“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long?”
It was a warm and clear afternoon, given the season, and the old carpenter came pushing a wheelbarrow down the road from town, to an eagerly awaiting crab.
“John! Glad you could make it,” Balthazar cheerfully greeted.
After the day he met with Ardville’s mayor, the roadside merchant had been in much higher spirits, elaborating on his plans for the future, and making all sorts of preparations.
“I take it you have it there?” the crab asked, pointing to the wheelbarrow with a tarp over it.
“Sure do,” replied John, grinning with his smoking pipe in between his teeth as he set the cart down.
“Thanks for getting it done on such short notice,” Balthazar said. “I’m sure you were busy with other work.”
“Ah, don’t mention it. I work old wagon wheels every day, so I’ll gladly take the opportunity to make something fancier when I can.”
Pulling the tarp off with a single move, the handyman revealed a large, rectangular wooden sign sitting on the wheelbarrow.
“Where do you want her?”
“Right over there, please,” the excited crab said, pointing to a clear patch of dirt on the side of the road where his bazaar sign stood.
“Hmm, I gotcha,” said John, picking up the sign with surprising ease, given its size.
The seasoned worker gave the area a quick glance before putting the sign down, drawing a club hammer from his tool belt, and sticking it to the ground with a handful of firm hits.
“What do you think?” the man asked, stepping back to the side of the crab and looking at his finished work.
The new and much larger sign stood above the older one, pointing the way to Balthazar’s Bazaar. It was made of sturdy, beautifully crafted wood and had a nice finish of varnish all around to protect it from the elements. On its front, the pond’s name had been carefully carved by the carpenter: Boulders Point.
“It’s perfect,” Balthazar answered, staring at the sign with a smile.
“Pretty fitting name, if you ask me,” John commented, looking around the pond’s area, and the many boulders surrounding it. “But something tells me it wasn’t just the environment that made you choose it.”
The crab’s smile did not fade, but it took on a slightly more bittersweet expression.
“You must miss him a lot, don’t you?” the old carpenter said, placing his rough and calloused hand on Balthazar’s shell with a friendly pat.
“I do,” said the crab with a sigh, before perking up again. “But I also haven’t given up on him, or Madeleine. Speaking of which, let’s go inside. There are a few things I want to discuss that involve you, too.”
“Oh? That so?” said John in an amused tone as he readjusted his pipe and followed the merchant down into the bazaar.
Inside, Tristan and Henrietta were already chatting while waiting for them.
“I’m back with John,” Balthazar announced to them. “Let’s gather ‘round.”
Quickly pulling up a chair for himself and a stool for the toad, Tristan joined the others at the table. Even Druma and Blue were nearby, watching by the counter.
“So, are you going to tell us what’s this about now?” asked the green merchant as she hopped up to her seat.
“Yes, Henrietta and I have been throwing guesses over here while we waited, but I think neither of us is even close so far,” Tristan said. “She was convinced you’re going to announce you’re engaged to a lady crab from a neighboring pond.”
“I was not!” the toad quickly exclaimed with an involuntary croak.
“Alright, cut it out you two and let me speak,” Balthazar said, as the two men chuckled and the amphibian scrunched up her mouth while trying to hide her blushing. “I’ve been pondering things, making plans and arrangements, and have finally decided: I’m going to leave this pond.”
“What?!” Tristan and Henrietta exclaimed in unison.
John continued reclining on his chair, puffing away at his pipe, his only reaction a slight smirk.
“Calm down,” said the crab. “I don’t mean leaving it for good. I meant I will be leaving for a little while, to travel to some places.”
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“Still,” said the toad, “I never thought I’d see the day you’d willingly bring up the idea of leaving your home.”
“Yes,” the human merchant said, “if I was less sober I’d think I was hearing things. What could possibly lead you to make the decision of going…” Tristan gestured wildly with his arms at the entryway. “Out there? You always seemed to hate anywhere that wasn’t your pond.”
“I have my reasons. Multiple reasons, in fact. But I’d expect you two to know the main ones. I intend to find the dragon’s lair and get Madeleine back, as well as find a way to bring Bouldy back too.”
The carpenter smirked even more openly and nodded approvingly.
“You, Balthazar, intend to go into a dragon’s lair and retrieve a prisoner from it?” the incredulous toad asked. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Henrietta, I don’t think we should judge him so harshly,” Tristan interjected. “I know if it was you the dragon took, I’d be marching on into that lair myself, too.”
“Have you lost your mind too?!” she croaked.
“Alright, enough,” the annoyed crab exclaimed. “This isn’t me asking for your permission or approval. I know what I am and what my limitations are. Still, I will get her back my own way. Just like I will find someone who can help me restore Bouldy. There aren’t many people who know much about golemancy, but I know at least one that has to know something useful, assuming I can make him remember what his own name is first.”
