The beast reared its head and rejoiced as it ged itself with each greedy bite, eyes closed, cheeks jumping in rhythm with the chewing.

  Balthazar observed as his vile foe, the tax ior, ate himself into an increasing stupor, satisfaixed with a hint of bitterness for all the fallen pastries lost in their csh. It was food cause, the crab kept thinking, promising he’d honor the noble sacrifices ter.

  Another form of soce came from the sidelines, where his other nemesis, Antoine, was forced to watch the entire se, standing with his arms crossed, the loher on his hat shaking as he impatiently tapped his foot on the floor.

  As if Balthazar needed more reasons to believe the other mert was a bad character, the fact that the fuming man showed no i in the delicious baked goods id out in front of him only reinforced the crab’s feelings. Anyone who didn’t like a good pastry could be nothing but a pure vilin. It was just one of those simple facts of life.

  “Divine, my dear girl,” Abernathy decred, his eyes still closed in delight. “Simply divihis apple pie feels just like being ba mother’s kit as a young boy. I must end you for your craft. You truly are gifted, Ms. Madeleine.”

  The baker bowed her head and her cheeks blushed even more. “Thank you, sir. You’re very kind.”

  She took a step bad returo her previous position, hands held together in front of herself, eyes still refusing to look up from the floor.

  “Mr. Balthazar, I absolutely uand what you meant,” the ior tinued, “this pe pie is something else. The fruity fvor mixed with the spicy feeling is such a perfect match.”

  “I told you. Truly something else,” the smiling crab said.

  “I almost dare to make a guess and say part of it is a hint of liquor somewhere during its making,” the man said, gng at the baker with a sly smile.

  “I’m gd you enjoy them as much as I do, Mr. Abernathy,” Balthazar said, “but shall we get down to business now, before Mr. Antoine carves a hole in my floor?”

  “Oh, certainly, certainly,” Abernathy said, still chewing on a mouthful of rhubarb and strawberry pie. “I believe we had established during our previous enter that you owed the city a sum of three thousand gold for your business, as well as your unlised golem. However, this sum will need readjusting now, to at for your other uered employee, the goblin, and while I will have to do some resear the old ws for it, I’m certain the owning of a pet drake requires its ows as well.”

  Balthazar smiled. It was time to go on the offensive.

  “About all that,” the gilded crab said, casually leafing through the pages of a thick book in front of him. “I have been reading up on your ws since we st met. And it’s my uanding that taxes are paid by the citizens of a nation for the bes of living within its society, like prote, amenities, services, and so on.”

  “Yes, yes, that is correct,” the taxman agreed, nodding as he tinued slowly chewing. “It’s mohe city uses for every citizen’s be.”

  “Exactly,” Balthazar said, closing the book with a heavy thud. “And am I a citizen of Ardville? I’ve never so much as set foot inside your city’s walls. In fact, I believe it was Mr. Antoine here who mentioned I wouldn’t even be allowed through the gates, given the fact that I am a crab.”

  Abernathy side-eyed the other mert, who avoided his gaze by carefully examining his own shoes from behind his crossed arms.

  “While I uand and even believe you never ehe city itself,” the older man said, wiping the ers of his mouth zily with a napkin, “the domain of Ardville extends beyond the walls of the city. The surroundiories are also part of the hold. The guards patrol the surrounding roads and the farms outside the city are under our prote too, for example.”

  “Ah, yes, very iiail there, Mr. Abernathy,” said the crab, delicately raising his silver a ping motion. “I have lived here all my life, and not once have I seen a single guard patrolling this here road. In fact, the first time I saw a guardsmaing foot in here was when Mr. Antoine brought oo accuse of me dealing in stolen goods. An accusation that, might I add, roven false. And, as probably any guard will be able to firm, I was the oo capture and deliver the thieves to said guardsman as well.”

  Abernathy gave Antoine a full on scowl this time, making no effort to hide his disapproval.

  “That sounds like an egregious ht on our town’s part,” the ior said, “to not actively maintain a part of our territory and—”

  It was time for the real damage.

  “See, that’s the thing,” Balthazar interrupted. “I’ve been doing my own research, and, acc to the old records from your very town’s library, when the hold’s limits were being redrawn after the war about 90 years ago, a small area ecifically left outside the boundaries of Ardville.”

  The crab opened ane volume to a bookmarked page and traced a pincer over one of its paragraphs. Both the taxman and the other mert leaned forward slightly, intrigued frowns f on their faces.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Antoine decred in a pompous tohis crab just admitted himself to never have set foot within our town’s walls. He could never have accessed our library. This is all made up nonsense!”

  “Indeed, I have not,” Balthazar agreed. “Our friend Rye here was kind enough t them to me.”

  The young man gave them another sheepish wave as they all turo look at him again.

  “As I was saying,” Balthazar tinued, “there was a small portion of nd excluded from the Ardville domain. As you probably guess by now, it was the area around this pond we find ourselves in at the moment. Acc to the logbooks from that era, the area was sidered of little value, and too much trouble to be worth patrolling and tending to, due to, a me quote here, ‘the y of crabs that trol the pond and the immediate areas around it’, and thus it was left out, sidered part of the greater wilds outside the city’s hold.”

