***

  Up on the ship, the two girls, the goblin, and the drake watched helplessly as Balthazar fell into the running river below, his legs filing along with his pincers as the remnants of the cut rope scattered in the wind.

  With a big spsh, the crab vanished into the dark depths of the water and the four of them gasped.

  “He fell!” excimed Suze with shock.

  “We noticed,” Olivia said as she pulled away from the railing. “Hey, what are you doing?!”

  Holding his hat with one hand, Druma started climbing over the ship’s bulwark.

  “Druma save boss!”

  “Get back here!” the girl said as she rushed to grab the goblin’s arm. “Do you even know how to swim in those waters?!”

  The assistant looked at her with eyes full of panid . “No…”

  “The ba before we have two overboard instead of one!”

  “But boss need help!” Druma cried as the young ulled him ba.

  “Is Balthazar going to die?” Suze asked as she looked over the railing at the river below, with no signs of the crab anywhere.

  “No, of course not!” said Olivia as she turo the winged creature o them. “Hey, why doesn’t she fly down there and try to pick him up?!”

  Blue cocked her brow as she gnced down at the dark, murky waters below. The tip of her pointy touck out of her mouth as she made an expression of disgust.

  “Oh, e on, seriously?!” the taller girl excimed in frustration.

  “I don’t see him ing up,” the smaller girl said with an increasingly ed tone as she leaned over the railing. “Is Balthazar gonna die?!”

  “No, damn it!” Olivia said. “I already said he won’t. Just… help me find another rope.”

  “But boss break rope already,” Druma said as he rubbed his hands nervously.

  “Argh,” the young woman said in frustrated agreement.

  Suze tinued sing the water with a worried frown. “I don’t see him. What are we gonna do? Is Balthazar gonna be alright?!”

  Olivia looked around as if searg for something. “I… Don’t know.”

  “You kids…” a man’s voice said from atop the stairs to the ship’s bridge.

  Captain Leander, carrying a rge coil of , walked doweps shaking his head.

  “Have you all fotten what Balthazar is?” he said.

  The others looked at one another with puzzled gazes and a few shrugs.

  “Stubborn?” said the street rascal.

  “That too,” the old man said as he started unspooling the . “But I was referring to him being… a crab.”

  “Oooh…” the girl said.

  ***

  As the rope snapped uhe sharp pressure of his mighty pincer and Balthazar’s grip on it slipped, he was reminded of how much he did not like heights.

  Now falling shell-first through the cold night air, the mert wondered why he kept finding himself filing around in the wind when he knew well enough that crabs were never meant to fly.

  As he saw the sight of the ship and his friends above pulling away in what felt like slow motion, Balthazar also wondered why it seemed like things always had to be four steps forward, eight steps back with him.

  Every advan the st couple of days seemed to always be followed by another setback.

  How did I even end up in this situation? The falling crusta asked himself as his shell was dropping toward the river.

  ht. The mangoes.

  All he wanted was to get some dires when he first arrived in that city.

  Of course, there was little he could do once he stumbled upon a bakery and a brand-new fvor of pie. Certain things are just impossible to ignore, such as the delicious allure of baked goods.

  And as if that wasn’t enough, then Marquessa had to tempt him further with the other thing the crab could not resist: the appeal of .

  Sure, Balthazar was on a mission to save his friends, but he was still a mert. What was he supposed to do? Ignore a business opportunity?

  He had no leads on the dragon’s whereabouts, and the only lead on how to restore Bouldy was the wizard Tweedus, whom he knew where to find, but not how to get there.

  It was entirely out of his pincers if the baroness in charge of that city decided to use the way to the wizard’s ir as a bargaining chip to solve her own problems.

  His cws were tied, he had no choice but to help her if he wao get to where he o go. The juicy trade deal in exge for taking on the quest was merely a bonus.

  As were the many pies promised to him by the owner of the baking boutique.

  I wonder if this is what adventurers spend their days doing. Getting sidetracked nonstop until they lose track of any and everything.

  Balthazar’s carapace finally hit the water’s surface, sending a big spsh in every dire like a rock dropped into a pond.

  Ah, darn it. I’m sorry I’m taking so long, Bouldy.

