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“So you—a crab—are interested in the skills I can tutor on?”

“Uh… yes?” the merchant responded. “Is that a problem?”

The veteran crossed his arms. “Not necessarily, but usually it’s only adventurers who take an interest in what I can teach. Can’t say I’ve ever been inquired about them by a crab. Or any other animal, really.”

The crustacean chuckled.

“Talk to a lot of animals, do you?” he said. “Let me worry about the whole not-an-adventurer thing. If I wanted to, would you be willing to teach me any skills?”

Marquessa’s captain squinted, focusing his gaze onto the crab like a magnifying glass focusing sunlight on an ant.

“The question is not whether I’m willing to teach them, it’s whether you’d be willing to learn them. My skills and techniques are not for just anyone. Do you have what it takes to master them?”

Despite being used to standing at waist level of most people, the giant crab felt even smaller under Leander’s glare.

“I, uh… I think so,” Balthazar said with a slight voice crack before clearing his throat and continuing. “What skills can you teach anyway?”

“I mainly specialize in martial art skills, as well as military combat techniques, since those are what I’ve dedicated most of my life studying,” the captain explained as he started calmly pacing in front of the weapon racks. “For the fresh-faced adventurer, I usually start by teaching them my ‘Two-Step Sword Thrust’ skill as a good introduction to counter-attacking.”

Balthazar’s eyestalks twisted sideways looking at the man.

“Mate, really?” he said, showing him both of his claws. “Do you see me holding a sword with these?”

Leander stopped pacing, looking at his pincers as he rubbed his chin. “Fair point. I suppose weapon skills are not really an option.” He resumed his pacing as he pondered. “Perhaps a different kind of martial arts skill. My ‘Double-Spin Flying Kick’ is quite popular among my apprentices.”

The crab exhaled sharply and opened his arms, displaying the pinnacle of evolution that was his glorious body. “Seriously?”

“Right,” the tutor said, side-eyeing the crustacean with an almost embarrassed expression. “No kicking for you either.”

Facing one of the many practice dummies spread all around the training room, the man crossed his arms, the leather-like skin around his muscles tightening as he thought long and hard.

“Maybe the ‘Shield Bash’ skill?” he asked.

“I’m good at bashing, but not so much at holding a shield,” replied the merchant.

“What about the ‘Turtle Shell Defense’ technique?”

“Wrong kind of shell, pal.”

“A Multi-Shot Bow Strike?”

“Do I even need to explain that one?”

Uncrossing his arms and sighing, the captain turned to the traveler with a defeated frown.

“It would seem you are not quite fit for martial arts, Mr. Balthazar.”

The crab shrugged. “Didn’t need you to tell me that. Don’t you have any skills that don’t involve holding weapons or big acrobatic moves?”

“I am a martial arts veteran. Physical combat skills are my specialty,” Leander said. “There is a court mage who comes by the guildhall frequently, if you’d prefer tutoring on spell-related skills.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Balthazar quickly said. “No, thank you. I don’t mess around with magical stuff. Good way to end up accidentally floating up to the sky and I don’t like heights. Or to fall to my death.”

“Hmm, there is one more,” the old veteran said, his face looking statuesque. “It is my most prized skill, and one I only teach to those most talented and deserving of such a technique.”

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The merchant’s eyestalks perked up with interest once again.

“Oh? Go on, tell me more.”

“It’s not a skill I reveal to many,” Leander continued. “In fact, it has been many years since I last used it in combat, given how powerful and devastating it is. I hold it close to my heart, a secret passed down from my own mentor. I could only ever share it with someone truly deserving of my trust.”

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “And let me guess, someone willing to pay a large sum of money too?”

Captain Leander turned, placing his hands behind his back again as he looked up and closed his eyes, soaking up the sunlight shining on him through the skylight above.

“Usually, yes, that would be the case too,” he said. “But in this special case, if you were to come through for Lady Marquessa and uncover the truth about these thefts, corruption, and who’s behind them, I can confidently say I’d consider you worthy of sharing this secret skill with.”

