Balthazar approached the path down to his bazaar carefully, his eyes fixed on the group standing in wait outside, fag the entrance.

  There were four town guards, two on horseback, two on foot. Standiween them was an old man wearing a fine quality green robe and thin framed gsses that sat far down at the tip of his nose.

  It did not surprise the crab to see Abernathy back, but the fact that he had muards with him and something about their posture felt different and tense.

  Suspicious as he was, the shrewd mert wondered if he was about to be bmed for something he hadn’t done again.

  “Well, well, if it isn’t my favorite tax ior,” Balthazar tentatively said, announg his preseo the town visitors as he approached.

  They turo face the crab, and the older man expressed surprise, but much to Balthazar’s relief, also friendliness.

  “Ah, there you are, Mr. Balthazar. We were expeg your parto fetch you inside, but it appears you were out. No matter, you arrived just in time.”

  “Balthazar?” a voice called, before Tristan hurriedly came out of the bazaar to join them. “Oh, thank goodness! I was worried you were missing at the worst possible time.”

  “What’s all this about my timing?” the puzzled crab asked. “What’s going on?”

  “Allow me to expin,” Abernathy calmly said. “As I’m sure you recall, st time we met, during that unpleasant situation with Mr. Antoine, we both agreed to postpone our meeting for a ter date, given the unforeseen circumstances, correct?”

  “Yes, of course,” said Balthazar. “And things only got more chaotice then, but if you wish to have that meeting, I guess now will be as good of a time as any. I’m just not sure what’s with all the unannounced ente, with the extra guards and the horses. There’s more to this, isn’t there?”

  “Apologies. Yes, ihere is. The fact of the matter is, we are the announg party.”

  The crab raised a fused eye stalk at the tax collector.

  “Ever the impulsive man he is, our esteemed mayor has decided to meet with you in person,” Abernathy tinued. “We came here to announce his arrival, as well as to scout ahead, for security reasons, given the dangerous times we have been experieng tely, as I’m sure you know better than anyone.”

  “Oh,” the crab said, surprised by the ued annou. “The mayor of Ardville is ing down here himself for me?”

  Abernathy simply nodded.

  “I knht? Exg!” excimed Tristan, pg an arm around the crab’s shell and pulling him closer. “I couldn’t believe it myself.”

  “Are we sure this is a good thing?” Balthazar whispered, turning his face to his business partner and out of the other men’s sights. “What would the mayor want with a crab outside of town?”

  Tristan made a befuddled face before speaking in a hushed voice. “Thinking so little of yourself? That’s unlike you, Balthazar! Of course the mayor wants to meet the famous crab that aided an army of adventurers in driving a dragon away from his town.”

  “What?! But I didn’t—”

  The sudden sound of a trumpet startled the crab, auro meet its source.

  A town guard mounted on his steed loudly annouhe arrival of a carriage, pulled by two robust brown horses and fnked by four horse riders, two on each side.

  The carriage was of a fine craft, made with dark wood and covered in gold details, the windows on it covered by maroon curtains on the inside, keeping the interior private.

  Balthazar had not yet met the mayor, and he was already impressed. Someone who travels in su exquisite shell could only be someoh good taste.

  Abernathy cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I see ood mayor has grown tired of waiting and decided to join us soohan expected. Allow me to present his excellency—”

  The side door on the carriage swung open violently with a loud smack against the wood, interrupting and startling the tax ior, who closed his weary eyes a out a discreet sigh as he pihe bridge of his nose above his tiny gsses.

  “Where is this crab?” a booming voice cheerfully excimed.

  The carriage shook as a robust man stepped down from it and onto the cobblestones of the road. He had a thick grizzly beard that looked immacutely bed, and carried a thick iron on his forehead, both things framing his rosy cheeks and small eyes in what little space was left between them.

  Balthazar couldn’t help but notice how, despite his exquisite royal blue silk vestments, the mayor wore a vest of thick leather covered with mail stretched over his rather rge chest and gut, as well as a few other pieces of armor around his body, such as pauldrons and shin guards.

  The crab wondered what level the seasoned warrior strolling out of that carriage might have been, and it only reminded him of how much he missed his old monocle.

  “There he is!” the heavy man shouted with a pleased smile as he opened his arms and stepped towards the eight-legged mert.

  “Hello, it’s—” Balthazar started, but the mayor cut his greeting short with a firm pat on the shell that nearly made him stumble forward.

  “At st! It was about time I finally met this big crab I’ve been hearing so much about,” the strongman loudly said, looking pleased as he grinned. “I’m Mayor Bergen, by the way.”

  “Pleasure to meet you,” Balthazar struggled to say as he tried to recover his breath. “Wasn’t really expeg you to e down here and visit me yourself, I must admit.”

