Blue’s charge missed its target aalons closed on nothing but the air where the witch had stood a moment before.

  Swerving to the side in order to avoid hitting Balthazar, the drake crashed against the bed, causing the wooden frame to break on impact.

  “I’ve been looking forward to this,” Velvet hissed with malice, purple ara swirling rapidly around her fingers and palms.

  Blue struggled to get ba her feet, wings tangled in a mess of sheets and bed covers, but the witch gave her no time to recover.

  The mana took shape i’s grasp, and she formed a glowing whip of pure magi her hand. With a swing of her arm, the witch sent the are whip at the winged creature, hitting her directly oorso with a loud snap that made Balthazar wind ch his pincers.

  “Blue!” Suze shouted from the wall she was still restrained against. For ohe crab detected real and pani her voice, instead of her usual carefree and breezy demeanor.

  Balthazar prepared to throw caution out the same window Blue had crashed through and just run to her, when the purple glow retreated to its caster and the mert realized the drake’s state.

  She appeared pletely fine. Her azure scales where the whip had ected were unmarred, and the drake stood back up with no signs of any damage taken.

  Of course! Her natural magic resistance.

  Just like Balthazar realized it, so did the witch.

  “Hah! You think I only rely on direct magi a fight?” she said with a boastful grin.

  Blue’s pupils narrowed with fury at the woman. Whearted opening her mouth and taking a deep breath, the crab knew what would e .

  “Blue, no!” Balthazar shouted. “The girls!”

  The drake’s gaze followed the dire he ointing. Unleashing her fire breath in that room, so close to the two bound humans, would risk catg them i.

  Blue held back from attag, but Velvet showed no such restraint.

  Crag her glowing whip in the air, the witch called more of the textiles in the room to life.

  The velvety covers of the bed closed around Blue like a Venus flytrap catg an i, before the mattress underh ed around the fused drake, trapping her within. As she struggled to break free, the bear fur rug on the floor swept over her, tightening around the whole arra and pressing the creature down against the floor and the remains of the broken bed.

  With wings aightly pushed against her bound body and only her head stig out of the restraining fabrics, the azure creature could do little more than move her neck.

  “Blue!” the mert excimed, running forward with pincers open and ready to cut.

  “Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast!” Velvet said, crag her whip on the floor between the crab and his drake as a warning. “We still have unfinished business, Balthie.”

  The witch started walking toward the mert, whip in hand and ill i in her eyes.

  Balthazar gulped nervously. “Uh, say… weren’t you telling me about yenious pn? I’d love to hear more!”

  [Gift of the Crab: failure. Insuffit Charisma]

  “You may be charming, Balthie,” Velvet said, “but you’re still not charming enough to trick me.”

  The back of the crab’s shell bumped against an armchair as he tried to back away from her. He didn’t want the witing closer to him, as he khat she could affect him with her witchery long before she came close enough for his cws to reach her.

  “Don’t worry,” said the devious adventurer as the magical whip disappeared from her hands. “I’m not going to damage you… much. I hose legs in pristine dition for my recipe.”

  Reag for the pendant on her neck, Velvet pressed the jewel at its ter, which produced a droplet of a thick liquid against her fiip.

  “You will uand soon. Once I plete my formu, you will see how much it was worth it. You and everyone else.”

  The witch reached forward with her hand, moving it as if she was about to cast a spell, but no words were said or mana weaved. Instead, Balthazar felt a sweet and overwhelming aroma wash over his antennae, numbing every sense in his body and making his leg joints feel weak.

  With his chemosensory setae flooded with the witch’s bewitg perfume, the mert’s worries and cares slowly started slipping away as he was lulled into a sense of fort by the cozy smell of freshly baked pie.

  Hey, maybe this isn’t so bad after all… She just smells so nice… and wow, her eyes look even shinier up close. So shiny, so pretty…

  “That’s right, Balthie,” Velvet whispered, trag a bail between his eyestalks. “Just focus on the nice st. Doesn’t it smell just like your favorite thing in the whole world? Everything will be fine…”

  As the witch came closer and got her clutches around the witless crusta, the drake over by the remnants of the bed growled and struggled against her restraints, trying to get free—but to no avail. Her wings were too tightly pressed against her body, aalons uo cw their way out.

