Balthazar stared out through one of the holes in his bazaar’s roof at the few white clouds sailing by in the blue morning sky. He should be upset, perhaps sad or even angry at the damage done to his precious trading post, and yet, he actually found himself in a good mood.

There was a mess of broken glass and splintered wood from shelves and boxes all around him, thanks to the previous day’s attack by the dark mage, and still the crab scanned the surrounding room with a smile on his face.

Despite the damage, the loss of property and merchandise, even the costs that would come from having to repair the building, all of it was a small price to pay for the ultimate satisfaction Balthazar had received.

Antoine being carried away to jail, finally exposed for his deeds. No amount of coin would have been too much to pay for that.

Well, perhaps a certain amount. There would need to be some haggling first. He was still a merchant crab after all, and he very much valued gold.

He looked outside, across the pond, to his tent under the old acacia tree. Thankfully, no damage got anywhere near his personal chambers, and more importantly, to his little hidey-hole, where his most important treasures were hidden, including his new gold statuette.

If nothing else, he would at least still have the sight of the beautifully golden muse to gaze upon before going to sleep at night.

It was all about the little shiny pleasures in life.

The merchant let out a satisfied sigh and focused back on picking up broken pieces of armor from the floor. As he lifted a piece of wood, he found a familiar metal helmet with horns and a small dent on the front.

Balthazar chuckled. “Of course, this old thing I can never sell survived. Go figure.”

His attention was pulled away from the horned helmet when a small bell rung by the entrance.

At least that hadn’t been destroyed by the lightning strikes either.

“Madeleine! Rye!” Balthazar exclaimed with an even wider smile, tossing the helmet aside as he threw both claws up enthusiastically. “What are you guys doing here?”

The two humans stepped inside, no door or gate in their way anymore, thanks to the bazaar’s last visitor. Each one carried a wicker basket in their hands and the baker was the first to set hers down and run towards the crab.

“Balthazar!” she said as she knelt down to hug the crab’s wide carapace. “I’m so glad to see you’re alright. I was worried sick when I heard what happened.”

“Oh,” said the crustacean, taken aback by the sudden and unexpected embrace. “T-thanks. I’m fine. No damage, as you can see.”

His arms hovered over the girl’s back for a second, as he wondered what to do in such an unfamiliar situation. He wasn’t used to hugs. They always seemed to him like an odd gesture. Someone wraps their appendages around your body and you are not supposed to take that as an attempt at suffocating or crushing you and respond accordingly by pinching them? Humans were truly bizarre creatures.

However, the baker’s embrace felt warm and comforting.

Perhaps they were onto something with all their silly displays of affection, after all.

“Damn,” said Rye as he approached and looked around. “Same can’t be said of your place. That guy really did a number on it, didn’t he?”

“What about the others?!” Madeleine quickly asked, pulling away from the hug with wide eyes. “Druma, Bouldy, Blue, are they all safe too?”

“Relax,” the crab said in a calm tone. “They’re alright too. Blue’s resting up by the tree. She took some damage but nothing serious. She will be fine. Druma and Bouldy are good as well. Here, see for yourself.” He turned to the back of the bazaar and called out. “Guys, come in here. We got visitors.”

A goblin holding a broom peeked in from the back exit and a grin formed on his face as he saw the baker and the archer.

As Druma ran in, arms open, broom still in his hand, Bouldy followed behind, holding a large bucket filled with debris and wearing a frilly apron.

“Miss baker!” the small assistant called out, jumping with excitement. “Druma is magic! Druma save boss from evil man!”

“Yes, you are, and yes you did!” Madeleine said with a beaming smile. “I’ve heard the story. You were very brave!”

“Yes, he was,” said Balthazar. “But we were also lucky he had that staff from the old wizard, or else our fates might have been different. Too bad he had to blow all the charges in it at once, though.”

“That’s what everyone is talking about up in the guild today,” Rye added. “The crab and his crew who took out a high-level dark mage, and how a little goblin turned him into dust.”

“Alright, alright, let’s make sure this doesn’t get to Druma’s head. Next thing I know, he’ll be asking for a raise,” Balthazar said. “Wait, they’re talking about it at the adventurers guild? Should I be worried?”

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“Oh no, don’t worry,” Rye quickly replied. “That guy might have been technically an adventurer, but his actions violated all sorts of rules set by the guild. No one would question your right to defend yourself against his assault. As far as we adventurers go, he was a stain on the guild’s image by cowardly attacking an innocent weak merchant and got what he deserved. He made his own bed by taking on Antoine’s shady offer.”

“Phew, that’s good to know. Hey, wait, what do you mean, weak merchant?!”

“Bouldy!” Madeleine exclaimed, standing up and walking in front of Balthazar to greet the tall boulder. “I heard you flew higher than any golem ever has! And what’s this you’re wearing?”

“It’s an apron,” said Balthazar. “Some adventurer looted it from a giant’s camp and it never occurred to me that there was no way I was ever going to sell that, so I let Bouldy have it. Take that off now, though. I told you not to wear it when we have people around. You look silly, and nobody’s going to take you seriously as my bodyguard if they see you wearing that.”

The golem slumped down but obliged, bringing the white strap over his head and removing the apron.

“From what I hear,” started Rye, “he went really high before crashing back down on the mage. Is he really alright after that?”

