Merchant Crab

“That will be 76 gold.”

“Oh, wow, really? I didn’t expect it to come to such a high total.”

“Indeed. Your shopping list was pretty long.”

“Yes, I guess it was…”

“Just because you’re buying so much, I’ll even throw you a special gift in there, free of charge.”

The crab rummaged through a box until he found a rabbit’s foot tied to a rope.

“A good luck charm, just for you!”

“Really? Nice!” the young man standing in the middle of the trading post said. “I really could do with having some luck. I haven’t looted anything decent in days.”

Splitting a few coins from his pouch, the smiling adventurer paid the crab, stuffed his new trinket in his chest pocket, and picked up the box full with the items he had just purchased.

The merchant gave the client a nod and watched him leave while picking the coins with his silver pincer, carefully depositing each in a small coin bag.

“Heh, ‘good luck charm.’ Another day, another sucker.”

As he finished collecting his payment, a familiar eye floater appeared in front of Balthazar’s vision.

[You have reached level 10!]

“Well, look at that. Guess I must have been doing good business, if I’m already leveling up again.”

Casually moving his eyes around the prompts while his claws stashed the money away, Balthazar increased his Intelligence to 20 and swiftly moved on to the skills menu.

Taking a moment to reconsider, he hesitated before selecting his Reading skill again. Sure, he enjoyed reading, but given how long each new level up seemed to take the higher they went, should he think twice about his investments? The smart business crab side of his brain told him that yes, he likely should.

He thought back to the night the thieves came to his trading post, and the blow he took to his shell from the big one’s club. It brought him far too close to being a goner. While his pristine gold finish was intact afterwards, the same could not have been said about his soft insides.

Not even his bodyguard golem could protect him at every turn, so perhaps investing in his own personal defenses wasn’t such a bad idea. After all, he never went anywhere without his shell, so making it better was an investment in security.

“Alright, enough inner debating, armor it is!”

Selecting his Medium Armor skill, Balthazar applied his one point into it, bringing it from B tier to an A.

Feeling a brief numbness in his joints, the crab shook with a shiver at the feeling of his shell tightening slightly around his body.

“Ooh, that tickled!”

Convinced he was feeling sturdier, Balthazar went back to his status page, where he noticed his Adept Merchant class was blinking. With curiosity and flashing text in his eyes, he selected it.

[Select a class perk]

“Oh! Something new? Maybe it’s tied to reaching level 10?”

With a hint of excitement at the prospect of getting some new advantage for his trading business, he pressed the option with his eyes.

[Select a perk for class: Merchant]

[TO-DO]

[TO-DO]

[TO-DO]

[TO-DO]

“To… do?” the crab slowly muttered, before raising his voice in exasperation. “What the hell does this thing mean?! This system isn’t just unhelpful, it’s also lazy?! Is there even a point to these levels?”

“Excuse me?”

Balthazar froze in place for a second, pincers in the air, halfway through his outburst, before quickly turning to the voice.

A tall woman with red hair tied into a tight bun stood at the entrance of his trading post, wearing a long, dark red robe with complex embroidered details of a scintillating golden color.

The merchant cautiously peered at the woman through his monocle, and she returned the gaze with her own, her dark green eyes looking at the crab from behind a pair of thin glasses, as if piercing his shell and seeing straight through him.

[Level 32 Enchantress]

“Can I… help you?” Balthazar carefully said. He felt like a little crab who had just been caught pinching what he shouldn’t.

“Did I hear you say something about a system, and levels?” the woman asked, with a clear and calm voice that yet still revealed a hint of sizzling curiosity under it.

“I… I think you must have heard wrong,” the nervous crab replied.

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He wasn’t sure how to explain his outburst, and he wasn’t too keen on getting into the specifics of the stupid thing in his eyes that gave him numbers and the ability to speak and read, as well as occasionally frustrating him to no end.

“No, I don’t believe I did,” the enchantress said, calmly stepping closer to him with a perfectly straight posture, the wide sleeves of her robe held together in front of it, concealing her hands. “What does a crab know about the system? And, as a matter of fact, why is a crab talking in the first place?”