  “Blue,” Suze whispered from her own bindings. “Get her dress!”

  The azure creature followed the little girl’s nod to the tail of the witch’s ga dress, dragging on the floor behind her.

  Stig her neck out as much as she could, the drake breathed in, doing her best to aim as precise of a jet of fmes as she could in order to avoid hitting Balthazar too.

  A small spout of blue fire shot out of the drake’s mouth and onto the distracted adventurer’s dress, setting it alight instantly.

  “What—” Velvet screeched as she looked back, the fmes oail of her dress quickly spreading up through the fabric.

  “Woah, velvet sure is fmmable!” the street rascal oher side of the room said.

  The witch screamed and yelled, trying to put the fire out by swatting it, whily caused the frilly ends of her sleeves to be scorched as well.

  Finally sm the fmes by stomping on the lower end of her dress with her boots, the fuming woman turned her irate gaze to the drake.

  “You little…”

  Swiftly moving behind the creature, Velvet called another curtain to life and a to around Blue’s mouth with her hands.

  The drake protested with muffled growls, but the tight muzzle around her jaw and snout prevented her from opening her mouth again.

  Meanwhile, Balthazar stumbled slightly where he stood, still dazed by the effects of the witch’s hex, but drifting in and out of his full senses now that she had moved some distance away.

  Ow. I could swear I was about to get my pincers on a delicious slice of pie. Wait…

  His foggy vision focused on the drake across the room, bound and gagged by the witch standing above her, clutg her fingers as the drapes tightened around her victim.

  Blue! Balthazar thought. Damn it, I o do something, but I barely think straight when that witch is near me. Because of her witchcraft. Not because she makes me nervous or anything.

  Velvet stepped over the drake and started making her way back to the crab.

  Ah, crap. If only I had the magic resistance Blue has.

  His spinnialks frowned slightly.

  Wait a minute…

  Rushing through the menus of his system as his vision bobbed from side to side, the mert found the s for the members of his party, specifically the part with Blue’s natural traits.

  [Mind Scales]

  [Trait]

  [Owners of strong personalities, sturdy wills, and well-banced minds, draic creatures show great resistao all manner of illusion or mind-altering magic. Has the ability to resist most psychic effects.]

  Mind-altering magic! That’s it!

  With the witing closer and closer, Balthazar navigated ba his system as quickly as he could, every sense in his body growing numb as the st from the medallion began reag him again.

  The s with his skills scrolled up into view and focus began fading as the lull of the charm grabbed hold of the crab once more.

  [Copycrab]

  [Skill - B tier]

  [Requirements: 40 CHA, 15 INT]

  [Cost: 10 mana]

  [Be a little more like those around you. For 5 minutes, gain the properties of a urait from a nearby ally.]

  Putting what little focus he could still muster into his drake, Balthazar hoped he had recovered enough mana since using his Imbuing skill in the corridor. Because if he hadn’t…

  “Enough pying around. Time for me to collect that leg, Balthie,” Velvet said as she leaned down in front of the mert and caressed the top of his shell.

  “Blub blub,” the crab said, making tiny bubbles with his mouth as he looked at her with ay gaze.

  “Good,” the witch said with a devious smile. “That’s how I like my prey. Docile and very agreeable.”

  “You know…” Balthazar muttered as the woman stood at eye level with him. “You’re not really that charming without this.”

  Velvet’s expression turned into a frown, but as realization hit her and she attempted to pull away, it was already too te.

  [Charm of the Witch resisted by Mind Scales Mind Chitin]

  With a swift jab forward, Balthazar she firand neckce holding the charmed medallion around the witch’s neck.

  “No!” the woman excimed as she pulled away from the crab and clutched her neck.

  With a chy pinch of his pihe mert cracked the amulet and the jewel in it. A purple liquid dripped from within but evaporated into nothing before even hitting the floor.

  “My charm!” Velvet screamed, horror overtaking her expression as she stumbled back.

  “Lady, you never had any to begin with,” Balthazar said before dropping the broken medallion.

  The witch grabbed her face with both hands and started groaning in peared to be pain. The front of her hair started rapidly turning gray and then white as the skin on the back of her hands dried out and shifted a few shades darker.