“Oh yes, don’t worry,” Balthazar said. “He’s a sturdy one!”

The crab stepped closer to the golem and gave his stony chest a gentle tap with his claw. As he did, he spotted something on the living boulder’s torso. Next to the small “X” claw carving on the golem’s chest, there was a fissure. A small hairline crack that would have been hard to spot at a distance from how thin it was, but that ran all the way down his front.

“Oh no. Should we be worried about that?” asked Madeleine from behind the crab.

Balthazar frowned and brought his system’s party screen up to check on his rocky companion.

[Name: Bouldy] [Race: Stone Golem] [Class: None] [Level: 30]

[Health: 499/500]

[Attributes]

[Strength: 40] [Agility: 3] [Intelligence: 1]

Waving down dismissively with one claw, Balthazar turned to the baker.

“Nah, nothing much, just some tiny damage. He will be fine.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Yes, no need for worry. Some chicken pie, a good night’s sleep and he will be fine,” Balthazar joked.

“Very funny,” the girl said. “I know golems don’t need to eat or sleep.”

“You’re right, he doesn’t,” the smug crab said. “But you know who does?”

“Yes, yes, I know,” the baker said, picking her basket back up. “Worry not. I brought you plenty of provisions. I figured you’d need a pick-me-up now more than ever. Although, seeing you now, it seems you’re doing way better than what I was expecting.”

“Are you kidding?” Balthazar said to her, despite his eyes being fixed on the pastries she was taking out of the basket. “Just knowing Antoine finally got what he had coming and won’t be plotting against me anymore makes up for all this chaos and damage easily!”

“You’re right,” Madeleine said, nodding her head. “It’s such a weight off our shoulders, not having to worry about that creep and his evil scheming.”

“Had I any shoulders, I’d say the same!” the crab exclaimed, as he shoved a cream puff in his mouth.

“Speaking of the damage,” Rye said, “we didn’t come here just for a food delivery, you know? Madeleine and I took the day off to give you a hand with the cleaning.”

Balthazar stopped chewing and looked at them with whipped cream smeared all over his mouth.

“You guys didn’t have to do that,” he struggled to say, his mouth still stuffed.

“Nonsense!” Madeleine said. “It’s the neighborly thing to do, and also what friends do.”

“Yes, plus,” Rye added, “we figured extra pairs of hands are something you could always use.”

The young man chuckled and pointed awkwardly at the crab’s pincers.

“Get it? Because you don’t… have…”

Balthazar stared with an inexpressive look at the archer, his mouth still covered in whipped cream and frozen halfway through his chewing.

“Just… never mind,” the deflated adventurer mumbled.

“Anyway!” the gilded crab said, turning to Madeleine and wiping his face. “If you want to help, there’s still plenty of trash to clear.”

Madeleine placed the basket on the counter and started tying her braids into a bun atop her head while looking around the room.

“Hey, by the way, where is Henrietta? I haven’t seen her around here yet. Is she alright too?”

“Ah, yes, she’s fine,” said Balthazar. “She wasn’t actually here when that madman started jolting and bolting the whole place. Now she’s up in town with Tristan. They are both giving their testimony about all the horrible things Antoine did to them.”

“Damn right!” exclaimed Rye as he tightened his own ponytail and grabbed a broom. “I hope they nail him for everything he’s done.” He paused and looked at the hole above him and the scorched wooden below. “Speaking of nails, how are you planning to repair all this damage to your place? Knowing you, I’m sure you value presentation.”

“That I do,” the crab responded, polishing the shine of his silver claw on the fabric of the oversized apron Bouldy had left on a nearby table. “My plan is to ask John, the carpenter, to come down and take a look at things, see what he thinks, and if he can fix it. I considered having Druma patch things up, but at this point I think it’s clear his real talents lie in magic more than carpentry.”

Druma stopped sweeping the floor and looked up with a slight frown.

“Druma good with hammer and staff, boss!”

Rye let out a hearty laugh and turned to the goblin. “You gotta tell me how you took down that mage, Druma. I could never beat a guy his level in a fight. What’s your secret?”

The small assistant perked up and started telling the tale of his devastating spell to the archer, using his broom to re-enact his actions with the staff in an exaggerated way.

Balthazar chuckled and took a moment to fully appreciate the scene around him.

Despite the circumstances, there he was, surrounded by friends, having a good time, simply feeling content.

The crab felt a rumble in his shell and figured it was time to check the contents of Madeleine’s basket again.

Before he could reach the counter, he felt the rumbling again and froze. Looking around, he noticed everyone else had stopped what they were doing as well.

The rumbling wasn’t coming from his stomach, and wasn’t, in fact, a rumbling at all.

A roar, deep and vicious, echoed from outside, making the floorboards under their feet vibrate.

“Do you guys hear that?” Madeleine asked, looking worried.

“Yes,” Rye responded. “It sounds far away, and yet…”

The roar echoed in the distance once more, but louder this time.

All at once, they quickly made their way out the front entrance, to the road outside, searching for the source of the intimidating sound.

It did not take long to spot it.

Over the plains, far to the east, a large shape took form through the haze of the horizon as it approached through the air.

A dragon, huge and red, let out another roar as it flew towards Ardville.