“Because... it would be very difficult to have a trading business without talking? Ha ha,” Balthazar said, attempting to act casual, and finding out he was not very good at it.

“Don’t play dumb,” she said, stopping in front of him and staring down into his eyes. “You know more than you should, don’t you?”

“Sounds to me like maybe you’re the one looking to know more than you should,” the crab retorted with defiance. If she was going to press him for information, he was going to do the same to her. Or at the very least attempt to.

Her eyebrows rose.

“Maybe we have something in common there.” A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of her lips. “Tell me, what do you know about adventurers?”

“I know most of you are a pain in my backside all day. Why?”

“Very funny. I meant what do you know about where all these adventurers come from?”

“How should I know? Isn’t it supposed to be like some land of the gods, or sent from far away in times of great whatever? You tell me.”

“Curious,” the enchantress said, looking disappointed. “Just like all the other locals, you don’t seem to question it at all.”

“Question it? Lady, try ‘not caring’ instead. Wherever you all came from is none of my business, so long as it’s not my pond. But what does any of that have to do with systems and levels?”

“Oh? Revealing your hand there now, dear crab.” She looked amused now. “So you don’t know they have everything to do with each other.”

Balthazar wasn’t sure how he could have possibly revealed something he didn’t have, but at that moment he did not care to ask either. His curiosity had been piqued. What did those reckless and dimwitted adventurers have to do with his gained abilities?

“How so?” the crab asked.

“You seem to understand levels. Have you never wondered why only adventurer’s levels increase, but everyone else’s does not?”

“Oh, I… never actually paid enough attention to that,” Balthazar said, looking up while trying to search through his recent memories. “So others don’t level up like we do?”

“Very interesting,” the robed woman said, a smile fully forming on her lips. “So you admit you can level up?”

The merchant opened his mouth for a moment and then closed it again. She got him good, and he hadn’t even noticed. Whoever this enchantress was, she was clever.

“Who are you, anyway?” he asked, his mind in a frenzy to regain the upper hand, or at least buy some time to think.

“Nobody special. Just another adventurer trying to make it in this world,” she casually said. “My name is Ruby. Pleased to meet you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m Balthazar, and I’m just a crab trying to earn some coin.”

“Now, don’t be so modest,” Ruby quickly said. “A regular crab wouldn’t care for money. And you’re not some adventurer in disguise, I can tell. So what is it that makes you so… special?”

Balthazar tried to read the woman, but he could not decipher what her intentions were. Yet his curiosity now grew, after finding someone who apparently knew of this strange system. Then he remembered his supposed charisma.

“You're right, I'm very special,” he finally said, attempting to sound confident and resplendent. “But what is it you think I know?”

She chuckled.

“Are you trying to use your charisma on me?” she asked, looking amused. “You should know, while it can be a useful skill, the higher the difference in levels, and the higher the Intelligence of the other, the less efficient it is.”

The crab exhaled sharply, but refused to respond.

“That’s an interesting golden shell you have. It’s not an enchantment, I’d certainly know if it was. So, does that mean it’s perhaps an imbuing? Curious, I’ve never seen one like it in all my time here. It’s also supposed to be a temporary upgrade, but I’ve been hearing about a golden crab for days on the road. You can’t possibly have enough gold to be maintaining it permanently for so long. You’d be rich as a king if you did. What’s the trick?”

“Temporary? What are you talking about?” Balthazar asked with a confused expression. The enchantress looked slightly disappointed again.

“Apparently, you know even less than me. And yet, you seem to have far more knowledge than you’re meant to.”

“Meant to?”

“Yes. You locals are all created for a specific purpose, if you’re one to believe in ‘destiny,’ ‘divine will,’ or any of that. You don’t need a system, skills, or to level up. As you were created, so you shall be, no choice, no freedom.”

“Well excuse me, I make my own choices. Thank you very much.”

