Merchant Crab

Balthazar started his day the same way as always, crossing the wooden footpath over the water while munching on a sweet pastry.

On that morning, the crab carried a raspberry scone in his pincer and hummed away as he went, taking little bites off it while thinking about all the business and coin he would make on that day.

And as he arrived at the center of his bazaar, he heard the chatter and commotion of people outside by the road.

“Ah, early clients today, excellent,” he exclaimed, tossing the last bit of scone into his mouth and heading to the front gate.

As he opened it and stepped outside, the hubbub grew louder, the sounds of multiple voices happily talking and laughing like music to his ears. Whoever they were, their spirits were high, and Balthazar liked that. People in a good mood tended to have much looser purse strings.

“Fret not, adventurers, Balthazar’s Bazaar is now open for—”

The merchant’s words faded as he quickly realized the small group of about half a dozen adventurers on the road was not waiting by the path to his pond, but instead were all huddled up around something else on the opposite side of the road.

As they began to disperse, storing their coin purses and other belongings back in their bags and satchels, Balthazar saw a wooden stand behind them, like a market stall planted on the side of the road.

Anger quickly grew inside him. Whatever that was, it wasn’t there the previous day, and he had some choice words for whoever was behind that little stunt.

“Excuse me, excuse me,” the crab said, while trying to pass between the adventurers. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, hey, it’s the talking crab,” one of the adventurers said, as he stored two bottles of potions in his pack. “You came to see the new merchant too?”

“New merchant?!”

“Yes,” a deep female voice that resembled a croak said, “that would be me, dear.”

Balthazar looked up at the stall, and on the edge of the counter area, a toad appeared. The creature had rough dark green skin that resembled that of a melon and was about the same size as one. Its eyes matched the color of the skin and had horizontal irises that looked down at the crab as its already wide mouth extended even more into a smile.

[Level 9 Toad]

“And who the hell are you?!” the gilded crustacean asked, with no friendly manners.

“The name’s Henrietta, and I’m looking to settle my new business on this road, neighbor,” the smiling toad announced.

“Like hell you are!” Balthazar exclaimed. “This road already has a merchant, and that’s me. We don’t need anyone else.”

“That’s a bit rude, don’t you think?” the other merchant said. “A competitive market is always a positive. I’m sure our clients would agree, right, fellas?”

“You mean my clients!” The crab turned to the surrounding adventurers. “You guys already have one talking animal trading jun—tradings goods with you down here. You don’t need a bad copycat, right? The original is always better.”

The small crowd grew quiet, and they all looked up at the sky or in some random direction to avoid eye contact.

“Well,” one of them finally said, “having variety is always nice, and truth be told… her potions were cheaper than yours. And also not watered down.”

Balthazar’s mouth opened in outraged shock.

“My prices are perfectly reasonable!” he exclaimed. “And I don’t water down my potions. I just add pond water as a special bonus to my clients. You should count yourselves lucky. Not my fault the potion bottles don’t have enough space and I need to take a bit of potion out from each to add the water.”

“Right… I don’t know about you guys,” the human said, looking at the others, “but I think I’ll be on my way now, let these two get to know each other, settle their affairs, and all that.”

The others quickly started nodding and picking up their things, clearly glad to exit the situation.

“Oh yes, you’re right. Look at the time, really need to get moving.”

“Absolutely. Those dungeons won’t loot themselves.”

“Would love to stay, but I left my goblins in a pit. See you all later!”

As the adventurers walked away, the crustacean and the amphibian were the only two left on the road, staring at each other.

“Well, I will be the first to say it is nice to meet you,” the toad started. “You haven’t had the good manners to introduce yourself yet, but I know you’re Balthazar. Your reputation precedes you.”

She gave the crab a nod of recognition that was not returned.

“If you’ve heard about me, then you should know I’m the only merchant around these parts,” the displeased merchant said. “We don’t need no stinking frog stealing business here.”

“First off,” the other merchant calmly started, “I’m a toad, not a frog, as you can tell by the name of my stall.”

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She pointed one of her forelimbs up at the top part of the stall. On the front of the wood, two words were written.

“Toad Stand?” Balthazar read. “That’s a stupid name.”

“Really?” Henrietta said, resting an elbow on the edge of the stand and nodding at the wooden plaque on the other side of the road with a condescending air.

“What?!” the crab asked, looking behind at the sign and then back at the toad. “Balthazar’s Bazaar is a great name!”

“Oh, bless your heart, honey, of course it is,” she responded, with the friendly expression of someone who is just humoring the other. “Whatever floats your lily pad, I ain’t judging. And you shouldn’t judge others either.”

“Whatever! Stop being so friendly when I’m trying to argue with you!” Balthazar yelled out, throwing his pincers up in frustration. “The point is that this road is already taken by one trader, me, and if you don’t scram, I’ll… I’ll call the guards on you for settling down without a permit!”

“The guards?” the toad asked, before letting out a deep chuckle with some croaking mixed in between. “Everybody knows this area here is outside the town’s boundaries now, thanks to yourself, I might add. The guards have no business here. This is free land for anyone to settle. And I found this place very nice and pleasant to settle down and start my business.”

The fuming crab took a step back and looked at the small stand again.

“What is your business anyway?” he asked. “This stall is tiny and has nothing on display.”

“Oh, a little of everything,” Henrietta answered, hopping around and reaching down into the back of the stall and away from Balthazar’s sight. “And appearances can be deceiving. I got everything I need right here. Something you'd like, dear? Maybe a Potion of Mouthwashing?”