  The smirking crusta carefully unfolded the map under his books, extending it on the surface of the table between him and the ior.

  “And here is the apanying map drawn at the time, where you firm that Ardville’s cim ends about fifty paces before the entrao this pond.”

  He poihe tip of his silver pi the spot on the map, as Abernathy held his gsses in pd leaned closer to the map, his nose nearly toug the part.

  “This… this actually seems all correct. It even matches the dates from the logs,” the old man said, turning to the open book. “And it has the official stamp from the mayor at the time. I still recall it from some old papers in the registry when I started w at the tax office.”

  The tax ior looked pletely gobsmacked. The battle was nearly won.

  “Ridiculous, all of it,” a fuming Antoine excimed. “Old words on old paper. All uardsmeo do is kick out the rabble aablish ownership of the nd.”

  The st standing. It was time to deliver the final blow.

  “Perhaps,” Balthazar calmly said. “But would your mayor really want to start a dispute with a mert so many adventurers have grown fond of? Would his guards really want to e down here and pi us?”

  He extended his arms to the figures on his side of the table. The four men oher side all took their turn gazing up at the imposing golem behind the crab, the small goblin wearing a wizard hat and a staff on his back, and the sleeping drake. The two guardsmen exged ed looks once more.

  “And all for what? A meaningless small piece of nd? Ohat would likely only bring him more headache, having to deal with the stant mehat are the packs of wolves that often roam around here. Luckily for your citizens, we have been keeping them at bay.”

  Madeleine and Rye g each other, both looking slightly fused.

  It mattered not. There would be time to expin it to them ter. A small white lie was worth it, to put ao that grueling fight.

  “Is that so?” Abernathy said, slowly leaning ba his chair and putting both hands together over his stomach. “Packs of wild wolves are always a troublesome nuisance for a town to deal with. Very expeoo, if we sider the potential for injuries.”

  “Oh yes, very much so,” said Balthazar. “I think they’re diseased too, foaming at the mouth, pletely rabid. A dangerous meo any popuce.”

  “You ot be taking any of what this… this chartan is saying seriously!” the furious mert said, standing with both arms now straight o his torso, fists ched.

  “Mr. Antoihe sluggish taxman said, turning a zy gaze towards the other man, “I believe we’ve heard quite enough from you. You are here merely as an invited guest, not in any kind of official capacity. In fact, based on what we’ve just learned, her am I. We’re both outsiders on outside territory. So I’d suggest you stop abusing the hospitality with your outbursts.”

  Antoine was growing redder by the sed, all the way from his neck up to his forehead.

  “You may think you’ve won here, crab,” he said, with a bitter tone, “but don’t think you’ve e out on top with this. You will regret it ter, I promise you that.”

  With a she disgruntled mert turo the exit, stopping briefly to stare down at the baker for a moment, before leaving with quick stomps.

  “Always been a bitter man, that one,” Abernathy casually said, as he removed his gsses and ed them on his sleeve. “Ambitious beyond reason.”

  “Really?” Balthazar said, looking at the man with curiosity.

  “Very much so. Just ask any of his former business partners. The ohat remain, at least.” The old ma out a long yawn. “Oh, excuse me. Clearly, I’m not used to such a feast of sweets anymore. If my wife only knew.”

  The crab pted the chug man, his posture loose, his eyes heavy. He had beaten him. The frightful foe id defeated in front of him.

  If his stupid system had any logic, it would award him with a level up or two in that moment for winning su epic fight. But as, the thing was just pin dumb.

  “You are a shrewd one, I’ll give you that,” the tired old man tinued. “But be careful that your shrewdness does not nd you in hot water. You’re bringing a lot of attention onto yourself. heless, well pyed today. That was quite amusing to watch. And the food. Oh, just delightful.”

  Abernathy slowly stood up, struggling thten his back with the extra weight in his stomach.

  “But I believe it is time for me to go now. After all, I wouldn’t want to impose on your nds any more than I have already.”

  The man gave the crab an amused gnce over his lenses.

  “Farewell, Mr. Balthazar. Good luck with your endeavors. Stay safe.”

  The old man was strange, but perhaps not as terrifying, now that Balthazar was looking at him through the eyes of victory.

  As soon as the three figures disappeared out onto the road, Madeleine and Rye let out a sigh of relief.

  “I never want to gh something like this ever again,” the baker said, wiping her forehead with her apron. “I hate all this bureaucratic, official stuff. Way too formal for me.”

  “Yep, even as just an ‘observer’ I was still on the edge of my seat the whole time,” said Rye. “For a moment I almost thought that idiot Antoine was going to demand the town guardsmen to e down here and seize the nd, ha.”

  “Yes, yes, it was tough, but we did it,” a relieved Balthazar ceded. “Now I finally go back to fog on more important things.”

  Rye approached the crab with a smug smile. “I guess we could say you successfully evaded disaster, right?”

  Balthazar gave the boy a fused frown.

  “I don’t get it. What was that supposed to mean?”