  “Bah!” Bergen scoffed. “I had to! At first you were just a peculiar story I’d hear about from time to time, but after I found out you were the one responsible for stopping that dragon’s rampage, saving the town and the lives of tless of ood adventurers? You certainly proved yourself someone worth meeting, my friend!”

  Balthazar g Tristan as he wondered where those high tales of his deeds against the dragon had e from, but he found no answers in his partner’s usual dazed gaze.

  “My lord,” Abernathy interrupted. “It would be wiser if we stepped inside before we tihis versation. Far less exposed than out here.”

  “Ah, yes, yes, of course,” the loud man agreed, before turning back to the crab with an amused smile. “Always w about my safety, as if I couldn’t handle myself against any roadside fools who dared trying their luck.”

  “Sir, with a dragon on the loose, it's—”

  “Bah! Let him e, if he dares! I’d love a go at that rown lizard myself!” The mayripped the handle of the thick sword hanging from the side of his rather wide waist, as if ready to draw it at an invisible oppo.

  “Gentlemelemen,” Balthazar pleaded with a slightly nervous chuckle. “Please, let’s go inside now. The road is no pce to discuss these matters, anyway.”

  “Aye, the crab is right, Abernathy,” Mayor Bergen said. “Lead the way.”

  They walked down into the bazaar, most of the guards staying outside, except for two who stood vigint in the doorway. As they all ehe partially ruined gazebo, the mayor looked around, his hands tucked into the sides of his armor, a pleased smile peering through his bushy beard.

  “I’d have tidied up better if I knew you were ing, but well… hard to up holes in the roof and scorch marks on the floor on such short notice,” the crab said.

  “Ah, no matter,” Bergen responded with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Don’t let the pomp of being a mayor fool you. I’m not oo stand on ceremony.”

  “Apologies for not having any delicacies to offer, either. My usual baker is currently… out of town.”

  He looked at the mayor and g the glutton tax ior too, knowing full well that even if he did have any pastries, he wouldn’t be them anyway.

  Some lines he was just not yet ready to cross.

  The sturdy man pulled the chair and sat down on it, causing the rickety wood to creak under his weight.

  “Now, let’s get down to it,” he said, vigorously smag his hands on his knees. “I’m a busy man aill got things to discuss.”

  “Right,” Balthazar hesitantly said. “To be ho, I’m still not sure why the mayor himself would e down here in person to talk to me.”

  “Hah! You joke?” the amused mayor said with ughter. “My advisors also thought it should be you ing to me instead.” He leaned over and spoke in a more hushed tohat, by his metrics, was still incredibly loud. “I told them that given the ret events, the st thing you’d have time for was to leave your pd e up to town for some bureaucratisense.”

  The burly man ughed out loud at his own joke and looked around, as if looking for pany in his amusement. Abernathy, who was still quietly standing by a nearby shelf with his hands behinds his back, drew a discreet smile, while Tristan chuckled along nervously.

  “Besides, I was dying for an excuse to get out for a bit anyway. If Abernathy and the other worrywarts had it their way, I’d be stuffed up there all day, because it’s ‘safer’ for me. Bah!”

  “Heh,” said the crab. “I guess it was a good thing you wanted a ge of airs, then.”

  “And what a great pce for that this pce is!” excimed Bergen, standing back up and striding to the other end of the bazaar, looking out the back to the pond and its trig waterfall. “The pure, fresh air here alone is worth the trip. Truly a beautiful pce you have here, good crab! Speaking of which…”

  He turned bad looked at the tax ior. “Abernathy?”

  Without hesitation, the old man pulled his satchel forward arieved a long piece of rolled up part, which he then opened over a table, revealing aensive map of what Balthazar reized from some of his readings as the areas surrounding Ardville.

  “I’ve noticed,” the mayor started, “that none of our maps seem to show a name for this pond. Probably because it was always untested territory outside borders with little of value to it, nobody bothered naming it. Do you happen to have a name you call this pce here?”

  Balthazar paused for a moment, p with the tip of his pincer on his .

  He had never even sidered a name for his pond. To him, it was the only pond he ever khe only p his world. There was little o call it anything other than home.

  Looking at the tiny lines and a circle representing his territory on the old yellowed out piece of paper, the crab realized how small it all was when pared to the rest of the world out there.

  So much to see that he had never even dreamed of.

  “You know, I had never really given it much thought,” Balthazar decred. “To me, it was just my pond.”

  “Well, you definitely should sider giving it o’s only right!” Bergen stated. “All great peed a name, and this lovely little pond has all the makings of one.”

  Abernathy coughed lightly. “My lord, shall we address the reasons that brought you here today?”

  “Ah, yes. So, I hear you have a proposition for Ardville?”