She appeared at the front of the counter again, pulling a small green bag with her.

Feeling suspicious, the crab looked at it through his monocle.

[Bag of Holding]

It was a magical bag similar to the one he carried everywhere for his money, except that one was not restricted to just coins. From what Balthazar had read, those could carry nearly anything, and were extremely rare and valuable.

“Where did you get that?” he bluntly asked.

“My bag?” the female toad said. “A lady never tells her secrets, and a merchant never reveals their sources. You should know that, dear.”

The crab squinted at her, growing even more irritated. She could act nice and friendly all she wanted, but Balthazar would not buy it. The toad was interfering with his business, and that was a mortal offense by his standards.

“Toads don’t just go around talking and trading stuff, so where did you come from, anyway?” he questioned.

“Says the talking merchant crab,” she responded, followed by a low-pitched laugh. “Why don’t you answer first? How did you come to be what you are now?”

Balthazar hesitated. He had no intention of getting into the details of his background with anyone, let alone with a toad stepping into his market.

“That’s none of your business,” he finally said.

“That’s right, it’s not,” she agreed. “And likewise, my business is my own.”

The frustrated crab exhaled sharply. The obvious question picked at his brain: could she be like him? An unwitting animal who touched a strange scroll, gained an even stranger system, and decided to start dealing with humans?

Something told him she did not feel like any of the other adventurers he saw every day, but he had no rationale to back that up. For all he knew, he also was nothing like them, yet he could level up and acquire skills, unlike all the non-adventurers.

As curious as the crab was, he had no way to find out without tipping his own cards, and more important to him than finding out the background of the peculiar talking toad, was to get her out of there quick, before she could steal any more of his business.

“I don’t care who you are or where you came from,” the exasperated merchant said. “You’re not inside town territory, but you are in my territory, so either leave or get thrown out!”

“Are you threatening me?” the toad said with a deep, low croak.

“I’m warning you,” Balthazar declared. “Leave on your own, or I’ll have to remove you.”

“I’m sorry to say, but I’m not going anywhere,” Henrietta said, crossing her stubby arms. “I’ll be here earning my coin, whether you like it or not.”

“We will see about that.”

Turning around, Balthazar stomped his way back down to his place. Given his crab legs, however, the stomping was more akin to an angry clacking.

Halfway across the deck, he yelled out. “Bouldy, get over here!”

The golem peeked over the tent on the other side of the water before getting up and quickly making his way across.

“Friend?” the walking boulder said, as he leaned down to enter the bazaar.

“Come with me,” the crab commanded. “I got some smashing for you to do.”

Doing his best not to hit the hanging lanterns with his head, Bouldy followed Balthazar out through the front gate and onto the road.

As the crab and the golem arrived in front of the Toad Stand, Henrietta was already tending to another client, a young mage girl admiring a selection of jeweled necklaces the toad was presenting to her on the counter.

“Alright,” Balthazar started, “last chance. Pack your things and go peddle your wares elsewhere.”

The girl took a step back, looking surprised and confused by what was happening.

“Goodness me,” the green merchant exclaimed. “I’d heard you could be a bit grumpy and hard to deal with, but I never expected you’d resort to violence against a poor, old, defenseless lady.”

“Wow, easy now. I’m not going to hurt you,” the golden merchant said.

“Well, that’s good to hear, at least—”

“But I will have my golem throw your stuff out of my territory.” Balthazar turned to the giant rock. “Bouldy, smash this stall.”

“Friend?” the golem asked, looking unsure.

“Yes, I’m certain. This crab doesn’t do sharing, and if I don’t show who’s the boss around here now, next thing I know there’s a dozen knock-offs settling up and cutting into my business. Thrash this stand!”

With a great deal of hesitation, Bouldy raised his thick stone arm above the stand’s cloth canopy, ready to bring it down on it.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” the mage girl asked in a loud and outraged tone.

The golem froze and looked at the girl and then at his maker.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” the grouchy crab said. “I’m taking out the competition that is trying to occupy my turf.”

“Seriously?! You’d have your big dumb golem smash through this poor little Toad’s stand just because she’s trying to earn a living, too? You big bully!”

“What’s going on here?” a voice asked from down the road.

Another pair of adventurers approached, looking intrigued by the scene.

“The crab is about to smash this toad’s booth because she has better prices than him,” the girl answered.

“Oh, hey now, who said anything about prices?” Balthazar said.

“Friend?” said the golem, his fist still suspended above the market stall.

“Not now, Bouldy!”

“Wow, unbelievable,” one of the other adventurers said, as they reached the group. “I actually thought you were an alright guy, crab, but guess I was wrong.”

“Yeah,” his partner said, “this sweet lady just sold us some refreshments a little while ago, and now you’re threatening to crush her business? Shame on you!”

Balthazar looked around nervously at the adventurers. “Guys, come on, let’s all calm down and…”

“Hey, guys! Come see!” the mage girl yelled at a trio of fighter adventurers coming down from town. “Looks like Balthazar let power get to him and has turned into a bully.”

As the crowd grew larger, the crab began stepping back and away from the Toad Stand, unsure of what to do or say.

The adventurers were turning against him. They were siding with the toad over him. He could not believe it. What had he ever done to deserve that?

“Bouldy, come on, let’s go back inside!” he yelled out, as he hurried up the path to his bazaar, amid boos and disapproving thumbs downs from the humans gathered around the toad’s stand.

Stopping by the gate and glancing back, Balthazar glared at the booth and muttered to himself.

“You may have deceived them today, but this isn’t over yet, frog.”

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