Merchant Crab-Chapter 221: An Amber and a Stone

A straw hat popped up from behind the tall grass of the plains south of Ardville. Under it was the head of a short-haired girl. The rest of her was also there behind the grass, as it would have been quite weird if it was just her disembodied head.

The young adventurer, Amber, peered through a spyglass aimed at the other side of the cobblestone road that stretched down from the nearby town and into the Black Forest.

She was a Birdwatcher, but what she was observing was no avian creature.

The young woman was watching a crab.

Amber had been given the task of keeping an eye on the merchant crab and to note down everything that happened at his place by her mentor, Ruby, days ago.

But Amber was beginning to feel… unsure.

Not that she would ever disobey Madame Ruby’s instructions, of course. She owed the enchantress so much. Amber, like so many others in their secret guild, had been rescued by her from a life of illusion under the system’s mind haze, and shown the truth about that world through the ingestion of the mind-clearing formula.

Madame Ruby was a role model to the young apprentice, for how sure of herself she was, how she always had a plan and counterplan for everything, and how brilliantly she carried out everything she did.

Amber would never dare question her master’s reasons. What she was unsure about was her own understanding of them.

For days the girl had watched Balthazar from morning until sundown as she had been instructed, and the more she observed him the less she understood why he needed to be kept an eye on at all.

The crab would wake up, skitter around his pond, sometimes take a dip in the water, and occasionally make a few bubbles when he thought no one was watching. Then he’d eat, do some trading with adventurers, eat again, do more trading, eat some more, and, unsurprisingly… trade some more.

It was a very unusual routine for a crab, certainly, but not for a merchant, which they all already knew he was.

What purpose would watching him day after day serve? How would that help them with their mission? As much as Amber wouldn’t dare question the enchantress’s foresight, the young apprentice could not envision any way in which that peculiar creature could have something to do with discovering the source of power of that world.

Even now, the crab simply sat outside the bazaar along with his baker friend, eating pastries and chatting merrily. The young birdwatcher’s mind spun trying to come up with a reasonable theory for how that could in any way be important or noteworthy, only to continue coming up with nothing plausible.

Could it perhaps be a test? The thought crossed the adventurer’s mind after the first few days of seemingly pointless surveillance. She wondered if her mentor was testing her patience, her dedication, or perhaps her discipline.

They did seem to be having a good time over there, however, and the girl wished she could join them. That pie looked delicious even from that far away.

“I will not falter,” Amber whispered to herself as she lowered the spyglass from her eye. “I will not let Madame Ruby down.”

The adventurer frowned and blinked a few times as she looked at how much darker the ground around her suddenly appeared.

“Where did all the sunlight go—”

Amber’s jaw dropped as she turned around and her gaze hit a stone wall. Or more specifically, a pair of stone legs that looked like a wall.

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“Friend,” a deep, rumbling voice said.

“Oh, my gods…” the girl muttered as her eyes slowly went up the giant towering above her, until they met the two red orbs staring down with a smile underneath. “Y-you… You’re the golem. You’re Balthazar’s golem!”

“Friend?” asked Bouldy, still smiling.

“I-I… I don’t really know what you’re asking,” Amber said, stuttering as she shrank under the construct’s shadow. “I can’t understand you.”

“Friend,” the golem said, nodding calmly.

The young woman relaxed slightly. “You’re… You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

“Friend??” Bouldy exclaimed, a strange pleading frown forming on the rock features above his orb-eyes.

“No, no! I didn’t mean to offend you! I’m sorry!” Amber quickly explained, worried she had upset the giant with her question. “It’s just that… Wow, you’re so much bigger in person. I didn’t expect to turn around and suddenly see you. I had heard about Balthazar’s golem, heard the descriptions, and the stories, but…”

The apprentice’s words trailed off as her gaze went down to the ground and slowly widened.

“Friend?” the stone giant asked, looking concerned about her.

“Oh no. No, no, no…” Amber muttered, her brow knitted in despair. “You found me. You’re going to tell him, aren’t you? You’re going to tell Balthazar that I’m out here. Please! You must not tell him you saw me!”

Bouldy scratched the side of his face with the tip of his rocky finger, looking down at the young girl beneath him with an inquisitive gaze. “Friend?”

“Again, I’m not sure what you’re saying, but I swear I’m not doing anything bad. I’m not evil or plotting to hurt anyone! But… if my mentor finds out I failed at staying hidden, I… I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for failing at my task.”

The golem watched the adventurer for a moment, as if the construct was pondering her, and then it asked something that sounded to the novice like the same as all his other questions before.

“Friend?”

“Uhm… Is Madame Ruby my friend, you mean? Well, not exactly, but… I mean… I never saw it that way, but I wouldn’t mind if—”

Bouldy shook his head and hunched over slightly to point a finger thicker than Amber’s arms at her.

“Frieeend?” he said slowly.

The young birdwatcher’s eyebrows lifted slowly as realization dawned.

“Oh. I… Well, I wouldn’t mind being your friend, I… guess? If that is what you’re asking?”

The construct stood back straight and a stony smile spread across his rocky face. “Friend!”

Amber hesitated for a moment before asking, “So… you’re not going to tell anyone you saw me here?”

The golem calmly shook his head, eyes closed and a smile still on his face.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” the girl said, looking up at the stone giant with a relieved smile.

A happy chirp came from above, pulling Amber’s attention to Bouldy’s left shoulder. “Cree!” fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

“Huh?” said the adventurer, squinting at the small pebble sitting on the golem’s arm. “Who’s that?”

Bouldy smiled, gently picked up the tiny rock, and brought it down on his palm for the girl to see.

“Cree-cree!” the little face on the stone said with a cute smile.

“Oh my! It’s adorable!” Amber exclaimed, an endeared grin spread across her face as she looked back up at the golem. “You… made this?”

Bouldy nodded with a chummy smile, his shoulders swelling with pride.

Somehow, something about the tiny pebble made the young birdwatcher certain it was a she.

“Sooo cute! I love her!”

The golem brought his offshoot back up to his shoulder and then gently touched Amber’s straw hat with the tip of his finger while smiling at her.

“Oh, my hat? Do you like it?” she said, taking it off her dark blonde hair and looking at it. “I found it the other day. Or, well, it found me, I guess. I was sitting out here when a gust of wind sent it straight onto my face out of nowhere. Don’t know who would throw away such a nice hat! It looked like it had some magic to it, so I showed it to Madame Ruby, but she told me it only has a weak enchantment against sun damage and that I should just get rid of it because it’s worthless. I like it, though, so I decided to keep it! Does it look good on me?”

The girl put the straw hat back on her head, ran a finger across the brim, and then nodded and winked at the giant.

Bouldy grinned and gave a thumbs up. “Friend!”

Amber let out a warm laugh and looked further up, to the top of the golem’s head.

“I also like your, uhm… crown? Where did you get it?”