  “Right,” said Balthazar, straightening himself and taking his eyes off the map. “My idea was to grow my trading post here. First it was by building it up into a proper bazaar, but I think it could be more. It could bee a fully fledged trading hub for everyone, including those ing and going from Ardville. In my time here, I’ve met and formed retionships with many ts, some of which have never eveo your town, but could prove valuable assets with their goods and trades. I don’t io pete with your city. In fact, I’d very much like it if we became partners instead. All I propose is a friendly retionship, instead of hostility, like the one your former mert guildmaster offered.”

  Mayor Bergen ran his hand down his grizzly beard and smiled. “I agree.”

  “The bes would—wait, what?” the baffled crab said. “You haven’t even heard what I could offer, or the finer details.”

  The imposing man stood up and raised a halting hand. “I do not o. I know I might not look it, but I am one who prepares for his battles the eve before, not when already stepping into the battlefield. That is exactly why I have Abernathy here, too. Him and I have discussed your iions at length already, and we’ve studied your case thhly. I kly what my answer was long before I rode down here. I just o meet you face to fad get a good feel for you to seal my decision first.”

  Balthazar stood staring at the mayor with fusion in his expression, while the other simply smiled back. “But… you don’t even know me.”

  Bergen ughed.

  “Oh, but I do! For you see, my town knows you, and through its beati, I’ve learned who you are and what you are made of. The farmers, the innkeepers, the market merts, and, of course, all the adventurers seem to have taken quite the liking to you. And when I speak as a mayor, I do not speak as a man, I speak as the whole of Ardville, and crab, I safely say my town sees you as a friend.”

  Feeling taken aback, Balthazar struggled to find a reply. “Oh. I… thank you, I suppose.”

  Once again, the robust ma out a hearty ugh.

  “Besides, I wouldn’t want to be anything but your friend. I’ve seen what usually happens to your enemies!”

  Everyone around the room chuckled, even the guards.

  “We have all seen what you have achieved in such a short time, Mr. Balthazar,” Abernathy added. “And we all agree it’s quite impressive. It would be foolish not to see the potential in being allies. The dangers you’ve rid Ardville of alone, from a corrupt guildmaster to a dreadful dragon, are proof enough that you are a friend of our town, even without the prospect of a fruitful trade deal.” The town officer uncrossed his arms from behind his bad stepped closer. “But with that in mind, we’d very much like te for imports and exports with you, as well as a more tightly knit retionship between our unities. I’m sure there are plenty of supplies you could use from our town, while you might be able to proods we haven’t entered yet. I hear you seem to have access to some very iing brews and armors, for example.”

  “Ah, and that,” Bergen interjected, “is the kind of bureaucratic stuff I have Abernathy for. He will arrange any little details of how we shall deal iure with you, as well as keep you updated ooirial takes pd his fate is decided. As you probably guess, I’m much more of an aan myself.”

  The mayor stepped closer to the exit and stopped o Tristan, who had been nervously standing some distance away, watg everything with bated breath.

  “You should thank your partner here, too,” Bergen excimed, giving the former drunkard a vigorous sp on the back. “He spoke very highly of you every ce he got. I’d be lying if I said he didn’t help sway me in your favor, hah!”

  “Right,” Balthazar said with a light chuckle. “I take it things between Tristan and you are settled now, after Antoirue colors were revealed?”

  “Ah, yes, of course! Let bygones be bygones.” The mayor paused and put on a more somber expression before speaking in a lower voice. “He’s still not allowed in my garden for the time being, though.”

  Awkward silence ruled the room as the mayor ed an arm around Tristan and gripped his shoulder tightly.

  “I joke, you lot!” Bergen barked with a sudden ugh. “I do have some beautiful new chrysanthemums blooming right now, though. I’ve been told you’re not oo get out much, but I’d love to give you the tour and show them to you some day, if you ever e to visit, crab.”

  Balthazar gave another—slightly less—nervous chuckle, along with Tristan and everyone else.

  “You know, I might ge that soon and take you up on the offer.”

  “Great to hear! If you ever visit our town, do e by. But for now, I must take my leave. Very busy schedule, as you imagine. Just today I still o visit three barracks and ihe new air defenses being built because of the new dragon threat, as well as attend a meeting ter about the sele of a new master for the mert’s guild.” He paused and smiled at Tristan. “It leasure to meet you and visit your lovely pond. Keep the map, by the way. lenty, so sider it a gift. Do give some thought to a name for this pce. We’d love to make it official.”

  Balthazar looked around and smiled.

  “You know, Mayor Bergen, I think I already kly what I’d like my home to be called.”

  The mayor’s bushy eyebrows perked up with curiosity.

  “Well? Don’t keep us guessing. Do tell!”