  The water was cold, but he did not seem to mind it much. Shivering was for skin-having creatures, not sturdy crustas.

  As his body sank into the murky waters, the mert also wondered about Madelei had been so long since she was taken. He khat if the dragon wao harm her, it would have just do on the spot back at the pond. Taking her meant the creature had other pns for her.

  Still, it had been so long. What if something had happeo her?

  No, he could not think such things. Perhaps Rye went on to find her after they split up in dor?

  It was of no use to dwell on things he could not ge. He o focus on what he could a.

  What was that again?

  Finding whoever was behind the stolen mangoes.

  Strange objective, he felt. But somehow, in a very roundabout way, everything leading up to reviving his rocky friend hinged on finding some stolen fruits.

  The pensive mert tinued sinking to the bottom of the river, the lights from the nterns above slowly fading into the murky darkness of the waters.

  Despite that, Balthazar was experieng a slight feeling of nostalgia. It was like being bae, dipping into his beloved pond.

  Except for all the trash.

  Sludge and debris polluted the stream flowing around him, and occasionally a rge piece of garbage would smack him in the face as it ushed by the current.

  “Pffah!” the crusta excimed as a pair of tattered undergarments brushed past his eyestalks.

  Maybe after this is all over, I’ll talk to the baroness about keeping this river . This is no way to treat your local body of water!

  His feet finally touched the rocky riverbed, the weight of his giant shell anch him to the bottom against the pull of the current.

  Dang, this pce is filthy. The mert mused as he looked around, seeing practically nothing through the murky water and the cloud of garbage floating by.

  Nothing like the pure waters of my pond. Well, except for that oime when something nasty fell into it and the water turned all bck because of…

  His eyestalks frowned as something in his brain clicked.

  Wait a minute…

  Like the waters around him, es rushed through his thoughts as a sneaky suspi in the back of his mind broke the dam holding them.

  Could it be? Her…

  Feeling the ball of yarn that was the whole mango case unraveling with his sudden theory, Balthazar looked up. The introspeg break was over, it was time to go back up and put ao it ond for all.

  But how do I get back up?

  Gng at the er of his field of view, he noticed an active skill on his system

  [Aquatic Breather]

  [As the pinnacle of evolution, your race freely breathe both in and out of water.]

  Lost in thought as he was, the crusta finally realized he hadn’t been drowning that whole time.

  Oh! That’s right. I’m a crab!

  Smag the front of his shell with the back of his cw, Balthazar shook off his meandering thoughts to focus on doing something he was naturally tale—other thaing and talking.

  Flexing all of his eight legs, the crab pushed against the riverbed and propelled himself upward, using all of his body to swiftly swim up like he hadn’t done in so long.

  Balthazar smiled with determination. He had almost fotten how much better and faster he was at swimming than walking. Another reason why he missed his home pond.

  I’ve been spending too much time out in the dry air. I should do this more often.

  Rushing through the murky waters like an arrow, the crab soon spotted the lights of the hanging nterns from Leander’s ship again.

  With redouble effort, Balthazar paddled his back legs harder to catch up.

  Go, go, my swimmerets!

  His shell broke through the surfad he took a deep breath of the bone-chilling air.

  Thankfully for him, crabs have no bones, so that bothered him little.

  As his eyes adapted to being out of water again, the mert saw a being dropped into the water right in front of him.

  After looking up at the crew leaning over the ship’s railing, Balthazar grabbed the iron firmly with both pincers, this time with no fear of snapping it like with the rope.

  “Go on, pull!” Captain Leaold the others as the group lifted the crab from the water and onto the deck. “Almost done!”

  “Why… is he… so heavy?!” Suze struggled to say from the end of the , between Druma and Blue—who gripped the tightly with her teeth.

  “Yht him all the carrot cake, remember?!” excimed Olivia from behind the captain, sweat f on her forehead as she struggled to keep a grip oal links.

  With one final pull, the group brought the crab on board.

  Soaked and covered in little pieces of trash and algae, Balthazar stood up and looked up at Leander.

  “Wele aboard the Marquessian Dame, Mr. Balthazar,” the man said.

  Breathing fast but with a determined look on his face, the mert the man.

  “Thank you, captain. Now set a new course. I know where we o go to finish this charade.”