“Exactly!” the robed woman said, excitement making her take her hands out of her oversized sleeves. “What happened that led you to break the norm? How did you unlock access to a system only meant for those sent here from other worlds?”

“Other worlds?” Balthazar repeated, his eyes fixed on hers. It was she who slipped up this time.

“Ah, my turn to tip my hand. I suppose we’re even now,” Ruby said, returning to her straight posture. “Yes, other worlds. I would expect it shouldn’t take much thinking to figure out all these adventurers running around don’t exactly belong.”

“Then where did you all come from?” the increasingly curious crab inquired.

“Many places, from different lives. Brought here by some unknown entity acting like some benevolent being, giving us a gift. But while others might readily accept that flimsy excuse and take the opportunity at a new life in this fantastical new world, there are a few like me who want to know more. To know the truth behind the veil. The answer to the real question. Do you know what that question is, Balthazar?”

The enchantress stared Balthazar down with an intense gaze, a fire burning in her eyes, begging for him to answer.

Balthazar’s eyes widened, and he hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“What… what is the origin of pastries?” the crab finally said, his eyes shining with wonder.

The woman froze, staring at him for a moment. “What?”

Ruby rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes, looking frustrated.

“Why would that be the question that comes to your mind, crab?” she slowly said, trying to remain calm and collected. “Or, in fact, don’t answer that. It’s not important. No, the real question is why are all these adventurers being sent here, with the ability to level up and become more powerful, while everyone else cannot? We all strive to reach as high of a level as we can, but barely anyone ever even comes close to 100. What would even happen if someone did? What is the purpose, the objective, that whoever is behind this whole charade is trying to achieve?”

“Oh,” Balthazar said. “Uh, sure, I guess that would be my next question. What does that got to do with me, though?”

“Don’t you get it?” the woman said, raising her voice and opening her arms. “You got something you’re not supposed to have. You gained access to a system not meant for you. That means the system has flaws that can be pulled at. Whatever you did could be the answer to the whole mystery I’ve been trying to solve for so long!”

“Yeeeees… look, miss, that seems fascinating and all, but honestly, it sounds like a ‘you’ problem, not mine,” Balthazar said while sidestepping away from her. “Big global conspiracies, divine entities, all that stuff. It’s not my bag at all. I’m very content with my little pond and have enough with my daily worries, so if you could leave me out of it and forget we even had this conversation, I’d prefer it that way.”

Ruby shook her head in disapproval.

“You really don’t understand. Part of you is still clinging to the comfort of your routine, the safety of sticking to your assigned role. You cannot ignore it forever. The question is there, eventually you will want answers too. If only—”

She paused, her eyes looking up at the sky, where a flock of birds was passing.

Balthazar followed her gaze, and saw a handful of the pesky creatures breaking away from the group and perching themselves up on the branches of his tree, looking in their direction.

“Stupid little pests!” the crab complained, attempting to shoo the creatures away with a towel in his pincer.

“Yes, an annoyance, indeed,” the enchantress said, her eyes still fixed on the birds.

Suddenly, she leaned down very close to the crab's face and spoke in a quick and hushed tone. “Be mindful of whom you discuss these things with. You cannot be sure if they are friend or foe, and even if the former, simply making them aware of more than they are supposed to know could put them in great danger.”

As quickly as she leaned, she returned to her straight posture and changed demeanor back to an indifferent tone.

“It would seem you’re too preoccupied at the moment, and my time is also scarce. I truly wish you will come around regarding what we’ve discussed, and that perhaps next time we meet, it shall be under more agreeable circumstances. Farewell.”

Balthazar stared, dumbfounded, as the red woman quickly made her way out.

“Hey, wait a moment!” the crab said, chasing after her to the road. “It’s not like you have to leave so abruptly, you didn’t even buy some—”

As he turned the corner and reached the road, he found it deserted, not a sign of the enchantress or anyone else.

“Could have at least bought a lucky charm before leaving,” Balthazar muttered to himself, as he threw the towel over his shell and turned back to his pond, where the tree was now empty once again, all the birds having seemingly flown away.

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