“That’s all fine and dandy,” said John, taking his pipe off his lip and leaning forward on the table, “really happy for you, but as usual when I’m invited to sit around this table, I’m still wondering what this got to do with me.”
“I was trying to get to that. I might be planning to be gone for a while, but I still intend to come back, and I still want this bazaar to grow and thrive. For that, it will need some repairing. Maybe even more than just repairing. Now that we are going to be trade partners with Ardville, and with the whole night business with the non-humans slowly increasing as well, this place could probably do with some upgrading and expanding. I want Boulders Point to become a thriving trade hub.”
“Hmm, I see,” the old carpenter mused as he sucked on his pipe and rings of white smoke floated out of it. “And you want me to work this place again, I take it?”
“Yes,” confirmed Balthazar. “You were the one who built it in the first place, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do as good of a job again. I know it looks a bit rough right now, but believe me when I say, given everything it went through, the fact that even just a part of it is still standing shows how solid your work was.”
The woodworker crossed one arm into the other and leaned back, looking around what remained of the gazebo, a large portion of it exposed to the sky, only a small corner pillar with a piece of ceiling still left standing. One of the heavy gates was still lying on the floor by the entrance, in one piece, but its hinges were completely blown off. Over to one side of the room were some broken shelves stacked together, along with multiple chairs missing some legs. His eyes scanned the floor, from the charred spot where lightning had struck, over to where the counter he had gifted to the crab was, somehow completely unscathed, an intrigued drake and an attentive goblin sitting by it, watching the discussion.
“Ah, alright, no need to flatter me,” John said. “It’s a lot of work, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy the challenge. I just need to know what work you need me to do.”
“Excellent!” the excited crab said. “I’ve drawn some plans already, but I’ll leave them and the rest of the decisions to those who will be in charge of the bazaar while I’m gone.” He turned to the other two at the table. “Which leads me to the other part. Tristan, Henrietta, I’d like you two to look after my business until I come back.”
The human and the toad looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
“Now that’s something I’d never expect,” said Henrietta.
“I’m… I’m honored you’d trust me so much, Balthazar,” Tristan said with several blinks of surprise.
“Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” asked the toad. “You are not sounding like the crab we know at all. Any fever? Dizziness? You still haven’t told us how you lost your shiny chitin. Is this some sickness getting to you?”
Balthazar groaned.
“I’m not sick! I told you, the gold shell was just a temporary imbuing. I’ll get around to getting it again when I have time. Now stop asking about it!” The crab cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I’ve just been doing a lot of… reflecting and learning from things. I’m trying to do better and to be better. To be less… crabby.” He rolled his eye stalks. “Can you just appreciate the effort without making it more difficult than it already is for me?”
Henrietta let out a soft chuckle, followed by a smile. Not in mockery, but simply in approving acknowledgment.
“You’re right. I’m glad for you, Balthazar. Still strange to see, but not in a bad way.”
“Thank you…” said the crab. “Anyway, so, if you two agree to it, I’d like Tristan to handle all the connections between us and Ardville, while you, Henrietta, look after the bazaar down here. I realize this might be a big task for you, and while I tried to convince him to stay, Druma insists on going with me, so you might need to get extra help. I’ll trust your choice, but please, just promise me, no adventurers working at my bazaar. I don’t want to come back to find a big crater in its place.”
The toad let out a croaked laugh and nodded in agreement.
Tristan stood up, walked up to the crab, and firmly gripped his pincer with both hands.
“Thank you. Thank you so much for giving me a chance, even when I was at my lowest. I promise you I won’t let you down. I will do everything to turn this place into the most successful trading hub this world has ever seen.”
Balthazar smiled awkwardly as the man shook his claw up and down.
“Please, just keep things running smoothly until I come back and that will be plenty good with me. Now please stop, you’re making this way too awkward for me.”
“Well,” said John as he stood up from his chair, “real happy for you and your fellows, and I wish you safe travels, crab, but if that will be all, you just dropped a lot of work on my hands so I…”
The old carpenter’s words trailed off as he slowly turned his head to the way outside.
The sound of steps approaching came from the road, more and more as they got closer, until the group in the bazaar heard the rumbling of dozens of boots marching down the path to the front entrance and stopping.
Balthazar looked around at everyone else with a confused frown, before they all hurried to the gate to find out what was happening.
A large crowd stood outside, several dozen adventurers packed together on the narrow dirt road leading down to the bazaar, from the heavily armored warriors to the fanciest robed wizards.
“You didn’t think we’d just let you leave like that, did you?”