The traveler threw his pincers up and started skittering to the exit. “Great, so all the more reason to get this done as soon as possible. I just hope this secret skill of yours is worth it.”

“It most certainly is, I assure you.”

The crustacean shrugged. “I guess I’m not getting any more help here so I’ll be off now.”

As he reached the sliding door and placed a claw on it, Balthazar paused, his eyes catching a glint from a side room next to the training hall.

Through the doorway, he could see a small anvil mounted on a large wood log, with several bladed weapons and unsorted pieces of armor scattered around it on tables and racks. Past all that, on a shelf, were a few metal ingots, shining under the warm light of the lit coals inside the modest forge next to them.

“Hold on. What’s that?” the crab asked, taking a detour toward the other doorway.

“That’s our repair room,” said Leander, calmly following the crab, hands still behind his back. “We use it to repair damaged training equipment and also as a way for apprentices to practice their repair and crafting skills.”

“Yes, sure, but what about… this?” Balthazar asked, pointing a pincer at a metal bar on the shelf in front of him.

The tutor raised both eyebrows as if puzzled by the crab’s sudden interest in a hunk of metal.

“That’s… just an iron ingot.”

“Can I have it?” said the merchant, turning both eyestalks to the man with a snap.

“A bar of metal?”

“Yes!”

“Would this somehow help you with your task?”

Balthazar paused for a moment before responding. “It… might.”

Leander rubbed his sharp jawline, thinking.

“I suppose there’s no reason not to let you take one, if you really think it could be of use. Go on, take it.”

Excited, the crab touched the metal with the tip of his pincer and the system notification in his eyes justified his enthusiasm.

[Imbuing – Use Iron Ingot?]

Aha! I knew it!

Picking up the solid ingot carefully with both pincers, Balthazar stored it in his Backpack of Holding, knowing to save it for later use, given the temporary nature of that skill’s effect.

Doubting that the practice room would have any gold or silver ingots too, or that the guild would just let him have such precious materials as easily, the merchant took his freebie and headed back to the exit.

“Well, off to finding the baroness’s mangoes again, I guess,” he said. “Tell her I said hello!”

“See you soon, and good luck,” Captain Leander said with a wave as the crab left the training room.

As he returned to the main atrium, Balthazar passed by the common room of the Adventurers Guild, where a few humans were hanging out, either resting while going through their packs or simply chatting it up over a warm drink.

Skittering by, the crab picked up something out of a conversation that made his antennae twitch.

“So yeah, I told the guy to get lost, I’ve got plenty of water already,” an adventurer sitting by the counter was telling another one next to him. “Don’t need no ‘Potions of Hydration’ or whatever scam he was trying to pull on me.”

Balthazar paused, listening closer.

Heh, I guess LaTan is still at it out there.

“And then, get this,” the human by the counter continued, “he tells me that that’s not just some regular old water. It’s pure, mineral spring water from Boulders Point!”

What the…

“That pond all the way to the west, where the dragon showed up?!” exclaimed the other.

“Yeah!”

That son of a mule is using my trademark pond to sell his junk!

Outraged—and slightly impressed—Balthazar started pacing toward the chatting adventurers, fuming and ready to set the record straight about how no one was selling precious water from his pond.

But suddenly, the crab stopped, thinking, and good merchant sense came back to him.

Wait a minute…

Ideas flooding through his shell like the warm water of his pond during a summer bath, the crab took off in a sprint in the other direction, returning to the front desk.

“Excuse me,” he said, stretching himself as best he could to look over the tall counter. “Which way to the courier’s guildhall?”

“Oh, hello again,” the girl by the desk said. “Over that way. It’s a small room to the right.”

“Thanks!” the merchant said while quickly skittering in the direction she pointed.

Finding the door with the right plaque next to it, Balthazar walked into the much smaller hall dedicated to the couriers.

Please tell me he’s still around. Please… Aha!

Across the room, the crab found the one he was looking for, reading through the job offers on a notice board.

“Rob! Glad you’re still in town,” Balthazar enthusiastically said as he approached the courier. “I’ve got a job for you!”