  “What the…” the perplexed crab said.

  “My dame! I will save you!” a booming voice yelled.

  The bedroom doors burst open and the ander of the Marquessian guards heroically rushed in, baton in hand, cape flowing behind him, a-print pantaloons still on full dispy.

  Balthazar, the girls, even the drake, all turo look at him with weirded out faces.

  As the man looked around the room, his expression ged and he blinked rapidly a few times before shaking his head.

  “Wha… What am I doing?!”

  Dazed and fused, the ander suddenly looked down at his own legs.

  “What in the name of Crea!” he suddenly yelled.

  His cheeks turned several shades redder and he ran out of the room, trying to his cape around himself as he shuffled away.

  “I really wish you’d have covered my eyes again, Balthazar…” Suze said from the other side of the room. “I’m never going to uhat now.”

  Unfortunately for them, Velvet did not let the sudden distra go to waste.

  “Hey!” the crab shouted as he turo see her running for the window.

  Still c her face with her hands, the rapidly shriveling witch threw herself over the windowsill, shifting bato a cat midair as she vanished past the parapet.

  Balthazar ran to the window, but he saw no signs of either cat or wit the pitch bck of the outside.

  Damn it! I still needed her to reverse Hea’s curse!

  Muffled grunting and protesting came from behind him, reminding the mert that he still had other friends in more urgent need.

  “Yes, alright, I’m ing, Olivia,” he said, skittering across the room.

  With a few skillful snips, the crab freed the young woman, who fell to the floor and quickly removed the gag around her mouth.

  “She got away!”

  “Yes, we all noticed,” Balthazar begrudgingly said. “Cut Suze loose while I get Blue, will you?”

  With the precision of a surgeon, the crusta began cutting the bonds restraining his drake.

  Loud steps came from the corridor outside, quickly approag the room.

  Oh, great. What now? A shirtless bandit sobbing for his maiden?

  Captain Leander rushed into the room, fists up, with Druma right behind him, staff at the ready and wizard hat falling over his eyes.

  “Are you guys all right?” the veteran asked. “Your winged panion flew out of the celr door so suddenly that we thought she might have sensed something terrible happening. And why did we just pass a half-naked ander on the way here?!”

  “Trust me, Lee,” said Olivia, “That’s one long story that I’ll have to tell you ter.”

  “What about our mystery woman? Did you not find her?”

  The young woman scowled as she pulled the st of the now lifeless curtains off Suze. “We found the witch, but she mao escape. I’m going after her.”

  “No, you are not,” Balthazar said as Blue stood back up and stretched her wings. “It’s my fault she slipped away. Again. I’m the one who has to find her again. But don’t worry, I have a feeling we won’t be seeing her for a while, especially not around Marquessa.”

  “You should listen to Mr. Balthazar,” said Leander. “Besides, I need your help here.”

  “The mangoes,” Olivia said as if only now remembering what started the whole ordeal. “Did you find them?”

  The captain smiled.

  “They’re down in the celr, along with several unscious bandits and a few rogue guards. Some of the fruits have gone bad, but I think a rge portion of the harvest is still salvageable.” He looked down at Druma and gave him a pat on the back. “Couldn’t have do without the help of oblin friend here and Ms. Blue over there. Quite the panions!”

  The green assistant grinned with great pride at the captain’s words, clutg his staff with both hands. “Druma happy to help captain!”

  “And of course, ’t fet the key pie all of this,” the man said, looking at the crab. “You’ve successfully solved our mango crisis, Mr. Balthazar.”

  The mert looked at him with a slight frown. “But… I let the witch slip right between my pincers.”

  “And?” said the captain. “You uncovered the ongoing spiracy, those involved in it, where the stolen cargo was, helped us recover it, and it appears that the one behind it won’t be daring to set foot on our city again after your frontatioonight. Quite the list of feats!”

  “I… guess you’re right.”

  “Take the credit for the win, my crab friend. You’ve definitely ear.”

  [Quest pleted: Marquessa’s Mangoes]

  Balthazar’s eyestalks perked up as he saw the system notification, but it was what the captain said hat really put a smile on his face.

  “I believe it’s time we talk to the mayor about your rewards.”