugged, the tip of Druma's hat just slightly taller than the little girl's head.

"I love your new cape!" she said as they split from their hug.

"Friend?" a reverberating but curious voice asked as a massive stone head peeked from inside the bazaar.

"Holy…" Suze muttered with her jaw dropped as her gaze slowly climbed up to accompany the giant golem making his way out of the gazebo. "Is that…"

"Bouldy!" the crab exclaimed. "Yes, meet my bodyguard and oldest friend. Bouldy, these two are Suze and Olivia. I told you about them before, I'm sure you remember."

"Friend," the construct greeted with a smile and a friendly wave.

Olivia let out an impressed whistle as she slowly waved back. "Woah… you weren't kidding when you described him."

A timid and inquisitive chirp came from the golem's shoulder. "Cree?"

"Oh… My… Gods!" Suze said, her eyes widening at the sight of the tiny pebble peeking over Bouldy's shoulder. "Who is that?!"

"Oh, haha," said the crab. "That's Pebbles. I guess you haven't yet be—and never mind, you two are friends already."

Balthazar watched with an amused expression as the golem brought his open hand down in front of the little girl and presented her to the tiny rock with a face that was sitting on his palm.

"She's the most adorablest thing I've seen in my whole life!" Suze shouted as she took Pebbles with both hands and spun around in place, causing the animated mineral to chirp gleefully.

"Heh, I think she's going to be busy with your companions for a while," Olivia said, watching her younger friend with an appreciative smile. "Come on, let's check the carriages before they start unloading. Your mouth parts are going to drop once you see the stuff some of those merchants sent for you to sell over here."

"Hah, I can't wait!" the eight-legged merchant said as he followed the armored girl up, toward the main road. "Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have heard about a self-proclaimed 'Duke' merchant at some point, would you?"

The Marquessian heir stroked her chin in thought for a moment.

"No, can't say that I have. But we did hear a lot about you on the way here, mister."

"Oh?"

"That's right. You're becoming a real celebrity out there. We first met some strange traveling merchant who claimed to be selling exclusive potions from your pond, and then a week later we came across a weird kid in a robe claiming to be your first and most loyal acolyte."

"Ah…" Balthazar grumbled awkwardly as he rolled his eyestalks. "I see you've met Charles and also Taffy. Don't even get me started on those two oddballs. Thankfully they're out there, far away from my bazaar, where they can't cause me any more trouble."